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Do you remember the lost tribe shooting arrows at a low flying aircraft? It turns out that the picture was not a lost tribe at all - it was a tribe known for around a century.

On May 30th it was:

Aerial images prove existence of remote Amazon tribe

Deep in the Amazon jungle, one of the Brazil’s last uncontacted indigenous tribes has been photographed from the air, to prove its existence.

This morning the Observer has a story:

Tribal guardian admits the Amazon Indians’ existence was already known, but he hoped the publicity would lift the threat of logging

This morning Sandef Rhyferys has published a translation of a letter to David Cameron from Professor Richard Wyn Jones, Director of the Institute of Welsh Politics at the Department of International Politics, Aberystwyth University.

Professor Wyn Jones addresses the future possibilities for Welsh politics, and the future of devolved government in Wales. He argues for a further shift to greater powers for the Welsh Assembly.

It is a long letter, and I have quoted the first part below. I have not indented the quote on this occasion.

From Sanddef:

Translation of a letter to David Cameron written by Professor Richard Wyn Jones, Director of the Institute of Welsh Politics at the Department of International Politics, Aberystwyth University. The original welsh version can be found in the current edition of the Welsh current affairs magazine, Barn.

From the news on Radio 4 at 6.00am this morning:

“More than 25% of the schools in England branded as ‘failing’ by the Prime Minister and threatened with closure have been judged good or outstanding by Schools Inspectors. Last week the Secretary of State for Schools Ed Balls launched a scheme to improve or close schools where fewer than 30% of pupils are getting less than 5 good GCSEs.”

Here’s where they were threatened with closure. From the BBC on June 10th:

Almost one in five secondary schools in England have been given a “no excuses” warning to improve their GCSE exam results or face closure.

Schools Secretary Ed Balls has launched a £400m drive to raise results in the lowest-performing 638 schools.

Ooops.

In the spring there was a great kerfuffle over an anonymous blogging Civil Servant called Civil Serf.

At the time Tom Watson MP asked for advice on his blog about what guidance should be given to Civil Servants making comment and participating in communities online. He’s now come out with a “Code of Practice”. Here it is, verbatim:

Principles for participation online

1. Be credible

• Be accurate, fair, thorough and transparent.

2. Be consistent

• Encourage constructive criticism and deliberation. Be cordial, honest and professional at all times.

3. Be responsive

• When you gain insight, share it where appropriate.

4. Be integrated

• Wherever possible, align online participation with other offline communications.

5. Be a civil servant

• Remember that you are an ambassador for your organisation. Wherever possible, disclose your position as a representative of your department or agency.

An updated version of this article has move to here.

A press release from the Greens with a quote from MEP Caroline Lucas, concerning a Green Party policy idea to replace road tax with increased taxes on petrol.

Charging the most polluting vehicles with a flat tax will do nothing but enrage motorists and discredit the aim of green taxes, which is to change behaviour by actively rewarding more environmentally friendly behaviour

Green Party Principal Speaker Caroline Lucas MEP today urged the Government to reward responsible motorists by abolishing the Road Tax, and shift the responsibility onto gas-guzzlers through the fuel duty. The call comes as road lobbyists and lorry drivers stage a slow moving protest through London and Cardiff today against supposed green taxes on motorists that means rising fuel duties as well as a higher annual road tax charge.

I see a couple of problems with that.