TOP 100 ENGLAND SITES
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| MoD names Afghan explosion victim A soldier killed in an explosion while on patrol in Afghanistan has been named as Rifleman Suraj Gurung. bbc.co.uk |
Trapped Chilean miners: countdown to the party of a lifetime Waiting families are focus of nation's euphoriaAnother sunset over Camp Hope, and as temperatures dropped the Avalos family huddled closer to the fire, savouring the heat while the wood and charcoal lasted. Sparks fizzed and died in the inky blackness.Everything has changed. This improvised settlement of miners' relatives, once a desolate wasteland fearing the worst, is now the focus of a nation's euphoria. A lonely vigil has become a crowded, giddy countdown to the party of a lifetime.Families which came here yearning for news are now the news themselves, their every smile, every hug, recorded and transmitted to a watching world. "You'd barely recognise the place," said Alfonso Avalos, 53, father of two sons trapped below, rubbing his hands in front of the flames.Sixty-five days after the San José mine collapsed in Chile's northern desert, trapping 33 miners, the site above resembles a peculiar carnival. A clown entertained children in Spider-Man costumes. A van served burgers and sausages. Tents sprouted from the rocks. Reporters in fleeces spoke into TV cameras.Authorities announced on Saturday night that a drill had reached the miners, and the men 700 metres below would probably start to be extracted on Wednesday.The news triggered joy across Chile. Two months ago this was a country that lived off mining but did not know its miners, the men from mostly poor families and hardscrabble towns who vanished into the earth and lived largely invisible lives.Now, after a drama to rival Apollo 13, this other Chile has intruded into the shiny, cosmopolitan Chile. Isabel Allende, a leftist senator for the region, hailed the country's sense of togetherness. "This is the Chile we want."Caspar Quintana, the bishop of Copiapó, said the crisis had changed the country. "There is an incredible sense of unity and solidarity throughout society."The Avalos family did not argue with that. The fire's glow illuminated prestigious visitors who stopped to chat: Laurence Golborne, the mining minister; Gerardo Roja, the mayor of their home town, Salamanca; even Chavela Vargas, a Mexican-American pop star."We appreciate the support. It's wonderful to see all these people here," said Alfonso, sipping mate, the bitter tea-like beverage, from a wooden gourd. The family nodded. There was a silence. Nobody wanted to spoil the carnival spell, but hovering in the night chill was a doubt. Everything has changed, but for how long? Once the men are out, and their celebrity fades, will the Chile of poverty, limited education and marginalisation still occupy the agenda of the political and media lords in Santiago?"There are no jobs back home, that's why Florencio and Renan came here," said Alfonso. The family's home town ekes a living from grapes, avocados and goats on semi-arid hills near the Argentinian border. Chile may be South America's economic success story but just one of Alfonso's five adult children made it to college.Unable to make a decent living from the soil, his son Florencio, 31, decided to harvest the rock beneath. Four years ago he moved to Copiapó, 186 miles away, and started working in the copper and gold mine for £950 a month – a premium wage because of the risk.Renan, two years his junior, followed earlier this year. "It was good money, a chance to get ahead," said their father, himself a former miner.Mayor Roja, sunk into a quilted coat and woolly hat, eyes stinging from the charcoal smoke, said the Avalos family's story was typical. "We are a town of migrants. Our young leave and look for work all over Chile."Javier Soto, an evangelical pastor and probably the only man in Camp Hope wearing a tie, strummed a guitar and led the Avalos family in song: "He loves you, he loves you, Jesus loves you."When Florencio and Renan emerge from the capsule which is to release the men one at a time there will be no doubting the love awaiting them from siblings, uncles, cousins and friends who have huddled under the stars here night after night. There will be no doubting Chile's joy and the world's excitement.Florencio, who has been given the job of videoing the miners' plight below ground, may be able to translate his experience into a new career. His brother, the neophyte miner, may also seek alternative work.But the Avalos family, in its matter-of-fact Chilean way, know fame is not the same as education or a town with economic opportunities. Celebrity will eventually ebb, said Alfonso, and the sun will continue to rise over the dry hills of Salamanca. "Some things don't change."ChileJonathan FranklinRory Carrollguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Anglican congregation to convert An Anglican congregation in Kent becomes the first to announce its intentions to take up the Pope's offer to convert to Catholicism. bbc.co.uk |
Super council plans criticised as job losses loom Trade unions warn local authorities not to break trust put in them by communitiesRadical proposals to create the UK's first "super council" came under fire today as it emerged that significant job losses would result from the plans which aim to generate cost savings of up to £100m a year.The London boroughs of Westminster, Hammersmith & Fulham, and Kensington & Chelsea have proposed to merge all their services, from schools and refuse collection to child protection, under the direction of a single chief executive.Under the plans, which have been backed by communities secretary Eric Pickles, a new authority the size of Glasgow or Leeds would be created, although each council would keep its leader and local ward councillors. All three boroughs are currently Conservative-controlled, although Hammersmith & Fulham is regarded as a marginal, and has been led by Labour in recent years.The leaders of the three councils – Colin Barrow from Westminster, Stephen Greenhalgh from Hammersmith & Fulham and Sir Merrick Cockell from Kensington & Chelsea – said that with cuts in central government spending to reduce the national deficit, their priority was to protect frontline services.Funding cuts announced in this week's spending review will see cuts of 26% in local government funding.Pickles said: "These councils are leading the way in local government and voters will expect others to get on board and follow suit. This is exactly the sort of innovation that will help councils to protect hardworking families and the most vulnerable."We're supporting these sorts of moves by giving unprecedented freedom and flexibility to councils to make their own choices, funding a council tax freeze, and calling time on the bureaucratic red tape and pointless form-filling that has hampered councils for so long."Sharing services is just one of the options open to councils to ensure they are making the most of every pound they have – alongside moves to become more transparent, improve procurement and cut out waste."But trade unions warned that the move was in danger of creating a local democratic deficit. Peter Allenson, Unite's national officer for local government, said: "While the severity and speed of the coalition cuts puts horrific pressure on local authorities to cut services, we urge them not to rush into untested structures which could see service users unsure who to turn to when they need help."From cleansing services to child protection to social care, councils have to be close to the needs of their communities and the people who elect them and pay for them – and council workers need to know who is in charge."Super-sizing the delivery of services like this means local councillors become insignificant and have little influence on the services they provide. Voters will soon become disenfranchised and wonder what they are paying for."People know and trust local services and have a sense of ownership. Councils play with this trust at their peril."Greenhalgh told BBC Radio 4's Today programme this morning that there would be "significant reductions in staff"."Clearly if you have less money to spend you are not going to be able to safeguard every job and we are going to see significant reductions in staff but this is about squeezing every penny, every pound, to protect frontline services," he said."There is a lot of bureaucracy involved with delivering local services: in adult social care, we often find that of the three pounds we spend, one pound is spent deciding what to do with the other two."This is about minimising that overhead and we still have political sovereignty, still have the ability to choose how we spend the money locally. What we are doing is ensuring that as much as possible goes to the frontline.He said cuts to frontline jobs could not be ruled out. Although sharing or merging services is already widespread among smaller district councils, this is thought to be the first time that large metropolitan boroughs, which run more services, have contemplated a merger on this scale. Earlier this year Islington and Camden councils announced that they are to share a chief executive, but it is understood there are no plans for them to move to a formal merger.Andy Sawford, chief executive of the Local Government Information Unit think tank said the merger would have to be well-managed if it was to achieve its aims: "It's not automatic that if you bring together three councils like this that things will be more effective and efficient, but clearly there are opportunities to make substantial savings."Posting on the Guardian website, Cllr Emma Dent Coad, who represents Golborne Ward on Kensington and Chelsea council, said: "The Labour Opposition in K&C knew nothing about these plans, apart from some vague mentions of joint working in the future. It was agreed in secret by senior Tories who pay themselves full 'salaries' despite having other jobs, and have little to do with their electorate apart from drinkies at Christmas. There is no mandate for this."Local governmentPublic sector cutsPublic services policyPublic financeSpending review 2010Tax and spendingLondonPatrick Butlerguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Gazza in hospital after car crash The former England World Cup star Pau Gascoigne was in hospital today after suffering serious injuries in a car crash. timesonline.co.uk |