UFO Info Week-End

The Home Secretary Jack Straw emphasised in January that public bodies should set

The Home Secretary, Jack Straw, emphasised in January that public bodies should set the pace in promoting equal opportunities in employment.The present measures have been drafted to extend and strengthen existing race relations law in response to the Macpherson report into the police handling of the Stephen Lawrence murder. But the Queen will be exempt, although she has in the past been covered by such legislation.Buckingham Palace does not accept that the Queen has been covered by such laws, even after taking legal advice. But recently released public records show palace and Home Office officials met in 1968 to discuss the implications of the monarch being covered by that year’s Race Relations Act, which remained in force until the mid-Seventies.The royal households refuse to give detailed breakdowns, but they draw a much lower ratio of staff from the ethnic minorities than that of the population in London, where they are primarily based. One in four of the capital’s population is from the ethnic minorities; in inner London the figure is one in three.There has not been an appointment of a black or Asian from the Commonwealth at the top level since the two-month spell by a Ghanaian press secretary in 1959, just before the royal visit to West Africa. There is no suggestion that the Queen is personally anything but a champion of the multi-racial Commonwealth, although accusations of holding racist stereotypes have dogged Prince Philip, after ill-considered remarks.Two Asian women have recently been seconded from management consultancies to fill senior posts for a year in the unit that co-ordinates the Royal Family’s public engagements. These temporary posts are believed to be the first non-white appointments for nearly 40 years to the Queen’s élite Members of the Household, who number just over 30.A senior palace official said that 3 per cent of the total workforce of the Queen’s Household were from ethnic minorities, but would not provide a breakdown by grades.The large majority of government employers do poorly in ethnic minority representation at the highest levels.

For example, the Home Office shows only 1 per cent at senior grades in London, although 28 per cent at white-collar grades.The Palace insists it is an equal opportunities employer, and six months ago began seminars on the issue. It also now advertises vacancies in ethnic minority publications. A new director of personnel, Elizabeth Hunka, was brought in in October to “modernise” this side of the monarchy.The Prince of Wales has performed slightly better than the Queen in recruitment. Two years ago he appointed an Afro-Caribbean press secretary, and he has pressed for last 15 years for the recruitment of more ethnic minorities to the Guards and other élite regiments associated with the Royal Family.The Queen Mother’s representative said she could give no details about staff as hers was “a private house” However, the salaries are paid from public money..

Stone-age Britons, of course, didn’t have to worry about the temptations of Sunday shopping, the EastEnders Omnibus and multi-section Sunday newspapers. Stone-age Britons, of course, didn’t have to worry about the temptations of Sunday shopping, the EastEnders Omnibus and multi-section Sunday newspapers.
Perhaps that is why they managed to build the magnificent stone monument that is Stonehenge; whereas yesterday, 4,000 years of increasingly comfortable living later, too few volunteers turned up to shift just one three-tonne stone from the Preseli Mountains in Pembrokeshire, Wales, significantly closer to Wiltshire, where a modern team plans to take it.On Saturday, a team of 40 volunteers moved the stone just one mile, rather than the three they had hoped for, leaving them with another 239 miles to go. (Stone-Age humans, by contrast, shifted 60 of the stones to their present site.)Menter Preseli, the rural group that is managing the project with a £100,000 lottery heritage grant, called off the stage yesterday. “To be honest it has not been as successful as we hoped it would be,” said Philip Bowen, a spokesman for the group “The reason for that is a lack of volunteers. We just did not have enough.”The problem wasn’t moving the stone, which is carried on a wooden sledge lubricated with grease, but having enough people for the less glamorous task of laying out the protective coating needed for the road.The plan is to drag the sledge and stone three miles a day to a replica Neolithic boat, which would carry it across the Bristol Channel, and then along the river Avon to the Kennet and Avon Canal. From there it would be dragged the final 26 miles to Stonehenge.However, in deference to other modern distractions, the dragging is only planned for weekends The group hopes to reach the site by September. Mr Bowen said: “We will be back next weekend and we still think we can do it.”The intention is to demonstrate how our ancestors may have built Stonehenge: experts say the inner ring of the monument consists of 30 “bluestones” which were carved out of the Welsh mountains.Though the first, wooden parts of Stonehenge were placed around 8,000 BC, the stones we see today are thought to have been brought there around 2,100 BC..

Turkish authorities have freed 10 youths who were arrested in connection with the stabbing of two Leeds United football fans in Istanbul, but they could still face charges later. Turkish authorities have freed 10 youths who were arrested in connection with the stabbing of two Leeds United football fans in Istanbul, but they could still face charges later.
Eight other men were still being interrogated by prosecutors, according to local television reports.The slain fans, Christopher Loftus and Kevin Speight, perished on the night before Leeds United played Turkey’s Galatasaray in a UEFA cup game. Galatasaray beat Leeds 2-0.All 18 suspects were brought before prosecutors on Monday, and the 10, including five juveniles, were freed without any immediate charges.Of the eight still being interrogated, prosecutors were expected to charge four in the stabbing and four others with involvement in the fatal clash.The Anatolia news agency quoted one of the suspects as saying the Leeds fans provoked the violence by burning a Turkish flag.Police identified some of the suspects from film footage of the clashes, and at least one reportedly confessed.Newspapers said at least five of the suspects had criminal records including knife assaults, theft, and selling tickets on the black market.Leeds wants European soccer officials to ban Galatasaray supporters from the rematch in Leeds on April 20. Galatasaray says the game should be played at a neutral venue. A decision was expected soon.Galatasaray officials are angry at Leeds for warning fans against going to the match.”The suspects are in the hands of justice…and will be punished,” said Galatasaray Chairman Faruk Suren “The issue should not be turned into a blood feud.”.

Nato peace-keepers in southern Kosovo were forced to suspend routine operations until yesterday because attacks by Serbs around the south-eastern town of Strpce left 11 United States soldiers injured. Nato peace-keepers in southern Kosovo were forced to suspend routine operations until yesterday because attacks by Serbs around the south-eastern town of Strpce left 11 United States soldiers injured.
The suspension of operations lasted nearly two days.Violence erupted between Serbs and American and Polish troops, during which a total of 12 Nato soldiers were injured.The US Army said “the security risks were unacceptably high to continue routine operations” after “the security environment.. was disrupted” in Strpce by about 1,000 Serbs last Tuesday. Nato convoy escorts for Serb vehicles travelling through Albanian areas, routine medical assistance, building projects and delivery of supplies to the town were suspended.One French peace-keeper and several Serbs were also injured yesterday after Natosoldiers fired tear gasin the city of Kosovska Mitrovica.About 100 Kosovo refugees began a hunger strike yesterday after refusing to leave a camp in Australia to begin their journey home.. A desperately-ill two-year-old Kosovar boy arrived in Scotland tonight for a potentially life-saving operation. A desperately-ill two-year-old Kosovar boy arrived in Scotland tonight for a potentially life-saving operation.
Visar Zymberi, accompanied by his deaf-mute mother Sadije, left their home in Kosovo at 5am and finally touched down at Aberdeen Airport shortly after 9.30pm.He suffers from a congenital oesophageal condition which means he can only swallow liquids.Since birth he has been surviving on milk from his mother, who cannot hear or speak, and he will die if he does not receive appropriate medical treatment.Administrative director of Aberdeen charity No Frontiers Bob Milne, who arranged the boy’s journey to Scotland, said: “They are very, very tired and we are taking them to an address we have organised for them in the city.”We’ll take them to the hospital tomorrow to see what can be done for Visar.”The youngster was operated on three times during the first two months of his life, but his fourth operation was abandoned after the outbreak of war in the Balkan region.Visar, who lost his father and grandfather during the fighting, comes from the mountain village of Prelofc in the Drenica Valley, which was one of the worst hit regions during the war.Scottish charity workers discovered his plight at the end of last year during door-to-door visits in the area and No Frontiers, with the assistance of other members of the Scottish Charities Kosovo Appeal team, helped bring him to the UK.A Territorial Army medical team from Aberdeen has carried out an in-field assessment of Visar’s condition and reported back to medical experts inScotland.Visar is due to be assessed by staff at Aberdeen Royal Children’s Hospital who will decide how and where his needs can best be met.Mr Milne said Visar’s prospects were good if he received treatment, but he would die without help.”This operation that we are assuming he needs is not some fantastic unheard-of operation.”I wouldn’t go so far as to say it is routine but the prognosis for the future is wonderful if he receives medical treatment of some sort or another.”He said the youngster had his first three operations in Belgrade, but in the current political and military climate it was almost impossible for his mother, an ethnic Kosovar Albanian, to take him back there.He said: “You may as well go and have a party on the moon -it would be just as easy.