River Thames
The River Thames, known alternatively in parts as the Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At 215 miles, it is the longest river in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom, after the River Severn, it flows through Oxford, Henley-on-Thames and Windsor. The lower reaches of the river are called the Tideway, derived from its long tidal reach up to Teddington Lock, it rises at Thames Head in Gloucestershire, flows into the North Sea via the Thames Estuary. The Thames drains the whole of Greater London, its tidal section, reaching up to Teddington Lock, includes most of its London stretch and has a rise and fall of 23 feet. Running through some of the driest parts of mainland Britain and abstracted for drinking water, the Thames' discharge is low considering its length and breadth: the Severn has a discharge twice as large on average despite having a smaller drainage basin. In Scotland, the Tay achieves more than double the Thames' average discharge from a drainage basin, 60% smaller.
Along its course are 45 navigation locks with accompanying weirs. Its catchment area covers a small part of western England; the river contains over 80 islands. With its waters varying from freshwater to seawater, the Thames supports a variety of wildlife and has a number of adjoining Sites of Special Scientific Interest, with the largest being in the remaining parts of the North Kent Marshes and covering 5,449 hectares; the Thames, from Middle English Temese, is derived from the Brittonic Celtic name for the river, recorded in Latin as Tamesis and yielding modern Welsh Tafwys "Thames". The name may have meant "dark" and can be compared to other cognates such as Russian темно, Lithuanian tamsi "dark", Latvian tumsa "darkness", Sanskrit tamas and Welsh tywyll "darkness" and Middle Irish teimen "dark grey"; the same origin is shared by countless other river names, spread across Britain, such as the River Tamar at the border of Devon and Cornwall, several rivers named Tame in the Midlands and North Yorkshire, the Tavy on Dartmoor, the Team of the North East, the Teifi and Teme of Wales, the Teviot in the Scottish Borders, as well as one of the Thames' tributaries called the Thame.
Kenneth H. Jackson has proposed that the name of the Thames is not Indo-European, while Peter Kitson suggested that it is Indo-European but originated before the Celts and has a name indicating "muddiness" from a root *tā-,'melt'. Indirect evidence for the antiquity of the name'Thames' is provided by a Roman potsherd found at Oxford, bearing the inscription Tamesubugus fecit, it is believed. Tamese was referred to as a place, not a river in the Ravenna Cosmography; the river's name has always been pronounced with a simple t /t/. A similar spelling from 1210, "Tamisiam", is found in the Magna Carta; the Thames through Oxford is sometimes called the Isis. And in Victorian times and cartographers insisted that the entire river was named the Isis from its source down to Dorchester on Thames and that only from this point, where the river meets the Thame and becomes the "Thame-isis" should it be so called. Ordnance Survey maps still label the Thames as "River Isis" down to Dorchester. However, since the early 20th century this distinction has been lost in common usage outside of Oxford, some historians suggest the name Isis is nothing more than a truncation of Tamesis, the Latin name for the Thames.
Sculptures titled Tamesis and Isis by Anne Seymour Damer can be found on the bridge at Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. Richard Coates suggests that while the river was as a whole called the Thames, part of it, where it was too wide to ford, was called *lowonida; this gave the name to a settlement on its banks, which became known as Londinium, from the Indo-European roots *pleu- "flow" and *-nedi "river" meaning something like the flowing river or the wide flowing unfordable river. For merchant seamen, the Thames has long been just the "London River". Londoners refer to it as "the river" in expressions such as "south of the river"; the river gives its name to three informal areas: the Thames Valley, a region of England around the river between Oxford and West London. Thames Valley Police is a formal body. In non-administrative use, the river's name is used in those of Thames Valley University, Thames Water, Thames Television, publishing company Thames & Hudson and South Thames College. An example of its use in the names of historic entities is the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company.
The administrative powers of the Thames Conservancy have been taken on with modifications by the Environment Agency and, in respect of the Tideway part of the river, such powers are split between the agency and the Port of London Authority. The marks of human activity, in some cases dating back to Pre-Roman Britain, are visible at various points along the river; these include a variety of structure
Voter registration
Voter registration is the requirement that a person otherwise eligible to vote register on an electoral roll before they will be entitled or permitted to vote. Such enrollment may require application being made by the eligible voter; the rules governing registration vary between jurisdictions. Some jurisdictions have "election day registration" and others do not require registration, or may require production of evidence of entitlement to vote at time of voting. In some jurisdictions registration by those of voting age is compulsory, while in most it is optional. In jurisdictions where registration is voluntary, an effort may be made to encourage persons otherwise eligible to vote to register, in what is called as a voter registration drive. Registered persons may need to re-register or update their registration if they change residence or other relevant information. In some jurisdictions, when a person registers a change of residence with a government agency, for a driver's license, the government agency may forward the information to the electoral agency to automatically update the voter registration information.
In countries where registration is the individual's responsibility, many reformers, seeking to maximize voter turnout, argue for a wider availability of the required forms, or more ease of process by having more places where they can register. The United States, for example, the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 and similar laws require states to offer voter registration at motor vehicle departments as well as disability centers, public schools, public libraries, in order to offer more access to the system. State authorities are required to accept mail-in voter registrations. Many jurisdictions offer online registrations. In the United States, states require voter registration; some U. S. states do not require advance registration, instead allowing voters to register when they arrive at the polls, in what is called same day registration or election day registration. North Dakota is the only state. Same-day registration has been linked to higher voter turn-out, with SDR states reporting average turn-out of 71% in the 2012 United States Presidential election, well above the average voter turn-out rate of 59% for non-SDR states.
Registration laws making it harder for voters to register correlate with lower percentages of people turning out to vote where voting is voluntary. In the United States, the southern states of the former Confederacy passed new constitutions and laws at the turn of the century that created barriers to voter registration, such as poll taxes, literacy tests, grandfather clauses, complicated record keeping requirements. In practice, in their system of Jim Crow, these elements were used to disenfranchise most African Americans and many poor whites from voting, excluding thousands of people in each state from the political system; the minority of white Democrats in these states controlled the political process and elections, gaining outsize power locally and in Congress as the Solid South. The states maintained such exclusion of most African Americans for more than 60 years. Other minority groups have been discriminated against by other states at various times in voter registration practices, such as Native Americans, Asians and other language minorities.
Because of this history, voter registration laws and practices in the United States have been scrutinized by interest groups and the federal government following passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It authorized federal oversight of jurisdictions with a history of under-representation of certain portions of their populations in voting; such laws are controversial. Some advocate for their abolition, while others argue that the laws should be reformed, for instance: to allow voters to register on the day of the election. Several US states - Connecticut, Iowa, Minnesota, New Hampshire and Wyoming - have adopted this approach, called Election Day Registration. For the 2012 election year, California joined this list. Systems of voter registration vary from country to country, sometimes among lower jurisdictions, such as states or provinces. In some nations, voters are automatically added to the rolls. In others, potential voters are required to apply to be added to the rolls; the Australian Electoral Commission maintains Australia's federal electoral roll.
Each state has its own electoral commission or office, but voters need to register only with the AEC, which shares the registration details with the relevant state electoral commission. Voter registration is mandatory above; the AEC monitors house and apartment sales and sends a reminder to new residents if they have moved to another electorate, making compliance with the law easier. In Canada, the task of enumeration was handled until 1992 by the relevant elections bureau, such as Elections Canada for the federal level; the task was delegated to temporary employees from the public, who were charged with going to each residence in assigned areas to determine the eligible voters to be recorded for a publicly displayed list for each election. The Parliament discontinued this system for fiscal reasons in the 1990s in favour of an opt-in process, by which voters mark their consent to be added the national voters list, or register, on their annual income tax returns. Although this allows the list to be updated annually, complaints are registered that there are excessive numbers of omissions of residents, which needlessly complicates voting for the public and is contributing to a serious d
Animal Welfare Party
Animal Welfare Party is a minor political party in the United Kingdom campaigning on an animal welfare and health platform. The party was founded in December 2006 by Jasmijn de Boo, a Dutch national, of Kennington and Shaun Rutherford of Milford Haven, Wales, as Animals Count!. The party was registered with the Electoral Commission on 22 January 2007. In October 2010, the party elected a new leader, Vanessa Hudson, whose aims are to increase awareness of the party and to expand its membership. In 2013, the party changed its name from Animals Count! to the Animal Welfare Party. In June 2013, Hudson joined leaders from other animal protection parties from across Europe in a meeting in The Hague organised by the Animal Politics Foundation of the Netherlands. At this meeting the animal protection parties of the Netherlands, Portugal, Denmark, Italy and the UK discussed ways in which they could work together more effectively; that month, Hudson announced that the Animal Welfare Party would stand in the London region in the 2014 European Parliament elections.
The party says it was one of seven European animal protection parties contesting the 2014 European Parliament elections with the aim of returning dedicated representatives for animals to the EU Parliament for the first time. This European group of parties has become known informally as the EuroAnimal7 and includes PvdD of The Netherlands, PACMA of Spain, PAN of Portugal, Partei Mensch Umwelt Tierschutz of Germany, Djurens Parti of Sweden and Animal Party Cyprus. In September 2017, the party gained its first elected representative after Alsager Town Councillor Jane Smith defected from the Green Party to the AWP. AWP's policies for Europe include: Re-directing EU subsidies away from livestock and fisheries farming and into plant-based agriculture Promoting healthy, plant-based lifestyle initiatives through public health and education campaigns Opposing the production and import of genetically manipulated crops anywhere in Europe Labelling all products with information which allows consumers to make informed choices in line with their own principles on the environment, animal welfare and the social circumstances in which a product is produced Phasing out farming practices and systems with poor welfare consequences for animals Ending live animal export Reducing journey times for animals travelling to slaughter and further'fattening' Phasing out animal experimentation with binding targets for reduction combined with funding and real support for alternatives Ending cultural traditions that involve cruelty to animals, such as bullfighting and foie gras production A ban on the production and sale of fur within Europe Ending EU subsidy of rearing bulls for bullfighting Halting EU funding of Romania's'Rabies Eradication Programme' until the stray animal'Catch and Kill' policy is replaced by'Spay and Neuter' Ensuring proper enforcement of existing animal welfare legislation across all EU member states The party intended to stand in the Welsh Assembly elections in 2007.
In the London Assembly election, 2008, de Boo stood in Southwark, receiving 1,828 votes. The party sponsored an electoral list of three candidates for the 2009 European Parliament election in the East of England, receiving 13,201 votes. In the United Kingdom general election, 2010, the party contested one seat; the party sponsored an electoral list of eight candidates for the 2014 European Parliament election in the London region, receiving 21,092 votes. None were elected. Four AWP candidates contested the 2015 general election. None were elected, they stood in the 2016 London Assembly elections, receiving 1% of the vote and not having any candidates elected. General election, 6 May 2010Note: Standing as "Animals Count" General election, 7 May 2015 Scottish Parliament election, 5 May 2016 2009 European electionsNote: Standing as "Animals Count" 2014 European elections Animal welfare in the United Kingdom List of animal advocacy parties Official website
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the only parliamentary institution of the European Union, directly elected by EU citizens aged 18 or older. Together with the Council of the European Union, which should not be confused with the European Council and the Council of Europe, it exercises the legislative function of the EU; the Parliament is composed of 751 members, that will become 705 starting from the 2019–2024 legislature, who represent the second-largest democratic electorate in the world and the largest trans-national democratic electorate in the world. It has been directly elected by the European citizens every five years and by universal suffrage since 1979. However, voter turnout at European Parliament elections has fallen consecutively at each election since that date, has been under 50% since 1999. Voter turnout in 2014 stood at 42.54% of all European voters. Although the European Parliament has legislative power, as does the Council, it does not formally possess legislative initiative, as most national parliaments of European Union member states do.
The Parliament is the "first institution" of the EU, shares equal legislative and budgetary powers with the Council. It has equal control over the EU budget; the European Commission, the executive body of the EU, is accountable to Parliament. In particular, Parliament elects the President of the Commission, approves the appointment of the Commission as a whole, it can subsequently force the Commission as a body to resign by adopting a motion of censure. The President of the European Parliament is Antonio Tajani, elected in January 2017, he presides over a multi-party chamber, the two largest groups being the Group of the European People's Party and the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats. The last union-wide elections were the 2014 elections; the European Parliament has three places of work -- Luxembourg City and Strasbourg. Luxembourg City is home to the administrative offices. Meetings of the whole Parliament take place in Brussels. Committee meetings are held in Brussels; the Parliament, like the other institutions, was not designed in its current form when it first met on 10 September 1952.
One of the oldest common institutions, it began as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community. It was a consultative assembly of 78 appointed parliamentarians drawn from the national parliaments of member states, having no legislative powers; the change since its foundation was highlighted by Professor David Farrell of the University of Manchester: "For much of its life, the European Parliament could have been justly labelled a'multi-lingual talking shop'."Its development since its foundation shows how the European Union's structures have evolved without a clear "master plan". Some, such as Tom Reid of the Washington Post, said of the union: "nobody would have deliberately designed a government as complex and as redundant as the EU"; the Parliament's two seats, which have switched several times, are a result of various agreements or lack of agreements. Although most MEPs would prefer to be based just in Brussels, at John Major's 1992 Edinburgh summit, France engineered a treaty amendment to maintain Parliament's plenary seat permanently at Strasbourg.
The body was not mentioned in the original Schuman Declaration. It was assumed or hoped that difficulties with the British would be resolved to allow the Council of Europe's Assembly to perform the task. A separate Assembly was introduced during negotiations on the Treaty as an institution which would counterbalance and monitor the executive while providing democratic legitimacy; the wording of the ECSC Treaty demonstrated the leaders' desire for more than a normal consultative assembly by using the term "representatives of the people" and allowed for direct election. Its early importance was highlighted when the Assembly was given the task of drawing up the draft treaty to establish a European Political Community. By this document, the Ad Hoc Assembly was established on 13 September 1952 with extra members, but after the failure of the proposed European Defence Community the project was dropped. Despite this, the European Economic Community and Euratom were established in 1958 by the Treaties of Rome.
The Common Assembly was shared by all three communities and it renamed itself the European Parliamentary Assembly. The first meeting was held on 19 March 1958 having been set up in Luxembourg City, it elected Schuman as its president and on 13 May it rearranged itself to sit according to political ideology rather than nationality; this is seen as the birth of the modern European Parliament, with Parliament's 50 years celebrations being held in March 2008 rather than 2002. The three communities merged their remaining organs as the European Communities in 1967, the body's name was changed to the current "European Parliament" in 1962. In 1970 the Parliament was granted power over areas of the Communities' budget, which were expanded to the whole budget in 1975. Under the Rome Treaties, the Parliament should have become elected. However, the Council was required to agree a uni
New Cross
New Cross is an area of south east London, England, 4.5 miles south-east of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Lewisham and the SE14 postcode district. New Cross is near St Johns, Telegraph Hill, Peckham, Brockley and Greenwich, home to Goldsmiths, University of London, Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham College and Addey and Stanhope School. New Cross Gate, on the west of New Cross, is named after the New Cross tollgate, established in 1718 by the New Cross Turnpike Trust, it is the location of New Cross Gate station. New Cross Gate corresponds to the manor and district known as Hatcham; the area was known as Hatcham. The earliest reference to Hatcham is the Domesday Book of 1086 as Hacheham, it was held by the Bishop of Lisieux from the Bishop of Bayeux. According to the entry in the Domesday Book Hatcham's assets were: 3 hides. Hatcham tithes were paid to Bermondsey Abbey from 1173 until the dissolution of the monasteries. A series of individuals held land locally before the manor was bought in the 17th century by the Haberdashers' Company, a wealthy livery company, instrumental in the area's development in the 19th century.
Telegraph Hill was for many years covered by market gardens owned by the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers. Until the creation of the London County Council in 1889, the area was a part of the counties of Kent and Surrey. New Cross is believed to have taken its name from a coaching house known as the Golden Cross, which stood close to the current New Cross House pub; the diarist John Evelyn, who lived in Deptford, wrote in 1675 that he met a friend at'New Crosse' in his coach before travelling down through Kent and on to France. In the 19th century, the area became known as the New Cross Tangle on account of its numerous railway lines and two stations — both called New Cross. Hatcham Iron Works in Pomeroy Street was an important steam locomotive factory, the scene of a bitter confrontation in 1865 between its manager, George England, the workers; the Strike Committee met at the Crown and Anchor pub in New Cross Road, now the site of Hong Kong City Chinese restaurant. George England’s house, Hatcham Lodge, is now 56 Kender Street.
New Cross bus garage was the largest tram depot in London, opening in 1906. During the 1926 General Strike in support of the miners, strikebreakers were brought in to drive trams from the depot. On 7 May, police baton charges were launched to clear a crowd of 2-3,000 pickets blockading the entrance; the last London tram, in July 1952, ran from Woolwich to New Cross. It was driven through enormous crowds arriving at its destination in the early hours of 6 July. On 25 November 1944 a V-2 rocket exploded at the Woolworths store in New Cross Road, 168 people were killed, 121 were injured, it was London's most devastating V-bombing of the entire war. On Wednesday 25 November 2009 a new commemorative plaque was unveiled on the site by the Mayor of Lewisham, marking the 65th anniversary of the explosion. In August 1977 the area saw the so-called Battle of Lewisham, during which the far right British National Front were beaten back by militant anti-fascists and local people. On 18 January 1981 13 young black people were killed in the New Cross Fire at a party at 439 New Cross Road.
Suspicions that the fire was caused by a racist attack, apparent official indifference to the deaths, led to the largest political mobilisation of black people seen in Britain. During the 1980s, the Goldsmiths Tavern hosted alternative cabaret nights, organised by Nikky Smedley. Playing host to fledgling acts including The Cholmondeleys, Julian Clary and Vic Reeves. Goldsmiths' Students' Union had a reputation for putting on established and up and coming bands of the era including The B-52's, The Pogues, The Monochrome Set, Simply Red, Wet Wet Wet and Wild Willy Barrett.. The Irish owners of the Harp Club let; the Flim Flam, with their wide music interest, recruited two DJs from Goldsmiths to put on a punk and indie night on Saturdays A Million Rubber Bands. This venue became The Venue. In the 1990s New Cross club, The Venue was central to the Indie Rock and Brit Pop scenes and played host to gigs by many of their finest purveyors including Oasis, Pulp, Suede, Cast, Shed Seven, Cornershop, Bluetones, PJ Harvey, Catherine Wheel, Ocean Colour Scene, Chumbawamba, Ash and Hole.
Urban music magazine and The Platform Magazine, an Islamic Hip-Hop journal are based in New Cross. New Cross was noted as the birthplace of New Rave, is fast gaining ground with London's fashion and music journalists, some coming to regard it as South London's answer to Shoreditch in the wake of its commercialisation; the New Rave scene began with a connected movement of artists, DJ’s, bands and squatters called! WOWOW! who have staged parties since 2003 in New Cross. New Rave champions Klaxons spent their formative years in New Cross and released their début single, Gravity's Rainbow, in April 2006 on Angular Recording Corporation, a label set up by two ex-Goldsmiths students; the area supports a fledgling student opera company, Opera Gold, run by Goldsmiths, University of London. Millwall Football Club, founded by Scottish workers at J. T. Morton, a cannery and food processing p
The Den
The Den is a football stadium in Bermondsey, south-east London, the home of Millwall Football Club. It is adjacent to the South London railway originating at London Bridge, a quarter of a mile from the Old Den, which it replaced in 1993. Built on a previous site of housing, a church and the Senegal Fields playgrounds, it has an all-seated capacity of 20,146; the highest match attendance in the 2017-18 season was 17,614. The Den is the sixth ground that Millwall have occupied since their formation in the Millwall area of the Isle of Dogs in 1885; the New Den, as it was known to distinguish it from its predecessor, was the first new all-seater stadium in England to be completed after the Taylor Report on the Hillsborough disaster of 1989. It was designed with effective crowd management in mind, with the escape routes being short and direct. After chairman Reg Burr decided that it would not be viable to redevelop The Old Den as an all-seater stadium, he announced in 1990 that the club would relocate to a new stadium in the Senegal Fields area in south Bermondsey.
It was planned to have a seating capacity of between 25,000 and 30,000, the club opted to wait so the capacity was kept to just over 20,000. Millwall played their final game at The Old Den on 8 May 1993 after 83 years and moved to the new stadium a quarter-of-a-mile away from Cold Blow Lane; the £16 million New Den was opened by John Smith, the leader of the Labour Party and of the Opposition at the time, on 4 August 1993 prior to a prestigious friendly against Sporting Portugal, which Sporting won 2–1. The Den was the first new stadium constructed for a professional football team in London since 1937. Millwall have experienced mixed fortunes since relocating to The Den, their first season at the stadium saw them finish third in Division One — their highest finish since relegation from the top flight four years earlier. However, their dreams of Premier League football were ended by a defeat in the playoffs and they were relegated to Division Two in 1996, not winning promotion from that level until 2001.
They again came close to reaching the Premier League in 2002, finishing fourth, but once again losing in the playoffs. The Lions reached the FA Cup final for the first time in 2004, despite a 3–0 defeat by Manchester United they qualified for a European competition for the first time in their history. Millwall have been relegated twice since then. However, the stadium has yet to host Premier League football - Millwall had played in the old First Division for two seasons from 1988 during their final few years at their previous stadium. In September 2016 Lewisham Council approved a compulsory purchase order of land surrounding The Den rented by Millwall, as part of a major redevelopment of the "New Bermondsey" area; the plans are controversial because the developer, Renewal, is controlled by offshore companies with unclear ownership, is seen by the club and local community to be profiteering by demolishing existing homes and businesses as well as Millwall's car-park and the acclaimed and well recognised Millwall Community Trust - to build up to 2,400 new private homes, with no council housing and less than 15% of'affordable housing'.
Millwall had submitted their own plans for regeneration centred around the football club itself, but the council voted in favour of Renewal's plans. In December 2016 Private Eye reported how Renewal had been founded by a former Lewisham Council leader and senior officer, suggesting potential bias, that the decision to approve Renewal's plans may have been made as long ago as 2013 despite the fact that no due diligence had been able to be carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers due to "poor" and "limited" access to information and management at Renewal, registered in the Isle of Man. On 20 January 2011 the east stand of The Den was renamed as the Dockers Stand, paying tribute to Millwall's earlier history and supporter-base of Thames dockers; the south stand is known as the Cold Blow Lane stand, the name of the road which led into The Old Den. The north stand is for visiting supporters and the west stand was renamed the Barry Kitchener stand, named after Millwall's longest serving player, it houses press box and executive seats.
In 1994, a boxing match was held at The Den. Local boy Michael Bentt lost his WBO World Heavyweight Championship to Herbie Hide; the fight was Bentt's last after being rushed to the hospital and told he could never fight again, after suffering brain injuries in the loss. On 1 May 2006, The Den hosted the FA Women's Cup Final between Arsenal L. F. C. and Leeds United L. F. C.. Arsenal Ladies won the Cup 5–0. Three international matches have been hosted at The Den. Ghana 1–1 Senegal, Jamaica 0–0 Nigeria and Australia 3–4 Ecuador. Former Millwall player Tim Cahill scored two of Australia's goals, becoming the country's all-time top scorer. On September 5, 2015, the ground hosted Rugby league as Wigan Warriors defeated the Catalans Dragons 42-16 in a Super League Super 8s match in front of a crowd of 8,101; the Den hosted the Samaritans Celebrity Soccer Sixes on 18 May 2008. Film and Television stars played at The Den, the first time the event has not been hosted by a Premier League Club. Babyshambles failed losing 3-2 to dance act Faithless.
The winners of the women's trophy were Cansei de Ser Sexy. Around 150 celebrities took part including McFly, Tony Hadley, Amy Winehouse and ex-Millwall fan favourite Terry Hurlock to raise money for the charity; the Den doubles as The Dragon's Lair, home ground of Harchester United in the TV series Dream
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