Critical Infrastructure

Essentials for the functioning of a society and economy:

* electricity generation, transmission and distribution;
* gas production, transport and distribution;
* oil and oil products production, transport and distribution;
* telecommunication;
* water supply (drinking water, waste water/sewage, stemming of surface water (e.g. dikes and sluices));
* agriculture, food production and distribution;
* heating (e.g. natural gas, fuel oil, district heating);
* public health (hospitals, ambulances);
* transportation systems (fuel supply, railway network, airports, harbours, inland shipping);
* financial services (banking, clearing);
* security services (police, military).

See: Wikipedia: Critical Infrastructure

SMEs still not catching on to social networking

Some interesting results from a survey by Insurantz.com showing Small businesses are still not catching on to social networking.

Just 16% of UK SMEs embrace sites like Facebook or Twitter as essential tools for business
56% of businesses put off by lack of understanding
65% have yet to see any benefit from social networking
Leisure and tourism industry most [...]

New observations of volcanic dust

Met Office scientists have been working with the Universities of Reading and Hertfordshire to gather comprehensive data about the potential danger to aircraft from the volcanic plume that has been emitted from the recent eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland.
The volcanic dust was measured using newly-developed probes that attach to meteorological balloons that can be used [...]

UK Budget 2010 - Measures For Supporting Business and Growth

The UK Treasury has released further information following the Chancellor’s Budget Statement (Wednesday March 24th 2010). The following is an excerpt from the notice that outlines the particular measures for supporting business and growth.

The Government took decisive action to support the economy during the financial crisis and its aftermath. As the UK emerges from [...]

Canon to begin acquisition of the .canon Top-Level Domain name

TOKYO, March 16, 2010—Canon Inc. announced today that it will begin the acquisition process for the top-level domain name “.canon,” based on the new generic Top Level Domain (gTLD) registration system.
The non-profit organization ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), which maintains and regulates the Internet’s addressing system, has rigorously evaluated the current gTLD [...]

Work begins on biggest council house building programme in two decades

Housing Minister John Healey has hailed the start of the biggest council house building programme in nearly two decades as work began today on the first of over two thousand new homes to help tackle waiting list pressures.
Mr Healey saw work get underway today in Tyneside on the first new site for Government funded council [...]

Barclays Local Business responds to flood crisis

Responding to the implications of the recent flooding across areas of the UK, Barclays Local Business has today announced that it will be offering a financial support package to all of its affected business banking customers.*
The package will allow businesses time to recover from the immediate impact of the flooding, or to bridge the gap [...]

Unconditional Talks Will Bring Postal Dispute to End Says Union

The Communication Workers Union today (Friday) again reiterates the offer of unconditional talks at ACAS to bring the postal dispute to an end. Royal Mail has so far not taken up this offer but it will remain open.
Dave Ward, CWU deputy general secretary, said:
We have six days before any further strike action would take place. [...]

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