People's Republic of South Devon

Tea Total Tour offers up a refreshing musical brew

Katie Marie — Thu, 17 May 2012 08:53:17 +0000

Katie Marie Photo taken by Lisa (Indigo Blue Photography) and edited by Sandra (Soul Photography)

After much planning and pulling my hair out – I’m happy to announce that the Tea Total Tour has finally begun…

YAAAY!

Even though the tour is underway I still seem to be stupidly busy each day sorting out various promo bits and bobs, but it’s all good. I have to say It’s been a massive learning curve for me and has really shown me the importance of being organised (which between you and me, the words ‘organised’ and ‘Katie’ very rarely appear in the same sentence).

The first gig of the tour was last Friday (May 11) at a lovely little venue called Bayards Cove Inn in Dartmouth. It was part of the Dartmouth Music Festival and the main stage is the band stand up the other end of town. I was hoping that peeps would mosey on down to where we were to take a listen, as I’d never been to Bayards Cove Inn and had no idea what it would be like.

For this gig I was joined on double bass by James Kirk (no, not the chap from the Starship Enterprise) who did a super cool job of adding bassy loveliness to my tunes.

Bayards Cove has a really warm and chilled out atmosphere and the peeps who run it were super friendly and very complimentary about the music (always a bonus). Thankfully lots of really lovely people came along and listened. It was a super fun night and a great way to kick off the tour.

Katie Marie in Dartmouth

After Dartmouth I spent the next few days chained to the ‘pooter’ and telephone trying to get things ready for the gigs ahead, the main one being The Boston Tea Party in Honiton where I’ll be next Friday (May 25).

For those of you that don’t know The Boston Tea Party is a chain of lovely cafes dotted around the country. They normally only open in the day and only stay open in the evening when events are happening – so it’s mega important I try and advertise this one as much as possible and hope that peeps will come along. I dropped up a load of posters on Monday and they seem really on the ball with promo (which is refreshing!).

Posters for Katie Marie's tea total tour

So fingers crossed!

The next three gigs coming up should be good. Tonight (Thursday, May 17) I’ll be playing at The Acoustic Cafe which is a charity event held at The Tavistock Wharf – I’ve not played there before but it looks a lovely venue and there’ll be lots of other peeps playing which is always good.

Then Friday night (May 18) it’s the Eden Cafe in St Austell and Saturday I’ll be at one of my fav little venues in Cornwall Miss Peapod’s. Both Friday and Saturday I’ll be supporting a Canadian singer/songwriter called Joanna Chapman-Smith. I checked out her tunes yesterday and she sounds really great – so I’m looking forward to it!

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Devon Humanists say reform the Public Order Act to protect free speech

Kevin Dixon — Thu, 17 May 2012 07:53:36 +0000

Reform Section 5: what exactly constitutes 'insulting'?

Devon Humanists have joined with human rights campaigners and religious groups in a major new campaign to reform the 1986 Public Order Act, after mounting evidence suggests it is strangling free speech.

Currently, Section 5 of the Act outlaws ‘insulting words or behaviour’. However, what exactly constitutes ‘insulting’ is unclear and has resulted in many controversial police arrests.

Now influential think-tanks and campaign groups including Big Brother Watch, The Freedom Association and The Peter Tatchell Foundation have joined The Christian Institute and The National Secular Society in the campaign to reform Section 5 in favour of freedom of speech.

In Parliament, David Davis, the former Shadow Home Secretary, is leading the cross-party calls for reform. Mr Davis, a strong supporter of civil liberties, said the campaign is “vital to protecting freedom of expression in Britain today”.

A Humanist spokesman said: “Devon’s Humanists are committed to free speech and open debate.

“This campaign will press Home Secretary Theresa May to amend the law to remove the ‘insulting words or behaviour’ phrase from Section 5. We believe that this section restricts free speech and penalises campaigners, protesters and preachers.

“We agree that the law should protect the public against unjust discrimination, incitement and violence. However, the law does not need to protect us from having our feelings hurt.

“The law must be fair to everybody and we support the right of religious and non-religious people to freely criticise and exchange opinions without fear of arrest.

“The future will see a range of faiths and beliefs competing for influence and privilege in our county. The open exchange of ideas is a vital part of a free and democratic Devon. That’s why Devon’s Humanists are joining this important campaign.”

Visit the campaign website at www.reformsection5.org.uk

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Volunteers sought for Ipplepen Spring Clean

PRSD — Wed, 16 May 2012 08:39:49 +0000

Ipplepen: spring clean imminent

There’s an opportunity for people to help give Ipplepen a spring clean on Saturday, May 19.

Kicking off at 10am at the Millennium Centre, the two-and-a-half hour litter pick will see councillors from Teignbridge District Council and Ipplepen Parish Council join members of the public to give the village some extra attention.

Equipment for the day is being provided by Teignbridge District Council, which loans equipment to communities all over Teignbridge to help them run similar events.

Ipplepen’s last community litter pick took place in 2006, when 17 bags of rubbish were collected.

Anybody who’d like to take part should wear strong footwear and suitable clothes, and should register in advance with Cllr Alistair Dewhirst on 01803 812958 or alis...@yourtdc.org

Anyone who’d like to arrange their own local litter pick can email anna...@teignbridge.gov.uk or call 01626 215839 for advice and equipment.

(from a press release)

(image: Ipplepen Rooftops © Copyright Tony Atkin and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.)

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Groundwork South West – major redundancies? (updated)

PRSD — Wed, 16 May 2012 08:13:45 +0000

Groundwork helps people build skills, find work and create sustainable communities

We’re hearing that the employment and community agency Groundwork, which has a centre in Plymouth, is facing up to considerable job losses.

Groundwork aims towards a ‘of a society of sustainable communities which are vibrant, healthy and safe, which respect the local and global environment and where individuals and enterprise prosper’.

It gets funding by from the government to improve the economy and reduce unemployment by providing trailing, mentoring to provide people with the skills, training and support they need to move into employment.

The news that the organisation is facing major redundancies is another major blow to Plymouth and the signs of recovery in the region.

UPDATE • Unfortunately the news from Groundwork was far worse – here’s the BBC story: Groundwork South West goes into administration with 150 jobs lost

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TUC calls for end to exploitation of South West’s food workers

PRSD — Wed, 16 May 2012 08:00:27 +0000

Joseph Rowntree Foundation report on forced labour in the UK based some of its research in the South West

The South West TUC is calling on the leaders of the region’s food industry to end the exploitation of their workforce.

As the Joseph Rowntree Foundation publishes a report on forced labour in the UK – some of it based on research in the South West – the TUC wants employers to work with unions to eradicate the practice.

Regional secretary Nigel Costley said: “We want to ensure people employed in the local food industry are treated fairly and with respect, and paid properly. Too many ministers think the vital protections that vulnerable workers need are no more than red tape, but this is an industry that is in no danger of over-regulation.

“And with workplace inspections also being cut, the problem of horrific exploitation is only likely to get worse, not better.”

The report highlights the ‘underwork scam’ in which too many workers are recruited and then given just enough employment to meet their debt to the gangmaster, excessive productivity targets and workplace surveillance, low wages, a significant proportion of interviewees paying fees to secure work (creating indebtedness and dependence), and workers being threatened, bullied and racially or sexually abused, with some employers using the fear of dismissal to ensure workers remained compliant and deferential.

The report states: “The intensity of work in the food industry, driven by economic pressures throughout the food chain, contributes to such exploitation.”

Nigel Costley said: “The food industry is an important part of the South West’s economy, yet employers seem to sanction horrific exploitation. This cannot be allowed to continue.”

(from a press release)

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Chinese flag dresses and a large robot triffid: Sinopticon

PRSD — Tue, 15 May 2012 17:19:58 +0000

Sinopticon is at Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery, Plymouth College of Art, Plymouth Arts Centre and Saltram House

The Sinopticon exhibition is running in Plymouth at the moment, exploring chinoiserie – that’s Chinese-eque-ness in western art – a various venues throughout the city.

Plymouth art aficionado and all-round good egg (we’re reliably informed) Lorenzo Bianchi popped along to the opening night and found Chinese flag dresses and a large robot triffid, among other things.

Click over to Lorenzo’s review on our ArtsCulture site and find out what to wonder while over-stimulated by a Grayson Perry pot.

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100,000 people in SW forced to take part-time jobs because they can’t find full-time work

PRSD — Tue, 15 May 2012 06:00:58 +0000

'People are being forced to take whatever work they can get and often this means shorter hours than they really want or need'

Almost 100,000 people in the South West are being forced to take part-time jobs because the recession means they cannot find full-time work.

TUC analysis of official figures released today show the number of men doing involuntary part-time work has rocketed by 77% to 40,778, while for women the figures are 58,593 – a rise of 47%.

Nigel Costley, South West TUC regional secretary, said: “The unemployment statistics only tell part of the story of this recession. People are being forced to take whatever work they can get and often this means shorter hours than they really want or need.”

The findings come ahead of the latest unemployment figures published tomorrow, which the TUC hopes will show a fall in jobless numbers.

However, while overall national unemployment fell last month, so too did the number of people in full-time work. While part-time or temporary jobs may be better than no work at all, people are having to make huge salary sacrifices, reduce their hours and trade down their skills to stay in work. This is bad news for family finances and the UK’s overall economic performance as people are not working as much and as productively as could do, says the TUC.

Creating more well-paid, skilled, full-time jobs is the only way to secure a sustainable recovery that works for everyone, the TUC argues, as it will raise people’s incomes and help them to work at their potential again.

Nigel said: “Virtually all employment growth is coming from part-time and temporary jobs but most of the people taking them want and need permanent, full-time work.

“Any job may be better than no job at all but people are having to make huge salary sacrifices to stay working. This is bad news for family finances and it is holding back our economy.

“Any hope of an economic recovery that benefits everyone rests on the growth of well-paid, skilled, full-time jobs. It is the only way for people to increase their incomes and get back to working to the best of their ability.

“Proper jobs growth, rather than self-defeating austerity and making work even more insecure by attacking basic employment rights, must be the government’s top priority.”

(from a press release)

(image: Some rights reserved by Sean MacEntee)

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5 mistakes managers make during performance reviews

PRSD — Mon, 14 May 2012 18:36:59 +0000

There are five common mistakes managers make during performance reviews

Skilled corporate and agency recruiters have insight into an important aspect of the performance review process; reviews, more often than not, leave employees disgruntled and vulnerable to a competitor’s offer.

Savvy recruiters contact a targeted candidate shortly after their performance review, prepared with a sales pitch for another organization that will appreciate their talents. This fact, along with numerous formal employee satisfaction surveys and studies, tell us that a poorly-delivered performance review has the potential to drive away top talent, while an effective review can engage an employee and drive business results instead.

Below is a list of the top five common mistakes a manager makes regarding performance reviews:

1) Managers treat performance reviews as an annual event versus an ongoing process.
Ensuring an employee receives an effective performance review at the end of the fiscal year starts at the beginning of the fiscal year. An employee who receives continual, actionable feedback and coaching throughout the year will have a firm understanding of their performance at the time of their review. Using a talent management system such as the performance evaluation software by Halogen software can help organizations track this information over the course of the year.

The performance review itself should be a recap of this information, including specific examples to reinforce themes; no new information should be introduced at the review itself. The biggest complaint the HR department receives from employees concerned about their performance review is that the information was a surprise. Had they known that there was a problem, they would have worked to fix it.

2) Managers assess employees against unclear or misaligned goals.
Employees have a desire to succeed at work and crave information on how their performance measures up against their manager’s expectations. Nobody goes to work to fail. If a manager and employee establish clear goals together initially, assessing an employee’s performance throughout the remainder of the year is made much easier. Additionally, ensuring these goals are aligned with the organization’s most critical business priorities will allow the employee to make the greatest impact and therefore enjoy the greatest success.

3) Managers fail to adequately prepare for the review.
Managers should start preparing for the performance review itself early enough to request and incorporate 360-degree feedback from an employee’s clients, peers and direct reports. This will provide the manager with a more complete picture of performance.

Requesting a self-evaluation from an employee will yield invaluable information on how they view their own performance, and will allow the manager time to follow up on areas in which their assessments differ. Reviews that are cancelled, rescheduled, rushed, or poorly documented give the employee the impression that they are not a priority, making it hard to hear the important information contained in the review itself.

4) Managers fail to accurately assess performance due to bias or a lack of information.
Managers who give themselves time to question the fairness, thoroughness and balance of a performance review will more often accurately assess the performance of their team. Two common biases that come into play during a performance review include: rating an employee on a single recent event or on recent performance only, and comparing an employee to others on the team versus objective standards such as organizational goals and job expectations. Employees may perceive bias when they see reviews that are personalized. An example of personalized language could include, “I was disappointed when the project was not finished on time.”

5) Managers fail to see the performance review as a conversation.
Often, managers feel pressured to provide an employee with their final “score” for the year, putting them in the position of defending their rating. If the manager approaches the review as just another open dialogue with their employee, they can gather additional information and allow the employee to feel heard. Managers should allow for the idea that they may need to adjust the review after the initial conversation.

Effective performance reviews are tools that can help your team align with the businesses goals and achieve desired results. Here are some final steps to ensure a smooth process:

• Provide employees continuous performance feedback throughout the year, gathering work samples and documenting identified performance themes
• Create clear, annual team goals
• Gather 360-degree feedback and employee self-evaluations prior to writing reviews
• Allow adequate time to write and administer the review
• Be aware of your own personal biases
• Allow for employee input during the review itself and be open to making adjustments

(Image Source: eHow.com)

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Regional Pay will devastate the South West

PRSD — Mon, 14 May 2012 07:27:03 +0000

'The South West has some of the highest house price to wage ratios in the country', plans for regional pay will exacerbate the problem

Communists in the South West have condemned the government’s plans to introduce regional pay in the public sector.

The South West of England and Cornwall District of the CPB met on Saturday May 12 in Exeter.

Tim Gulliver, district media officer, began by quoting figures from the South West TUC, which reveal that pay in the region is already amongst the lowest in the country. Devon and Cornwall in particular would be badly affected, with pay rates in Cornwall being £3.59 an hour below the national average.

The public sector makes up around 27% of the workforce in the South West.

“By removing national bargaining agreements the government is taking power away from working people,” warned Liz Payne, the district’s Chair. “This is all part of a wider plan to dismantle public services at a local level and make them easier to privatise.”

The South West has some of the highest house price to wage ratios in the country. The committee also warned that any decrease in the wages of workers would have serious consequences for the wider economy.

(from a press release)

(image: Lego worker: Some rights reserved by Jack Everett)

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Torquay’s Other History: The Radio 1 Roadshow

Kevin Dixon — Sun, 13 May 2012 07:00:33 +0000

Torquay Radio One Roadshow: Radio One on the road, in Torquay

For three decades the Radio 1 Roadshow was an annual summer event. Hosted and broadcast by BBC Radio 1 from the 1970s through to the 1990s, it regularly came to Torquay.

The original idea came from Radio 1 producer and later controller, Johnny Beerling and the first Roadshow was held in Newquay on Monday, July 23 1973, hosted by Alan Freeman.

The Radio 1 roadshowers

Usually the Roadshow season started in July and ran for eight weeks, broadcasting live from 10am to noon each weekday. The format saw a range of BBC disc jockeys playing a live set, meeting local people to play their requests, take part in competitions and give away ‘goodie bags’ of Radio 1 gifts. Along with the DJs were the support crew, led by Tony Miles who became known as ‘Smiley Miley’. Miles had provided the caravan for the first Roadshow.

There were competitions such as ‘Bits and Pieces’ (where contestants had to identify pop hits from brief excerpts), and ‘Smiley Miley’s Mileage Game’ (which involved guessing the distance from the last Roadshow).

The final old-style Roadshow was held in Manchester in 1999 to be replaced by a series of one-day pop concerts, called One Big Sunday, later followed by Radio 1’s Big Weekend.

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Kazakhstan celebrates Victory Day

Claire McCarthy — Sat, 12 May 2012 12:11:38 +0000

Victory Day in Astana Kazakhstan, by Matthew Smith.

Despite having two bank holidays last week celebrating May Day, this Wednesday we had another short week at work as Kazakhstan celebrated Victory Day, the end of the Second World War (also known as the Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union) on May 9.

Although Nazi Germany surrendered to the Allied Forces on May 7, 1945 (giving us VE day), due to certain amount of confusion at the time of signing the agreement, the Soviets ended up signing the surrender document a day later in Berlin, which meant it was already May 9 in Moscow, it being in a different time zone. Although it was celebrated as a special day, it only became a bank holiday in 1965 and even after the fall of Communism, it is still celebrated across Russia and the ex-Soviet countries. In Kazakhstan it is still a big celebration, including parades, special meetings, parties and, of course, fireworks.

Flags once more adorned the streets, this time declaring the 67th anniversary of the end of Great Patriotic war and all schools and banks were closed. A large stage had been erected on the main square and we were awoken at the weekend by the practice for the large parade on Wednesday. Being able to see it from my flat, the soldiers marching around the square and the solemn singing did look impressive.

At work the children presented an assembly about the Second World War (one of the children having purchased a selection of memorabilia from the time including a Morse code machine and guns!) and, as many people do, went to the main city war memorial, with two war veterans who fought at Stalingrad, and laid tributes.

For me, a bit of a history fan, it is interesting to discover another country’s role and opinion on major world events. It is still a very important date in the ex-Soviet Union and the high level of respect the populations have for the veterans is obvious.

The monument was crowded, with people paying their respects and many of the people were going up to the old men wanting to shake their hand. Having lived in Almaty, I have got used to street names and had been aware that they were mainly named after famous people, but it seems many are named after war heroes – Russian and Kazakh. However in Astana, these are Kazakh heroes and the streets named after Russian war heroes are slowly being changed to Kazakh ones throughout the country.

Luckily we weren’t woken by the singing and speeches on the Wednesday as the celebrations started in the afternoon. May 9 was a beautiful spring day so we wandered along to the Old Square and listened to some Kazakh songs and enjoyed the sight of all the veterans dressed in their uniforms and medals.

There were also, surprisingly, a large number of women (around 800,000) who fought and died in the war. I remembered a street Mametova in Almaty and was really surprised to discover she was a female Kazakh machine gunner killed in battle!

After the parade, we strolled along to Ali Baba’s, opposite our apartment (a central Asian restaurant, which is only opened in the summer as it is all outside). It was packed as usual, being one of the most popular places in town.

We took one of the booths, took our shoes off and climbed up on to the cushions. Looking around at the other guests, it was a real pleasure to see an old lady sat with her family – certainly in her late 80s, she was proudly wearing at least 10 medals she had won in the war.

Victory Day, Astan, Kazakhstan

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South West Tory MEP leads demands to halt EU mis-spending

PRSD — Fri, 11 May 2012 15:24:18 +0000

South West MEP Julie Girling: 'waste and mis-spending in Brussels is simply not acceptable'

This week, Conservative MEPs have refused to approve the EU’s accounts for 2010 as a mark of their continuing campaign against EU waste and mis-spending.

In a series of votes in Brussels, MEPs were asked to grant a discharge to elements of the EU budget including spending by the European Commission, the costly Committee of the Regions, the Parliament itself and Qangos such as EFSA.

Senior Conservative MEP and Chief Whip Julie Girling said: “They just don’t get it; waste and mis-spending in Brussels is simply not acceptable. There is a lack of any sort of discipline over the purse strings and we will simply not tolerate it.

“There are whole rafts of items in the budget that can go to save cash; we have argued for amendments to excessive elements in the Parliament’s own budget including scrapping annual awards such as the LUX film prize and the journalism prize, and scrapping the European House of History – an expensive Commission vanity project.

“The attitude in Brussels must change and it must change quickly. If the auditors are unable to sign off the accounts, why should we? The EU is an expensive club to belong to and we must deliver value for money for South West taxpayers.”

The votes followed a report by the European Court of Auditors in November which for the 16th year in succession failed to grant the EU’s 2010 accounts a clean bill of health. The auditor criticised ‘error rates’ or mis-spending of 7.7% in the Commission’s Community Cohesion Fund and 2.3% on agriculture.

British Conservatives, alongside colleagues in the European Conservatives and Reformists group, voted to deny each of the budget headings a discharge because of the absence of any positive statement of assurance for auditors over the budget as a whole.

These include a call for the creation of a dedicated Commissioner for Budgetary Control to take charge of the issue and more activity to encourage ‘whistle-blowing’ by staff on over fraud and waste.

In a series of amendments concerning the European Commission’s accounts which were approved by the committee, Conservatives called for further commitments over zero tolerance on fraud and mismanagement and consistent sanctions in cases of incompetence.

At a further vote in the autumn, the Parliament will decide whether to refuse altogether a discharge of these four sets of accounts. The accounts for other parts of the EU were approved on Thursday May, 10 when Conservative MEPs were outvoted

(from a press release)

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