title: George Pell

text: The president of the AIDS Council of New South Wales, Marc Orr, said Pell's comments were "irresponsible" and "contradicted all evidence" that condoms reduced the transmission of HIV: Mike Toole (Burnet Institute) and Rob Moodie (Nossal Institute for Global Health) wrote in "The Age" that Pell had said a health worker from an African country told him that "people in remote areas are too poor to afford condoms and the ones that are available are often of very poor quality and weren't used effectively". Both professors argue that "this is not an argument against promoting condoms – it is an argument that we need to ensure that good quality condoms are affordable for everyone and are widely distributed with information about how to use them effectively" and concluded "the sexual abstinence message is clearly not working."


title: George Pell

text: In 2010, Benedict told an interviewer that while the church did not consider condoms as a "real or moral solution", there were times where the "intention of reducing the risk of infection" made condom use "a first step" towards a better way. Pell released a statement saying this did not signal a major new shift in Vatican thinking.


title: George Pell

text: Pell supports research on the therapeutic potential of adult stem cells but opposes embryonic stem cell research on the basis that the Church cannot support anything which involves "the destruction of human life at any stage after conception". Under Pell, the Sydney archdiocese has provided funding for adult stem cell research but has actively opposed moves by the Parliament of New South Wales to liberalise laws pertaining to use of embryonic stem cells.


title: George Pell

text: Following a conscience vote in the Parliament of New South Wales overturning a ban on therapeutic cloning, in June 2007 Pell said that "Catholic politicians who vote for this legislation must realise that their voting has consequences for their place in the life of the Church." Some members of parliament, including ministers such as Kristina Keneally and Nathan Rees, condemned Pell's comments, calling them hypocritical; Rees drew comparisons with comments made earlier in the year by Sheik Hilali. Australian Greens MLC Lee Rhiannon referred Pell's remarks to the New South Wales parliamentary privileges committee for allegedly being in contempt of parliament. Pell described this move as a "clumsy attempt to curb religious freedom and freedom of speech". In September the committee tabled a report clearing him of this charge and recommending that no further action be taken.


title: George Pell

text: The legal scholar and theologian Cathleen Kaveny wrote that "In every possible respect, Pell's statement backfired" as, following backlash from elected officials and the general public, the bill passed the lower house with what she describes as "an overwhelming 65–26 vote" and passed the upper house with a 27–13 vote.


title: George Pell

text: The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Sydney takes the role of visitor of St John's College, a residential college within the University of Sydney. This is a largely ceremonial role but he can also be called upon to give guidance and resolve internal disputes. Under the direction of the archbishop the college associates itself with the interests of the Church and its mission, particularly by the fostering of appropriate academic directions in education, charity, social justice, ethics and the environment.


title: George Pell

text: Pell accepted the invitation to be patron of the Oxford University Newman Society and to deliver their inaugural St Thomas More Lecture on 6 March 2009. Pell was a contributor of articles for the Australian media, including regular columns for Sydney's "The Sunday Telegraph" newspaper.


title: George Pell

text: Pell's tenure as Archbishop of Melbourne began when the issue of handling of child sex abuse allegations by institutions was coming to the fore in public debate. Launching the "Melbourne Response" protocol in 1996, Pell said: "It's a matter of regret that the Catholic Church has taken some time to come to grips with the sex abuse issue adequately." In his final sermon as Archbishop of Sydney in 2014 before departing Australia for Rome, Pell told the congregation: "I apologise once again to the victims and their families for the terrible suffering that has been brought to bear by these crimes". He said procedural improvements could still be made to the church's efforts against child sexual abuse, and then he added that he "looked forward" to the findings of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse which he said was providing a "public service" in allowing victims to air their experiences. His choice of words drew wide criticism as they were perceived as being inappropriately blithe and unempathetic to the victims of abuse.


title: George Pell

text: Shortly after becoming Archbishop of Melbourne in August 1996, Pell discussed the issue of child abuse with the Victorian premier, governor and retired judge Richard McGarvie, who all recommended swift action. He engaged the law firm Corrs to draft a scheme which would be funded by but operate independently of the Archdiocese of Melbourne. A public forum was held on 19 October and the resulting "Melbourne Response" was announced on 30 October 1996. Victims were publicly encouraged to come forward. Pell's Melbourne-specific policy preceded the national church response, known as "Towards Healing", which the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference approved in November and took effect in March 1997. When Pell was appointed a cardinal in 2003, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation said that he had established Australia's first independent commissioner to handle child sexual abuse complaints against clergy.


title: George Pell

text: The Melbourne Response was the subject of Case Study 16 in the 2013–2017 Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and was also examined in the 2013 Victorian government "Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and Other Organisations". Pell was called to testify at both inquiries. In 2017, the royal commission reported that the Melbourne Response was "widely criticised as being legalistic and offering inadequate support to victims". According to the royal commission, the Melbourne Response set its goals as "truth, humility, healing for the victims, assistance to other persons affected, an adequate response to those accused and to offenders and the prevention of any such offences in the future". Its key features were the appointment of independent commissioners to inquire into allegations and make recommendations; a counselling and support service (Carelink); and the establishment of a compensation panel to advise on making "ex-gratia" payments to victims of child sexual abuse. The "ex gratia" payments are made without the church recognising any liability to victims and were initially capped at $50,000. It was increased to $55,000 in 2000 and to $75,000 in 2008. Peter O'Callaghan was appointed the first independent commissioner. He went on to investigate 351 complaints of child sexual abuse, and upheld 97% of those.


title: George Pell

text: On 27 May 2013, Pell gave evidence before Victoria's Parliamentary "Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and Other Organisations". Pell told the inquiry that he was "fully apologetic and absolutely sorry". The parliamentarians questioned Pell over allegations from the parents of a victim that he had not shown them empathy. Pell said he had in fact fully understood the suffering. He agreed with the inquiry that his predecessor had "covered up" matters for fear of scandal. Pell was heckled from the gallery. Pell critic David Marr wrote that "He [Pell] admitted his church had covered up child sexual abuse for fear of scandal; that his predecessor Archbishop Little had destroyed records, moved paedophile priests from parish to parish and facilitated appalling crimes." During the course of the inquiry, a victim of a paedophile Christian Brother at St Alipius Primary School said that in 1969 Pell heard him pleading for help a few weeks after he had been raped. Pell denied the statement, which was later discredited when Pell produced his passport to confirm that he was not living in Australia that year.


title: George Pell

text: During Pell's time as Archbishop of Sydney, allegations of child sexual abuse were made against around 55 priests in the archdiocese. These were largely related to incidents that occurred prior to his arrival as archbishop. The allegations resulted in just under $8 million in reparation payments.


title: George Pell

text: In late 2012, the Australian federal government established a Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Pell welcomed the inquiry and said "We think this is an opportunity to help the victims, it's an opportunity to clear the air and separate fact from fiction." He said there had been a persistent "press campaign against the Catholic Church". The commission conducted hearings between 2013 and 2017. Pell gave evidence on three occasions to the royal commission, beginning in March 2014 in Sydney and via video link from the Vatican in August 2014 and in February/March 2016.


title: George Pell

text: In his 2012 Christmas address Pell said he felt "shock and shame" at revelations of crime and wrongdoing that were completely contrary to Christ's teaching. Pell called the crimes and wrongdoings "disasters". He said he was "deeply sorry this has happened" and told his listeners to "help those who have been hurt".


title: George Pell

text: The announcement of the royal commission was accompanied by calls from some quarters for relaxing the requirement of confidentiality in confessions, which has been upheld by the Catholic Church since the fifth century. It is protected under Australian law in such statutes as the Evidence Act 1995 (which also provides protections for lawyers, journalists and spouses). When Pell was asked whether he thought that a priest who hears the confession of someone who has committed child sex abuse must remain bound by the Seal of Confession, he replied:


title: George Pell

text: The ABC reported that the comment "met with disapproval", citing Catholic politician Barry O'Farrell, who told Parliament that confessions should not be secret.


title: George Pell

text: Criticisms of Pell's conduct and manner towards victims and perpetrators have been aired in the Australian media and considered at the royal commission. His appearances before the royal commission were met with intense public interest in Australia. He was heckled from the public galleries. Pell has complained of unfair treatment from the media and "relentless character assassination".


title: George Pell

text: An SBS article by Debi Marshall included suggestions Pell had ignored accounts of physical and child sexual abuse and covered up such abuse. Marshall raised the allegation that Pell had attempted to "bribe" a victim. However, Pell was cross-examined by Counsel Assisting Gail Furness over the widely publicised statement that in 1993, he attempted to bribe David Ridsdale into silence, when David Ridsdale called him about the historical misconduct of his child-molesting priest uncle Gerald Ridsdale. In her final submission, Furness conceded that the allegation was unlikely to be an accurate interpretation of Pell's intent, as it was already known that Gerald Ridsdale was under investigation by police, and David Ridsdale was requesting a private process and not suggesting he wanted to go to police.


title: George Pell

text: The royal commission also considered evidence of Pell's "knowledge of rumours, allegations or complaints of Dowlan's sexual abuse of children in Ballarat", also raised in Marshall's article. One witness said he had gone to "Pell's presbytery" in Ballarat to warn him about Dowlan. Pell submitted evidence that he did not live in Ballarat or in that presbytery at the time, and the counsel-assisting said in her final submission that "Cardinal Pell's evidence about his living arrangements and duties in 1973 and 1974 make it less likely that he was at St Patrick's presbytery late in the afternoon on a week day."


title: George Pell

text: In 2014, the royal commission was told how lawyers representing Pell and the Archdiocese of Sydney incurred costs of A$1.5 million against a victim of child sexual abuse. The lawyers, acting on the church's instructions, "vigorously" fought John Ellis through the courts despite warnings of his "fragile psychological state". The resulting New South Wales Court of Appeal ruling established the controversial "Ellis Defence", which confirmed that the church could not be sued as a legal entity and held liable for child sexual abuse committed by a priest in such matters. Eventually, Ellis received $568,000 from the church. In a statement to the royal commission in March 2014, Pell reversed his earlier stance in support of the defence, saying: "My own view is that the Church in Australia should be able to be sued in cases of this kind."


title: George Pell

text: In his 2014 appearance, Pell used an analogy of a trucking company: "If the truck driver picks up some lady and then molests her, I don't think it's appropriate, because it is contrary to the policy, for the ownership, the leadership of that company to be held responsible." He was widely criticised for this remark. The president of Adults Surviving Child Abuse, Cathy Kezelman, called his comments "outrageous", saying that they denied the experience of victims. Nicky Davis, from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), said that Pell had made a "highly offensive" comparison. Michael Bradley, writing in his weekly column for ABC News, said "Yes, it was mind-blowingly insensitive to draw that analogy and to so blithely refer to 'some lady'. But there was a much bigger hole. In the world according to Pell, if the Catholic Church has a policy that tells its priests not to rape children then, if they still do so, the Church cannot be held accountable."


title: George Pell

text: Pell appeared before the royal commission in February and March 2016 by video link from a hotel in Rome because his heart condition made travel to Australia inadvisable. After the announcement that Pell would testify from Rome in 2016, a GoFundMe campaign was launched to fund a trip to Rome by 15 victims of child sexual abuse to see Pell give evidence in person. It reached its target of A$55,000 in one day, doubled that the following day and trebled the day after. The musician Tim Minchin released the song "Come Home (Cardinal Pell)", with all proceeds to go to the GoFundMe campaign. The song described Pell as "scum" and a "coward". Within 24 hours it had over 400,000 views on YouTube and became the number one position on the iTunes song chart in Australia. In the event, Pell's testimony was witnessed by 15 victims of child sexual abuse and their supporters.


title: George Pell

text: Having sworn on the Bible, Pell stated that he did not think the problems with child sexual abuse were with the institutional structure of the Catholic Church. "The Church has made enormous mistakes and is working to remedy those", he said. "The Church in many places, certainly in Australia, has mucked things up, has let people down. I'm not here to defend the indefensible." Counsel assisting the royal commission alleged that there were also wider problems with the church's hierarchy in Australia and Rome and beyond, which they thought he understated or sidestepped. Regarding the allegations of children, he said that "the predisposition was not to believe" and that the instinct was to protect the church. He said: "Too many of them certainly were dismissed and sometimes they were dismissed in absolutely scandalous circumstances ... They were very, very, very plausible allegations made by responsible people that were not followed up sufficiently." Pell also stated that the way Gerald Ridsdale was dealt with was "a catastrophe for the victims and a catastrophe for the church". Referring to rumours of child sexual abuse he added: "in those days", he said, "if a priest denied such activity, I was very strongly inclined to accept the denial".


title: George Pell

text: In June 2016 the Holy See Press Office director Federico Lombardi announced that Pell would continue in his role as prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, despite being obliged to submit his resignation on turning 75. Lombardi reminded reporters that Pope Francis had previously expressed his full confidence in Pell, and that Francis wished him to continue as prefect.


title: George Pell

text: Pell served as an assistant priest at St Alipius' Church in Ballarat East and, in 1973, shared a house with Gerald Ridsdale, a priest who was later laicised and jailed for child sex crimes. Ridsdale was convicted between 1993 and 2017 of child sexual abuse and indecent assault charges against children aged as young as four years during the 1970s and 1980s, with the 79 known victims thought to be a small proportion of his actual total. Pell was part of a leadership group of priests in the Diocese of Ballarat who met during 1982 and discussed moving Ridsdale from the parish at and sending him to Sydney. Pell denied knowing about any of Ridsdale's actions. Journalist and former priest Paul Bongiorno, who also lived in a presbytery with Ridsdale, told ABC radio that Ridsdale concealed his activities: "They hide it. It was certainly hidden from me. And when it came out, after I'd left the priesthood, I was shocked and I was ashamed."


title: George Pell

text: In March 2016, when asked by the royal commission why he had agreed to walk Ridsdale into the courthouse in Melbourne during his 1993 criminal trial, Pell responded, "I had some status as an auxiliary bishop and I was asked to appear with the ambition that this would lessen the term of punishment, lessen his time in jail." Peter Saunders, the victims' advocate and a former Catholic priest, said that this Pell response "demonstrates once again the callousness, the coldheartedness and the contempt that George Pell appears to display for this whole issue and particularly for the victims of these dreadful crimes."


title: George Pell

text: In 2002 on "60 Minutes", Pell was accused by David Ridsdale, a victim of child sex abuse in and the nephew of Gerald Ridsdale, of attempting to bribe him in 1993 in order to prevent child sexual abuse being made public. The allegation was examined at the royal commission and received further wide publicity. However, Counsel-Assisting Gail Furness conceded in her final submission to the royal commission that, given it was already known to Pell that Gerald Ridsdale was subject to police investigation and that David Ridsdale had requested a "private" rather than police process, "it is not likely that Bishop Pell would then have thought it necessary to offer Mr Ridsdale an inducement to prevent him from going to the police or public with his allegations", and Ridsdale could have "misinterpreted Bishop Pell's offer of assistance".


title: George Pell

text: On 7 May 2020, the royal commission revealed its findings regarding Pell, which had been made by 2017 but were withheld while Pell's own sexual abuse case was ongoing. concluding that Pell knew of child sexual abuse by clergy by the 1970s, but did not take adequate action to address it. Pell responded that the commission's views "are not supported by evidence".


title: George Pell

text: For the case of Gerald Ridsdale, while Pell was a priest in Ballarat, the commission concluded that "in 1973 Father Pell turned his mind to the prudence of Ridsdale taking boys on overnight camps", with child sexual abuse "on his radar, in relation to" Ridsdale. The commission concluded that "by 1973, Cardinal Pell was not only conscious of child sexual abuse by clergy, but he also considered measures of avoiding situations which might provoke gossip about it".


title: George Pell

text: For the case of Father Peter Searson, while Pell was an auxiliary bishop in Melbourne, the commission concluded that given the information Pell had in 1989, he "should have advised the Archbishop to remove Father Searson and he did not do so". Pell had told the commission that, in 1989, he received a list of grievances about Searson. The list included statements that Searson had harassed children, parents and school staff, used children's toilets without cause, shown children a dead body and practised animal cruelty. The commission concluded that it "ought to have been obvious" to Pell that he needed to have Searson removed, while rejecting Pell's statement that he had been "deceived" regarding Searson's case by education officials. Pell removed Searson in 1997 when he had become the archbishop.


title: George Pell

text: For the case of Father Wilfred James Baker, while Pell was the Archbishop of Melbourne, the commission concluded that Pell had the power to remove Baker in August 1996 when he learned that Baker was about to be charged. Pell did not remove Baker then, resulting in Baker continuing as a priest in a parish with a primary school until May 1997. Baker was jailed in 1999 for child sexual abuse.


title: George Pell

text: In June 2002, a Melbourne man named Phil Scott accused Pell of sexually abusing him at a Catholic youth camp in 1961, when the accuser was 12 years old and Pell was a young seminarian. Pell denied the accusations and stood aside while the inquiry continued. The complainant agreed to pursue his allegations through the church's own process for dealing with allegations of sexual misconduct, the National Committee for Professional Standards. Retired Victorian Supreme Court Justice Alec Southwell, appointed commissioner by the church to investigate the matter, found that the complainant, despite his long criminal record, had mostly given the impression of speaking honestly from actual recollection but concluded as follows: "bearing in mind the forensic difficulties of the defence occasioned by the very long delay, some valid criticism of the complainant's credibility, the lack of corroborative evidence and the sworn denial of the respondent, I find I am not 'satisfied that the complaint has been established. Pell said he had been exonerated, while the complainant's solicitor said his client had been vindicated.


title: George Pell

text: In March 2013, Victoria Police launched Operation Tethering to investigate whether Pell had committed unreported crimes. On 20 February 2016, the "Herald Sun" newspaper reported that Pell had been under investigation for the past year by detectives from the Victoria Police SANO Taskforce over sexual abuse allegations involving between five and ten boys that occurred between 1978 and 2001 when he was a priest in Ballarat and when he was archbishop of Melbourne. His office issued a statement denying the allegations, and asked for an inquiry into the leaking of information by Victoria Police officers. Victoria Police remained silent on whether Pell was being investigated. The SANO Taskforce was established in 2012 to investigate allegations arising from the Victorian Government "Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and Other Organisations" and the subsequent Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.


title: George Pell

text: On 28 July 2016, the Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police, Graham Ashton, confirmed that there was an investigation into alleged child sexual abuse by Pell, and stated he was awaiting advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). On 17 August 2016, Victoria Police said a response had been received from the DPP, but would not disclose the DPP's recommendations.


title: George Pell

text: In October 2016, three Victoria Police officers from the SANO Task Force flew to Rome to interview Pell, who participated voluntarily, regarding allegations of sexual assault. In February 2017, Victoria Police advised that the brief of evidence against Pell had been returned to the Office of Public Prosecutions. That Office subsequently provided advice to Victoria Police in May 2017.


title: George Pell

text: On 29 June 2017, Victoria Police announced they were charging Pell with a series of sexual assault offences with several counts and several victims. At a press conference in Rome, Pell denied the allegations. Pell left the Vatican in July and voluntarily returned to Australia to face trial. Details of the charges were not made public.


title: George Pell

text: On 26 July 2017 Pell appeared at the Melbourne Magistrates' Court and entered a plea of not guilty. He was represented by barrister Robert Richter. An application by the media seeking public disclosure of the details of the charges was refused by the magistrate. At a procedural hearing in November Pell’s lawyers requested documents from ABC News journalist Louise Milligan and Melbourne University Press relating to Milligan's book "Cardinal: the Rise and Fall of George Pell" which was published in early 2017.


title: George Pell

text: In January 2018, accuser Damian Dignan died after a long illness. Dignan’s charge was withdrawn. Pell's lawyers requested but were denied the personal medical information of the complainants. Pell's defence was reported to be based on questioning the timing of allegations. Some other charges were dropped after a complainant was ruled medically unfit to give evidence.


title: George Pell

text: The committal hearing to determine whether there was enough evidence to commit Pell to stand trial commenced on 5 March 2018. The hearing allowed for approximately fifty witnesses to give evidence, including former choirboys. The magistrate allowed Pell's barrister to cross-examine all but five witnesses. Pell's barrister said the allegations involving St Patrick's Cathedral were impossible.


title: George Pell

text: Magistrate Belinda Wallington concluded that there was enough evidence for the case to proceed on about half of the charges. On 1 May 2018, Pell was committed to stand trial on several charges of sexual offending. Pell entered pleas of not guilty. As a bail condition, Pell was not permitted to leave Australia.


title: George Pell

text: On 2 May 2018, Pell appeared in the County Court of Victoria for a directions hearing before Judge Sue Pullen, and it was agreed that he would undergo two separate trials with two separate juries and that the charges would be heard separately for each trial. He was to be tried in relation to allegations of sexual offences taking place at St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne, in 1990 in the first case (the cathedral trial), and in relation to further allegations taking place at a Ballarat swimming pool in the 1970s in the second case (the swimmers trial). Prosecutors sought a media ban on reporting on the trials until the verdict in the second trial. A suppression order was subsequently issued by Chief Judge Peter Kidd on 25 June 2018. The purpose of the order was to prevent prejudice to Pell caused by jurors in the swimmers trial knowing the outcome of the cathedral trial.


title: George Pell

text: Pell's first trial for the allegations of misconduct in St Patrick's Cathedral began in August 2018 under Chief Judge Kidd with representation by Robert Richter (lawyer). However, it ended with the jury unable to reach a unanimous verdict. This necessitated a retrial, with another jury. A retrial was conducted, again under Chief Judge Kidd. On 11 December 2018, Pell was convicted on five counts of child sexual abuse of two boys in the 1990s.


title: George Pell

text: Australian media outlets generally respected the suppression order preventing publication of details on the cathedral trial whereas international news sources reported the conviction. The Melbourne-based "Herald Sun" posted on its front page "CENSORED" in large print in protest of the ban, noting that international sources were reporting on a "very important story that is relevant to Victorians". In a statement made to "The Washington Post", Noah Shachtman, editor-in-chief of the online news magazine "The Daily Beast", consulted with American and Australian lawyers, but ultimately considered it an "easy call" to report on the conviction, though he did place geo-blocking restrictions to prevent online access to the story from Australia. More than 140 international news reports were published within 24 hours. Pell's barrister informed Chief Judge Kidd that the guilty verdict was accessible on Wikipedia.


title: George Pell

text: At the time of Pell's conviction in the cathedral trial, a second trial was pending regarding unrelated allegations that he sexually assaulted two boys while throwing them in the air in a Ballarat swimming pool in the late 1970s. These allegations had been raised by the ABC, leading to a Victoria Police investigation; however, Victoria's Director of Public Prosecutions dropped the charges after Chief Judge Kidd on 22 February 2019 disallowed the prosecution's submission of evidence from complainants on the grounds that each piece of evidence was not sufficient. News of Pell's conviction was published in Australia on 26 February 2019 when the suppression order was lifted following the withdrawal.


title: George Pell

text: At a pre-sentencing hearing on 27 February 2019, Pell's bail was revoked and he was taken into custody at the Melbourne Assessment Prison. Pell's lawyers released a statement that Pell maintained his innocence, and advised that an appeal had been filed on three grounds.


title: George Pell

text: The sentencing hearing on 13 March 2019 was broadcast live to the public, with Chief Judge Kidd sentencing Pell to serve six years in jail with a non-parole period of three years and eight months. Pell was also registered as a sex offender. Pell served 404 days in prison, much of it in solitary confinement, before being acquitted.


title: George Pell

text: In the Supreme Court on 26 March 2019, Victoria's Director of Public Prosecutions named 36 media outlets, journalists and broadcasters and applied that they be found guilty, convicted and either imprisoned or fined for breaching the suppression order. International media did not face charges.


title: George Pell

text: The Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Victoria heard pleadings for Pell being granted leave to appeal simultaneously with the appeal itself in June 2019. Pell was represented by Bret Walker SC. Three grounds of appeal were lodged: that the verdict was unreasonable, that permission to use in their closing address a visual aid prepared by the defence that illustrated the locations of people within the cathedral around the time of the first assault had been refused, and that Pell had not been arraigned in the presence of the jury as is required under standard criminal procedures in Victoria. Judgment was reserved, without setting a date to deliver the decision.


title: George Pell

text: On 21 August 2019, the Court of Appeal issued its ruling, which upheld the convictions. The three-judge panel comprised Chief Justice Anne Ferguson, President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Chris Maxwell and Justice Mark Weinberg. On the first ground of appeal, that the verdict was unreasonable, the court granted leave to appeal but dismissed the appeal by a majority (2–1) decision. Chief Justice Ferguson and President Maxwell dismissed the appeal. Ferguson stated that, for the appeal to succeed, the court needed to find that the jury "must" have had doubt as to the defendant's guilt, not merely that they "could" have had doubt. Justice Weinberg issued a dissenting judgment and would have allowed the appeal on the first ground.


title: George Pell

text: Whilst Chief Justice Ferguson and President Maxwell stated that they did not experience a doubt in the case, the dissenting Judge, Mark Weinberg, likened the case to that of Lindy Chamberlain, which had seen wrongful conviction by a jury and appeal court based on faulty evidence. Weinberg wrote that the applicant should be acquitted on each charge.


title: George Pell

text: In September 2019, Pell sought special leave to appeal to the High Court of Australia, the final court of appeal in Australia. Pell's lawyers submitted that Pell's conviction should be overturned on the basis that, in the face of exculpatory evidence, the Court of Appeal had relied on their belief in the complainant to eliminate doubt and uphold the conviction. The prosecution submission asserted that the appeal judgement had glossed over evidence that supported his conviction. The appeal was heard on 11 and 12 March 2020 by a full bench of seven justices.


title: George Pell

text: On 7 April 2020, in a unanimous judgment, the High Court allowed the appeal, quashing Pell's convictions and determining that judgments of acquittal be entered in their place. The court found that the jury ought to have entertained a doubt as to the applicant's guilt. The court agreed with Weinberg's judgment in the Court of Appeal, finding that the majority might have effectively reversed the burden of proof. In their judgment, the judges said with respect to all five charges that, "Making full allowance for the advantages enjoyed by the jury, there is a significant possibility ... that an innocent person has been convicted."


title: George Pell

text: Following Pell's acquittal, prior media coverage of his case came under intense scrutiny. Australia's national broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), was accused of sustained bias against Pell both before and during the trial and appeals. Pell said the ABC had betrayed the national interest in overwhelmingly presenting a single view of the case, and that he was a target because of his socially conservative views.


title: George Pell

text: The ABC dismissed criticisms of its coverage and defended its pursuit of Pell as having been without fear or favour. After criticism that its documentary series "Revelation" (which presented Pell as guilty) had been timed to coincide with the High Court decision, the ABC denied rushing the program, but temporarily removed it from its digital platform to allow the producers to include reference to Pell's acquittal and subsequent release from Barwon Prison. The series was restored to ABC's digital platform and went on to win the Walkley Documentary Award. The ABC noted that "Revelation" had actually been pushed back several days due to Prime Minister Scott Morrison making a televised address to the nation regarding the COVID-19 outbreak.


title: George Pell

text: Criticism of the conduct of Victoria Police, the DPP and the Court of Appeal judges resulted from the High Court verdict. Keith Windschuttle published a book, "The Persecution of George Pell", arguing that Pell had faced a concerted campaign by Victorian police, judiciary and victims' advocates to convict him on flimsy evidence.


title: George Pell

text: In January 2021 the Supreme Court of Victoria heard charges against 27 media companies, reporters and editors with offences, mainly contempt of court, for their coverage of the Pell verdict by breaching the suppression order and the subjudice ruleeven though no outlet had named Pell in their coverage, but rather had published protests at the suppression order. Twelve media companiesincluding the "Herald Sun", the "Courier Mail", the "Sydney Morning Herald", "The Age" (which was fined $450,000), News Corp Australia (which was fined $400,000), and Nine Entertainment Co. (whose other newspapers were fined $162,000)pleaded guilty to contempt of court and apologised. The companies were to receive fines and would pay $650,000 of the state's legal costs. In exchange for these guilty pleas, 15 charges against individual journalists were dropped.


title: George Pell

text: Justice John Dixon found that the 12 organisations had usurped the role of the court; they had taken it upon themselves to determine where the balance ought to lie between Pell’s right to a fair trial and the public’s right to know. He did not accept their submission that their breach of the suppression order was an honest mistake. Rather, he found, in most cases the reporting demonstrated that the organisations disagreed with the suppression order and felt the media should not be restrained from reporting the outcome of the trial. Although media overseas had reported Pell's conviction, he thought that potential jury members for the second trial were likely to rely upon local media rather than an internet search and, in any case, overseas reporting did not affect the seriousness of Australian media's breach of the suppression order.


title: George Pell

text: The father of a schoolboy who was allegedly abused by Pell launched legal action in 2022 against Pell and the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne. In August of that year, the case was allowed to proceed.


title: George Pell

text: Pell has written widely in religious and secular magazines, including learned journals and newspapers in Australia and overseas. He regularly spoke on television and radio. His other publications include "The Sisters of St Joseph in Swan Hill 1922–72" (1972), "Catholicism in Australia" (1988), "Rerum Novarum – One Hundred Years Later" (1992), "Catholicism and the Architecture of Freedom".


title: Jennifer Finnigan

text: Jennifer Christina Finnigan (born August 22, 1979) is a Canadian actress, best known for her role as Bridget Forrester in the American soap opera "The Bold and the Beautiful" from 2000 to 2004, for which she won three Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series. She also appeared on the CBS legal drama "Close to Home" (2005–2007) and the ABC sitcom "Better with You" (2010–2011). Finnigan also starred on the FX series "Tyrant" (2014–2016). She later starred in the CBS sci-fi drama "Salvation" (2017–2018).


title: Jennifer Finnigan

text: Finnigan was born in Montreal, Quebec. She is the daughter of Diane Rioux Finnigan, and popular radio personality Jack Finnigan, who was a fixture on CJAD radio in Montreal from 1972 to 2005. She attended The Sacred Heart School of Montreal, a Catholic, all-girl private school from which she graduated in 1996.


title: Jennifer Finnigan

text: Finnigan married actor Jonathan Silverman on June 7, 2007, on the island of Mykonos in Greece. She and Silverman have a daughter, Ella Jack, born on September 29, 2017.


title: Jennifer Finnigan

text: From 1998 to 2000, Finnigan appeared in a variety of Canadian shows. In 1998, she made a few guest appearances on "The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo". In early 1999, she appeared in one episode of "Big Wolf on Campus" and throughout the end of 1999, she starred in a sitcom called " Student Bodies" playing the role of Kim McCloud in the show's final season. Throughout the first half of 2000, she played the character "Tara" in the episode "The Tale of the Last Dance" in Season 7 of "Are You Afraid of the Dark?," as well as making a guest appearance on "La Femme Nikita".


title: Jennifer Finnigan

text: In mid-2000, Finnigan moved to the United States and got the role of Bridget Forrester in the long-running soap opera "The Bold and the Beautiful" in July 2000. In December 2000, she also starred in a true story in the telefilm "The Stalking of Laurie Show" about the real life murder of a young teenage girl. Finnigan starred as Bridget on "The Bold and the Beautiful" from July 2000 until January 2004 and won three awards for her work on the show. She is the first person to win three consecutive Daytime Emmy Awards (29th, 30th, 31st Awards), all as "Outstanding Younger Actress". She left the show in January 2004 to pursue other acting roles.


title: Jennifer Finnigan

text: From March 2004 until November 2004, Finnigan was featured on 10 episodes of "Crossing Jordan" as pathologist Dr. Devan Maguire. Following her departure from the show, she played the character Marni Fliss on the NBC series "Committed", which only aired for 13 episodes before being cancelled due to low ratings. The show aired from January until March 2005. In mid-2005, she made a guest appearance as Alex Sinclair in "The Dead Zone" episode "Double Vision".


title: Jennifer Finnigan

text: Starting in the fall of 2005, Finnigan was the star of the CBS television drama series "Close to Home", playing a deputy district attorney. In December 2005, while still starring in "Close to Home", she made a second guest appearance as Alex Sinclair in the episode "A Very Dead Zone Christmas," on "The Dead Zone". "Close to Home" aired for two seasons before it was cancelled in May 2007. In August 2007, Finnigan made one final guest appearance on "The Dead Zone" in the episode "", just before the show ended in late 2007.


title: Jennifer Finnigan

text: Finnigan co-starred with her husband, actor Jonathan Silverman, in "Beethoven's Big Break", the latest installment in the Beethoven film series; the film was released direct-to-DVD in late 2008. She also starred in "Playing for Keeps", a CTV/Lifetime Original Movie, broadcast as "What Color is Love?" in the United States. Finnigan starred in the ABC sitcom "Better with You", which was cancelled after only one season.


title: Jennifer Finnigan

text: She co-starred alongside Jason Priestley in the "Psych" sixth-season episode, "Neil Simon's Lover's Retreat". She has also done "Shadow Island Mysteries: The Last Christmas" and "Shadow Island Mysteries: Wedding for One".


title: Jennifer Finnigan

text: In 2013, she starred on the TNT series "Monday Mornings" on which her real life husband Jonathan Silverman was a recurring cast member. The series was canceled after one season.


title: Jennifer Finnigan

text: She also starred on the FX series "Tyrant", which began on June 24, 2014. "Tyrant" aired its final episode on September 7, 2016, after three seasons.


title: Jennifer Finnigan

text: She appeared as Grace Barrows, the Pentagon's press secretary, on the CBS action drama "Salvation". Barrows was one of a few people initially informed when the Pentagon learned Earth will collide with an asteroid with potential extinction-level destruction capacity. The series ran for two seasons.


title: The Donna Reed Show

text: The Donna Reed Show is an American sitcom starring Donna Reed as the middle-class housewife Donna Stone. Carl Betz co-stars as her pediatrician husband Dr. Alex Stone, and Shelley Fabares and Paul Petersen as their teenage children, Mary and Jeff. The show originally aired on ABC from September 24, 1958, to March 19, 1966.


title: The Donna Reed Show

text: The series was created by William S. Roberts and developed by Reed and her then husband, producer Tony Owen. Episodes revolved around typical family problems of the period such as firing a clumsy housekeeper, throwing a retirement bash for a colleague, and finding quality time away from the children. Themes such as women's rights and freedom of the press were occasionally explored.


title: The Donna Reed Show

text: The show had an uncertain start in the ratings and was almost cancelled, but fared better when it was moved from Wednesday to Thursday nights. In the show's middle seasons, Fabares sang "Johnny Angel", which became a #1 teen pop hit. Petersen had above average success with the song "My Dad", also introduced during the course of the series.


title: The Donna Reed Show

text: "The Donna Reed Show" was one of television's top 20 shows in 1963–1964. Reed was repeatedly nominated for Emmy Awards between 1959 and 1962, and won a Golden Globe as Best Female TV Star in 1963. She eventually grew tired of the workaday grind involved in the program, and it was cancelled in 1966 after 275 episodes.


title: The Donna Reed Show

text: The series was sponsored by Campbell Soup Company, with Johnson & Johnson as the principal alternate sponsor (succeeded in the fall of 1963 by The Singer Company). Following first-run, the show entered daytime reruns on ABC and then syndication on Nick at Nite and TV Land for several years. It is currently shown on Decades. The first five seasons have been released on DVD.


title: The Donna Reed Show

text: This show was the first TV family sitcom to feature the mother as the center of the show. Reed's character, Donna Stone, is a loving mother and wife, but also a strong woman, an active participant in her community, a woman with feelings and a sense of humor. According to many of Reed's friends and family, Reed shared many similarities to the character that she portrayed on screen, implying that the fictional Donna Stone was a near-identical copy of Reed herself.


title: The Donna Reed Show

text: ["The Donna Reed Show"] depicts a better time and place. It has a sort of level of intelligence and professionalism that is sadly lacking in current entertainment products. The messages it sent out were positive and uplifting. The folks you saw were likable, the family was fun, the situations were familiar to people. It provided 22-and-a-half-minutes of moral instructions and advice on how to deal with the little dilemmas of life. Jeff and Mary and their friends had all the same problems that real kids in high school did.


title: The Donna Reed Show

text: That's what the show was really about, the importance of family. That's where life's lessons are transmitted, generation to generation. There's a certain way in which these are transmitted, with love and affection.


title: The Donna Reed Show

text: Episodes revolve around the lightweight and humorous sorts of situations and problems a middle-class family experienced in the late 1950s and the early 1960s set in fictional Hilldale, state never mentioned.


title: The Donna Reed Show

text: Donna, for example, would sometimes find herself swamped with the demands of community theatricals and charity drives; Mary had problems juggling boyfriends and finding dresses to wear to one party or another; and Jeff was often caught in situations appropriate to his age such as joining a secret boys' club, avoiding love-smitten classmates, or bidding at auction on an old football uniform.


title: The Donna Reed Show

text: Alex was the family's Rock of Gibraltar, but often found himself in situations that tested his patience: in one episode, Donna volunteered him as the judge of a baby contest, and, in another episode, Mary insisted her gawky, geeky boyfriend was the spitting image of her father. Very occasionally eccentric relatives would descend on the Stones to complicate the household situation.


title: The Donna Reed Show

text: David Tucker writes in "The Women Who Made Television Funny" that most family sitcoms of the 1950s such as "Father Knows Best", "The Life of Riley", and "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" focus on the father figure with the mother as "adjunct". He points out however that "The Donna Reed Show" "established the primacy of the mother on the domestic front" and notes that "Mother Knows Better" was even briefly considered as the show's title. Though "The Donna Reed Show" did sometimes use recycled "Father Knows Best" scripts that had been slightly altered, such as character name changes.


title: The Donna Reed Show

text: The series was created by William Roberts and developed by Reed and her then husband, producer Tony Owen (the production company "Todon" is an amalgamation of their first names.) Roberts intended the show to respectfully picture the many demanding roles a stay-at-home woman was expected to master – wife, mom, companion, housekeeper, cook, laundress, seamstress, PTA officer, choir singer, scout leader, etc. – all the while being "effervescent, immaculate, and pretty." Reed stated, "We started breaking rules right and left. We had a female lead, for one thing, a strong, healthy woman. We had a story line told from a woman's point of view that wasn't soap opera." In addition, Reed described her show, accordingly: "I would call "The Donna Reed Show" a realistic picture of small-town life – with an often humorous twist. Our plots revolve around the most important thing in America – a loving family."


title: The Donna Reed Show

text: In its first year on the struggling ABC network, the show was up against Milton Berle's popular "Texaco Star Theater" and "Reed" ratings were low. ABC nearly cancelled the show, but it was renewed and ratings improved when the show was moved from Wednesday to Thursday nights. The series flourished for the next seven years, ranking #30 in 1961–1962 and #16 in 1963–1964. In a 1964 interview, Reed said, "We have proved on our show that the public really does want to see a healthy woman, not a girl, not a neurotic, not a sexpot...I am so fed up with immature 'sex' and stories about kooky, amoral, sick women."


title: The Donna Reed Show

text: The opening credits showed Reed coming down the stairs to answer the telephone. She hands the receiver to Alex, then goes to the front door to hand the children their bag lunches and schoolbooks as they leave for school. Alex then leaves, kissing his wife good-bye. On some opening themes, he forgets to kiss Donna good-bye, but returns as she closes the door to give her a quick kiss. She closes the door and smiles happily. A late series variant showed Donna departing after her husband, possibly for shopping, church or community matters, or some other concern. Reed brought personal friends Esther Williams, Jimmy Hawkins, and Buster Keaton to the program in guest spots.


title: The Donna Reed Show

text: On February 1, 1962, Fabares debuted her single "Johnny Angel" in the episode "Donna's Prima Donna". It rose to #1 and sold over a million copies. Petersen introduced his single "My Dad" eight months later on October 25, 1962. It peaked at #6.


title: The Donna Reed Show

text: By 1962 Reed felt the writers were running out of fresh ideas and had exhausted plot devices. She also wanted to spend more time with her family and was worn out from producing nearly 30 episodes a year. To coincide with Fabares's plans to leave at the end of season 5 (1962–1963), Reed and her husband decided to end the show. Since the series was still very popular ABC offered Reed a more lucrative contract with an extension of three seasons, to which she agreed. Their new contract called for fewer episodes and other incentives to allow Reed more personal time. In addition, Shelley Fabares agreed to return to the show as an occasional guest in which her character of Mary would come home from college for a visit. In the last three years of the series, Fabares would make seven appearances.


title: The Donna Reed Show

text: Beginning in Season 6 there was a reduction in the number of episodes produced, and work hours were shortened to please Reed. In the spring of 1966, Reed had grown tired of the weekly grind and wanted to retire. The program was rated #89 during its final season. After 275 episodes and eight seasons on ABC, "The Donna Reed Show" ended its prime-time run. Reed expressed no interest in taking on another series, declined television guest appearances, and shunned films because she thought their depictions of women vapid.


title: The Donna Reed Show

text: She did express interest in a television reunion for the Stone family at one point, but the concept was discarded after Carl Betz's death in 1978. Tucker writes that women's lib supporters of the 1970s targeted the Donna Stone character as an unrealistic portrait of a modern woman and a stereotype of the impossibly perfect wife and mother. He believes that Reed "gave motherhood a tinge of glamour it usually lacked on TV".


title: The Donna Reed Show

text: In season 5, (1963) Mary departed for college, reducing Fabares's appearances, something which continued yearly with her role becoming a minor character. Fabares left the full-time cast to pursue opportunities in films. She eventually returned seven times for guest appearances (Season 6 episodes 8, 11, 14; Season 7 episodes 5, 15, 30; Season 8 episode 13). Following Fabares's departure, Petersen's real-life sister Patty Petersen joined the show as Trisha, a runaway orphan eventually adopted by the Stones. The program achieved its highest Nielsen ratings in Season 6, reaching #16 after Fabares' departure. A possible reason for higher ratings was the addition of new characters, Ann McCrea and disc jockey-turned actor Bob Crane as the Stones' neighbors, Midge and Dave Kelsey. This not only provided both Donna and Alex with best friends, but co-conspirators, as well. So popular were their roles that by the fall of 1964, both McCrea and Crane began receiving billing in the opening credits of the program. Crane left the series in 1965 to star in the CBS sitcom "Hogan's Heroes". As a result, he was written out of the show although his character continued to be referred to and McCrea's character remained with the program. Also, towards the end of the series, actor Darryl Richard was regularly featured as Jeff Stone's best friend, Morton "Smitty" Smith. Richard first appeared in 1962 and "Smitty" became a major character after Season 6. Janet Landgard was a series regular from 1963 to 1965 as Karen Holmby.


title: The Donna Reed Show

text: "The Donna Reed Show" featured several celebrity guest stars appearing as themselves during its eight-year run. Baseball player Don Drysdale appeared in four episodes while Willie Mays appeared in three episodes and Leo Durocher once. Musician Harry James and singers Tony Martin and Lesley Gore appeared as themselves. Gore was featured in the series' finale, "By-Line—Jeff Stone", on March 19, 1966. Lassie and film director George Sidney appear as themselves in the 1961 episode "The Stones Go To Hollywood". The episode plugged Sidney's then current feature film, "Pepe", in which Reed made a cameo appearance. Teen heartthrob James Darren guest starred as a pop singer with the measles.


title: The Donna Reed Show

text: Silent film comedian Buster Keaton guest starred in two episodes, "A Very Merry Christmas" (December 24, 1958) as Charlie, a hospital janitor who brings gifts to the children's ward, and as an auto mechanic in "Now You See It, Now You Don't" (1965). Child actor Charles Herbert also had a recurring guest role in four episodes as David Barker, a runaway child whom the Stones assist. In the 1960 crossover episode "Donna Decorates", Jay North appeared with his "Dennis the Menace" co-star, Joseph Kearns as Mr. George Wilson. Esther Williams guest starred as Molly, a fashion designer and friend of Donna's who is herself about to marry a doctor in "The Career Woman" (1960). In real life, Williams and Reed had been close friends since the early 1940s, when they were rising MGM contract stars.


title: The Donna Reed Show

text: Several actors guest starred numerous times in different roles including Richard Deacon, Gale Gordon, Harvey Korman, Miyoshi Umeki, Doodles Weaver, and Dick Wilson.


title: The Donna Reed Show

text: As Fabares co-starred in the Mickey Mouse Club serial before the Donna Reed Show, four other Annette co-stars (Deacon, Cheryl Holdridge, Doreen Tracey & Mary Wickes) would also make respective guest appearances on this show.


title: The Donna Reed Show

text: The series was originally syndicated by Screen Gems, and, later, Columbia Pictures Television and Sony Pictures Television. In 2008, Sony lost the full rights to the estates of Donna Reed and Tony Owen.


title: The Donna Reed Show

text: As at 2018, the first five seasons of the show are available on Amazon Prime Video in the US and Canada and on Tubi.


title: The Donna Reed Show

text: For a limited time in 2004, General Mills offered a DVD of two episodes inside boxes of Total cereal and Oatmeal Crisp. Virgil Films and Entertainment (under license from the estates of Donna Reed and Tony Owen) released the first three seasons of the show on DVD in Region 1. Virgil also released a four-episode "best of" DVD on April 13, 2010.


title: The Donna Reed Show

text: On December 17, 2010, it was announced that MPI Home Video had acquired the rights to release seasons 4 and 5 of "The Donna Reed Show". Season 4 was subsequently released on December 20, 2011, and Season 5 was released on December 4, 2012.


title: The Donna Reed Show

text: On September 30, 2014, MPI Home Video re-released the first season on DVD. Season 2 was re-released on March 24, 2015. Season 3 was re-released on June 30, 2015.


title: The Donna Reed Show

text: In "Gilmore Girls" season 1 episode 14 "That Damn Donna Reed", Rory and her boyfriend Dean have a disagreement about women's roles after watching an episode of the show. The episode involved Reed's character making a lot of food. Later, Rory dresses up in a dress like Donna Reed and serves Dean a steak dinner.


title: The Donna Reed Show

text: In the film "Major Payne", the theme song to the show plays as Payne fantasizes about an idyllic family life with Emily and Tiger.


title: Yellow pages

text: The yellow pages are telephone directories of businesses, organized by category rather than alphabetically by business name, in which advertising is sold. The directories were originally printed on yellow paper, as opposed to white pages for non-commercial listings. The traditional term "yellow pages" is now also applied to online directories of businesses.


title: Yellow pages

text: In many countries, including Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and elsewhere, "Yellow Pages" (or any applicable local translations), as well as the "Walking Fingers" logo first introduced in the 1970s by the Bell System-era AT&T, are registered trademarks, though the owner varies from country to country, usually being held by the main national telephone company (or a subsidiary or spinoff thereof). However, in the United States, neither the name nor the logo was registered as trademarks by AT&T, and they are freely used by several publishers.


title: Yellow pages

text: The name and concept of "yellow pages" came about in 1883, when a printer in Cheyenne, Wyoming, US working on a regular telephone directory, ran out of white paper and used yellow paper instead. In 1886, Reuben H. Donnelley created the first official Yellow Pages directory.


title: Yellow pages

text: Today, the expression "yellow pages" is used globally in both English-speaking and non-English speaking countries. In the United States, it refers to the category, while in some other countries it is a registered name and therefore a proper noun. The term "Yellow Pages" is not a registered name within the United States and is freely used by many companies. Telephone directories using the Internet domain name "yellowpages."cc"" (where "cc" is the ccTLD) exist in 75 countries. They are edited by many different phone companies and directory publishers, mostly independently.


title: Yellow pages

text: A particular yellow pages is a print directory which provides an alphabetical listing of businesses within a specific geographical area (e.g. the Tampa Bay area, which are segregated under headings for similar types of businesses, such as plumbers). Traditionally these directories have been published by the local phone company, but there are numerous independent directory publishers. Some yellow pages publishers focus on a particular demographic (e.g. Christian yellow pages or business pages).


title: Yellow pages

text: Yellow pages directories are usually published annually and distributed for free to all residences and businesses within a given coverage area. The majority of listings are plain and in small black text. The yellow-pages publishers profit by selling advertising space or listings under each heading. Advertising may be sold by a direct sales force or by approved agencies (CMR's). Available advertising space varies among publishers and ranges from bold names up to four color twin page ads ("double trucks").


title: Yellow pages

text: In the United States, the predominant yellow pages are DEX One's DEX, the AT&T Real Yellow Pages, Yellowbook, and the Superpages.


title: Yellow pages

text: Business listings used for publication are obtained by several methods. Local phone companies that publish yellow pages directories rely on their own customer lists and include business listings that are provided by incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs).


title: Yellow pages

text: Advertising in yellow pages directories requires payment in full prior to printing or may be billed monthly over the life of the contract, which is usually 12 months. Typically, sales representatives help customers to design their ads and provide a proof copy for review and approval.


title: Yellow pages

text: Yellow pages' print usage is reported to be declining with both advertisers and shoppers increasingly turning to Internet search engines and online directories. According to a study by Knowledge Networks/SRI, in 2007, print yellow pages were referenced 13.4 billion times, while Internet yellow pages references increased to 3.8 billion, up from 2006's 3.3 billion online searches. As a result, most yellow pages publishers have attempted to create online versions of their print directories. These online versions are referred to as IYP or Internet yellow pages. Independent ad agencies or Internet marketing consultants can assist business owners in determining sound opportunities for yellow pages advertising and provide objective information on usage, possession and preferences.


title: Yellow pages

text: Archived yellow pages and telephone directories are important tools in local historical research and trademark litigation.


title: Yellow pages

text: The "Walking Fingers" logo was created by Henry Alexander, a New England artist. After graduating from the Swain School of Design in New Bedford, Massachusetts, Alexander began a freelance career as an illustrator and commercial designer. He formed a long association with the New England Telephone Company lasting thirty-one years. In 1962, he designed the "walking fingers" logo and within a year it became the national trademark for their yellow pages.


title: Yellow pages

text: AT&T, the creator and owner of the most famous three-fingered version of the "Walking Fingers" logo, never applied for a trademark on the logo. While they eventually received a trademark on a different version of the logo, the version with the three fingers was not considered by AT&T to be proprietary and they in fact allowed any telephone directory to use it. Throughout the 1970s, many cities ran television ads showing a disembodied hand "walking" across an open copy of the Yellow Pages, with the slogan "Let Your Fingers Do the Walking."


title: Yellow pages

text: The Bell System later applied for a trademark on the logo but had their trademark denied on the grounds that it "had become a generic indicator of the yellow pages without regard to any particular source." Shortly thereafter, Bell began using a trademarkable logo with a lightbulb instead of the walking fingers, but returned to the walking fingers two years later.


title: Yellow pages

text: In some countries, the familiar "walking fingers" logo is not protected as a trademark and may be used by anyone. This logo is used in varying forms by almost every yellow pages publisher; however, there are companies that use it to imitate mainstream publishers.


title: Yellow pages

text: In Belgium, the Republic of Ireland, Israel and the Netherlands the directory, although using the yellow pages logo, is called "Golden Pages".


title: Yellow pages

text: Online business directories are branded as IYP or Internet yellow pages. On a broader scale, they can be classified as vertical directories. There are consumer oriented and business oriented varieties. Providers of IYP offer online advertising.


title: Yellow pages

text: According to several reports the search term "yellow pages" was in the top 5 highest revenue generator of all search terms in Google's AdWords program in 2010. Experian/Hitwise reported in January 2011 that the search term "yellow pages" was one of the top 50 search terms across all search engines and all search terms(millions of search terms). This made "yellow pages" one of the most searched for things on the Internet in 2011.


title: Yellow pages

text: The Yellow Pages Association said in February 2011 that 75 percent of adults in the United States still used print yellow pages and that for every $1 in investment, businesses returned $15.


title: Yellow pages

text: IYP offers listings differently from standard search engines. Where search engines return results based on relevance to the true search term, IYP returns results based on a geographic area.


title: Yellow pages

text: IYP is classified as a local search directory which provides content with the added ability to refine the search to find the needed service. The search engine prioritizes local businesses in its results rather than the results being dominated by regional or national companies. All services offer paid advertising options which typically offer preferred placement on search results pages.


title: Yellow pages

text: In later years, the yellow pages industry faced scrutiny from environmentalist groups who claim printed yellow pages are a wasteful resource, citing statistics that by 2011 nearly 70% of all Americans rarely or never used printed phone directories. In other results, approximately 58% of working U.S. adults said they use phone books at home, work or both, according to a 2013 survey by RingCentral that appeared in USA Today.


title: Yellow pages

text: The Product Stewardship Institute claims local governments spend $54 million a year to dispose of unwanted phone books and $9 million to recycle them. Phone books use low grade glues and are therefore difficult to recycle, and they often clog recycling machinery. Conversely, publishers note that phone book directories are 100% recyclable and are made using soy-based and non-toxic inks, glues and dyes.


title: Yellow pages

text: In 2011, San Francisco became the first city in the United States to restrict yellow page distribution to people who opt in, but was being sued in federal court by the Local Search Association on freedom of speech grounds. According to the Sierra Club, 1.6 million phone books were distributed annually in San Francisco, producing 3600 tons of waste, $1 million in disposal costs, and 6180 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions. In 2013, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed, and the Mayor signed, an ordinance that repealed the Yellow Pages Distribution Pilot Program (Ordinance 130186).


title: Yellow pages

text: Also in 2011, Yellow Pages Association and the Association of Directory Publishers started the yellowpagesoptout.com Web site allowing anyone in the United States to choose not to receive directories. The site remains active in 2018.


title: Yellow pages

text: The 2009 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Municipal Solid Waste report classified directories as the smallest contributor of paper and paperboard products to the solid waste stream, representing only 0.3% – significantly less than all other paper product categories such as newspapers, magazines and books. In 2010, the EPA stopped measuring directories separately from newspapers, indicating the minor impact of directories on municipal waste.


title: Yellow pages

text: Yellow Pages publishers' paper usage declined by nearly 60% between 2007–2012, and were projected to continue declining through 2013, according to the Pulp and Paper Products Council. The EPA's 2011 Municipal Waste report showed that approximately 73% of phone directory, newspaper and mechanical papers were recycled.


title: Yellow pages

text: In September 2017, Yell, the publisher of Yellow Pages in the United Kingdom, announced that the business would be fully digitised from January 2019, ending the publication's 51-year run. The last UK copies were posted out on 18 January 2019.


title: Yellow pages

text: The Irish publisher of the Golden Pages moved to an online-only model in 2017 after exiting examinership. The equivalent "Independent Directory" (similar to the UK's Thomson Local directories) produced by Independent News & Media ceased publication in 2009.


title: Brazos River

text: The Brazos River ( , ), called the "Río de los Brazos de Dios" (translated as "The River of the Arms of God") by early Spanish explorers, is the 11th-longest river in the United States at from its headwater source at the head of Blackwater Draw, Roosevelt County, New Mexico to its mouth at the Gulf of Mexico with a drainage basin. Being one of Texas' largest rivers, it is sometimes used to mark the boundary between East Texas and West Texas.


title: Brazos River

text: The river is closely associated with Texas history, particularly the Austin settlement and Texas Revolution eras. Today major Texas institutions such as Texas Tech University, Baylor University, and Texas A&M University are located close to the river's basin, as are parts of metropolitan Houston.


title: Brazos River

text: The Brazos proper begins at the confluence of the Salt Fork and Double Mountain Fork, two tributaries of the Upper Brazos that rise on the high plains of the Llano Estacado, flowing southeast through the center of Texas. Another major tributary of the Upper Brazos is the Clear Fork Brazos River, which passes by Abilene and joins the main river near Graham. Important tributaries of the Lower Brazos include the Paluxy River, the Bosque River, the Little River, Yegua Creek, the Nolan River, the Leon River, the San Gabriel River, the Lampasas River, and the Navasota River.


title: Brazos River

text: Initially running east towards Dallas-Fort Worth, the Brazos turns south, passing through Waco and the Baylor University campus, further south to near Calvert, Texas, then past Bryan and College Station, then through Richmond, Texas, in Fort Bend County, and empties into the Gulf of Mexico in the marshes just south of Freeport.


title: Brazos River

text: The main stem of the Brazos is dammed in three places, all north of Waco, forming Possum Kingdom Lake, Lake Granbury, and Lake Whitney. Of these three, Granbury was the last to be completed, in 1969. When its construction was proposed in the mid-1950s, John Graves wrote the book "Goodbye to a River". The Whitney Dam, located on the upper Brazos, provides hydroelectric power, flood control, and irrigation to enable efficient cotton growth in the river valley. A small municipal dam (Lake Brazos Dam) is near the downstream city limit of Waco at the end of the Baylor campus; it raises the level of the river through the city to form a town lake. This impoundment of the Brazos through Waco is locally called Lake Brazos. Nineteen major reservoirs are located along the Brazos.


title: Brazos River

text: In 1822, the lower river valley of the Brazos River became one of the major Anglo-American settlement sites in Texas. This was one of the first English-speaking colonies along the Brazos and was founded by Stephen F. Austin at San Felipe de Austin. In 1836, Texas declared independence from Mexico at Washington-on-the-Brazos, a settlement in now Washington County that is known as "the birthplace of Texas". Brazos River was also the scene of a battle between the Texas Navy and Mexican Navy during the Texas Revolution. Texas Navy ship "Independence" was defeated by one Mexican vessel.


title: Brazos River

text: When it was first named by European explorers is unclear, since it was often confused with the Colorado River not far to the south, but it was certainly seen by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle. Later Spanish accounts call it "Los Brazos de Dios" (the arms of God), for which name several different explanations were given, all involving it being the first water to be found by desperately thirsty parties. In 1842, Indian commissioner of Texas, Ethan Stroud established a trading post on this river.


title: Brazos River

text: The river was important for navigation before and after the American Civil War, and steamboats sailed as far up the river as Washington-on-the-Brazos. While attempts to improve commercial navigation on the river continued, railroads proved more reliable. The Brazos River also flooded, often seriously, on a regular basis before a piecemeal levee system was replaced, notably in 1913 when a massive flood affected the course of the river. The river is primarily important today as a source of water for power, irrigation, and recreation. The water is administered by the Brazos River Authority.


title: Brazos River

text: The 2000 book, "Sandbars and Sternwheelers: Steam Navigation on the Brazos" by Pamela A. Puryear and Nath Winfield, Jr., with introduction by J. Milton Nance, examines the early vessels that attempted to navigate the Brazos.


title: Brazos River

text: The Brazos River watershed covers a total area of . Within the watershed lie 42 lakes and rivers, which have a combined storage capacity of 2.5 million acre-feet. The Brazos watershed also has an estimated groundwater availability of 119,275 acre-feet per year. Around 31% of the land use within the watershed is cropland, and roughly 61% is grassland (30%), shrubland (19.8%), and forest (11%), while urban use only makes up 4.6%. The population density within the watershed is 4.9 people/sq mi (19.5/km).


title: Brazos River

text: The main water-quality issues within the Brazos watershed are high nutrient loads, high bacterial and salinity levels, and low dissolved oxygen. These issues can be attributed to livestock waste, fertilizer, and chemical run offs. Sources of run off are croplands, pastures, and industrial sites, among others. The watershed receiving the most toxic pollution is the lower Brazos river, which received 33.4 million pounds of toxic waste in 2012.


title: Brazos River

text: Canoeing is a very popular recreational activity on the Brazos River, with many locations favorable for launching and recovery. The best paddling can be found immediately below Possum Kingdom Lake and Lake Granbury.


title: Brazos River

text: Sandbar camping is also permitted, since the entire streambed of the river is considered to be state-owned public property. Fishing, camping, and picnicking are legal here, including on the sandbars.


title: Brazos River

text: Several scout camps are located along the Brazos River, and they support a wide range of water and shoreline activities for scouts, youth groups, and family groups.


title: Brazos River

text: The Brazos River Authority maintains several public campsites along the river and at the lakes. Hunting is also permitted at select locations along the river. Fishing is permitted on all of the river, subject to regulations. Outdoor enthusiasts have the opportunity to view the area's scenery and the wildlife on the river. Fly fishing and river fishing for largemouth bass are common.


title: Emine Erdoğan

text: Emine Erdoğan (; ; born 16 February 1955) is the current first lady of Turkey, and the wife of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.


title: Emine Erdoğan

text: Emine Erdoğan, of Arab origin, was born as Cemal and Hayriye Gülbaran’s fifth child and only daughter in Üsküdar, Istanbul. Her family is originally from the southeastern province of Siirt.


title: Emine Erdoğan

text: She was educated at Istanbul Mithatpaşa Vocational Evening School for Girls. She did not graduate, however. She has been actively involved in social activities since her youth. Erdoğan was among the founding members of the “Idealist Women’s Association”, which she named herself. She closely followed the events organized by the National Turkish Student Union and the Ladies Foundation for Science and Culture. During this period, she met Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and married him.


title: Emine Erdoğan

text: Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Emine Gülbaran married on 4 July 1978. The couple has four children: Ahmet Burak, Necmettin Bilal, Esra, and Sümeyye.


title: Emine Erdoğan

text: Erdoğan served as a founding member of the Provincial Women's Branch Administrative Board of the Welfare Party when Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was elected the Istanbul Provincial Head and she pioneered an era that paved the way for women's active participation in politics in Turkey. She launched a women's movement, which contributed to the success of the Refah Party in the 1994 elections.


title: Emine Erdoğan

text: After her husband Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was elected Mayor of Istanbul, she took part in various social responsibility projects. She contributed to the establishment of an aid corridor between different social groups by initiating the "iftar tables where the poor and the rich meet" tradition, which is still carried on by the mayoralties of Justice and Development Party.


title: Emine Erdoğan

text: Erdoğan led the foundation of the "Center for Social Development" (TOGEM) in 2005 and has supported projects concerning the education of women and children.


title: Emine Erdoğan

text: With the wives of the governors from all Turkish provinces, she has led a campaign to improve the living conditions of the women, the elderly, the veterans and families of the martyrs. The project, which was awarded the "Golden Compass", the academy award of public relations, in the best public project category, has attracted interest among the projects cited by the United Nations. The project has continued under the auspices Erdoğan since 2012.


title: Emine Erdoğan

text: After the attacks against Gaza in 2009, she hosted the wives of the Western and Arab leaders and called the whole world to "stop the war." In 2012, Erdoğan personally went to Myanmar to observe the situation there despite the critical security threats and provided humanitarian aid to the region.


title: Emine Erdoğan

text: Emine Erdoğan has played an active role in opposing child marriage, stating clearly that "Forced child marriage is clearly unacceptable under any conditions".


title: Emine Erdoğan

text: "The Voluntary Envoys in Social Development Project" (), implemented by the Ministry of Family and Social Policies and supported by Emine Erdoğan, is a social responsibility project focused on raising awareness about and promoting "volunteering", and tending to the human resource needs that will contribute to social development. The venture, running since 2012, has subfields such as “Protective Family Service” and “Vocational Training for Women”.


title: Emine Erdoğan

text: With the Ministry of National Education, Erdoğan launched a country-wide campaign to resolve the issue of the girls who were not allowed to go to school by their families. "Come on Girls, Let's Go to School" () is a project carried out in coordination with the Ministry of National Education and UNICEF with support and commitments of relevant public institutions, NGOs and local administrations. The goal of the project is to provide 100% schooling and gender equality in education for primary-school-age girls (6-14 years) who are out of the education system, who have left or are absent from school.


title: Emine Erdoğan

text: Erdoğan continued her efforts in education with "Mothers and Daughters at School" campaign (), which she named herself. The campaign, launched by the Ministry of National Education, was initiated in 2008. The target audience of the project are young girls and women who are in poverty from a socio-economic perspective, who have not had access to educational opportunities, and are over the compulsory education age.


title: Emine Erdoğan

text: The "7 is too late" campaign () is carried out by the Mother Child Education Foundation (AÇEV) with the objective of raising awareness and bolster on the significance of early childhood education, which children ought to get between the ages of 0-6, and making sure that every child in Turkey can benefit from pre-school education.


title: Emine Erdoğan

text: On March 21, 2015, on the International Day of Forests, the project "Prolific Forests" () was initiated by the Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs which aims to expand green areas in Turkey and to make effective use of forests.


title: Emine Erdoğan

text: "I Protect My Future" project (), started with the cooperation of the Ministry of National Education and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, aims to raise awareness about the conservation of earth and water resources among the new generations. The project which has been launched in 30 cities aims to make children familiar with the earth, seed and plants.


title: Emine Erdoğan

text: "African Handicrafts Market and Culture House" project () strives to contribute to the solution of African women's problems concerning education and healthcare through profit-free marketing of products handmade by African women. Moreover, the project has the goal of functioning as a meeting point of African cultures and contributing to the deepening of Turkey-Africa relations.


title: Emine Erdoğan

text: The "Zero Waste" Project (), directed by the Ministry of Environment and Urban Planning, has the objective to prevent squandering, to reduce the waste amount and to encourage waste recycling. It also aims for the installation of an effective collection system.


title: Emine Erdoğan

text: In June 2020, a court ordered to block access to the Ekşi Sözluk webpages that focus on Emine Erdoğan wearing an Hermès handbag. In the same month, Evrensel journalist Ender İmrek had to appear in court to face an accusation for not reporting positively on her while criticizing her for wearing a Hermès bag worth $50,000.


title: Emine Erdoğan

text: On 7 December 2010, Prime Minister of Pakistan Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani conferred the Pakistani Nishan-e-Pakistan on Emine Erdoğan, in recognition of her efforts for the flood-stricken people of Pakistan. In October 2010, Erdoğan visited Pakistan and the flood hit areas to witness the devastation caused by the floods and contributed significantly in the fund-raising campaign to help the country's flood victims.


title: Emine Erdoğan

text: On 16 February 2011, Emine Erdoğan was presented with the "Prix de la Fondation" by the Crans Montana Forum at a ceremony in Brussels.


title: Poole

text: Poole () is a large coastal town and seaport in Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east. Since 1 April 2019, the local authority is Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council which is a unitary authority. Poole had an estimated population of 151,500 (mid-2016 census estimates) making it the second-largest town in the ceremonial county of Dorset. Together with Bournemouth and Christchurch, the conurbation has a total population of nearly 400,000.


title: Poole

text: Human settlement in the area dates back to before the Iron Age. The earliest recorded use of the town's name was in the 12th century when the town began to emerge as an important port, prospering with the introduction of the wool trade. Later, the town had important trade links with North America and, at its peak during the 18th century, it was one of the busiest ports in Britain. In the Second World War, Poole was one of the main departing points for the Normandy landings.


title: Poole

text: Poole is a tourist resort, attracting visitors with its large natural harbour, history, the Lighthouse arts centre and Blue Flag beaches. The town has a commercial port with cross-Channel freight and passenger ferry services, which connect with the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey, as well as the French port town of Saint-Malo, Brittany.


title: Poole

text: The headquarters of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is in Poole, and the Royal Marines have a base in the town's harbour. Despite their names, Poole is the home of The Arts University Bournemouth, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and a significant part of Bournemouth University.


title: Poole

text: The town's name derives from a corruption of the Celtic word "bol" and the Old English word "pool" meaning a place near a pool or creek. Variants include Pool, Pole, Poles, Poll, Polle, Polman, and Poolman. The area around modern Poole has been inhabited for the past 2,500 years. During the 3rd century BC, Celts known as the Durotriges moved from hilltop settlements at Maiden Castle and Badbury Rings to heathland around the River Frome and Poole Harbour. The Romans landed at Poole during their conquest of Britain in the 1st century and took over an Iron Age settlement at Hamworthy, an area just west of the modern town centre. In Anglo-Saxon times, Poole was included in the Kingdom of Wessex. The settlement was used as a base for fishing and the harbour a place for ships to anchor on their way to the River Frome and the important Anglo-Saxon town of Wareham. Poole experienced two large-scale Viking invasions during this era: in 876, Guthrum sailed his fleet through the harbour to attack Wareham, and in 1015, Canute began his conquest of England in Poole Harbour, using it as a base to raid and pillage Wessex.


title: Poole

text: Following the Norman conquest of England, Poole rapidly grew into a busy port as the importance of Wareham declined. The town was part of the manor of Canford but does not exist as an identifiable entry in the Domesday Book. The earliest written mention of Poole occurred on a document from 1196 describing the newly built St James's Chapel in "La Pole". The Lord of the Manor, Sir William Longspée, sold a charter of liberties to the burgesses of Poole in 1248 to raise funds for his participation in the Seventh Crusade. Consequently, Poole gained a small measure of freedom from feudal rule and acquired the right to appoint a mayor and hold a court within the town. Poole's growing importance was recognised in 1433 when it was awarded staple port status by King Henry VI, enabling the port to begin exporting wool and in turn granting a licence for the construction of a town wall. In 1568, Poole gained further autonomy when it was granted legal independence from Dorset and made a county corporate by the Great Charter of Elizabeth I. During the English Civil War, Poole's puritan stance and its merchants' opposition to the ship money tax introduced by King Charles I led to the town declaring for Parliament. Poole escaped any large-scale attack and with the Royalists on the brink of defeat in 1646, the Parliamentary garrison from Poole laid siege to and captured the nearby Royalist stronghold at Corfe Castle.


title: Poole

text: Poole established successful commerce with the North American colonies in the 16th century, including the important fisheries of Newfoundland. Trade with Newfoundland grew steadily to meet the demand for fish from the Catholic countries of Europe. Poole's share of this trade varied but the most prosperous period started in the early 18th century and lasted until the early 19th century. The trade followed a three-cornered route; ships sailed to Newfoundland with salt and provisions, then carried dried and salted fish to Europe before returning to Poole with wine, olive oil, and salt. By the early 18th century Poole had more ships trading with North America than any other English port and vast wealth was brought to Poole's merchants. This prosperity supported much of the development which now characterises the Old Town where many of the medieval buildings were replaced with Georgian mansions and terraced housing. The end of the Napoleonic Wars and the conclusion of the War of 1812 ended Britain's monopoly over the Newfoundland fisheries and other nations took over services provided by Poole's merchants at a lower cost. Poole's Newfoundland trade rapidly declined and within a decade most merchants had ceased trading.


title: Poole

text: The town grew rapidly during the industrial revolution as urbanisation took place and the town became an area of mercantile prosperity and overcrowded poverty. At the turn of the 19th century, nine out of ten workers were engaged in harbour activities, but as the century progressed ships became too large for the shallow harbour and the port lost business to the deepwater ports at Liverpool, Southampton and Plymouth. Poole's first railway station opened in Hamworthy in 1847 and later extended to the centre of Poole in 1872, effectively ending the port's busy coastal shipping trade. The beaches and landscape of southern Dorset and south-west Hampshire began to attract tourists during the 19th century and the villages to the east of Poole began to grow and merge until the seaside resort of Bournemouth emerged. Although Poole did not become a resort, like many of its neighbours, it continued to prosper as the rapid expansion of Bournemouth created a large demand for goods manufactured in Poole.


title: Poole

text: During World War II, Poole was the third-largest embarkation point for D-Day landings of Operation Overlord and afterwards served as a base for supplies to the allied forces in Europe. Eighty-one landing craft containing American troops from the 29th Infantry Division and the US Army Rangers departed Poole Harbour for Omaha Beach. Poole was also an important centre for the development of Combined Operations and the base for a US Coast Guard rescue flotilla of 60 cutters. Much of the town suffered from German bombing during the war and years of neglect in the post-war . Major redevelopment projects began in the 1950s and 1960s and large areas of slum properties were demolished and replaced with modern public housing and facilities. Many of Poole's historic buildings were demolished during this period, particularly in the Old Town area of Poole. Consequently, a Conservation Area was created in the town centre in 1975 to preserve Poole's most notable buildings. The Poole explosion of 1988 caused 3,500 people to be evacuated out of the town centre in the biggest peacetime evacuation the country had seen since the World War II.


title: Poole

text: On 1 April 1997, the town was made a unitary authority following a review by the Local Government Commission for England Poole Borough Council was created, and the town, once again, became administratively independent from Dorset. The borough reverted to its previous title of the "Borough and County of the Town of Poole", which recalled its status as a county corporate before the implementation of the Local Government Act 1888. For local elections, 42 councillors were elected across 16 wards and elections take place every four years. The last elections were held in 2015. The council were based at Poole Civic Centre in Parkstone.


title: Poole

text: On 1 April 2019, the borough being combined with Bournemouth and Christchurch to form the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority, with the first elections taking place in 2019. Whilst the Conservatives were the largest party, the council remained under no overall control, with a Unity Alliance Administration being formed of other parties. Poole's Sheriff, a position created by the town's charter of 1568 and just one of 16 Sheriffs in England and Wales, is Julie Bagwell.


title: Poole

text: Poole is represented by three parliamentary constituencies in the House of Commons; Poole, Mid Dorset and North Poole, and Bournemouth West. The borough constituency of Poole has existed since 1950. Previously the town had been a parliamentary borough, electing two members of parliament from 1455 until 1865 when representation was reduced to one member. In 1885 the constituency was abolished altogether and absorbed into the East Dorset constituency until its reintroduction in 1950. Robert Syms (Conservative) has been the Member of Parliament since 1997. At the 2015 general election, the Conservatives won a majority of 15,789 and 50.1% of the vote. The UKIP won 16.8% of the vote, Labour 12.9% and the Liberal Democrats 11.8%. The county constituency of Mid Dorset and North Poole was created in 1997 and includes the north-east of Poole, Wimborne Minster, Wareham and extends into rural Dorset. At the 2015 general election, the Conservative candidate Michael Tomlinson gained the constituency from the Liberal Democrats with a majority of 10,530 and 50.8% of the vote. The Liberal Democrats won 28.2% of the vote, UKIP 12.2% and Labour 6%. The boundary of the Bournemouth West borough constituency was extended to include the Poole local council wards Branksome East and Alderney in 2010. It is represented by Conor Burns, a Conservative Member of Parliament, who retained the seat with a majority of 12,410 and 48.2% of the vote in 2015.


title: Poole

text: From 1979 to 1984, Poole was part of the Single-member district of Wessex and was represented by Conservative Member of the European Parliament James Spicer.


title: Poole

text: From 1984 to 1994, Poole was part of the Dorset East and Hampshire West constituency and from 1994 to 1999, Poole was part of the Dorset and East Devon constituency represented by Conservative Bryan Cassidy.


title: Poole

text: Poole was included in the South West England constituency for elections to the European Parliament from 1999 to 2020.


title: Poole

text: The design of the coat of arms originated in a seal from the late 14th century and were recorded by Clarenceux King of Arms during the heraldic visitation of Dorset in 1563. The wavy bars of black and gold represent the sea and the dolphin is a sign of Poole's maritime interests. The scallop shells are the emblem of Saint James and are associated with his shrine at Santiago de Compostela – a popular destination for Christian pilgrims departing from Poole Harbour in the Middle Ages.


title: Poole

text: The arms were confirmed by the College of Arms on 19 June 1948, and at the same time, the crest (a mermaid supporting an anchor and holding a cannonball) was granted. Following local government reorganisation in 1974, the 1948 arms were transferred to Poole Borough Council. In 1976, the council received the grant of supporters for the coat of arms. The supporters refer to important charters given to the town; to the left is a gold lion holding a long sword representing William Longespee who in 1248 granted the town's first charter; on the right is a dragon derived from the Royal Arms of Elizabeth I who granted Poole county corporate status in 1568. The Latin motto – "Ad Morem Villae De Poole", means: "According to the Custom of the Town of Poole", and derives from the Great Charter of 1568.


title: Poole

text: Poole is a complex shore of the English Channel; it lies on the northern and eastern edges of Poole Harbour, west-southwest of London. The oldest part of the town (including the historic Old Town, Poole Quay and the Dolphin Shopping Centre) lies to the south-east of Holes Bay on a peninsula jutting into the harbour, although much of the land to the east of the peninsula has been reclaimed from the harbour since the mid-20th century. To the west is Upton and Corfe Mullen and across the northern border at the River Stour lies Wimborne Minster. At the eastern edge of Poole, the town abuts Bournemouth and the settlements of Kinson, Winton and Westbourne. To the south of Poole along the coast lies Poole Bay, which has of sandy beaches from Sandbanks in the west to Bournemouth in the east.


title: Poole

text: "Poole is made up of numerous suburbs and neighbourhoods, many of which developed from villages or hamlets that were absorbed into Poole as the town grew."


title: Poole

text: Alderney – Bearwood – Branksome – Branksome Park – Broadstone – Canford Cliffs – Canford Heath – Creekmoor – Fleetsbridge – Hamworthy – Lilliput – Longfleet – Merley – Oakley – Newtown – Oakdale – Parkstone – Penn Hill – Sandbanks – Sterte – Talbot Village – Wallisdown – Waterloo – Whitecliff


title: Poole

text: The natural environment of Poole is characterised by lowland heathland to the north and wooded chines and coastline to the south. The heathland habitat supports the six native British reptile species and provides a home for a range of dragonflies and rare birds. Development has destroyed much of the heath but scattered fragments remain to the north of Poole and have been designated Special Protection Areas. The town lies on unresistant beds of Eocene clays (mainly London Clay and Gault Clay), sands and gravels. The River Frome runs through this weak rock, and its many tributaries have carved out a wide estuary. At the mouth of the estuary sand spits have been deposited, enclosing the estuary to create Poole Harbour.


title: Poole

text: The harbour is the largest natural harbour in Europe and the second-largest natural harbour in the world after Sydney Harbour. It is an area of international importance for nature conservation and is noted for its ecology, supporting salt marshes, mudflats and an internationally important habitat for several species of migrating bird. It has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), a Special Protection Area and a Ramsar site as well as falling within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The harbour covers an area of and is extremely shallow. The main shipping channels are deep the average depth of the harbour is . It contains several small islands, the largest is Brownsea Island, a nature reserve owned by the National Trust and the birthplace of the Scouting movement and location of the first Scout Camp. Britain's largest onshore oil field operates from Wytch Farm on the south shore of the harbour. The oil reservoirs extend under the harbour and eastwards from Sandbanks and Studland for under the sea to the south of Bournemouth.


title: Poole

text: Situated directly to the east of the Jurassic Coast, Poole is a gateway town to the UNESCO World Heritage Site, which includes of the Dorset and east Devon coast important for its geology, landforms and rich fossil record. The South West Coast Path stretches for from Minehead in Somerset, along the coast of Devon and Cornwall and on to Poole. The path is England's longest national trail.


title: Poole

text: Due to its location on the south coast of England, Poole has a temperate climate with a small variation in daily and annual temperatures. The average annual mean temperature from 1971 to 2000 was . The warmest months in Poole are July and August, which have an average temperature range of , and the coolest months are January and February, which have a range of . Mean sea surface temperatures range from in February to in August. The average annual rainfall of is well below the UK average of .


title: Poole

text: Poole lies at the centre of a green belt region that extends into the wider surrounding counties. It is in place to reduce urban sprawl, prevent the towns in the South East Dorset conurbation from further convergence, protect the identity of outlying communities, and preserve nearby countryside. This is achieved by restricting inappropriate development within the designated areas and imposing stricter conditions on permitted building.


title: Poole

text: Poole has areas of green belt to the north and west of the district, mostly on the fringes of the shared border with the Purbeck and East Dorset districts. These cover landscape features and greenfield facilities including the rivers Stour and Sherford and their floodplains, the Stour Valley Way, Canford Heathland, Dunyeats Hill and Corfe and Barrow Hill nature reserves, Upton Country Park, Pergins Island, and the Wimborne District Society of Model Engineers miniature railway.