Log, August 2005

Here’s a quick summary of news, events and casework for August 2005

August

28th - England win 4th test against Australia at Trent Bridge; on the holiday to Pakistan, Trent Bridge was far better known than Robin Hood;

26th – Phillip Whitehead MEP describes the Chinese economic miracle;

26th – Executive Board; agree contract for construction of the new Old Market Square;

26th - Mapperley ward resident, Marianne Shillingford, decorates Trafalger Square with 95,000 flowers in a carpet design;

25th – attend ceremony at Nottingham Sikh Temple, Sherwood Rise, called by the Sikh community to condemn terrorism and commemorate those killed in the Londonbombings;

25th – GCSE results out – Nottingham exceeds it target of 42% 5 A*-C and Elliott Durham achieves 22.2%, its highest, along with 8 other schools that achieve their best ever;

23rd - interviewed by the Audit Commission on “value for money”;

23rd - Key Stage 1 and 2 results show an improvement in results in Nottingham primary schools; the city’s six and seven-year-olds show increases in attainment in reading and writing and an increase in the number of pupils reaching their expected levels in maths; its Nottingham’s best ever results at Key Stage 1 of the Standard Assessment Tests;

22nd - film premiere of Samar Raza’s Tele Film “woh ishq jo hum se rooth gaya” at the Council House, featuring Nottingham actors; next film may well be made entirely in Nottingham;

19th - BBC’s “Gardeners World” praises the City Council’s parks (6 of which have green flags) and Nottingham in Bloom;

19th – Mo Mowlam dies; she played a key role in the development of the Good Friday Agreement, most significantly by re-positioning the Labour Party in opposition to determine that a negotiated settlement could be achieved, and then as Northern Ireland Secretary making dramatic moves to keep the peace process going;

19th – a total of 15 mini motos, go-peds and mopeds have been seized in Nottingham since the clampdown on their illegal use by the City Council and Notts Police; the first of the machines, which have been confiscated from streets, pavements and parks, has been sent to the crusher; anyone caught riding one of these machines illegally risks having it seized and scrapped, plus a £1,000 fine; if riders claim their bikes back within the 21 day time period, the cost of recovery is £105 with storage charges at £12 a day; if they are not claimed after 21 days they are sent to the crusher; anyone wishing to report the illegal use of mini motos, go-peds or any other anti-social behaviour should telephone the Anti-Social Behaviour Helpline on 915 2020;

18th – with co-Councillor, Mo Munir, witness the hastily-convened local elections in Pakistan; Mo’s brother stand for the leader of ward 21 in the district of Bahawal Nagar and wins; Mo spoke at a rally in Bala Arain (the ward’s largest village) the night before;

18th – Britain’s youth achieve their best-ever A-level results; local sixth forms and further education colleges saw their overall pass rates improve while the proportion of students gaining grade A also went up;

15th – the transformation of Maid Marian Way has been named joint winner of the inaugural Urban Transport Design Award, which recognises excellence in transport practice; the street has become a pedestrian-friendly tree-lined boulevard in a £2.9 million makeover;

15th – Daily Mirror exposes Gate Gourmet’s plans to replace its trade union organised staff with cheap labour; an exercise that prompted chaos at London Heathrow airport;

9th – with co-Councillor, Mo Munir, meet the Registrar General of Pakistan, Dr. Faqir Hussain, at the beautiful Supreme Court of Pakistan in Islamabad;

8th – with co-Councillor, Mo Munir, meet the Editor of The Nation, in Lahore, and discuss the often differing perceptions of each other in Britain and Pakistan;

6th – Robin Cook dies; he introduced a new ethical element to Britain's foreign policy and played a strong role in the prevention of ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, as well as helping in Sierre Leone and lifting the fatwah on Salman Rushdie; the party is in his debt for many things, but particularly his demolition of the Tory Gov't over the Scott Report on selling arms to Iraq;

6th – on holiday in Pakistan with co-Councillor, Mo Munir, we meet the Governor of Punjab in Lahore to discuss possible joint developments;

1st – NET, NCT and the GMB Union unite to launch the ‘courtesy costs nothing’ campaign, part of the ‘Respect for Transport’ initiative, which aims to stamp out crime and anti-social behaviour across public transport in Nottingham;