Essex fire chief David Johnson
By Amie Keeley
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
5:22 PM
FIREFIGHTERS in Essex have voted in favour of strike action over cuts to front line services.
A total of 532 members supported the move in a ballot held by the Essex Fire Brigade Union which was announced yesterday.
The number voting against a strike was 216 out of about 1,000 members.
The news comes following a long-running dispute between the FBU and Essex County Fire and Rescue Service (ECFRS) over job cuts and changes which the FBU says have been forced through without consultation.
The FBU claims one in five firefighters will have been cut since 2008 if planned changes go ahead while back-room staffing has risen by 7.5%.
The FBU has to give seven days’ notice of any strikes and its leaders say there is still time to resolve the dispute.
FBU brigade secretary Mick Rogers said: “No-one in the fire service ever wants to take strike action and no-one will be happy if we are forced to do so.
“It is crucial the fire authority now wakes up and joins with us in genuine moves to resolve this dispute.”
But Chief Fire Officer David Johnson said the service had already agreed to the majority of the FBU’s demands and it was time for a compromise.
“This vote only represents half of the FBU members – we have 1,300 firefighters in Essex so it does not reflect the majority of our employees.
“We agree with 95% of their demands, now we need them to compromise on the remaining 5%.
“If they do go ahead with the strike, we have effective contingency systems in place, but I’d like to think that the leadership at the FBU are decent enough not to drag their members into strike action for the wrong reasons.”
Source: www.eadt.co.uk
TOWIE's Gemma sports cheeky grin after dinner with Arg - The Sun
The pair had enjoyed a meal at pizza restaurant Bel-Sit in Woodford Green, London, before piling into Gemma's car.
Gemma, 31, took the wheel while Arg looked a little worse for wear in the passenger seat.
Gemma and Arg were seen sharing a kiss in the season finale of the last series of the hit ITV2 show after the former car saleswoman admitted she loved the chubby crooner.
In tonight's TOWIE special, where the cast are seen on their hols in Marbella, Arg tells pals Joey Essex, James 'Diags' Bennewith and Tom Pearce that they are "good friends".
Arg, 24, tweeted last night: "Lovely meal at Bel-Sit in woodford, Funny to bump into @RickyRayment @MissJessWright_ Whose joining us for DVD n Wine? @JamesBennewith n co?"
New TOWIE couple Ricky Rayment and Jessica Wright were also at the restaurant last night looking loved-up.
The Only Way Is Marbs airs tonight on ITV2 at 10.00pm.
Source: www.thesun.co.uk
Brown Caps ground Eagles - SkySports
Surrey got their Friends Life t20 campaign off to a flying start with a 17-run victory over Essex at The Oval.
The hosts looked to be under-par with the bat as they posted a total of 128-8, but defended that total, despite the visitors starting their chase with a 44-run opening partnership between Mark Pettini and Ravi Bopara in just six overs.
However, when Pettini edged Jade Dernbach behind the wicket, the complexion of the game altered and by the time the score had been doubled, Essex were in deep trouble.
The visitors lost seven wickets in 10 overs, three of them to the spin of Gareth Batty, who finished with three wickets for 20 runs.
Batty trapped Owais Shah leg before wicket and two overs later gained the prized scalp of Bopara, who top-edged a reverse sweep and was caught by Matt Spriegel at backward point for 28.
James Franklin completed Batty's haul when he skied off a leading edge to mid-off as the visitors' reply fell away alarmingly.
As the panic button was pressed, a horrendous mix-up between Graham Napier and Franklin found both batsmen at the same end, with Napier departing for one as the innings disintegrated.
Wilson & Ansari shine
Surrey's significant partnership came from their sixth wicket pairing of Gary Wilson and Zafar Ansari, who added 40 after coming together with the score on 68-5 shortly after the halfway stage of the innings.
Wilson top-scored with a run-a-ball 33 which included three of the 15 boundaries recorded by the home side, whilst Jason Roy contributed 22 from 19 balls.
The pick of the Essex attack was Napier, who found line and length from the start to pose problems for the home batsmen throughout his four overs.
The burly all-rounder struck twice with successive deliveries in his opening over, taking a return catch off Rory Hamilton-Brown who skied the ball off a leading edge before Zander du Bruyn fell first ball when he lost his middle stump to a text book yorker.
Napier ended with the impressive figures of three for 16 from his four overs, while last year's leading bowler in the competition - left-arm spinner Tim Phillips - claimed 2-19.
Phillips was to later finish unbeaten on 16, one of only three Essex batsmen to reach double figures in this South Group game.
Source: www.skysports.com
Essex Fire Crews Vote Two To One In Favour Of Strike Action - Market Wire
ESSEX, ENGLAND--(Marketwire - June 13, 2012) - Essex fire crews have voted TWO to ONE in favour of strike action in a dispute over frontline cuts and changes forced through without proper negotiation or agreement. Current plans for cuts would see the loss of one in five frontline crews in Essex since 2008, with the public already waiting longer for fire crews to turn up to fires in the home.
The strike ballot result will be considered by representatives from fire stations and workplaces across Essex and the fire authority will be given notice of strike dates by the General Secretary in due course. The Fire Brigades Union said there was still time to resolve the dispute before any strike action takes place.
Prior to the ballot the union was told that all issues in dispute would continue to be implemented and cuts imposed regardless of any talks with ACAS or national fire service conciliators. The union believed this undermined moves to resolve the dispute.
Mick Rogers FBU brigade secretary said: "Essex fire crews have shown the strength of opposition to frontline cuts and changes being forced through without their agreement. The result explodes the myth peddled to councillors that fire crews have no genuine concerns.
"This damaging myth has led the councillors to support disastrous plans to impose changes and press ahead with cuts. There is a window of opportunity to negotiate and reach an agreement acceptable to both sides in this dispute if councillors want that to happen.
"No one in the fire service ever wants to take strike action and no one will be happy if we are forced to do so. It is crucial the fire authority now wakes up and joins with us in genuine moves to resolve this dispute."
Ballot result
The number of frontline full time firefighters have been slashed by 100 since 2008, loss of one in eight. The number of retained 'on call' firefighters has dropped by 60 since 2008, a loss of one in ten.
Further planned cuts would bring total losses of frontline fire crews to one in five since 2008.In the same period of time, Essex Fire Service has increased back office staff by 7.5% - from 238 in 2008 to 256 today.
Source: www.marketwire.com
One way to unravel the Gordian Knot of family law - Daily Telegraph
~~~~~~~~
A week before the republication of one of my novels about London, A Vicious Circle, I’m recording a Radio 4 Open Book programme today about the capital with Mariella Frostrup. The problem with writing about London is that you can’t escape Dickens, and his vision of the city. I live in Camden Town, and regularly pass the brick warehouses (now smart offices), railway arches (offering sprightly car washes), and mean hovels (now desirable residences) he described. It’s not that contemporary London lacks areas of awful ugliness, crime and deprivation; it’s that even if you see it, as I do, as a place of transformation and hope, Dickens has made grimness the default setting.
Is this why we can’t celebrate the glamour of our city, as Americans do New York? Apparently, the new film of The Sweeney, inspired by the Seventies TV series, is bucking the trend, with violent car chases taking place in our spruced-up streets and the Flying Squad having a shoot-out in Trafalgar Square. “We do the things you can’t even dream of,” growls Ray Winstone as Regan in the trailer. Will they be arresting a few divorced wives and terrified children on the way? I can’t help wondering.
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
Boy, 6, left terrified of putting on weight after school nurse told him he was almost obese - Daily Mail
- Tayler Gunn now refuses to eat cheese, ham and spaghetti
- He has since grown two inches in height but lost one pound in weight
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Healthy: But six-year-old Tayler Gunn has been left terrified of putting on weight after his school sent him a letter saying he was close to being clinically obese
A six-year-old boy has been left terrified of putting on weight because his school nurse told him he was too fat.
Tayler Gunn refuses to eat cheese, ham and spaghetti after being sent a letter from his school, Millhouse Infants in Laindon, Essex saying he was close to being clinically obese.
When he was sent the letter, Tayler weighed three stone 5lbs and was 3ft 6ins tall. Since then he has grown two inches but has actually lost one pound in weight.
His mother Leanne Kane, 25, of Devonshire Gardens, Laindon, Essex, says: 'It is something he worries about. It's ridiculous, I just keep telling him he's strong, he's not fat, he's strong.
'It definitely affected him, and he is really worried about his weight.
'I was so angry because I was given a letter basically saying that I'm not looking after him properly, but I do. He thinks he is too fat and he's six. It's just awful.'
To try to help youngsters worried about their weight, MPs have made recommendations that all school children receive compulsory body image and self-esteem classes.
It follows a report by the All Party Parliamentary Group on body image, which said more than half of the public has a negative body image and girls as young as five now worry about how they look.
The parliamentary group report also said cosmetic surgery rates have increased by nearly 20 per cent since 2008 and blames media images of super skinny celebrities.
As part of the same recommendation there was a call for a review into the Equality Act, suggesting it be amended to include appearance-related discrimination.
Another recommendation was a review into whether the Equality Act 2010 should be amended to include appearance-related discrimination, which would be classed the same as race and sexual discrimination.
Leanne, welcomed anything that could be done to help children, but says government involvement was one of the reasons Tayler was so self conscious about his weight.
Lisa-Marie Jobson, principal of the San-Marie Stage School, both in Billericay, Essex believes classes to help children with self-esteem and body image issues would be a positive step.
She said: 'I see things from two sides - I think in some ways it is important that children are aware of their bodies for health and medical reasons. Children should be aware of the importance of exercise and not getting over-weight.
'But I also think the Government could do more in teaching children that everyone is different. We all have different body shapes and we are all good at many different things. These realities should be appreciated.
'I would say that the ad agencies for TV commercials have made big changes since I first came into the industry. The casting briefs we get these days are often looking for 'real children' - they want children of all shapes and sizes, from all races. It didn't used to be like that.
Anger: Tayler's mother Leanne Gunn with the letter sent by the school nurse. When it arrived, Tayler weighed three stone 5lbs and was 3ft 6ins tall. Since then he has grown two inches but has actually lost one pound in weight
'As for the mags and brochures, they are specifically looking for perfect children. I don't think this is such a good thing as it puts a hell of a strain on young children.
'I find a lot of children are very self aware of their bodies and the children who come to us for dance classes are particularly aware. Many come for fun and exercise which is great - they are aware of body health. '
Clinical psychologist Zach de Beer said: 'Body image is a major issue and can lead onto other problems; commercial and cultural pressures are real.
'Any kind of bullying or verbal abuse, for whatever reason, is not acceptable and can have a catastrophic effect on some vulnerable young people.'
Source: www.dailymail.co.uk
TOWIE's Billi Mucklow isn't over Tom Kilbey - list.co.uk
Billi Mucklow
'The Only Way is Essex' star Billi Mucklow hasn't got over her ex-boyfriend Tom Kilbey and she appears devastated that he has traded her in for a "younger model" in co-star Lydia Bright.
'The Only Way is Essex' star Billi Mucklow hasn't got over her ex-boyfriend Tom Kilbey.
The 22-year-old beauty is devastated that her 21-year-old co-star - whose sister is her best friend Cara Kilbey - has moved on from her by hooking up with Lydia Bright, and she found it particularly difficult that the pair were not a couple while recently filming a 'TOWIE' special in Marbella.
In a heart-to-heart with Tom on 'The Only Way Is MARBS', she says: "It's strange, because the last time we were out here - I was with you."
He replies: "You're right. It is weird, even sitting here with Lydia and you."
Billi then jokes that Tom has traded her in for a younger model and he says: "You two are different though aren't you. Are you alright with it though? Tell me."
Despite an awkward silence, she eventually said: "I don't know if I'd laugh at it yet but I'll get over it. It's not funny yet."
While Billi is missing Tom, 'TOWIE' beauty Chloe Sims is quite happy to sunbathe with Lauren Pope in the episode rather than look for love in the Spanish resort.
She says: "I feel like I met the love of my life in my past and I don't think anyone else is going to be able to top him. So now I'm just chilling - I've got Pops, she's the new love of my life."
'The Only Way Is MARBS' will air tonight (13.06.12) on ITV2 at 10pm.
More: Celebrity gossip, TV gossip (Celebrity gossip), Billi Mucklow, Cara Kilbey, Lydia Bright, Tom Kilbey
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Accused GP Richard Scott says GMC persecutes Christians - BBC News
A Kent GP has accused medical watchdogs of persecuting Christians after denying trying to convert a patient.
Dr Richard Scott told the General Medical Council (GMC) that "doing God is good for you".
He is before the GMC accused of breaching medical rules by refusing to give a patient medication at his Margate surgery, in August 2010.
Dr Scott denies overstepping the mark but said a doctor could not "just take off" his faith.
The GP claimed the GMC had pursued the case against him with "excessive zeal" and was "singling out Christianity" as part of a "wider trend to marginalise" the faith.
'Not a maverick'Dr Scott has worked with his wife, also a GP, at the "expressly Christian" Bethesda Medical Practice since 2003.
“Start Quote
End Quote Dr Richard ScottI'm offering something that could have changed his life”
He told the council scientific studies, mainly carried out in the United States, showed faith benefited patients.
"Spirituality and faith is now becoming a new angle with medicine," Dr Scott told the hearing.
"It's a new specialism. The fact that Christians are optimistic is very positive for health.
"I'm not just a maverick doctor reaching out to patients.
"You can't just take off your faith when you enter the consultation room, either as a patient or doctor."
'Non-threatening'Under cross-examination by Andrew Hurst, counsel for the GMC, Dr Scott denied telling his 24-year-old patient that he would "suffer eternally" if he did not convert to Christianity.
Dr Scott said the patient was happy to talk about religion, when he had raised the subject in a "gentle, non-threatening" way.
Mr Hurst said "the effect" of what he told the patient was to promote Christianity over the patient's own religion.
"He had walked away from his own religion," Dr Scott said.
"I'm offering something that could have changed his life."
Paul Diamond, counsel for Dr Scott, told the committee his client believed the GMC was singling out Christianity.
"He does believe Christianity has been singled out for adverse treatment and believes this to be a wider trend in our society to marginalise the Christian," he said.
The case continues.
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Analysis: Investors plot hedges for healthcare law ruling - Reuters UK
NEW YORK |
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors could be excused for avoiding health insurance and hospital stocks as a U.S. Supreme Court decision nears on President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul law - an outcome that could send the companies' shares down 10 percent or more.
Aside from an educated guess, little real analysis can predict a ruling that has at least a half-dozen possible results for a law that affects wide swathes of the healthcare industry.
"It's this never-never land," said Tim Nelson, a healthcare analyst with Nuveen Asset Management. "We're waiting for the clouds to clear, and we'll reassess what the fundamental environment looks like when we know what the rules are."
That has led some on Wall Street to devise complex strategies for profiting from the ruling expected by the end of the month - or at least to hedge their portfolios against significant losses.
They include spreading bets between healthcare sectors whose shares will respond in opposite directions based on a given ruling.
If the law is struck down, for example, stocks of hospital companies such as HCA Holdings Inc or Tenet Healthcare Corp and health insurers that specialize in Medicaid programs for the poor, like Centene Corp or Molina Healthcare Inc, are expected to suffer as they lose out on an expansion of coverage for at least 30 million uninsured Americans.
The same decision could boost shares of larger insurers like Aetna Inc or WellPoint Inc as they avert stricter regulations and higher costs mandated by the law.
CRT Capital Group, an institutional broker-dealer, said its clients were asking for ways to trade healthcare. It is recommending options strategies that amount to bullish bets on three stocks: UnitedHealth Group Inc, the largest and most diversified health insurer; HCA, the largest hospital chain; and rehabilitative services provider Healthsouth Corp.
"We expect that if you put all of these trades on collectively, you would end up making money regardless of the outcome," said Michael Khouw, head of equity derivatives for CRT Capital, noting that the strategy excludes any broader market moves.
Michael Gregory manages two healthcare funds for an investment firm affiliated with Highland Capital Management LP. He plans to keep equivalent positions in large health insurers, Medicaid insurers and hospital chains.
"We are trying to protect downside exposure in our positions and in the fund for any outcome of the Supreme Court decision," Gregory said.
WEIGHING THE POSSIBILITIES
The prevailing view before the court held oral arguments in late March was that the law - Obama's signature domestic policy achievement passed in 2010 - would be upheld.
But based on the tone of questioning from the high court's justices, investors and analysts project that it is more likely that they will overturn the provision at the heart of the law - a requirement that Americans buy health coverage or pay a penalty, known as the individual mandate.
On Intrade, a popular online betting site for political events, the latest contracts reflected a 70 percent chance the individual mandate would be ruled unconstitutional, up from trades in the mid-30s just before the oral arguments.
Striking down the mandate alone would spook investors in health insurers, because of fears people would buy insurance only when they become sick, driving up companies' costs.
Analysts believe, however, that the court would also shoot down associated provisions that require health insurers enroll people regardless of health status, a more palatable result for the insurance stocks.
Invalidating the entire law would likely hurt shares of hospital companies, which stand to increase the number of paying patients who otherwise might seek care for free. Some analysts estimate the stocks could fall as much as 10 percent.
Shares of Medicaid insurers also might drop 10 percent or more on the law's demise as they would not benefit from a planned expansion of the government-supported program.
But a decision that negates the whole legislation is expected to send shares of larger, more diversified insurers higher as they would stand to avoid such measures as government review of premium rate increases, requirements of spending on medical care and fees on the sector starting in 2014.
"You throw the whole thing out, the group is going to rally 5 to 10 percent," said David Heupel, a healthcare analyst with Thrivent Investment Management. "A lot of this money that we assumed was going away because of reform, managed care will get to keep."
FEASTING ON THE AFTERMATH
Citigroup analyst Carl McDonald, who covers health insurers, told clients recently that the best trading strategy into the decision is to hold an equal dollar amount of commercial insurers, which have large businesses serving employers, and Medicaid insurers.
Combining the probabilities of six possible decisions and their expected stock reactions should yield a return of 2.2 percent under his strategy, McDonald said in a research note.
Aside from UnitedHealth, commercial insurers that serve employers might include WellPoint, Aetna and Coventry Health Care Inc. Medicaid-focused insurers include Amerigroup Corp, Centene, Molina, and WellCare Health Plans Inc.
McDonald calculated that a strategy of holding only the commercial stocks would lead to returns of 2.9 percent, when all the probabilities are considered, but he was hesitant to back this plan because of the potential downside.
"We see ... two potential outcomes where the loss from being long just the commercial names could be 10-15 percent, which could occur if the Supreme Court surprised most observers and just struck the individual mandate," McDonald said.
It is the potential for such sharp declines - however remote - that will keep many long-term investors away from shares of insurers and hospital chains until after the ruling.
"It would take a pretty strong stomach to do it ahead of the decision," said Chris Konstantinos, a portfolio manager with Riverfront Investment Group. "I would be surprised to see the stocks bid up ahead of that."
Les Funtleyder, a portfolio manager at Miller Tabak, is banking on sharp reactions after the decision as a chance to scoop up his favored stocks, such as UnitedHealth or Community Health Systems Inc, the No. 2 U.S. hospital chain.
"Because we're long-term opportunistic investors, if there's an over-reaction, which we highly suspect there will be one way or the other, we'll likely take advantage of that," Funtleyder said. "You're talking about a trading event - at best a couple of days - and we're looking out for the future."
(Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf; editing by Michele Gershberg and Matthew Lewis)
Source: uk.reuters.com
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