NEW BAILIFF LAWS COME INTO FORCE.

Under new laws restrictions will apply when bailiffs come to your door.  From the 6th of april bailiffs will be banned from calling at night and entering premises using physical force. When children are the only people at home enforcement agents will be prevented from entering premises. They will also be prevented from taking essential items such as cookers,fridges,freezers, microwaves and washing machines.Bailiffs will now have to be trained and certified to practice so as to put an end to the bullying and aggressive behaviour of agents attempting to seize property.                                                                                                                                        Chris Grayling, the justice secretary said "People will still have to face up to their debt but they will no longer need to fear their home being raided at night,the threat of violence or having their vital household equipment seized.                      "We are stamping out bad practise and making sure bailiffs play by the rules.       Those who don't will be banned."                                                                                        Other changes mean landlords will not be able to use bailiffs to seize goods for rent debt without going to the courts first, the bailiffs would then also have to go court to explain their means of entry and the amount of force that may be needed before any warrant is granted.                                                                                                   Bailiffs will also have to give 7 days notice before taking possessions unless they have been given specific permission from a court.

Jo Salter, researcher at the think-tank Demos, said its research had shown "aggressive" behaviour by bailiffs played a big part in the emotional harm caused to families by debt.

"Council tax arrears is an example of one type of debt that many said resulted in bailiffs getting involved. The actions of bailiffs could often overwhelm people's rational ability to deal with the debt itself. As a result our research showed that arrears can often be just as harmful to people as payday loans."

The Citizens Advice chief executive, Gillian Guy, said: "We help with 1,000 bailiff problems a week. People have reported bailiffs giving debt letters to their children and threatening violence. These new rules reflect just how out of control the industry is and are a welcome step towards protecting people in debt.

"What is missing from these changes is accountability for bailiff firms. We'd like to see a licensing system that means firms are struck off if bailiffs break the rules."                    

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THE REALITY OF PRIVATIZATION OF ROYAL MAIL. 1600 JOBS TO BE CUT.

Royal Mail MX55YKC (Photo credit: didbygraham)

The reality of privatization of the Royal Mail Group Plc kicks in again today with the announcement that 1600 administration jobs are to be axed as the company seeks to streamline its operations. The cuts are estimated to deliver £50 million pound savings including £25 million in the 2015 fiscal year                                                                                           The company narrowly avoided strike action last year when members of the Communication Workers Union threatened to walk out. Unite, which represents 7,000 Royal Mail managers, said today it will consider a ballot for industrial action.                                                                                                         "Unite is demanding a commitment to no compulsory redundancies on fair terms and an effective method for redeployment within the restructured organization" Brian Scott, a Unite officer for Royal Mail, said in a statement.                                                              "First the Government sells off Royal Mail on the cheap and now the newly privatized service is ruthlessly sacrificing jobs. We do not believe that its a coincidence that this announcement has been made just before the company prepares to announce its first full set of accounts since privatization. Its more proof that Royal Mails primary reason for existing is more about profits than about serving the nation."                                                                                           After the botched privatization, by Vince Cable, when the shares where valued at 330p they have regularly traded  above the £5 mark, the figure dismissed by Vince Cable as "froth"  the value of the company has soared on the FTSE index of the top 100 London-listed companys and closed last night with shares at 584p.
   

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TIME TO KICK RELIGION OUT OF SPORT.

With the world cup just 82days away is'nt it time that fifa took the lead and demanded that no religious chants or symbolism be tolerated either by crowds or participants in the matches?                                                                Football clubs around europe have been fined and ordered to play matches behind doors and rightly so for racist remarks or chanting by home crowds but nothing is said about the incessant "kissing of the rosary", "signing of the cross" and "kneeling to prayer" that is rammed down the the tv audiences throat when players enter and leave the pitch. Do we realy have to see suarez signing the cross when he scores or ronaldo kissing the rosary?                                                                  There should be no room for racism, politics or religion in any sport.Where in the  world do you see sport being played in churches or mosque's? We are banned from having any religious artifacts in work places and are not allowed to have religious acts there either so why do we allow football players to openly use there religion in a place of work.  I am not a religious person and object to having to watch it on tv when i turn on to watch a sporting occasion, this is why we have churches and mosque's.                                                      You might say that i could always switch off the tv but why should i have to,its a sports arena with a sporting contest not a baptism or marriage, if i wanted to watch that there are many religious channels i could watch. I am told that your religion is a personel thing, please keep it that way, i have no objection to any one practising their religion just do it in an appropriate place, thank you 

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AUSTRALIA WILL CARRY ON DETAINING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

Asylum seekers protesting on the roof of the Villawood immigration detention centre in Sydney, Australia (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

10,OOO HELD IN DETENTION CENTRES WITH NO CHANCE OF RELEASE                                         In 1992, Australia introduced a mandatory detention policy for non-citizens entering the country without a valid visa. It was intended to be a risk-management tool, enabling the health and security status of refugees and illegal immigrants to be checked while preventing such arrivals from simply vanishing into the general population. Of the 10,000 men, women and children held almost half of them are kept in squalid camps in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the south pacific island of Nauru where rape,rioting,mental illness and malaria are widespread.                                                                                “If a liberal democracy decides a group of people, depending on where they come from, can have their liberty placed in jeopardy without the ability to defend themselves, then the consequences are very dire – not only for that specific group but for everyone in that country that supposedly lives under the rule of law,” says David Mann, head of the legal team at Melbourne’s Refugee and Immigration Legal Center. “It casts a very dark shadow over Australia’s commitment to human rights and fundamental respect for human dignity.”                                                       The government’s view is that Australia’s security must come first. “Security assessments are an important part of ensuring the safety of Australians,” the Attorney-General’s office commented.  They also say that these detentions of asylum seekers are a deterent to people smugglers resulting in the deaths of 1,200 people in the last five years, a spokesperson for the Ministry for Immigration and Border Protection said. “These policies are proving to be highly effective, with 75 days having passed without a successful people smuggling venture to Australia.”                                                                                                    Critics however point to the harsh and often dangerous conditions of the camps. Last month, at a detention center on PNG’s Manus Island, a 23-year-old Iranian national, Reza Barati, was found dead with a blunt force trauma to the head, and 76 others refugees were shot or otherwise wounded, after local security guards responded to a protest by the 1,100 predominantly Middle Eastern asylum seekers kept there. In PNG, Manus Island Police Chief Alex N’Drasal has called on Australia to address poor conditions inside the detention center, while local Catholic bishops this week released a joint statement demanding the center be closed.                                                                             “Detaining people against their will in PNG, even if it works as a deterrent, is not a just solution worthy of a great nation otherwise proud of its human rights record,” the bishops stated, saying they encouraged Australia “to find a more humane solution to people seeking asylum in their country.”

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NHS HAVE SOLD 47MILLION HOSPITAL IN-PATIENTS DATA TO INSURANCE COMPANY.

If you have spent time in hospital in the last ten years then your data will undoubtabley be in the hands of The Staple Inn Actuarial Society.          Report says data covering in-patient stays between 1997 and 2010 were used to track patients' medical histories. Patients have been identified by their date of birth and their postcode  according to the Daily Telegraph. and the data used by the insurance body to work out premiums. when they combined the data alongside credit ratings it resulted in higher premiums for most people under the age of 50.                                                                                                                                                     The newly formed Health & Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC), which collects national health and social care data, said that the records referred to by the Staple Inn Actuarial Society  had been provided by a predecessor body, the NHS Information Centre. This comes less than a week after the NHS had to postpone the roll out of the GPs and hospital data sharing scheme amidst worries of data protection for individuals.The HSCIC insisted that the records were not used to analyse individual insurance premiums but to analyse general variances in critical illness.                                                                                                                                   This is what the Association of Medical Research Charities chief executive Sharmila Nebhrajani had to say about data sharing on the 18th of february 2014, she said " any sharing of data must be done with care, competence and consent" " care that respects the sensitivity of the data, competence to ensure that information is held securely and most importantly with the informed consent of the public.                                                                                                                                                                                         This has obviously been overlooked by the NSCICs predecessor body, the NHS Information Centre. So who is to be held accountable for the selling off of peoples sensitive data and what assurances can the government give that the data will not be further sold on ? I suspect that this government does not have the answers.                                                                                                                                            When the NHS put their massive data share scheme on hold for six months who had the knowledge that this was happening and why were we not informed?                           privacy experts warn there will be no way for the public to work out who has their medical records or to what use their data will be put.

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AN 18 YEAR OLD WHO WAS GANG RAPED FACES STONING FOR ADULTERY.

9 MONTHS PREGNANT TEENAGER WHO WAS GANG RAPED STANDS ACCUSED OF ADULTERY AND NOW COULD BE STONED TO DEATH IN SUDAN.                                 Last august when  the teenage divorcee Ethiopian girl was around 3months pregnant , she was lured by seven men to an empty property in the capital Khartoum and violently gang raped, she later reported it to police but the officer in charge did not pursue an investigation because it was the Eid holiday. The officer was initialy charged with negligence but the charge was dropped on tuesday.   The 18 year old, now 9 months pregnant, is currently being held in a bare cell, sleeping on a concrete floor without a mattress or suitable clothing after being charged with adultery, according to the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA) network.    SIHA accused Sudan of discriminating against the alleged victim because she is both a woman and a migrant, and demanded her immediate release or transfer to hospital.

According to SIHA one of the attackers filmed the rape and posted it on social media six months later which led to the arrest of both perpetrators and victim. When the case came to court earlier this month 5 of the men between the ages of 18 and 22 stood accused of adultery, another man who said that he didnt have sex with the teenager stood accused of gross indecency.                                        The woman is charged with adultery, although she denied the charges and is pleading not guilty on the basis that the sexual act was against her will. Her attempt to make a complaint of rape has been denied on the technicality that she is under investigation on other charges and she should have complained at the time of the incident. Her request for bail has been denied by the attorney general.    Sudans judiciary has been given up to £20.6m over the period March 2010 to March 2014 to fund a "safety and access to justice programme" in Sudan and South Sudan.  A Department for International Development (DfID)  spokesman said on Tuesday: "We condemn absolutely all human rights abuses and stoning is an abhorrent practice. DfID recently ended its support to the Sudanese judiciary in light of the deteriorating operating environment and our deep concerns about human rights abuses."

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