Month: March 2020

Last chance to enter your marvellous moggy for national award

Cat lovers have just three days left to nominate their furry friends for the biggest event in the feline calendar – the National Cat Awards 2020.

Run by the charity Cats Protection, the annual event celebrates the nation’s most marvellous moggies, with heart-warming tales of devotion, courage and companionship.

Owners have until noon on Thursday 12 March to nominate their cat in one of five categories:

  • Hero Cat – Cats that save the day
  • Most Caring Cat – Cats that positively impact a person’s health or wellbeing
  • Furr-ever Friends – Tales of friendship between children and cats
  • Outstanding Rescue Cat – Fabulous felines adopted from animal charities
  • Purina® Better Together – Celebrating the special bond that has transformed and enriched the lives of both a feline and human.

Cats Protection’s awards organiser Kate Bunting said: “The awards are a chance for us all to celebrate what makes cats such wonderful pets. Whether it’s providing vital emotional support to owners, being a lifeline for people with health conditions or helping small children cope with big challenges, cats can have an exceptional impact on people’s lives.

“There’s still a bit of time left to enter and we’re looking forward to hearing from more cat owners about what makes their cat special.”

The difficult task of choosing the winners will be down to a panel of celebrity cat lovers.

Finalists will be invited to London to follow in the paw-prints of Jeffree, who won National Cat of the Year in the 2019 National Cat Awards. Jeffree (above) was a life-changing moggy from Coventry who helped teenager Finn Hackeson, who has Asperger syndrome, cope with the death of his father.

The awards are sponsored by PURINA® and owners of the winning cats will be presented with their trophies at a star-studded daytime ceremony at London’s Savoy Hotel on Thursday 6 August.

Calum Macrae, Regional Director UK & Ireland at PURINA®, said: “At Purina, we’re passionate about enriching the lives of pets and the people who love them so we’re thrilled to be supporting the National Cat Awards for the ninth year.

“The awards are a wonderful celebration of everything we love about cats, shining a spotlight on the incredible bond between pets and owners. We’re looking forward to reading the fantastic entries that Cats Protection will no doubt receive this time around.”

For information about the awards email nationalcatawards@cats.org.uk or phone 03000 12 12 12.

Anyone wishing to nominate their cat should visit www.cats.org.uk/national-cat-awards

Edinburgh ‘slowest city in the UK’ 

A new report (see below) showing that Edinburgh is ranked alongside London as the UK’s slowest city must act as a wakeup call for city chiefs, says Scottish Greens Parliamentary Co-Leader Alison Johnstone MSP.

The INRIX Global Traffic Scorecard shows that drivers lost an average of 98 hours in the capital city in 2019, with last mile speeds of just 10mph on an average journey, costing the city’s economy £177million.

Lothian MSP Alison Johnstone said: “Edinburgh’s ranking as the UK’s slowest city won’t come as a huge shock to many in the city, but it must come as a wakeup call to city chiefs who have for far too long prioritised getting cars into the city centre rather than investing in improving public transport, tackling congestion, and making it safer for people to walk and cycle.

“Lothian buses is a well liked service but buses are all too often delayed by the appalling congestion in the city. It’s time buses and trams were given priority over cars.

“The current consultation on the City’s Mobility Plan will help decide the future of the City.  We need a bold and visionary approach that doesn’t consider issues in isolation, and we need funding to bring about the change. We need too to stop wasting money on the dinosaur transport projects of a bygone era.

“In light of this report the city/region deal partners must now listen to my calls to scrap the proposed £120million flyover at Sheriffhall, a new road that will only make congestion worse, and instead invest those funds in congestion busting public transport across the region.

“Investment in safe walking and cycling routes in and around the city has been sorely lacking. We know that lots of people would cycle to work, or let their children cycle to school, if there was safe segregated infrastructure but all too often this isn’t the case.

“The budget deal secured by the Scottish Greens recently ensured that the Scottish Government’s cycling budget hit £100million for the first time. I know that Scottish Greens Councillors on City of Edinburgh Council will be lobbying hard to ensure the city gets its fair share of that funding too.”

 https://inrix.com/press-releases/2019-traffic-scorecard-uk/

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Johnson statement on Coronavirus

Prime Minister Boris Johnson made the following statement yesterday …

This morning I chaired a meeting of the government’s COBR emergency committee on the Coronavirus outbreak.

The First Ministers of Scotland and Wales and the First Minister and deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland also attended and we agreed to continue to work closely in the weeks and months ahead.

We received a detailed briefing from the Chief Medical Officer and the Chief Scientific Advisor. And again I repeat my gratitude to both Chris and to Patrick.

There have now been four deaths from coronavirus in the UK, and our deepest sympathies are obviously with their friends and families.

Our action plan as you know sets out the four phases of our approach to tackling the virus: Contain, Delay, Research, and Mitigate.

We remain in the Contain phase of the outbreak, but watching what is happening around the world, our scientists think containment is extremely unlikely to work on its own, and that is why we are making extensive preparations for a move to the delay phase.

We are preparing various actions to slow the spread of this disease in order to reduce the strain it places on the NHS. The more we can delay the peak of the spread to the summer, the better the NHS will be able to manage.

Patrick and Chris will give you some more detailed information on the latest advice we are giving the public today – and how we expect that advice to change as the outbreak develops.

As things stand I’m afraid it bears repeating that the best thing we can all do is wash our hands for 20 seconds with soap and water.

We will also take questions, because I know there are lots of things the public want to hear from our advisors about.

But before that I want to stress the following things:

First, we are doing everything we can to combat this outbreak, based on the very latest scientific and medical advice.

Second, we have a truly brilliant NHS, where staff have responded with all the determination, compassion and skill that makes their service so revered across the world. And they will continue to have this government’s full support, my support, in tackling this virus on the frontline.

Third, we will set out further steps in the days and weeks ahead to help people protect themselves, their family and in particular the elderly and vulnerable.

And finally, while it is absolutely critical, it’s absolutely critical in managing the spread of this virus that we take the right decisions at the right time, based on the latest and best evidence. So we must not do things which have no or limited medical benefit, nor things which could turn out to be counterproductive.

There is no hiding from the fact that the coronavirus outbreak will present significant challenges for the UK, just as it does in other countries.

But if we continue to look out for one another, to pull together in a united and national effort, I have no doubt that we can and will rise to that challenge.

And I’m now going to ask Patrick and then Chris to give their own perspective on where we are …

BBFC to change domestic abuse film ratings

  • Following new research, after working with Women’s Aid and Respect, the BBFC is changing the way domestic abuse is labelled in its ratings info for films and episodic content
  • ‘Domestic abuse’ will now be used instead of  ‘domestic violence’
  • ​​​​​​​The BBFC will now flag the issue of domestic abuse in all content, even if the scene is not category defining
  • Research highlights BBFC is getting it right when it comes to classifying scenes of domestic abuse

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is changing the way it highlights domestic abuse in ratings info for films and episodic content, after working with Women’s Aid and Respect on new research. 

The research – which focused on both female and male survivors of domestic abuse, experts and the general public – showed that the BBFC is getting it right when it comes to classification decisions in both films and episodic content featuring domestic abuse. The regulator already takes domestic abuse portrayals seriously, and the respondents agreed that the BBFC rightly classifies these issues at a higher category.

The research showed that ‘less is more’, and going into too much detail in the ratings info is a minefield as people’s sensitivities and triggers are complex – this is already taken into account in the classification decision. It was highlighted that the widely understood catch-all term of ‘domestic abuse’ was much better placed to describe such scenes, as it is considered broad enough to include psychological and economic abuse, gaslighting and non sexual abuse of children.

Therefore, the BBFC will now use ‘domestic abuse’ instead of ‘domestic violence’ in the ratings info it issues to accompany its ratings. The BBFC will also stop using the term ‘themes of’, which the research showed people felt trivialised the issue.

The research flagged that survivors can be triggered by scenes of domestic abuse, especially if it is unexpected. This can be traumatising, and can lead to people avoiding certain types of content. Responding to these findings, the BBFC will now flag domestic abuse in every case, even if the scenes are not category defining.

David Austin, Chief Executive of the BBFC, said: “This timely and important research is shining a light on people’s attitudes towards domestic abuse, and it’s important that our classifications reflect what people think.

“It’s very encouraging to see that we’re getting our classification decisions right when it comes to domestic abuse, which already can be category defining. But what it has shown, is that we should bring our ratings info more in line with what people expect and understand, which is exactly what we’re going to be doing.

“These changes will give people the information they need to choose content well. Most particularly in this case, the ratings info will highlight the issues to those that have been personally affected by domestic abuse, so they are forewarned of content which could trigger distress.”

While there were few factors that would reduce the impact of watching a scene of domestic abuse, a series of aggravating factors among survivors were flagged, including: the sound of a key turning in a lock; the silence before an attack; the sound of a slap or a punch; and seeing fear in someone’s face or eyes.

Adina Claire, Acting co-Chief Executive of Women’s Aid, said: “This research has given an important insight into what survivors, experts and the general public think about depictions of domestic abuse in films and episodic content.

“We’re pleased that the BBFC have responded to the report, and have reflected the attitudes in their classification policies – meaning that anyone affected by domestic abuse will now have the clear and consistent information they need about what triggers content may contain.”

The research also found that the term ‘child abuse’ was widely associated with sexual abuse, rather than domestic abuse, and having a child present in a scene depicting domestic abuse often meant that the scene was more triggering for audiences.

Therefore, the BBFC will limit the use of ‘child abuse’ to scenes where child sexual abuse is depicted only, with non sexual child abuse also described as ‘domestic abuse’.

People agreed it’s very important to educate audiences about the issue and to encourage awareness and discussion. As such, the research strongly underpins the BBFC’s policy of being less restrictive on public information campaigns than on commercial trailers and ads, rating them at the lowest reasonable classification.

Briggs: Alcohol and Drug Partnerships need more support

Figures released last week show that the number of patients treated for cocaine use at Alcohol and Drug Partnerships in Edinburgh and the Lothians has quadrupled over the last five years, from 64 in 2013/14 (5%) to 273 in 2018/19 (17%).

The number of patients being treated for heroin use has decreased over the last five years, form 601 in 2013/14 (42%) to 566 in 2018/19 (36%).

Heroin remains the drug which the highest number of patients are treated for in Lothian ADPs, followed by Cannabis 301 (19%) and then Cocaine 273 (17%) which has overtaken Diazepam.

In Lothian there are three Alcohol and Drug Partnerships – Edinburgh, West Lothian and Lothian Mid and East ADP.

Conservative Lothian MSP Miles Briggs has been campaigning for improvement to Alcohol and Drug Partnerships in Lothian, which have longer waiting times than in other Scottish health boards. Trouble recruiting staff has been one of the reasons highlighted for longer waiting times in Lothian.

Last year Miles Briggs, who is the Tory health spokesman at Holyrood, criticised Edinburgh Integration Joint Board for withholding £1.4 million in funds, for over a year, that were allocated for substance misuse services.

Scotland has the highest drug rate in the European Union and both the Scottish and UK Government held conferences in Glasgow last week to try and tackle the problem.

Miles Briggs MSP said: “Whilst the number of people treated by Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs) in Edinburgh and the Lothian has remained roughly the same, the type of drugs being treated for has noticeably changed.

“It is reassuring that fewer people are being treated for heroin at ADPs, but the increase in the number of people being treated for cocaine is very worrying.

“Patients who are attending Alcohol and Drug Partnerships must be seen as soon as possible to get treatment and give them the best possible chance of recovery.

“In the Lothians and across Scotland there has been a record number of people who are dying from drug abuse.  There needs to be a shift towards recovery and rehabilitation and all parties must work together to reverse this trend.”

Tes Schools Awards 2020 now open for entries

The Tes Schools Awards, celebrates the extraordinary commitment, quality and innovation shown by teachers and school staff across the UK.

Tes would like to hear about the teachers and teams within your school who are raising the standards of education and making a positive impact on the personal and academic success of students and the wider community.

The awards have 18 categories, including primary school, secondary school, headteacher and healthy school.

Entry is free and open to state schools in the UK. Submit 500 words on why you deserve to win by midnight Friday 27 March 2020.


The list of this year’s categories is as follows:

  1. Classroom support assistant of the year
  2. English teacher or team of the year
  3. Maths teacher or team of the year
  4. Science, technology and engineering teacher or team of the year
  5. New teacher of the year
  6. Headteacher of the year
  7. Best use of technology
  8. Community and collaboration award
  9. School Business Leader of the year
  10. Wellbeing and mental health award
  11. Environment champion of the year
  12. Creative school of the year
  13. Early years setting of the year
  14. Primary school of the year
  15. Secondary school of the year
  16. Alternative provision school of the year
  17. Lifetime achievement
  18. Overall school of the year
Full details of the criteria can be viewed here
The winners will be revealed at a gala awards evening at the JW Marriott Grosvenor House, Park Lane, London on Friday 19 June 2020.

Void Android?

More than one billion Android devices around the world are vulnerable to attack by hackers because they are no longer supported by security updates and built-in protection, new research by Which? has found.

The consumer champion crunched Google data, which shows a staggering two in five (40%) Android users worldwide are no longer receiving vital security updates from Google, potentially putting them at risk of data theft, ransom demands and a range of other malware attacks that could leave them facing bills for hundreds of pounds.

The findings come as Which? adds warnings to its reviews of potentially affected smartphones – which are not necessarily old models and are still available to buy through online marketplaces – so consumers are aware of the risk.

Which? experts took a selection of affected phones and tablets into its labs, including handsets still available to buy from online marketplaces such as Amazon, and found they could easily be hit by a range of malware and other threats.

Researchers tested a range of phones including models from Motorola, Samsung, Sony and LG/Google and found vulnerability to hacks including enabling personal information to be stolen, a hacker to take complete control over the phone or large bills for services that the phone owner hasn’t used themselves.

Recently out-of-support devices won’t immediately have problems, but without security updates, the risk to the user of being hacked goes up exponentially. Generally speaking, the older the phone, the greater the risk.

Anyone using an Android phone released around 2012 or earlier – including popular models like the Samsung Galaxy S3 and Sony Xperia S, should be especially concerned, since it’s likely they will be running a version of Android that does not include various security enhancements Google has been rolling out since.

Google declined to respond when Which? asked for data on how many UK users are likely to be affected. But the consumer champion estimates there could potentially be millions of old unsupported Android devices still in use in the UK.

Which? shared its findings with Google but the tech giant’s response failed to provide reassurance that it has plans in place to help users whose devices are no longer supported.

Which? is calling for far more transparency around how long updates for smart devices will be provided so consumers can make informed buying decisions. The industry must also do a better job of giving support and guidance to customers about their options once security updates are no longer available.

Proposed legislation for mandatory security requirements – putting the onus on manufacturers to provide clear information about how long security updates will be provided for – and strong enforcement for manufacturers, retailers and online marketplaces that fall short are essential to tackle the growing problem of digital obsolescence.

Which? believes Google and other manufacturers also have questions to answer about the environmental impact of phones that can only be supported for three years or less – meaning consumers frequently need to fork out hundreds of pounds to replace them, while old phones end up piled up in landfill.

Kate Bevan, Which? Computing editor, said: “It’s very concerning that expensive Android devices have such a short shelf life before they lose security support – leaving millions of users at risk of serious consequences if they fall victim to hackers.

“Google and phone manufacturers need to be upfront about security updates – with clear information about how long they will last and what customers should do when they run out.

“The government must also push ahead with planned legislation to ensure manufacturers are far more transparent about security updates for smart devices – and their impact on consumers.”

Which? Tips

My Android phone is working fine, so why should I ditch it?

If your Android device is more than two years old, check if it can be updated to a newer version of Android. Open your phone or tablet Settings app, then tap System > Advanced > System update. You can then see your Android version.

If you are on a version before Android 7.0 Nougat, try to update your system. Still in the System update section, follow the instructions to run the update.

If you can’t update to a newer version, you’ll need to consider that there will be an increased risk of using your device going forwards – especially if you are running a version of Android 4 or lower.

What should I do if my mobile phone is no longer updated?

The older the phone, the greater the risk. Anyone with a smartphone that runs Android 4 or earlier should seriously consider whether it’s worth the risk to their data and privacy to continue using the device. However, there is an increased risk to any device that is no longer being supported by security updates. If you are still using such a phone, carefully consider the following advice until you upgrade.

1. Be careful what you download: The majority of threats come from downloading apps from outside the Google Play store, so be very wary of that. If you do sideload an app, check carefully that it is official and always manually re-enable the ‘unknown sources’ block in your Android settings after you’re finished. This is done automatically in newer Android versions.

2. Watch what you click on: As well as traditional phishing threats that might arrive via email, variations on these threats can be sent to a phone via SMS or MMS messages to take advantage of vulnerabilities found on some older versions of Android. Be very wary of clicking on any links that look suspicious, especially if they are from senders you’re not familiar with.

3. Back up your data: Make sure all your data is backed up in at least two places (a hard drive and a cloud service). If something goes wrong and you do get infected, this will help to ensure you won’t lose access to anything vital.

4. Get mobile antivirus: There are a range of additional apps that can provide some protection for your older Android device against security threats. Bear in mind, though, that the choice might be limited for really old Android builds. We could barely find any reputable services for the Sony Xperia Z2 running Android 4.4.

Which? advice guide for people who are using phones that no longer receive security updates: https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/mobile-phones/article/mobile-phone-security-is-it-safe-to-use-an-old-phone

Alex Salmond set to stand trial on sex offence charges

Alex Salmond stands trial today on allegations that he sexually assaulted ten  women while serving as Scotland’s First Minister. Mr Salmond will face 14 charges at the High Court in Edinburgh this morning.

The charges – which the former First Minister says he will vigorously defend –  include allegations of ten sexual assaults, two indecent assaults, one attempted rape and an assault with intent to rape.

Mr Salmond has pled not guilty to all charges and the trial before judge Lady Dorrian is expected to last for four weeks.