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Andrew MacKinlay
Andrew Stuart MacKinlay (born 24 April 1949) is a British Liberal Democrat politician, who was the Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for Thurrock from 1992 until he stepped down at the 2010 general election. In parliament MacKinlay built a reputation as a hard-working constituency MP, gaining respect from all sides and as a stalwart of Gibraltar. In 2021 he was elected as a Liberal Democrat councillor for Kingston upon Thames London Borough Council, although he stood down a short time later, at the 2022 election. Early life and career MacKinlay was educated successively at St Joseph's School, Wembley; Our Lady Immaculate Primary School, Tolworth; Salesian College (a private Catholic school at the time), now comprehensive Salesian School in Chertsey and Kingston College, now part of the South Thames College Group. He worked from 1965 as a committee clerk with Surrey County Council until 1975, when he served as a union official with the National and Local Government Office ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Member Of Parliament (United Kingdom)
In the United Kingdom, a member of Parliament (MP) is an individual elected to serve in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Electoral system All 650 members of the UK House of Commons are elected using the first-past-the-post voting system in single member constituencies across the whole of the United Kingdom, where each constituency has its own single representative. Elections All MP positions become simultaneously vacant for elections held on a five-year cycle, or when a snap election is called. The Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 set out that ordinary general elections are held on the first Thursday in May, every five years. The Act was repealed in 2022. With approval from Parliament, both the 2017 and 2019 general elections were held earlier than the schedule set by the Act. If a vacancy arises at another time, due to death or resignation, then a constituency vacancy may be filled by a by-election. Under the Representation of the People Act 1981 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Surrey County Council
Surrey County Council is the county council administering certain services in the non-metropolitan county of Surrey in England. The council is composed of 81 elected councillors, and in all but one election since 1965 the Conservative Party has held the majority. The leader of the council is Tim Oliver. History Formation Surrey County Council was created in 1889 by the Local Government Act 1888, which established the county council local government system in England and Wales. It replaced the Surrey Quarter Sessions for local government functions in the administrative county of Surrey. The council was originally headquartered in Newington where the quarter sessions court had been located. However it moved to County Hall, Kingston upon Thames in 1893 as Newington and the part of Surrey that had been in the Metropolitan Board of Works district had become part of the County of London in 1889. Kingston upon Thames became part of Greater London in 1965, but the headquarters remai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Weapon Of Mass Destruction
A weapon of mass destruction (WMD) is a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or any other weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to numerous individuals or cause great damage to artificial structures (e.g., buildings), natural structures (e.g., mountains), or the biosphere. The scope and usage of the term has evolved and been disputed, often signifying more politically than technically. Originally coined in reference to aerial bombing with chemical explosives during World War II, it has later come to refer to large-scale weaponry of warfare-related technologies, such as chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear warfare. Early uses of this term The first use of the term "weapon of mass destruction" on record is by Cosmo Gordon Lang, Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1937 in reference to the aerial bombing of Guernica, Spain: At the time, nuclear weapons had not been developed. Japan conducted research on biological weapons (see Unit 731), and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
House Of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee
The Foreign Affairs Select Committee is one of many select committees of the British House of Commons, which scrutinises the expenditure, administration and policy of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Inquiries The Foreign Affairs Committee carries out many inquiries, and publishes a variety of reports, including an annual Human Rights Report. During its inquiry into the government's decision to invade Iraq, Dr. David Kelly famously gave evidence to the committee on 15 July 2003, two days before his death. In 2015 through 2016 the committee conducted an extensive and highly critical inquiry into the British involvement in the Libyan Civil War. It concluded that the early threat to civilians had been overstated and that the significant Islamist element in the rebel forces had not been recognised, due to an intelligence failure. By summer 2011 the initial limited intervention to protect Libyan civilians had become a policy of regime change. However that new policy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chaff
Chaff (; ) is the dry, scaly protective casing of the seeds of cereal grains or similar fine, dry, scaly plant material (such as scaly parts of flowers or finely chopped straw). Chaff is indigestible by humans, but livestock can eat it. In agriculture it is used as livestock fodder, or is a waste material ploughed into the soil or burned. Etymology "Chaff" comes from Middle English ''chaf'', from Old English , related to Old High German ''cheva'', "husk". Grain chaff In grasses (including cereals such as rice, barley, oats, and wheat), the ripe seed is surrounded by thin, dry, scaly bracts (called glumes, lemmas and paleas), forming a dry husk (or hull) around the grain. Once it is removed it is often referred to as chaff. In wild cereals and in the primitive domesticated einkorn,Potts, D. T. (1996) ''Mesopotamia Civilization: The Material Foundations'' Cornell University Press. p. 62. . emmer and spelt wheats, the husks enclose each seed tightly. Before the grain c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Kelly (weapons Expert)
David Christopher Kelly (14 May 1944 – 17 July 2003) was a Welsh scientist and authority on biological warfare (BW). A former head of the Defence Microbiology Division working at Porton Down, Kelly was part of a joint US-UK team that inspected civilian biotechnology facilities in Russia in the early 1990s and concluded they were running a covert and illegal BW programme. He was appointed to the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) in 1991 as one of its chief weapons inspectors in Iraq and led ten of the organisation's missions between May 1991 and December 1998. He also worked with UNSCOM's successor, the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) and led several of their missions into Iraq. During his time with UNMOVIC he was key in uncovering the anthrax production programme at the Salman Pak facility, and a BW programme run at Al Hakum. A year after the publication of the 2002 dossier on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction—which stat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Freedom Of Information Act 2000
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (c. 36) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that creates a public "right of access" to information held by public authorities. It is the implementation of freedom of information legislation in the United Kingdom on a national level. Its application is limited in Scotland (which has its own freedom of information legislation) to UK Government offices located in Scotland. The Act implements a manifesto commitment of the Labour Party in the 1997 general election, developed by David Clark as a 1997 White Paper. The final version of the Act was criticised by freedom of information campaigners as a diluted form of what had been proposed in the White Paper. The full provisions of the act came into force on 1 January 2005. The Act was the responsibility of the Lord Chancellor's Department (now renamed the Ministry of Justice). However, freedom of information policy is now the responsibility of the Cabinet Office. The Act led to the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Armed Forces Act 2006
The Armed Forces Act 2006 (c 52) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It came into force on 31 October 2006. It replaces the three separate Service Discipline Acts (the Army Act 1955, the Air Force Act 1955 and the Naval Discipline Act 1957) as the system of military justice under which the British Armed Forces operate. The Armed Forces Act harmonizes service law between the three armed services. One motivating factor behind the changes in the legislation combining discipline acts across the armed forces is the trend towards tri-service operations and defence organizations. The Act also granted a symbolic pardon to soldiers controversially executed for cowardice and other offences during the World War I. Key changes Key areas of change include: * Summary Discipline: Summary hearing and the role of the Commanding Officer is retained at the heart of Service discipline and is the mechanism by which most offences are dealt. Summary offences and powers are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Early Day Motion
In the Westminster parliamentary system, an early day motion (EDM) is a motion, expressed as a single sentence, tabled by members of Parliament that formally calls for debate "on an early day". In practice, they are rarely debated in the House and their main purpose is to draw attention to particular subjects of interest. Government ministers, Whips, Parliamentary Private Secretaries, the Speaker of the House of Commons and Deputy Speakers do not normally sign EDMs. EDMs remain open for signature for the duration of the parliamentary session. EDMs can be tabled on matters ranging from trivial or humorous topics to those of great importance. The censure motion by which the Labour Government of James Callaghan was ejected had its origin in an early day motion (no. 351 of 1978–79), put down on 22 March 1979, by Margaret Thatcher. MPs may ensure the text of an EDM is printed in Hansard by mentioning it by number in questions to the Leader of the House of Commons after the B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peterborough (UK Parliament Constituency)
Peterborough is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Its current form is the direct, unbroken successor of a smaller constituency that was created in the mid-16th century and used for the legislatures of England, Great Britain and the United Kingdom (UK). The seat today elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first-past-the-post system of election since 1885, before which its earlier form had two-member representation using the similar bloc vote system and both forms had a broadening but restricted franchise until 1918. The current MP is Paul Bristow of the Conservative Party, who was elected at the 2019 general election. Boundaries and boundary changes The City of Peterborough formed a parliamentary borough returning two members in 1541. The rest of the Soke of Peterborough was part of the Northamptonshire parliamentary county; the area south of the River Nene was in the historic county of Huntingdon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Croydon Central (UK Parliament Constituency)
Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensive shopping district and night-time economy. The entire town had a population of 192,064 as of 2011, whilst the wider borough had a population of 384,837. Historically an ancient parish in the Wallington hundred of Surrey, at the time of the Norman conquest of England Croydon had a church, a mill, and around 365 inhabitants, as recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. Croydon expanded in the Middle Ages as a market town and a centre for charcoal production, leather tanning and brewing. The Surrey Iron Railway from Croydon to Wandsworth opened in 1803 and was an early public railway. Later 19th century railway building facilitated Croydon's growth as a commuter town for London. By the early 20th century, Croydon was an important industrial area ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deposit (politics)
In an electoral system, a deposit is the sum of money that a candidate for an elected office, such as a seat in a legislature, is required to pay to an electoral authority before they are permitted to stand for election. In the typical case, the deposit collected is repaid to the candidate after the poll if the candidate obtains a specified proportion of the votes cast. The purpose of the deposit is to reduce the prevalence of 'fringe' candidates or parties with no realistic chance of winning a seat. If the candidate does not achieve the refund threshold, the deposit is forfeited. Australia In Australian federal elections, a candidate for either the Australian House of Representatives or the Australian Senate is required to pay a deposit of $2,000. The deposit is refunded if the candidate or group gains at least 4% of first preference votes in the relevant electoral division. The States and territories of Australia will have their own individual deposit requirements and repay ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
