This will be the last post until January 2009! Rather than fill you in with depressing facts about the world, why don’t we have a bumper Christmas pop quiz? Work out which songs these lyrics come from. They’re all British number 1 singles and they have been lifted from ‘Fifty No.1 Hits for All Keyboards’ which is available in the UWS Ayr Campus library. If you can’t work them out and you can’t wait until January to find out the answers then learn how Google works! No prizes, I’m afraid, apart from a smug glow of satisfaction if you get them all right without a search engine:
1. No need for greed or hunger
2. You say you’re gonna leave, you know it’s a lie
3. She’s been living in her white bread world
4. Dreams of Santa, dreams of snow
5. Strong words in the staff room
6. Darling I’ll climb any mountain, Darling I’ll do anything
7. I was raised by a toothless bearded hag
8. Gotta have a friend in Jesus
9. We’re gonna put you in a trance with our funky song
10. Hair of gold and lips like cherries
(Bear in mind that ‘Fifty No.1 Hits…’ was published in 1993, so there’s nowt up there from the last 15 years.)
It’s easy-peasy! Give it a go!
The Department of Energy and Climate Change issued this report yesterday. It is intended to set out the nature and potential of the options that are available to the UK energy market.
“The first result of problems with supply, however caused, is likely to be a jump in the price as the market responds, rather than physical interruptions to supply. Such price increases are costly for consumers, but actual supply interruptions have greater costs – forcing 10% of gas demand off the system involuntarily could cost the economy £300m a day.”
The RAE 2008 results were published today. The primary purpose of the RAE 2008 was to produce quality profiles for each submission of research activity made by institutions. The four higher education funding bodies intend to use the quality profiles to determine their grant for research to the institutions which they fund with effect from 2009-10. Any HEI in the UK that is eligible to receive research funding from one of these bodies was eligible to participate.
Results for UWS can be accessed here.
BERR issued this review this week which was established to maintain the universal postal service, that is the collection, sorting, transportation and delivery of letters to all 28 million businesses and residential addresses. It sets out a number of conclusions and recommendations on how the universal service can be maintained.
“The digital age brings both challenges and opportunities for the postal service. Transactional mail (such as bank statements) and social mail are in decline. They account for over a quarter of the UK postal market’s value. Meanwhile, goods ordered on-line (fulfilment mail) are growing and delivered at a higher value than letters. And new technology heralds new services in which post complements other media. Publishing and advertising mail could well benefit.”
These statistics issued by NHS Scotland look at trends in the proportion of children classified as overweight, obese, severely obese, and underweight according to the UK 1990 growth reference for BMI.
“There is continued concern over the levels of obesity among children in Scotland. Obesity during childhood is a health concern in itself, but can also lead to physical and mental health problems in later life, such as heart disease, diabetes, osteoarthritis, back pain, increased risk of cancer, low self-esteem and depression. Obesity develops as a result of an imbalance between energy consumption and energy expenditure.”
The Scottish Government issued this publication today regarding participation in sport in Scotland.
“As a nation, Scotland has the unenviable reputation of relatively poor health compared to much of Europe. Sport can make a contribution to improving health and wellbeing. Sport undoubtedly helps to build strong, resilient, healthy bodies and minds but can also make an important contribution to communities through local clubs and sporting activities; to social justice through the need to learn and comply with the rules and regulations of play; and to the importance of equality and equity.”
Build better indoor facilities then! As I type it is bucketing doon. I for one certainly don’t fancy a game of croquet on the lawn today. Although to be fair my local outdoor 5s pitches-cum-tennis courts got a roof placed over them to keep the weather out last year. A step in the right direction, methinks.
Sorry to bang on about the economy but if it’s in the news then I like to pop it on here:
The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street (how quaint) issued its quarterly bulletin today. Do I really need to tell you that it’s not exactly a P.D. Wodehouse novel?
“The instability of the global financial system was accompanied by a significant deterioration in the global economic outlook and increased investor risk aversion. Consensus forecasts for economic growth were revised sharply lower in both major and emerging economies. The majority of asset prices fell and there were large increases in realised volatilities and also implied volatilities derived from option prices across markets. This asset price volatility also increased the pressure on many financial institutions to reduce the size of their trading positions in order to conserve capital.”
Or…
“Pip, pip, Jeeves,” grumbled Bertie, “the shares in HBOS that Aunt Agatha left me aren’t worth a rubber button. I’m ashamed to say that I’m potless, old man!”
“Very good, sir,” opined the trusted man-servant, as he put on his hat and called for the driver, “I’m off then. You can brush your own teeth.”
Well, what did I say about Woolies? Things are looking ever bleaker for the high street legends. Spare a thought for the staff if you’re heading down to pick over the bones. The LloydsTSB and HBOS merger/takeover was agreed to by HBOS shareholders, which means that Lloyds can now print Scottish money! Not that this will mean much in a few years since we’ll all be spending Euro down the shops (mark my words…it’ll happen…you read it here first [ok then...most recently]). Away from the economy, Gordon Brown flew to Afghanistan to see how things are getting on. I’ll let you concoct your own inappropriately light-hearted quip about frying pans and fires.
Football: St Mirren won! Accies didn’t! Neither did Queens! But Ayr did! Fifty fifty. That’s about as good as it has gotten so far. And congratulations to Chris Hoy for winning the BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2008 award! He can put the trophy in his display cabinet next to his enormous pile of gold medals. Pat on the back to ye, sir!
The Healthcare Commission is the independent health watchdog for England. Its function is to assess and report on the quality and safety of services provide by the NHS and independent sector. This publication is the fifth and final annual ‘State of Healthcare Report’, as the Commission is to be replaced by the Care Quality Commission on 1 April 2009. The report is mainly about the findings for the financial year 2007-08 but it also reflects on the progress that has been made in healthcare over the past five years.
“Our assessments show that the NHS as a whole is getting better at using and managing its resources, and that it is performing better against the wide range of national targets it has to deliver and the core standards it has to meet.”
The Scottish Government issued their annual compendium of Scottish economic statistics yesterday.
“Robust economic statistics are at the heart of understanding economic progress and underpin economic policy decisions and development. Scottish Economic Statistics seeks to maximise the accessibility of statistical information on the Scottish economy. Its key objectives are to present the primary economic data for Scotland, and to share some of the thinking that surrounds the preparation of these data.”
