Thursday’s Bristol Post saw the welcome return to journalism of a local greengrocer, with a report featuring a superfluous apostrophe in the headline.
The writer from the fruit and vegetable trade has been rather quiet on Temple Way recently. This blog has not featured his or her work for nearly a year now (posts passim).
One question that should be asked of Localworld, owners of the Bristol Post, is whether it was it such a great idea to get rid of sub-editors?
The struggle to clear the inner city of fly-tipping and litter continues (posts passim).
Earlier this week it was revealed that ward councillor Marg Hickman had taken Assistant Mayor Mark Bradshaw on a walk along Stapleton Road. Cllr. Bradshaw professed himself to be shocked and angered by what he saw. Let’s hope his involvement manages to stir council officers to take the area’s problems rather more seriously than they have to date.
My latest 2 FoI requests have now been submitted. Both seek to see how the BS5 area compares with the rest of the city as regards enforcement action as there is a distinct impression locally that the area is regarded as less worth bothering about than the city’s more affluent parts. The first concerns fly-tipping in the BS5 area and is reproduced below.
Dear Bristol City Council,
This is a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act.
1. As regards Stapleton Road (the section between its junctions with Trinity Road and Fishponds Road) in particular:
a) How many fixed penalty notices have been issued for fly-tipping on this road in the last last 4 calendar years and to date in the current calendar year?
b) How many people have been prosecuted for fly-tipping on this road in the last last 4 calendar years and to date in the current calendar year?
2. As regards the BS5 area in general:
a) How many fixed penalty notices have been issued for fly-tipping in this area in the last last 4 calendar years and to date in the current calendar year?
b) How many people have been prosecuted for fly-tipping in this area in the last last 4 calendar years and to date in the current calendar year?
Yours, etc.
The second concerns the associated problem litter.
Dear Bristol City Council,
This is a request for information under the Freedom of Information
Act.1. As regards Bristol in general:
a) How many fixed penalty notices have been issued for dropping litter throughout the city in the last last 4 calendar years and to date in the current calendar year?
b) How many people have been prosecuted for dropping litter throughout the city in the last last 4 calendar years and to date in the current calendar year?
2. As regards the BS5 area in general:
a) How many fixed penalty notices have been issued for dropping litter in this area in the last last 4 calendar years and to date in the current calendar year?
b) How many people have been prosecuted for dropping litter in this area in the last last 4 calendar years and to date in the current calendar year?
Yours, etc.
Today, 30th September is International Translation Day which is celebrated each year on this date. 30th September is the feast day of St. Jerome (pictured right), who is credited with translating the Bible into Latin (the so-called Vulgate Bible. Ed.) in the late 4th century. In 382 Jerome was commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Vetus Latina (“Old Latin”) collection of Biblical texts in Latin then in use by the Church. St Jerome is also the patron saint of translators.
International Translation Day has been promoted by the FIT (the International Federation of Translators) since its inception in 1953. In 1991 the FIT launched the idea of an officially recognised International Translation Day to show solidarity of the worldwide translation community (would that include our interpreter colleagues? Ed.).
St Jerome’s early work definitely had a lasting effect, since the world’s most translated literary work is still the Christian Bible, followed by Carlo Collodi‘s Le avventure di Pinocchio.
It’s not just fly-tipping that’s a problem in my part of Bristol (posts passim). Litter’s an associated problem that makes the place look scruffy and gives it that intimidating air.
Collins Dictionary defines litter as “small refuse or waste materials carelessly dropped, esp. in public places“.
However, some litter is not carelessly dropped, but is carefully placed – preferably off the ground – so that the perpetrator doesn’t feel so bad about being anti-social, as in the example below.
Here’s a quick reminder for the hard of thinking: even carefully discarded waste materials are still litter if not placed in an appropriate container, like a bin. Not using a bin – or mistaking the street or public open space for a litter bin – may earn you an on-the-spot fine of £75 in Bristol.
As for those who drop litter next to a litter bin, words fail me.
Anyway, that particular bottle is plastic and can be recycled, so will be out with the rest of my recycling tomorrow, ready for collection.
If you want to report litter in Bristol, the city council’s website has a handy form.
News site www.thebusinesswomanmedia.com has got the emphasis just right here on its report on a wedding that’s causing the media to get excited and distract attention from all the nasty things going on in the world like Ebola in West Africa or the continuing madness in the Middle East (news passim).
However, it could have added the word(s) ‘ageing’ and/or ‘greying’ in front of ‘actor’. 😉
On 28th September 2014 The Document Foundation and the LibreOffice productivity suite will both turn four. In that time LibreOffice has had eight major releases, close to 100 million downloads, attracted over 800 new developers, a large number of active volunteers in every corner of the planet and millions of desktops “migrating” from proprietary to free office suites.
LibreOffice is the fastest growing free software project of this decade: for 48 months in a row, it has been able to attract at least three new code contributors per month and an even higher number of volunteers active in localisation, quality assurance, marketing, communications and the development of local communities.
Earlier today (25th September) The Document Foundation announced the release of LibreOffice 4.3.2; this is the second minor release of the LibreOffice 4.3 family, further improving the quality of the most advanced and feature-rich free office suite for Linux, Mac OSX and Windows. Further details of the release of LibreOffice 4.3.2 are available on The Document Foundation’s blog.
If you’re having difficulty in understanding what’s happening with the militants of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria at the moment without going any further back than Bush War II (the overthrow of Saddam Hussein – and the roots of the conflicts and tensions in the region do go back to at least the end of World War 1 and the Treaty of Versailles! Ed.) then Aubrey Bailey of Fleet in Hampshire has provided a concise and not too confusing potted guide.
Hat tip: Marina S.
Fixmydocuments.eu is a campaign aimed at helping European public sector organisations make better use of open document formats, such as ODF.
A number of public sector organisations throughout Europe have decided to support open document formats when communicating with the public and FixMyDocuments.eu is a campaign to help them implement their decision effectively. One of the largest of these is the UK government, which recently opted for open standards for communicating and working with anyone outside Whitehall (posts passim).
Inspired by the FixMyStreet project, FixMyDocuments.eu aims to help European public sector organisations that have decided to support ODF to implement their decision by documenting, tracking and reporting their compliance online. Anybody can report public web pages which are not compliant with the decision, which are then checked and added to a central listing which is updated weekly.
One of the first supporters of FixMyDocuments.eu was European Commission Vice-President Neelie Kroes. In her statement of support (no. 6 on the list. Ed.) Neelie Kroes says:
When open alternatives are available, no citizen or company should be forced or encouraged to use a particular company’s technology to access government information. No citizen or company should be forced or encouraged to choose a closed technology over an open one, through a government having made that choice first. I know a smart business decision when I see one – choosing open standards is a very smart business decision indeed.
Well said, Neelie!
As a part of inner city Bristol, Easton tends to get into the papers for all the wrong reasons, such as fly-tipping (posts passim).
However, it’s a vibrant area where I’ve lived for nearly 4 decades and so it can’t be all that bad, as is shown by the fact that community campaigners Happy Easton have produced their own video version of the record-breaking Pharrell Williams hit “Happy” to show a more positive side of Easton.
The video was filmed at 18 sites around the area including Easton Community Centre, Trinity Community Arts, the soon to be shut Trinity Police Station and various local shops and takeaways.
Are the dancing cops and PCSOs as embarrassing as your relatives at a wedding? Answers in the comments below! 🙂
Some sub-editors in the Malaysian press are perhaps over-conscientious in their work, as shown in the image below, where US rapper 50 Cent (name on birth certificate: Curtis James Jackson III. Ed.) has been converted into the local currency, the ringgit!
Hat tip: Felicity Morse.