Monthly Archives: April 2017

Sinn Fein says agreement must be reached by Friday or its another (to nowhere). In fact, the only thing that will be forced by then is that Westminster will have to legislate for a new rate to be set.

So the talks will be paused today, not ended. Its a fairly run of the mill attempt by the SF leader to frame the narrative of these periodic breakdowns (of which this is just the most recent and severe). That it was nonsense seems not to dampen the effect.

The British government seems intent on keeping the possibility of an election (for SF) and/or the option of direct rule (for the DUP) on the table for a reasonable period of time. Both options would render the last election results null and void.

But their preferred option is to get the two back to work: with or without the smaller parties. As well as giving away control of setting the local rate, there are other things that will be put in jeopardy.

Heres Eileen Evason, who helped the DUP/Sinn Fein led Executive on their ameliorated welfare reform package:

We need to start thinking now about which parts of the package should be retained and whether we can help those affected by cuts made since our report: most obviously the implementation of the so-called 2 child policy, cuts to Employment & Support Allowance and the severe limitation in support for widowed parents which is now being put in place.

I have no doubt that those working with the most vulnerable in our society are anxious to move forward but here, as is the case on so many issues, it is difficult to see how progress can be made without resolution of the current political impasse.

The voluntary and community sector, already under threat of cuts from the Community Relations Council, are also effectively cut off from by the Office of the Executive.

Sinn Fein appear to be gambling all of its limited gains (jointly won through the DUP) for a highly limited Irish Language Act (both parties tried to get a Bill of Rights through before and failed), and with bids on legacy also being noticeably limited.

On the future focused side of the ledger, marriage equality is within grasp of the new Assembly (although new elections might actually endanger that possibility by restoring the DUPs capacity to block such measures in the Assembly).

Long overdue reform of the Petition of Concern is now possible for the new Assembly: if anyone is policy smart enough to come up with an alternative protection? And there are a raft of things that can be done with the balance of power that was not possible before and may not be possible after a re-run.

A long stasis may now suit a troubled DUP, but voiding this election, as SF wants, only risks re-ensnaring a temporarily freed Assembly in the grip of this ongoing domestic within what is likely to remain Northern Irelands dysfunctional politbureau for the sake of a long shot to finally take the top seat off the DUP.

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Opportunity Costs of an Impasse include Welfare Reform and Marriage Equality Abolition of the Hated PoC - Slugger O'Toole

A long-time Red Deer Public Schools trustee says its time for change.

At Wednesdays board meeting, Dianne Macaulay, who is also Director of Zone Four for the Alberta School Boards Association, introduced a notice of motion asking fellow trustees to support advocating for a unified public school system.

Such a system, in her mind, would allow for locally-elected school boards to offer Catholic programs as well as other faith and program options.

It is important to note that this initiative does not call for the abolition of Catholic programs in Alberta, but rather contemplates the potential for public school boards to grow and expand faith program offerings, she says. This is no different than Red Deer Public operating French Immersion programs which do not challenge the existence of the constitutionally protected Francophone School Boards.

Macaulay notes that Red Deer Public Schools supports programs of choice where there is demand, and a move like this would mean more choice, not less.

She says while they are engaged in a dialogue on curriculum redesign, perhaps it is also time to answer the bigger question about program or system redesign.

I support choice within public school districts. All Alberta taxpayers pay for public education in this province and yet we have two school systems that are only for students of one religion, she adds.

Catholic schools arent under the constitution and that is the argument that you will get from individuals that aren't quite up to date with why Catholic schools were first allowed in our province in 1905. It's as simple as a vote in the legislature to re-evaluate our education system." Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools board chair Guy Pelletier is not in favour of unification, and disagrees with Macaulays claim regarding constitutionality.

Catholic education exists as a constitutional right and they do operate quite differently than simply a religious or Catholic program within a public setting. The Catholic education is delivered in whole to educate the students' mind and spirit, so it's not just a simple question of putting a cross on the wall and offering a religious class."

Red Deer Public board chair Bev Manning says the discussion has been growing across the province since former Education Minister David King said publicly last month that public and Catholic school boards should amalgamate.

The board certainly will look at the motion and have a very valuable discussion around it. I think we've got a great board here in Red Deer and we work hard at trying to make sure we get all the information before we make a vote, Manning said Thursday. I am anticipating we will get all the information out there that we can and have a good, open discussion about the motion and see where it goes.

A vote on Macaulays notice of motion will be held at the Red Deer Public Schools board meeting on May 10.

Follow this link:

Red Deer Public Schools trustee calls for unified education system - rdnewsnow.com

Alexander Kerensky, as Minister of War, meets with other military officials.

The whole system of culture, the chief element in the condition of the people, must be completely transformed. Instead of poverty, general prosperity and content; instead of hostility, harmony and unity of interests. In short, a bloodless revolution, but a revolution of the greatest magnitude, beginning in the little circle of our district, then the province, then Russia, the whole world. Because a just idea cannot but be fruitful. Yes, its an aim worth working for.

Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

After years of war and political tumult, there was optimism in Russia about the countrys future. As the news of the czars abdication spread from Saint Petersburg to Russias provincial towns, widespread celebrations erupted. The writer Konstantin Paustovsky, who lived in the small railway town of Yefremov 200 miles south of Moscow recorded that when a local provisional committee proclaimed its authority, Never in my life have I seen so many tears of joy as on that dayPrisons were opened, schools were closedThe town and people were transformed. Russia had burst into speech. Gifted orators sprang up overnight.

The country celebrated Easter on April 15, the most significant holiday in the Russian Orthodox church calendar amidst hopes that a new government would bring stability and address the persistent issues supplying food to the cities and munitions to the military.

After Nicholas II abdicated in March, and was subsequently placed under house arrest with his family and servants at the Alexander Palace, the Provisional Government formed with Georgy Lvov as Prime Minister. Lvov was a member of the Constitutional Democratic (Kadet) party and had served in the Duma, Russias representative assembly, since 1906. The 55-year-old nobleman had a long history of taking initiative and demonstrating leadership in difficult situations. When he took charge of his familys country estate during the agricultural depression of the late 1870s, it was nearly bankrupt. He consulted local peasants for their expertise and read agricultural textbooks, sowing new crops to transform the land into a profitable commercial farm complete with a cannery to preserve and sell produce from the once neglected orchards.

The Lvov estate was a few miles away from the home of Leo Tolstoy, the celebrated author of Anna Karenina and War and Peace. Lvov had shared his neighbors disdain for the lavish lifestyle of their fellow nobles and a strong view that the aristocracy existed to serve the people. Lvov recalled in his memoirs that his work on his estate, which included toiling in the fields alongside the peasants in the manner of Constantine Levin, one of the major characters in Anna Karenina, separated [me] from the upper crust and made [me] democratic. I began to feel uncomfortable in the company of aristocrats and always felt much closer to the peasants.

Lvov earned a law degree from the University of Moscow then entered the civil service. He organised relief work during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 then became the chairman of the All-Russian union of Zemstvos (municipal governments) during World War I, serving on committee that helped organize supplies for the military and treatment for wounded soldiers. With his extensive experience serving in government and organizational abilities, Lvov seemed to be the ideal figure to address Russias extensive infrastructure and supply problems in 1917.

But, there was a younger generation of rising political figures who viewed Lvov and his supporters as yesterdays men. Tolstoy had died in 1910. Lvov was inspired by the abolition of serfdom in Russia in 1861 and the creation of the Duma in 1905, and had once hoped that Russias absolute monarchy would experience gradual reforms until it became a constitutional monarchy with an effective representative government, in the manner of the United Kingdom. With the collapse of czarism, this commitment to gradual reform and the development of parliamentary institutions seemed outdated.

Although Lvov treated members of different social backgrounds democratically, his noble origins made him suspect to the soviets, the councils of workers and soldiers deputies. The supporters of his Kadet party were primarily urban, educated professionals, not the working or peasant classes. Lvov soon found himself politically isolated. Conservative, czarist political factions refused to work with the revolutionary government and the soviets distanced themselves from a government run by a member of the nobility. The end of the Romanov dynasty opened the floodgates for more radical political change.

The key link between the soviets and the Provisional Government was Alexander Kerensky, a 35-year-old lawyer from Simbirsk (now Ulyanovsk), a small town on the Volga river 550 miles east of Moscow. Simbirsk was also the town where Vladimir Lenin grew up and the two families knew each other. Lenins father was superintendent for schools in the region and Kerenskys father was the headmaster of the high school attended by the young Lenin, even writing the reference letter necessary for Lenin to get into law school.

While Lenin spent much of Nicholas IIs reign as a revolutionary in exile, Kerensky worked within existing government institutions. In 1912, Kerensky was elected to the Duma as a member of the Trudovik party, a moderate labor party affiliated with the socialists. After the abdication, Kerensky was elected vice chairman of the Saint Petersburg soviet and served as Minister of Justice under Lvovs Provisional Government, the only person to hold a position in both the soviet and the government.

As Minister of Justice, Kerenskys first order of business was investigating the wartime conduct of the former Czar, known after his abdication as Colonel Nicholas Romanov, the military rank he held at the time of his accession in 1894. While the Provisional Government entered into negotiations with Britain, where Nicholass cousin George V was king, in the hopes of sending the Imperial family into exile, the soviets, however, were determined to have the dethroned czar answer for his activities as ruler.

One of the many telegrams received by the Saint Petersburg soviet stated, The Kuragino [a town in central Russia] general assembly protests the departure of Nicholas Romanov and his wife for England without trial in light of proof that they betrayed the fatherland. George V and British Prime Minister David Lloyd George ultimately withdrew their offer of asylum, fearing that the residence of the ex-Emperor and Empress would be strongly resented by the public, and would undoubtedly compromise the position of the King and Queen, leaving Kerensky free to conduct his investigation.

He visited Nicholas repeatedly in late March and April. Kerensky recalled in his memoirs, When I told [Nicholas] that there was to be an investigation and that Alexandramight have to be tried, he did not turn a hair and merely remarked: Well, I dont think [Alexandra] had anything to do with it. Have you any proof? To which I replied: I do not know yet.

Despite these circumstances, the two men developed a surprisingly cordial rapport. Kerensky wrote I began to see a human side to [Nicholas]. It became clear to me that he had acquiesced in the whole ruthless system without being moved by any personal ill will and without even realizing that it was bad. His mentality and circumstances kept him wholly out of touch with the people. Nicholas described Kerensky as a man who loves Russia and I wish I could have known him earlier because he could have been useful to me. Kerenskys investigation lasted 18 days but it never led to a trial and the former Imperial family remained in comfortable confinement in their palace until the autumn.

Lenin, following the news from afar, distrusted Kerenskys willingness to work with the Provisional government and leniency toward the former czar. He telegraphed his fellow revolutionaries in exile, No trust in and no support of the new government; Kerensky is especially suspect; arming of the proletariat is the only guarantee. Before returning to Russia, Lenin issued his April theses, which began, In our attitude toward the war not the slightest concession must be made to "revolutionary defencism," for under the new government of Lvov & Co., owing to the capitalist nature of this government, the war on Russia's part remains a predatory imperialist war. Once back in Russia (he arrived on April 16), Lenin established Bolshevik headquarters in a Saint Petersburg mansion that had once belonged to prima ballerina Mathilde Kschessinska and encouraged opposition to the Provisional Government and the war.

The new Provisional Government, however, struggled to meet the peoples expectations about the war. Its official policy was to maintain Russian participation in the war against Germany and Austria-Hungary in support of their allies Great Britain and France. On April 6, the United States had joined the allied war effort and an eventual victory seemed to be within reach. But while the Provisional Government remained committed to the war effort, Lenin demanded an immediate end to the hostilities. Lenins rallying cry of Peace, Land, Bread slowly began to undermine support for the Provisional Government, foreshadowing further political change.

Conflict over whether to continue Russias participation in war provoked the first test of the Provisional Governments authority. On April 18, foreign minister Pavel Miliukov sent a telegram to Russias wartime allies promising to continue the war effort and observe all the treaties dating from Nicholass reign. When the telegram was leaked to the public, mass demonstrations by Saint Petersburgs workers arose and both the war minister and the foreign minister had to resign to restore public confidence. With Kerenskys help, Lvov formed a new coalition government to quell the unrest in Saint Petersburg and appointed socialists to ministries. In spite of this, the provisional government still struggled to gain widespread support. The Bolsheviks refused to participate in the new political arrangement. Lenin, their leader, accused the other socialist parties of collaborating with a bourgeois government and an imperialist war, becoming the main opposition to the continued existence to the Provisional Government.

Kerensky emerged from the April crisis as Minister of War, a difficult assignment at a time when soldiers had formed soviets to represent their interests, officers had lost authority and mass desertions were commonplace. He needed a new approach. In May 1917, he received a proposal from Maria Bokchareva, one of the few women who had received permission from the czar to enlist in the Russian army. Bokchareva suggested the creation of womens combat battalions to shame the men into continuing the hostilities. Kerensky charged Bokchareva with the creation of the 1stRussian Womens Battalion of Death in time for a summer offensive.

Next: Russian women soldiers on the Eastern front

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In a Czar-less Russia, Winning Was Easy. Governing Was Harder. - Smithsonian

The committee is recommending the abolition or reduction of many health charges and an end to private care in public hospitals. Photograph: Frank Miller

Income tax rates and employers PRSI could be increased to fund improvements in the health service, according to the Dil committee planning its future over the next decade.

Increasing the basic 20 per cent income tax rate by 1 per cent could raise 576 million a year for a new national health fund, the committee says, while increasing the higher 40 per cent rate by 1 per cent would raise 280 million.

Changing PRSI rates for employers from 10.75 per cent to 11.75 per cent would yield more than 600 million for the fund, although it may have adverse effects on employment levels, according to the latest draft of the committees report.

The committee says an additional 500 million a year is needed to pay for the continued expansion of the health budget, growth in population and rising cost of medical technology.

By combining different options around tax, earmarked funds and general budget expansion, it should be entirely possible to fund expanded entitlement as proposed in the report, the committee says.

As reported previously, the committee is recommending the abolition or reduction of many health charges and an end to private care in public hospitals as part of a move to a single-tier system.

The latest draft report says members considered five approaches to the existing subsidy for private health insurance, including leaving it untouched, abolition and phasing it out in time, as waiting lists decline or as the number of subscribers fall. A final decision has been deferred to meeting later this month.

On funding options, the report appears to reject a mandatory, competitive private health insurance system, as was proposed by the previous government. Such systems tend to be more expensive, lack transparency and involve complex reforms, and Irelands population is not large enough to sustain more than one efficient insurer, it says.

The report says hospital consultants who currently work privately in public hospitals should be paid more in compensation for the ending of private practice, and rewarded better for elective work in the public sector.

The charge for public access to public hospital care (up to 800 a year) would be eliminated, the prescription charge for medical card holders reduced from 2.50 to 50 cent and the threshold for drug reimbursement from 144-100 a month.

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Income tax and employers' PRSI may rise to fund health system - Irish Times