MPs in support of a Labour amendment for mandatory?sex and relationship education in schools hope they?ll be enough parliamentary time to allow for a debate and vote.
Yesterday, Shadow Home Secretary and Shadow Minister for Equalities, Yvette Cooper, told PinkNews.co.uk that stronger sex and relationship education (SRE), which included provision for LGBT students, could dramatically help in the fight against homophobic bullying and poor rates of sexual health in the LGBT community.
Labour has tabled an amendment to the Children and Families Bill for statutory Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) Education, but it remains uncertain if they?ll be enough parliamentary time to allow for a debate and vote on the amendment. It has to be done before 6pm on Tuesday.
The National AIDS Trust welcomed Ms Cooper?s comments on Monday and its Chief Executive, Deborah Jack, said to PinkNews.co.uk: ?Gay and bisexual men remain the population group most likely to acquire HIV in the UK. The latest figures show in 2012 there was more new HIV diagnosis among gay and bisexual men in a single year than ever before, while new diagnoses among young gay and bisexual men have doubled in the past ten years.
?HIV education therefore needs to contain clear, sensitive and sensible messages on sexual health, HIV and same-sex relationships that meet the needs of all young people.?
Guy Slade, parliamentary officer at Terrence Higgins Trust said: Too many young LGBT people are badly let down by inadequate sex and relationships education in our schools. Even in those schools where SRE is taught, teachers can be reluctant to discuss sexual orientation in the classroom; unsurprising given how many years it was forbidden by law. This means that young LGBT people?s sexuality is not being recognised and homophobia is going unchallenged.
?Making sex and relationships education part of the statutory curriculum would help to raise standards in teaching and ensure every child is taught properly about important issues like safer sex, how to have healthy and respectful relationships, and that it?s ok to be gay.?
In March, Children?s Minister Elizabeth Truss confirmed that Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) Education in England would remain a non-statutory subject.
Last month, a report by Ofsted showed more than a third of schools in England are failing to provide pupils with age-appropriate sex and relationship education.
Too few teachers have the expertise to discuss issues such as sexuality and domestic violence, the schools watchdog?warned.
Discuss this ?
Enjoyed this article?
Add Pink News to your Facebook news feed
PARIS (AP) ? France's agriculture minister says complex trading between wholesalers makes it increasingly difficult to trace the origins of food like the horsemeat disguised as beef being sold in frozen lasagna around Europe.
Agriculture Minister Stephane Le Foll said the results of the investigation would be released on Wednesday, but he said it was already clear that Europe needs to find a way "out of the fog."
No one has reported health risks from the mislabeled meat, which came from a complex supply chain.
An initial French investigation determined that French company Poujol bought frozen meat from a Cypriot trader. That trader got it from a Dutch company that received the meat from Romanian slaughterhouses.
"There are people who are out there to defraud, who are looking to cheat," Le Foll said.
From the perch of "Gobbler's Knob," a local hillside in Punxsutawney, Penn., a famous, roly-poly rodent named Phil has predicted an early spring, or put another way, the groundhog did not see his shadow today (Feb. 2), Groundhog Day.
Every year, the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club rises early with their charge and takes Phil the groundhog, a rodent that usually lives in an enclosure in the Punxsutawney Memorial Library, to Gobbler's Knob for the weather-prediction ceremony. This year is Phil's 127th prognostication.
"Punxsutawney Phil, the King of the Groundhogs, Seer of Seers, Prognosticator of Prognosticators, Weather Prophet without Peer, was awakened from his borrow at 7:28 a.m. with a tap of the President's cane," announced the Groundhog Club. The statement went on to say, "And so ye faithful, there is no shadow to see an early Spring for you and me.
Legend has it if Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow, six more weeks of winter weather are in store; if he doesn't see a shadow, spring is around the corner.
How much stock should we put into Phil's forecast? His handlers say the furball makes accurate predictions 100 percent of the time. Statistics tell a slightly different story: According to the Groundhog Club's records, Phil has predicted about 99 long winters and 15 early springs, with nine years of records lost. Those predictions have been right only 39 percent of the time ? 36 percent if you look at post-1969 predictions, when weather records are more accurate.
"He sees his shadow about 80 percent of the time and the other 20 percent he doesn't," Bill Deeley, who was one of Phil's handlers, taking care of the groundhog for about 16 years, told LiveScience in 2010. "He's pretty darn accurate," said Deeley, who is now president of the Groundhog Club's Inner Circle. The president is responsible for translating Phil's proclamation of whether or not he saw his shadow.
So how did Phil become such a prestigious prognosticator?
The legend of the groundhog's forecasting powers arguably dates back to the early days of Christianity in Europe when clear skies on the holiday Candlemas Day, celebrated on Feb. 2, meant an extended winter. The tradition was then brought to Germany, with the German twist being that if the sun made an appearance on Candlemas, a hedgehog would cast its shadow, thus predicting six more weeks of bad weather. More specifically, the legend states: "For as the sun shines on Candlemas Day, so far will the snow swirl in May ..."
As some of Pennsylvania's earliest settlers were German, they continued the tradition upon noticing a large population of groundhogs, which resemble the European hedgehog.
Phil's kin in the wild are likely still snoozing. For these groundhogs, hibernation generally begins in October and ends in March or April (not on Feb. 2). During this deep sleep, groundhogs curl up into tight balls with their heads tucked between their hind legs. Their heartbeats slow from some 100 beats a minute to as few as 15; the body temperature drops from 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 degrees Celsius) to 46 degrees Fahrenheit (8 degrees C); and breathing slows. This depressed state allows animals to conserve energy and live off their fat stores during the harsh winter months when food is scarce. [Sleep Tight! Photos of Snoozing Animals]
Even though pampered Phil doesn't go into a deep sleep like his outdoor pals, the groundhog does begin to slow down on eating and activities as the days get shorter. "Our groundhog will eat 12 months out of the year," Deeley said in 2010. "He's like an eating machine from April until September 15," before he starts to slow down.
Follow LiveScience on Twitter @livescience. We're also on Facebook?& Google+.
Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
>>>saddest news this weekend. over 230 people killed in a single, horrifying incident. and beyond the tragedy itself, it made so many people think of their own lives and situations they've been in, and incidents like it in the past. a nightclub in brazil, packed with happy people on a saturday night, listening to a band at 2:30 in the morning. suddenly, a fire. started small and then engulfed the club, filling it with smoke and hundreds of people in a panic. it got more urgent and complicated when some of the victims weren't allowed out. and today we learned of arrests and an investigation that is just getting under way. nbc's
keir simmons
is with us tonight to start us off from
santa maria
, brazil. keir, good evening.
>> reporter: good evening,
brian
. the
death toll
here is almost unimaginable. the gymnasium behind me became a makeshift morgue. more than 230 lives were lost, and scores more are still hospitalized. survivors said it was like a horror movie. a nightclub turned
death trap
.
>>i have been in the nightclub before.
>> reporter: audrey narrowly escaped. what did you see?
>>people crying. people dying in my sight.
>> reporter: hundreds of others, including two of her friends, did not.
>>i lost very
special people
to me.
>> reporter: today, the funerals began. so many dead, the coffins laid out in rows. found here by grieving
loved ones
. on saturday night, they had packed the kiss nightclub. survivors say the band set off pyrotechnics, igniting a fire in the ceiling. it spread in seconds, filling the club with smoke. the crowd panicked. confused
security guards
at first blocked the exits. in the stampede, audrey was nearly trampled. but she could breathe. but someone pulled her to safety. this is the club before the disaster. no windows. the front door, the only exit. early sunday morning, it was chaos. a struggle to revive victims. some survivors searched for
loved ones
. others smashed holes to let people escape. but for most, it was too late. bodies were piled up inside. most overcome by smoke. the bodies have been removed, but you can still smell the smoke and on the sidewalk flowers. the victims' names and faces are now filling brazilian tv and
social media
. many were students, teenagers.
santa maria
is a
university town
.
>>i'm very happy that i'm here. but i cannot explain how i feel about my friends. about the city.
>> reporter: four arrests have been made so far. reportedly, a club co-owner and two band members. brazil is in mourning, as everyone tries to make sense of it all.
brian
, this is the deadliest fire this country has seen in more than half a century. they blocked doors because they thought that
young people
hadn't paid for their drinks, and many back in the u.s. will be reminded of a
terrible tragedy
ten years ago in
rhode island
. again, a packed nightclub, a fire, and panic that ended in tragedy. back then, 100 lives were lost. here in brazil, that
death toll
has more than doubled. and
brian
, tonight, a fourth arrest here.
>>what a terrible story.
keir simmons
starting us off in brazil tonight. thanks.
Concrete is an essential part of our infrastructure.
And it?s all falling apart, as Robert Courland?s 2011 book Concrete Planet makes clear.
The Romans built concrete structures that lasted over 2 thousand years.? Ours will last a century ? at most.
Courland writes that the buildings and monuments we build may last less than a century, despite this, builders, architects, and engineers who know the shortcomings of steel and concrete continue to build structures that will deteriorate.
The problem isn?t the just the concrete; it?s the iron and steel rebar reinforcement inside.? Cracks can be fixed, but when air, moisture, and chemicals seep into reinforced concrete, the rebar rusts, expanding in diameter four or five-fold, which destroys the surrounding concrete, and ultimately destroys the building, road, bridge, dam, levee, home, airport runway, sewage and water pipes, school, canal, power plants, grain elevators, shipping piers, tunnels, and so on.
Courland says that engineers and architects have known about this problem a long time, yet either refuse to admit it or don?t think it matters.? The main theme of this book is that it does matter, as Courland explains in these three excerpts:
1)???? The lifespan of concrete is not only shorter than masonry, it ?is probably less than that of wood?We have built a disposable world using a short-lived material, the manufacture of which generates millions of tons of greenhouse gases.?? Cement is the third largest source of CO2 after autos and coal-fueled power plants.? The World Coal Association states that ?Coal is used as an energy source in cement production. Large amounts of energy are required to produce cement. Kilns usually burn coal in the form of powder and consume around 450g of coal for about 900g of cement produced?.
2)????? ??Even more troubling is that all this steel-reinforced concrete that we use for building our roads, buildings, bridges, sewer pipes, and sidewalks is ultimately expendable, so we will have to keep rebuilding them every couple of generations, adding more pollution and expense for our descendants to bear.? Most of the concrete structures built at the beginning of the 20th century have begun falling apart, and most will be, or already have been, demolished?.
3)????? The world we have built over the last century is decaying at an alarming rate. Our infrastructure is especially terrible:
1 in 4 bridges are either structurally deficient or structurally obsolete
The service life of most reinforced concrete highway bridges is 50 years, and their average age is 42 years?.
Besides our crumbling highway system, the reinforced concrete used for our water conduits, sewer pipes, water-treatment plants, and pumping stations is also disintegrating.? The chemicals and bacteria in sewage make it almost as corrosive as seawater, reducing the life span of the reinforced concrete used in these systems to 50 years of less.?
I?m sure the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) would agree. Below is their 2009 report card for America?s infrastructure (all of these use at least some, if not a lot, of concrete).
C+ Solid Waste
C Bridges
C- Public Parks and Recreation, Rail
D+ Energy
D Aviation, Dams, Hazardous Waste, Schools, Transit
Their 2013 report card will state we need over 3 trillion to fix this. But ASCE says nothing about the short life of concrete anywhere on their website, let alone demand that future projects be built to last.? The ASCE 2013 report card comes out March 19.? I?ll be watching to see if they even mention that we need to build millennia-long lasting concrete buildings, roads, bridges, dams, schools, drinking water pipes and facilities, and levees in the future.
We know there?s a problem, we know how to fix it (the last chapter explains how to make long-lasting concrete), and yet there?s no pressure to do it, because it?s cheaper to do it the wrong way, especially in a time of tight credit.?? To do it right, it costs a bit more up front, but the payback is tens of trillions of dollars in saved future costs. I predict Capitalism?s? short-term? focus will prevent long-lasting concrete projects from coming to fruition.
On top of that, there?s no demand from the public, journalists, engineers, or architects.? There has not been any outcry since this book was published to build with long-lasting concrete in the future that I can find.
Well, have only been two attempts to do something that I could find:
A bill that passed in the Senate (S.775) but failed in the House: The National Infrastructure Improvement Act, to establish a National Commission on the Infrastructure of the United States
The National Institute of Standards and Technology?s Engineering Laboratory has started to fund research to prevent concrete from cracking in a program called REACT: Reducing Early-Age Cracking Today.
Peak Energy and Concrete
It will take a tremendous amount of energy to replace and/or fix our concrete infrastructure, energy that will be less and less available.? Why waste our remaining energy and create vastly more greenhouse gas to make concrete, unless it will be built to last thousands of years like Roman Concrete?
Our descendants won?t be driving everywhere, in fact, they?ll probably wish they could convert the pavement to farmland, which will take centuries even after the cement is gone for the soil to recover ? why not start now?? Stop maintaining roads in the national forests, rural areas, and wherever else it makes sense ?let them return to gravel and eventually fade away.
Perhaps we should even consider DE-paving and DE-damming to restore streams, fisheries, wetlands, and ecosystems for future generations.
We should convert some roads to railways while we still have energy to spend, since trains are around seven times more efficient than trucks.
At this point it seems crazy to build projects with short-term concrete we KNOW will only last for decades.
Eventually buildings over 5 stories tall will be of little use ? why keep building skyscrapers?
Future generations won?t able to build, let alone repair and maintain what we construct.? Once we stop maintaining our concrete (and cement) structures, they will quickly fall apart.
We just won?t have the energy to build and maintain many concrete structures in a wood-based civilization.? Consider all the wood it used to take for a limestone kiln to make 1 cubic yard of lime: a dozen cords of wood (a cord is 4? x 4? x 8).
Another example Courland cites (page 139): Since the Mayans ?used 20 full-grown pine trees to create just 1 cubic meter of lime, the amount of deforestation caused by the need for farmland, plaster, and stucco probably tipped the environmental balance deep in the red?.
I wonder how many trees would be needed to build the 27.1 million cubic meter Three Gorges Dam in China?? ?I suspect even deforesting the earth wouldn?t be enough.
And those of you downstream from the Hoover and other large dams might be interested to know that these are still ?undergoing the curing process, thus forestalling corrosion. It will be interesting for our descendants to discover whether the tremendous weight of these dams will continue to put off the rebar?s corrosion expansion? (page 327).
Failing dams are a double tragedy, since electricity from hydro-power will be especially valuable as one of the few (reliable) energy sources in the future.
And what the hell are the people in the future going to do with all this concrete ? build sheep fences?
