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Universal Credit Project team to be established
A Universal Credit Project team made up of specialists from across East Ayrshire Council will be up and running soon to help residents and tenants transfer to Universal Credit.
Universal Credit, which merges six existing benefits (Child Tax Credit, Housing Benefit, Income Support, Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance, Income-related Employment and Support Allowance and Working Tax Credit) into one, poses significant challenges for some of our most vulnerable residents and tenants.
The difficulties that can be experienced making and maintaining a claim; delays in receiving the first monthly payment and the need for budgeting and digital skills poses a real threat to some people's livelihoods.
Some people may struggle to understand the new system or might not have access to a basic bank account for their Universal Credit payment.
There is also clear evidence that rent arrears increase when people move over to monthly Universal Credit payments and the Council must working closely with residents and tenants to ensure that arrears are kept to a minimum to avoid the potential threat of homelessness.
Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit are no longer linked and residents must complete and submit a claim form for Council Tax Reduction. It is essential that people do this to minimise debt levels.
All of these complex factors dictate the need for the new team to be created to support our communities as we move towards a full roll out of Universal Credit.
Councillor Clare Maitland, Cabinet Member for Equalities, Inclusion and Poverty said: "The new Universal Credit Project team, who will work in partnership with our Financial Inclusion team, have a significant role to play in mitigating the effect of Universal Credit on our communities.
"The Trussell Trust has reported that where Universal Credit has been rolled out foodbank use has increased by 52% within the first year so we know that the impact on the most vulnerable people in our communities will be significant.
"It is essential that we put a team in place who can support all aspects of Universal Credit. From providing advice on budgeting, to digital support and ensuring that people have access to support services; the team will work closely with partners in the Department of Work and Pensions to ensure that those who need help receive it as quickly and effectively as possible."
Councillor Elena Whitham, Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities said: "A very small pilot team has been in place and the new team of Neighbourhood Coaches will build on the excellent work they have started. They will ensure that their approach is always focused on the individual. Everyone will need different levels of support and different levels of coaching. Our aim is to ensure that people are empowered to thrive within their own community. We will be able to put people in contact with learning providers and will be promoting training opportunities.
"Support will be practical, like helping to access bank accounts or the internet and the team will ensure that people experiencing fuel poverty and food crisis have access to suitable services. We will also ensure that each customer service hub in East Ayrshire will have digital assisted support services available.
"Housing Services has been working hard to mitigate the negative effect of Universal Credit and support people to move away from crisis situations. They will continue to work with other local authorities, Registered Social Landlords, the DWP, CoSLA, and the Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers to share local and national experiences and consider any opportunity for collaborative working."
advice-advise-advisor-7096

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Imams In Spain Say Muslims And Jews Must Confront Extremism
SEVILLE, Spain, March 23 — Scores of rabbis and imams gathered here this week to discuss what they called a deepening crisis in relations between Muslims and Jews, saying religious leaders must confront religious extremism and the failure to make meaningful progress on the conflict in the Middle East. The meeting did not produce any sweeping agreements, but it was nonetheless heralded by many participants as a breakthrough, bringing together religious leaders who have the potential to bridge the divisions between Muslims and Jews, but who rarely interact. Leaders who seldom cross paths despite living only minutes apart, like ultra-Orthodox rabbis from Israel and former members of the radical Palestinian group Hamas, spent four days in a hotel here sitting in the same rooms, eating the same meals and occasionally talking, guardedly at first, but increasingly freely as the conference progressed. You have some of the most fundamentalist people from both religions here, said Eliezer Simcha Weisz, a rabbi in Emek Hefer, Israel. These people would never sit together in Israel. The meeting, organized by the French foundation Hommes de Parole, which promotes dialogue between conflicting groups, included hostile exchanges and pointed arguments about terrorism, Israeli settlements and claims to Jerusalem. But it also led to some uninhibited displays of camaraderie, like rabbis and imams singing and dancing together during an impromptu musical performance in the hotel lobby near midnight. But sporadic displays of conviviality did not temper the underlying tension. At the opening ceremony on Sunday, the chief rabbi of Israel, Yona Metzger, noting that most Muslims are moderates, asked the imams in the audience: Why don't you speak when Bin Laden invokes your religion to justify terrorism? Why don't you express yourselves in a loud voice? Even discussions as seemingly innocuous as the virtues of peace often turned into arguments. No one can speak about peace while there is occupation, said Imad al-Falouji, a former Hamas member and one of the most prominent imams in Gaza, referring to the Israeli presence in the West Bank. But the participants appeared to agree broadly that tensions between Muslims and Jews had grown worse in recent years in part because religious leaders had lost their voice, allowing politicians, diplomats and, most worrisome, extremists to dictate relations between the two religions. Religion has been misused by the fundamentalists, who have taken over religion and made us hostages, said Andr_ Azoulay, a Jew from Morocco who is a senior adviser to King Mohammed VI. They could do so because we were silent. Rabbi Daniel Sperber, president of the Institute for Advanced Torah Studies at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel, said that religious leaders had many shared beliefs and might be able to reach agreements where diplomats had failed. We haven't even begun to tap the resources of the religious world, he said. This is the first stage, trying to bring people together to establish some sort of common agenda. At the conclusion of the conference on Wednesday, the leaders issued a joint communiqu_ denouncing the use of religion to justify violence and urging respect for religious symbols, an apparent response to the recent protests of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. The declaration also included an implicit condemnation of statements from Hamas and the president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, calling for the destruction of Israel. We condemn any incitement against a faith or people, let alone any call for their elimination, and we urge authorities to do likewise, the statement said. But the real value of the conference, most participants said, was in the informal meetings that took place in the hallways and at the dinner tables, allowing participants to put faces on people often portrayed as the enemy back home. Ashour Kullab, a Muslim leader from Gaza who had never spoken with a rabbi before coming here, said he spoke with two rabbis on the first morning of the conference. There were no problems with them, he said. They listened and I listened. They are my friends now. The encounter, he said, could never have happened in the Gaza Strip, where extremists do not tolerate friendships with Jews. If I go with them in the streets in Gaza, I might get shot, he said. The group first met last year in Brussels. In bringing the conference to Seville this year, organizers hoped to recapture some of the relative harmony that is said to have governed Muslim-Jewish relations here during the Middle Ages, when Spain was a Muslim-controlled territory called Al Andalus. That sense of cooperation seemed to find its way into many discussions. During a coffee break early in the conference, Stuart Altshuler, a rabbi from Mission Viejo, Calif., got into an angry dispute with Mr. Falouji, the imam from Gaza, over the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. But the two made up shortly after, saying they had benefited from the exchange. I was able to meet with Falouji from Gaza, Rabbi Altshuler said the next day. I've dreamed of a chance to do that.
Author Euro-IslamPosted on 26th March 2006 Categories UncategorisedTags conference, extremists, Gaza, Hamas, hotel, imams, Israel, Jews, relations, Spain
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What do summer blockbuster movies, boxed chocolates and skyscrapers have in common? It wasn't until modern air conditioning came to movie theaters, candy confectioners and high-rise office buildings that these industries flourished with the addition of cool, temperature-controlled air. Now, 115 years later, Carrier marks the anniversary of modern air conditioning by highlighting recent innovative advancements and milestones that make our technology relevant today and quite simply, cooler than ever. Carrier China is a part of Carrier, a world leader in high-technology heating, air-conditioning and refrigeration solutions, is a part of UTC Climate, Controls & Security, a unit of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX).
A new manufacturing campus. Carrier is meeting local demand in China with a new manufacturing campus in Baoshan Industrial Zone, Shanghai, scheduled for full completion in 2021. The future is looking cooler than ever.
Reaching new heights in China . We don't just talk about product innovation and quality; we walk the talk. Just look at how Carrier's advanced cooling and control systems are serving the Shenzhen Ping'an Financial Center, the tallest skyscraper in South China.
24/7 service. At Carrier, we not only have a long history of proven innovation, but provide lifecycle maintenance services that increase chiller lifespan to prevent downtime and inconvenience for our clients and occupants. The recent three-year service agreement with Cushman & Wakefield, a leading global commercial real estate firm, speaks for itself.
Sustainability stewardship . The new AquaEdge™ 19DV centrifugal chiller with Greenspeed™ intelligence and PUREtec™ low Global Warming Potential (GWP) refrigerant is one of the latest examples of Carrier's ongoing commitment to innovation and technology leadership through the development of energy-efficient, reliable and environmentally-responsible solutions.
Founded by the inventor of modern air conditioning, Carrier is a world leader in high-technology heating, air-conditioning and refrigeration solutions. Carrier experts provide sustainable solutions, integrating energy-efficient products, building controls and energy services for residential, commercial, retail, transport and food service customers. Carrier is a part of UTC Climate, Controls & Security, a unit of United Technologies Corp., a leading provider to the aerospace and building systems industries worldwide. For more information, visit www.carrier.com or follow Carrier_China on WeChat.


I am Natalie Chen and currently work as a Book Cover Designer at Hodder & Stoughton Publishers. Working across literary, commercial, fiction, non-fiction and a diverse range of genres. I'm happy to both independently design and illustrate artworks myself or collaborate with other creatives.
© Copyright 2013-2019. All content copyright belongs to Natalie Chen unless otherwise stated. Please can you ask for Natalie's permission before using the information or images from this website.


India vs. Pakistan in Brave CF - Is MMA the way forward for these fierce rivals?
Pakistan and India have suffered one of the planet's most intractable conflicts, with four wars and countless incidents and skirmishes since WWII. Sports diplomacy provided a huge breakthrough when in 2004 India's cricket team went on a tour of Pakistan. Then began a series of reciprocal Test series, that abruptly halted following the 2008 attacks in Mumbai. No home Test match series has taken place between the two countries since.
However, in 2016 at World Series of Fighting Global Championship 3 in the Philippines, Team Fight Fortress star Uloomi Karim defeated India's Yadwinder Singh, and fighters then each lofted the flag of the other.
"Peace won that day," said Karim.
At Brave 17 in Lahore, the first international MMA event in Pakistan, Mehmosh Raza set the promotion record for the fastest finish and then sent a strong message to the Indian MMA community.
"Islam is about love, it's about peace," Raza said to the adoring crowd. "That is what we are here for - to spread the love, and to spread the peace."
Then Mehmosh Raza told the crowd, and Brave management, exactly what he wants - "Give me an Indian fight. Pakistan versus India. Who wants to see that!?"
Congratulations to Brave combat Federation on another successful event. Brave 20 is coming to India and i would like to see a fighter from Pakistan on the card, this will be a huge step toward promoting MMA on huge scale in both countries.
When it does happen, win, lose, or draw, expect to see the fighters embrace as brothers after the fight, and in so doing, begin to draw their countries together along with them.


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At the time of writing, Storm Katie has been battering parts of the UK and it's been rather rainy, the last few days AND nights! So, here's a story about being kept awake by the rain.
To listen to this week's bedtime story as a podcast, click this link.
One Rainy Night
Ellie's room was dark and her bed was cosy. It was late and she was tired. But Ellie wasn't asleep.
Outside, in the black night, the wind howled and the rain hammered against Ellie's bedroom window. It was much too loud for her to sleep.
Ellie shuffled out from beneath her warm, snug duvet and reached for the lamp beside her bed. She switched it on and her room was filled with a soft glow of light. She slid out of bed and padded to the window, peeping out through the curtains into the darkness, beyond.
The rain was flowing down the road outside, like a little stream. Droplets snaked their way across her window pane, making everything look blurry and strange. The tree outside her house blew wildly in the wind. Ellie shivered and hurried back to bed. She yawned and decided she should try to sleep, however hard it was.
She switched off the lamp and squeezed her eyes shut. She thought of nice, comforting things - she even tried counting sheep - but it didn't work. The rain carried on banging against her window and the wind kept on blustering.
Ellie tried wriggling down in her bed, with her whole head beneath the duvet. She wrapped herself up like a sausage roll and placed her hands over her ears. But she could still hear the weather outside and she still couldn't sleep.
Crawling out from beneath the duvet, Ellie switched the lamp back on and climbed out of bed, once more. She tiptoed to her chest of drawers and pulled out a pair of ear muffs and a woolly hat. Sneaking back to bed, Ellie put on the ear muffs and the hat and lay back down. If her ears were covered, surely the noise outside couldn't keep her awake?!
Her plan worked - for a little while. But soon, Ellie's head began to feel hot and the ear muffs made it uncomfortable to sleep on her side. Groaning, she flung the hat and ear muffs onto the floor. Outside, the wind had picked up and it sounded as though there were hail stones mixed in with the rain. They bashed against the window, furiously. Ellie yawned, rubbed her eyes and tried to think of something else...
She got up again and tugged at her duvet, until it fell from the bed. She scooped it up in her arms and grabbed her pillow. Slowly, she crept out of her bedroom and into the bathroom. The bathroom was at the back of the house and she reckoned that just maybe, she wouldn't be able to hear the weather so badly, in there.
Ellie was right! The wind was still howling, but she couldn't hear the rain anywhere near as badly, once she'd closed the bathroom door behind her. She positioned her pillows and duvet in the bath and carefully climbed in.
It was cold in the bathroom. And trying to sleep wasn't all that easy. The sides of the bath felt hard and chilly against Ellie's skin. Then the tap started to drip and her feet got wet. Besides, Ellie started to worry that one of her parents would need the toilet in the night and she'd give them a fright when they saw her, lying in the bath. She groaned and gathered up her things, before plodding back to her room.
The wind howled and the rain continued to pour. Ellie grumbled to herself, as she remade her bed. Her eyelids felt heavy and all she wanted to do was sleep, but the weather outside was just too noisy.
Ellie headed to the wooden chest where she kept lots of her toys. She rummaged around inside, until she found an old teddy bear she'd had since she was a baby. At the back of the bear was a little key. Ellie knew that if she wound the key, the bear would play a soft, soothing tune. Maybe if she concentrated on that, it would overpower the sound of the storm outside? Ellie wound the key and brought the bear back to bed with her. She snuggled down under the duvet again, with her head beneath the covers, and she lay the bear right next to her ear. But the little tune only played for a minute or so, before Ellie had to wind the key back up again. After several times, her arm began to hurt and she was fed up of having to open her eyes and repeat the same thing over and over.
Ellie poked her head out from beneath the duvet and blinked at the window. "Stop being so loud," she begged the rain and the wind. "I'm trying to sleep!"
A little ray of sunlight began to peep through the curtains. Ellie lay on her back and watched as her room got lighter; turning pink, then orange as the sun started to rise. The rain began to slow and the wind died down. Finally, it was quiet! Ellie smiled to herself and closed her eyes...
Just a few minutes later, the door to Ellie's bedroom creaked open and her mum stepped inside. "Ellie? Are you alright? The weather was ever so bad last night, wasn't it?"
But Ellie didn't say a word in response. She lay, snuggled up beneath her duvet, fast asleep at last.
Diana Wilcox 30 April 2016 at 13:59
As a light sleeper who needs silence and near-pitch darkness to sleep, I can sympathize with Ellie so much. Hopefully her mother will let her sleep in peace for a few hours despite it being morning! :)
By the way, you have a simply voice. I listened to your podcast version whilst reading, and it really enriched the experience!
mrsmanics 2 May 2016 at 13:30
Aw, I'm so glad you enjoyed it! I'm still learning when it comes to podcasting, so feedback is really appreciated. :)
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A monk's blessing helped to open a gym in Bangkok, Thailand.
It's not every day that a Buddhist monk blesses your franchise, but that's what happened last week at the first Anytime Fitness gym to open in Bangkok.
We thought that was a soothing antidote to all the icky news hitting our inboxes these days, and we thank Anytime's Mark Daly for sending it along.


This course demonstrates how best to share and present numerical data to support your individual and organisational goals. You'll explore how effective use of data can enable informed business decisions and win support for ideas while considering your audience, goals and the wider context. You'll also discover how to express numerical data in words or visuals, accessibly interpret it for non-specialist audiences and manage ambiguity and uncertainty.
•	How and why is data shared in professional contexts?
•	How is presenting data different from other forms of communication?
•	What methods should I use to share data?
•	What are the barriers to effectively presenting numerical data?
•	What skills do I need to effectively present data?
•	What types of data do I need to know about?
•	What is the difference between data, information and knowledge?
•	How may data be manipulated for different purposes?
•	How should I interrogate other people's data?
•	What do I need to know about analysis and forecasting?
•	How should I decide what data to share?
•	What information do I need to know about the data I share?
•	How much detail should I include?
•	How should I explain the data I share?
•	What do I need to know about big data?
•	What should I think about when sharing data for decision-making?
•	What methods should I use to share data and information for decision-making?
•	How should I present data in written documents?
•	How should I share data in a presentation?
•	What visual tools could I use?
•	How should I handle ambiguity and uncertainty?
•	What should I think about when using data to persuade and influence?
•	How can data help me win support for ideas?
•	How can I build a convincing argument using data?
•	How can I tell engaging stories using data?
•	How should I handle questions and concerns about data?


Hi, I was wondering if anyone had any idea when Polish will available for mobile. Though I have been getting a lot done on the computer, I could definitely get more done if I had the mobile version as well. Does this happen when it's out of beta, or what?
It is available :) What mobile phone do you have?
Galaxy X2... is it too outdated?
Check in Play Store if there's an updated version.
Oh yeah, I haven't updated that in while. That worked! Thanks.


Laura Katherine Parkinson, born in Cambridgeshire, England, Cambridge, Middlesex, Hounslow (41 years old) (born 9 March 1978) is an English actress. She is best known for her role as Jen Barber in the Channel 4 comedy series The IT Crowd for which she received a British Comedy Best TV Actress Award in 2009 and a BAFTA TV Award nomination in 2011. She was also a main cast member of the series Doc Martin from series 2 to 4. She also performed the voiceovers for the game Worms: Clan Wars.
When is Katherine Parkinson's birthday?
Katherine Parkinson was born on the 09th of March 1978 , which was a Thursday. Katherine Parkinson will be turning 42 in only 320 days from today.
How old is Katherine Parkinson?
Katherine Parkinson is 41 years old. To be more precise, the current age as of right now is 15021 days, 9 hours, 1 minutes and 24 seconds.
What is Katherine Parkinson's zodiac sign?
Katherine Parkinson's zodiac sign is Pisces.
Where was Katherine Parkinson born?
Katherine Parkinson was born in Cambridgeshire, England, Cambridge, Middlesex, Hounslow.
What is Katherine Parkinson's birth name?
Katherine Parkinson's birth name is Laura Katherine Parkinson.
Is Katherine Parkinson still alive?
Yes, Katherine Parkinson is still alive.


The South China Sea (SCS) includes large areas of extensive coral reef development but its reefs are still poorly known. Yongle atoll is the biggest typical atoll in the Xisha Islands, central of SCS. Lingyang Reef is an isolated small atoll within the whole big Yongle atoll. A total of 144 and 119 coral species were recorded at big Yongle atoll and small Lingyang Reef, respectively. The real coral richness might be higher because species accumulation curve did not saturate. The coral diversity pattern was similar between big Yongle atoll and small Lingyang Reef. Coral communities fell into three clusters, consistent with their habitats on reef slope, reef flat and lagoon slope. The highest coral diversity was observed on reef slopes and the lowest coral diversity was found on lagoon slope. Genera richness was a better proxy for representing coral species diversity on both the big and small atoll but percent live coral cover was not a robust proxy on the small atoll, which only explained 24% of species diversity. This study demonstrated high coral diversity with consistent pattern along habitat types, as has been shown from many other reefs. While far from exhaustive, the study allows first glimpses on how much biodiversity is contained on SCS coral reefs, and hopes to give an impetus to their conservation. The study also suggests that simplified surveys at a small scale and the use of genera richness as an effective proxy for overall diversity can indeed provide important information to rapidly monitor and evaluate the coral diversity in remote locations.
This article belongs to the Topical Collection: Coastal and marine biodiversity.