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Racial Integrity Act of 1924

In 1924, the Virginia General Assembly enacted the Racial Integrity Act. The act reinforced racial segregation by prohibiting interracial marriage and classifying as "white" a person "who has no trace whatsoever of any blood other than Caucasian". The act, an outgrowth of eugenicist and scientific racist propaganda, was pushed by Walter Plecker, a white supremacist and eugenicist who held the post of registrar of the Virginia Bureau of Vital Statistics.

The Racial Integrity Act required that all birth certificates and marriage certificates in Virginia to include the person's race as either "white" or "colored". The Act classified all non-whites, including Native Americans, as "colored". The act was part of a series of "racial integrity laws" enacted in Virginia to reinforce racial hierarchies and prohibit the mixing of races; other statutes included the Public Assemblages Act of 1926 (which required the racial segregation of all public meeting areas) and a 1930 act that defined any person with even a trace of sub-Saharan African ancestry as black (thus codifying the so-called "one-drop rule").

In 1967, the Act was officially overturned by the United States Supreme Court in their ruling Loving v. Virginia. In 2001, the Virginia General Assembly passed a resolution that condemned the Act for its "use as a respectable, 'scientific' veneer to cover the activities of those who held blatantly racist views".

History leading to the laws' passage: 1859–1924
In the 1920s, Virginia's registrar of statistics, Walter Ashby Plecker, was allied with the newly founded Anglo-Saxon Clubs of America in persuading the Virginia General Assembly to pass the Racial Integrity Law of 1924. The club was founded in Virginia by John Powell of Richmond in the fall of 1922; within a year the club for white males had more than 400 members and 31 posts in the state.

In 1923, the Anglo-Saxon Club founded two posts in Charlottesville, one for the town and one for students at the University of Virginia. A major goal was to end "amalgamation" by interracial marriage. Members also claimed to support Anglo-Saxon ideas of fair play. Later that fall, a state convention of club members was to be held in Richmond.

The Virginia assembly's 21st-century explanation for the laws summarizes their development: "The now-discredited pseudoscience of eugenics was based on theories first propounded in England by Francis Galton, the cousin and disciple of famed biologist Charles Darwin. The goal of the 'science' of eugenics was to improve the human race by eliminating what the movement's supporters considered hereditary disorders or flaws through selective breeding and social engineering. The eugenics movement proved popular in the United States, with Indiana enacting the nation's first eugenics-based sterilization law in 1907."

In the following five decades, other states followed Indiana's example by implementing the eugenic laws. Wisconsin was the first state to enact legislation that required the medical certification of persons who applied for marriage licenses. The law that was enacted in 1913 generated attempts at similar legislation in other states.

Anti-miscegenation laws, banning interracial marriage between whites and non-whites, had existed long before the emergence of eugenics. First enacted during the colonial era when slavery had become essentially a racial caste, such laws were in effect in Virginia and in much of the United States until the 1960s.

The first law banning all marriage between whites and blacks was enacted in the colony of Virginia in 1691. This example was followed by Maryland (in 1692) and several of the other Thirteen Colonies. By 1913, 30 out of the then 48 states (including all Southern states) enforced such laws.

The Pocahontas exception

The Racial Integrity Act was subject to the Pocahontas Clause (or Pocahontas Exception), which allowed people with claims of less than 1/16 American Indian ancestry to still be considered white, despite the otherwise unyielding climate of one-drop rule politics. The exception regarding Native blood quantum was included as an amendment to the original Act in response to concerns of Virginia elites, including many of the First Families of Virginia, who had always claimed descent from Pocahontas with pride, but now worried that the new legislation would jeopardize their status. The exception stated:

"It shall thereafter be unlawful for any white person in this State to marry any save a white person, or a person with no other admixture of blood than white and American Indian. For the purpose of this act, the term 'white person' shall apply only to the person who has no trace whatsoever of any blood other than Caucasian; but persons who have one-sixteenth or less of the blood of the American Indian and have no other non-Caucasic blood shall be deemed to be white persons."

While definitions of "Indian", "colored", and variations of these were established and altered throughout the 18th and 19th centuries,  this was the first direct case of whiteness itself being defined officially.

Enforcement
Once these laws were passed, Plecker was in the position to enforce them. Governor E. Lee Trinkle, a year after signing the act, asked Plecker to ease up on the Indians and not "embarrass them any more than possible." Plecker responded, "I am unable to see how it is working any injustice upon them or humiliation for our office to take a firm stand against their intermarriage with white people, or to the preliminary steps of recognition as Indians with permission to attend white schools and to ride in white coaches."

Unsatisfied with the "Pocahontas Exception", eugenicists introduced an amendment to narrow loopholes to the Racial Integrity Act. This was considered by the Virginia General Assembly in February 1926, but it failed to pass. If adopted, the amendment would have reclassified thousands of "white" people as "colored" by more strictly implementing the "one-drop rule" of ancestry as applied to American Indian ancestry.

Plecker reacted strongly to the Pocahontas Clause with fierce concerns of the white race being "swallowed up by the quagmire of mongrelization", particularly after marriage cases like that of the Johns and Sorrels, in which the women of these couples argued that the family members listed as "colored" had actually been Native American because of historically unclear categorizing.

Implementation and consequences: 1924–1979
The combined effect of these two laws adversely affected the continuity of Virginia's American Indian tribes. The Racial Integrity Act called for only two racial categories to be recorded on birth certificates, rather than the traditional six: "white" and "colored" (which now included Indian and all discernible mixed-race persons). The effects were quickly seen. In 1930, the U.S. census for Virginia recorded 779 Indians; by 1940, that number had been reduced to 198. In effect, Indians were being erased as a group from official records.

In addition, as Plecker admitted, he enforced the Racial Integrity Act extending far beyond his jurisdiction in the segregated society. For instance, he pressured school superintendents to exclude mixed-race (then called mulatto) children from white schools. Plecker ordered the exhumation of dead people of "questionable ancestry" from white cemeteries to be reinterred elsewhere.

Indians reclassified as colored
As registrar, Plecker directed the reclassification of nearly all Virginia Indians as colored on their birth and marriage certificates, because he was convinced that most Indians had African heritage and were trying to "pass" as Indian to evade segregation. Consequently, two or three generations of Virginia Indians had their ethnic identity altered on these public documents. Fiske reported that Plecker's tampering with the vital records of the Virginia Indian tribes made it impossible for descendants of six of the eight tribes recognized by the state to gain federal recognition, because they could no longer prove their American Indian ancestry by documented historical continuity.

Involuntary sterilization
Historians have not estimated the impact of the miscegenation laws. There are records, however, of the number of people who were involuntarily sterilized during the years these two laws were in effect. Of the involuntary sterilizations reported in the United States prior to 1957, Virginia was second, having sterilized a total of 6,683 persons (California was first, having sterilized 19,985 people without their consent). Many more women than men were sterilized: 4,043 to 2,640. Of those, 2,095 women were sterilized under the category of "Mentally Ill"; and 1,875 under the category "Mentally Deficient". The remainder were for "Other" reasons. Other states reported involuntary sterilizations of similar numbers of people as Virginia.

Leaders target persons of color
The intention to control or reduce ethnic minorities, especially Negroes, can be seen in writings by some leaders in the eugenics movement:

"In an 1893 'open letter' published in the Virginia Medical Monthly, Hunter Holmes McGuire, a Richmond physician and president of the American Medical Association, asked for 'some scientific explanation of the sexual perversion in the Negro of the present day.' McGuire's correspondent, Chicago physician G. Frank Lydston, replied that African-American men raped white women because of '[h]ereditary influences descending from the uncivilized ancestors of our Negroes.' Lydston suggested as a solution to perform surgical castration, which 'prevents the criminal from perpetuating his kind."

In 1935, a decade after the passage of Virginia's eugenics laws, Plecker wrote to Walter Gross, director of Nazi Germany's Bureau of Human Betterment and Eugenics. Plecker described Virginia's racial purity laws and requested to be put on Gross' mailing list. Plecker commented upon the Third Reich's sterilization of 600 children in the Rhineland (the so-called Rhineland Bastards, who were born of German women by black French colonial fathers): "I hope this work is complete and not one has been missed. I sometimes regret that we have not the authority to put some measures in practice in Virginia."

Despite lacking the statutory authority to sterilize black, mulatto, and American Indian children simply because they were "colored", a small number of Virginia eugenicists in key positions found other ways to achieve that goal. The Sterilization Act gave State institutions, including hospitals, psychiatric institutions and prisons, the statutory authority to sterilize persons deemed to be "feebleminded" — a highly subjective criterion.

Joseph DeJarnette, director of the Western State Hospital in Staunton, Virginia, was a leading advocate of eugenics. DeJarnette was unsatisfied with the pace of America's eugenics sterilization programs. In 1938, he wrote:

"Germany in six years has sterilized about 80,000 of her unfit while the United States — with approximately twice the population — has only sterilized about 27,869 in the past 20 years. ... The fact that there are 12,000,000 defectives in the U.S. should arouse our best endeavors to push this procedure to the maximum ... The Germans are beating us at our own game."

By "12 million defectives" (a tenth of the population), DeJarnette was almost certainly referring to ethnic minorities, as there have never been 12 million mental patients in the United States.

According to historian Gregory M. Dorr, the University of Virginia School of Medicine (UVA) became "an epicenter of eugenical thought" that was "closely linked with the national movement." One of UVA's leading eugenicists, Harvey Ernest Jordan, Ph.D. was promoted to dean of medicine in 1939 and served until 1949. He was in a position to shape the opinion and practice of Virginia physicians for several decades. This excerpt from a 1934 UVA student paper indicates one student's thoughts: "In Germany, Hitler has decreed that about 400,000 persons be sterilized. This is a great step in eliminating the racial deficients."

The racial effects of the program in Virginia can be seen by the disproportionately high number of black and American Indian women who were given forced sterilizations after coming to a hospital for other reasons, such as childbirth. Doctors sometimes sterilized the women without their knowledge or consent in the course of other surgery.

Responses to the Racial Integrity Act
In the early 20th century, persons of color in everyday southern society feared to voice their opinions due to severe oppression. Magazines such as the Richmond Planet offered the black community a voice and the opportunity to have their concerns heard. The Richmond Planet made a difference in society by openly expressing the opinions of persons of color in society. After the passing of the Racial Integrity Act of 1924 the Richmond Planet published the article "Race Amalgamation Bill Being Passed in Va. Legislature. Much Discussion Here on race Integrity and Mongrelization ... Bill Would Prohibit Marriage of Whites and Non-whites ..."Skull of Bones" Discusses race question." The journalist opened the article with Racial Integrity Act and gave a brief synopsis of the act. Then followed statements from the creators of the Racial Integrity Act, John Powell and Earnest S. Cox. Mr. Powell believed that the Racial Integrity Act was needed as "maintenance of the integrity of the white race to preserve its superior blood" and Cox believed in what he called "the great man concept" which means that if the races were to intersect that it would lower the rate of great white men in the world. He defended his position by saying that non-whites would agree with his ideology:

"The sane and educated Negro does not want social equality ... They do not want intermarriage or social mingling any more than does the average American white man wants it. They have race pride as well as we. They want racial purity as much as we want it. There are both sides to the question and to form an unbiased opinion either way requires a thorough study of the matter on both sides."

Carrie Buck and the Supreme Court
Racial minorities were not the only people affected by these laws. About 4,000 poor white Virginians were involuntarily sterilized by government order. When Laughlin testified before the Virginia assembly in support of the Sterilization Act in 1924, he argued that the "shiftless, ignorant, and worthless class of anti-social whites of the South", created social problems for "normal" people. He said, "The multiplication of these 'defective delinquents' could only be controlled by restricting their procreation".

Carrie Buck was the most widely known white victim of Virginia's eugenics laws. She was born in Charlottesville to Emma Buck. After her birth, Carrie was placed with foster parents, John and Alice Dobbs. She attended public school until the sixth grade. After that, she continued to live with the Dobbses, and did domestic work in the home.

Carrie became pregnant when she was 17, as a result of being raped by the nephew of her foster parents. To hide the act, on January 23, 1924, Carrie's foster parents committed the girl to the Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded on the grounds of feeblemindedness, incorrigible behavior, and promiscuity. They did not tell the court the true cause of her pregnancy. On March 28, 1924, Buck gave birth to a daughter, whom she named Vivian. Since Carrie had been declared mentally incompetent to raise her child, her former foster parents adopted the baby.

On September 10, 1924, Albert Sidney Priddy, superintendent of the Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded and a eugenicist, filed a petition with his board of directors to sterilize Carrie Buck, an 18-year-old patient. He claimed she had a mental age of 9. Priddy said that Buck represented a genetic threat to society. While the litigation was making its way through the court system, Priddy died and his successor, James Hendren Bell, came on the case.

When the directors issued an order for the sterilization of Buck, her guardian appealed the case to the Circuit Court of Amherst County. It sustained the decision of the board. The case then moved to the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia, where it was upheld. It was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court in Buck v. Bell, which upheld the order.

Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. wrote the ruling. He argued the interest of "public welfare" outweighed the interest of individuals in bodily integrity:

"We have seen more than once that the public welfare may call upon the best citizens for their lives. It would be strange if it could not call upon those who already sap the strength of the State for these lesser sacrifices, often not felt to be such by those concerned, in order to prevent our being swamped with incompetence. It is better for all the world, if instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime, or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind. The principle that sustains compulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover cutting the Fallopian tubes."

Holmes concluded his argument with the phrase: "Three generations of imbeciles are enough".

Carrie Buck was paroled from the Virginia Colony for Epileptics and Feeble-Minded shortly after she was sterilized. Under the same statute, her mother and three-year-old daughter were also sterilized without their consent. In 1932, her daughter Vivian Buck died of "enteric colitis".

When hospitalized for appendicitis, Doris Buck, Carrie's younger sister, was sterilized without her knowledge or consent. Never told that the operation had been performed, Doris Buck married and with her husband tried to have children. It was not until 1980 that she was told the reason for her inability to get pregnant.

Carrie Buck went on to marry William Eagle. They were married for 25 years until his death. Scholars and reporters who visited Buck in the aftermath of the Supreme Court case reported that she appeared to be a woman of normal intelligence.

The effect of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Buck v. Bell was to legitimize eugenic sterilization laws in the country While many states already had sterilization laws on their books, most except for California had used them erratically and infrequently. After Buck v. Bell, dozens of states added new sterilization statutes, or updated their laws. They passed statutes that more closely followed the Virginia statute upheld by the Court.

Supreme Court, repeals and apology: 1967–2002
On June 12, 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Loving v. Virginia that the portion of the Racial Integrity Act that criminalized marriages between "whites" and "nonwhites" was found to be contrary to the guarantees of equal protection of citizens under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. In 1975, the Virginia General Assembly repealed the remainder of the Racial Integrity Act. In 1979, it repealed the Sterilization Act. In 2001, the General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a bill (HJ607ER ) to express the assembly's profound regret for its role in the eugenics movement. On May 2, 2002, Governor Mark R. Warner issued a statement also expressing "profound regret for the commonwealth's role in the eugenics movement," specifically naming Virginia's 1924 compulsory sterilization legislation.

title: Racial Integrity Act of 1924


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Lumezzane

Lumezzane (Brescian: Lœmesane; locally Lömedhane ) is a town and comune in the province of Brescia, in Lombardy. With a population of 22,255 it is one of the largest towns in the province of Brescia. It is situated in the Gobbia Valley, which is a side valley of the Trompia Valley.

Sports
The local football club of the comune was F.C. Lumezzane V.G.Z. A.S.D. The club was a merger of A.C. Lumezzane and another local side ValGobbiaZanano in 2018.

Entertainment
Lumezzane is the home town of the YouTuber "riccardo ilgrande", mostly active in 2012, who achieved national success thanks to his informative videos about the sandbox videogame Minecraft.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Lumezzane


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Spectroheliograph

The spectroheliograph is an instrument used in astronomy which captures a photographic image of the Sun at a single wavelength of light, a monochromatic image. The wavelength is usually chosen to coincide with a spectral wavelength of one of the chemical elements present in the Sun.

It was developed independently by George Ellery Hale and Henri-Alexandre Deslandres in the 1890s and further refined in 1932 by Robert R. McMath to take motion pictures.

The instrument comprises a prism or diffraction grating and a narrow slit that passes a single wavelength (a monochromator). The light is focused onto a photographic medium and the slit is moved across the disk of the Sun to form a complete image.

It is now possible to make a filter that transmits a narrow band of wavelengths which produces a similar image, but spectroheliographs remain in use.

title: Spectroheliograph


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Economic Secretary to the Treasury

The Economic Secretary to the Treasury is a junior ministerial post in His Majesty's Treasury, ranked below the First Lord of the Treasury, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, the Paymaster General and the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, and alongside the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury. It ranks at Parliamentary Secretary level and the holder does not attend Cabinet. Since 2014, the holder has also generally held the position of City Minister. It is shadowed by the Shadow Economic Secretary to the Treasury.

History
The office was created in November 1947. In 1961, the Economic Secretary became junior to the new office of Chief Secretary to the Treasury, which held a seat in cabinet.

Following the establishment of the Department of Economic Affairs in 1964, the Economic Secretary, Anthony Crosland, transferred to become Minister of State in that department. The post of Economic Secretary to the Treasury was abolished on 22 December 1964. Although the Department of Economic Affairs closed in 1969, the Treasury post was not re-established until 11 November 1981.

From April 2014 to September 2022, and since October 2022, the office of Economic Secretary to the Treasury has been held concurrently with the portfolio of 'City Minister'.

Responsibilities
The Economic Secretary is responsible, though more senior ministers share in decision-making, for the answering of written and verbal parliamentary questions and for the devising of regulations, orders and legislation in various matters. Until September 2022, these matters included banking and finance, including banks, insurance, personal savings, financial regulation, and foreign exchange reserves. He or she was also involved in taxation as it impacted on these areas, such as tax on savings and pensions, and Insurance Premium Tax. In addition, the Economic Secretary, until September 2002, advised on economic policy and continues to work with other Treasury ministers on the Comprehensive Spending Review and finance bills.

Economic Secretaries to the Treasury, 1947–present
Colour key (for political parties):

title: Economic Secretary to the Treasury


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York railway station

York railway station is on the East Coast Main Line (ECML) serving the cathedral city of York, North Yorkshire, England. It is 188 mi north of London King's Cross and on the main line it is situated between Doncaster to the south and Thirsk to the north. , the station is operated by London North Eastern Railway. It is the busiest station in North Yorkshire, the second busiest in Yorkshire & the Humber, and the fifth busiest in Northern England. In Britain's 100 Best Railway Stations by Simon Jenkins, the station was one of only ten to be awarded five stars.

The present York Station was built during the 1870s after it had become clear that the old station, which could not facilitate through traffic due to its positioning, was a hinderance to long distance express services along what is now referred to as the ECML. Designed by the North Eastern Railway architects Thomas Prosser and William Peachey and built by Lucas Brothers, the station was built to be expansive and well-furnished from the onset, complete with a distinctive curved train shed. Upon its opening on 25 June 1877, it was the largest railway station in the world, possessing it had 13 platforms along with various amenities, including a dedicated hotel (now The Principal York). Various additional facilities, from lengthened platforms to additional passenger facilities such as tea sheds, would be subsequently built.

The station took extensive damage from German bombers during the Second World War, resulting in both deaths and injuries amongst the staff. Repairs to the station were completed in 1947. Journey times between York and other destinations along the ECML were slashed following the introduction of the British Rail Class 55 locomotives and the Intercity 125 high speed trains. During the late 1980s, extensive changes were made to the signalling and track layout through and around the station as a part of the wider electrification of the ECML. These works facilitated the use of electric traction, such as the Intercity 225, at York Station for the first time. Further improvements to the station have continued following the privatisation of British Rail, including new control facilities, additional retail units, redesigned approaches, and track layout changes.

York Station is a key junction approximately halfway between London and Edinburgh. It is approximately 5 miles north of the point where the Cross Country and TransPennine Express routes via Leeds join the main line, connecting Scotland and the North East, North West, Midlands and southern England. The junction was historically a major site for rolling stock manufacture, maintenance and repair.

Background and construction
The first York railway station was a temporary wooden building on Queen Street outside the walls of the city, opened in 1839 by the York and North Midland Railway (Y&NMR_. It was succeeded in 1841, inside the walls, by what is now York old railway station. On 31 July 1854, the Y&NMR merged with the Leeds Northern Railway and the York, Newcastle & Berwick Railway to form the North Eastern Railway (NER); shortly thereafter, it became clear that the company's desire to run through trains between London and Newcastle without needing to reverse out of the old York station to continue their journey would necessitate change, specifically the construction of a new through station outside the city walls. Furthermore, as the NER's dominance of rail traffic in the region expanded through further mergers, several directors desired an expansive and elaborate facility to serve York, where the company was headquartered. During 1866, Parliament authorised the construction of this new railway station.

This new station was designed by the North Eastern Railway architects Thomas Prosser and William Peachey and built by Lucas Brothers. A prominent feature was the large curved train shed, which had been viewed as one of the more impressive monuments of the railway age. This train shed was supported by a combination of wrought-iron trusses and cast-iron columns. The majority of the station was built of yellow Scarborough brick with moulded ashlar plinths and dressings. The site selected for the station had been formerly used as agricultural land, although a Roman-era cemetery was located there as well.

Construction of the present station took place between 1871 and 1877. Opened on 25 June 1877, it had 13 platforms and, at that time, was the largest railway station in the world. As part of the new station project, the Royal Station Hotel (now The Principal York), designed by Peachey, opened in 1878. The original ticket hall and concourse were both located on the eastern side of the station.

Alterations
Between 1900 and 1909, several of the original platforms were extended both northwards and southwards while an additional western platform was added; a new signal box, tea room and book shop were also opened. Between 1938 and 1939, the western platform was refurbished, the current footbridge was built, and the station was resignalled.

The station was heavily bombed during the Second World War. On one occasion, on 29 April 1942, 800 passengers had to be evacuated from a King's Cross-Edinburgh train which arrived during a bombing raid. On the same night, two railway workers were killed, one being station foreman William Milner, who died after returning to his burning office to collect his first aid kit; he was posthumously awarded the King's Commendation for Brave Conduct. A plaque in his memory has been erected at the station. The station was extensively repaired in 1947.

During 1951, a new signal box was opened. The station was designated as a Grade II* listed building in 1968. An extensive refurbishment was undertaken in 1977. Journey times between York and other destinations along the ECML were slashed following the introduction of the British Rail Class 55 locomotive in 1961 and the Intercity 125 high speed train during 1976.

The track layout through and around the station was remodelled again in 1988 as part of the resignalling scheme that was carried out prior to the electrification of the ECML shortly afterwards by British Rail. This resulted in several bay platforms (mainly on the eastern side) being taken out of service and the track to them removed. Consequently, the number of platforms was reduced from 15 to 11. In May 1989, a new signalling centre (York IECC) was commissioned on the western side of the station to control the new layout and also take over the function of several other signal boxes on the main line. The IECC supervised the main line from Temple Hirst (near Doncaster) through to Northallerton, along with sections of the various routes branching from it. It had also taken over responsibility for the control area of the former power box at Leeds and thus, the signalling for trains as far away as Gargrave and Morley.

Between 2006 and 2007, the approaches to the station were reorganised to improve facilities for bus, taxi and car users as well as pedestrians and cyclists. The former motive power depot and goods station now house the National Railway Museum. The station was renovated during 2009; these works included the reconstruction of Platform 9 and the implementation of extensive lighting alterations. New automated ticket gates (similar to those in Leeds) were planned, but the City of York Council wished to avoid spoiling the historic nature of the station. The then operator National Express East Coast planned to appeal this decision, but the plans were scrapped altogether upon the franchise's handover to East Coast. During the late 2000s and early 2010s, the track and signalling systems on the southern side of the station were renewed. In early 2011, an additional line and a new junction were completed, which eliminated one of the biggest bottlenecks on the ECML.

Further improvements to the station have been made under London North Eastern Railway (LNER)'s stewardship, including a new lounge for first class passengers, additional retail units, and new public toilets.

Accidents and incidents

 * On 31 March 1920, a passenger train was derailed as it entered platform 8.
 * On 5 August 1958, a passenger train crashed into the buffers at platform 12.
 * On 18 January 2006, a freight train wagon derailed on points entering platform 3 before re-railing 400 sleepers later causing extensive damage to trackworks through the station. The derailment happened due to faulty suspension on one of the bogies causing the load to sit unevenly across the axles, lifting the axle off the tracks as it went round the corner over the points.

Layout
All the platforms except 9, 10 and 11 are under the large, curved, glass and iron roof. They are accessed via a long footbridge (which also connects to the National Railway Museum) or via lifts and either of two pedestrian tunnels. Between April 1984 and 2011 the old tea rooms housed the Rail Riders World/York Model Railway exhibition.

Platforms
The platforms at York have been renumbered several times, the most recent being in the late 1980s to coincide with a reduction in the number of platforms from 15 to 11. The current use is: Platforms 10 and 11 are outside of the main body of the station. Another siding, the former fruit dock, exists opposite platform 11.
 * Platform 1: South-facing bay platform mostly used for services to Hull and Bridlington or Sheffield via Moorthorpe and for stabling empty stock.
 * Platform 2: North-facing bay platform connected only to the Scarborough branch, used mostly for stabling a spare TransPennine Express unit along with the accompanying station siding.
 * Platform 3: Main southbound platform, but is signalled bi-directionally, accessible directly from the station concourse. Fast and semi-fast southbound London North Eastern Railway for London King's Cross generally use this platform. CrossCountry services, Grand Central and some westbound TransPennine Express services also use it. Southbound Lumo services go through platform 3 without stopping in York, northbound Lumo services use the avoidant track west of the station.
 * Platform 4: Northward continuation of platform 3 connected only to the Scarborough branch, used by TransPennine Express services from Scarborough.
 * Platform 5 (split into 5a and 5b): Main northbound platform (but is signalled bi-directionally). Fast northbound London North Eastern Railway services to Scotland use this and generally call at Darlington and Newcastle only. Accessible by footbridge or tunnel. Also used by some CrossCountry services northbound. North/eastbound TransPennine Express to Scarborough generally use this platform. Southbound London North Eastern Railway services also stop here both fast and semi-fast, the latter of which generally call at Doncaster, Newark, Peterborough and London King's Cross.
 * Platform 6: South-facing bay platform used mostly by Northern Trains commuter services to Leeds and Blackpool North; and by terminating London North Eastern Railway services that return south to London King's Cross.
 * Platform 7: South-facing bay platform used mostly by Northern commuter services and London North Eastern Railway services to/from London Kings Cross.
 * Platform 8: North-facing bay platform used almost exclusively by Northern Trains on the Harrogate Line.
 * Platforms 9, 10, 11: Bi-directional platforms used by semi-fast and some fast London North Eastern Railway services heading north to Newcastle and Scotland, CrossCountry services north and southbound via Leeds, TransPennine Express services westbound to Manchester Piccadilly, Manchester Airport; Liverpool Lime Street railway station and northbound to Newcastle and Redcar. Some Northern Trains services to Blackpool and Leeds also use this platform.

Recent developments
Just to the west of the station is one of Network Rail's modern Rail Operation Centres (ROC), which was opened in September 2014. This ROC took over the functions of the former IECC in December 2018 and will eventually control the majority of the ECML from London to the Scottish border and various subsidiary routes across the North East, Lincolnshire and South, North and West Yorkshire.

During Christmas 2020, major track replacement occurred, with Network Rail releasing time lapse footage of the works.

In 2022, work began to redevelop the area outside the station. Queen Street Bridge, built to cross the lines into the old York station within the city walls, will be demolished in April 2024.

In 2023, a further £10.5 million has been confirmed for the massive revamp of the area at the front of York railway station.

York Central
Located adjacent to the station, York Central is one of the largest city centre brownfield regeneration sites in the UK. The 45 hectare site has been designated as a UK Government ‘Housing Zone’ and has also been awarded ‘Enterprise Zone’ status, which offers commercial occupiers significant incentives. Outline planning approval was given for the site in March 2019. It is anticipated that development of the full site could take between 15 and 20 years to complete.

Services
The station is operated by London North Eastern Railway and is used by the following train operating companies:

London North Eastern Railway
London North Eastern Railway operates regular services that stop at York between London, Newcastle and Edinburgh. In addition, there are infrequent services to Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness. One train per day serves Middlesbrough. The fastest southbound services run non-stop to London, completing the 188 mile journey in one hour and 52 minutes.

Rolling stock used: Inter-City 225 (Class 91 electric locomotive & DVT), Class 800 bi-mode trains and Class 801 electric trains

CrossCountry
CrossCountry provides a number of services that run across the country, primarily between Plymouth and Edinburgh Waverley via Bristol Temple Meads, Birmingham New Street and Leeds, however, certain services extend to reach Penzance southbound, and others extend to reach Glasgow Central and Aberdeen northbound. Additionally there are a limited number of services between Reading and Newcastle Central via Banbury, Birmingham New Street and Doncaster.

Rolling stock used: Class 220 and Class 221 Voyager diesel multiple units.

TransPennine Express
TransPennine Express provides various express services across the north of England (to Manchester Piccadilly, Manchester Airport Liverpool Lime Street, Newcastle, Scarborough and Saltburn via Middlesbrough).

Rolling stock used: Class 185 Desiro diesel multiple units and Class 802 bi-mode trains. Class 68 diesel locomotives and pull-pull Mark 5A coaches were used on some services (mainly to /from Scarborough) until the winter 2023 timetable change, but these have now been phased out.

Grand Central
Grand Central runs an open access service between Sunderland and London.

Rolling stock used: Class 180 Adelante trains.

Northern Trains
Northern Trains operates a mostly hourly service towards Hull via Selby and Blackpool North, with a half-hourly service towards Leeds on both routes (via Garforth and via Harrogate) serving most stations en-route (plus three per day to Sheffield via Pontefract Baghill).

Rolling stock used: Sprinter (Class 150/155/158), Class 170 Turbostar and Civity Class 195 units. Pacer (Class 142/144) diesel multiple units were in regular use on the Harrogate and Sheffield lines until December 2019, but have now been phased out.

Former services
Until May 2021 East Midlands Railway provided one weekend return journey between York and London St Pancras via the Midland Main Line.

title: York railway station


text:
Financial Secretary to the Treasury

The Financial Secretary to the Treasury is a mid-level ministerial post in HM Treasury. It is nominally the fifth most significant ministerial role within the Treasury after the first lord of the Treasury, the chancellor of the Exchequer, the chief secretary to the Treasury, and the paymaster general. However, the role of First Lord of the Treasury is always held by the prime minister who is not a Treasury minister, and the position of Paymaster General is a sinecure often held by the Minister for the Cabinet Office to allow the holder of that office to draw a government salary. In practice it is, therefore, the third most senior Treasury minister and has attended Cabinet in the past.

The current holder of the position is Lord Livermore, who was appointed by Prime Minister Keir Starmer following the Labour Party’s victory in the 2024 General Election. The position is shadowed by the shadow financial secretary to the treasury.

History
The role of Financial Secretary to the Treasury was created in 1711 and was known as the Junior Secretary to the Treasury to help deal with the increasing workload of the Senior Secretary to the Treasury. The first Junior Secretary to the Treasury is recorded as Thomas Harley who was appointed on 11 June 1711. The position has continued without any major interruption to the present day. Initially when the position of Senior Secretary to the Treasury became vacant not as the result of an election of change of government the Junior Secretary was usually automatically promoted to the senior role. Over time however, the roles of the Senior and Junior Secretaries began to diverge with the Senior Secretary post being used as a sinecure post for the Chief Whip, with no formal responsibilities to the Treasury. The Junior Secretary however remained a substantive position working in the Treasury. As such the Senior Secretary became known as the 'Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury' while the Junior Secretary became known as the 'Financial Secretary to the Treasury' and the 'automatic' promotion from Junior to Senior ceased. While the exact date this change occurred is disputed it is agreed that by 1830 the distinction was complete.

In 1923 Sir William Joynson-Hicks became the–to date–only Financial Secretary to serve in the Cabinet due to the Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, also concurrently serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

In May 2010 as part of the ministerial reorganisation by the First Cameron ministry, the Financial Secretary was given the additional semi-official title of City Minister. This position was retained until April 2014 when following the promotion of Sajid Javid to Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport the portfolio of City Minister was moved from the Financial Secretary to the Treasury to the Economic Secretary to the Treasury.

Appointment to the position of Financial Secretary to the Treasury is often considered an important stepping stone in a politician's career; six of the ten most recent holders of the office have gone on to hold Cabinet-level positions.

Notable former Financial Secretaries to the Treasury include Lord Frederick Cavendish, Austen Chamberlain, Stanley Baldwin, Enoch Powell, Nigel Lawson, and Norman Lamont.

Current role
The current responsibilities of the Financial Secretary to the Treasury include Departmental responsibility for the Office for National Statistics, and the Royal Mint. The Financial Secretary to the Treasury had Departmental responsibility for HM Customs & Excise until the merger with the Inland Revenue to form HM Revenue & Customs.

List of financial secretaries to the Treasury since 1830

 * see Secretary to the Treasury for earlier incumbents

Colour key (for political parties):

Note 1. Between June 1917 and May 1919 Lever and Baldwin jointly held the position of Financial Secretary. Note 2. As Baldwin was both Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer Joynson-Hicks was a member of the Cabinet.

title: Financial Secretary to the Treasury


text:
Neutral level

In semiotics the neutral level of a sign is the "trace" left behind; the physical or material creation or remains of esthesic and poietic processes, levels, and analyses of symbolic forms. A part of all signs according to a tri-partitional definition, it corresponds to Saussure's "sound-image" (or "signified", thus Pierce's "representamen").

Thus, "a symbolic form...is not some 'intermediary' in a process of 'communication' that transmits the meaning intended by the author to the audience; it is instead the result of a complex process of creation (the poetic process) that has to do with the form as well as the content of the work; it is also the point of departure for a complex process of reception (the esthesic process that reconstructs a 'message.')"

Molino and Nattiez's diagram:

An immanent description is an analysis of the neutral level.(Nattiez 1990, p. 75).

Applied Semiotics
In an applied semiology the neutral level of a sign is the "trace" left behind by a spiritual or ideal creation (i.e. art, masterpiece etc.); or fruits of creative processes and multi-staged levels of realisations, including analysis of the qualities of the symbolic forms as a consequence of an arousement of the analyst's or artist's mindfullness as one of several factors for reaching an understandment of the neutral level of applied semiology depending on the frames of reference (i.e. corporeal/physical, emotional/distribution of resources - economy, intellectual/cerebral, artistic/spiritual."

The Neutral level of the Neutral level
"Neutral" comes from the English word refers to a mutually understood non-dual background. "Neuter" has been used since the 14th century and is composed of ne meaning "not" + uter meaning which of two, thus synonymous with either [1] The Neutral state is often misinterpreted as a passive state, but it should be understood as much not-passive as not-active or equal. It literally refers to the non-dual state of body and mind, you and me or of any conflict.

title: Neutral level


text:
Wikipedia:Recent additions 16

Did you know...

 * ...that before natural selection was understood there were several now-discredited theories of speciation, including Lamarckism and orthogenesis?
 * ...that all Native American pottery before the arrival of Europeans was done without the use of a potter's wheel?
 * ...that the Sausage Valley of World War II-era France was so named because the Germans frequently flew a sausage-shaped observation balloon above it?
 * ...that the Polynesian Rat is used to track human migrations across the Pacific Ocean?
 * ...that Operation Predator, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that aims at ending child sex tourism, which may victimize as many as two million children annually?
 * ...that actress Susan Sullivan made comebacks to television twice?
 * ...that France Antarctique, a short-lived French colony, was not in Antarctica but in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil?
 * ...that Joseph Massino, formerly the head of New York's Bonanno crime family, was described as a real-life "last don"?
 * ...that the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, encompassing Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay, was the last viceroyalty created by Spain?
 * ...that New Zealand is sometimes called The Half Gallon Quarter Acre Pavlova Paradise?
 * ...that Liederkranz cheese is extinct?
 * ...that the trans-Planckian problem refers to the appearance of unlikely quantities beyond the Planck scale in black-hole physics and inflationary cosmology?
 * ...that the process for the evacuations of civilians in Britain during World War II was reversed in 1944?
 * ...that the Ten Years' War, which began in 1868, was the first attempt by Cuba to secure its independence from Spain?
 * ...that the Roman era of the early history of Switzerland began when the armies of Julius Caesar drove the Helvetii back from Gaul?
 * ...that the year and a day rule regarding homicide was abolished because of advances in medicine and forensic science?
 * ...that the United States District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands is the only United States district court without an associated United States Attorney's Office?
 * ...that the Angolan War of Independence lasted from 1961 until 1989, even though Portugal left Angola in 1975?
 * ...that among those who do not believe John the Apostle was the author of the Johannine works of the Bible, John the Evangelist is the most commonly mentioned possible alternative author?
 * ...that the Great Train Robbery of 1963 is the best-known example of the type of mail fraud known as "theft from the mails"?
 * ...that toilets in Japan are among most technologically advanced toilets in the world today?
 * ...that active camouflage would allow people to change clothing color or luminosity like chameleons and blend into their surroundings?
 * ...that American late-night talk-show host Johnny Carson was once a writer for The Red Skelton Show?
 * ...that in mathematics, an Apollonian gasket is a fractal generated from three circles, any two of which are tangent to one another?
 * ...that the style and subject matter of German Expressionism, which produced movies like Nosferatu, influenced film genres like horror and film noir?
 * ...that the yobidashi serves as a sumo wrestler's handyman, promoter and assistant?
 * ...that when the John Bull ran under its own power in 1981 it became the oldest operable steam locomotive in the world?
 * ...that narrow gauge railways are cheaper to build than standard gauges railways and are common in the developing world?
 * ...that developing countries hoping to participate in globalization are experimenting with a United States-originated economic policy called Rubinomics?
 * ...that the visit of King George IV to Scotland in 1822 led to the reinvigoration of the kilt and tartan as symbols of Scottish national identity?
 * ...that the evolution of Hawaiian volcanoes ends with the Guyot Stage, and that most, if not all, the volcanoes west of Kure Atoll are guyots?
 * ...that in high energy physics experiments, wire chambers are used to detect the path of particles emitted from the collisions in particle accelerators?
 * ...that zoomusicology is the study of sounds, vocalizations, and the organization of the noisy communications of animals?
 * ...that the Berlaymont building in Brussels, Belgium houses European Commission headquarters?
 * ...that pre-dreadnought battleships saw their most notable service in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905?
 * ...that the album Louder Than Bombs by The Smiths consisted of all singles and B-sides that hadn't been released before in the United States?
 * ...that a person having ordinary skill in the art is a legal fiction used by the patent law to check if an invention is too obvious?
 * ...that at age 19 after Barry Watson lost his job as a soap opera child star, he used to park cars at the House of Blues nightclub in Los Angeles?
 * ...that dragon's teeth were square-pyramidal concrete fortifications used during the World War II to impede the movement of tanks?
 * ...that the movie I Am Cuba was filmed in 1964 as Cold War Soviet propaganda but only became widely viewed internationally when it was shown to audiences in the United States in 1994?
 * ...that in 1968, Swedish pentathlete Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall became the first Olympian disqualified for drug use, for drinking two beers?
 * ...that cotton candy was first sold to the public at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair?
 * ...that, unlike corporate creations Betty Crocker and Ronald McDonald, food-brand icon Chef Boyardee was real?
 * ...that the books and manuscripts in the Renaissance-era Cotton library were categorized by their location relative to busts of caesars shelved alongside them?
 * ...that the Astrakhan Cossack army existed from 1737 until 1919 when they were defeated alongside their White Russian allies during the Russian Civil War?
 * ...that the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Warsaw holds the remains of a Polish soldier killed at the Battle of Lvov in 1919?
 * ...that earthquake lights, although described in 373 BCE, were not convincingly documented until the 1960s?
 * ...that Victor Chang AC was a famous Australian heart surgeon who was murdered on July 4, 1991, following an extortion attempt on his family?
 * ...that only fragments of the famous altar triptych by Geertgen tot Sint Jans could be saved after the siege of Haarlem of 1572-1573?
 * ...that Alfred J. Kwak, a duck from a Dutch television cartoon, lives in a clog?
 * ...that the 1974 discovery of the J/ψ meson subatomic particle confirmed the idea that baryonic matter (such as the nuclei of atoms) is made out of quarks and earned Samuel C. C. Ting and Burton Richter the Nobel Prize in Physics?
 * ...that physiological sound localization relies primarily on binaural cues for determining source azimuth, and head-related transfer functions for determining source elevation?

title: Wikipedia:Recent additions 16


text:
Talk:Team America: World Police

Entirely with marionettes
This statement in the opening paragraph is false. When Team fights those pitched battles with the celebrities, there's a scene where Chris dramatically flicks his cigarette onto a gasoline trail and immolates one. The shot is a close-up of someone's actual hand--I noticed it after the third viewing but since I'm unsure of how many more there might be, I'll simply remove the "entirely with marionettes" portion instead of saying there's just one-shot.Levelistchampion 06:57, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

 * Actually the part where the original member who died was proposing to Lisa the ring he held up was held by a real hand, or at least I think so. So that makes it 2 shots. Toxic Ninja 20:14, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

 * The "panthers" weren't marionettes, either, incidentally. BryanEkers 21:35, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

 * One scene when the main puppet is looking at pictures of sarah and him, the hand is entirely of a human hand.

MiguelHardy 23:09, 24 March 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.66.2.216 (talk)

Where does "valmorphanize" come from?
I am sure the word "valmorphanize" is not just thrown into this film at random. It must be making fun of something or derived from something. It's a funny word with a curious sound and I can't figure out its intention. Does anyone know of its origin? -- Lilwik 05:54, 22 December 2006 (UTC)

Well i would be sure to guess that Val, val kilmer had a pretty good ability to disguse himself in his movies. He does a pretty good job of it as well in a few different movies that required him to change his appearance. This isn't to say that there hasn't been others who have done well in that area but he is probably the one they were thinking about when they decided on it. Signifying that who ever Valmorphanizes changes there appearance and or features so that you are unnoticeable from your original appeance. So they called it Valmorphanize. Just speculation to think about though. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.216.138.71 (talk) 01:12, 21 October 2007 (UTC)

I read that Valmorification is reversible cosmetic surgery.71.92.55.138 (talk) 05:33, 22 August 2013 (UTC)

Driver
I could be wrong - but the driver in this film seems to be a female puppet with a 'tache stuck in it? Is it? is a reference to something? --Charlesknight 16:13, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

"Parker", does look odd. Also when Spotswood realises that there's an intruder at the base (Michael Moore) he shouts for Parker and he isn't there. Parker doesn't reappear in the film. It's barely possible that there was some subplot planned with Parker being a double-agent, and that he/she let Moore into the base. It's never going to be much more than speculation though. 125.236.163.115 12:23, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Are we sure the bug that was Kim Jong-Il is a parody of "The Hidden"?
I saw this movie a year and a half ago with my father, and it was only 2 weeks after seeing Starship Troopers 2 on TV (with my father). We both immediately thought the movie was refering to the human-infecting bugs from that movie when we saw the scene. They tended to crawl out of the head through the mouth area, the way they came in, and looked alot like the one Kim Jong-Il ... uhm ... "regurgitated".

Just thought I should point that similarity out. Salganos 05:29, 16 January 2007 (UTC) —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Salganos (talk • contribs) 05:27, 16 January 2007 (UTC).

Gary resembles Alien's cyborg when vommiting
I think it is so...isn't it? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 194.145.96.51 (talk) 11:25, 19 January 2007 (UTC).
 * There's an unfortunate tendency in TV and movie articles to crowd the entry with "such-and-such resembles such-and-such". Unless you know of a statement by the filmmakers along the lines of "...and when we shot the vomiting scene, Trey said he wanted to copy Ash from Alien...", it's original research. Ash wasn't an actor fretting about a terrorist attack and Gary wasn't a damaged android. If you write about the superficial resemblance, you may as well mention every movie character that has a vomiting scene and it'll all be useless.  BryanEkers 11:47, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

 * It's possible, but it's just as likely to be an homage to the Sam Peckinpah's "Salad Days" skit from Monty Python's Flying Circus. Matt and Trey are known to be Monty Python fans.  Edeans 20:35, 14 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Or perhaps Mr Creosote (how could I forget Mr Creosote?). Edeans 15:51, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

Budget, local and worldwide gross
http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2004/TEAMA.php, I just thought I would post that link when I saw that somebody had claimed that the production budget was 30 million. 71.87.7.14 04:39, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

North Korean Melody or Medley?
I've seen both titles for this track. Can anyone with the actual CD settle this? Amazon lists "Medley," which makes more sense to me, considering it's a medley of three songs. Microfrost 02:38, 8 March 2007 (UTC)

Rolverdeling?
The cast table is entitled "rolverdeling". What on earth is that? 138.243.129.138

It's Dutch, for "casting". I've changed it to english. 71.185.140.64 02:39, 27 April 2007 (UTC)

Thunderbirds?
I am sure that the statement in the opening section about Trey and Matt originally wanting to make the Thunderbirds movie is entirely incorrect. What I have seen in an interview is that they saw Thunderbirds on late night TV and thought it was really funny, having never seen it before. They said they wanted to do a straight remake of The Day After Tomorrow with Thunderbirds-style puppets, as in their opinion that would be funny enough, but they weren't given permission to use the script for TDAT.

In any case, I think the comment about the Thunderbirds movie should be removed unless it can be sourced, and I'll look out for a source for the Day After Tomorrow comments.

Targets of Satire
In the section on satirising action films, and their portrayal of the US military, I can see a number problems which I propose changing. Firstly, "film makers tend to portray American military (especially Michael Bay) as penultimate heroes and saviours of the world" It makes little sense to me that the military is portrayed as 'penultimate' heroes and saviours. Unless anyone is seeing something here that I don't, I intend to changing this. More importantly, though, the whole expression 'ultimate heroes and saviours of the world' is a subjective opinion of the way the military is portrayed by Hollywood. I think something far more objective is required, but I'm not sure what, exactly.

Secondly, this section appears to contain the work of two people disagreeing with each other, and so contradicts itself in the same paragraph. Either we need a consensus, or we need to remove the section. Views?JakeyJake 15:47, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

Removal
I removed this for OBVIOUS editorializing.

 * Team America is a reflection of overly-bombastic and idiotic movies like Armageddon and Independence Day; movies that substitute an overload of style (explosions, huge stunts, etc.) over even the smallest bit of substance (character development, plot development, etc.).
 * Why?  It is factual data!

Commentary?
Someone added something on the trivia section about information that was given on the movie's DVD commentary, but there is no commentary on my DVD, and as far as I know, the edition of the movie I have is the only version released in the U.S. ChesterG 10:21, 16 June 2007 (UTC) Both R and Unrated editions were released in the U.S.71.92.55.138 (talk) 05:15, 22 August 2013 (UTC)

Trivia?
"he ridiculous plot of having an actor come in and train for only a few days to become a spy/soldier rather than just have a spy do the job is a direct parody of Armageddon, where they had oil drillers come in and learn to become astronauts in a few days rather than just have astronauts learn to drill. It also indirectly parodies the idea in many Hollywood blockbuster movies that an untrained person in a completely unrelated field can come in and do the job of a highly trained soldier, spy, astronaut, etc." - surely this is a reference to earlier films such as Rocky?

Rocky was not inexperienced though. He had 64 professional fights and comming off a victory before fighting Apollo Creed for the cinematic heavyweight championship. The Tim Burton and Joel Shumacker Batman movies come more into mind. Where just putting on a costume and being a gymnast automaticaly makes somebody a super villain or a super hero. For example, Batgirl, Robin, Catwoman, Riddler etc. etc. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 219.77.248.92 (talk) 09:27, 28 January 2008 (UTC)

Puppeteering
I'd be nice if this article had more on the the people who did the puppeteering. I've wondered if they ever had arguments with the directors "We can make the fight scene look really good, and we can make the strings invisible, and.." "NO! We want it to look silly! They're puppets doing an action film!" :-) --RevWaldo 20:04, 1 September 2007 (UTC)

"Targets of Satire" <> "Individuals Parodied"
The two sections are nearly identical. I am going to merge both into 'Targets of Satire' and delete the latter unless anyone strenuously objects. - IstvanWolf 23:38, 5 October 2007 (UTC)

jo http://www.occidentalism.org/pic/realkji.jpg —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.58.201.160 (talk) 23:41, 5 October 2007 (UTC)

Critical reaction section?
How is it that there's a section for "response to critical reaction" and not a section for critical reaction? Pele Merengue 08:29, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

Team America should redirect to this article
99% of people searching for "Team America" will be looking for this article, so it shouldn't be a disambiguation page. Most of the articles listed on the disambiguation page aren't even called "Team America". Team America should be moved to Team America (disambiguation). Can someone fix this? 172.143.93.103 02:30, 16 October 2007 (UTC)

NPOV Tag
The section on the metaphor seems incredibly biased to my view. Great explanation of the literal quote, but I don't particularly think the movie was ascribing political philosophies to dicks, pussies, or assholes. What's the opinion on this? Howa0082 (talk) 17:21, 20 January 2008 (UTC)

I think it definitely was implied and it would not be a stretch to say so, but there is no source so until they find one it may need to be removed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.87.226.170 (talk) 04:39, 26 January 2008 (UTC)

This article is not neutral and it is innacurrate.
The opening synopsis of this article infers that this is a movie poking fun about "jingoistic" Americans, and 'that the U.S. frequently and autonomously tries to "police the world"'. A very left wing viewpoint. It seems to be the opposite, meaning the authors are poking fun that America is called in by other countries and the U.N. to police the world. The synopsis is very left-leaning, which would be incorrect, as it can be inferred from the South Park series that Trey Parker and Matt Stone lean to the right with their political beliefs. Examples of this include the lambasting of Al Gore's global warming,the episode where Atheists spew feces out of their mouths, and Cartman's hatred of hippies/enviromentalists. This opening synopisis should be re-worked in a neutral way.

Badgeman46 (talk) 11:59, 16 March 2008 (UTC)Jay

 * I agree.--Stijn Calle (talk) 16:05, 16 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I also agree. At first glance the film might even seem to give a strong nod to conservatism.  Parody on TV and film is left leaning more than anything else.  So when something comes along that gives good parody of the left it stands out, even if the right is also parodied in the same film.Rockford1963 (talk) 21:37, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

 * Badgeman, that is just silly. How do you connect a "very left wing viewpoint" with the opposition to USA using its powers as a world police and empire? I mean, how is that being on the left side of politics??? Remember, this is not an American article, it is an international English-speaking article. --Nabo0o (talk) 00:43, 27 March 2010 (UTC)
 * But TAWP is an American film, and per WP:TIES, the article is allowed to tend toward Americanisms. The right wing of United States politics was neoconservative roughly from Ronald Reagan's mid-1980s intervention in Philippine elections until George W. Bush left office in 2009. Critics of neoconservatism tended to have other leftist political views. Perhaps instead of "left" one could say "anti-neoconservative". --Damian Yerrick (talk | stalk) 16:43, 27 March 2010 (UTC)

 * I disagree, it is true that America constantly feels the need to "police the world". Either way this is a very enjoyable movie and is a satirical amusing film. *:*:KingnunandRhysandfan:*:* 13:28, 14 October 2019 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kingnunandrhysandfan (talk • contribs)

Possible Origin of North Korean Melody
The "North Korean Melody" in Team America: World Police sounds to me like a botched imitation of the tune of a specific North Korean song from the Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble. Indeed, a few Youtube users have suggested that the original song is "Toshich'eonyeo Shijipwayo" (City Girl Goes to Get Married), from a North Korean movie of the same name.

The original(?) song is about a girl from Pyongyang moving to the countryside to work and to meet her future husband. Ironically, although the Team America version consists mainly of nonsense words, the original song actually includes two English words ("bus" and, of all other words, "these"!) (see ). Also, though the only actual phrase in the "North Korean Melody" is the name Kim Jong Il, it's more likely that the original song was actually made during Kim Il Sung's time!

I'll admit I have no reliable sources that say this is actually the origin of that song, but I'm just throwing out a suggestion. --Kuaichik (talk) 03:02, 25 April 2008 (UTC)

 * I thought the basis was the Pochonbo version of Kim Jong Il's signature tune "No Motherland Without You", which can be heard here:  Pro hib it O ni o ns  (T) 12:22, 15 June 2010 (UTC)

A brief history
An editor pointed out previously that Stone's specific beef with Michael Moore (re A Brief History of the United States of America) is "a bit off the mark" because the animated segment under discussion actually appeared at a slightly different point in time than Stone later recalled in an interview. That is not to say his criticism is completely unfair because, as Stone observed correctly, the cartoon is "very South Park-esque". This unsourced statement was later replaced by another unsourced statement, which basically said instead that Moore must have edited his film afterward to deflect criticism away. So far as I am aware, he did not; the animated segment appears at exactly the same moment as in the theatrical release. Since no references are forthcoming for this claim I will proceed to remove it, leaving the general gist of Stone's criticism untouched. ~ smb 13:55, 25 May 2008 (UTC)

No R's in Korean?
The article states that there are no R sounds in the Korean language. I do not believe that this is correct as the name "Park," which contains an R, is a very common Korean name. Additionally, the word "Korea" itself contains an R. I had a roommate a few years ago from South Korea and he pronounced it Koh-Ray-Uh, so the R couldn't be silent. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Axeman (talk • contribs) 15:51, 25 June 2008 (UTC)
 * No, there really are no "r" sounds in the Korean language. That is unless you count the alveolar tap (which is, indeed, a rhotic). But the alveolar tap is just an allophone of "l" in Korean (see also here). (In the General American accent, one is example of the alveolar tap is in the "tt" of "little").
 * The Korean name "Park" is pronounced like the British (RP) pronunciation of "park," so there is no "r" sound there. It's just "Pahk." Sometimes it's even spelled "Pak."
 * The word "Korea" comes from Goguryeo, which is pronounced with the alveolar tap. (So, basically, "Goguryeo" is pronounced a bit like an American's pronounciation of "go-goody-awe" :)). The modern word for "Korea" in Korean is Hanguk, which has no "r" (or "l"!) sounds at all. --Kuaichik (talk) 05:16, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

Kim jong il, dictator?
Referring to kim jong il as a "dictator" is inaccurate, as he did not seize power, but was given power by his father, with the approval of the korean ruling party. To be a dictator, one must seize power —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.46.252.168 (talk) 16:07, 4 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Where'd ya get that notion? Check out dictator first. -- Soetermans |  is listening  |  what he'd do now?  22:40, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

 * Really? Tell that to Hitler, or the Shah, or Chavez. Solicitr (talk) 16:41, 3 February 2011 (UTC)

Before There Was Team America...
There was Super Adventure Team! I'm astonished that there's not yet an article or stub about this hilarious MTV Thunderbirds parody. And if and when there is one, should the Team America article make reference to it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 4.254.115.122 (talk) 03:14, 6 October 2008 (UTC)

Origin of $1.05
When I first heard "A buck oh five" in "Freedom isn't Free", I immediately thought it must be an obscure reference to the Japanese Issen gorin (literally "1 yen, 5 rin" or 1.05 yen), which referred to cost of a postcard to a Japanese conscript in WWII, particularly given Trey Parker's strong interest in all things Japanese. However, I've been unable to find any reference supporting this. Anyone else seen anything? It seems a pretty weird coincidence.Prebys (talk) 20:38, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Cast
The following appeared in the article: "features a cast entirely composed of marionettes (except for two live cats, two nurse sharks, a cockroach, and an adult male dressed as a giant statue of Kim Jong-il)". I removed the word entirely, as there were six exceptions noted. However, most of the exceptions would not generally be considered "cast members". Perhaps this information should b rephrased and relocated in the article. Khajidha (talk) 15:31, 13 October 2009 (UTC)

First film with marionette nookie
From the article: "It is believed to be the first film to ever depict marionettes having sex." But I seem to remember the existence of a 1987 porno film titled Pornocchio. Is anyone familiar with that film, or should I ask elsewhere? --Damian Yerrick (talk | stalk) 21:32, 10 January 2010 (UTC)
 * OK....I'm officially 'creeped out'.  Thanks sooo much Damian.

Unbalanced satire, sources needed
The article currently suggests the comedy satirises different points of view in a balanced way which is not true. Despite some autoirony filmmakers clearly sum up their political stand in "dick, pussies and assholes" monologue. The reception section needs to be supplemented with more reviews. 78.131.137.50 (talk) 02:15, 7 March 2010 (UTC)
 * Indeed. In fact, they've quite clearly explained that in an interview as well, which is quoted in the article.
 * "Because that's the thing that we realized when we were making the movie. It was always the hardest thing. We wanted to deal with this emotion of being hated as an American. That was the thing that was intriguing to us, and having Gary (the main character) deal with that emotion. And so, him becoming ashamed to be a part of Team America and being ashamed of himself, he comes to realize that, just as he got his brother killed by gorillas -- he didn't kill his brother; he was a dick, he wasn't an asshole -- so too does America have this role in the world as a dick. Cops are dicks, you fucking hate cops, but you need 'em."
 * They speak approvingly of the USA's role as a 'dick' and that the world needs them to do whatever they're doing. -- 122.169.44.168 (talk) 10:46, 14 July 2010 (UTC)
 * You're talking about two different things. One is the filmmakers' point of view, and the other is the content of film. Stone and Parker may side with America's role in the film, but the film itself satirizes both points of view equally. --Jtalledo (talk) 03:34, 28 July 2010 (UTC)

Someone should upload an poster...
...under the presumable current image name found in the code. -- 92.8.96.45 (talk) 20:21, 7 October 2010 (UTC)

 * [[File:Movie poster team america.jpg]] looks like it has been deleted. Any thoughts on why, a small film poster is usually OK per WP:NFCC.-- ♦Ian Ma c M♦  (talk to me) 20:27, 7 October 2010 (UTC)
 * That's because someone fucked with the code, and got it orphaned. How about restoring it then; I've just been able to fix the parameters. -- 92.8.96.45 (talk) 20:37, 7 October 2010 (UTC)

 * OK, it's back again. Pity someone didn't spot when it was removed.-- ♦Ian Ma c M♦  (talk to me) 20:55, 7 October 2010 (UTC)

Plot summary
I cut it the plot summary down and reduced it to 765 words. This is still too long. It needs to be from 500 to 700 maximum. Perhaps I will try to trim it some more tomorrow. Invertzoo (talk) 00:39, 24 October 2011 (UTC)

"I'm so Ronery" should have its own article
Wikipedia used to have a separate entry for "I'm so Ronery," but it was eventually deleted. The article should be reinstated. Upon the death of Kim Jong Il, the song was mentioned in hundreds of news articles across the globe. Clips of the song were also played on multiple television networks. The song has clearly left enough of an impression in the public mind to deserve an article of its own. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.202.226.134 (talk) 08:29, 20 December 2011 (UTC)

 * Unconvinced by this, as it would have WP:GNG issues. The song is fun, but not a key part of the film to the point where it needs its own article. Incidentally, Kim Jong-il's death led to 17,000 page views for this article yesterday.-- ♦Ian Ma c M♦  (talk to me) 10:15, 20 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Juche: the art of being so ronery. 198.151.130.54 (talk) 02:52, 22 December 2011 (UTC)

Inspiration: Wait, What?
“The film was primarily inspired by Thunderbirds, a popular British TV show created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson which also featured an all-marionette cast, though Stone and Parker were not fans of the show.”

(No obvious source was provided.)

That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. How do we know it was not merely similar to this show, but in fact “inspired by” it? --X883 (talk) 03:31, 16 April 2012 (UTC)

 * I reckon "inspired by" was overstating the case a bit, so I modified it, but for those of us who grew up in the UK or Canada and actually watched "Thunderbirds" as kids, Team America is certainly parodying that show along with everything else that is being made fun of. Invertzoo (talk) 01:52, 9 February 2013 (UTC)

“perfecting”?
spent nearly two years perfecting the script — Am I right in imagining that this choice of words is NNPOV? We can’t imply the script is “perfect,” can we? --X883 (talk) 04:08, 16 April 2012 (UTC)
 * It's a very common English idiom meaning "making as good as possible (given the circumstances)", not making literally perfect. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 185.74.232.130 (talk) 14:26, 11 April 2016 (UTC)

Length of plot summary
The plot summary was tagged as too long and detailed. I just now cut it down from 728 words to 535. Wikipedia film plot summaries are supposed to be between 400 and 600 words in length. Thanks, Invertzoo (talk) 22:04, 8 February 2013 (UTC)
 * Maybe it has changed but WP:FILMPLOT says "Plot summaries for feature films should be between 400 and 700 words." -- 109.79.84.235 (talk) 06:56, 16 June 2020 (UTC)

Redirect
Please could we have the search term "durka durka mohammed jihad" redirect here? Crazy Eddy (talk) 10:16, 8 August 2013 (UTC)

Ridiculously wrong assertion

 * A week later, the conservative group Move America Forward criticized the film, saying it was "inconceivable" that filmmakers would have spoofed the Nazis during World War II.
 * Considering all the propagandistic anti-Nazi cartoons and comedy films listed in List of World War II short films (see also Nazis in fiction) this criticism is so ridiculously wrong that I wonder if it is not worth pointing out this fact in the article. These cartoons may not be commonly shown nowadays and thus unfamiliar but for a political group this level of uninformedness is so spectacular and unexcusable that the foul-up should not be passed over silently, especially considering that many readers may not be aware of these cartoons and films either and therefore miss just how egregiously stupid this remark is. Epic facepalm. --Florian Blaschke (talk) 04:48, 13 July 2014 (UTC)

Inclusion of Klingon in Template
I'm aware that in the English dialogue, one word is spoken in Klingon, but its listing in the Template Languages section suggests that there is an entire Klingon language version. While (a) literally true and (b) amusing, and at the risk of my seeming a killjoy, are we happy with this, or is a Klingon language version actually available? (I don't have a DVD in order to check, but web-searching suggests not.) {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 185.74.232.130 (talk) 14:24, 11 April 2016 (UTC)

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Undue?
Can anyone explain why the Development section is tagged "Undue"? Section seems well sourced, not too long, and not putting undue emphasis on anything. -- 109.79.84.235 (talk) 06:56, 16 June 2020 (UTC)
 * I agree. It's not the most beautifully written section but I don't think it has undue weight problems. I've removed the tag. Popcornfud (talk) 09:34, 16 June 2020 (UTC)

Is this in the same universe as South Park
I'm wondering this because Spotswood says have you ever seen a man eat his own head which implies he could have been in the audience when David Blaine ate his own head in Super best friends 92.41.62.221 (talk) 18:57, 16 March 2023 (UTC)

Left-wing bias
The movie "satarizes american militarism...".

Nope, the movie for the most part makes fun of the self-hating, anti-american left. 80.131.55.79 (talk) 04:20, 20 March 2023 (UTC)

Genre
Is there some reason we have to mention puppets twice in the lead? People won't be confused if they have to wait a few sentences to find out there are puppets in the film. NinjaRobotPirate (talk) 03:02, 11 May 2023 (UTC)
 * It's pretty standard to give the type of movie, particularly where it isn't live action, e.g. animated, CGI etc in the opening sentence. It's a defining characteristic of the subject. Cambial — foliar❧ 03:48, 11 May 2023 (UTC)
 * Defining characteristic according to whom? Not AFI, who list the primary genres as "comedy, satire". NinjaRobotPirate (talk) 02:52, 12 May 2023 (UTC)
 * I don’t think it’s a genre. Like “live action” or “claymation” isn’t a genre. There’s no reason to only put genres in the first sentence description of things. But every animated movie I look up has “animated” in the first sentence. It tells the reader how it was filmed, ie. Without human actors on screen. Cambial — foliar❧ 05:12, 12 May 2023 (UTC)

Moore and Baldwin
From the article I conclude that Michael Moore and Alec Baldwin are presented with their real names as representants of the liberal "Actors Guild"? If that is the case it should be stated explicitly, as it is not a common part of such movies. (Of course the idea that liberals are pacifists and conservatives bellicists is somewhat outdated, but would match the zeitgeist of the movie.) 93.199.245.28 (talk) 14:45, 3 October 2023 (UTC)

 * The Film Actors Guild (F.A.G.) is a parody of the Screen Actors Guild. The end credits say "Alec Baldwin, Hans Blix, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Janeane Garafolo, Danny Glover, Ethan Hawke, Helen Hunt, Samuel L. Jackson, Peter Jennings, Kim Jong Il, Michael Moore, Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, Martin Sheen and Liv Tyler did not authorize the use of their names or contribute any performances to this motion picture." (screenshot) This is something that could be mentioned in the article. The film is clearly meant to depict these people in comedy situations, although they did not give their permission for it to happen.-- ♦Ian Ma c M♦  (talk to me) 15:16, 3 October 2023 (UTC)

Musical?
I haven't seen it in a long time, but wasn't this film a proper musical, like Bigger, Longer & Uncut? I remember a quantity of songs that move the story along. Kumagoro-42 (talk) 13:52, 11 December 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Team America: World Police


text:
Gideon's Trumpet

Gideon's Trumpet is a 1964 book by Anthony Lewis describing the story behind the 1963 landmark court case Gideon v. Wainwright, in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that criminal defendants have the right to an attorney even if they cannot afford one. In 1965, the book won an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Fact Crime book.

A made-for-TV movie, of the same name, based on the book was released in 1980, starring Henry Fonda as Clarence Earl Gideon, José Ferrer as Abe Fortas and John Houseman as Earl Warren (though Warren's name was never mentioned in the film; he was billed simply as "The Chief Justice"). Houseman also provided the offscreen closing narration at the end of the film. Lewis himself appeared in a small role as "The Reporter". The movie was a Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation produced by Worldvision, and aired on CBS.

The name is a play on words, using the defendant's last name and invoking the biblical story in which Gideon ordered his small force to attack a much larger enemy camp. Gideon's army carried trumpets and concealed torches in clay pots. When the call to attack came, the noise and light they made tricked their enemies into thinking that a much larger army was attacking them. Thus, Gideon won the battle with little actual fighting (Judges 7:16-22).

title: Gideon's Trumpet


text:
Albertus Seba

Albertus or Albert Seba (May 12, 1665, Etzel near Friedeburg – May 2, 1736, Amsterdam) was a Dutch pharmacist, zoologist, and collector. Seba accumulated one of the largest cabinets of curiosities in the Netherlands during his time. He sold one of his cabinets in 1717 to Peter the Great of Russia. His later collections were auctioned after his death. He published descriptions of his collections in a lavishly illustrated 4 volume Thesaurus. His early work on taxonomy and natural history influenced Linnaeus.

Career
Born in Etzel, Seba moved to Amsterdam as an apprentice and, around 1700, opened a pharmacy near the harbour. Seba asked sailors and ship surgeons to bring exotic plants and animal products he could use for preparing drugs. Seba also started to collect snakes, birds, insects, shells, and lizards in his house.

From 1711, he delivered various medicines to the Russian court in Saint Petersburg and sometimes accepted fresh ginger as payment. Seba promoted his collection to Robert Erskine (1674–1719), the tsar's head physician, and in early 1716 Peter the Great bought the complete collection. In the following several years, Seba managed to develop another collection of natural specimens, which grew more extensive than the first.

Through Seba, Frederik Ruysch—a well-known Amsterdam physician and anatomist—also sold his collection to the tsar. Both collections so expanded Peter's imperial cabinet of curiosities that they led to the establishment of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the construction of a new building for the Kunstkammer, opened in 1728 as the first Russian public museum. In October 1728, Seba had become a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1734, he had published a Latin "treasury" (thesaurus) of animal specimens with beautiful engravings. Its full title was Locupletissimi Rerum Naturalium Thesauri Accurata Descriptio et Iconibus Artificiosissimus Expressio per Universam Physices Historiam ("A Careful Description and Exceedingly Artistic Expression in Pictures of the Exceedingly Rich Treasury of Nature Throughout the Entire History of Natural Science"), traditionally shortened and abbreviated in Latin as the Rerum Naturalium Thesaurus ("A Treasury of Nature") or as Seba's Thesaurus. A traditional English version of the name has been A Cabinet of Natural Curiosities, after the early modern cabinets of curiosities. The last two of the four volumes were published after his death (1759 and 1765). Today, an original 446-plate volume is in the collection of the Koninklijke Bibliotheek in The Hague, Netherlands. Recently, a complete example of the Thesaurus sold for $460,000 at an auction. In 2001, Taschen Books published a reprint of the Thesaurus, with a second printing in 2006.

In 1735, Carl Linnaeus visited Seba twice. Linnaeus found Seba's collection to be useful for the classification system which Linnaeus was developing, and Linnaeus used many of Seba's specimens as holotypes for original descriptions of species. Seba's inclusion of fantastic beasts such as the hydra influenced Linnaeus to include the "Paradoxa", species which may exist but which have not been found, in his Systema Naturae.

Seba himself did not use Linnaeus' taxonomy, as it was published only a year before his death. However, he did organize his Thesaurus by physical similarities, leading to some similarities with Linnaeus' larger project.

In 1752, several years after Seba's death, his second collection was auctioned in Amsterdam. Several objects were purchased by Russia's Academy of Sciences.

Taxa named in honor of Seba
Seba is commemorated in the scientific names of two species and one subspecies of snakes: Ninia sebae, Python sebae, and Oxyrhopus petola sebae.

title: Albertus Seba


text:
Communist Party of Nepal (Unity Centre–Masal)

The Communist Party of Nepal (Unity Centre–Masal) (नेपाल कम्युनिष्ट पार्टी (एकता केन्द्र–मसाल)), abbreviated CPN (UC–M) was an underground communist party in Nepal. The CPN (UC–M) was formed in 2002 through the merger of Communist Party of Nepal (Unity Centre) and Communist Party of Nepal (Masal).

History
The merger of the two parties was announced at a public meeting on April 22, 2002, by the general secretaries of the two parties, Ram Singh Shris of CPN (Masal) and Narayan Kaji Shrestha (Prakash) of CPN (UC). The founding general secretary of CPN (UC–M) was Mohan Bikram Singh. The two electoral mass fronts of the two parties, Samyukta Janamorcha Nepal and Rastriya Janamorcha, merged to form Janamorcha Nepal. The Janamorcha Nepal joined the Seven Party Alliance and took an active part in the 2006 Loktantra Andolan.

Splits and dissolution
After the end of the direct-rule by King Gyandendra in April 2006 the CPN (Unity Centre–Masal) was split into four. A minor faction broke away and formed the Communist Party of Nepal (2006), the party later merged into the CPN (Maoist) Mohan Bikram Singh broke away and formed a parallel CPN (Unity Centre–Masal), which later renamed itself to CPN (Masal). The party also formed a parallel Janamorcha Nepal, later Rastriya Janamorcha, led by Chitra Bahadur K.C. and took away with three members of the Interim Parliament from Janamorcha Nepal because of Singh's opposition towards joining the interim government. The other split emerged when Ram Singh Sris broke away with two members of the Interim Parliament from Janamorcha Nepal. The faction also had its own parallel Janamorcha Nepal led by Chitra Bahadur Ale. The faction later merged with other splinter groups of other communist parties and formed CPN (Unified).

After various splits in the party, Narayan Kaji Shrestha became the general secretary. The party joined the Communist Party of Nepal to form the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) on 13 January 2009. The women's wing of CPN (UC–M) is led by Surya Thapa (president) and Anjana Bisankhe (general secretary). The students wing of CPN (UC–M) was All Nepal National Free Students Union (Unified), while the cultural wing of CPN (UC–M) was called Indreni-Raktim Cultural Family. Fronts in India included All India Nepalese Unity Society (Mainstream) and All India Nepali Students Association. The CPN (UC–M) participated in the International Conference of Marxist–Leninist Parties and Organizations (International Newsletter).

Ideology
The CPN (Unity Centre–Masal) adhered to Marxism–Leninism–Mao Zedong Thought as its ideological basis. CPN (UC–M) favoured a negotiated settlement of the Nepalese Civil War. Their proposal, put forward together with other leftists, was to hold a constituent assembly. The party also opposed US involvement in Nepal.


text:
Leigh, Dorset

Leigh is a village and civil parish in the county of Dorset in southern England, situated approximately 5 mi south-southwest of Sherborne. It is known as the site of a former Miz Maze. In the 2011 census the parish had a population of 480.

History
One mile southeast of the village is a 10-acre enclosure called 'The Castle'. The physical remnants on the ground indicate the previous existence of a castle here, although there are no historical records for the site.

Leigh has a village cross with a shaft dating from the 15th century. The parish church, dedicated to St Andrew, was previously a chapel of neighbouring Yetminster. It also dates from the 15th century, though was substantially altered—including the virtual rebuilding of the chancel—in 1854.

Miz Maze
In a field just south of the village are the remains of a turf labyrinth or "Miz Maze", an earthwork of uncertain origin that, centuries ago, may have been used for rituals and as a meeting place. The labyrinth was laid out on banks and in the 17th century was re-cut every year by the young men of the village. It was described in 1815 in the second edition of Hutchins' History of Dorset: "On an eminence in the common, about a quarter of a mile south from the village, is a maze of circular form, surrounded by a bank and ditch, and occupying an eighth part of an acre. The banks of earth of which it is composed are set almost close together, and are somewhat more than one foot in width and about half a foot in height."

Depositions from 1650–1664 state that the Miz Maze is where local witches used to meet. In 1879 the Dorset dialect poet William Barnes presented the Dorset Field Club with a paper in which he wrote "Many years ago I was told by a man of this neighbourhood that a corner of Leigh Common was called 'Witches Corner'; and long after that a friend gave me some old depositions on witchcraft ... one of the witches' sisterhood said that they sometimes met in Leigh Common." The last witch to be burned in England was reputed to have been arrested at a conference here in the 17th century and then executed at Maumbury Rings in Dorchester.

There used to be several of these labyrinths in Dorset, though this is the only one where traces still remain, and even here there is little evidence except for small disturbances in the grass surface which can be felt underfoot.

Government
The parish council has involvement in the maintenance of parish facilities and local issues such as planning applications and conservation. It works with the local police, and neighbourhood watch groups on matters of crime, security, and traffic. Dorset Council is responsible for most of the local government services such as planning decisions and building control, local roads, council housing, markets and fairs, environmental health, refuse collection and recycling, education, social services, public transport, police and fire services, Trading Standards, waste disposal and strategic planning.

Leigh is in the West Dorset parliamentary constituency and is currently represented in the House of Commons by Chris Loder, who succeeded Oliver Letwin in 2019. Along with other villages it falls within the Cam Vale Electoral Ward.

Geography
Leigh is situated in the Blackmore Vale, and measured directly, the village is 5 mi south-southwest of Sherborne, 6 mi southeast of Yeovil and 12 mi north-northwest of Dorchester. The surrounding landscape is gently undulating and predominantly agricultural. The underlying geology is Oxford clay which here produces good quality pasture; the village was once known for producing cheese and cider, with at one time every farm possessing an orchard. One mile to the west of the village is the small Wriggle River, which drains into the River Yeo. Approximately 2.5 mi to the south are the chalk hills of the Dorset Downs.

The nearest railway stations are on the Heart of Wessex Line at Chetnole, 1.5 mi to the west-southwest, and Yetminster, 2 mi to the northwest. The nearest main roads are the A37, 2.5 mi to the west, and the A352, 2.5 mi to the east.

Demography
In the 2011 census the parish had 225 dwellings, 209 households and a population of 480.

The population of the parish in the censuses between 1921 and 2011 is shown in the table below:

In 1861 the parish population was 465.

title: Leigh, Dorset