Gordon Johnston Adam (born 28 March 1934) is a British mining engineer and Labour Party politician. With one brief interruption, he served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for 25 years.

Training and career
Adam went to Carlisle Grammar School and the University of Leeds, from which he obtained a Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees. After becoming a Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1953, he joined the National Coal Board as a mining engineer in 1959. Adam later became a Charted Engineer member of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining.

Labour Party activity
He joined the Labour Party and in 1963 became Chairman of Berwick-upon-Tweed Constituency Labour Party, and he was co-opted as a member of Northumberland County Council Education Committee in 1964. At the 1966 general election, Adam was the Labour Party candidate for the Tynemouth constituency. He succeeded in cutting the Conservative majority from 7,448 to 3,396. In 1971 Adam was elected to Whitley Bay Borough Council; when that council was succeeded by North Tyneside Borough Council in 1973, Adam was elected to the new body and became its first chairman and Mayor for the year 1974–1975.

Berwick byelection
In August 1973, he was chosen to fight the byelection in Berwick-upon-Tweed caused by the resignation of Lord Lambton, and decided to focus on the issues of housing and prices. The Times Diary noted that Labour had drafted 13 professionals in to lead their campaign but described Adam as "a charm-free technocrat". Adam saw Labour overtaken by the Liberal Party who narrowly won the seat; he took comfort that the Labour vote had held firm.

North Tyneside Councillor
Adam fought the same constituency again in the February 1974 general election, but saw the Labour vote fall to 4,326 which was about half what it had been in 1970. From 1975 he became Deputy Leader of North Tyneside Borough Council, and he was named to the Northern Economic Planning Council from 1974. As Deputy Leader of North Tyneside he indicated that the council would aim to comply with the demands of Peter Shore, Secretary of State for the Environment, to restrain spending. He served on the Northern Arts General Council from 1975 to 1977, and was appointed to the Whitley Bay Playhouse Theatre Trust in 1975; he was Chairman of the Trust from 1975 to 1980.

European Parliament
At the 1979 election to the European Parliament, Adam stood as Labour Party candidate in Northumbria. This was one of the safest seats for Labour and Adam was easily elected. In June 1980 he lauded events in Zimbabwe which had shown how real democracy had triumphed in the end, and urged the government of South Africa to take the same course. In June 1981 he presented a report on behalf of the Committee on Energy and Research which called for the development of a computer translation system.

Attitude to the EEC
In 1983 he was chosen to head an inquiry into how the United Kingdom proposed to spend its budget rebate on energy projects. Adam was prepared to support the Labour Party policy of withdrawal from the EEC in public but felt that party policy failed to take account of practicalities: he was quoted in early 1982 as saying that his constituents were more interested in learning what would happen to the sheepmeat regime. However, in the 1984 election, the Conservatives claimed that a reading of Adam's election literature identified him as a supporter of British membership.

After successful re-election Adam became vice-chairman of the Energy, Research and Technology Committee of the European Parliament. He kept up his local connections with the arts, being a member of the Board of Newcastle Free Festival from 1989 to 1999 (and Chairman from 1992). He was also a member of the Board of the Northern Stage Company from 1989 to 2001. At the 1992 general election, he again fought Berwick-upon-Tweed; this time he succeeded in increasing the Labour vote by 5.4% compared with the previous election.

Pit closures
Adam managed to persuade the European Parliament to commission an independent investigation of the British government's decision to close 31 coal mines after the closure was announced in 1992. The investigation was significant because the European Commission needed to give approval for part of the closure programme. Early in 1995 Adam signed a joint letter in defence of Clause IV and opposing Tony Blair's attempt to get rid of it.

1999 election
In the selections for the 1999 European election, Adam was placed as fourth on the Labour Party's list for the North East region, a position which made it almost impossible for him to be elected. As expected he lost his seat when the Labour Party won only three seats in the region. He wrote to the local newspaper after the election to thank those who had worked with him. He retired to give more time to his work as Chairman of the Northern Energy Initiative, a post he had occupied since 1995.

Return
However, in December 1999 it was surprisingly announced that Alan Donnelly was resigning his seat in the European Parliament. Donnelly was the Leader of the Labour group and only 42 at the time; the Labour Party denied that there was an impending scandal. Under the European Parliament electoral system, Adam became first in line to replace him. Adam duly returned to the European Parliament after a gap of six months.

Foot and Mouth disease
In December 2001 Adam caused a stir when he criticised the calls from Ireland for the Sellafield nuclear recycling plant to be closed. He pointed to figures from the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland which found that Sellafield was responsible for only one per cent. of radioactivity in Ireland, and went on to "award the star prize for political humbuggery to the Irish, to the inhabitants of the Emerald Isle". He became the Labour group agriculture spokesman and was critical of the group of Welsh farmers who had given evidence during an inquiry into the outbreak of foot and mouth disease, saying they "might be a bit biased". When the eventual report was highly critical of the British government, Adam abstained rather than support it, describing the report as inaccurate.

Mayoral candidate
When the directly elected Mayor of North Tyneside resigned in 2003, forcing a byelection for the Mayoralty, Adam was chosen as the Labour candidate. He was defeated by Linda Arkley who secured a majority of 4,861.

Allowances
In April 2004 Austrian MEP Hans-Peter Martin was attempting to expose questionable practices in European Parliament allowances. Martin filmed Adam signing the attendance book for a Friday session of the European Parliament, thereby claiming a daily allowance, before immediately leaving. Martin claimed that Adam tried to grab his video camera, knocking Martin off his feet and on to the floor. Adam denied the claim and attacked Martin's methods.

Retirement
Adam retired from the European Parliament at the 2004 election. He supported the move for an elected regional authority in the devolution referendum later that year, recalling his first election in 1964 when he called for investment in the region's roads; Adam believed a regional authority would unlock investment held back by Whitehall. In 2006 he criticised the group of Labour MPs who had called for Tony Blair to resign the Labour Party leadership, warning that the electorate would not re-elect "a squabbling, divided party".

In 2004 Adam was appointed to the Board of the South Tyneside Groundwork Trust. He is also President of the Felling Male Voice Choir.

References

External links
 A collection of archival documents by A. Gordon is deposited at the Historical Archives of the EU in Florence

1934 births
Living people
People educated at Carlisle Grammar School
Alumni of the University of Leeds
Councillors in Tyne and Wear
Labour Party (UK) MEPs
MEPs for England 1979–1984
MEPs for England 1984–1989
MEPs for England 1989–1994
MEPs for England 1994–1999
MEPs for England 1999–2004
Labour Party (UK) councillors

Gordon Adam


British Midland Airways Limited (trading at various times throughout its history as British Midland, bmi British Midland, bmi or British Midland International) was an airline with its head office in Donington Hall in Castle Donington, close to East Midlands Airport, in the United Kingdom. The airline flew to destinations in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, North America and Central Asia from its operational base at Heathrow Airport, where at its peak it held about 13% of all takeoff and landing slots and operated over 2,000 flights a week. BMI was a member of Star Alliance from 1 July 2000 until 20 April 2012.

BMI was acquired from Lufthansa by International Airlines Group (IAG) on 20 April 2012, and was integrated into British Airways (BA) by 27 October 2012. BMI's subsidiaries Bmibaby and BMI Regional were also purchased, although IAG did not wish to retain either. BMI Regional was sold to Sector Aviation Holdings in May 2012 and operated under the "flybmi" brand until it went into administration on 16 February 2019, whereas Bmibaby closed down in September 2012.

British Midland Airways Limited held a Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Type A Operating Licence, permitting it to carry passengers, cargo and mail on aircraft with 20 or more seats.

History

Origins
The airline dates back to 1938, when Captain Roy Harben established Air Schools Limited as a school for training pilots of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. Captain Harben had been approached by the Derby Corporation to run a new aerodrome under construction near Burnaston, which was planned to eventually become an airport. Sir Kingsley Wood, the Secretary of State for Air, officially opened the aerodrome as Derby Municipal Airport on 17 June 1939. Military flying training continued at the airport throughout the war.

Air Schools Limited formed a parent company, Derby Aviation Limited, in 1946, and Harben died the following year of a heart attack. His wife remained the controlling shareholder of the business and asked E. W. Phillips, who had been involved in running the flying school with Captain Harben, to become the new managing director. The new parent company also incorporated Wolverhampton Aviation, based at Pendeford, which offered ad hoc charter and freight flights with de Havilland Dragon Rapides, as well as aircraft maintenance and brokerage.

In 1953, Derby Aviation ceased flying training, following the award of a licence to operate scheduled flights from Burnaston and Wolverhampton to Jersey. Flights in each direction were required to land at Elmdon Airport in Birmingham to allow passengers to clear customs. The first flight was made on 18 July 1953, using a Dragon Rapide. The following year, Wolverhampton Aviation was merged into Derby Aviation, and, in 1955, the company purchased its first Douglas DC-3, a converted former military transport.

International services to Ostend commenced in 1956, and flights carrying holidaymakers from the UK to mainland Europe began as well. The company was also contracted by Rolls-Royce to transport aero engines to customers all over the world. In 1959, Derby Aviation formed Derby Airways as its airline business and introduced a new livery incorporating the new airline's name. Domestic scheduled flights within the United Kingdom began the same year.

British Midland Airways

On 1 October 1964, after buying the Manchester Airport-based scheduled and charter airline Mercury Airlines, the company changed its name to British Midland Airways (BMA) and moved operations from Burnaston to the recently opened East Midlands Airport. The corporate colours of blue and white were adopted at that time, along with the first turboprop aircraft, a Handley Page Dart Herald.

Minster Assets, a London-based investment and banking group, acquired the airline in 1968, and in 1969 promoted former Mercury ground handling manager Michael Bishop to become the company's general manager. From this point, Bishop drove the company forward, with domestic and European expansion continuing apace. As a first step, in November 1969, BMA took over Autair's Heathrow–Teesside route, which marked the airline's Heathrow debut.

In 1970, BMA entered the jet age with the introduction of three new BAC One-Eleven 500s, followed by an ex-Pan Am Boeing 707-321 in 1971. The former had been intended to be primarily used on European inclusive tour (IT) charters while the latter was to be mainly used on transatlantic "affinity group" charters. Also in 1970, BMA became the first British airline independent from government-owned corporations to employ UK-based, non-White cabin crew.

Following his appointment as managing director in 1972, Bishop withdrew the One-Elevens from service, two of which were swapped for three Handley Page Dart Heralds while the third was subsequently leased to Court Line. As the early-model, high-time second-hand 707s commanded a low resale value, the airline decided to keep these aircraft and lease them out to other airlines on a wet lease basis, beginning in November 1972 with a £3.3 million, two-year contract to operate Sudan Airways' Blue Nile service between Khartoum and London. The decision to pull out of both the IT and "affinity group" markets was taken to reverse heavy losses BMA had incurred on these charter operations due to its lack of scale and lack of vertical integration with a tour operator, which put it at a commercial disadvantage vis-à-vis the competition, as well as uneconomical charter rates as a result of overcapacity. This resulted in BMA concentrating on regional, short-haul scheduled services and ad hoc charters using turboprops such as the Herald and Viscount as these were more economical than contemporary jets on short, thin routes. The success of the airline's wet lease operation resulted in an increase in the number of Boeing 707s allocated to this activity, including the addition of several later model 707-320B and -320C aircraft from 1976. All of these were leased to other operators, with none operating for BMA on scheduled or charter services until 1981.

On 1 November 1974, BMA began operating between London Gatwick and Belfast, where it replaced the service previously operated by British Caledonian. London–Belfast was BMA's first UK domestic trunk route and the first all-year round route it served in [indirect] competition with British Airways (BA). BMA's Gatwick debut also made it the only airline at the time to operate scheduled services from all five contemporary London airports – Gatwick, Heathrow, Luton, Southend and Stansted.

In January 1975, an agreement was reached for BMA to provide two Vickers Viscounts in Cyprus Airways livery to link Athens with Cyprus. A former WWII airfield at Larnaca was selected to serve the south of the island, following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974. The first flights departed Larnaca on 10 February 1975. On 4 April 1975, the Daily Mail chartered a BMA Boeing 707 to assist the Project Vietnam Orphans and The Ockenden Venture charities in evacuating 150 orphaned children from Saigon during the Vietnam War.

On 1 September 1976, jets began gradually replacing the turboprop fleet on most of BMA's domestic and European services, when the airline's first Douglas DC-9 (a second-hand -15 leased from the manufacturer) replaced Viscounts on the Heathrow–Tesside route.

In 1978, Minster Assets sought to sell the company. With the help of a Californian entrepreneur, Robert F. Beauchamp, Bishop raised £2.5 million to lead the management buy-out, and was appointed chairman as a result, afterwards stating "I had to borrow the money from an American citizen. Most venture capitalists want a return of 40% to make up for all their other failures and they want an exit strategy." That year, British Midland and British Airways agreed to swap some of their routes, resulting in BMA relinquishing its routes from Birmingham to Brussels and Frankfurt, and BA handing over its routes from Liverpool to London Heathrow, Belfast, Dublin, Jersey, the Isle of Man and Glasgow. Annual passenger numbers topped 1 million for the first time in 1979.

On 31 March 1980, British Midland replaced British Airways on the Leeds Bradford to London Heathrow route, initially operating with their remaining Viscount 800 aircraft. Within a year or two these were replaced by the DC9 15, and following the extension of the runway at Leeds Bradford, the DC9 32 became the standard equipment on the route supplemented by the 15 series and at weekends the occasional Viscount, Fokker F27 or BAE ATP turbo prop. In 1986 however, British Midland leased a BAC1-11 400 (G-WLAD) from Airways International Cymru, and this aircraft was mainly used on the Heathrow route in lieu of the usual DC9s which returned in 1987. In the following years, British Midland increased its operations from Leeds Bradford, and introduced other routes including Glasgow, Paris CDG and Brussels. When the DC9s were phased out, the Boeing 737 200 became a regular on the Heathrow route, and later the 737 300, 400, and 500 were all operated prior to the arrival of the newly acquired Fokker 100, which again was supplemented on quieter rotations by the smaller Fokker 70. Eventually the Airbus A319 became the standard equipment to Heathrow, but busier rotations saw the larger A320 and occasional A321 too. At its peak, British Midland operated up to 6 flights each way to and from Heathrow from Leeds Bradford, the final late-evening flight being operated on a smaller Embraer 145 Regional Jet. In 2009 the airline dropped the route, which they had operated unbroken for 29 years.

In 1981, the CAA turned down BMA's application to fly between Heathrow, Glasgow and Edinburgh. However, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry upheld the airline's appeal against the CAA's ruling. The Secretary of State's decision to overturn the CAA's ruling enabled the airline to commence its first domestic trunk route from the UK's premier airport on 25 October 1982, when it launched six daily return flights between Heathrow and Glasgow operated with DC-9s. Although these flights were not as frequent as the competing hourly BA shuttle, BMA offered keener fares and a full in-flight service (compared with the no frills shuttle). Following BMA's success on the Heathrow–Glasgow route, the airline began flying between Heathrow and Edinburgh (1983) and Heathrow and Belfast (1984). With the introduction of these services, BMA and BA were now in direct competition on the UK's three busiest domestic trunk routes. BMA's competitive pressure on BA resulted in the latter replacing its no frills shuttle service with an upgraded Super Shuttle that included a full breakfast, hot drinks and a free bar service on both Heathrow–Glasgow and Heathrow–Edinburgh from September 1983. (BA subsequently extended Super Shuttle to Heathrow–Belfast as well following the launch of BMA's competing service in 1984, in turn resulting in BMA abandoning Gatwick–Belfast which was taken over by Dan-Air.)

Also in 1982, BMA, together with British & Commonwealth (the owners of AirUK at the time), formed Manx Airlines, and the following year it purchased a 75% stake in Glasgow-based regional airline Loganair from The Royal Bank of Scotland.

In October 1984, the Boeing 707 fleet was withdrawn, having been used extensively on lease operations for other airlines across the world.

In 1985, a new aircraft livery featuring a dark blue upper half and tail, with a light grey lower half separated by a thin, white stripe, was introduced. At this time, BMA was branded simply British Midland, and a new logo featuring a stylised red BM crowned with a white diamond shape appeared on aircraft tailfins. This livery subsequently featured a darker blue upper half and tail, with a deep grey lower half separated by two thin stripes, very dark blue at the top and red at the bottom. However, the logo on the aircraft's fins remained unchanged.

The conclusion of the first fully liberalised bilateral air transport agreement in Europe between the United Kingdom and the Netherlands in 1985, as well as a legal technicality exempting the airline from the "London [Air] Traffic Distribution Rules" (a government policy that sought to compel all airlines that were planning to operate an international scheduled service to or from Heathrow for the first time to use Gatwick instead) as a result of having operated a Heathrow–Strasbourg scheduled service prior to this policy coming into effect on 1 April 1978, enabled BMA to compete directly with BA between Heathrow and Amsterdam from 29 June 1986. This resulted in BMA becoming the first private, independent airline to compete with then wholly government-owned BA on an international trunk route from Heathrow.

The Diamond Club frequent flyer programme (FFP) launched on 1 October 1987, coinciding with the introduction of an enhanced business class style, single-class Diamond Service featuring a full meal and free onboard drinks service for all passengers, regardless of the fare paid, as well as airport lounges at the airline's major UK destinations. These service enhancements helped increase British Midland's market share on the main London–Scotland and London – Northern Ireland trunk routes to 30%. In addition, all aircraft in the fleet were named after diamonds, beginning with a DC-9 named The Tiffany Diamond, unveiled by Rosamond Monckton, the managing director of Tiffany's in London.  The company slogan was Better for Business (2009–2010).

In March 1987, Airlines of Britain Holdings (ABH) was formed to act as a holding company for British Midland Airways and British Midland Aviation Services.

British Midland operated its final Viscount flight on 20 February 1988, 21 years after the airline had first operated the type. That year, British Midland also became the first to operate the British Aerospace (BAe) ATP for which it had been the launch customer. The BAe ATP was the airline's last turboprop type.

In 1992, British Midland became the first airline to offer a vegetarian choice of in-flight meals on UK domestic flights and one of the first in Europe to do so on domestic services. The following year, the airline introduced Diamond EuroClass on its European routes, the first time it had offered a separate cabin for business travellers. Initially, Diamond EuroClass was competitively priced, with the highest fares being the same as rivals' published economy class fares.

On 30 September 1996, British Midland began offering Diamond EuroClass on all its domestic routes, becoming the second airline in the UK after Jersey European Airways (which had pioneered business class on UK domestic routes in 1993) to offer a separate cabin for business travellers on domestic routes and the first to do so on domestic trunk routes from Heathrow.

ABH became British Midland Plc in 1997, when it was de-merged as part of major corporate restructuring. Towards the end of the 1990s, British Midland switched its aircraft suppliers from Boeing and Fokker to Airbus and Embraer, selecting A319/320/321s and ERJ 135/145s to replace 737s and F70/100s. In July 1999, Bishop formally opened the British Midland Training Centre in Stockley Close. That year, Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS), a shareholder in British Midland since 1987, sold half its stake to Lufthansa followed by British Midland joining Star Alliance (in 2000).

BMI

Following research that had established that people in the UK tended to confuse British Midland with the Midland Bank or British Airways and that many outside the UK could not relate to the term "Midland", it launched a new corporate identity in 2001, rebranding the airline as BMI British Midland (subsequently shortened to BMI). Aircraft received a new livery of royal blue, white and a fading Union flag on the tail, along with the new lower case BMI logotype. Also in 2001, BMI introduced the Airbus A330-200, its first widebodied aircraft type, into the fleet to enable it to serve the United States and other long-haul destinations. Bilateral restrictions implemented in the 1977 Bermuda II agreement meant the airline could neither fly its own aircraft to the US from its main base at Heathrow nor sell tickets on codeshare flights operated by Star Alliance partner United Airlines from the airport, as had been planned. Instead, it launched flights from Manchester to Washington Dulles and Chicago O'Hare in May and June 2001 respectively. Initially, the new A330s operated both routes; however, the Washington service was subsequently downgraded to a narrowbody operation using a Boeing 757-200 leased from Icelandair before being axed in 2005.

The airline carried 7.5 million passengers during 2002. By 2005, the total had risen to 10.1 million, the third highest of any UK airline. In early 2006, the Association of European Airlines (AEA) reported a drop in passengers carried and load factor for BMI mainline and regional services (excluding Bmibaby) whilst reporting increased loads for other AEA members over the same period.

BMI operated a service to Mumbai from London Heathrow between May 2005 and October 2006, after the UK and India amended their bilateral air services agreement. Services to Riyadh followed, commencing on 1 September 2005, after British Airways ceased to serve Saudi Arabia earlier that year. BMI also launched a scheduled service to Moscow Domodedevo in co-operation with Transaero Airlines on 29 October 2006, which used a dedicated A320 aircraft (G-MIDO) with special seating for the service, including leather seats and a 40" seat pitch. In 2007 the airline launched non-stop services from its Heathrow hub to Cairo and Amman, raising the airline's profile in the Middle East significantly. BMI announced on 5 November 2008 that it would end all longhaul operations from Manchester Airport. The two Airbus A330 aircraft based there were moved to Heathrow.

In February 2007, BMI bought British Mediterranean Airways (BMED), a British Airways franchise partner, and as a result gained access to new markets in Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia that were served by that carrier. As a condition of the sale, BMI sold BMED's Heathrow slots to British Airways for £30 million. BMED was fully integrated into BMI on 28 October 2007.

The decision by the European Commission (EC) in 2008 to accord secondary slot trading by European airlines – the practice of buying and selling take-off and landing slots at congested airports – legal recognition resulted in BMI valuing its Heathrow slot holding at £770 million. Its first-time inclusion in BMI's 2007 annual report also resulted in a huge boost to the airline's net asset value, which stood at only £12 million the year before. It can therefore be argued that the EC's decision to legalise this practice made BMI an attractive takeover target for other Heathrow-based airlines and helped it avert bankruptcy.

In November 2009, following the complete takeover of BMI by Lufthansa, the airline announced a restructuring of its mainline and regional operations in an effort to suspend loss-making routes and adjust capacity. The measures included a fleet reduction of nine aircraft from the mainline fleet (two of which were operated by BMI Regional) and the suspension of routes from London Heathrow to Amsterdam, Brussels, Tel Aviv, Kyiv and Aleppo in 2010. Seasonal routes from London Heathrow to Palma and Venice were also discontinued. It was said that the restructuring could result in the loss of around 600 jobs – around 13% of the airline's workforce.

On 12 January 2010, BMI announced that the number of daily flights between Dublin and London Heathrow would be reduced from 28 March from six to four due to the economic climate, which depressed consumer demand. This resulted in the closure of the Dublin base, which consisted of one plane and 33 cabin crew.

In April 2010, the airline announced it would begin using the British Midland International name, whilst retaining the BMI logo and continuing to be known by those initials in the domestic market. The decision to revert to the old British Midland name and to spell out for the first time what the I in BMI was supposed to stand for was taken in response to research showing that for passengers based in the Middle East, who accounted for a significant number of the airline's premium bookings, BMI did not mean anything, and that these people preferred a name with the word "British" in it.

Following increasing heavy losses that exceeded £100 million per year by 2012, BMI decided to no longer offer business class on domestic flights and introduce a number of new, longer range international scheduled services from Heathrow to ensure the most profitable use of its highly prized (and sought-after) slots at the severely capacity-constrained airport. This entailed aircraft downsizing (replacing Airbus mainline jets with Embraer regional jets), frequency reductions and route cutbacks on the airline's loss-making short-haul routes from the airport, including axing its by then heavily loss-making Heathrow–Glasgow route from 27 March 2011. The decision to exit the Heathrow–Glasgow market after almost 30 years' continuous operation was blamed on a big rise in the fees BAA levied on domestic passengers at Heathrow, which had resulted in unsustainable losses of £1 million per month.

BMI's last-ever commercial flight using a "BD"-prefixed flight number touched down at London Heathrow on 27 October 2012. It was operated by Airbus A321-231 G-MEDF.

In September 2023, the company re-appeared on social media, on platforms Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) with the statement:  "We're preparing to usher in a new era for the iconic bmi British Midland brand. We're building on 85 years of iconic British history, and we cannot wait to welcome you on board. For media enquiries, please contact us at email@example.com". As the company is using a new web domain and new social media handles, the future identity of British Midland is unknown, and whether or not the "jet" phrase will be incorporated.

Corporate affairs

Overview

The airline had its head office at Donington Hall in Castle Donington in North West Leicestershire, near Derby. The airline's head office was previously at 78 Buckingham Gate in the City of Westminster, London (until 1982). In 2011, BMI employed 527 staff at Donington Hall. In 2012, International Airlines Group announced that it may lay off up to 1,200 BMI employees, with proposed layoffs mainly from the head office.

BMI also operated a flight training centre in the Stockley Close Industrial Estate in West Drayton, London Borough of Hillingdon, near London Heathrow Airport. The centre opened in 1999 and BMI had a 50-year lease on the property running from 25 March 1999 to 24 March 2049.

Ownership
In 1999, SAS sold half of its 40% stake in British Midland to Lufthansa, which was seeking a stronger position at London Heathrow, following which British Midland joined Star Alliance. At the time, British Midland chairman Sir Michael Bishop owned a 50% share of the company. Between 1999 and 2004, Lufthansa sought to sell some or all of its share in the airline. Virgin Atlantic hoped to buy the shares to then merge both airlines, as BMI was already Virgin's preferred feeder airline into Heathrow. Virgin argued that the merger would have brought together two airlines with combined ticket sales of more than £2 billion, forming a powerful force in the aviation industry. BMI was believed to have initiated the talks after it began losing money following the 11 September 2001 attacks. A merger would have strengthened Virgin Atlantic's base at Heathrow, where BMI had hundreds of highly valued take-off and landing slots, to increase the competition with British Airways.

The two airlines combined would have had 17% of Heathrow slots against British Airways' 43%. Worried about the increased competition it would face if such a merger went ahead, British Airways considered the takeover of either BMI or Virgin Atlantic to stop the merger. British Airways concluded it would be easier to take over the financially weaker and less high-profile BMI. However, in 2004 talks of any merger of the three airlines ended. In late 2006, the airline again dismissed renewed speculation that Virgin Atlantic was preparing to make a bid to acquire full control of BMI, despite Sir Richard Branson repeating in a radio interview that such a merger would be a logical business move.

In June 2007, SAS announced that it would sell its 20% stake to improve its own group profits. The airline commented that it was in early discussions with Lufthansa as a potential buyer. In October 2008 Lufthansa announced it would be taking over BMI by purchasing the 50% shareholding of Sir Michael Bishop to consolidate with the 30% share it already owned.

The European antitrust body approved the takeover on 14 May 2009, allowing Lufthansa to become the majority stakeholder. Due to landing rights issues, the stake would be tentatively held by a Lufthansa-controlled but British-based company, LHBD Holding. Once new bilateral agreements were in place, Lufthansa would take direct control. In June 2009 it was announced that Lufthansa would buy the remaining stake in the airline from Bishop for less than originally agreed upon.

Sale to International Airlines Group
Lufthansa announced in September 2011 that it planned to sell BMI following continued losses. Virgin Atlantic were mooted to be considering an offer; but in early November British Airways' parent company, International Airlines Group, announced an agreement in principle to purchase the airline. Virgin Atlantic confirmed on 12 December 2011 that it had also made an offer for BMI and signed an agreement in late November to allow them to conduct due diligence on the airline. The bid amount of around £50 million was half that offered by IAG; Virgin hoped that a quick sale due to fewer potential regulatory issues would convince Lufthansa to sell to Virgin.

On 22 December 2011, IAG confirmed it had entered a contract to buy BMI from Lufthansa for £172.5 million. This would increase IAG's share of take-off and landing slots at Heathrow from 45% to 53%. Branson pledged to fight the deal, urging European competition authorities to intervene. The deal included the option for Lufthansa to sell BMI Regional and Bmibaby separately, as they are not required by IAG; the deal price would be lowered should Bmibaby not be sold in time. Under the agreed contract, Lufthansa would continue to be responsible for the BMI pension scheme after the sale was completed, although following rejection by the pension regulator, it is now to enter the Pension Protection Fund.

On 30 March 2012, the sale of BMI was approved, conditional on giving up control of 14 daily slots at London Heathrow. Twelve of these were required to change hands completely while the remaining two could continue be part of the airline's slot portfolio but needed to be leased out.  The twelve slots eventually went to Virgin Atlantic, who subsequently used them to set up its UK domestic operation operating out of BMI's old domestic base at Heathrow Terminal 1.  BMI's ownership transferred to IAG at 23:59 on 19 April 2012. The airline left Star Alliance, but membership benefits for both Star Alliance and BMI's Diamond Club continued until 31 May 2012.

The Diamond Club FFP continues for members with a BMI credit card, who earn points from their spend which can be converted to Avios, the currency of BA's FFP, Executive Club, on a 1:1 ratio. All other members were required to transfer to British Airways' Executive Club FFP.

British Midland Airways Limited continues to exist as a company, registered at British Airways' head office at Waterside in Harmondsworth, as of August 2017.

Subsidiaries

In 2002, BMI set up a low-cost subsidiary, Bmibaby, using Boeing 737s which were displaced after BMI's fleet renewal programme favoured an all-Airbus fleet. Bmibaby flew routes between major and secondary airports around Europe from its bases at East Midlands Airport, Manchester Airport and Birmingham Airport until it was closed down by IAG in September 2012.

The airline also operated a regional subsidiary named BMI Regional, headquartered in Aberdeen. An agreement to sell the airline to the Scottish-based consortium Sector Aviation Holdings was reached in May 2012 and was completed on 1 June 2012. BMI Regional continued to operate regional services for BMI until 27 October 2012, when it began operations as an independent airline.

Business trends
The key trends for BMI over its later years are shown below (figures as at year ending 31 December, and include Bmibaby):
Financial data was reported in pounds sterling, and then in euros, because BMI was fully consolidated into the Lufthansa group of airlines on 1 July 2009.

Destinations

Codeshare agreements
By October 2012, BMI had codeshare agreements with the following airlines:

Fleet

Final fleet

Following the sale of BMI to IAG, the airline's fleet began to be transferred to British Airways. All aircraft were transferred and repainted in the BA livery, excluding its three Airbus A330s which were returned to the lessors. At its peak prior to the commencement of licensing transfers, the fleet consisted of the following aircraft registered with the Civil Aviation Authority:

Former fleet

BMI formerly operated the following:

Services

In-flight service
On flights from London Heathrow within the UK and to Ireland, economy class passengers had a selection of food items available for purchase; flexible economy class passengers were offered complimentary snacks and drinks. On European flights and services to Tripoli, Tunisia and Morocco, a two-class in-flight service was in place, with a hot three course meal for the business cabin and complimentary food and drinks served in the economy cabin. On mid-haul and the Freetown route, a two-class in-flight service was also in place. The business cabin was served a three course meal and was provided in-flight entertainment. A hot meal and complimentary drinks were served in the economy cabin. On A330 services to Saudi Arabia and Israel (until 2010), business, premium economy (only on board the flights to Israel) and economy cabins were available, each provided with complimentary drinks and food.

Frequent flyer programme
Diamond Club was the frequent-flyer programme of BMI, with three membership levels: Blue, Silver and Gold.

On sale to IAG, and being integrated into British Airways, Diamond Club members were offered a status match - BMI Gold to BA Gold, BMI Silver to BA Silver and BMI Blue to BA Blue (BA's base level).  At the time of transfer, BA did not offer a lifetime status, so members who held BMI Lifetime Gold having qualified for 10 years in succession were only matched to BA Gold and were required to re-qualify every year to maintain that status level.

Incidents and accidents
 On 7 October 1961, Derby Aviation Douglas C-47B Dakota G-AMSW crashed into Mont Canigou in the French Pyrenees whilst operating a charter flight from Gatwick to Perpignan. All 34 passengers and crew were killed.

 The Stockport Air Disaster: a Canadair C-4 aircraft owned by British Midland Airways (registration G-ALHG) operating a holiday charter flight crashed near the centre of Stockport, Greater Manchester, on 4 June 1967. This accident, the deadliest in the airline's history, killed 72 of the 84 on board and seriously injured the 12 survivors; it also resulted in withdrawal of the type from the airline's fleet.
 On 20 February 1969, a Vickers Viscount (registration G-AODG) was damaged beyond economic repair when it landed short of the runway at East Midlands Airport. There were no casualties.
 On 20 March 1969, a Vickers Viscount (registration G-AVJA) crashed on takeoff at Ringway Airport, Manchester. Three of the four crew members on board were killed.
 On 22 January 1970, a Vickers Viscount (registration G-AWXI) was damaged beyond economic repair at London Heathrow Airport when an engine caught fire on takeoff. A successful emergency landing was made at Heathrow.
 On 18 January 1987, a Fokker F27 Friendship (registration G-BMAU) on a training flight crashed on approach to East Midlands Airport due to wing and tail surface icing. There were no fatalities.
 The Kegworth air disaster: on 8 January 1989, British Midland flight BD 092, a recently delivered Boeing 737-400 (registration G-OBME), crashed onto the embankment of the M1 motorway just short of the runway of East Midlands Airport, Leicestershire. Forty-seven of the 118 passengers lost their lives.
 On 24 August 2010, an Airbus A321-231 (registration G-MEDJ) en route from Khartoum to Beirut as flight BD996 suffered a serious electrical malfunction which caused the intermittent failure of the captain and co-pilot's electronic displays together with the uncommanded application of left rudder trim. The latter caused the aircraft to stray 20 nautical miles off course. The aircraft was cruising at 36,000 ft at the time, with both autopilot and autothrust engaged. The captain ultimately disengaged both and flew the aircraft manually, landing in Beirut without further mishap. Airbus indicated that an electrical power interruption had occurred which had caused a reset of the Flight Augmentation Computer (FAC). Such an event may cause a small incremental offset of the rudder trim, according to the aircraft manufacturer. The Air Accidents Investigations Board (AAIB) subsequently issued Safety Recommendation 2010–092, recommending that Airbus alert all operators of A320 series aircraft of the possibility that an electrical malfunction may not be clearly annunciated on the Electronic Centralised Aircraft Monitoring system (ECAM) and that such an event may lead to an uncommanded input of rudder trim.

See also

 Air transport in the United Kingdom
 List of airports in the United Kingdom
 Transport in the United Kingdom
 List of defunct airlines of the United Kingdom

References

Citations

Bibliography

External links

 BMI transfer information – British Airways

Airlines established in 1949
Airlines disestablished in 2012
British companies established in 1938
British companies disestablished in 2012
British Air Transport Association
Companies based in Leicestershire
Defunct airlines of the United Kingdom
Former Star Alliance members
SAS Group members

British Midland International


Eden is a census-designated place in Weber County, Utah, United States. It is home to Powder Mountain ski resort. It lies between the North and Middle Fork of the Ogden River, north of Pineview Reservoir, in the Ogden Valley. The elevation is . The population was 600 at the 2010 census. It has a post office with the ZIP code 84310. Eden is part of the Ogden–Clearfield, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area, as well as the Ogden Valley census county division

History
The first home here was a log cabin built in 1857 for summer herdsmen Erastus Bingham and Joseph Hardy. A community was established in 1859 when fifteen families moved in via North Ogden Canyon and Pass. The settlers hired a government surveyor, Washington Jenkins, to plot the town. Jenkins said he thought the area was one of the most beautiful sites he had ever surveyed and suggested the biblical name "Eden". An earlier temporary name was North Fork Town.

Demographics
As of the census of 2010, there were 600 people living in the CDP. There were 204 housing units. The racial makeup of the town was 95.8% White, 1.0% Black or African American, 0.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% Asian, 0.3% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, 1.0% some other race, and 1.2% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.2% of the population.

Notable people
David Eccles was born in Paisley, Scotland to William and Sarah Hutchinson Eccles. In 1863 his family moved from Glasgow to the United States of America, sailing on the Cynosure[1] and eventually settling in Ogden Valley located in eastern Weber County, Utah. The move was made because of their joining The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and their desire to be near the body of the church. The Eccles family homesteaded in Eden, Utah in 1864.

Taylor Booth (born May 31, 2001) American soccer player who plays as a midfielder for Eredivisie club Utrecht.

See also

 List of census-designated places in Utah

References

External links

Census-designated places in Weber County, Utah
Census-designated places in Utah
Ogden–Clearfield metropolitan area
Populated places established in 1857
1857 establishments in Utah Territory

Eden, Utah


The four pillars policy is an Australian government policy to maintain the separation of the four largest banks in Australia by rejecting any merger or acquisition between the four major banks.

History
The policy, originally "six pillars" (it initially included AMP and National Mutual), was adopted in 1990 by then Labor Treasurer Paul Keating. It covered the big four banks (Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, NAB, ANZ) and two insurers (AMP and National Mutual). It was essentially designed to block the merger between ANZ and National Mutual at the time. Keating believed this arrangement would ensure a competitive banking market.

In 1997, leading business figure Stan Wallis (Businessweek bio) produced a report of his inquiry into Australia's financial system (the Final Report of the Financial System Inquiry, commonly referred to as "the Wallis report.") which recommended that the "Four Pillars" model be dismantled, to leave the banks subject to the same merger competition tests as other businesses. In response, then Coalition Treasurer Peter Costello's removed the pillar status of the two insurers (National Mutual had by that time already been acquired by France's AXA), but the ban on mergers of the remaining four banks was retained, with the rider that none of them were considered immune from foreign takeover. With the change of government, new Treasurer Wayne Swan has stated in 2008, that the Labor government has no plans to dismantle the four pillars policy.

The four pillars policy does not prevent the four major banks from acquiring smaller competitors. For example, in 2000, CBA acquired the Colonial group, which had emerged as a major bank–insurance combine in the 1990s, after the Colonial Mutual insurance group took over State Bank of NSW in 1994. The Commonwealth Bank also acquired the State Bank of Victoria in 1990 and BankWest in 2008. Westpac acquired the Challenge Bank in 1995, the Bank of Melbourne in 1997, and St.George Bank in 2008.

Criticism
The policy has been criticised for being anti-competitive by ensuring that the four major banks are immune from takeover by the most likely suitors. At the same time, it is credited with insulating the banks from the global financial crisis of 2007–08. The major banks have criticised the policy on the basis that limiting the size of Australian banks makes them less internationally competitive.

Politics of Australia

Four Pillars


The necropolis of Sant'Andrea Priu is an archaeological site located on the south side of the fertile plain of Saint Lucia, in the municipality of Bonorva, Sardinia. The complex, one of the most important of the island, is composed of twenty domus de janas; one of them with its eighteen rooms appears to be one of the largest hypogean tombs of the Mediterranean basin.

The necropolis is located on the front of a trachytic outcrop high 10 m and long 180; entrances to the domus are all within a few meters in height from the ground level and some of them are difficult to access because of the detachment of a substantial part of the rock face. The interior of the domus de janas is a faithful reproduction of the houses of that time, with many architectural details (beams, joists, lintels, jambs, pillars and wainscoting perimeter), tending to recreate an environment similar to that where the deceased had spent his existence.

Chronologically, the complex is dated to the Ozieri culture of the Final Neolithic (3500–2900 BC) with partial use and also structural changes of some tombs which continued until the Middle Ages.

Among the domus, three of them, the Tomb of the Chief, the Circular Hut tomb and the Chamber tomb, are of particular importance for their spectacularity and their high degree of conservation.

Bibliography
 G. Spano, Catacombe di Sant'Andrea Abriu presso Bonorva, in Bullettino Archeologico Sardo 11, II, 1856, pp. 170–179
 A. Taramelli, Fortezze, recinti, fonti sacre e necropoli preromane nell'agro di Bonorva, in Monumenti Antichi dei Lincei, vol. XXXV, Roma 1919, coll. 765–904
 A. Malatesta, Il cosiddetto campanile della necropoli nuragica di S. Andria Priu (Bonorva), in Rivista di scienze preistoriche, IX, 1954, pp. 105–113
 G. Lilliu, La civiltà dei Sardi: dal neolitico all'età dei nuraghi, Torino, ERI, 1975, p. 113 ss.
 V. Santoni, Nota preliminare sulla tipologia delle grotticelle artificiali funerarie in Sardegna, in Archivio storico sardo, II, 1976, pp. 3–49
 C. Zervos, Le civilisation de la Sardaigne du debut de l'eneolithique à la fin de la période nouragique, Paris, 1959 (traduzione e ristampa, Roma, 1980, Libreria Scientifica Internazionale, pp. 246–257)
 R. Caprara, La necropoli di sant'Andrea Priu, Collana Sardegna Archeologica – Serie Guide e itinerari, 3, Sassari, 1983, Carlo Delfino editore
 A. Foschi, Bonorva (Sassari) Loc. S. Andrea Priu, in I Sardi, Milano, Jaca Book, 1984, pp. 287–289
 G. Deriu, L'insediamento umano medioevale nella curatoria di Costa de Addes, Sassari, Magnum, 2000; Cagliari, Logus Mondi Interattivi, 2012 https://web.archive.org/web/20120819194007/http://www.logus.it/ebookCatalogo.html
 G. Deriu – S. Chessa, Meilogu, tomo II, Cargeghe, Documenta, 2014, scheda "Priu (Abriu o Frius)".

External links

Archaeological sites in Sardinia

Necropolis of Sant'Andrea Priu


Anochetus lucidus is an extinct species of ant in the subfamily Ponerinae known from two possibly Miocene fossils found on Hispaniola. A. lucidus is one of eight species in the ant genus Anochetus to have been described from fossils found in Dominican amber and is one of a number of Anochetus species found in the Greater Antillies.

History and classification
Anochetus lucidus is known from just two fossil insects, which were inclusions in a single yellow transparent chunk of Dominican amber, which was cut into two pieces for the study of the fossils.  The amber was produced by the extinct Hymenaea protera, which formerly grew on Hispaniola, across northern South America and up to southern Mexico. The specimens were collected from an undetermined amber mine in fossil bearing rocks of the Cordillera Septentrional mountains, northern Dominican Republic. The amber dates from at least the Burdigalian stage of the Miocene, based on studying the associated fossil foraminifera and may be as old as the Middle Eocene, based on the associated fossil coccoliths. This age range is due to the host rock being secondary deposits for the amber, and the Miocene the age range is only the youngest that it might be.

At the time of description, the holotype specimen, number D-2846-1, and the paratype, number D-2846-2, were preserved in the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart amber collections. The fossils were first studied by entomologist Maria L. De Andrade of the University of Basle with her 1994 type description of the new species being published in the journal Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde. Serie B (Geologie und Paläontologie). The specific epithet is derived from the Latin lucidus which mean "shining" in reference to the distinct shining nature of the exoskeleton.

The species is one of eight Anochetus species which have been described from Dominican amber.  Two species were described prior to A. lucidus, A. corayi in 1980 and A. brevidentatus in 1991.  The remaining five species; A. ambiguus, A. conisquamis, A. dubius, A. exstinctus, and A. intermedius were all described by De Andrade in the same 1994 paper as A. lucidus.  A number of modern species live in the Greater Antilles, with at least three modern species found on Hispaniola.

Description
 The Anochetus lucidus type specimens are well preserved. Portions of the legs from a possible third specimen are also present in the amber.  The species has an estimated body length of between , with a  long head and  long mandibles.  The overall coloration of the body is a reddish-brown with the legs and trunk shading into a chestnut brown and all of the exoskeletal integument being distinctly shiny.  The mandibles are shorter than the width of the head, with the mandible blades being distinctly broad and having fifteen teeth on each blade, which decrease in size from the tips to the bases.  The apical three teeth on each mandible blade are elongated and slender for grasping prey.  Both the mesonotum and pronotum have a slight "u" shaped profile, with the undersides of each curved upwards. The propodium sports well developed spines,  long while the petiole has short spines that are centrally placed.

References

†Anochetus lucidus
Fossil ant taxa
Burdigalian life
Miocene insects of North America
Prehistoric insects of the Caribbean
Fauna of Hispaniola
Insects of the Dominican Republic
Fossils of the Dominican Republic
Dominican amber
Fossil taxa described in 1994

Anochetus lucidus


Conrad II ( – 20 July 1039), called the Younger (), a member of the Salian dynasty, was the duke of Carinthia and margrave of Verona from 1035 until his death.

Biography
Conrad's parents were Duke Conrad I of Carinthia and his wife Matilda, a daughter of the Conradine duke Herman II of Swabia. His father died in 1011, when Conrad the Younger was still a minor, and King Henry II vested Adalbero of Eppenstein with the Carinthian duchy. Instead Conrad succeeded his father as count in the Salian home territories of Nahegau, Speyergau, and Wormsgau. In the conflict over the heritage of Duke Herman II of Swabia he allied with his Salian cousin Conrad the Elder (the son of his paternal uncle Henry of Speyer) against Duke Adalbero of Carinthia, whom they defeated in a 1019 battle near Ulm.

When Emperor Henry II died in 1024, Conrad the Younger, like his father Conrad I and his grandfather Otto I in 1002, was a candidate for the German kingship. Nevertheless, through the agency of Court Chaplain Wipo of Burgundy, he renounced in favour of his cousin Conrad the Elder, who was elected king. In compensation, Conrad the Younger may have been promised the succession in the Carinthian duchy. Nevertheless, while Conrad the Elder proceeded to his coronation in Rome in 1027, an open conflict arose between the cousins until Conrad the Younger finally submitted in September.

In May 1035, Duke Adalbero of Carinthia rebelled against Salian rule and was deprived of his duchy. Conrad the Younger was chosen to replace him and finally received Carinthia, though without the Carantanian march. In 1036-37 he accompanied the emperor on his expedition to Italy and acceded the custody of the arrested Archbishop Aribert of Milan, who however soon escaped. Conrad did not live long thereafter, dying in 1039. He was buried alongside his father and mother Matilda in Worms Cathedral. On his death, his natural heir was the Salian king Henry III, son and successor of Conrad the Elder.

No marriage is recorded of Conrad, though a son, named Cuno, appears in 1056, selling Bruchsal to King Henry IV. However, it is more likely that Cuno was the 'son of' Bishop Conrad of Speyer since Bruchsal was in the church's hands by this time.

Sources

Salian dynasty
Dukes of Carinthia
1000s births
1039 deaths
Carinthia (state)
People from former German states in Rhineland-Palatinate
Burials at Worms Cathedral

Conrad II, Duke of Carinthia


The Hamm–Minden Railway is an important and historically significant railway in Germany.  It is completely quadruple track.  It is a major axis for long distance passenger and freight trains between the Ruhr and the north and east of Germany.
It is the part of the trunk line built by the Cologne-Minden Railway Company (German, old spelling: Cöln-Mindener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, CME)  from Köln Deutz to Minden. It was opened in 1847 and has been modernized and developed several times since then.

History

The route was opened on 15 October 1847 by the Cologne-Minden Railway Company (CME) as the last part of its trunk line, extending the line previously completed from Deutz (near Cologne) to Düsseldorf, Duisburg,  Dortmund and Hamm. It connected with the Royal Hanoverian State Railways' Hanover–Minden line, which was opened the same day.  The CME's line was originally laid with two tracks, although some sections were put into operation before the second track was finished. Because of its importance for Prussia's east–west transport and for international transport at the beginning of the 20th century, the line was made a four-track line. Many crossings were replaced with underpasses, and railway stations were rebuilt in order to provide space for the route.

Operationally, the line is run as two separate two track routes, the one having the VzG number 1700, being built and maintained for passenger services and allowing speeds up to 200 km/h, whilst the route with the VzG number of 2990 is used mainly for freight and has a maximum speed of 120 km/h. Between Ahlen until shortly east of Gütersloh route 2990 uses the two southernmost tracks, whilst 1700 comprise the northernmost pair; west of Ahlen and east of Gütersloh route 1700 uses the southernmost pair of tracks. The lines were electrified in the mid-1960s.

High-speed test track
The first Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan (1973) identified the Dortmund–Hannover–Brunswick line as one of eight railway development projects. Already in the same year a 28 km long section of track between Gütersloh and Neubeckum was made available for high-speed trials for speeds up to 250 km/h. Locomotive 103 118 with special gear ratios achieved a maximum speed of 252.9 km/h in September 1973. Vehicles were also built to test catenary for high-speed operations. The minimum curve radius was 3,300 metres and maximum cant was 120 mm. Experiments were carried out on different types of track (including slab track), catenary and turnouts.

Upgrading for high-speed
In 1980, it became one of the first lines in Germany upgraded for high speeds lines when a 58.0 kilometre long section between Hamm and Brackwede (near Bielefeld) was upgraded for scheduled services at 200 km/h.

In mid-1985, a test train hauled by locomotive103 003 with special gear ratios between Brackwede and Neubeckum reached a speed of 283 km/h, a rail speed record in Germany. On 26 November 1985, at 11:29, an InterCityExperimental train fully occupied with passengers on the line between Gutersloh and Hamm reached a speed of 317 km/h. This was a new German record for rail vehicles and a world record for rail vehicles using three-phase power.

Bridges

Schildesche viaduct

A remarkable bridge on the trunk line is the viaduct in the Bielefeld suburb of Schildesche. The original viaduct as completed in 1847 was double track with 28 spans, and in 1917 a largely identical viaduct was built next to it. During World War II it was badly damaged on 14 March 1945 by a Grand Slam bomb dropped by an Avro Lancaster of No. 617 Squadron RAF, after 54 attacks using smaller bombs failed to destroy it. After the war, one line was reopened with a temporary steel strut for freight traffic, while passenger trains used a winding bypass built as a diversionary route prior to the bombing, known as the "rubber railway". In 1965 the viaduct was reopened, the two-track viaduct for the "passenger route" having been repaired with concrete spans replacing the destroyed masonry spans, and the other using a provisional steel-frame construction built from old Wehrmacht pioneer materials. In 1983, the "freight route" viaduct was fully repaired, featuring the same concrete architecture used for the passenger route's bridge.

Weser bridge
The Weser bridge in Rehme (Bad Oeynhausen) suburb was destroyed by an air raid on 23 March 1945.  The bridge was rebuilt after the war with only two tracks, creating a two-track bottleneck between Bad Oeynhausen station and the Neesen yard (in Porta Westfalica). This situation ended only with the construction of a new Weser bridge in December 1984.

Services
There is an hourly Intercity-Express trains  service on line 10 from Berlin, via Hannover to Hamm, where trains are split (or are combined, in the reverse direction). Services continue to Dortmund, Essen, Duisburg, Köln Messe/Deutz and Cologne/Bonn Airport or Hagen, Wuppertal and Cologne (some continue to Koblenz and Trier). Other InterCity and ICE trains also run. Regional-Express trains run on line RE6 (Rhein-Weser-Express, Minden–Cologne/Bonn Airport) every hour and other services operate on sections of the route.

References

Railway lines in North Rhine-Westphalia
Railway lines opened in 1847
1847 establishments in Prussia
Standard gauge railways in Germany
Buildings and structures in Hamm
Gütersloh
Buildings and structures in Bielefeld
Buildings and structures in Herford (district)
Buildings and structures in Minden-Lübbecke
Buildings and structures in Minden (city)

Hamm–Minden railway


Greenwood Cemetery is located at 1173 Cascade Circle SW, Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia, United States.

History
Greenwood Cemetery was chartered in late 1904 with a cash capital of $100,000. The incorporators were William H. Brown and James L. Mayson. The first direct interment was in 1907. Greenwood has a large Jewish section and is also the burial place of local Chinese and Greek citizens. Greenwood cemetery was desegregated in 1987, when CR Jones, Atlanta's first black council member, was buried there.

The cemetery contains one British Commonwealth war grave, of a Second World War airman of the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Chinese Section
The Chinese lot is enclosed on three sides by an iron-pipe rail fence. In the center stands an obelisk some 30 feet tall. Near its base, and under another inscription in Chinese is the following: CHEE HUNG TONG, CHINESE FREE MASONS, Sept. 8, 1911.
Many of the individual graves on the lot are marked by small headstones, inscribed in Chinese characters.

Greek Section
The Greek section, about an acre in size, is bounded by a hedge. Like the Chinese lot, it was opened in 1911. There are many impressive monuments in it, practically all inscribed in Greek. In the southwest corner stands a small church, resembling a miniature Parthenon and constructed of yellow brick.

Holocaust Memorial
A stone was placed in Greenwood with the inscription, "Here rest four bars of human soap, the last earthly remains of Jewish victims of the Holocaust." The soap is said to have been found by a Jewish soldier who helped liberate a concentration camp during World War II. In 1970, the soldier's wife had the bars of soap buried after discovering them in her basement. However, there is considerable dispute over whether the Nazis actually made soap from victims, and the site remains controversial. A Memorial to the Six Million, a granite monument topped by six torches, also commemorates the Holocaust, each torch representing 1 million Jews killed in concentration camps. A Memorial to the Six Million was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in May 2008.

Famous Interments

 Hank Ballard (1927–2003) singer, songwriter
 S. Truett Cathy (1921–2014) founder of Chick-fil-A
 Frank Taffel (1877–1947) Synagogue founder and journalist

References

External links

Landmarks in Atlanta
Cemeteries in Atlanta
Holocaust memorials in the United States
1904 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)
Cemeteries established in the 1900s
Jews and Judaism in Atlanta

Greenwood Cemetery (Atlanta)


Papaver rhoeas, with common names including common poppy, corn poppy, corn rose, field poppy, Flanders poppy, and red poppy, is an annual herbaceous species of flowering plant in the poppy family Papaveraceae. It is a temperate native with a very wide distribution area, from Africa to temperate and tropical Asia and Europe.

It is regarded as an agricultural weed (hence the common names including "corn" and "field"). As the plant thrives in areas of disturbed soil, it was often abundant in agricultural fields before the advent of herbicides. Flushes of poppies may still appear in fields where herbicides are not used, as well as those in fallow. The corn poppy and its cultivars such as the Shirley poppy are widely grown in gardens, and are frequently found in packets of seed labelled "wildflower mixes". Since World War I, it has been used in the Commonwealth as a symbol of remembrance for fallen soldiers.

Description

Papaver rhoeas is a variable, erect annual, forming a long-lived soil seed bank that can germinate when the soil is disturbed. In the Northern Hemisphere it generally flowers in late spring (between May and October in the UK) but if the weather is warm enough other flowers frequently appear at the beginning of autumn. It grows up to about  in height. The stems hold single flowers, which are large and showy,  across, with four petals that are vivid red, most commonly with a black spot at their base. The petals slightly overlap each other. The plant can produce up to 400 flowers in a warm season, that last only one day. The flower stem is usually covered with coarse hairs that are held at right angles to the surface, helping to distinguish it from P. dubium in which the hairs are more usually appressed (i.e. held close to the stem). The capsules are hairless, obovoid (egg-shaped), less than twice as tall as they are wide, with a stigma at least as wide as the capsule. Like many other species of Papaver, the plant exudes white to yellowish latex when the tissues are broken.

Not all corn poppies that are available commercially have red flowers. Selective breeding has resulted in cultivars in yellow, orange, pink, and white.  The Shirley poppy is a well known cultivar. A very pale speckled variety, derived from the Shirley, is also available.

A nearly black-flowering hybrid, known as 'Evelina', was bred in Italy in the late 1990s, with P. dubium, but does not appear to be available commercially.

Phytochemistry
Papaver rhoeas contains the alkaloid called rhoeadine, which is a mild sedative. Rhoeadic acid, papaveric acid and rhoeagenine are also found in this plant.

Taxonomy
It was formally described by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in his seminal publication Species Plantarum in 1753. Papaver is the Latin word for poppy and rhoeas means the corn poppy in Greek.

Natural history

Its origin is not known for certain. As with many such plants, the area of origin is often ascribed by Americans to Europe, and by northern Europeans to southern Europe. It is known to have been associated with agriculture in the Old World since early times and has had an old symbolism and association with agricultural fertility. It has most of the characteristics of a successful weed of agriculture. These include an annual lifecycle that fits into that of most cereals, a tolerance of simple weed control methods, the ability to flower and seed itself before the crop is harvested, and the ability to form a long-lived seed bank. The leaves and latex have an acrid taste and are mildly poisonous to grazing animals.

A sterile hybrid with P. dubium is known, P. × hungaricum, that is intermediate in all characteristics with P. rhoeas.

P. rhoeas topped the list in a UK study of meadow pollen production, on a per flower basis, with its rate of 13.3 ± 2.8 μl. The California poppy placed second with a rate of 8.3 ± 1.1 μl. The pollen production of P.rhoeas, on a per flower basis, was very high in comparison with the other plants tested, at almost triple the amount of the top-ranked perennial (a mallow). When sampled at the level of the entire capitulum, however, it was outranked by the ox-eye daisy, Leucanthemum vulgare, with its 15.9 ± 2 μl measurement. It tied with Cosmos bipinnatus. Neither poppy produced a significant quantity of nectar, making their role in meadow ecology specific to pollen-gathering/consuming insects. As poppies are not wind-pollinated, their pollen poses no allergy risk via inhalation.

Distribution and habitat
The species is found within Africa, in Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Madeira Islands, and the Canary Islands. Within temperate Asia, it is found in the Caucasus regions of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Ciscaucasia.
In Western Asia, it is found in Afghanistan, Cyprus, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey. Within tropical Asia, it is found in Pakistan and India. Within Europe, it is found in Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Ukraine, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Switzerland, Denmark, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, France, Portugal, and Spain.

It grows in fields, beside roads, and on grasslands.
It is hardy to between USDA Zone 8 and Zone 10, or down to 10 °F (-12 °C).

Uses
The commonly grown garden decorative Shirley poppy is a cultivar of this plant.

The black seeds are edible, and can be eaten either on their own or as an ingredient in bread. In many Eastern European countries, poppy seeds are boiled in water or milk, and then ground together with honey or sugar to achieve a sweet, soft paste, often used generously in pastries. Oil made from the seed is highly regarded in France.

The petals contain a red dye which is used in some medicines and wines; also the dried petals are occasionally used to give colour to potpourris.

In traditional folk medicine, it was used for gout, aches, and pains. The petals were used to create a syrup that was fed to children to help them sleep.

Culture

Due to the extent of ground disturbance in warfare during World War I, corn poppies bloomed between the trench lines and no man's lands on the Western front. Poppies are a prominent feature of "In Flanders Fields" by Canadian Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, one of the most frequently quoted English-language poems composed during the First World War. During the 20th century, the wearing of a poppy at and before Remembrance Day (sometimes known informally as Poppy Day) each year became an established custom in English-speaking western countries. It is also used at some other dates in some countries, such as at appeals for Anzac Day in Australia and New Zealand.

This poppy appears on a number of postage stamps, coins, banknotes, and national flags, including:

Two hundred lei (Romanian banknote)
Canadian twenty-dollar note (2012) and Canadian ten-dollar note (2001)
Some commemorative Canadian twenty-five cent coins in 2004 and 2008
Great Britain commemorative stamps 2000-2009: 2007 Lest we forget - 90th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme

The common or corn poppy was voted the county flower of Essex and Norfolk in 2002 following a poll by the wild plant conservation charity Plantlife.

China
In China, P. rhoeas is known as yumeiren (虞美人, meaning "Yu the Beauty"), after Consort Yu, the concubine of the warlord Xiang Yu. In 202 BC, when they were besieged in the Battle of Gaixia by the force of Liu Bang (founder of the Han Dynasty), Consort Yu committed suicide; according to folklore, poppies grew out of the ground where Consort Yu fell, and P. rhoeas thus became a symbol of loyalty unto death.

In 2010, P. rhoeas was at the centre of a diplomatic controversy between China and the United Kingdom; during an official visit to China, British Prime Minister David Cameron and his entourage rejected a demand from China to not wear the remembrance poppy, which the Chinese government had mistaken for the opium poppy, a plant that carries connotations of the Opium Wars in China.

Persian literature

In Persian literature, red poppies, especially red corn poppy flowers, are considered the flower of love. They are often called the eternal lover flower.
In classic and modern Persian poems, the poppy is a symbol of people who died for love (Persian: راه عشق).

Many poems interchange "poppy" and "tulip" (Persian: لاله).

[I] was asking the wind in the field of tulips during the sunrise: whose martyrs are these bloody shrouded?

[The wind] replied: Hafez, you and I are not capable of this secret, sing about red wine and sweet lips.

Urdu literature

In Urdu literature, red poppies, or "Gul-e-Lalah", are often a symbol of martyrdom, and sometimes of love.

See also
Poppy
Coquelicot
Remembrance Day
The Red Poppies on Monte Cassino
Corn poppy with lamb
White poppy (symbol)
From Up on Poppy Hill

References

External links

 Malta Wild Plants – Papaver rhoeas

rhoeas
Garden plants
Medicinal plants
Flora of the Caucasus
Flora of Europe
Flora of North Africa
Flora of Afghanistan
Flora of Armenia
Flora of Azerbaijan
Flora of China
Flora of Cyprus
Flora of Georgia (country)
Flora of Iran
Flora of Iraq
Flora of Lebanon and Syria
Flora of Palestine (region)
Flora of Pakistan
Flora of Turkey
Plants described in 1753
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
Melliferous flowers

Papaver rhoeas


The Law School Admission Test (LSAT;  ) is a standardized test administered by the Law School Admission Council (LSAC) for prospective law school candidates. It is designed to assess reading comprehension, analytical reasoning, and logical reasoning. The test is an integral part of the law school admission process in the United States, Canada (common law programs only), the University of Melbourne, Australia, and a growing number of other countries.

The test has existed in some form since 1948, when it was created to give law schools a standardized way to assess applicants in addition to their GPA. The current form of the exam has been used since 1991. The exam has five total sections that include three scored multiple choice sections, an unscored experimental section, and an unscored writing section. Raw scores are converted to a scaled score with a high of 180, a low of 120, and a median score around 150. When an applicant applies to a law school, all scores from the past five years are reported and typically the highest score is used.

Before July 2019, the test was administered by paper-and-pencil. In 2019, the test was exclusively administered electronically using a tablet. In 2020, due to the pandemic, the test was administered using the test-taker's personal computer. Beginning in 2023, candidates have had the option to take a digital version either at an approved testing center or on their computer at home.

Function
The purpose of the LSAT is to aid in predicting student success in law school. Researchers Balin, Fine, and Guinier performed research on the LSAT's ability to predict law school grades at the University of Pennsylvania. They found that the LSAT could explain about 14% of the variance in first year grades and about 15% of the variance in second year grades.

History
The LSAT was the result of a 1945 inquiry of Frank Bowles, a Columbia Law School admissions director, about a more satisfactory admissions test that could be used for admissions than the one that was in use in 1945. The goal was to find a test that would correlate with first year grades rather than bar passage rates. This led to an invitation of representatives from Harvard Law School and Yale Law School who ultimately accepted the invitation and began to draft the first administration of the LSAT exam. NYU, in correspondence by memorandum, was openly unconvinced "about the usefulness of an aptitude test as a method of selecting law school students," but was open to experimenting with the idea, as were other schools that were unconvinced. At a meeting on 10 November 1947, with representatives of law schools extending beyond the original Columbia, Harvard, and Yale representatives, the design of the LSAT was discussed. At this meeting the issue of a way to test students who came from excessively "technical" backgrounds that were deficient in the study of history and literature was discussed but ultimately rejected. The first administration of the LSAT followed and occurred in 1948.

From the test's inception until 1981, scores were reported on a scale of 200 to 800; from 1981 to 1991, a 48-point scale was used. In 1991, the scale was changed again, so that reported scores range from 120 to 180.

Online test
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, The Law School Admission Council created the LSAT-Flex. The LSAT-Flex is an online proctored test that was first administrated during May 2020. While the normal LSAT test consisted of four sections plus an experimental section (1 section of logic games, 1 section of reading comprehension, 2 sections of logical reasoning, and an additional random section), the LSAT-Flex consists of three sections (1 section of logic games, 1 section of reading comprehension, and 1 section of logical reasoning). Though the LSAT-Flex contains one less section than the normal LSAT test, the LSAT-Flex is scored on the normal 120–180 scale. After June 2021, the name LSAT-Flex was dropped and the test was again referred to as just the LSAT, though the format continued to be used through the testing cycle that ended in June 2022. Beginning with the August 2022 administration, LSAC reintroduced an experimental section, having the test consist of three sections plus an exprimental section (1 section of logic games, 1 section of reading comprehension, 1 section of logical reasoning, and an additional random section). The writing section is also administered online.

Administration
The LSAC previously administered the LSAT four times per year: June, September/October, December and February. However, in June 2017, it was announced that the LSAC would be increasing the number of tests from four to six, and would instead be administering it in January, March, June, July, September, and November.

There were 129,925 LSATs administered in the 2011–12 testing year (June 2011 – February 2012), the largest percentage decline in LSATs administered in more than 10 years, and a drop of more than 16% from the previous year, when 155,050 LSATs were administered. The number of LSATs administered fell more than 25% over a two-year period (from the 2009–10 testing year to the 2011–12 testing year). The October 2012 administration reflected a 16.4% drop in volume from its 2011 counterpart. LSAT numbers continued to drop over the next two cycles but to a lesser degree, with 13.4% and 6.2% drops, respectively, for the 2012–13 and 2013–14 cycles. February 2014 showed the first increase in test takers (1.1%) since June 2010.

In December 2018, LSAC announced that the Microsoft Surface Go tablet will be used exclusively to administer the LSAT beginning in 2019 when the test transitions to a digital only format. However, following the COVID-19 pandemic, candidates are able to sit for the test remotely with their own computer. The writing sample section will be separate from the LSAT starting with the 3 June 2019 test administration. Candidates will be automatically eligible to complete the writing section as early as 10 days prior to test day and up to one year thereafter. Candidates only need to complete the writing sample section once every 5 years, even if candidates re-test before then.

Test composition
The LSAT consists of four 35-minute multiple-choice sections (one of which is an unscored experimental section) followed by an unscored writing sample section that can be taken separately. Modern tests have 75–76 scored items in total. Several different test forms are used within an administration, each presenting the multiple-choice sections in different orders, which is intended to make it difficult to cheat or to guess which is the experimental section.

Logical reasoning
As of 2021, the LSAT contains one (although previously two) logical reasoning ("LR") sections, commonly known as "arguments", designed to test the taker's ability to dissect and analyze arguments. LR sections each contain 24–26 questions. Each question begins with a short argument or set of facts. This is followed by a prompt asking the test taker to find the argument's assumption, to select an alternate conclusion to the argument, to identify errors or logical omissions in the argument, to find another argument with parallel reasoning, or to choose a statement that would weaken or strengthen the argument.

In October 2023, the LSAC announced that the analytical reasoning (logic games) section would be replaced by a second logical reasoning section in August 2024 pursuant to the implementation of a 2019 settlement agreement with blind LSAT test takers.

Reading comprehension
The LSAT contains one reading comprehension ("RC") section consisting of four passages of 400–500 words, and 5–8 questions relating to each passage. Complete sections contain 26–28 questions. Though no real rules govern the content of this section, the passages generally relate to law, arts and humanities, physical sciences, or social sciences. The questions usually ask the examinee to determine the author's main idea, find specific information in the passage, draw inferences from the text, and/or describe the structure of the passage.

In June 2007, one of the four passages was replaced with a "comparative reading" question. Comparative reading presents two shorter passages with differing perspectives on a topic. Parallels exist between the comparative reading question, the SAT's critical reading section, and the science section of the ACT.

Analytical reasoning

The current LSAT contains one analytical reasoning section, more commonly referred to as the logic games (LG) section. One section contains four "games" falling into a number of categories including grouping, matching, and ordering of elements. Each LG section has 22–24 questions. Each game begins by outlining the premise ("there are five people who might attend this afternoon's meeting") and establishing a set of conditions governing the relationships among the subjects ("if Amy is present, then Bob is not present; if Cathy is present, then Dan is present..."). The examinee is then asked to draw conclusions from the statements ("What is the maximum number of people who could be present?"). What makes the games challenging is that the rules do not produce a single "correct" set of relationships among all elements of the game; rather, the examinee is tested on their ability to analyze the range of possibilities embedded in a set of rules. Individual questions often add rules or modify existing rules, requiring quick reorganization of known information. The LG section is commonly regarded by LSAT takers as the most difficult section of the test, at least at first, but it is also the section that can be most improved upon with practice.

In 2019 the LSAC reached a legal settlement with two blind LSAT test takers who claimed that the section violated the Americans with Disabilities Act because they were unfairly penalized for not being able to draw the diagrams commonly used to solve the questions in the section. As part of the settlement, the LSAC agreed to review and overhaul the section within four years. In October 2023, it announced that the section would be replaced by a second logical reasoning section in August 2024.

Unscored variable section
The current test contains one experimental section which Law Services refers to as the "Variable section". It is used to test new questions for future exams. The performance of the examinee on this section is not reported as part of the final score. The examinee is not told which section of the exam is experimental, since doing so could skew the data. Previously, this section has always been one of the first three sections of any given test, but beginning with the administration of the October 2011 LSAT, the experimental can be after the first three sections. LSAC makes no specific claim as to which section(s) it has appeared as in the past, and what section(s) it may appear as in the future. This section is regarded as harder than the scored sections.

Writing sample
The writing sample appears as the final section of the exam. The writing sample is presented in the form of a decision prompt, which provides the examinee with a problem and two criteria for making a decision. The examinee must then write an essay arguing for one of the two options over the other. The decision prompt generally does not involve a controversial subject, but rather something mundane about which the examinee likely has no strong bias. While there is no "right" or "wrong" answer to the writing prompt, it is important that the examinee argues for his/her chosen position and also argues against the counter-position.

LSAC does not score the writing sample. Instead, the essay is digitally imaged and sent to admission offices along with the LSAT score. Between the quality of the handwriting and of the digital image, some admissions officers regard the readability and usefulness of the writing sample to be marginal. Additionally, most schools require that applicants submit a "personal statement" of some kind. These factors sometimes result in admission boards disregarding the writing sample. However, only 6.8% of 157 schools surveyed by LSAC in 2006 indicated that they "never" use the writing sample when evaluating an application. In contrast, 9.9% of the schools reported that they "always" use the sample; 25.3% reported that they "frequently" use the sample; 32.7% responded "occasionally"; and 25.3% reported "seldom" using the sample.

Preparation
LSAC recommends advance preparation for the LSAT, due to the importance of the LSAT in law school admissions and because scores on the exam typically correspond to preparation time. The structure of the LSAT and the types of questions asked are generally consistent from year to year, which allows students to practice on question types that show up frequently in examinations.

LSAC suggests, at a minimum, that students review official practice tests, called PrepTests, before test day to familiarize themselves with the types of questions that appear on the exams. LSAC offers one free test that can be downloaded from their website. For best results, LSAC suggests taking practice tests under actual time constraints and representative conditions in order to identify problem areas to focus on in further review.

For preparation purposes, only tests after June 1991 are considered modern, since the LSAT was significantly modified after this date. Each released exam is commonly referred to as a PrepTest. There are over 90 PrepTests in circulation, the oldest being the June 1991 LSAT numbered as PrepTest 1 and the newest being a June 2020 LSAT numbered as PrepTest 93+. Certain PrepTests are no longer published by LSAC (among them 1–6, 8, 17, 39, and 40), despite the fact that they were in print at one time. However, these tests have been made available through some of the test preparation companies, which have licensed them from LSAC to provide only to students in their courses. For a few years, some prep companies sold digital copies of LSAT PrepTests as PDFs, but LSAC revised its licensing policy in 2016, effectively banning the sale of LSAT PDFs to the general public.

Some students taking the LSAT use a test preparation company. Students who do not use these courses often rely on material from LSAT preparation books, previously administered exams, and internet resources such as blogs, forums, and mobile apps.

Scoring
The LSAT is a standardized test in that LSAC adjusts raw scores to fit an expected norm to overcome the likelihood that some administrations may be more difficult than others. Normalized scores are distributed on a scale with a low of 120 to a high of 180.

The LSAT system of scoring is predetermined and does not reflect test takers' percentile. The relationship between raw questions answered correctly (the "raw score") and scaled score is determined before the test is administered, through a process called equating. This means that the conversion standard is set beforehand, and the distribution of percentiles can vary during the scoring of any particular LSAT.

Adjusted scores lie in a bell curve, tapering off at the extremes and concentrating near the median. For example, there might be a 3–5 question difference between a score of 175 and a score of 180, but the difference between a 155 from a 160 could be 9 or more questions—this is because the LSAT uses an ordinal grading system. Although the exact percentile of a given score will vary slightly between examinations, there tends to be little variance. The 50th percentile is typically a score of about 151; the 90th percentile is around 165 and the 99th is about 173. A 178 or better usually places the examinee in the 99.9th percentile.

Examinees have the option of canceling their scores within six calendar days after the exam, before they get their scores. LSAC still reports to law schools that the student registered for and took the exam, but releases no score. Test takers typically receive their scores by e-mail between three and four weeks after the exam. There is a formal appeals process for examinee complaints, which has been used for proctor misconduct, peer misconduct, and occasionally for challenging a question. In very rare instances, specific questions have been omitted from final scoring.

University of North Texas economist Michael Nieswiadomy has conducted several studies (in 1998, 2006, and 2008) derived from LSAC data. In the most recent study, Nieswiadomy took the LSAC's categorization of test-takers in terms of their undergraduate college and university academic major study areas, and grouped a total of 162 major study areas into 29 categories, finding the averages of each major:

Mathematics/Physics 160.0
Economics and Philosophy and Theology (tie) 157.4
International relations 156.5
Engineering 156.2
Government/service 156.1
Chemistry 156.1
History 155.9
Interdisciplinary studies 155.5
Foreign languages 155.3
English 155.2
Biology/natural sciences 154.8
Arts 154.2
Computer science 154.0
Finance 153.4
Political science 153.1
Psychology 152.5
Liberal arts 152.4
Anthropology/geography 152.2
Accounting 151.7
Journalism 151.5
Sociology/social work 151.2
Marketing 150.8
Business management 149.7
Education 149.4
Business administration 149.1
Health professions 148.4
Pre-law 148.3
Criminal justice 146.0

Use of scores in law school admissions
The LSAT is considered an important part of the law school admissions process, along with GPA. Many law schools are selective in their decisions to admit students, and the LSAT is one method of differentiating candidates.

Additionally the LSAC says the LSAT (like the SAT and ACT at the undergraduate level) serves as a standardized measure of one's ability to succeed during law school. Undergraduate grade points can vary significantly due to choices in course load as well as grade inflation, which may be pervasive at an applicant's undergraduate institution, but almost nonexistent at that of another. Some law schools, such as Georgetown University and the University of Michigan have added programs designed to waive the LSAT for selected students who have maintained a 3.8 undergraduate GPA at their schools.

LSAC says its own research supports the use of the LSAT as a major factor in admissions, saying the median validity for LSAT alone is .41 (2001) and .40 (2002) in regard to the first year of law school. The correlation varies from school to school, and LSAC says that test scores are more strongly correlated to first year law school performance than is undergraduate GPA. LSAC says that a more strongly correlated single-factor measure does not currently exist, that GPA is difficult to use because it is influenced by the school and the courses taken by the student, and that the LSAT can serve as a yardstick of student ability because it is statistically normed. However, the American Bar Association has waived the requirement for law schools to use the LSAT as an admission requirement in select cases. This may be due to the fact that an emphasis on LSAT scores is considered by some to be detrimental to the promotion of diversity among applicants. Others argue that it is an attempt by law schools to counteract declining enrollment.

Most admission boards use an admission index, which is a formula that applies different weight to the LSAT and undergraduate GPA and adds the results. This composite statistic can have a weaker correlation to first year performance than either GPA or LSAT score alone, depending on the weighting used. The amount of weight assigned to LSAT score versus undergraduate GPA varies from school to school, as almost all law programs employ a different admission index formula.

Multiple scores
Starting in September 2019, students may take the LSAT up to three times in a single LSAC year (1 June – 31 May), up to five times within the current and five past testing years (the period in which LSAC reports scores to law schools), and up to seven times over a lifetime. These restrictions will not apply retroactively; tests taken prior to September 2019 do not count toward a student's totals. Also, LSAC will implement an appeals process to grant exceptions to these restrictions under extenuating circumstances. Furthermore, starting in September 2019, no student who has obtained a perfect LSAT score of 180 within the current and five past testing years will be allowed to take the LSAT. This rule, unlike the other new rules, will be retroactive: a score of 180 obtained prior to September 2019 (but within the past five years) will preclude another attempt.

Between 2017 and July 2019, students could take the LSAT as many times as it was offered. Prior to 2017, only three attempts were allowed in a two-year period.

Every score within five years is reported to law schools during the application process, as well a separate average of all scores on record. When faced with multiple scores from repeat test takers, users of standardized assessments typically employ three indices—most recent, highest, and average scores—in order to summarize an individual's related performance.

How the law schools report the LSAT scores of their matriculants to the American Bar Association (ABA) has changed over the years. In June 2006, the ABA revised a rule that mandated law schools to report their matriculants' average score if more than one test was taken. The current ABA rule now requires law schools to report only the highest LSAT score for matriculants who took the test more than once. In response, many law schools began considering only the highest LSAT score during the admissions process, as the highest score is an important factor in law school rankings such as those published by U.S. News & World Report. Many students rely heavily upon the rankings when deciding where to attend law school.

Use of scores in admissions to intellectual clubs
High LSAT scores are accepted as qualifying evidence for intellectual clubs such as American Mensa, Intertel, the Triple Nine Society and the International Society for Philosophical Enquiry. The minimum scores they require depend on the selectivity of each society and time period when the test was administered. After 1982, Mensa has required students to score in the 95+ percentile rank on the LSAT for membership, while Intertel has required an LSAT score of 172 for admission since 1994, and Triple Nine has required an LSAT score of 173 for acceptance since 1991.

Fingerprinting controversy
Starting October 1973, those taking the LSAT were required to have fingerprints taken, after some examinees were found to have hired impostors to take the test on their behalf.

A controversy surrounding the LSAT was the requirement that examinees submit to fingerprinting on the day of testing. Although LSAC does not store digital representations of fingerprints, there is a concern that fingerprints might be accessible by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. At the behest of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, the LSAC implemented a change as of September 2007 which exempts Canadian test takers from the requirement to provide a fingerprint and instead requires that Canadian test-takers provide a photograph. Starting with the June 2011 admission of the LSAT, LSAC expanded this policy to include test-takers in the United States and Caribbean; LSAC therefore no longer requires fingerprints from any test takers, and instead requires that they submit a photograph.

LSAT─India For India
LSAC started conducting Law School Admission Test for Indian law schools in 2009.  is conducted twice a year by a test conducting agency, Pearson on behalf of LSAC. There are around 1300 law schools in India and many of them offer admission through law entrance examinations. However, LSAT─India scores are accepted by only about 10-15 private law schools in the country. These scores are not accepted anywhere else in South Asia. As a result, student and college participation in the LSAT─India has been low.

See also

 Association of American Law Schools

References

External links
Law School Admission Council

Legal profession exams
Standardized tests for Law
Standardized tests in the United States
Law schools in the United States
1948 introductions

Law School Admission Test


Seriefrämjandet (literally the promotion of comics, but internationally, the name The Swedish Comics Association is generally used) is a Swedish association for everybody with an interest in comics, founded in 1968 by Henri Holmgren, Janne Lundström and Sture Hegerfors. The association acts to promote the status of the medium as a means of expression, and to increase the knowledge of the characteristics of the medium. With government funding, Seriefrämjandet has started Svenskt Seriearkiv, an archive devoted to preservering and documenting the history of the Swedish comics business. In 2005, Seriefrämjandet opened Seriecenter (literally Comics Centre) in Malmö, with offices, exhibition space and small studio for creators. The association also has local chapters in several major cities.

The association produces Bild & Bubbla (literally Image & Balloon), a quarterly magazine about comics aimed at both creators and fans. Seriefrämjandet also publishes books about comics, and even an own imprint of comics set in a rural environment, "Lantis".

Since 1987, Seriefrämjandet presents an annual award, the Urhunden Prizes, to one Swedish and one foreign work of art.

Since the summer of 2005, Seriefrämjandet runs Seriewikin, a Swedish language wiki about comics.

Seriefrämjandet's current chairman is Fredrik Strömberg, who is also a well-respected journalist specializing in comics, published both domestically and internationally.

See also
Adamson Awards

External links
Official Site (Swedish)
Seriewikin (Swedish)

1968 establishments in Sweden
Cultural organizations based in Sweden
Swedish comics
Organizations established in 1968

Seriefrämjandet