Author Archives: GovWorldMag

Green Party calls for immediate lifting of public sector pay cap

4 July 2017

*Co-leader Jonathan Bartley: “Private companies are having a banquet organised by the Government while public sector workers aren’t even getting the crumbs from the table”

The Green Party has called on the Government to immediately lift the public sector pay cap after a damning report revealed the scale of the impact on workers [1].

Jonathan Bartley, Green Party co-leader, said:

“What will it take for Theresa May and Philip Hammond to listen? The staff on the frontline in our most important jobs – including the emergency services they have been so ready to praise in the last few months – and even their own party colleagues have urged them to see sense.

“Enough is enough and it’s time for the Government to shift its priorities away from cutting taxes for those who don’t need it and start paying public sector workers fairly, many of whom are struggling just to make ends meet.

“The Prime Minister’s attempt to sneak out this report is the latest indication that she knows this unpopular policy is nearing the end of its shelf life. Planned tax cuts for corporations should be scrapped immediately. Private companies are having a banquet organised by the Government while public sector workers aren’t even getting the crumbs from the table. Let’s give our teachers, doctors, firefighters and police the pay rises they deserve.”

Notes:

  1. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jul/03/damning-government-report-shows-scale-of-public-sector-pay-cuts

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Green Party •

The shocking findings of this report should serve as a wake-up call to this Government- Lewell-Buck

Emma Lewell-Buck MP, Shadow Minister for Children and Families, commenting on the Children’s Commissioner’s report on measuring the number of vulnerable children, said:

“The shocking findings of this report should serve as a wake-up call to this Government who have so far refused to even measure the scale of the problem let alone come up with effective policy solutions.

“From the 800,000 children suffering from mental health difficulties, the 46,000 thought to be in gangs, or the 119,000 homeless or in unstable housing, these figures lay out the startling facts about the lives of vulnerable children who have largely been ignored by this Government.

“The Government should be taking action now to support every child and ensure that they are safe, secure, and have a roof over their head.

“Labour will enshrine the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child into law, as we tackle the root causes of vulnerability, such as housing, crime, and poverty, deliver universal infant free school meals to address food poverty and school based counselling in secondary schools to support vulnerable children, as we ensure every child gets the best possible start in life.”

Ends

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Labour •

World’s first robotic pig cloning successful in Tianjin

Test results now appear to show an attempt at robot-involved pig cloning at a university in Tianjin has been a success, reports the China News.

The world’s first case of robot-involved pig cloning hailed a success at Nankai University in Tianjin, July 3, 2017. [Photo: sina.com.cn] 

According to the report, 13 cloned pigs delivered by two separate females in April are unrelated to their “surrogate mothers,” but do have kinship with their DNA donors.

While surrogate cloning is not a new technique, this case involves the entire somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) process being completed robotically, said the research group from Nankai University (NKU).

Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), involves taking an enucleated oocyte, or egg cell, and implanting a donor nucleus from the soma, or the body, of another cell. It’s the standard technique used in reproductive cloning.

But because the technique is very precise, the cloning process is considered one of the most complicated in micro-medicine.

Due to the manual failure rates, SCNT done by human hands has led to a bottleneck of the development of cloning technology, according to Nankai University researchers.

To overcome this, the research team from Nankai University has developed the robotic process which it says can significantly reduce the damage done to cells, which should significantly increase the ability of researchers to test new theories in the cloning process.

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