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Showing posts from March, 2013

Constituencies, wards and local councils

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Constituencies (a.k.a. parliamentary constituencies): each electing one Member of Parliament (MP) every 5 years to the House of Commons (Parliament). There are 650 constituencies in the UK.Wards (a.k.a. electoral divisions or electoral wards) is the primary unit of English electoral geography for borough and district councils, county councils or city councils. Each ward elects either one or two councillors to be members of the local council. There were 9,456 electoral wards/divisions in the UK and each ward has an average electorate of about 5,500 people, but ward population can vary substantially.Local council is made up of a number of Councillors (Cllr) who meet regularly to make decisions about the direction of the council and the work it does for the community. As elected bodies local councils are responsible to their local community. Attending a council meeting is the best way to find out what they do and how they make decisions. Members of public can attend public council meetin…
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101 Non-Emergency Number

By Jim Sheng
101 is the new number to contact the police when it's less urgent than 999.

The 101 non-emergency number will make it quicker and easier for you to contact the police when you don't need an emergency response. 101 easy-to-remember number is available 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week. It cost a flat rate of 15p per call from a landline and mobile networks, no matter how long you are on the phone or what time of day it is.

When you dial 101, the system will determine your location and connect you to the service centre covering your area.
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Asda locks up tobacco booth

By Jim Sheng
Now you won't see tobacco displayed on the shelves in Asda store. You have to ask the sales lady what brand you want and she will look up from labels on the drawers.

It's not very good news for some new tobacco products, people will have no chance to compare the price. But normally smokers are stick to one brand.

The sales lady told me it will enforce tomorrow, Asda is not the first supermarket in uk to lock up the booth, Sinsbury's started earlier.


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What is 'Bedroom Tax'?

By Jim Sheng
From the 1st of April 2013, the government is reducing the amount of Housing Benefit paid to claimants who have a home with more bedrooms than they needs. If you're affected then you will need to make up the shortfall in your rent from your own money.

I know a lady, she is single, and occupies a three bedroom flat paid by government, she told me that she was born in this house, her father moved out after separated with her mother, and she has been living there alone after her mother died for more than 10 years. Government just pay the rent every year, and nobody bothered her ever since.

Sometime I do think benefit reform is necessary.
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Green deal

By Jim Sheng
You might have got approached by sales people about the Green Deal, and he who might be more interested in making a sale told you how much you could save on your energy bill, and you don't need to pay for installation of such energy efficiency measures as insulation or new boiler. So what is the fact?

Green Deal is an initiative of the government to try and get people to increase the energy efficiency of their home by a loan for works through an energy supplier.

The way the Green Deal works is that a private company will offer to install an energy efficiency measure (e.g. Cavity wall insulation, external wall insulation, central heating, new boiler, double glazing etc). They will pay for this installation. However it is not free fore you. Your electricity will go up, and the extra you pay on your fuel bills will slowly pay off the loan for the work carried out. This is therefore a sort of finance package, whereby you borrow the money to do the improvement but pay it back through…
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Miserable weather

By Jim Sheng
It doesn't feel like spring at all amongst the flurries of snow, chaos on the roads, over the top news reports and minus temperatures this week but the Easter weekend is truly upon us, have you let the miserable weather dampen your spirits?
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