Press release: Flood defences put to the test in Bewdley
On Thursday 16 November 2017, Bewdley flood defences were tested by the Environment Agency in partnership with a number of local partners. read more
Author Archives: GovWorldMag
John McDonnell comment on latest Public Sector Finance figures
John McDonnell MP, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, commenting on Public Sector Finance figures published today by the ONS, which show borrowing has increased by £500 million to £8 billion from last year, and that £147.8 billion has been added to the national debt since October 2016, said:
“These figures are a reminder of the continued failure of both Philip Hammond and Theresa May over these past seven years. The deficit has still not been eliminated as they promised it would be by 2015, and the national debt continues to grow. The rise in the Government’s deficit over October shows once again that seven years of Tory spending cuts have caused pain and misery for millions with little to show for it.
“It further highlights why it is so vital that we see a change of course in the Budget tomorrow, halting the growing emergency in our public services and ending their failed austerity policies.
“The next Labour government will set out a serious plan for the public finances with strategic investment underpinned by our Fiscal Credibility Rule, to help build a high-wage, high-skill economy for the many not the few.”
read moreEuropean Commission Vice-President Ansip and Belgian Deputy Prime Minister De Croo visit imec, a world-leading research hub in nanoelectronics and digital technologies
On Thursday 23 November afternoon, European Commission Vice-President Ansip, in charge of the Digital Single Market, and Belgian Deputy Prime Minister De Croo, responsible for the Digital Agenda, will visit imec, in Leuven. On this occasion, results of EU investments … read more
Philip Ball Lecture
From the Curator of Museum Services at the University of Dundee :
Our celebrations of the centenary of D’Arcy Thompson’s On Growth and Form continue on Wednesday 22nd November at 6pm with a free public lecture by renowned science writer and broadcaster Philip Ball in the D’Arcy Thompson Lecture Theatre, Tower Building, entitled From Natural Patterns to Self-Organisation.
Patterns, regularities and order appear spontaneously in the universe over an immense range of scales in space and time. Not only does such organisation seem to challenge the universal thermodynamic tendency towards an inexorable increase in entropy and disorder, but these patterns often share similar forms and features in systems that seem to have no relation to one another.
It has become increasingly clear that there are organising processes in nature that operate according to very general principles, insensitive to (or at best merely fine-tuned by) the details of a particular system. At the same time, the delicate interplay between chance and determinism in these situations is able to engender immense, seemingly endless variation on a few basic themes, as in the case of snowflakes.
On Growth and Form was the first great synthesis of this combination of universality and variety in natural pattern and form. But only in modern times have we had the conceptual, computational and experimental tools to do his intuitions justice.
In this free lecture, Philip Ball will look at where our understanding of these processes has come over the century since the book’s publication. A former editor of Nature, Ball recently presented a BBC Radio 4 documentary about D’Arcy Thompson and is the author of Nature’s Patterns: A Tapestry in Three Parts.
The lecture is free but please book a place here.
read more Get close to transgender people to understand and help them
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A survey report of Chinese transgender population is released on Nov. 20, 2017 in Beijing. [Provided to China.org.cn] |
For a long time, Chinese people have known little about the transgender group，which is often regarded as weird, mysterious or even abnormal in domestic society. However, the fact is we should get close to transgender people in order to know them, understand them and provide care for them.
In fact, transgender people are only different in regard to their gender identity and gender expression, and are not suffering from mental disorder. Additionally, they should not be confused with homosexuals to whom they are not necessarily related.
The term “transgender” refers to people whose gender identity or gender expression is different from the biological sex assigned to them at birth. It includes the transgender man, being identified as a “female-to-male” (FTM) person, and transgender woman, who refers to “male-to-female” (MTF) people.
Besides, some ambiguous people, who may feel their gender identity is both male and female, or neither male nor female, are also defined as trans people.
The transgender group in China has been facing great pressure and challenges, and their life is filled with worries. According to an online survey released on Monday by the Beijing LGBT Center and Peking University, 61.5 percent of 2,060 polled transgender people were experiencing depression, and 73.2 percent had some level of anxiety; 46.2 percent reported they had considered suicide, with 12.7 percent ultimately attempting to do so.
Reasons for their psychological disorders are the pressure and challenges they are encountering in the country. Their gender expression and appeal for sex reassignment are not accepted by the society.
Transgender people are facing discrimination or even violence at home, in schools and workplace. They also have difficulties in seeking medical treatment.
Nearly 90 percent of the natal families cannot fully accept their transgender children. Of the respondents who indicated they had a partner, spouse, or child, only four of them (3.8 percent) said they had not experienced violence. Among all respondents, 70.8 percent reported being subject to some form of violence at school.
The survey also indicates few transgender people seek mental health treatment, with the most common reason provided that therapists will not be able to understand their difficulties.
However, efforts have been made around the world to provide more care for the transgender group and show respect to their gender identities and gender expressions.
Facebook provides 56 gender options for users who don’t identify simply as “male” or “female”. Some European countries and North America cover transgender-related surgery and hormone therapy in their public health care system.
Nowadays, China’s policy and attitude towards transgender people is being improved. Its regulations on sex reassignment surgery have become friendlier for people who want to change their sex. Gender-neutral bathrooms have also been promoted.
However, we still have a long way to go to improve the living conditions of the trans population and realize real equality among those people who have different values of gender identity and expression.
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