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Campaigners from 38 Degrees and Surfers Against Sewage beach a boat made from thousands of plastic bottles outside Parliament. This is part of a 250,000 strong petition hand-in that asks the government to introduce a small, refundable deposit on all plastic bottles, glass bottles and cans. Chief executive of surfers against sewage, Hugo Tagholm, beached a boat made from plastic bottles found on beaches outside Parliament, Westminster. Campaigners from 38 degrees and surfers against sewage beach a boat made from...

The education sector is being hit heavily by slow growth in real-term pay, according to online supply teacher portal The Supply Register. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) this week reported that teachers’ salaries in England were worth 12 per cent less in 2015 than in 2005. The study, published on Tuesday, comes as pressure grows on the government to lift the 1 per cent public sector pay cap that is contributing to a crisis in teacher recruitment and retention, according...

You would think the banking industry would learn but sadly it appears not, according to a new report. The Adam Smith Institute, a leading think-tank, have said that the banking sector is an “accident waiting to happen.” The report has been published to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the Northern Rock crisis, that led to a run on the bank. This new report, which was authored by Kevin Dowd, Finance and Economics Professor at Durham University, was scathing on...

The Conservative Party is to take control of a powerful Commons committee after a crucial motion was passed by a majority of just 19 late last night, giving them the ability to scrutinise Brexit legislation without wider parliamentary input. The motion, brought by Commons leader Andrea Leadsom, has been described by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn as a way of rigging the parliamentary system after the Tories found a work-around for navigating the Brexit process with a minority government. Traditionally, minority governments do not...

‘Government con trick’ sees billions stripped from budgets to deny real-pay rise to lower-paid 55 per cent of workers GMB, the union for public sector workers, accuses Theresa May of ignoring the ‘forgotten’ three million public sector staff in a major new report today [September 13 2017). The majority of public sector workers – 55 per cent - including council workers, front-line school and police support staff, and civil servants are not covered by a Pay Review Body, For years,...

Shocking new analysis shows 75% of TA apprentices are paid just £3.50 an hour GMB, the union for teaching assistants, has warned that apprentices are being used as ‘cheap labour’ and are vulnerable to exploitation as education cuts bite. Analysis of 190 teaching assistant apprenticeship vacancies reveals that 75 per cent of roles are advertised on the legal minimum of £3.50 an hour. The average wage offered across all vacancies was just £3.81. Teaching assistants are being paid 43 per...

A 52 million year old ankle fossil dug up in France shows the first primates were high flying acrobats... throwing human evolution on its head. The shape and size of the tiny bone suggests our earliest ancestors flexed and sharply extended their ankles - to launch into the air. They spent most of their time in the branches rather than on the ground, but just how nimble they were as they moved around in the treetops has been hotly disputed....

Following a parliamentary question by Green Party MP Caroline Lucas, the UK government has published its official guest list for Defence & Security Equipment International 2017 (DSEI), one of the biggest arms fairs in the world. (c) CAAT The controversial defence industry get together kicked off today in the Excel Centre in London’s docklands with news that 100 protestors have been arrested around the site so far. Scotland Yard said 102 people had been arrested so far mainly for allegedly...

A disgruntled hospital visitor has slammed a sandwich company for "ripping off the NHS" with an 'egg salad sandwich' - with hardly any EGG in it. Carl Simpson, 48, was visiting his wife Maria in hospital when she ordered the sandwich through the hospital's catering team. When poorly Maria opened up the sandwich she was gutted to find mainly bread with six pieces of scrunched-up egg and a piece of lettuce and half a tomato. A disgruntled hospital visitor has...