Jo Rust

Placards ready for Saturday

Ex-convicts ‘just as reliable’ as other staff, says prisons minister Lord Timpson, who has campaigned for radical reform of the prison system, stuck by his belief that two thirds of ex-prisoners should never have been jailed

He’s been very quiet since he was appointed but Prison Minister James Timpson says work is the key to end reoffending and sets up 11 employment councils to link prison, probation, and business bit.ly/4fRpWI0 and he still believes most prisoners should not be in jail

Treasury attacked over ‘tax break’ claim in private school VAT ads MPs and education leaders condemn language in social media posts about fees with Priti Patel accusing the department of losing its impartiality

Silly claim by opponents of ending the tax exemption for private school fees bit.ly/4iS6xJX they Private were exempt from VAT. Now they aren’t. A tax break has ended. Financial advice fees, much food, children’s clothes are exempt. All are reliefs listed by @HMRCgovuk

Wow, I never knew he said this.

Jimmy Carter was ahead of his time—a man of unmatched kindness and integrity. Truly, he was too good for us.

Happy New Year everyone. Hope 2025 brings you all
You need.

Come on you Linnets. Playing Alfreton again. I’d love a win.

Home - Where Olive Trees Weep Discover poignant stories from the occupied West Bank, shedding light on intergenerational pain and resilience. Watch the trailer!

On Friday 13th December there’ll be a screening of the film Where Olive Trees Weep. whereolivetreesweep.com

It’ll be on the top floor of Marriott’s Warehouse. Doors open at 7pm for a 7.30 start. The screening will be free to view but donations will be requested.

TUC research on sexual harassment TUC latest research on tackling sexual harassment

Why exposing “banter” in the workplace is so important. www.tuc.org.uk/tackling-and...

We need a free press It’s vital for democracy that we receive verifiable information that is not manipulated or controlled

“Just three companies, News Corp (Murdoch family), Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGT, Viscount Rothermere) and Reach plc, control over 80% of daily newspaper circulation…

The hyper-rich continue to invest huge sums in acquiring control of media”

We need a free press - ie free from the billionaires.

As a child I needed free school meals, as mayor, I provide them. And this policy works – here’s the proof | Sadiq Khan Critics questioned my landmark policy but a new report backs it – and the big winners are children and their families, says the mayor of London Sadiq Khan

“As a child I needed free school meals, as mayor, I provide them. And this policy works – here’s the proof”

Sadiq Khan👏

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Covid corruption commissioner gets to work Tom Hayhoe's first task will be reviewing the £8.7bn of pandemic PPE that had to be written off.

UK Covid corruption commissioner starts fraud probe.

First focus: £8.7bn of unusable PPE bought during the pandemic.

A gimmick to manage public opinion or will anyone be prosecuted - Grenfell, Leveson, infected blood, Post Office, banking crimes ...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

So it turns out they spent £715 million on sending a grand total of FOUR volunteers to Rwanda.

For comparison, this is more than you could expect to spend on building an entire brand new hospital in the UK

Covid corruption commissioner gets to work Tom Hayhoe's first task will be reviewing the £8.7bn of pandemic PPE that had to be written off.

Covid corruption commissioner starts fraud probe

Well I hope he gets a lot of our money back after the Tories and their PPE corruption..

And I also hope some of the profiteering wrong 'uns go to jail

Let's see.

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Rishi Sunak Accused of Having 'Something to Hide' After Burying Post-Downing Street Interests Behind Financial 'Firewall' The former PM and his wife, whose combined wealth is estimated at £651 million, have set up an opaque new arrangement, preventing any scrutiny of their ongoing finances

Rishi Sunak, who promised a new era of “accountability” and insisted that “transparency is really important for the healthy functioning of democracy,” has now placed his ongoing financial interests behind an opaque arrangement designed to hide them from public view

bylinetimes.com/2024/12/03/r...

Revealed: UK politics infiltrated by ‘dark money’ with 10% of donations from dubious sources Cash from dictatorships and shell companies is entering the political system via legal loopholes

Loopholes in the law are allowing “dark money” to infiltrate UK politics, with almost £1 in every £10 donated to parties and politicians coming from unknown or dubious sources, analysis reveals.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Vital independent review of physicians and anaesthesia associates announced The Wes Streeting review announcement into physician and anaesthesia associates by Professor Gillian Leng can be cautiously welcomed

"A toxic staffing row is splitting the #NHS." Dr. David Nicholl warns that without a defined scope of practice (in effect, a job description) for Physician & Anaesthesia Associates, patients remain at risk after avoidable deaths.

Worth a visit

The government failed to undertake an Equality Impact Assessment when taking away the Winter Fuel Allowance to millions of pensioners. This shouldn’t go unchallenged by Age Uk, the NPC and other large organisations. Judicial review must be called for.

Community lenders unlock £1bn for small firms rejected by banks Loans will benefit 15,000 businesses in Britain’s poorest areas in scheme launched by the government’s economic development agency

A good news story about supporting smaller businesses and startups buried away in the business pages bit.ly/3CObL8P

This shows the effectiveness of funding youth services. Something the last gone cut to the bone. Well don’t to all those involved.

Clarkson was incredibly rude to a respected journalist asking a valid question.

Five lessons on leadership for union digital change – Kevin Courtney - TUC Digital Lab Since the start of the TUC’s Digital Lab project in 2019, my NEU Joint GS colleague Mary Bousted and I have shared the newly created role of lead members for digital change on the TUC’s Executive ...

Great lessons for leaders looking to implement digital change in their trade unions, from former NEU General Secretary Kevin Courtney. digital.tuc.org.uk/five-lessons... #digitalunions

Rank hypocrisy. This stinks. One rule for them and one for those trying to save the environment.

Sign the Petition Stop The Closure of Burman House Residential Home (Norsecare)

Would you please sign this petition to save Burman House, a residential care home, which locally provides CQC rated "good" care to around 30 residents. It's threatened with closure by Norse care because apparently the rooms are too small & they all need en suite. www.change.org/p/stop-the-c....

No one is illegal.

#nooneisillegal

Authority, common sense and modern A.I. Do public sector organisations need to own their AI training bases? Is this another iteration of the question originally posed at www03, by Ronald Fagin, Ravi Kumar, McCurley, and others in their pape...

Nice to see you here. On LLM's and public decision making, I wrote www.linkedin.com/pulse/author... I suggest that public authorities need to own their training data.

Used ChatGPT for the first time this week. Summarised a 10 page report that I’d written. Might be the way forward.