Latest news with #MargaretFleming
Glasgow Times
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Glasgow Times
Airdrie Library marks 100 years with immersive tech room
The new interactive facility at the library is set to open by appointment, offering a fully immersive 360-degree digital experience for visitors. Designed to support education, creativity, and wellbeing for people of all ages, the space will allow users to explore a variety of topics—from Ancient Egypt and dinosaurs to volcanoes and art galleries. (Image: Supplied) Visitors can also take part in mindfulness sessions and try out interactive wall colouring. Councillor Jim Logue, leader of North Lanarkshire Council, said: "This is a fantastic example of how we are reimagining our libraries as vibrant, forward-thinking community hubs. Read more: Land where Margaret Fleming was murdered sold after price slash Frantic search for missing schoolboy who vanished days ago Glasgow travellers warned of chaos at several airports by Ryanair "The immersive room in Airdrie Library is a powerful tool for education, creativity, and wellbeing. "The immersive room is just part of our overall plans to promote Airdrie Library as a key destination within the town centre and celebrate its rich history." (Image: Supplied) The library's 100th birthday will be marked in September with a series of celebratory events including exhibitions, talks, and family-friendly activities. Russell Brown, libraries manager at North Lanarkshire Council, said: "We're incredibly proud to offer this immersive experience. "It's designed to inspire curiosity and provide a unique space for schools, community groups, and individuals to explore and learn in new and exciting ways." In 2023, North Lanarkshire Council secured £150,000 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Historic Environment Scotland to support the development phase of Rediscovering Airdrie, a heritage-led regeneration project. The initiative will bring forward a series of physical improvements alongside a programme of community heritage activities. Council staff are now preparing Heritage Fund and HES funding bids for the project's delivery phase. If successful, this next stage will be supported by match funding from North Lanarkshire Council.
NBC Sports
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- NBC Sports
The time has come for NFL to exercise oversight of schedule-release videos
It's one thing for the Falcons to potentially piss off an eight-figure sponsor by mentioning a competitor's product when explaining (unconvincingly) the chain of events that resulted in an in-draft prank phone call to Shedeur Sanders. It's another for the Colts to clumsily infringe on that same sponsor's IP rights in producing and publishing its schedule-release video. The embarrassing failure of a multi-billion-dollar organization to realize that it needed Microsoft's permission to use copyrights associated with Minecraft underscores an important reality for a sports league that prides itself on having its act together: Some of the dysfunctional things that dysfunctional teams do can impact the entire operation. As noted on Thursday by Margaret Fleming of the NFL does not require teams to submit their schedule-release videos for approval. Given the various ways in which the NFL exercises active oversight with its teams (starting with the approval of every single player contract a team executes), why wouldn't the league want to have the ability to give a thumb's down to each of the various teams' videos that flood social media the instant the schedule is released? If someone from the league office had looked at the Colts' video, the video never would have been posted without all t's being crossed and i's being dotted with Microsoft. And if someone from the league office had reviewed the Patriots' video, which features 345 Park Avenue persona non grata Dave Portnoy, there would be no lingering questions as to whether the NFL has done an about-face on its 10-year shunning of Portnoy. It's a fairly simple project. Someone from the legal department and someone from the P.R. department watches every video before it goes live. The investment of time and effort would go a long way toward preventing one of the 32 teams from clumsily wandering into a minefield and throwing shrapnel toward Big Shield. The fact that the league doesn't already require approval of the schedule-release videos is surprising. The fact that the Colts had to scrap their entire video after it was already posted puts the league at large on notice of the importance of being involved. Which sets the stage for the league finding itself on the wrong side of a negligence claim, if/when one of these videos ends up getting the team that made it sued. It's one of the most basic functions of any in-house corporate legal department. Identify the potential liabilities, and neutralize every one of them. This week, the Colts exposed a massive blind spot that could become an expensive distraction if the league sticks with the status quo. With the owners gathering next week in Minneapolis, it's hard not to think one or more of them will ask a very pointed question about why the league doesn't review these videos — and whether it plans to change that habit, immediately.
Sunday Post
11-05-2025
- Health
- Sunday Post
Health boards failing to do vital checks for adults with learning disabilities
Get a weekly round-up of stories from The Sunday Post: Thank you for signing up to our Sunday Post newsletter. Something went wrong - please try again later. Sign Up Three years after the Scottish Government promised health checks for every adult with learning disabilities to save lives and prevent a repeat of the Margaret Fleming scandal, some health boards have failed to deliver any. Others have not even identified half of the 40,000 people who are eligible, with just 2,573 checks completed according to the latest figures. MSP Paul O'Kane and campaigners are warning that people are now dying from treatable illnesses because of the shambolic failed roll-out of the service bankrolled by an extra £6 million in public funding. Margaret Fleming, 19, was murdered in Inverkip, Inverclyde, in 1999 after she was placed in the care of Eddie Cairns and Avril Jones, who collected £200,000 in benefits while health and care officials failed to check on the teen for almost 20 years. Labour MSP O'Kane said: 'What happened to Margaret is a stark reminder of the vulnerability of some people with learning disabilities. 'The Scottish Government have broken every promise to this community who've had to fight for the support and care they are entitled to. 'The rollout of these health checks has been shambolic. Hardly any have been completed, and almost half those who should be entitled to the service have not been identified. 'Some health boards say they haven't been given enough funding.' Up to 17,000 of the most vulnerable remain 'invisible' like Margaret Fleming, at risk of falling through the cracks because health boards do not have them on their lists. O'Kane said: 'If health boards have no idea just who these people are, how on Earth are some of our most vulnerable people ever going to get the health checks they need?' Research shows people with learning disabilities have a life expectancy of 20 years less than the general population and are nine times more likely to die of a treatable illness. O'Kane said: 'Some health boards haven't even started carrying out checks, and we suspect others are so hard-pressed, they've been using their share of annual £2m extra funding to shore up other services.' In a letter to health chiefs in January, Mental Wellbeing Minister Maree Todd said: 'My expectation is that all health boards in Scotland will be delivering annual health checks by March 31, 2025, and implementation is completed during 2025-26.' But figures from the end of last year revealed several health boards including NHS Lanarkshire and NHS Shetland have not even started. Greater Glasgow & Clyde, which has around 13,000 adults with learning disabilities, completed 939 health checks, while NHS Lothian, with 7,000 eligible adults, completed 231. Dumfries and Galloway, with 1,300, completed four. With 2,000 eligible adults, NHS Fife has offered 580. Caroline Cameron, health and social care director of NHS Ayrshire & Arran, said while they completed 760 checks, reductions in funding have forced the health board to 'pause' the scheme. She said: 'Further work will be undertaken to explore alternative models to deliver on the ambition of an annual health check alongside the delivery of core services.' NHS Forth Valley said it piloted the health check scheme but would not confirm how many checks have been completed. NHS Highland, with 1,200 people eligible, completed 139. Jenny Miller, of disability charity PAMIS, said: 'People are dying today because they haven't been treated for serious conditions which are overlooked because of their learning disabilities. 'Many in our community have conditions like cerebral palsy or neurological disorders which make it difficult for them to communicate, so there is a very real danger that serious conditions are not being caught.' Eddie McConnell, chief executive of Down's Syndrome Scotland, said: 'We were delighted when the government announced annual health checks, describing it as a game- changer which could save many lives. 'The fact that so many of our community have still not received their health check three years on means we, as a society, are accepting that people with learning disabilities will continue to die prematurely from complications that are largely avoidable and preventable.' Todd said: 'The Scottish Government is providing funding to NHS boards to deliver this vital policy. Health checks are now being delivered to thousands across Scotland, bringing positive results. 'However, whilst there is good progress in some areas, progress in other areas needs to improve and this requires leadership and commitment at a local level. We will continue to work closely with NHS boards to support the change we expect to see.' What happened to Margaret Fleming shocked Scotland, sparking a major review which warned that vulnerable others could be easily harmed and targeted after she 'disappeared' and nobody noticed. Bafta-winning filmmaker Lorraine McKechnie, whose film on the teen's disappearance highlighted major inadequacies in the system, said: 'It was unbearably shocking that the system which was supposed to protect her actually allowed her to become invisible for almost 20 years. 'This dreadful episode showed exactly why it is vital that we as a society look out for each other, and all adults who are seen as vulnerable receive annual health checks and proper support if we are we ever to prevent a repeat of such a case.' Predators Cairney and Jones murdered Margaret, 19, in 1999 at their Inverkip home. The teenager had been placed in their care, but no officials checked on her as the evil pair collected her benefits of almost £200,000. Cairney, 82, died in prison in 2023 without ever revealing where Margaret's body had been taken.
