The Twitter hashtag #littleclaymen is now trending in Manchester !

Click the link below to find out more.

Here’s a little workaround that gives you access to Wikipedia content….

As you can see, navigating to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page takes you to this “blacked out” page.

If you really need content from Wikipedia, here’s how to get it from the google cache.

First go to http://www.google.com or http://www.google.co.uk and search for the content that you want. Instead of searching “the whole Internet”, specify that you only want to look for Wikipedia content.

For example to search for King Henry, type
site:en.wikipedia.org King Henry

Google site specific search

Once you have the search results, hover over the space to the right of the search results and you’ll see a double arrow appear. This shows you a preview of the search results. Hover over this (step 1) and click the word “cached” (step 2) as shown in the image below.

Search results and link to cached content

After clicking on the “cached” link you can see the content that you’re looking for served to you from the google cache rather than the Wikipedia pages.

Cached Wikipedia content

Happy Googling!

Rossendale Hospital

The former Rossendale Hospital is a beautiful building built from local stone. The historic frontage of the former hospital is a local landmark and is both culturally and historically significant.

The building was originally erected as a “poor house” or “work house”. There is some interesting information about the building and its former inhabitants at this website.
http://www.workhouses.org.uk/Haslingden/

The local council’s plans for housing will see this historic building demolished. I for one would like to see the historic part of the existing building retained within the development to preserve our local heritage.

Jake Berry, the local MP is campaigning to keep this local landmark. I’d encourage you to do the same, by signing the petition.  Protect our Historic Hospital Petition | GoPetition

Earth | Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS from Michael König on Vimeo.

Time lapse sequences of photographs taken with a special low-light 4K-camera

by the crew of expedition 28 & 29 onboard the International Space Station from
August to October, 2011.

HD, refurbished, smoothed, retimed, denoised, deflickered, cut, etc.

Music: Jan Jelinek | Do Dekor, faitiche back2001
w+p by Jan Jelinek, published by Betke Edition
janjelinek.com | faitiche.de

Editing: Michael König | koenigm.com

Image Courtesy of the Image Science & Analysis Laboratory,
NASA Johnson Space Center, The Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth
eol.jsc.nasa.gov

Shooting locations in order of appearance:

1. Aurora Borealis Pass over the United States at Night
2. Aurora Borealis and eastern United States at Night
3. Aurora Australis from Madagascar to southwest of Australia
4. Aurora Australis south of Australia
5. Northwest coast of United States to Central South America at Night
6. Aurora Australis from the Southern to the Northern Pacific Ocean
7. Halfway around the World
8. Night Pass over Central Africa and the Middle East
9. Evening Pass over the Sahara Desert and the Middle East
10. Pass over Canada and Central United States at Night
11. Pass over Southern California to Hudson Bay
12. Islands in the Philippine Sea at Night
13. Pass over Eastern Asia to Philippine Sea and Guam
14. Views of the Mideast at Night
15. Night Pass over Mediterranean Sea
16. Aurora Borealis and the United States at Night
17. Aurora Australis over Indian Ocean
18. Eastern Europe to Southeastern Asia at Night

The daily service, with nine return journeys between Nelson and Manchester, via Townsend Fold, Horncliffe, Edenfield and Shuttleworth will be scrapped by the end of the month and replaced with a new X8 service through Edenfield running just twice  per day. Transdev  need to be made aware how their decision will affect bus users severely and drive their customers onto competing bus services or private transport.

Transdev’s assurance that, “Edenfield will continue to have a frequent, accessible public transport network after these changes are implemented.” is blatantly false.

Complete the online petition to help save the X44 bus service.

THE X44 SERVICE WILL BE CANCELLED BY THE END OF OCTOBER!

The current 7 daily services to Manchester and 9 return trips will be replaced by 2 services each way. This is a very significant reduction in service.

I use this bus to commute to Manchester 3 days/week and I know that typically about 9 people rely on the 0644 service each day. Unfortunately Transdev have been trying to cancel this service for several years and they are claiming that the service is underused. This definitely isn’t the case. It seems that drivers don’t count people who travel using travel cards or weekly/monthly passes when they get on the bus.
Hopefully if enough people complain, we’ll be able to maintain this service for the people of Edenfield and surrounding areas.

Please send your complaints to ….

Douglas.Robertson@VeoliaTransdev.com
Business Director of Burnley & Pendle Travel

Kevin.Timberlake@VeoliaTransdev.com
Service Delivery Manager – Burnley and Pendle Travel

Russell.Revill@VeoliaTransdev.com
MD of Veolia Transdev

It seems like they’ve been deliberately keeping this announcement quiet until it’s too late for people to complain.  I’ve asked for copies of the new timetable for the proposed “replacement” service, the X8 but I’ve been told that timetables aren’t yet available. This is blatantly untrue because the new timetable is on the Transport for Greater Manchester Website. The new timetable shows that the only service arriving in Manchester  before mid-morning will now leave Edenfield at 0739 which is too late for the 9 or so people that I know personally who catch the 0644 service.

The two links below show the proposed outbound and return journeys each day.
http://www.traveline-northwest.co.uk/journeyplanner/timetableplanner/displayTimetableDetails.do?rid=1318509640514&hss=jG7xn45490383

http://www.traveline-northwest.co.uk/journeyplanner/timetableplanner/displayIjpTimetableDetails.do?rid=1318509730442&hss=IMk3p45490642

It seems that Transdev are trying to simplify their timetable and are basing their assumptions on the fact that the service is underutilised. Since this rumour leaked out, I’ve been counting passenger numbers and observing how the drivers count passenger numbers. It appears that people using weekly or monthly tickets (the majority of passengers) are not consistently counted which may help to account for the apparent underutilisation of this service. Kevin Timberlake (Service Delivery Manager for Transdev) said in an email, that the poor road quality between Edenfield and the motorway was also a factor in their decision, it seems that they’d rather just use the bypass.

I understand that Transdev tried to cancel this service in 2006 but a petition was organised to protest against the cancellation. It seems that this time round, they’ve kept this cancellation hidden until the “last minute” to prevent complaints from the public. I’m pleased to hear that other people have started to complain but it would be great if everybody could get in touch to tell Transdev what they think.

You can also complain here:
http://www.lancashirebus.co.uk/contact-us.jsp

Or telephone Veolia Transdev (Burnely and Pendle):
Tel: 01282 427778

If you’re on FaceBook, “Like” this article on the Edenfield Resident’s Association page.
http://www.facebook.com/groups/edenfieldvillage/

As many motorists find to their cost, if you have a job and go through the courts, you are normally more heavily punished than somebody on benefits. This is to ensure that people are punished according to their means. As an example, consider two motorists. One is claiming benefits and lives in council-provided accomodation. The other earns the average wage (£499 per week according to the ONS). Both commit the same speeding offence, 38mph in a 30mph zone. The Magistrates Sentencing Guidelines (Page 131) say that this should merit a Band A fine and 3 penalty points on each of the drivers’ licences.

A Band A fine = 50% of weekly income, so for our average wage earner the fine is £250. For the person on benefits, weekly income is assumed to by £100, so the fine is £50. Each person then has to pay court costs of around £85 and a victim surcharge of £15.

The employed defendant therefore pays £350 and the benefit claimant pays £150 for the same offence. To a certain extent this is fair, but what happens if they were both convicted of a further offence a short time later?

Let’s assume that they are convicted of a second similar offence the following week and neither has had a chance to pay any of their previous fine. Assuming that the second court appearance warrants a Band A fine, the employed person now owes £700 and the person on benefits owes £300; but that’s not how it works.

If you’re supported by benefits, the courts have determined that you can only pay fines at a rate of £5 per week. This amount is deducted from your benefits before they are paid. Effectively the DWP makes a direct payment to the courts service to pay the fine. Fines for benefit claimants are limited to a total of £260 to ensure that offenders on benefits aren’t saddled with long-term debts to courts which could result in more criminality.

To ensure that the £260 limit isn’t breached, £40 will be “remitted” from the amount due to the court. The benefits claimant is now effectively at the limit of what he can owe the court. Any subsequent fines from the court will also be remitted, so he’s effectively purchased a “get out of jail free card” for his weekly £5 payment.

This explains how people appear to go unpunished despite repeated court appearances. The BBC reported today, “Matthew Chin, 18, of Darville Road, north London, who has been before the courts 21 times but has never received a prison sentence, was warned he was going to jail.” I don’t know Mr Chin’s criminal record, but records like his are commonplace. Provided that offences are seen as minor and relate to shoplifting, minor drugs offences, motoring offences or disorderly conduct, they’re likely to remain at liberty despite regular court appearances. Criminals have learnt that they needn’t fear the courts or the police.

I’m appalled at the riots, but if the sentencing policies which continually fail to punish wrongdoers are finally being drawn to the attention of the public at large, perhaps some good has come from them. My only concern is that we’ve gone from too-soft to too-tough and we may never find a “happy medium”.

If DC decides to shutdown FaceBook or Twitter, people will simply switch to Google Plus or PingChat. He can’t block access to every method of communication via the Internet and he’s deluded if he even thinks he can. The whole reason Blackberries are banned in parts of the Middle East is because the messages are routed through RIMs servers in Canada and are outside the control of the despotic regimes that try to control them. The Twitter hashtags #riotcleanup and the @shopalooter account demonstrate that social networks can be used for good as well as bad.

If DC wants to regain the public’s confidence he needs to ensure that the deterrent effect of long custodial sentences hangs over people who indulge in mob violence and he needs to ensure that the criminal justice system in the UK delivers custodial sentences when appropriate that are both punitive and rehabilitative in nature. Short sentences offer neither punishment, rehabilitation or protection for the public.

I’ve had an Internet presence through my website www.bish.co.uk and various social and business networking sites for some time, although I find the limitations of LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook etc. frustrating. Consequently, I decided to put some of my longer “ramblings” online using this blog.

The views expressed here are my personal views and do not represent those of my employer or any of the organisation’s with whom I’m associated.