International Relations | 26.06.2010

Russian and British leaders agree to rebuild relationship

Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: This was the first meeting between the two leaders

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and British Prime Minister David Cameron have agreed to work on their countries' bilateral relations after years of diplomatic strain, the Kremlin announced on Saturday.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and new British Prime Minister David Cameron have agreed to work on defrosting relations between Britain and Russia that have been icy for years, the Kremlin announced on Saturday.

"I think there is a real opportunity to put the bilateral relations on to a new footing," Cameron said at the Group of Eight summit in Huntsville, Canada.

The two leaders met for an hour of bilateral talks on Friday on the sidelines of the summit of the world's leading economies. They agreed to maintain regular contact and to encourage their foreign ministers to work more closely together.

Medvedev agreed there was a new opportunity to set things right.

"We agreed that our bilateral relationship required the personal attention of the leaders of the two countries both in terms of the economy and other issues and we are determined to make them more productive and intense," he said.

Relationship free-fall

British-Russian relations hit a post-Soviet low in 2006 after the fatal poisoning of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in London with a radioactive isotope. British authorities sought to have Russian parliament member Andrei Lugovol extradited in connection with Litvinenko's death, but Moscow refused.

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Litvinenko's death worsened relations between Russia and Britain

Britain granted political asylum to some of the Kremlin's enemies and refused to extradite Boris Berezovsky, a Russian billionaire and critic of the Russian government. Berezovsky was convicted in absentia of fraud and embezzlement in Russia.

The dispute over his extradition led Britain to expel Russian diplomats, moving Russia to follow suit and to shut down two branches of the British Council, a cultural and educational organization connected to the British foreign ministry.

The defrosting of UK-Russia follows a warm-up between Washington and Moscow, which agreed last year to a "reset" of their relationship. Last Thursday, US Presidents Barack Obama and Medvedev met in Washington, where they dodged superpower protocol to slip out to one of the US leader's favorite burger joints.

Author: Holly Fox (dpa/Reuters)
Editor: Kyle James

談論天氣

英國人一生有六個月談論天氣
2010年05月18日 09:37:16 　來源： 中國日報網站
調查：英國人一生有六個月談論天氣

　　上周五公布的一項調查顯示，以關心天氣而著稱的英國人一生中平均有六個月的時間在談論將要下雨還是出太陽。

　　調查稱，58%的英國人在與陌生人或生意夥伴交談時首先會討論一番是否會下雨或抱怨感嘆一通天氣的冷熱。

　　這項由ICM民意調查機構開展的調查共有2018名成年人參加。調查發現，英國人每年談論天氣的時間約為49個小時，而且這一話題比工作、電視、運動或八卦更常出現。

　　在65歲以上的受訪者中，有19%的人還認為自己能像專業天氣預報員一樣預測天氣。

　　英國人之所以如此關注天氣，最通常的解釋是英國天氣的多變，但這無法解釋為什麼其他天氣多變的國家的民眾沒有同樣的興趣。

　　委托開展該調查的英國勞埃德保險集團的保羅 盧埃林說，不管是什麼原因，“這些發現證明英國人的確很關注天氣變化”。

　　相關閱讀

　　世博特供：與天氣有關的習語

　　極端天氣詞匯

　　專家：寒潮和全球變暖不矛盾

　　預言：2010年將是史上最熱年

　　英國人看電視時間增多 每天超四個小時

　　英一半民眾認為氣候變化非人為所致

A man walks along the Albert Embankment in the rain in central London, 2009. According to a survey famously weather-obsessed British people spend on average six months of their lives talking about whether it's going to rain or shine. (Agencies)

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　　Famously weather-obsessed British people spend on average six months of their lives talking about whether it's going to rain or shine, according to a survey published Friday.

　　Speculation about whether it's going to be wet, complaints about the cold and exclamations about the heat are also the first points of conversation with strangers or business acquaintances for 58 percent of Britons, it said.

　　The study of 2,018 adults by pollsters ICM found Britons talk about the weather for about 49 hours every year and the subject comes up more often than work, TV, sport or gossip.

　　Nineteen percent of over 65s questioned also believe they can predict the weather as well as a professional weatherman.

　　The most usual explanation for the fascination with weather is that it is so changeable here -- although this doe not explain why other meteorologically-challenged countries are not similarly interested.

　　Whatever the reason, "these findings prove that we really are a nation obsessed by our climate," said Paul Llewellyn of Lloyds TSB Insurance, which commissioned the poll.

　　(Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Web site.)

　　Vocabulary:

　　meteorologically:with respect to the weather 天氣、氣象方面的


***
《中英對照讀新聞》Britons spend six months of their lives discussing weather 英國人花費6個月的生命討論天氣

◎ 張沛元

Famously weather-obsessed British people spend on average six months of their lives talking about whether it’s going to rain or shine, according to a survey published Friday.

根據週五公佈的一項調查，沉迷於天氣出了名的英國人，平均花費6個月的生命討論老天爺究竟是要下雨還是放晴。

Speculation about whether it’s going to be wet, complaints about the cold and exclamations about the heat are also the first points of conversation with strangers or business acquaintances for 58 percent of Britons, it said.

該調查說，推測天氣是不是會變濕，抱怨天冷，以及驚嘆天熱，也是58%的英國人跟陌生人或工作上的點頭之交交談時的頭號話題。

Nineteen percent of over 65s questioned also believe they can predict the weather as well as a professional weatherman.

19%的65歲以上的受訪者還相信，他們預測天氣的能力，不亞於專業氣象人員。

The most usual explanation for the fascination with weather is that it is so changeable here -- although this does not explain why other meteorologically-challenged countries are not similarly interested.

（英國人）沉迷於天氣的最常見解釋，就是英國的天氣變化多端──儘管此說無法解釋為何其他天氣多變的國家（的民眾）不像英國人對天氣感興趣。

Whatever the reason, "these findings prove that we really are a nation obsessed by our climate," said Paul Llewellyn of Lloyds TSB Insurance, which commissioned the poll.

無論是什麼理由，委託進行這項調查的駿懋保險公司的保羅．呂艾林說，「這些發現證明我們（英國人）真的是一個很沉迷於氣候的國家。」

Economy | 22.06.2010

New British government plans to wipe out record deficit in five years

Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Osborne unveils the budget to parliament

The British government has unveiled plans to balance the books within five years. Sales tax will go up to 20 percent while spending will be cut by 25 percent by 2016.

British Finance Minister George Osborne has introduced a painful budget in order to almost wipe out the UK's record budget deficit of 149 billion pounds to almost nothing within five years. Less than one month after the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government took office, Osborne delivered the emergency austerity budget in the House of Commons, Westminster, central London.

He insisted this budget - the toughest this generation - was intended to undo the previous Labour government's irresponsibility, saying its spending levels were unsustainable.

UK borrowings this year amount to a record 149 billion pounds (180 billion euros or $220 billion). That's 10.1 percent of GDP. Osborne said this was not sustainable and he wants to cut this to 20 billion pounds, or just 1.1 percent of GDP by 2016.

Three-quarters of the belt-tightening will come from spending cuts, the rest from tax increases.

VAT, bank tax to raise billions

One of the biggest money-making measures will be an increase in VAT sales tax from 17.5 per cent to 20 per cent. This will raise 13 billion pounds, or nearly 16 billion euros, annually.

Osborne will also slap on a levy on bank profits from next year, with the support of France and Germany. The levy, once it's in place, will raise around two billion pounds annually, depending on its structure and scale.

Osborne said the coalition government would freeze pay for all but the lowest earning public servants for two years. Welfare spending and benefits will be cut by eleven billion pounds or just over 13 billion euros. He also said there would be no increase in funds paid to Britain's Royal Family for its day-to-day costs. Spending by the Royal Family is in future to be monitored by the National Audit Office.

"When we say that, we are all in this together," Osborne told parliament.

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: A levy for banks is combined with tax breaks for low income earnersIncome tax breaks for low earners

"It seems to be a tighter budget than people generally were anticipating,” said Jonathan Loynes, chief UK economist at Capital Economics. “By the look of the borrowing numbers, there's a bigger squeeze here than most people were expecting.”

Nearly a million of Britain's lowest income earners however will no longer have to pay income tax. The income tax threshold will be raised by 1,000 pounds to 7,475 pounds.

Corporate tax will drop by one percent to 27 percent next year and then keep falling to 24 percent by 2014.

"Our current rate ... is looking less and less competitive so we will do something about it," Osborne said.

Britain's top business lobby, the CBI, welcomed the package.

"Mr Osborne is close to achieving his 80:20 ratio of spending cuts to tax increases, which is so important to sustaining long-term growth,” said CBI director-general Richard Lambert.

“He has struck a sensible balance on capital gains tax, limiting the impact of the increase on entrepreneurial activity and long-term savers. The five-year route map for corporation tax provides much-needed consistency and certainty.”

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Rating agencies warn failure to deliver the budget could affect Britain's credit rating"It's a Tory budget," says Labour

Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg, sat next to Osborne as he delivered his budget nodding in agreement to measures he opposed during his election campaign. Compromises had to be made by both sides of the coalition.

The leader of the opposition Labour Party, Harriet Harman, pronounced the budget to be unashamedly Conservative.

"It’s his first budget and we have seen it all before, this is a Tory budget that will throw people out of work and hold back economic growth and will harm vital public services."

Economists tend to agree that the measures could endanger Britain's recovery from its worst recession since World War II.

Rating agencies however warn Britain's triple-A status could be at risk if Osborne fails in his attempt to cut the record deficit.

"Fear about sustainability of sovereign debt is the greatest risk to the recovery of European economies," said Osborne, justifiying his budget.

He now faces the daunting task of delivering the package while keeping the coalition government together. He will also have to try to keep the British public on board as the painful measures begin to bite. In October, a spending review will show which government departments will be hardest hit and where the axe will fall.

Authors: Olly Barratt/Wilhelmina Lyffyt (Reuters/AFP)
Editor: Michael Lawton

Tony Hayward got his life back

BP Chief Draws Outrage for Attending Yacht Race

Chris Ison/Press Association, via Associated Press

Tony Hayward’s yacht, left, sailed in the J. P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race on Saturday.

By LIZ ROBBINS

Published: June 19, 2010

BP officials on Saturday scrambled yet again to respond to another public relations challenge when their embattled chief executive, Tony Hayward, spent the day off the coast of England watching his yacht compete in one of the world’s largest races.

• Interactive Map: Where Oil Has Made Landfall on the Gulf Coast

• Interactive Map: Tracking the Oil Spill in the Gulf

• Multimedia Feature: Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Multimedia Collection

• Slide Show: Readers' Photos: Gulf Oil Spill

Related

• Times Topic: Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill (2010)

Two days after Mr. Hayward angered lawmakers on Capitol Hill with his refusal to provide details during testimony about the worst offshore oil spill in United States history, and one day after BP’s chairman said the chief executive would not be as involved in daily operations in the Gulf of Mexico, Mr. Hayward sparked new controversy from afar.

“He is having some rare private time with his son,” a BP spokeswoman, Sheila Williams, said in a telephone interview on Saturday.

But Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, who taped an interview for ABC’s “This Week,” called Mr. Hayward’s attendance at the race “part of a long line of P.R. gaffes and mistakes” that he has made.

“To quote Tony Hayward, he’s got his life back,” Mr. Emanuel said.

On May 31, six weeks after the spill began, Mr. Hayward uttered “I’d like my life back,” a comment that struck many in the gulf region as insensitive, and for which he eventually apologized.

On Saturday, Senator Richard Shelby, Republican of Alabama, called Mr. Hayward’s yacht outing the “height of arrogance,” in an interview with Fox News.

“I can tell you that yacht ought to be here skimming and cleaning up a lot of the oil,” Mr. Shelby said. “He ought to be down here seeing what is really going on. Not in a cocoon somewhere.”

But Mr. Hayward’s role in the gulf became the topic of further speculation on Saturday, even as Ms. Williams, the BP spokeswoman, insisted that Mr. Hayward was still in charge of the company and the enormous cleanup operations.

“Tony receives regular updates from the gulf,” she said in an e-mail message.

On Friday, the chairman of the board of BP, Carl-Henric Svanberg, told the British TV network Sky News that Mr. Hayward would be “now handing over” the daily operations in the gulf to Robert Dudley, an American who joined BP as part of its acquisition of Amoco a decade ago.

On Saturday, BP tried to clarify what Mr. Svanberg had said about the transition of leadership in the gulf. “What he meant by ‘now,’ ” Ms. Williams said, was that “there would be a transition over to Bob over a period of time.”

“Obviously, Tony’s main priority remains overseeing all BP operations,” she said. “Over all, there will be some responsibilities handed over, but Tony will remain in full control until we have stopped the leak.”

When that might happen is not clear. Crude oil is flowing at a rate estimated between 35,000 and 60,000 barrels of oil a day from the damaged well, and BP has been able to capture only a percentage of that with its current containment methods.

BP said it was aiming to stop the leak in August, when two relief wells it is drilling will intersect with the damaged one. The company said on Friday that it was ahead of schedule on one of the wells and within 200 feet of the side of the damaged well, but that the drilling would proceed more slowly the closer it got.

Workers had captured 24,500 barrels of oil on Friday before shutting down the operation because of a malfunction on the vessel that is siphoning the oil from the leaking well — 1,000 fewer barrels than on Thursday. Operations restarted early Saturday.

By then, Mr. Hayward was already in Cowes on the southern coast of England for the J. P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race, a yacht race around the Isle of Wight. A spokeswoman for the race said in an e-mail message “that a gentleman by the name of Tony Hayward is a co-owner of an entered boat called ‘Bob’ that was racing today, however his name did not appear on any crew list.”

The boat finished fourth in a class of 45 others.

國際/漏油還未處理完　BP執行長參加帆船賽

沈子涵/整理

　法新社倫敦19日電，據媒體報導，英國石油公司（BP）執行長海華德（Tony Hayward）今天參加英國一項頗負盛名的帆船比賽。另外，今天據證實海華德已將墨西哥灣洩油案日常控制權交出。

　這項報導引起英國環保團體的憤怒，他們說，對海華德和英國石油公司而言，「這又是一次公關災難」。英國石油處理漏油危機的作法一直被美國各界所 批評。

　海華德比賽用帆船「鮑伯號」（Bob）是參加「摩根資產管理環島賽」（JP Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race），數百艘帆船繞著英格蘭南部威特島（Wight）競逐。鮑伯號是由海華德和其他兩人共同擁有。

Alistair Darling

Overheard

Wednesday's Mansion House dinner was supposed to be new U.K. Chancellor George Osborne's big night out. But by far the biggest applause of the evening from assembled City grandees went to predecessor Alistair Darling, much to his evident surprise. The Treasury boss in Gordon Brown's government looked nervous to be back in the City so soon after Labour's election defeat—understandably, given City anger over the 50% tax rate, the bonus tax and his bank-bashing rhetoric.

But when Osborne paid tribute, acknowledging Darling's "very hard work in difficult circumstances", even some of Labour's bitterest critics were seen clapping hard. Perhaps they recognized that the hardest circumstances the unflappable Darling faced was working under a Prime Minister who famously unleashed "the forces of hell" upon him. And they could only imagine what Brown might have unleashed on the City were Darling not there to restrain him.

Britain apologizes for Bloody Sunday killings

Britain apologizes for Bloody Sunday killings

This week the results of a twelve-year-long inquiry into Bloody Sunday
concluded that the British army opened fire on unarmed civilians during a
civil rights march in Derry in 1972.

The DW-WORLD.DE Article
http://newsletter.dw-world.de/re?l=ew590zI44va89pI2

英国终于向北爱尔兰表示道歉

本周，对北爱尔兰居民来说是一个惊喜降临和令人满意的日子。英国首相卡梅伦正式向事发于38年前的"血腥星期日"事件表示道歉。38年前，英国伞兵 在伦敦德里市向游行示威者开枪，造成13人丧生。历史学家将那起血案视为一个转折点，它使长达数十年之久的北爱暴力冲突进一步升级。Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: 1972 年1月30日的“血腥星期日”

卡梅伦公布的报告与早先的报告完全不同，新的报告没有对史实进行美化和修饰，而是内容翔实，令公众社会吃惊不小。新报告得出的结论是，英国士兵应对 当年的血案承担责任。这是北爱尔兰人的一贯立场，但英国人在此之前却并不这么认为。

英国此举堪称典范。因为国家对无辜百姓使用暴力的做法不会被人们轻易忘却。唯有政府诚实地面对历史真相，进行妥善处理才能赢得民众的信任。也就是 说：卡梅伦的道歉虽说迟了一步，但尚不为时过晚。才40出头的卡梅伦在星期日血案发生时年仅5岁，如今他的道歉之举给人们留下了极佳的印象。

An English fan lets his neighbors know where his sentiments lie

Die-Hard Fans: For the Love of Soccer

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Matt Cardy / Getty Images

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Home Decor
An English fan lets his neighbors know where his sentiments lie.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1997221_2153253,00.html#ixzz0rLoo21IQ

The London Review of Books (or LRB)

The London Review of Books (or LRB) is a fortnightly British literary and political magazine.

The LRB was founded in 1979 during the year-long lock-out at The Times. Its founding editors were Karl Miller, then professor of English at University College London, Mary-Kay Wilmers, formerly an editor at The Times Literary Supplement, and Susannah Clapp, a former editor at Jonathan Cape. For its first six months it appeared as an insert in the New York Review of Books. In May 1980, the London Review became an independent publication with a self described 'consistently radical' editorial orientation.^[1] Unlike the TLS, the majority of the articles the LRB publishes (usually fifteen per issue) are long essays; some in each issue are not based around books, and several short articles discuss film or exhibitions.

Mary-Kay Wilmers, the current editor, took over from Miller in 1992. Average circulation per issue from 1 January 2006 to 31 December 2006 was 44,754.^[2]

Contributors

Notable contributors have included:

Tariq Ali Martin Amis Benedict Anderson Perry Anderson Neal Ascherson John Ashbery Andrew Bacevich Julian Barnes Alan Bennett Tony Blair Anita Brookner Anne Carson Angela Carter Stanley Cavell Bruce Chatwin Patrick Cockburn Terry Eagleton William Empson Paul Farmer Jerry Fodor Paul Foot Martha Gellhorn Stephen Greenblatt Mark Greif Nigel Hamilton Christopher Hitchens Eric Hobsbawm Frank Kermode

Colin Kidd India Knight John Lanchester Donald MacKenzie Hilary Mantel Wyatt Mason Hugh Miles Tom Nairn Martha Nussbaum Andrew O'Hagan Tom Paulin Nicholas Penny Adam Phillips Lorna Sage Edward Said Elaine Showalter Richard Rorty Jacqueline Rose David Runciman Salman Rushdie Iain Sinclair Susan Sontag Ernest Sackville Turner Marina Warner James Wood Slavoj Žižek

Notes

1. ^ "The LRB has maintained a consistently radical stance on politics and social affairs", Alan Bennett, July 1996, in the Foreword to Jane Hindle (editor) London Review of Books: An Anthology, Verso, 1996. ISBN 1-85984-860-5
2. ^ Media info on LRB website [1]

External links

• London Review of Books website
• London Review of Books Digital Edition
• 30 Years of LRB

Museum of London

Museum of London

Discover the story of the world's greatest city at the new £20 million Galleries of Modern London.

Five galleries and 7,000 objects transport you through the capital's tumultuous history from 1666 to today.

倫敦博物館「高貴」新館 超吸睛
20100618 09:48:15
（中央社記者黃貞貞倫敦17日專電）http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/English/倫敦博物館斥資2000萬英鎊、歷時7年擴建的5個新展館，近日起全面免費開放參觀，7000件展品訴說自1666年 以來倫敦精彩的悠久歷史。 倫敦博物館歷史收藏部主任沃納（Alex Werner）接受中央社記者訪問時說，展場中必看的是1757年製造，倫敦金融城市長的專屬馬車。 這輛鍍金的古董馬車「貴氣逼人」，車上並有多幅精緻的畫作，展現金融城市長的權貴，每年11月新市長上任時就會搭馬車參加一年一度的遊城活動。 沃納說，金融城是倫敦經濟的命脈所在，市長座車上鑲有代表4個洲的特殊設計，後座並有鍍金的雕像，「金光閃閃」。 不過因為古董馬車年代久遠，「防震」功能欠佳，新市長坐在馬車內遊街可以說是「一路顛簸」，不過歷任市長都樂在其中，堅持不換遊行坐騎。 253年前這輛古董車委託訂作時造價860英鎊，現在已價值連城，是館內「超吸睛」的展品，參觀民眾親眼看到市長的座車，都十分驚喜，並仔細駐足觀看。 展場內另一個明星展物是知名百貨公司「賽福居」（Selfridges）1928年裝設使用的電梯，創辦人、美國企業家塞爾福瑞吉（Gordon Selfridge）1909年在倫敦市中心牛津街成立這家高級百貨公司，引領風潮，首創電梯服務小姐，銅製電梯充滿古典設計與巧思。 賽福居在1920年代率先推出系列促銷活動及精美櫥窗設計，店外長龍號稱全球商家最長。 會場內展示2部1908年的倫敦古董計程車，與現代計程車同樣是黑色，但體積更為龐大，還有1輛1959年代的偉士牌（Vespa）摩托車，當年倫敦市區 街道處處可見它四處穿梭的蹤影。 館方同時精心重建19世紀維多利亞時代的商店風貌，包括茶行、玩具店、瓷器店、理髮店及酒吧等，走入其中有時光倒流之感；並將喬治亞時代的「歡樂花 園」（pleasure garden）重新呈現，18世紀別緻的服飾和配件美不勝收。 1960年代起源倫敦的迷你裙，也可以在館內看到；1752年當時的倫敦金融城市長之女范紹（Ann Fanshawe）所穿的絲綢禮服，費時6個月編織而成，裙擺寬2公尺，精緻的手藝與設計，令人讚嘆。 沃納表示，倫敦博物館是唯一能讓參觀者認識倫敦建城歷史的博物館，從羅馬時代、中古時代、莎士比亞時代的倫敦，第2次世界大戰期間、一直到近代，可以了解 不同階段倫敦的面貌，全年每天免費開放參觀。 倫敦市民馬汀（Martin）追蹤新館開放的消息多時，特別帶著一雙年幼兒女參觀。他告訴中央社記者，他們在館內停留了約1小時，從200年前的倫敦歷史 展館一直看到19世紀近代史，全家人都很盡興，學習到很多。 馬汀說，他印象最深刻是是館方善加利用空間，呈現不同時代的倫敦樣貌，讓參觀者可以發揮想像力。 年僅7歲的亞歷山大（Alexander）說，他很喜歡倫敦博物館的新展館，因為不同年代可以讓他有想像的空間，有不同的體驗，感覺很棒。 「如果我的朋友喜歡穿越不同時空的感覺，那我會建議他們來這裡參觀」。（本文附有影音和照片）990617

The 'British' in Petroleum

Overheard: The 'British' in Petroleum

When it comes to naming and shaming, the White House has recently elevated the practice to an art form. Over the weekend, the U.S. ambassador to the U.K. indicated in an interview that President Obama will stop referring to a certain unloved oil company as British Petroleum. His administration has come in for criticism across the pond for playing to nationalist sentiment by pointedly reviving a somewhat parochial name BP stopped using itself 12 years ago, when it bought U.S. oil firm Amoco.

If reverting to the oil major's old name was politically motivated, though, perhaps White House officials missed a trick. Had they delved deeper into BP's history, they would have found that until 1954, the company was known as Anglo-Iranian Oil. In terms of whipping up populist fervor, what could beat a name combining the redcoats with America's Middle Eastern antagonist?

The British Cartoon Archive

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1. The Cartoon Art Trust - Cartoon Art and Caricature

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   The Cartoon Art Trust is dedicated to preserving and promoting the best of British cartoon art and caricature and to establish a museum of cartoon art with ...
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2. Cartoon Museum, London | Culture24

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   The Cartoon Museum exhibits the very finest examples of British cartoons, caricature, and comic art from the 18th century to the present day. ...
   www.culture24.org.uk/am15435 - 頁庫存檔 - 類 似內容

3. British Cartoon Archive at University of Kent, Canterbury | Culture24

The British Cartoon Archive is located in Canterbury at the University of Kent’s Templeman Library. It has a library, archive, and exhibition gallery, and is dedicated to the history of British cartooning over the last two hundred years. The BCA holds the artwork for more than 150,000 British editorial, socio-political, and pocket cartoons, supported by large collections of comic strips, newspaper cuttings, books and magazines. The collection of artwork dates back to 1904 and includes work by W.K. Hasleden, Will Dyson, Strube, David Low,Vicky, Emmwood, Michael Cummings, Ralph Steadman, Mel Calman, Nicholas Garland, Chris Riddell, Carl Giles, Martin Rowson, and Steve Bell, amongst many others.

The BCA Gallery is located within the Templeman Library, and is freely open without appointment during Library hours. If you would like to carry out research in the BCA collections, or talk to a member of staff, the office is open on weekdays between 9.00am and 5.00pm.

Available from the BCA....
This exhibition catalogue draws on Giles vast private archive. It reflects every aspect of his professional life, from producing the cartoons and running his studio, to dealing with editors and replying to fans. Giles - One of the Family £25

英中网/ 英國記分制標准

英中時報英中网 - [ 轉為繁體網頁 ]介绍英国及世界华人社区的大事及要闻。

英國記分制標准多變 中國留學生被指造假遭遣返

2010-06-05 廣 西新聞網

中新網6月5日電 據英國《英中時報》報道，碩士畢業，在倫敦一家華人公司新近找到工作的小杭，沒有想到她的生活軌跡近日會因為申請PSW(Post Study Work)簽証而遭遇戲劇性的扭轉。

去年12月拿到碩士學位，今年2月28日學生簽証到期，小杭在年初和許多留學生一樣，搜羅材料，准備PSW簽証的申請。“都是DIY(自己做)，”小杭表 示她沒有想過要找中介幫忙代辦，因為很多畢業生上學校國際部的網站，再去留學生論壇看網友的經驗介紹，都能順利拿到這個兩年期的畢業工作簽。

2月26日，小杭寄出了所有的材料：申請表、護照、學位証、學校証明信(Student Status Certificate)、警察局注冊信，還有一疊銀行賬單(Bank Statement)。“前面兩個月我用的是HSBC寄到家里的銀行賬單，但是二月初到三月初的這份，我在寄出申請材料前，沒有辦法拿到。我就用銀行打印 出來的那一份賬單，蓋了章，還讓工作人員簽了字。”

按照內政部的要求，銀行或其他金融機構出具的資金証明必須涵蓋申請人的姓名、帳號、日期、機構的標識、三個月的交易記錄等。在留學生論壇上，很多遭遇類似 情況的申請人在不能及時獲得寄到家中的銀行賬單時，都採取了打印賬單，並讓銀行工作人員加蓋公章和簽字的方式。有的還要求銀行出具說明信函，來保証材料的 完整性。

“那麼多人都申請下來了，偏偏我就出了問題，”小杭在語氣中透著委屈和不滿。


內政部扣留


寄出申請後，小杭一直等內政部的回信。在這期間，她在倫敦找到了一份工作，從原來求學的謝菲爾德搬到倫敦。從三月到四月，她沒有收到任何有關申請結果的消 息，自己拜托朋友去原住址查收信件，也沒有發現來函。

五月初的一天，她接到內政部一位工作人員的電話。“對方讓我去謝菲爾德的內政部辦事處領取申請材料，我告訴他(她)已經搬到倫敦，讓他(她)把材料寄到我 倫敦的新地址。”但是對方要求她在5月27日前往倫敦橋附近的內政部辦事處取材料。

“約的是早上九點，我那天和公司請了假。到了那里，就被人帶到一個小房間，一個英國女士出來，給我簽証申請的拒信，說我在申請中用了假銀行賬單。”

小杭當時就傻了眼，“我跟她解釋我沒有用假材料，但是她說內政部已經聯絡過銀行，確認這是假材料。”

更讓小杭沒法接受的是，她的簽証拒信上寫著“你沒有上訴的權利”(There is no right of appeal against this decision)。“連給我一個解釋的機會都沒有，這太不公平了。”

面談之後，她就不被允許走出辦公室，工作人員出于“安全”考慮還沒收了她的手機。被拒簽，又不能回家，小杭說這超出了她心理承受的底線，“當時我就哭 了”。


送交遣返中心


當天(5月27日)下午，工作人員安排了一輛車，把她送到了貝德福德郡的Yarl’s Wood移民遣返中心。

她拿到了手機，可以聯絡家人朋友。“我只把遭遇告訴了男友和幾個最好的朋友，對父母只說是簽証被拒了。父母一直安慰我，說移民政策可能變得更嚴了，拒簽也 可以理解。”

次日，她獲准見移民官員，可以就拒簽信提出任何疑問。移民官告訴她因為拒信上寫了她沒有上訴的權利，她是不能在英國上訴的。小杭拿到的一張上訴表格，上面 寫明了申請人必須在離開英國之後才可以上訴，期限是離境之後的28天內。

此外，拒信上說明如果當事人是自願回國，不花政府錢，只有一年的入境限制；如果花了政府錢自願離境，限制為五年；但是如果是被遣返(Remove)或驅逐 出境(Deport)則限制為十年。這個限制不包括當事人以親屬或伴侶的身份申請入境。

小杭表示她還沒有明白狀況，就已經被告知離境時間和航班。“我告訴他們，我願意自己買機票回國，自願離境；對方說自己買機票和政府買機票是沒有區別的。當 時他們就已經給我辦好了離境手續，6月3號下午的飛機。”

接受記者採訪時，小杭已經在遣返中心待了五天。“遣返中心的條件很好，”小杭表示，“沒有遇到不公平的對待。”她的一些好友還專門來看望她，幫助她打包好 行李，聯絡海運公司，再找了一家搬家公司把剩下的隨身行李送到遣返中心。

朋友也相繼為她找了律師進行法律咨詢，“律師說我這種情況很難處理，因為機票買好了，時間很急。要寫信到高院，撤消內政部的決定，把我保釋出來，然後再上 訴。

“費用需要三千到五千英鎊，這個對我來說太高了。所以我還是想先回國，請律師在這里為我代理，費用會低一些。”

小杭表示她一定要討回公道，“我不想背著這個拒簽記錄，就算不來英國，我去其他國家也會被影響。”她表示對最終是否獲得PSW簽証沒有要求，“希望上訴以 後內政部可以把這個決定撤銷，給我道歉。”


記分制標准多變


《英中時報》記者專門就此案例咨詢了一些移民律師的意見，理查森律師事務所的李律師表示引入記分制簽証體系以後，拒簽率比以前高，但是在小杭的案例里，還 有很多事實尚待澄清。

李律師說：“英國自從引入記分制簽証體系之後，處理簽証的效率比以往提高了很多，但是同時拒簽率也相應提高。以前內政部還會寫信給申請人，讓他們補充材 料，然後再受理申請，現在是直接拒了。”

按照李律師的說法，引入記分制之後，計分標准“幾乎每兩到三個月就會變”，包括一些大學的國際辦公室，在指導學生申請PSW的時候都會出現紕漏，“很多案 例是大批量出現的”。她建議PSW的申請人在准備材料的時候，要盡量小心，做到真實完備。

對于小杭的案例，李律師表示，內政部對拒簽的申請人不給上訴權利的情況，有過先例，但並不常見，且在特定情況下，內政部有剝奪個案當事人上訴權的權力。

李律師認為在這個案例中，“事情發展太快，當事人甚至來不及作出反應”。在與小杭溝通之後，她說當事人自己也不是非常清楚假材料的情況。“拒信上說銀行賬 單是假材料，但是沒有給理由。小杭自己也不知道為什麼是假材料。”

在採訪中，小杭向記者表示，自己的賬戶一直在使用中，沒有“不正常”的跡象。“賬戶上錢一直不多，最後為了達到簽証要求的八百鎊，還去補足了賬戶，等了三 個月。”

華英國際律師事務所的姚律師表示小杭遇到的情況“十分罕見”，“如果有銀行出具的信函証明賬單是真實的，就可以寫信給高院阻止遣返”。姚律師表示因為這個 案例涉及的是PSW簽証，如果是學生簽証被拒，上訴會更“有力”。

有多年移民事務咨詢經驗的章先生表示，按照當事人小杭的描述，內政部處理該案的手法較為反常，其中或許另有內情。有一種可能是，小杭本人掌握或提供的信息 或非事實之全部。另一種可能是，內政部出于某種考慮，對此申請個案給出的解釋有所保留。


PSW申請變得更難？


《英中時報》記者還就保守黨上台後是否對PSW簽証有所收緊咨詢兩位律師，姚律師表示目前沒有新的移民政策出台，也沒有政策要變的風聲。從大多數PSW的 申請情況來看，等待時間和申請要求，都和以往相同。

李律師表示，小杭遭遇的個案不能說明申請PSW變得更難。“保守黨上台，很多人會捕風捉影，感覺上好像是難了，但是實際上並沒有難，這時候有風吹草動很容 易被誇大。”

李律師表示：“不管移民法怎麼改，我認為在辦理申請時，不要心存僥幸使用假材料。一旦被發現，後果是非常嚴重的，不但五年、十年不能入境，也會影響去其他 國家的簽証申請。”

對于申請被拒的情況，李律師說：“如果申請被拒，也不要慌張。首先要冷靜，不要病急亂投醫。身在國外，很多情況是國內碰不到的，這時候要正確尋求法律援 助。移民局只是一個機構，移民局上面還有法院。如果你覺得移民局的決定是不合理的，在懂法律的人的協助下，是可以上訴法院，為自己爭取回公道。”

小杭在採訪的最後，向記者表示：“現在冷靜下來了，很期待回家。”截至發稿時，小杭已經在回國的途中，該報也將繼續關注並跟蹤報道她的上訴情況。(潘張 暘)

Britain scoffs at Fergie's tell-all interview on Oprah

Society | 04.06.2010

Postcard: Britain scoffs at Fergie's tell-all interview on Oprah

Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Sarah Ferguson poured her heart out to Oprah

The Duchess of York went on the Oprah Winfrey show this week to tell her side of the "selling Prince Andrew for cash" video. Carol Allen in London assesses the reaction to the story in the UK in this week's postcard.

When the story first broke in the weekly tabloid News of the World under the screaming banner headline "Fergie sells Andy for 500 K," the inevitable speedy follow-up in the rest of the press was certainly critical. The UK media heaped scorn, for example, on the Duchess' claims to be broke in view of her extravagant lifestyle. But it was also not unsympathetic.

One columnist described her as "a loud lively lass with a twinkle in her eye and an appalling taste in everything from men to clothes, who was, undoubtedly, fun." But even this supportive voice admitted that this time "the cat has used up all her lives. The Desperate Duchess has taken over from the jolly royal and is not a pretty sight."

The Guardian suggested that a prince and by implication his ex-wife should be able to sell his influence like any other well-connected non-royal might do. But the same paper suggested, perhaps with tongue in cheek, that the Queen would do well to welcome Fergie back into the royal family on the grounds that such a move would render her "dumb with gratitude, which is precisely what the royal family yearns for."

The view was also put forward that far from being a major scandal, this was merely "the tipsy ex-wife of a man with a pretend job, making empty promises to a pretend businessman." And it was a small tragedy rather than a huge scandal.

Lack of royal dignity

By the middle of the week, the story was beginning to die down. Then the silly woman announced she was going to confess all on the Oprah Show and the carnival started up again.

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Carol Allen reflects on Fergie's motivations

For us Brits, public breast beating is just embarrassing. I know so-called celebs do it all the time now. But to audiences here, it's really a 21st century form of bear baiting. We expect a bit more dignity from our royals, even if they're only ex-royals by marriage.

The headlines here reporting on the Oprah confessional have tended to center on her admission that she'd been drinking when she made her offer to sell her hubby for a few silver dollars. Looking at "that video," she certainly does appear to be one or two over the eight, boasting in a rather adolescent way about the power and influence of her ex-hubby and staring greedily at the mini mountain of dollar bills representing her initial supposed wage packet.

Other aspects of her Oprah appearance - lines like "'I was out of control with desperation" or "I was in the gutter at that moment" and - here we go - "now I have to move forward. I will beg for forgiveness" all have the power of a third-rate 1940s B-movie.

The Times quotes Oprah's description of Fergie as she appears on the News of the World video as a "spiritually, morally bankrupted person." And the Daily Telegraph concludes that "few people will change their opinion of her - as a dim, greedy Sloane, fatally addicted to the limelight."

The expected storm of red top moralizing though is surprisingly low key, apart from a few predictable snipes at her use of psycho babble. Perhaps they exhausted their bile in the first round.

A shrewd move?

The most interesting quotes, though, come from Fergie's so-called friends.

"She hasn't had this much publicity since she was married to Prince Andrew," says one. And even more revealingly: "She wants to assess what the reaction to her interview is before she makes any firm decisions. But it looks like she could return to America for work as early as next week."

And that's it of course, as another columnist pointed out earlier in the week.

"Americans love a good dose of contrition on their TV screens," the columnist wrote. "It appeals to their cultural ideal that all sinners can be redeemed."

So maybe Fergie doesn't give a fig any more for what we think of her in the UK. She has her children's books to sell, debts to pay and if, as rumor hath it, she's planning to make her home in America, maybe the Oprah performance is actually a shrewd move and she's not such a dumb redhead after all.

Author: Carol Allen
Editor: Sabina Casagrande

The Florence Nightingale Museum

倫敦看南丁格爾一生

2010-06-02

【明 報專訊】耗資1400萬英鎊重建的南丁格爾博物館（The Florence Nightingale Museum）已於她的誕辰日（5月12日）重新開放。

博物館位於倫敦中部泰晤士河南岸的聖湯瑪斯醫院（St Thomas' Hospital）內。南丁格爾於1820年出生於佛羅倫斯，生長於富裕之家，打破維多利亞時代立下的女性常規，沒有當上不問世事的少奶奶，反而投身當時 被視為低下工作的護士行列。她熱心工作，並成功爭取維多利亞女王頒令調查士兵的健康報告，最後大大改善士兵的生活條件，有效減低疾病傳播。她亦創立第一所 南丁格爾護士訓練學校（Nightingale Training School for Nurses），培養更多人才，而學校正正位於聖湯瑪斯醫院。

南 丁格爾博物館設有三個展廳，分別展出南丁格爾於維多利亞時期的童年成長歷程、於土耳其克里米亞戰事中的貢獻，以及她後來改革醫療護理的事。此外，博物館 亦紀念護理專業的誕生，並追溯南丁格爾對現今護理行業所作的貢獻。

地址﹕St Thomas' Hospital, Westminster Bridge Road, London SE1 7EH

門票﹕5.8英鎊（約65港元）

開放時間 ﹕上午10:00至下午5:00

鄰近地鐵站﹕Westminster或Waterloo

網址 ﹕http://www.florence-nightingale.co.uk

文﹕黃潔玲

Drew, Kathleen in updated Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

Titanic musician and palace intruder enter dictionary

Wallace Hartley sailed on the Titanic in April 1912

A teenager who broke into Buckingham Palace three times and the Titanic band leader are among 90 people added to the updated Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

Dictionary editor Philip Carter said they were examples of lives that were connected with well-known events.

Edward Jones claimed he sat upon the throne during his palace escapades in the late 1830s, his entry says.

Wallace Hartley famously played on deck as the Titanic sank in 1912.

The dictionary was first published in 2004, and now contains 57,348 lives, with about 300 added every year. No living person is included in the dictionary.

Dr Carter said Edward Jones, nicknamed the Boy Jones or In-I-Go Jones by newspapers, was suggested by a history academic - a frequent way in which names are considered for inclusion.

[Edward Jones was] an emblem of persistent, if inappropriate, ambition Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

Edward Jones became a household name after three successful entries into Buckingham Palace as a teenager, including one within days of Queen Victoria giving birth.

He claimed he wanted to see what life was like inside the palace, but was twice sentenced to hard labour for trespass.

Reluctantly sent to sea to remove him from further mischief, he was known as "an emblem of persistent, if inappropriate, ambition", the dictionary says.

With press coverage, serious concern from the Home Office, and interest from Charles Dickens, Dr Carter said: "There was huge interest in this individual and it was a well-known event. We wanted to reflect those kind of episodes and aspects of British life."

The story of Wallace Hartley is more well known in the 21st Century. He and his seven-man orchestra have had 13 memorials worldwide erected to them, double the number erected to the Titanic's captain, the dictionary says.

The band played until the ship sank at 0220 on 15 April 1912, less than three hours after hitting an iceberg on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York. Their last tune was Nearer, my God, to thee. Mr Hartley was found with his violin strapped to his body.

"As victims who acted courageously and benevolently, and who were in no way responsible for the Titanic's loss, the ship's musicians became emblematic of the dignity and heroism shown by many during the disaster," his entry says.

Seaweed saviour

Also honoured beyond Britain is Lancashire-born scientist Kathleen Drew. A memorial was set up to her in Uto City, Japan, where she is known as "the Mother of the Sea" for her pioneering work in red algae which led to large-scale seaweed cultivation.

Red algae, also known as porphyra, had been a Japanese food source for over 2,000 years, but poor harvests in the late 1940s and a typhoon in 1951 had led to the collapse of the industry, but Mrs Drew's research reversed the decline.

Before she died from cancer in September 1957, she burnt all her letters and documents, leaving little trace of her character, the dictionary says.

But the dictionary said: "She had a clear and acute mind, and was forthright, generous, sincere, and devoted to her friends. A colleague of integrity, she had high standards in everything she did."

------

Kathleen Mary Drew-Baker (1901-1957) was a British phycologist, born in Leigh, Lancashire, particularly known for her basic research on the edible seaweed Porphyra laciniata (nori), which led to a breakthrough for commercial growing.

Drew-Baker studied the life cycle of the red alga Porphyra umbilicalis and found out that the microscopic Conchocelis - hitherto thought of as an independent alga - was the diploid stage of the same organism that Porphyra is the macroscopic, haploid stage^[1]. Her investigations were soon repeated by the Japanese phycologist Sokichi Segawa, which in turn provided knowledge to revolutionize Japanese nori culture, which before had suffered from unpredictable harvests. Already by 1953, Fusao Ota and other Japanese marine biologists had developed artificial seeding techniques, building on her work. This in turn increased production and led to a boost in Japanese seaweed industry. She is still today hailed as the Mother of the Sea in Japan.^[2] She is celebrated each year on April 14.

Drew-Baker spent most of her academic life at the cryptogamic botany department of the University of Manchester, serving as a Lecturer in Botany and Researcher from 1922 to 1957. She also spent two years working at the University of California. She was a co-founder of the British Phycological Society and the society's first president.

References

1. ^ Drew, Kathleen M. (1949). "Conchocelis-phase in the life-history of Porphyra umbilicalis (L.) Kütz". Nature 164 (4174): 748–749. doi:10.1038/164748a0. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v164/n4174/abs/164748a0.html.
2. ^ "Titanic musician and palace intruder enter dictionary". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8705942.stm. Retrieved 27 May 2010.

External links

• Portrait photograph

a new playground opened London’s Hyde Park

Feeling the burn in your golden years

London is now home to the latest playground designed specifically to get
the senior set up off their feet and out into the world.

The DW-WORLD Article
http://newsletter.dw-world.de/re?l=ew51p0I44va89pI3

Spectrum | 01.06.2010 | 17:30

Feeling the burn in your golden years

Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:

London is now home to the latest playground designed specifically to get the senior set up off their feet and out into the world.

The park playground is a place you’d expect to see hoards of young children but a new playground opened just last week in London’s Hyde Park is set to change that. The 'Hyde Park Senior Playground' has a strictly 15 and over door policy, and features six pieces of sports equipment designed specifically with the more mature user in mind.´