UK taxpayers are contributing more than £16m a year to EU funds which are used to reward Palestinian terrorists, according to UKIP, which has called on the payments to be stopped.
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Aug232017
Aug232017
New Amazon distribution centre near Bristol to create over 1000 new jobs for the region
Dr Julia Reid MEP, who represents the South West Region and Gibraltar, welcomes the news of Amazon’s continued investment in the UK as it unveils plans for a new distribution centre near Bristol which will create more than 1,000 permanent new jobs for the region. The online retail giant is to start recruiting engineers, operations managers, HR and IT specialists ahead of its 2018 opening.
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Aug232017
Wales brand shortlisted for The Design Museum London Exhibition
London’s Design Museum has recently announced the nominees for the 10th anniversary edition of the Beazley Designs of the Year award. The annual award and accompanying exhibition, which takes place at the Design Museum’s site in Kensington, West London, looks to celebrate more than 60 of the best design projects from all over the world during the last 12 months. The overall winner from last year was Ikea’s flat-packed refugee shelter Better Shelter.
Alongside Smörgåsbord’s work on the Wales Nation brand thirteen projects have been nominated in the Graphics category, ranging from the creation of a Refugee Nation Flag designed for the first ever Olympic refugee team to a new logo and identity for the Reykjavik Art Museum.
The refreshed Wales nation brand was first introduced in January 2016 through the Year of Adventure tourism campaign. The work was conducted in response to Welsh Government’s ambitions to develop a more integrated approach to promoting Wales to the world as a place to visit, trade, invest and live.
At the heart of the new approach is a confident new strategy and compelling narrative that provides a platform for promoting Wales internationally. Another key aspect of the brand is the visual identity, including a core marque featuring a contemporary rendering of the familiar dragon icon from Wales’ national flag. There is also a distinctive new photography style and a bespoke typeface, Cymru Wales Sans inspired by the Welsh typographical heritage including digraphs unique to the Welsh language.
The award nomination for the Beazley Designs of the Year exhibition focuses in particular on the new typeface. This follows a previous accolade from the European Design Awards 2017 where the typeface won the prestigious Best of Show Gold for overall design across all categories. Recognition for the new approach has also come from the travel sector with awards won at the 2017 Travel Marketing Awards.
Dylan Griffith from Smörgåsbord, explains:
“Wales has its own language and Welsh is one of the oldest languages in Europe. Bearing few similarities to English, we felt it was necessary to create a bespoke typeface that that brings the country’s rich history and the provenance of the Welsh language to the forefront. The Cymru Wales Sans typeface is the cornerstone of the new Wales brand and has quickly become the golden thread that unifies the graphic language across all sectors.”
Cabinet Secretary for the Economy and Infrastructure, Ken Skates, said:
“Our aim was to create a compelling and visually consistent identity to help reveal new, engaging stories about Wales to complement our country’s rich history, beauty and culture. Being shortlisted for this prestigious award shows that our innovative approach is standing out in the global marketplace.
“This approach has received a fantastic response through the Year of Adventure and Year of Legends campaigns. It has also been used to strengthen how we present Wales as a location for businesses to trade and invest, the quality of our food and drink, and has even been used as a foundation for a successful campaign to recruit more GPs into Wales. I am delighted by the level of support and enthusiasm the new approach has already attracted – particularly from the tourism and business community in Wales, and also from quality private sector brands who have shown an interest in working more closely with us to promote Wales to the world.
“Although these awards are important, we’ve also seen evidence that the new Wales brand approach and associated campaigns are already making a difference to the economy. For example, Visit Wales’ 2016 campaign generated an additional £370 million for the Welsh economy – which is an 18% increase on 2015.”
Aug232017
Press release: Foreign Office Minister reaffirms UK commitment to rights of Hong Kong
The minister will meet Carrie Lam, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government and James Lau, the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, to discuss trade and investment, economic cooperation and the UK-Hong Kong relationship.
He will also discuss the political situation in Hong Kong with legislators from a range of political backgrounds. He will stress the UK’s continued firm commitment to the Joint Declaration and ‘One Country, Two Systems’, which were put in place to ensure the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and guarantee the city’s rights and freedoms when it was handed back to China in July 1997.
The minister will make clear that it is essential that Hong Kong enjoys, and is seen to enjoy, the full measure of its high degree of autonomy and commitment to the rule of law enshrined in the Joint Declaration and Basic Law.
During the visit he will also take part in a British Council hosted roundtable discussion with Hong Kong’s younger generation.
Mark Field, FCO Minister for Asia and the Pacific, said:
Hong Kong is of great importance to the UK, and our long-standing commitment to Hong Kong as co-signatory of the Joint Declaration is as strong as ever. I am delighted to be the first UK Minister to visit Hong Kong since the 20th anniversary of the handover earlier this year.
The UK remains committed to strengthening its deep and wide-ranging relationship with Hong Kong across a number of areas, including trade and investment, education, culture, innovation and technology, and I look forward to discussing these issues and more during my visit.
The visit will be the second stop of the Minister’s tour of Asia, which also includes mainland China, South Korea and Singapore.
Notes to editors
- The visit is Mark Field’s first to Hong Kong since becoming Minister for Asia and the Pacific at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in June 2017.
- Hong Kong is UK’s 15th largest market for goods and services combined, exporting £8.8bn in 2015.
- Hong Kong is the third largest sending market of undergraduate students to UK universities.
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Aug232017
News story: Maritime & Coastguard Agency appoints new SOSRep
The Maritime & Coastguard Agency has made a new appointment to the vital role of Secretary of State’s Representative (SOSRep) Maritime Salvage & Intervention, which oversees the response to accidents at sea. Les Chapman has been appointed to the role and will join the Agency on Monday 21 August. He will work alongside the existing SOSRep Hugh Shaw OBE for several months, to allow a substantial transition period in this important role, and will not assume the role and responsibilities of the SOSRep until an agreed time later on in the year.
The SOSRep is responsible for reducing the risk to safety and the environment arising from accidents at sea. Recent incidents which were overseen by the current SOSRep Hugh Shaw include the Transocean Winner rig grounding off the Isle of Lewis in 2016 and the Hoegh Osaka car carrier incident in the Solent in 2015. Mr Chapman is no stranger to the maritime world, having graduated from the Royal Military College of Canada and served in both the UK’s Royal Navy and the Royal Canadian Navy – as part of the former, he qualified for nuclear submarine command and held four command appointments. Over the course of a career spanning the maritime, security and transportation industries, Les has also worked with a number of commercial maritime organisations including Associated British Ports Ltd, DNV and The Maritime Group. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology, the Institute of Civil Protection and Emergency Management and the Nautical Institute, a Liveryman of the Honourable Company of Master Mariners, The Worshipful Company of Arbitrators, The Worshipful Company of Shipwrights and a Younger Brother of Trinity House. Les Chapman said: “The SOSRep role can be a difficult but very rewarding one as it’s all about providing protection and safety in the maritime world. I’m looking forward to working alongside Hugh Shaw as I familiarise myself with all aspects of the job.”
Sir Alan Massey, Chief Executive of the Maritime & Coastguard Agency, commented: “We are committed to safety of life and the environment at sea through safer lives, safer ships, cleaner seas. As we have seen from many serious incidents in UK waters over recent years, the SOSRep has a unique and critical role in rapidly and effectively marshalling the resources of all parties to achieve the best possible outcomes. I am delighted we have appointed Les Chapman as our new SOSRep. Les brings highly relevant skills and experience with him and I am sure he will be an excellent successor to Hugh Shaw OBE, who has done a superb job over the years in growing the effectiveness and influence of the SOSRep role.”