Today's choice is from Diane Milligan, she has chosen items of a more quirky nature. Look out in particular for the 1947 vintage style 3-D glasses!
I guess I've made a pretty eclectic selection of material, but there is one overarching theme - the sheer breadth of the official publications collections.
One of the reasons why I chose "Food from the garden" is that it makes me think of my Granddad. When I was little my Mum told me about how he planted vegetables around their Anderson shelter during the Second World War. I also think it’s amazing that we have publications like this which come from that actual era, not to mention other items from the 19th century and earlier; it’s like holding a piece of history in your hands.
I really liked the way that "Air survey for development" takes a quite narrow subject area and makes it accessible, with the various applications of aerial mapping and photography clearly listed and with plenty of illustrations, some of them in 3-D (which explains the accompanying stereoscopic glasses!)
When I came across "Art collector", the Tate Gallery’s twist on the game of Happy Families, I was immediately struck by how it was such a good way to get kids interested in art and artists. We receive many beautiful books from the Tate and other galleries, and I did think that maybe I should have chosen one of those, but in the end this item’s quirkiness and innovation won out.
And last but not least, I was keen to include an electronic item. "Looking for Vikings" is an interactive resource, informing through words, pictures, and occasionally song! It was the result of a collaboration between the National Museums of Scotland, the National Museum of Ireland, and the National Museum of Denmark.
Wednesday, 7 November 2012
Tuesday, 6 November 2012
Curator's choice
Francine Millard an OPU curator tells me about her choice.
“I chose ‘Farm fires’ because it represents many Official Publications which have colourful illustrated covers. MAFF (Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food) was dissolved in 2002 when its responsibilities became part of the Department of Food, Agriculture and Rural Affairs (Defra). Having grown up in rural Lancashire among a menagerie of chickens, goats, ponies, cats and dogs, I have a particularly like publications on farm and animal management.
‘Make your own Egyptian mummy case’ is a British Museum item which I liked not just because of its subject, but because it was an interesting item to catalogue. Its format is ‘visual material.’ It is never to be made, so it is preserved exactly as it was when it arrived in the Library. It is similar to the real British Museum sarcophagi as it will be kept safe for future generations.
Finally, I chose ‘Pandemic flu: important information for you and your family’ because in 2005 governments were considering the danger H5N1 avian influenza (bird flu) if it evolved the ability to spread from human to human. The Welsh Assembly Government, who produced this leaflet in Welsh and English, issued many such publications. These will be important to future epidemiologists and history of medicine scholars who will be able to construct early 21st century reactions to infectious disease.”
“I chose ‘Farm fires’ because it represents many Official Publications which have colourful illustrated covers. MAFF (Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food) was dissolved in 2002 when its responsibilities became part of the Department of Food, Agriculture and Rural Affairs (Defra). Having grown up in rural Lancashire among a menagerie of chickens, goats, ponies, cats and dogs, I have a particularly like publications on farm and animal management.
‘Make your own Egyptian mummy case’ is a British Museum item which I liked not just because of its subject, but because it was an interesting item to catalogue. Its format is ‘visual material.’ It is never to be made, so it is preserved exactly as it was when it arrived in the Library. It is similar to the real British Museum sarcophagi as it will be kept safe for future generations.
Finally, I chose ‘Pandemic flu: important information for you and your family’ because in 2005 governments were considering the danger H5N1 avian influenza (bird flu) if it evolved the ability to spread from human to human. The Welsh Assembly Government, who produced this leaflet in Welsh and English, issued many such publications. These will be important to future epidemiologists and history of medicine scholars who will be able to construct early 21st century reactions to infectious disease.”
Thursday, 1 November 2012
PICK AND MIX (2)
OPU Curators’ choice (part 2)
So why did I choose the other 2 books for the display? There are many fascinating items in the Official Publications collection and I wish I could display all the ones that have caught my eye over the last 25 years. This display just touches the tip of an iceberg of the wealth of material in the collection.
The 2 books that I chose to be displayed are books about my interests – gardening and history.
“Artists Kew” is a delightful book on paintings around Kew Gardens which I love as I am an avid gardener. I came across the book “Nelson” when answering an enquiry. At that time I had just finished reading a book about Lady Emma Hamilton and I started to become fascinated by Lord Nelson turbulent lifestyle.
Part 3 of the OPU Curators choice will appear on Tuesday.
So why did I choose the other 2 books for the display? There are many fascinating items in the Official Publications collection and I wish I could display all the ones that have caught my eye over the last 25 years. This display just touches the tip of an iceberg of the wealth of material in the collection.
The 2 books that I chose to be displayed are books about my interests – gardening and history.
“Artists Kew” is a delightful book on paintings around Kew Gardens which I love as I am an avid gardener. I came across the book “Nelson” when answering an enquiry. At that time I had just finished reading a book about Lady Emma Hamilton and I started to become fascinated by Lord Nelson turbulent lifestyle.
Part 3 of the OPU Curators choice will appear on Tuesday.
Wednesday, 31 October 2012
PICK AND MIX
OPU Curator’s choice (part 1)
My name is Elaine Simpson and I have worked in this unit for 25 years. In that time I have seen many unique, important and quirky items pass across my desk and I try to blog about the more unusual ones that catch my eye.
The OPU curators were asked to submit 3 items from the collection for the display. It was quite a challenge to choose what I thought would be good to view, out of the approximately 2 million items the Official Publications hold. In fact I cheated I just had to have 4 items on display.
My first had to be a parliamentary paper, they might look boring on the outside but inside a wealth of interesting facts appear, from when the first motorway was created to the European Union thoughts on eggs and information on disinewed meat. I have learnt a lot from House of Commons papers. The one I eventually decided to choose was based on the fact it is very new and quite topical “The referendum on separation for Scotland: terminating Trident – days or decades.”
I also chose a Scottish parliamentary paper for the same reason, it is the Public Audit Committee’s fourth report “The Gathering 2009.”
Tomorrow I will blog about my other 2 choices. In the next few weeks all the curators involved will be explaining why they chose their items. There are quite a few quirky items on display it will be quite interesting to see why they decided on these items.
The display is in the cabinets at the top of the stairs in the George IV Bridge Library.
My name is Elaine Simpson and I have worked in this unit for 25 years. In that time I have seen many unique, important and quirky items pass across my desk and I try to blog about the more unusual ones that catch my eye.
The OPU curators were asked to submit 3 items from the collection for the display. It was quite a challenge to choose what I thought would be good to view, out of the approximately 2 million items the Official Publications hold. In fact I cheated I just had to have 4 items on display.
My first had to be a parliamentary paper, they might look boring on the outside but inside a wealth of interesting facts appear, from when the first motorway was created to the European Union thoughts on eggs and information on disinewed meat. I have learnt a lot from House of Commons papers. The one I eventually decided to choose was based on the fact it is very new and quite topical “The referendum on separation for Scotland: terminating Trident – days or decades.”
I also chose a Scottish parliamentary paper for the same reason, it is the Public Audit Committee’s fourth report “The Gathering 2009.”
Tomorrow I will blog about my other 2 choices. In the next few weeks all the curators involved will be explaining why they chose their items. There are quite a few quirky items on display it will be quite interesting to see why they decided on these items.
The display is in the cabinets at the top of the stairs in the George IV Bridge Library.
Friday, 26 October 2012
Coming soon...
The countdown is on....only 5 days to go...not to the next James Bond movie but to the Official Publications Curators' Choice display. This display of items is showcasing material from the Official Publications collection. The reason for choosing these books will become more evident from future blogging.
The display cases are outside the reference services area in the National Library of Scotland.
The display cases are outside the reference services area in the National Library of Scotland.
Thursday, 11 October 2012
Summer weather
Protecting the Arctic
I have been concerned about climate change for a long time, and remember going to a conference many, many years ago about this subject, where government scientists did mention there was a need to be aware of this problem.
I was leafing through the recently published report on Protecting the Arctic. In the summary it mentioned the damaging effects of climate change in the Arctic. It is warming twice as fast as anywhere else on the planet, the speed of the ice cap retreating has increased and the previously held view that the ice-cap is not at risk of a summer collapse in the next few years need to be re-examined.
After our summer weather I was dismayed to read in the introduction “ As a result of climate change, a number of “tipping points” that would hasten further global climate change could be approaching, with serious ramifications for the UK’s weather and climate.”
Could we stand more miserable summers? More rain and cold is something we could get used to. However, what about the 4 million people that live there and the species that are unique to that area, if this continues what will happen to them?
This is a very informative parliamentary paper that does make you think about our fragile earth.
The title and shelfmark of the report is –Protecting the Arctic : second report of session 2012-13 by the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee.
P.P. 2012-13 HC 171.
I have been concerned about climate change for a long time, and remember going to a conference many, many years ago about this subject, where government scientists did mention there was a need to be aware of this problem.
I was leafing through the recently published report on Protecting the Arctic. In the summary it mentioned the damaging effects of climate change in the Arctic. It is warming twice as fast as anywhere else on the planet, the speed of the ice cap retreating has increased and the previously held view that the ice-cap is not at risk of a summer collapse in the next few years need to be re-examined.
After our summer weather I was dismayed to read in the introduction “ As a result of climate change, a number of “tipping points” that would hasten further global climate change could be approaching, with serious ramifications for the UK’s weather and climate.”
Could we stand more miserable summers? More rain and cold is something we could get used to. However, what about the 4 million people that live there and the species that are unique to that area, if this continues what will happen to them?
This is a very informative parliamentary paper that does make you think about our fragile earth.
The title and shelfmark of the report is –Protecting the Arctic : second report of session 2012-13 by the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee.
P.P. 2012-13 HC 171.
Tuesday, 4 September 2012
Mental Health reports added to Medical History of British India website
I am delighted to announce that they have been added to the Medical History of British India website as the 'Medicine - Mental health' collection.
The 20,000 pages cover the period of 1867 - 1948 and describe the patients, staff and conditions of asylums throughout colonial India. This free to access material provides extensive research on responses to mental illness when the asylum's role was changing. Detailed reports show how 'moral management' was used by British colonists to treat native and European patients. This material will be particularly valuable to genealogists and those interested in the history of psychiatry, Indian and colonial history.
Please do have a browse and remember that the reports are searchable; just click on 'include book content' when you search.
The material, from the National Library's India Papers collection, was microfilmed and digitised using a grant from the Wellcome Trust.
(Picture shows Block plan of Rangoon Lunatic Asylum from 1893, image number: http://digital.nls.uk/83977693)
Tuesday, 7 August 2012
A long political life
Simon Walker, our latest intern from Strathclyde University, started work with us a few weeks ago. He will be researching vaccinations for smallpox in India using secondary and primary sources to write web text for the Medical History of British India Project website using NLS web writing guidelines.
It turns out that Simon’s grandfather was Harold Walker (Baron Walker of Doncaster), which of course was of great interest to us here in the Official Publications Unit.
Harold Walker was an Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Workers’ Union (AUEW)-sponsored Labour Member of Parliament for Doncaster from 1964, holding the seat for 33 years. His political career progressed through junior whip in Harold Wilson’s government, under-Secretary for Employment, Privy Counsellor and Deputy Speaker. His union links were compromised by his involvement in Barbara Castle’s incomes policy initiative, the controversial “In place of strife”*, but he saw more progress with his work on equal pay, though Hansard shows that he still got a rough ride, despite his best intentions.
According to his obituary in the Telegraph, “One of Walker's most celebrated rulings was to order (with a barely-controlled straight face) the Labour maverick Tam Dalyell from the Chamber in 1986 for calling Mrs Thatcher "a bounder, a liar, a deceiver, a cheat and a crook", thereby uttering the five most un-Parliamentary expressions in a single sentence. Walker also expelled the future Scottish [First Minister] Alex Salmond for interrupting Nigel Lawson's 1988 Budget speech”.
He was knighted and served in the Lords on his retirement in 1997.
*You can access this report at the Library, shelfmark: P.P. 1969-1969 Cmnd 3888, or see the electronic version online, if you are a registered reader, in our licensed digital resources.
Simon was kind enough to bring in various documents, diaries and photographs, including this one of a (much younger!) Simon, with his distinguished granddad receiving his KBE, and Harold's second wife.
Thursday, 26 July 2012
Great British bed bugs
In the build-up to the London Olympics, with the invasion of Union Jacks, adverts for sport gear and energy drinks, have you considered another invasion - of bed bugs?
The Australian bed bug epidemic was most likely to have been caused by the mass influx of visitors to the Sydney Olympics in 2000. Now London is bracing itself not only for a year's worth of tourists in 3 weeks but a surge in the bed bug population.
Bed bugs are wingless insects which are transferred from place to place by crawling into clothes and luggage. They can hide in mattresses, bed frames and even clock radios. They thrive in densely packed cities and feed on human blood. Infestations can be dealt with by pest control experts who deploy steam and chemicals against the unwanted insects.
Buyers of secondhand furniture are advised to check all items for bugs very carefully and travellers asked to check hotel beds and headboards while keeping luggage off the floor.
In British India it was suspected that the bed bug caused leishmaniasis, such as in Preliminary report on the development of the Leishman-Donovan body in the bed bug, 1907.
Medical personnel deliberately placed bed bugs on patients who were lying prostrate with malaria as part of their experiments.
In nineteenth century Bengal, bed bugs were a threat to army health as well as causing uncomfortable nights' sleep for the soldiers as they were feared to carry disease-causing parasites.
Europeans were advised to copy the Mahomedans, who shook the bugs out of their beds just outside the house or the Hindus who placed wooden bug traps in their beds.
The Australian bed bug epidemic was most likely to have been caused by the mass influx of visitors to the Sydney Olympics in 2000. Now London is bracing itself not only for a year's worth of tourists in 3 weeks but a surge in the bed bug population.
Bed bugs are wingless insects which are transferred from place to place by crawling into clothes and luggage. They can hide in mattresses, bed frames and even clock radios. They thrive in densely packed cities and feed on human blood. Infestations can be dealt with by pest control experts who deploy steam and chemicals against the unwanted insects.
Buyers of secondhand furniture are advised to check all items for bugs very carefully and travellers asked to check hotel beds and headboards while keeping luggage off the floor.
In British India it was suspected that the bed bug caused leishmaniasis, such as in Preliminary report on the development of the Leishman-Donovan body in the bed bug, 1907.
Medical personnel deliberately placed bed bugs on patients who were lying prostrate with malaria as part of their experiments.
In nineteenth century Bengal, bed bugs were a threat to army health as well as causing uncomfortable nights' sleep for the soldiers as they were feared to carry disease-causing parasites.
Europeans were advised to copy the Mahomedans, who shook the bugs out of their beds just outside the house or the Hindus who placed wooden bug traps in their beds.
Wednesday, 11 July 2012
Dalai Lama visit to National Library of Scotland
On Friday 22nd June, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet visited the
National Library of Scotland here in Edinburgh.
He had requested a private viewing of some material, which included some Medical History of British India items.
On this page from His Holiness’s website Jan Usher, Head of Official Publications and one of the founders of the project, shows His Holiness a photograph from 1894 of Indian mendicants in the Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission.
He had requested a private viewing of some material, which included some Medical History of British India items.
On this page from His Holiness’s website Jan Usher, Head of Official Publications and one of the founders of the project, shows His Holiness a photograph from 1894 of Indian mendicants in the Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission.
Tuesday, 10 July 2012
To flog or not!
It never ceases to amaze me what Parliament discusses. I came across volume 156 of Hansard for the year 1860, and read the discussion about flogging in the Army and Navy.
Mr W. Williams started the debate stating that he can’t understand why flogging was allowed as it would prevent respectable men from joining the Army or Navy.
The argument for flogging was that it had to be maintained as otherwise there would be “total subversion of discipline.”
He goes on to state that for trivial offences the soldiers and sailors would receive worse treatment than convicted criminals and felons!
Apparently the maximum of lashes for the army was one thousand, but this number was reduced to three hundred after a soldier died from flogging, and reduced again by the Duke of Wellington to fifty lashes.
The descriptions of flogging a soldier would appear in newspapers. One such incident concerned a young soldier named Davis, “his back was covered with a mass of large, red, inflamed boils, which bled profusely at every stroke, and reddened the ground under his feet, upon which the cat was ordered to be withheld for a few moments.” Even after pleading for mercy and escaping the confines the punishment still continued.
An interesting note is that the cat used in the Navy was heavier than the Army and was wielded in a different fashion which meant that 50 lashes in the Navy was equivalent to 150 in the Army.
In seconding the motion Mr Bristow when asking a French officer if there is any flogging in the French Army, received the reply “Neither the French men nor the French soldiers are brutes.”
However, later on the debate it is mentioned how the French treated crimes in the Army. “Do not talk about our treating men as brutes, when the French shot where we flogged. In Berlin solders were punished by being placed in a room six feet by four, with a series of re-entering angles, so that it was impossible for him to stand.”
It is a fascinating but horrific debate and an insight into what Parliament discussed in the Victorian era.
Mr W. Williams started the debate stating that he can’t understand why flogging was allowed as it would prevent respectable men from joining the Army or Navy.
The argument for flogging was that it had to be maintained as otherwise there would be “total subversion of discipline.”
He goes on to state that for trivial offences the soldiers and sailors would receive worse treatment than convicted criminals and felons!
Apparently the maximum of lashes for the army was one thousand, but this number was reduced to three hundred after a soldier died from flogging, and reduced again by the Duke of Wellington to fifty lashes.
The descriptions of flogging a soldier would appear in newspapers. One such incident concerned a young soldier named Davis, “his back was covered with a mass of large, red, inflamed boils, which bled profusely at every stroke, and reddened the ground under his feet, upon which the cat was ordered to be withheld for a few moments.” Even after pleading for mercy and escaping the confines the punishment still continued.
An interesting note is that the cat used in the Navy was heavier than the Army and was wielded in a different fashion which meant that 50 lashes in the Navy was equivalent to 150 in the Army.
In seconding the motion Mr Bristow when asking a French officer if there is any flogging in the French Army, received the reply “Neither the French men nor the French soldiers are brutes.”
However, later on the debate it is mentioned how the French treated crimes in the Army. “Do not talk about our treating men as brutes, when the French shot where we flogged. In Berlin solders were punished by being placed in a room six feet by four, with a series of re-entering angles, so that it was impossible for him to stand.”
It is a fascinating but horrific debate and an insight into what Parliament discussed in the Victorian era.
Monday, 9 July 2012
Perfect bodies
The British Museum have just published Perfect bodies: sports, medicine and immortality, edited by Vivienne Lo.
Based on an interdisciplinary conference and other academic events and exhibitions which began in 2007, this book explores ideas and training and preserving the perfect body.
The chapters in the book reveal the changing ideas about how exercise contributes to health and the history of sport and body cultivation.
In the run-up to the 2012 London Olympics, this book explores the diverse traditions of perfecting body and soul including early Chinese kickball games, Andreas Vesalius's De humani corporis fabrica of 1543 and twentieth century Chinese exercises to do while brushing teeth.
Illustrated throughout, this book is at NLS shelfmark OP6.212.44/2.
Wednesday, 4 July 2012
Satisfy your morbid curiosity with Official Publications
Thursday, 14 June 2012
World Blood Donor Day
Today, June 14th, is World Blood Donor Day.
Every year, countries throughout every region of the world organize a huge variety of events and activities to celebrate the day, from football matches to free concerts, and from mobile blood donation clinics to monumental decorations.
The World Health Organization and partners have decided to focus the 2012 campaign on the idea that every one of us can become a hero simply by giving blood. The everyday hero responds to an immediate need, whatever the conditions, despite inconvenience, putting the needs of others above their own. Voluntary blood donors come from all walks of life, all regions, backgrounds, religions and ages. By choosing to donate blood without getting paid, these individuals commit an "heroic" act, a gesture of human solidarity with the power to save lives. Some of them do so dozens of times over several decades.
Find out more here.
(Text from www.who.int)
Every year, countries throughout every region of the world organize a huge variety of events and activities to celebrate the day, from football matches to free concerts, and from mobile blood donation clinics to monumental decorations.
The World Health Organization and partners have decided to focus the 2012 campaign on the idea that every one of us can become a hero simply by giving blood. The everyday hero responds to an immediate need, whatever the conditions, despite inconvenience, putting the needs of others above their own. Voluntary blood donors come from all walks of life, all regions, backgrounds, religions and ages. By choosing to donate blood without getting paid, these individuals commit an "heroic" act, a gesture of human solidarity with the power to save lives. Some of them do so dozens of times over several decades.
Find out more here.
(Text from www.who.int)
Friday, 1 June 2012
Royal connection
As a coincidence on the weekend of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee this lovely little booklet Opening of the New Library by Her Majesty the Queen appeared on my desk. The new library on George IV Bridge was opened by Her Majesty the Queen on the 4th July in 1956.
Enclosed in the booklet is a full order of proceedings, it states
“ 3.0 p.m. Her Majesty the Queen and His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh will arrive at the main entrance of the New Library on George IV Bridge.” Mr Orchard (the director of Messrs. Colin Macandrew & Partners the principal contactors) will hand the key to the Queen, and the Chairman will ask Her Majesty to unlock the door.
The booklet tells the story of the library, how it started and a description of the new building, with a few black and white photos of various areas inside the building. It is a delightful booklet and well worth a read.
Wednesday, 30 May 2012
Ballgowns
A coffee table book if there ever was one, this book Ballgowns british glamour since 1950 published by the Victoria and Albert Museum encapsulates the ballgown. It is full of wonderful photographs of British ballgowns spanning 60 years.
Designs by Alexander McQueen, Garath Pugh and Stella McCartney are just a few of the designers featured in this book. The book explains about the importance of the ballgown from 1950, when formal balls took place and debutantes learned to curtsy for their presentation to court, to wearing the most beautiful evening dresses on the red carpet.
Monday, 28 May 2012
Crimean War
Whilst checking some parliamentary papers, I came across the second report from the Select Committee on the Army before Sebastopol, with the minutes of evidence and appendix. I was immediately transported to the horrors of war by reading it. This is a frightening report where the Select Committee examined men that had been actually there and seen what it was like. Some of the statements are not just harrowing, but extremely gruesome.
There is evidence about the state of the toilets in one of the hospitals; “the pipes soon chocked up and the liquid faeces, the evacuations from those afflicted with diarrhoea, filled up the pipes, floated up over the floor, and came into the room…more than an inch deep when I got there in the morning.” He then goes on to mention that the soldiers who had no slippers or shoes had to use the toilets! The inspector ended up catching diarrhoea within 5 minutes of being there. Ugh!
In another interview it describes the state of the army outfits. The question was “were the men in a ragged and comfortless condition in the camp?” The reply was “Frightful; they had haybands round their legs in very many instances, and their trousers were completely worn out.”
There was a debate about coffee, that it was deeply regretted that it was green and not roasted.
The worst statement I read concerned dead bodies; “it was wrapped in a blanket and carried to the grave, and when placed in the grave the blanket was taken off” This was to stop the digging up of the bodies to steal the blankets.
This report can be found at PP 1854-55 Vol. IX. or if you are a registered reader of the National Library of Scotland, try using the House of Commons Parliamentary Papers resource.
There is evidence about the state of the toilets in one of the hospitals; “the pipes soon chocked up and the liquid faeces, the evacuations from those afflicted with diarrhoea, filled up the pipes, floated up over the floor, and came into the room…more than an inch deep when I got there in the morning.” He then goes on to mention that the soldiers who had no slippers or shoes had to use the toilets! The inspector ended up catching diarrhoea within 5 minutes of being there. Ugh!
In another interview it describes the state of the army outfits. The question was “were the men in a ragged and comfortless condition in the camp?” The reply was “Frightful; they had haybands round their legs in very many instances, and their trousers were completely worn out.”
There was a debate about coffee, that it was deeply regretted that it was green and not roasted.
The worst statement I read concerned dead bodies; “it was wrapped in a blanket and carried to the grave, and when placed in the grave the blanket was taken off” This was to stop the digging up of the bodies to steal the blankets.
This report can be found at PP 1854-55 Vol. IX. or if you are a registered reader of the National Library of Scotland, try using the House of Commons Parliamentary Papers resource.
Wednesday, 16 May 2012
Warren Hastings may be dead but not forgotten in the NLS
I was looking at the reprints of the House of Lords sessional papers, and found 10 volumes from 1794-95, which were entitled the trial of Warren Hastings. I have heard his name many times through my work, and thought that he deserves a mention. He was born in 1732 and died in 1818 and he was the first general governor of India from 1773 to 1785.
However, in 1787 the House of Lords were deemed fit to bring him to trial on
“An impeachment against him for high crimes and misdemeanors, by the knights, Citizens, and Burgesses, in Parliament assembled, in the name of themselves, and of all the Commons of Great Britain.”
The crimes included misconduct, mismanagement, personal corruption and extortion.
It took seven years for him to be acquitted.
Looking through these volumes there is an amazing amount of information, oral and written minutes and appendixes laid before the House Of Lords.
However, in 1787 the House of Lords were deemed fit to bring him to trial on
“An impeachment against him for high crimes and misdemeanors, by the knights, Citizens, and Burgesses, in Parliament assembled, in the name of themselves, and of all the Commons of Great Britain.”
The crimes included misconduct, mismanagement, personal corruption and extortion.
It took seven years for him to be acquitted.
Looking through these volumes there is an amazing amount of information, oral and written minutes and appendixes laid before the House Of Lords.
Friday, 4 May 2012
Save Lives : Clean Your Hands Day 5th May 2012
Thursday, 3 May 2012
Phone-hacking scandal
Hot off the press – the News International and phone-hacking report is published.
It comes in two volumes, vol. 1 report together with formal minutes and vol. 2 oral and written evidence.
The report is examining “whether or not there is good evidence to suggest that the Committee and its predecessor committees have been misled by any witnesses during the course of their work on the phone-hacking scandal.”
This gossip still continues to surround News International and is having major repercussions for the British newspaper industry.
There has been three separate inquiries into the press standards over the last decade.
In the second inquiry it was noted that they were frustrated by the “collective amnesia” that seemed to afflict the witnesses from News International.
Due to a series of events in 2011 the inquiry had to be re-opened and produced News International and phone hacking.
Monday, 30 April 2012
State opening of Parliament
Parliament will soon be in prorogation. This means the marking of the end of a parliamentary session, before the State Opening of Parliament when the new session starts.
This year the State Opening of Parliament will take place on the 9th May 2012. The 2010-12 session has been a long one, as it started after the State Opening which took place on Tuesday 25 May 2010 and is only about to finish now. Normally a new session starts in November and then ends the following November. However, after the last general election the Fixed Term Parliament Act was passed on the 15 September 2011. The Act states that the parliamentary general elections will ordinarily take place on the first Thursday in May every five years. Out of this Act one of the benefits would be that there would be five twelve months parliamentary sessions beginning and ending in spring.
This year the State Opening of Parliament will take place on the 9th May 2012. The 2010-12 session has been a long one, as it started after the State Opening which took place on Tuesday 25 May 2010 and is only about to finish now. Normally a new session starts in November and then ends the following November. However, after the last general election the Fixed Term Parliament Act was passed on the 15 September 2011. The Act states that the parliamentary general elections will ordinarily take place on the first Thursday in May every five years. Out of this Act one of the benefits would be that there would be five twelve months parliamentary sessions beginning and ending in spring.
Friday, 20 April 2012
National Allergy Week 23th-27th April 2012
Many people (including myself!)are allergic to pollen (the UK's number one allergen), dust mites, fungi and pet hair.
Food allergies and intolerances, skin allergies and fatal anaphylactic reactions seem to be on the rise.
Follow the link to find out more on recognising and managing allergies, even those related to work!
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