Alan Gibbons
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Alan Gibbons
Alan Albert Gibbons (born 14 August 1953) is an English writer of children's books and campaigner known for his advocacy of libraries. He has written over 60 books and won a number of awards including a ''Blue Peter'' Book Award for his best-selling book ''Shadow of the Minotaur''. Gibbons lives in Liverpool, England, where he worked as a primary school teacher and where he serves as a local councillor. Early life and career Gibbons was born in Warrington, Cheshire. His father was a farm labourer, but was badly hurt in an accident when Alan was eight years old. The family had to move to Crewe, Cheshire. Gibbons worked as a journalist and in a number of factory jobs before training to be a teacher in his mid-thirties. Literary career While working as a teacher in Knowsley, Gibbons started writing short stories for his students. Later, he began to write professionally. Best known for writing children's and young adult fiction, Gibbons has written over 60 books, which have ...
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Cheltenham Literature Festival
''The Times'' and ''The Sunday Times'' Cheltenham Literature Festival, a large-scale international festival of literature held every year in October in the English spa town of Cheltenham, and part of Cheltenham Festivals: also responsible for the Jazz, Music, and Science Festivals that run every year. Introduction and history Formed in 1949, ''The Times'' and ''The Sunday Times'' Cheltenham Literature Festival is the longest-running festival of its kind in the world. The Festival was founded by the Spa Manager George Wilkinson, in conjunction with the Tewkesbury-based author John Moore, who served as its first director. Actor Ralph Richardson, who was born in Cheltenham, launched the festival, and poet Cecil Day-Lewis, who taught at Cheltenham College, read a selection of contemporary verse. The Festival currently has the national newspaper ''The Times'' and ''Sunday Times'' as its 'title' sponsor: therefore making the full name of the festival ''The Times'' and ''The Sunda ...
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Trade Union
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits (such as holiday, health care, and retirement), improving working conditions, improving safety standards, establishing complaint procedures, developing rules governing status of employees (rules governing promotions, just-cause conditions for termination) and protecting the integrity of their trade through the increased bargaining power wielded by solidarity among workers. Trade unions typically fund their head office and legal team functions through regularly imposed fees called ''union dues''. The delegate staff of the trade union representation in the workforce are usually made up of workplace volunteers who are often appointed by members in democratic elections. The trade union, through an elected leadership and bargaining committee, ...
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Socialism
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the economic, political and social theories and movements associated with the implementation of such systems. Social ownership can be state/public, community, collective, cooperative, or employee. While no single definition encapsulates the many types of socialism, social ownership is the one common element. Different types of socialism vary based on the role of markets and planning in resource allocation, on the structure of management in organizations, and from below or from above approaches, with some socialists favouring a party, state, or technocratic-driven approach. Socialists disagree on whether government, particularly existing government, is the correct vehicle for change. Socialist systems are divided into non-market and market f ...
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Public And Commercial Services Union
The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) is the sixth largest trade union in the United Kingdom. Most of its members work in UK government departments and other public bodies. History The union was founded in 1998 by the merger of the Public Services, Tax and Commerce Union (which mostly represented the executive grades of the Civil Service) and the Civil and Public Services Association (mostly representing the clerical grades). The General Secretaries of the two unions, John Sheldon and Barry Reamsbottom respectively, became Joint General Secretaries of the new union. In 2000, Mark Serwotka was elected General Secretary and has held the position since: he was elected unopposed in 2005 (no other candidate received enough valid nominations from PCS branches); he was re-elected in 2009 for a five-year term, and in 2014 was re-elected for a further five years. In 2018, the union won £3 million in damages from the Department for Work and Pensions, after a legal challeng ...
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Unite The Union
Unite the Union, commonly known as Unite, is a British and Irish trade union which was formed on 1 May 2007 by the merger of Amicus and the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU). Unite is the second largest trade union in the UK (after Unison), with over 1.2 million members across construction, manufacturing, transport, logistics, and other sectors. The general secretary of Unite is Sharon Graham, who was elected on 25 August 2021 with 46,696 votes (approx 3% of Unite's claimed membership) on a turnout of 124,127 (approx 9% of claimed membership), with her term beginning on 26 August 2021. History Merger and early years (2007–2010) Unite the Union was formed on 1 May 2007 by the merger of Amicus, a general private sector union, and the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU). The general secretaries of the previous unions, Derek Simpson and Tony Woodley respectively, served as joint general secretaries of the new union. The executive councils of the predeces ...
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Unison (trade Union)
Unison (stylised as UNISON) is the largest Trade unions in the United Kingdom, trade union in the United Kingdom. Its members work predominantly in public services, including local government, education, health and outsourcing, outsourced services. The union was formed in 1993 when three public sector trade unions, the National Association of Local Government Officers, National and Local Government Officers Association (NALGO), the National Union of Public Employees (NUPE) and the Confederation of Health Service Employees (COHSE) merged. UNISON's current general secretary is Christina McAnea, who replaced Dave Prentis in 2021. Members and organisation Members of UNISON are typically from industries within the public sector and generally cover both full-time and part-time support and administrative staff. The majority of people joining UNISON are workers within sectors such as local government, education, the National Health Service Registered Nurses, NHS Managers and Clinical ...
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Disabled People Against Cuts
Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) is an organisation based in the United Kingdom for disabled people and allies to campaign against the impact of government spending cuts on the lives of disabled people. Formed on 3 October 2010 DPAC promotes full human rights and equality for all disabled people, and operates from the Social Model of Disability. History The 'Disabled People Protest' demonstration took place outside the Conservative Party annual conference on 3 October 2010 in the pouring rain in Birmingham, England. This was the first mass protest against the impact of austerity cuts to disabled people. It was also entirely led by disabled people, speaking out on their own behalf for themselves. Using this march as a catalyst, leading activists founded the organisation. Structure DPAC is a non-hierarchical organisation which grew organically from a small group of people who came together to plan an anti-cuts march in Birmingham. The current steering group was elected ...
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National Libraries Day
National Libraries Day is an annual event in the UK dedicated to the celebration of libraries and librarians. The inaugural event was held on 4 February 2012. To celebrate National Libraries Day, events including author talks and competitions are organised across the country by local authorities, universities, other providers of library services and local community groups. Channel 4's Culture Editor, Matthew Cain, described the 2012 National Libraries Day as "most important" due to the "serious concern about the future for libraries". Children's Laureate Julia Donaldson released a poem to mark the day, adding that if we "lose libraries, we would lose readers and we would become a less literate country". The 2013 event was scheduled to take place on 9 February 2013. Background Following Save our Libraries Day in 2011, author and library campaigner Alan Gibbons proposed that the first day in February be made National Libraries Day after receiving emails suggesting that there shou ...
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Austerity In The United Kingdom
The United Kingdom government austerity programme is a fiscal policy that was adopted for a period in the early 21st century following the Great Recession. The term was used by the Coalition and Conservative governments in office from 2010 to 2019, and again during the 2021–present United Kingdom cost of living crisis. The Conservative-led government claimed that austerity served as a deficit reduction programme consisting of sustained reductions in public spending and tax rises, intended to reduce the government budget deficit and the role of the welfare state in the United Kingdom. Some commentators accepted this claim, but many scholars have observed that in fact its primary, largely unstated aim, like most austerity policies, was to restore the rate of profit. Successive Conservative governments claimed that the National Health Service and education have been "ringfenced" and protected from direct spending cuts, but between 2010 and 2019 more than £30 billion in spending ...
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UK Coalition Government 2010
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland, and many smaller islands within the British Isles. Northern Ireland shares a land border with the Republic of Ireland; otherwise, the United Kingdom is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel, the Celtic Sea and the Irish Sea. The total area of the United Kingdom is , with an estimated 2020 population of more than 67 million people. The United Kingdom has evolved from a series of annexations, unions and separations of constituent countries over several hundred years. The Treaty of Union between the Kingdom of England (which included Wales, annexed in 1542) and the Kingdom of Scotland in 1707 ...
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Liberal Democrats (UK)
The Liberal Democrats (commonly referred to as the Lib Dems) are a liberal political party in the United Kingdom. Since the 1992 general election, with the exception of the 2015 general election, they have been the third-largest UK political party by the number of votes cast. They have 14 Members of Parliament in the House of Commons, 83 members of the House of Lords, four Members of the Scottish Parliament and one member in the Welsh Senedd. The party has over 2,500 local council seats. The party holds a twice-per-year Liberal Democrat Conference, at which party policy is formulated, with all party members eligible to vote, under a one member, one vote system. The party served as the junior party in a coalition government with the Conservative Party between 2010 and 2015; with Scottish Labour in the Scottish Executive from 1999 to 2007, and with Welsh Labour in the Welsh Government from 2000 to 2003 and from 2016 to 2021. In 1981, an electoral alliance was established b ...
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