The Sinn Fein president called on John Major to take a leadership role do his duty and move the entire
The Sinn Fein president called on John Major to “take a leadership role, do his duty and move the entire situation towards a peace settlement”. Mr Adams praised work done by Mr Clinton.Intelligence reports to the Government suggest that the ceasefire is not in imminent danger of breaking down But ministers are keen to be seen to making progress.. A group of radical environmental campaigners plan to blockade a major arterial road into central London today to protest against the rising level of pollution in the major cities. The group, known as Reclaim the Streets, says the blockade is to enforce the advice given to motorists by the Department of the Environment to leave their cars at home and use public transport. Rising levels of traffic fumes and the strong sunlight have combined in recent weeks to produce a noxious cocktail of irritant gases.
Ozone, which can trigger asthma attacks and damage crops, has proved to be a particular problem.
A spokesman for the group said the event “is not about blockading the traffic”, but about raising awareness of the increasing levels of pollution. “The blockade is planned to highlight the dangers from smog and to ask drivers to think again about bringing their cars into London.”He said the group hoped that those caught in the ensuing jams will understand the reasons for blocking the traffic.”It may frustrate them in the short term, but in the long term the public has shown its approval of actions designed to improve the environment and clean-up urban spaces.”The group wants to see an increase in the numbers of people walking and cycling and their shift away from the private car and into cheap, or free public transport.Reclaim the Streets has mounted several major actions in London in recent months. Camden High Street and Upper Street in Islington, both north London, have been blocked and turned into giant open air street parties in protest against what they claim to be the tyranny of the motor vehicle.Today’s action is part of an expanding campaign in the run-up to next year’s centenary of the motor car Another protest is to be held in Birmingham tomorrow.. A female dealer suing a Japanese City firm for sex discrimination said her manager, who kept a topless calendar on his desk, thought she did not show him “sufficient deference”. Helen Bamber, 32, who is suing Fuji International Finance under the Equal Pay Act, told an industrial tribunal in Croydon, south London, that women’s promotion there was “remarkably slow” and that she had been subjected to sexist behaviour by George Ball, the head of sales, and Michael Cole, the present deputy managing director, who accused her of trying to make “easy money” out of the firm.
Ms Bamber had gone to see Mr Cole over her pay after a male colleague had been made an “offer he couldn’t refuse”. Later she found a memo which said: “I believe she is already looking for another job and may already have found one.
She is trying to get some easy money.”She joined the firm as a graduate trainee in 1986 and resigned in 1994 after three salesmen were recruited to take over her responsibilities.”Despite a fairly lengthy time at the company, the promotion history of women seems to have been remarkably slow, particularly relative to some of the promotions of men,” she said. Between 1988 and 1994 five men were recruited and only one woman, who left after a year. Where four out of five women had been educated to degree level, only three out of six of the men had been.In 1991 Ms Bamber earned pounds 40,000 – 68 per cent of the firm’s average – with a pounds 4,500 bonus. Two years later her pounds 43,000 salary had slipped to 54 per cent of the average and she received no bonus.A comparable male colleague who joined in 1993 earned pounds 52,000 – 66 per cent of the firm’s average – with a bonus of pounds 15,000. A year later he was on a pounds 90,000 salary with an pounds 85,000 bonus while Ms Bamber’s salary had only gone up to pounds 47,000.Ms Bamber said that Kazuo Matsuda, the former deputy managing director, “had made it known generally within the trading floor that he was discouraging the recruitment of women and wanted more men in the company”.
