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Afghanistan’s bloody mystery: Little progress in war or peace talks
24 August 2018 12:40 am - 0 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
That the United States has still not been able to defeat an enemy much weaker in terms of military resources in a war that is continuing for 17 long years in Afghanistan does not bode well for its image as the world’s mightiest military power.
Armed with nuclear weapons, mother-of-all bombs, precision-guided missiles and the advanced satellite technology, it can surely eliminate the Taliban and the ISIS in a matter of days or weeks even without the use of a single nuclear weapon. Then why has the US failed to defeat the Taliban? It is not that the US has no will power to end the war. The answer is rather linked to its strategy.
Landlocked Afghanistan provides the US a strategic base to keep watch on a host of hostile or not-so-friendly nations. In the west of Afghanistan is Iran, a US enemy. Sharing a 2,430km-long border with Afghanistan in the south and the east is Pakistan which now gives more importance to close defence ties with China than to ties with the often unreliable and ‘ungrateful’ US. Unreliable, because history shows the US uses Pakistan only to ditch it once its objectives are achieved. Ungrateful, because the Pakistanis feel the US has not appreciated the heavy price their country has been forced to pay for joining the US war on terror. In the north, Afghanistan shares a 76km border with China, with which the US is locked in a trade war and military competition befitting a fully-fledged cold war. Afghanistan also shares a 2,300km-long border with Central Asia, where the US has no military presence now after Kyrgyzstan closed down the US airbase in 2014 following pressure from Russia.
The US is not naïve to withdraw from Afghanistan and thereby squander the strategic advantage it enjoys. Its presence in Afghanistan is legalised and legitimised through a controversial Strategic Partnership Agreement the two nations signed in 2012. The US invaded Afghanistan in October 2001, after the Taliban rulers refused to hand over Osama bin Laden, leader of al-Qaeda which carried out the 9/11 attacks, although some analysts believed the invasion had more to do with a pipeline project to enable US oil companies to exploit Central Asia’s oil and gas.
President Donald Trump, surrounded by hardline advisors, is for an indefinite prolonged war in Afghanistan. Trump has said he has become convinced that the only thing worse than staying in Afghanistan is pulling out. In the context of this large picture, Afghanistan finds it difficult to extricate itself from the superpower power games. Afghanistan is being bled to a slow death, with none of the peace efforts undertaken by various interested parties moving beyond the preliminary stages. In 2013, Qatar facilitated a Pakistan brokered peace initiative between the Afghan government and the Taliban, only to see its early collapse after Taliban leader Mullah Omar was killed in a US operation. Recently, Qatar launched fresh attempts, facilitating secret contacts between the warring parties, including the US. However, it appears that after every step taken in the direction of peace, there comes a blow pushing the process two steps backwards.
There were also China-brokered peace initiatives. China sees Afghanistan peace as a crucial factor for the success of its Belt-and-Road project. Even these talks could not make much progress, because the US was left out.
In the aftermath of intense clashes for the control of the city of Ghazni last week, Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani made a ceasefire offer to the Taliban, but it was met with Taliban rocket attacks on Kabul’s high security zone housing the presidential palace and the US embassy.
Russia, a country badly hit by narcotics drugs produced in Afghanistan, is also working out a multilateral peace initiative, but this is also likely to end as a non-event. On Wednesday, adding to the bloody mystery, the Kabul government indicated it would not attend the Moscow conference, although the Taliban said it would.
Not only peace talks, even war appears to be going nowhere. The Taliban control large chunks of the country’s territory. In addition, since last year, following the crushing defeats in Iraq and Syria, the ISIS has also been making its presence felt in Afghanistan. Probably carrying out a foreign power’s agenda, the ISIS largely targets the Shiite population. Two weeks ago, the ISIS carried out a massacre at an Afghan school, killing some 34 Shiite students. As if this bloodshed was not enough, the US-based war mercenary company Blackwater, notorious for massacres and human rights violations in Iraq, wants the Trump administration to privatise the Afghan war. In a recent interview with MSNBC, Blackwater founder Erik Prince said the privatisation of the war would be a big saving for the US government. He said his plan would see US troops replaced with private military contractors who would report to the President through a special envoy. Although the Pentagon is opposed to the Blackwater proposal, Trump’s National Security Advisor John Bolton is receptive.
The proposal takes us to the warning the then US President Dwight Eisenhower issued 57 years ago about private defence contractors. “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist,” he warned.
Adding to the conundrum is Pakistan’s new government headed by cricket hero-turned politician Imran Khan, who has said his foreign policy priority will be peace with India and Afghanistan. However, he is scoffed as ‘Taliban Khan’ for his comments which critics interpret as supportive of the Pakistan Taliban. A virulent opponent of US drone attacks that have killed many civilians, Khan has lambasted Trump, calling him “ignorant and ungrateful” after Trump had commented that the US got nothing from Pakistan in the fight against terrorists, though US had given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid. After his election victory last month, Khan, striking a conciliatory note, said, “With the US, we want to have a mutually beneficial relationship ... up until now, that has been one way, the US thinks it gives us aid to fight its war ... we want both countries to benefit, we want a balanced relationship.”
It is too early to say whether it is the military or the elected government which will decide Pakistan’s Afghan policy. However, for the US military to remain in Afghanistan, the support of Pakistan is crucial, because it is the only nation, through which the US could send supplies to its 15,000 troops stationed in Afghanistan. Occasionally, Pakistan has shut down the supply route to soothe public anger after US drone attacks killed civilians.
Even democracy has not provided an answer to Afghanistan’s conflict. Next year, there will be a presidential election, but as usual, the Taliban would not only take part, but also violently disrupt the process, thus offering the US a justification to continue its military presence in the country. When war becomes a daily routine, for Afghans, peace is, probably, anathema and suffering fait accompli. For the rest of the world, after 17 long years, Afghanistan is now the least spoken about war.
Death row inmate obtains masters degree becoming world’s 5th to do so
One staying at the official residence, the other in a hotel
Do not panic over social media reports in South: MOD
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Technical Article Archive
Recommended grass and clover list 2010
Published 26 April 10
The Recommended Grass & Clover List for 2010 gives grassland farmers, amongst other things, performance characteristics of grass and clover.
"The publication is extremely useful for all grassland farmers," says Dr Elizabeth Berry, DairyCo research and development manager. "It allows you to select a variety that will perform well for your particular system and end use. The lists are drawn up after rigorous testing for qualities such as yield, persistency, quality and disease resistance.
"I look at it as the grass and clover equivalent to the bull proof for grasses," says Elizabeth. "By using old varieties you are missing out on millions of pounds worth of investment made by plant breeders in order to produce new, superior grasses and clovers. There are even huge differences in performance between the varieties on the Recommended List - as much as 3t/ha yield difference between the top and bottom rated varieties in some species.
"One of the best ways for a dairy farmer to reduce costs is to produce more and better quality feed on the farm rather than buying in," Elizabeth says.
"There is a huge potential for this type of saving on many dairy farms by using the best available plant variety for your system.
"Over the past 12 years grass varieties on the Recommended List have seen an average increase of 5% in yield and more than 2% in digestibility, equating to a 10% increase in animal output," she concludes.
As well as the Recommended Grass and Clover List the publication also includes information on:
Assessing existing pasture
Reasons to reseed
How to get the best from reseeding
Choosing the right varieties of grass and clover for your system
The testing is funded by a levy paid by merchants and retailers participating in the Grass Levy Scheme, on the sale of the recommended varieties that appear in the booklet. The varieties that made it on to the lists have been trialed for at least two seasons on the National List and often a further three years on the Recommended List, and the results are heavily scrutinised by a panel of experts.
The recommended list booklet is produced for use in England and Wales. While it may be applicable to growers in Scotland they should also consult publications suitable for their area.
Related Links & Publications
The Recommended Grass & Clover List 2010
Grass+
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Lawrence Nagy
Mr. Lawrence (Larry) Nagy, BA Geological Sciences
Position: Chief Executive Officer and Director
Larry has over 35 years of experience in the mineral resource industry managing exploration programs in North and South America, Australia, Mongolia and Africa. He obtained a BA Degree in Geological Sciences in 1966 before spending the next 16 years employed as a Senior Project Geologist with Cominco Ltd., and managing projects in western Canada and Australia. During the mid-1990’s, he was co-founder and co-owner of Keewatin Engineering , a Vancouver based Geological consulting firm responsible for managing exploration projects in western Canada.
Larry provides broad mineral exploration experience through his past management of a number of successful Junior Resource Companies, including Loki Gold Corp, (Brewery Creek Mine in Yukon). As a Director of Delaware Resources Ltd., he was instrumental in the acquisition and subsequent development of the Snip Gold Property, a prospect which he originally identified and staked for Cominco. Larry also served as a Director of Calpine Resources Limited, a Vancouver Junior which optioned the Eskay Creek Property and subsequently discovered one of the largest and richest gold-silver deposits in North America. While serving as President and CEO of Oliver Gold Corp, he lead Oliver in the discovery of the Segala Gold deposit in Mali, West Africa, and the Ipanema Gold deposit in Zimbabwe. While serving as President and CEO of Solomon Resources in the mid 1990’s, Solomon financed the initial J/V exploration programs in Burkina Faso which led to the discovery of the Bombore Oxide Gold deposits currently being expanded and developed by Orezone. Currently, Larry is a co-founder , Director and Executive Chairman of Colorado Resources Ltd ., a company aggressively exploring a new and promising Cu-Au Discovery in North Central British Columbia.
Terese Gieselman
Terese Gieselman
Position: Chief Financial Officer/Corporate Secretary
Ms. Gieselman has had 28 years experience with public junior mining and exploration companies in the roles of Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer, and Corporate Secretary. During her tenure in the resource sector, Terese has accumulated an extensive background in corporate and financial reporting and compliance for Canada and the United States, including particularly relevant experience in financings, treasury, international corporate structures and financial reporting in Mexico, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Kenya.
Bill Yeomans
Mr. Bill Yeomans, P.Geo
Mr. Yeomans obtained his HBSc. in Geological Sciences from Queen's University in 1982. He is a gold exploration professional with over 35 years experiences in all stages of gold exploration throughout the Americas. He gained extensive exploration management experience across the entire Guiana Shield with BHP, along with several junior mining companies. Mr. Yeomans worked as a senior exploration manager throughout every major gold mining camp across Canada, and has generated projects which resulted in significant NI-43-101 gold resources on three different projects including the Duquense-Ottoman gold project in Quebec. He has worked as a consultant to IAMGOLD, identified acquisition opportunities in Canada and Alaska. For the past three years he has consulted for Dundee Precious Metals Inc. prioritizing and recommending advance gold projects throughout North America. As one of the founders of Western Canada Greenfield's Group, he staked a portfolio of gold projects that was recently sold the Sable Resources Inc.
William Lindqvist
Mr. William Lindqvist, P. Eng
Dr. Lindqvist has over 40 years of international mineral exploration experience and has directed and participated in several major gold deposit discoveries across a broad spectrum of geologic terrains. Dr. Lindqvist’s previous discovery experience includes; the Gosowong Bonanza gold deposit in Indonesia, Chimney Creek, Mule Canyon, Ruby Hill and the Gold Hill deposits in Nevada, Mesquite gold deposit in California, Shafter silver deposit in Texas, Ortiz gold deposit in New Mexico, Extensions of Eskay Creek gold-silver deposit in BC., Jeronimo Gold Manto deposit in Chile and Arenal Deeps deposit in Uruguay.
Dr. Lindqvist is presently a Director and/or Technical Advisor to several listed, public and private exploration companies and until his retirement, he served as the Vice President of Exploration for Homestake Mining Company and as the Executive General Manager of Exploration for Newcrest Mining Limited, Australia. Dr.Lindqvist holds a Ph. D. in Applied Geology from the Royal School of Mines in London and is a member of SEG, and AIME.
Lucas Birdsall
Mr. Lucas Birdsall
Mr. Birdsall serves as a director and officer of several public companies, including Triangle Industries Ltd., where he serves as a director, chief financial officer and corporate secretary, Cameo Resources Corp., where he serves as a director, and Express Capital Corp., where he serves as a director. Mr.Birdsall is a graduate of the Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University.
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One dead, six wounded in Hamburg supermarket knife attack
By AFP Jul 28, 2017 in World
One person was killed and six others were injured on Friday when a failed asylum-seeker brandishing a knife attacked shoppers in a Hamburg supermarket, shouting "Allahu Akbar" before being overpowered by passers-by, police and officials said.
The attack had been motivated by "hate," mayor Olaf Scholz said, although he stopped short of declaring it a terrorist incident.
"It makes me especially angry that the perpetrator appears to be a person who claimed protection in Germany and then turned his hate against us," he said.
If confirmed as an Islamist attack, it would be the first in Germany since Tunisian Anis Amri drove a truck into crowds at a Berlin Christmas market on December 19, killing 12 and injuring 48.
Police said that the man was a 26-year-old born in the United Arab Emirates, but were unable to immediately confirm his nationality or identify the motive behind the violence.
News website Spiegel Online reported that the individual was named Ahmad A., who had arrived in Germany seeking asylum and had contact with the Islamist scene as well as a history of mental health problems and drug use.
The attacker had been scheduled to be deported, but the process had been held up as he lacked identity papers, Scholz said.
Police and the city-state's interior minister are expected to offer further details about the incident at a midday (1000 GMT) news conference on Saturday.
- High alert -
Germany has been on high alert about the threat of a jihadist attack since Amri's rampage in Berlin, for which the Islamic State group claimed responsibility.
Jihadists have also carried out a string of random assaults in European countries using knives.
Map locating central Hamburg where a knife attack occurred Friday in which one person was killed
Sabrina BLANCHARD, AFP
Like the Hamburg attacker, Amri was a failed asylum seeker who could not be deported for lack of documents.
The similarity between the two cases risks reopening barely healed wounds over Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to allow more than million migrants into Germany since 2015, with just two months to go until legislative elections in September.
"These criminals want to poison our free society with fear, but they will not succeed," mayor Scholz said.
Politicians were quick to jump on the attack, with the anti-migrant, anti-Islam and anti-European party AfD condemning the chancellor.
"Before Mrs Merkel tweets again that this is 'beyond comprehension': this has something to do with Islam. Comprehend that once and for all!" said AfD's Beatrix von Storch on Twitter.
- Improvised weapons -
The attacker stabbed to death a 50-year-old man, believed to be a German citizen, and "struck out wildly" at others, wounding a woman and four men aged 19 to 64, police said.
Another 35-year-old man was hurt while overpowering the attacker in the street alongside other passers-by shortly after the killing.
"A crowd of about 30 people ran out of the supermarket. They yelled that someone had been stabbed... we saw a man go past with a big knife, like a butcher's knife, in his hand," eyewitness Ralf Woyna told AFP.
Police cordon off the area around a supermarket in the northern German city of Hamburg, where a man killed one person in a knife attack, on July 28, 2017
Markus Scholz, dpa/AFP
Woyna had been sitting at a cafe opposite the entrance to the shop where the chase began.
"Two customers who also looked Middle Eastern took all the chairs from the cafe and ran after him. I lost sight of them for a minute and heard a shout of 'Allahu Akbar' in the distance, I knew it was an attack straight away," he added.
An amateur mobile phone video published by news site Spiegel Online showed a handful of pursuers confronting the attacker, a bearded man wearing a t-shirt and jeans, amid dense city traffic.
They can be seen hurling chairs at him to keep him at a safe distance as he yells and brandishes the knife.
According to Spiegel Online, the 35-year-old man injured during the struggle was the one who finally forced the suspect to the ground, using a pole.
The witnesses slightly hurt the attacker while they were overpowering him, before handing him over to police.
Newspaper Bild published images of the man lying handcuffed on the ground and sitting in the back seat of a police car, a bloodied white bag pulled over his head.
More about Germany, Crime, Knife, Assault
Germany Crime Knife Assault
Days of extreme heat to become weeks as climate gets hotter
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American independence won in the south.
In snow shoe mouth deep they came that 27th day of September 1780, a long column of mounted riflemen full of wrath and anger. The long slender rifles of the frontier (aka Flintlock American Long Rifle, Pennsylvania Rifle, Kentucky Rifle) were balanced across their saddles and knives strapped on their belts. They were “Over Mountain Men” from western North Carolina in the area that would later become northeast Tennessee in 1796. Several years earlier they had formed little settlements along the Watauga, Holston, and Nolichunky rivers on the western side of the Appalachian mountains.
The Revolutionary War for American Independence had not affected them until earlier in this year and due to their remote location they were virtually independent of British and American government. But the war in the north which had been ongoing since 1775 had been fought to a stalemate. Now England had decided upon a Southern Strategy and the war moved from the north to the south. Georgia, the youngest and weakest of the 13 American colonies had fallen to the British with the capture of Savannah on Dec. 29,1778. The British and their loyalist American Tory forces had moved into South Carolina and American Continentals and Whig militia patriots had suffered devastating defeats at Charleston, Waxhaws, and Camden.
British Major Patrick Ferguson had been ordered by British General Charles Cornwallis to invade the South Carolina back country between the Catawba and Saluda rivers and recruit Loyalists and suppress Whig Patriots. Within days of his invasion of the Carolina up country Ferguson had recruited many Loyalist Tory British sympathizers and had began to hunt down and punish Whig Patriots. During the summer of 1780 “Over Mountain Men” militia had swept eastward and engaged Ferguson and his Loyalist Tories in fierce little engagements at Woffords Iron Works, Musgrove’s Mill, Thicketty Fort, and Cedar Springs. They had recrossed the mountains back to their homes planning to resume resistance next Spring.
Ferguson made a decision that would prove fatal to him and his Loyalists. He paroled a Whig prisoner and sent him to inform Col. Isaac Shelby whom he considered the titular head of the “Over Mountain Men” or “Back Water Men” informing them that if they did not cease resistance to the British Crown that he would cross the mountains and hang the leaders, burn their houses, and lay waste to the area with “fire and sword”. Col. Shelby met with Col.John Sevier (Nolichunky Jack) and a gathering of the mountain men took place at Sycamore Shoals on the Watauga river. A decision was made to carry the battle to Ferguson and it was to be a fight to the finish. They rode eastward, a column of about 1000 men, and were joined by North Carolina, Virginia, South Carolina, Kentucky, and Georgia militia and now numbered about 1800. Most were mounted but some were walking.
Spies informed Ferguson that the Over Mountain Men were coming. He retreated and his 1100 Loyalist Tories took up a position on top of King’s Mountain on the NC. and SC. line. The Patriot army selected 900 of the best rifleman and best horses to get to Ferguson quick before he received reinforcements from Cornwallis at Charlotte NC. All through the night they advanced toward King’s Mountain in rain and at 3 PM on October 7 they totally surprised the Loyalists. The Colonels on horseback horseshoed around the mountain and led the men fighting “Indian Style” from tree to tree to the summit. Ferguson was killed and the battle was a total Patriot victory.
Then at Cowpens South Carolina on Jan.17,1781 General Daniel Morgan and American Patriots defeated British Col..Banastre Tarlton. The victories of these two battles caused a British retreat to Winnsboro SC. Later they invaded North Carolina where the American army engaged and bloodied them severely at Guilford Courthouse. With the help of the French fleet this led to surrender by the British at Yorktown Virginia on Oct. 19, 1781. On Sept. 3, 1783 England granted Independence to each of the 13 sovereign American colonies.
James W. King is commander of Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) Camp 141 in Albany Georgia, USA
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Home | The Deadworks | Short Fiction | Short Plays | Recipes | About Me
The World Is Not Enough - Close But No Cigar
The World Is Not Enough - 1999
Bond: Pierce Brosnan
Directed by: Michael Apted
Produced by: Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli
Theme: "The World Is Not Enough" performed by Garbage
Fun fact: I often confuse the titles "Tomorrow Never Dies" and "The World Is Not Enough" in my head because they both start with T, have the same number of syllables, and are both in iambic meter. "The World Is Not Enough" is in fact the Bond family motto, as 007 jokes in this film (I always thought that was a clever bit of writing). If you listen closely during On Her Majesty's Secret Service you'll hear it referenced in one of the heraldry scenes, which would make it the only Bond film title to be spoken in more than one film if it weren't for the ubiquitous use of the phrase "license to kill".
This is one of the few Bond movies that you should really only watch once. Not because it's terrible. It's actually quite good... the first time you see it. Sure it has its flaws, but it does some unique things with the plot and the villain. Bond has some interesting character development moments, and Judi Dench's talents are used well in an expanded role for M. Unfortunately a lot of the dramatic tension that runs through the film goes away completely once you know how it ends. So while the first viewing is something of a roller-coaster, the second is more like waiting in line at the exit. It's just sort of boring.
Where Goldeneye had a tank chase, and Tomorrow had the hand-cuffed motorcycle chase, World never has a signature action sequence, unless you count the speed boat chase on the Thames in the pre-title sequence, but being remembered for a pre-title sequence is something of a dubious honor. In fact, the speed boat chase was supposed to be the first thing after the main title, but they moved it in front of the title because otherwise the pre-title sequence was deemed too boring. As a result, the film boasts the longest pre-title sequence in the series at 14 minutes. However, whenever you have a problem with part of your movie being "too boring", you know you've got issues.
Where Tomorrow had two wonderful performances by actress in two complex roles, World has one good performance by an actress in a complex role (Sophie Marceau as Electra King) and Denise Richards as Christmas Jones, who somehow manages to give Lois Chiles a run for her money as the worst performance by an actress in a Bond film. Not only is she terrible, but the part is terrible. After raising the bar on female characters so high in the previous film, they immediately reduced it back to the pretty scientist with a puney name who's only in the film to look good in a wet t-shirt:
Apparently there was some controversy about Sophie Marceau's nipple being briefly visible in her love scene with Bond, which I find funny considering Denise Richards may as well be topless during the entire flooded submarine sequence.
Robert Carlyle is great as Renard, but the reason you're not going to see him on any top 10 Bond villain lists is because the role just isn't that menacing. In fact, he's kind of a sap. Carlyle's talents are wasted in this film, especially considering how good he is at playing bad guys.
World is Desmond Llewelyn's last film as Q. This was not by design, although you would think it given his final scene which plays like a sad farewell. He intended to play the role until he died. Unfortunately for him, two weeks after World opened, at the age of 85, he did just that. Not from old age, mind you, but from a head-on car crash. He had appeared in all but two Eon produced Bond films. (Peter Burton played the role in Dr. No, and Q does not appear in Live and Let Die.) World sets up his successor with John Cleese masterfully playing Q's assistant whom Bond jokingly calls R.
This was definitely the beginning of the end for the Brosnan years. That's easy to say knowing that he only had one movie left, but the real problem was that the world was about to change. Much like Bond had to be reinvented after the fall of the Soviet Union, he'd have to be reinvented again after 9/11.
Personal Rankings: This isn't Brosnan's best, but it's not his worst either, and it does play well initially.
The Spy Who Loved Me
Tomorrow Never Dies
The Living Daylights
The World Is Not Enough
Dr. No
Octopussy
The Man with the Golden Gun
On Her Majesty's Secret Service - In a place all to itself
1999 Context
President: Bill Clinton
Queen: Elizabeth II
The Euro is established.
Skyfall director Sam Mendes wins an Oscar for directing American Beauty
Best Picture Nominees:
The Green Mile
The Sixth Sense
Labels: Denise Richards, James Bond, John Cleese, Lois Chiles, Pierce Brosnan, Robert Carlyle, Sophie Marceau
In 1789, the governor of Australia granted land and some animals to James Ruse in an experiment to see how long it would take him to support himself. Within 15 months he had become self sufficient. The area is still known as Experiment Farm. This is my Experiment Farm to see how long it will take me to support myself by writing.
Get Experiment Farm by Email
Something Like a Chicken Sandwich
Un-Abridged Closing Night: Let It Snow! Austin, MN
Our Intrepid Hero
Food Attacks #1: rôti de porc au lait
Other People's Blogs
Direct Address
Man Pranks Dog
Adventures in Jamming
My Little Bit of Everything Blog
Improv-a-Mama
Playful Links – 5/21/12
© 2007 - 2010 Alan Goy
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Grand Teton accepting comments on removing mountain goats
Outlaw Partners
By Jessianne Castle EBS Contributor
LIVINGSTON – After a significant downtick in the number of bighorn sheep in Grand Teton National Park, officials are now accepting comments on a proposal to remove all mountain goats from the park, which are a non-native species that could be negatively affecting the sheep. The public comment period will run through Jan. 6.
Prior to 2015, researchers estimated the park’s bighorn herd was approximately 100 to 125 individuals. However, winter flight surveys between 2015 and 2017 indicate the population dropped to approximately 50 sheep. According to Grand Teton’s proposal, the herd is currently estimated at about 80, though at EBS press time on Dec. 19, representatives from the park’s public affairs office were unavailable to discuss this population increase from 2017, due to a potentially impending government shutdown.
Overall, officials believe the bighorn population has declined, though the exact cause isn’t apparent.
In the 59-page proposal, the authors discuss ongoing research that suggests mountain goats and bighorn sheep have the potential to transmit diseases and could compete for resources, the latter of which can be critical when the animals share winter range. This is of particular concern for the Teton Range bighorns, which are one of the smallest and most isolated Wyoming herds, and was never extirpated, nor improved with reintroduced sheep.
“Without active management, the mountain goat population is expected to continue to grow and expand its distribution within the park, threatening the existence of the native Teton Range bighorn sheep herd,” park officials wrote in a press release, adding that a rapidly growing breeding population of 100 mountain goats has become established since first coming to the Tetons in 1979.
These mountain goats likely came from a population that was introduced outside of the park, southwest of the Tetons in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Mountain goat native range, however, extends from southeastern Alaska, south to the Columbia River in Washington, east into Idaho and western Montana, and north to the southern Yukon.
Park officials are proposing two methods for managing the non-native mountain goats—either by lethally removing the entire population, or by combining a level of lethal removal with some live-capture. Animals that are captured would either be relocated to zoos or reintroduced to their native home ranges.
A bighorn sheep ram walks through meadow in Grand Teton National Park. NPS PHOTO
While it is possible that mountain goats could re-establish a population in Grand Teton after their removal, the proposal authors note that it took roughly 40 years for mountain goats to establish a breeding population in the park after first being spotted in 1979. They add that managers could remove individual goats that enter the park in order to prevent recolonization.
Representatives from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department have shown their support for the park’s plan. To assist the park with the removal, Wyoming will hold special-draw mountain goat hunts next fall in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest just beyond the park boundary. These licenses will not be once-in-a-lifetime like other goat hunting opportunities in Wyoming.
Wildlife management coordinator Doug McWhirter said these hunts should keep mountain goats to a very limited population and hunters will have the potential to draw every year. This new hunting opportunity is a management strategy authorized by the state legislature, over-riding a state statute that limited mountain goat hunting, he said.
Despite the hunting increase, McWhirter said the department does support the removal of goats in the park. “Most of the area’s goats and sheep reside in Grand Teton National Park,” he said. “We can’t manage the entire mountain goat population with hunting outside of the park.”
Though mountain goats in the Spanish Peaks near Big Sky are also non-native, conditions are allowing Montana managers to leave the population intact.
“Although the mountain goats are non-native, they are a numerous and healthy population in the Spanish Peaks. They overlap somewhat with bighorn sheep on summer range, but generally not on winter range,” wrote Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Bozeman area wildlife biologist Julie Cunningham in an email to EBS. “Meanwhile, the bighorn sheep population is also currently healthy and at the highest numbers in recent history.
“I currently see no reason to suspect deleterious competition between these two species in the Spanish Peaks,” she added. “My current management strategy is to maintain both populations at healthy levels.”
Visit parkplanning.nps.gov/mountaingoat to learn more, view Grand Teton’s proposal, or submit comments.
Related Topics:bighorn sheepDoug McWhirterGrand Teton National ParkJessianne CastleJulie Cunninghammontana fish wildlife and parksMountain Goats
Collaborative tributary restoration ensures health of entire fishery
The New West: Montana Sen. Mike Phillips plans to draft bill to outlaw predator derbies
Black bear euthanized due to multiple conflicts in Bozeman
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Home → Call Centers → It Takes a Community
It Takes a Community
Posted May 29, 2001 By EnterpriseAppsToday.com Staff Feedback
Compaq adds a community support forum to take advantage of the interactive nature of the Internet.
by eCRMGuide.com Staff
Last February, Compaq Computer Corporation added a community program to its portfolio of eServices thereby enhancing customer satisfaction while empowering users. The Compaq Customer Community Program, developed by QUIQ, Inc., provides an online forum where Compaq Presario and iPAQ customers can interact and collaborate with other individuals to share information and advice regarding Compaq products and services.
"Compaq's program recognizes the emergence of a more proficient generation of computer user with more sophisticated needs," said Steve Young, Compaq's vice president of Worldwide Customer Care. "We developed this eServices program as part of our strong commitment to customer satisfaction and service in order to empower customers of all experience levels and enable them to receive the most value and enjoyment from the Compaq products they purchase."
Customers ranging from novice to expert have received assistance via this online program, enabling them to receive fast and accurate solutions on a broad range of topics, such as PC System Maintenance, Mobile Computing, Connecting on the Go, and How to Set Up a Home Network. The community forum on the Compaq site is accessible 24 hours a day, seven days per week to tens of thousands of users including more than 100 community experts and enthusiasts who contribute to content pieces and discussions. Community members help one another resolve technical issues, address product-related "how to" questions and share knowledge and education for Compaq products.
"The benefit of Compaq Customer Communities goes beyond merely offering hardware and software support online -- the program is dynamic and participant interaction reflects the willingness of people to assist others, including how to apply the technology in every day circumstances," said Young. "Because of the online forum, members can address new issues and topics as they arise, providing quick responses to customers' needs or concerns."
Compaq's eServices also include an online consumer support site, offering e-mail support and access to original product drivers, latest updates, and online documentation, and the Compaq Knowledge Center that integrates self-help assistance features from Compaq and Microsoft with the efficiencies of the Internet for the fastest time to solution.
Compaq Computer Corporation, a Fortune Global 100 company, designs, develops, manufactures, and markets hardware, software, solutions and services, including consumer PCs that are sold in more than 200 countries.
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Action cricket fever hits the coast
06 May 2019 | Sports
Gerrie Snyman; Get Seen Sports Group; “Playing indoor sports allows you to play regularly without worrying about the weather conditions.”
Dougie Prins and Gerrie Snyman (in yellow shirt) with Harde Hout action cricket team members. Photo Otis Finck
Swakopmund - Otis Finck
A local businessman, Dougie Prins, handed over a set of sport jerseys to the Harde Hout action cricket team from Swakopmund last week.
Prins, who also sponsors U/11 cricket development at Pro-Ed Academy, announced a three-year sponsorship deal on the occasion.
“Action cricket is a newly established exciting team game at the coast. It combines fun, fitness and competition, while its simplicity allows people of all ages to play. The sport also helps with improving the skills and overall performances of athletes.”
He challenged other businesses to come on board and sponsor the rest of the four teams in Swakopmund.
The rules of the game stipulate there should be seven registered teams to constitute a league. Once established the action cricket leagues are expected to run over a period of eight weeks with games to be played on Monday through Friday.
The organisers are looking to set up a youth league and adult league, starting with a men’s only, and hopefully being able to progress to mixed and eventually women’s only leagues.
“Business owners must take the initiative and invest in sport opportunities in our town. The community should also play their part when it comes to ensuring proper foundations are laid for our future sport stars in particular,” said Prins.
The owner of the Get Seen Sports Group, Gerrie Snyman, started the first for Namibia Professional Indoor Cricket Academy located at the Coastal Action Sports Arena in Swakopmund.
The venue caters for all action sports. Get Seen Sports wants to offer a multi-purpose space that caters for sporting events, corporate events, non-profit events, birthday parties, functions, and much more.
According to Snyman the interest in action cricket has been immense within the coastal community and he hopes more people will join in on the fun.
“Action cricket is a fast paced, exciting game played by six or eight players per side. Each game lasts approximately one hour and is pure action from start to finish. We will have leagues to suit all types of players, from beginner to advanced level,” he explained.
He added that action cricket is great for team building, with many companies and organisations taking part in the sport.
With the weather being so unpredictable at the coast this is also an ideal way of enjoying sport without any limitations.
“Exercise after a stressful day at the office also has immense benefits. Playing indoor sports allows you to play regularly without worrying about the weather conditions.”
The courts in indoor sports facilities are smooth and maintained, ensuring the safety of players. Spectator facilities are also excellent, allowing friends and family to watch and enjoy watching from up close.
“Running an indoor sport facility requires funds and without the help from sponsorships we risk losing a top quality facility. Companies are welcome to sponsor teams and get their brand seen. We also welcome prizes for our tournament winners.”
With his vast international experience, Snyman is looking forward to promote the sport of cricket at the coast and to convey his knowledge of the game to students.
“I already have 15 active members signed up with the academy within the first month of operation ranging from 8 years old to senior national women players. I also present skills development to a netball squad of 22 girls once a week.”
Snyman played for Namibia from 2001 to 2017, and competed in the 2003 World Cup against teams like Australia, England, Pakistan, India and Holland.
In a game against the United Arab Emirates, he hit a world record 17 sixes in a single limited overs innings, culminating in a final score of 196 from 113 balls. It is one of two world records under his belt.
“I now wish to convey my knowledge of the game to new and upcoming cricket players of all ages through the academy I opened.”
Snyman can be contacted on 081 356 5773 or via email at [email protected]
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Bullz-Eye’s Favorite Albums of 2008: Staff Writer Michael Fortes’ picks
Posted by Michael Fortes (12/28/2008 @ 3:30 pm)
This year has seen some extraordinary new music come our way. I’ve heard the opposite opinion from elsewhere, but for me, being on the West Coast has a lot to do with my enthusiasm. In fact, seven of the albums in my top ten are by West Coast artists, some more well-known than others. Not only that, three of the albums in my top ten aren’t albums at all. The “EP” is an anachronistic term that originally referred to a 7” vinyl record with more music crammed on each side (usually at the expense of volume and general sound quality) than what a normal single would hold. It’s an abbreviation for “Extended Play.” And yet, today’s EP is really just a half-length CD. They tend to be overlooked, either because they’re too short to warrant much attention or they contain songs not deemed strong enough for a full album, or both. But, like Bob Dylan said, “things have changed.” Our lives are busier, our attention spans are shorter, and our disposable income is shrinking by the hour. What better time for the EP to make a mini-resurgence than now?
1. The Parson Red Heads: Owl & Timber (EP)
There’s a timelessness to the sound and the vibe of the Parson Red Heads that’s beyond explanation. You can single out the familial harmonies, the guitar interplay that recalls the Byrds and the Dead, the irresistibly solid pop songs, or their flowery evocation of a bygone era. But when it comes down to it, this band’s music simply feels good. No other band has released music this irresistible and uplifting in years, and only a select lucky few up and down the West Coast have had the luxury of being able to see and hear them live. With a little luck, this may change, and we’ll be able to look back at Owl & Timber as one of the elements that made it happen.
2. Brian Wilson: That Lucky Old Sun
Following up the 37-years-late Smile with another similarly built song cycle seemed like little more than a fantasy in 2004. But here we are in 2008, and Brian Wilson pulled it off. Mike Love would be proud to hear that there’s only one “downer” on the album (the beautiful, Pet Sounds-worthy “Midnight’s Another Day”), while all the rest are upbeat, aural murals depicting the sunny side of Southern California. It’s Brian doing what he does best, and outside of Smile, it’s easily his best, most enjoyable solo work.
3. Bob Dylan: Tell Tale Signs: The Bootleg Series Vol. 8
Technically, Tell Tale Signs is an archival release, but the recent vintage of the material (1989 through 2006), the abundance of never-before-heard songs, and the fact that most of it was recorded during the same period in which Guns n’ Roses’ 14-years-late Chinese Democracy gestated, qualifies it as new. And even if it didn’t qualify, it would still be listed here, since it does as good a job (if not better) as any of his last three records of proving that, even in his old age, Dylan has lost none of his power to inspire, confound, delight and move his audience.
4. The Gutter Twins: Saturnalia
Mark Lanegan and Greg Dulli have collaborated in the past on a few tracks from Greg’s Twilight Singers albums, and while those duets were pretty good, they were never major stand-outs. Not until the two covered Massive Attack’s “Live with Me” on last year’s A Stitch in Time EP, anyway. As good as that cover was, this full album of originals by Greg and Mark is even better. Dulli stretches himself here, eschewing his usual rockin’ R&B swagger and falling under Lanegan’s dark, spiritual influence.
5. Chris Robley & The Fear of Heights: Movie Theatre Haiku
That straight-laced dude from Portland with the Harry Nilsson fixation strikes again, this time crediting his road band and turning in an even more confident record than last year’s The Drunken Dance of Modern Man in Love. If the 1966 Beatles were a young band today, they’d likely be playing songs like Robley’s “User-Friendly Guide to Change.”
6. Joseph Arthur: Vagabond Skies (EP)
Of the four EPs and full-length album Joseph Arthur released this year, Vagabond Skies rises to the top not only for bearing some of his most captivating and ethereal songs, but also for containing the year’s most memorable guitar solo, in the EP’s centerpiece “She Paints Me Gold.” Plus, the cover art is damn cool.
7. The Happy Hollows: Imaginary (EP)
They’re funny, they’re smart, they’re tight as a conservative’s behind, and they’re the most exciting live indie rock band in L.A. right now. Imaginary is just a short burst of five songs, but what a burst it is – from the simple exclamatory chant of “Colors” to the almost prog-like tour-de-force of “Lieutenant” with singer/guitarist Sarah Negahdari’s Eddie Van Halen-esque guitar tapping, Imaginary tantalizes and teases, just like you want it to.
8. Guns n’ Roses: Chinese Democracy
Yes, it’s bloated and overproduced. No, it’s not the old, sleazy Guns n’ Roses of the late ‘80s. Yes, it should have been out ten years ago, and would have sounded even more contemporary in 1998 than in 2008. But Axl Rose is still the king of tortured, overwrought power ballads and menacing rock n’ roll screams, and on these counts, Chinese Democracy more than delivers – it beats you over the head with its twisted logic.
9. Metallica: Death Magnetic
Metallica sounds like Metallica again! It may be clichéd to say this is their best album since …And Justice for All, but it’s true, and it bears repeating: Death Magnetic is Metallica’s best album since Justice.
10. My Morning Jacket: Evil Urges
Evil Urges goes to great lengths to prove that My Morning Jacket is no typical southern jam band. Not that they ever needed to go so far as to throw some Prince-like falsetto singing and funky R&B into the mix, but as it turns out, it sounds pretty cool.
The Fireman: Electric Arguments
Rachel Taylor Brown: Half Hours with the Lower Creatures
Vampire Weekend: Vampire Weekend
Portishead: Third
Neil Diamond: Home Before Dark
Juliana Hatfield: How to Walk Away
Randy Newman: Harps and Angels
Deerhoof: Offend Maggie
Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan: Sunday at Devil Dirt
Read and Discuss »
Posted in: Alternative, Artists, Electronica, Folk, Lists, Metal, Pop, Rock
Tags: Best of 2008, Bob Dylan, Brian Wilson, Bullz-Eye, Chris Robley, Deerhoof, Greg Dulli, Guns N' Roses, Isobel Campbell, Joseph Arthur, Juliana Hatfield, Mark Lanegan, Metallica, Michael Fortes, My Morning Jacket, Neil Diamond, Paul McCartney, Portishead, Rachel Taylor Brown, Randy Newman, The Fear of Heights, The Fireman, The Gutter Twins, The Happy Hollows, The Parson Red Heads, Vampire Weekend, Youth
Bob Dylan “incomprehensible?”
Posted by Captain Capm (10/15/2007 @ 10:19 am)
You bet! It’s time for some fun with Mr. Zimmerman as New York magazine proudly presents The Ten Most Incomprehensible Bob Dylan Interviews of All Time. Dig Bob waxing weirdly throughout the decades. Fun for all.
Posted in: Artists, Interviews, Videos
Tags: Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan interview
Mikey’s Playlist Mashup
Or, The Whale: Or, The Whale
Bob Dylan wants you to make a U-turn
Cameron Matthews: green. blue. white.
Bullz-Eye’s Favorite Albums of 2008: Staff Writer Ed Murray’s picks
Deep Cuts
Lost Bands
Games to Avoid During a Hangover
Here’s a great list of games that aren’t a great fit with a hangover.
Sexy Girls and Cars
Check out this slideshow of hot babes and cool cars.
Bullz-Eye Music
Yahoo! Music
MySpace Music
Insound
FoundryMusic.com
with tips, comments or questions.
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Fitz Hugh Lane - The Complete Works - Biography - fitz-hugh-lane.org
Fitz Hugh Lane
Merchant Brig under Reefed Topsails
Biography of Fitz Hugh Lane
Fitz Hugh Lane was born on December 19, 1804, in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Lane was christened Nathaniel Rogers Lane on March 17, 1805, and would remain known as such until he was 27. It was not until March 13, 1832 that the state of Massachusetts would officially grant Lane's own formal request (made in a letter dated December 26, 1831) to change his name from Nathaniel Rogers to Fitz Henry Lane. As with practically all aspects of Lane's life, the subject of his name is one surrounded by much confusion-it was not until 2005 that historians discovered that they had been wrongly referring to the artist as Fitz Hugh, as opposed to his chosen Fitz Henry, and the reasons behind Lane's decision to change his name, and for choosing the name he did, are still very unclear.
From the time of his birth, Lane would be exposed to the sea and maritime life-a factor that obviously had a great impact his later choice of subject matter. Many circumstances of his young life ensured Lane's constant interaction with various aspects of this maritime life, including the fact that Lane's family lived "upon the periphery of Gloucester Harbor's working waterfront,", and that his father, Jonathan Dennison Lane, was a sailmaker, and quite possibly owned and ran a sail loft. It is often speculated that Lane would most likely have pursued some sea-faring career, or become a sail-maker like his father, instead of an artist, had it not been for a life-long handicap Lane developed as a child. Although the cause cannot be known with complete certainty, it is widely accepted most plausible that the ingestion of some part of the Peru-Apple-a poisonous weed also known as jimsonweed-by Lane at the age of eighteen months caused the paralysis of the legs from which Lane would never recover. It is suggested, and seems logical to assume, that because he could not play games as the other children did, he was forced to find some other means of amusement, and that in such a pursuit he discovered and was able to develop his talent for drawing. To go a step further, as a result of his having a busy seaport as immediate surroundings, he was able to develop a special skill in depicting the goings-on inherent in such an environment.
It is true that Lane could still have become a sail-maker, as such an occupation entailed much time spent sitting and sewing, and that Lane already had some experience sewing from his short-lived apprenticeship in shoe-making. However, as evidenced in this quote from Lane's nephew Edward Lane's "Early Recollections," his interest in art held much sway in his deciding on a career: "Before he became an artist he worked for a short time making shoes, but after a while, seeing that he could draw pictures better than he could make shoes he went to Boston and took lessons in drawing and painting and became a marine artist."
Lane acquired such ‘lessons' by way of his employment at Pendleton's lithography shop in Boston, which lasted from 1832 to 1847. With the refinement and development of his artistic skills acquired during his years working as a lithographer, Lane was able to successfully produce marine paintings of high quality, as evidenced in his being listed, officially, as a ‘marine painter' in the Boston Almanac of 1840. Lane continued to refine his painting style, and consequently, the demand for his marine paintings increased as well.
Lane had visited Gloucester often while living in Boston, and in 1848, he returned permanently. In 1849, Lane began overseeing construction of a house/studio of his own design on Duncan's Point-this house would remain his primary residence to the end of his life. Fitz Henry Lane continued to produce beautiful marine paintings and seascapes into his later years. He died in his home on Duncan's Point on August 14, 1865, and is buried in Oak Grove Cemetery.
Training and influences
However ambiguous many aspects of Lane's life and career may remain, a few things are certain. First, Lane was, even in childhood, clearly gifted in the field of art. As was noted by J. Babson, a local Gloucester historian and contemporary in Lane's time, Lane "showed in boyhood a talent for drawing and painting; but received no instruction in the rules till he went to Boston." In addition to confirming Lane's early talent, this observation also indicates that Lane was largely self-taught in the field of art-more specifically drawing and paintings-previous to beginning his employment at Pendleton's lithography firm at the age of 28. Lane's first-known and recorded work, a watercolor titled The Burning of the Packet Ship "Boston," executed by Lane in 1830, is regarded by many art historians as evidence of Lane's primitive grasp of the finer points of artistic composition previous to his employment at Pendleton's.
Lane most likely supplemented his primary, purely experiential practices in drawing and painting with the study of instructional books on drawing, or more likely, by the study of books on the subject of ship design. Some study of the literature on the subject of ship design indeed does seem most highly plausible, given that Lane would have had easy access to many such texts, and, more importantly, the most certain necessity of such a study in order for Lane to be able to produce works of such accurate detail in realistically depicting a ship as it actually appeared in one of any given number of possible circumstances it faced in traversing the sea.
At the time when Lane began his employment at Pendleton's, it was common practice for aspiring American artists-especially those who, like Lane, could not afford a more formal education in the arts by traveling to Europe or by attending one of the prestigious American art academies, such as New York's National Academy of Design or Philadelphia's Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts-to seek work as a lithographer, this being the next logical step in their pursuit of a career in the arts. As for why such employment was beneficial to the budding artist, art historian James A. Craig, in his book "Fitz H. Lane: An Artist's Voyage through Nineteenth-Century America," the most comprehensive account of Lane's life and career, offers this illuminating description of the career evolution of the typical lithographer:
"an apprentice's schooling presumably began with the graining of stones, the making of lithographic crayons, and the copying of the designs and pictures of others onto limestone. As his talents developed, the apprentice would find himself gradually taking on more challenging tasks, from drafting and composing images (the role of the designer) to ultimately being permitted to draw his own original compositions upon limestone (that most prestigious of ranks within the litho shop, the lithographic artist). Since the compositional techniques employed in lithography differed little from those taught in European academic drawing, and the tonal work so necessary for the process to succeed was akin to that found in painting (indeed, when his studio began in 1825 John Pendleton specifically sought out painters for employment in his establishment due to their habits of thinking in tonal terms), an apprenticeship within a lithographic workshop like Pendleton's in Boston was roughly equivalent to that offered by fine art academies for beginning students."
Marine Painter
Working in the lithography shop, Lane would have been taught the stylistic techniques for producing artistic compositions from the practiced seniors among his fellow employees. As noted above, because Pendleton specifically sought painters to work in his shop, Lane would most likely have received the benefit of working under and with some of the most skilled aspiring and established marine and landscape painters of his day. The English maritime painter Robert Salmon, who, historians have discovered, came to work at Pendleton's at a period coinciding with Lane's employment therein, is regarded as having had a large impact, stylistically, on Lane's early works.
Beginning in the early 1840's Lane would declare himself publicly to be a marine painter while simultaneously continuing his career as a lithographer. He quickly attained an eager and enthusiastic patronage from several of the leading merchants and mariners in Boston, New York, and his native Gloucester. Lane's career would ultimately find him painting harbor and ship portraits, along with the occasional purely pastoral scene, up and down the eastern seaboard of the United States, from as far north as the Penobscot Bay/Mount Desert Island region of Maine, to as far south as San Juan, Puerto Rico. (From Wikipedia)
Copyright © 2002-2017 fitz-hugh-lane.org
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Have We Got News For You
I’ve hesitated to write about this, but I was really upset by BBC1’s Have I Got News For You last night. It had been a tiring but good week, and I wanted something funny to watch before bed. I watched it on catch-up and was first of all disappointed to see an all-male panel. I thought these were things of the past, now, on these shows? I find all male panels very boring, full of droning self-congratulation, and fifty-something white male panels are the dullest of the lot.
Jo Brand was the host, which made me decide to persevere with watching. Brand is a marvellous comedian, coming more and more into her own these days, well on the way to national treasure status. Her Extra Slice show on C4 has been a lot more fun than this series of the Great British Bake Off, and I am currently re-watching her Getting On, a lovely spiky satire of the world via the microcosm of an NHS geriatric ward. It’s slow-burn humour but it’s a marvellous ensemble piece between Brand, Joanna Scanlon and Vicky Pepperdine.
Anyway, Have I Got News For You was excruciating, even with Jo Brand at the helm. At one point, she was forced to have to explain to the sniggering overgrown schoolboys just what sexual harassment is and why it is unpleasant for women. Honestly! The show was deeply, deeply unfunny, toe-curlingly awful, and made me go to bed upset and bewildered at just how badly wrong the BBC could get this. One of the panelists was even able to repeat a horrible suggestion he’d made on radio last week about pinning a distinguished female columnist down on the floor and tickling her – which is the modern equivalent, surely, of saying she just needs a good **** from a man to sort her out. This is a man I used to know well on the Telegraph and, I’m now ashamed to say, quite liked at the time. How incredibly disappointing to see what he’s turned into.
For the first time ever, I complained about the programme. If you saw it and would like to do the same, you can do so here. If you did watch it, I’d be really interested to hear your opinions on it.
Uncoupling …
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Blue Angels in San Francisco AirShow
Written by Writer
The City and County of San Francisco is the fourteenth-largest in the United States. It is located on the tip of the San Francisco Peninsula and is the focal point of the San Francisco Bay Area. San Francisco is the second most densely populated major American city, after New York. The city is famous for its history in progressive social movements.
San Francisco has a unique mix of physical characteristics, including its months-long episodes of fog, its steep rolling hills, its eclectic mix of architecture (including Victorian style houses and modern highrises), and its being bordered on three sides by the Pacific Ocean and the San Francisco Bay. Famous hallmarks and landmarks include the San Francisco cable cars, the Transamerica Pyramid, the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz Island. Alcatraz Island is located in the middle of San Francisco Bay in California. It was formerly used as a military stockade and later as a maximum security prison. Today, the island is a historic site supervised by the National Park Service as part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and is open to tours. Visitors can reach the island by ferry ride from Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco.
The United States Navy's Blue Angels, is the world's first officially-sanctioned military aerial demonstration team. The team currently operates 6 aircraft per show. Here are some stunning pictures of the airshow.
The team is split into "the Diamond" (Blue Angels 1 through 4) and the Opposing Solos (Blue Angels 5 and 6). Most of their display alternates between maneuvers performed by the diamond, and those performed by the solos. The diamond performs maneuvers in tight formation, usually at lower speeds, such as formation loops and barrel rolls or transitions from one formation to another. The opposing solos usually perform their maneuvers just under the speed of sound, and show off the capabilities of their individual F/A-18s through the execution of high-speed passes, slow passes, fast rolls, slow rolls, and very tight turns.
Some of the maneuvers include both solo F/A-18s performing at once, such as opposing passes (where the solos fly towards each other in what appears to be a collision course, and then narrowly miss one another) and mirror formations (the two F/A-18s being flown back-to-back or belly-to-belly; in such formations, one of the aircraft is often inverted). At the end of the routine, all 6 aircraft join in formation and execute the team's signature "fleur-de-lis" closing maneuver.
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San Francisco Tour - Beautiful!
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Las Vegas Strip GGR down 3.3 pct in April
Jun 01, 2017 Newsdesk Latest News, Top of the deck, World
Casino gaming revenue on the Las Vegas Strip dropped 3.3 percent year-on-year to US$475.4 million in April, according to data disclosed on Wednesday by the Nevada Gaming Control Board.
Win for baccarat, a favourite game for Asian gamblers, stood at US$76.7 million. Such win – the amount of money retained by casinos after payment of prizes – fell by 27.0 percent year-on-year.
Table games win on the Las Vegas Strip in April declined by 10.6 percent year-on-year to US$215.2 million, while slot machine win went up 3.7 percent to US$260.2 million.
John DeCree, an analyst at Union Gaming Research LLC, said in a Wednesday note that the result was negatively affected by “a difficult hold comparison and the unfavourable timing of Easter compared with the prior-year period”.
“Additionally, it’s important to note that the T-Mobile Arena opened in April of last year. Despite these challenges, we see the performance on the Strip as better than expected,” said Christopher Jones, an analyst from the Buckingham Research Group Inc, referring to a non-gaming entertainment facility on the Las Vegas Strip.
Mr Jones noted however that baccarat volume on the Las Vegas Strip in April went up by 0.5 percent, which he described as a “positive trend… as the gaming market continues to recover”.
Carlo Santarelli and Danny Valoy, research analysts from Deutsche Bank Securities Inc, said the Las Vegas Strip revenue result in April was “relatively solid given the US$28-million headwind stemming from baccarat hold, as domestic tables and slots were a combined +3.3 percent year-on-year”.
Nevada statewide, gaming win was US$886.5 million in April, up by 1.2 percent on the prior-year period.
Macau venues covered by mulled Wynn ban...
Maddox fit for office at Wynn Resorts,...
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Disorder in the Court: Will Trial Lawyers and Activist Judges ‘Legislate’ Climate Policy?
by Marlo Lewis on March 29, 2011
Tomorrow, the Senate is scheduled to vote on the Inhofe-Upton Energy Tax Prevention Act (S. 482) to overturn EPA’s Endangerment Rule and most of the agency’s other greenhouse gas (GHG) regulations. The bill is based on the constitutional premise that Congress, not an administrative agency with no political accountability to the people, should make the big decisions regarding national policy.
The fact that Congress remains deadlocked on climate and energy policy is a reason for EPA not to act — not an excuse for the agency to substitute its will for that of the people’s representatives.
I am a huge fan of the Inhofe-Upton bill. But even a good thing can be improved. S. 482 should be amended to preempt public nuisance litigation against GHG emitters under federal common law. Indeed, in its current form, S. 482 could actually increase the risk that the Supreme Court will empower trial lawyers and activist judges to ‘legislate’ climate policy.
To belabor the obvious, trial lawyers and activist judges are even less accountable to the people than is the EPA, which at least depends on Congress for its annual appropriations.
The Supreme Court is currently reviewing State of Connecticut v. American Electric Power, a case in which six states, New York City, and three conservation groups are suing five large coal-burning electric utilities for their alleged contribution to climate change-related “injuries.” Plaintiffs claim the utilities’ carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are a “public nuisance” under federal common law. They seek a remedy whereby the utilities would be required to reduce their CO2 emissions by a “specified percentage each year for at least a decade.” A new Congressional Research Service (CRS) report, Litigation Seeking to Establish Climate Change Impacts as a Common Law Nuisance (March 25, 2011), provides a useful overview of the case and the associated legal issues.
A win for plaintiffs would endanger the economy and further erode our constitutional system of separated powers and democratic accountability.
Plaintiffs say they just want to compel the nation’s biggest coal-burning utilities to cut their emissions. However, once the precedent is established, there can be no principled basis for shielding any class of emitters from lawsuits. If state, municipal, or private parties can sue large utilities for emitting CO2, they can also sue smaller utilities and manufacturers. In principle, they can sue almost anyone. Utilities, after all, only emit CO2 in the process of serving customers who use electricity. People lighting their homes, running their businesses, and using their laptops are ultimately to blame for destroying the planet, according to the “science” invoked by plaintiffs. In their worldview, everybody is injuring everybody else — which implies that everybody has standing to sue everybody else. Plaintiffs may preach “green peace,” but they sow the seeds of a war of all against all.
If plaintiffs win in Connecticut v. AEP, firms large and small could face the threat of interminable litigation, from a potentially limitless pool of plaintiffs, in which multiple courts, acting without benefit of statutory guidance, improvise remedies — both injunctive relief and damage awards — as they see fit. A victory for plaintiffs could destroy for many firms the legal predictability essential to business planning.
In August of last year, the Obama administration filed a brief on behalf of the utilities, clearly laying out the absurdities of attempting to determine climate policy via common law nuisance litigation. Not only are there no “judicially discoverable and manageable standards” for balancing the public’s undeniable interest in reliable and affordable energy with the public’s hypothetical interest in climate change mitigation, but the potential pool of plaintiffs and defendants whose interests would be affected literally number in the billions.
Strangely, the Obama brief failed to state the conclusion implied by its argument, namely, that climate policy is a non-justiciable “political question.” Instead, the brief argued that EPA’s ever-growing ensemble of GHG regulations “displaces” the federal common law of nuisance. Implication: All that stands between the U.S. business community and climate litigation chaos is EPA’s newfound career as GHG regulator.
The Court set the stage for EPA’s climate policy initiatives, and very likely wants to protect EPA’s greenhouse agenda from S. 482 and other legislative challenges. The Court may then be tempted to reach a decision blocking CO2 nuisance litigation solely on displacement grounds, so that Congress would arguably be exposing U.S. businesses to an even greater peril by overturning EPA’s policies.
The CRS report alludes to this problem:
Also interesting in the case before the Supreme Court is how EPA’s GHG-related actions under the Clean Air Act since the Second Circuit’s decision in 2009 (and further actions being discussed at the agency) will be seen to affect whether the federal common law of nuisance has been displaced. The Second Circuit explicitly noted this future possibility. Not surprisingly, petitioners-utilities argue that EPA’s actions do require displacement. On the other hand, should any of several bills before the 112th Congress eliminating EPA authority to regulate GHG emissions be enacted, the argument that federal common law has been displaced would be weakened. (Emphasis added).
None of the foregoing is to suggest that the Senate should not pass S. 482. The point rather is that S. 482 should be amended to ensure that the Court cannot use the prospect of litigation chaos to intimidate opponents of EPA’s power grab. What would an appropriate amendment look like?
S. 228, the Barrasso-Walberg Defending America’s Affordable Energy Act, has a provision that would keep the climate ambulance chasers on ice, allowing Congress to nix EPA’s climate rules without fear of getting something even worse:
ACTIONS AT LAW.—No cause of action, whether based on common law or civil tort (including nuisance) or any other legal or equitable theory, may be brought or maintained, and no liability, money damages, or injunctive relief arising from such an action may be imposed, for— (1) any potential or actual contribution of a greenhouse gas to climate change; or (2) any direct or indirect effect of potential or actual atmospheric concentrations of a greenhouse gas.
Tagged as: Congressional Research Service, Fred Upton, James inhofe, John Barrasso, Massachusetts v. EPA, political question doctrine, Robert Meltz, Tim Walberg
Previous post: Krugman and Climategate
Next post: Obama Decries Gimmicks and Slogans with “Win the Future” in Background
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Mobiles Make You Senile Shocker
VNUNET
Journalist: Miya Knights
A new study has re-ignited the controversial question of whether mobile phones are harmful to users.
The US government research concentrates on whether radiation can affect the blood supply to the brain. Its findings contradict previously inconclusive research, which has focused solely on whether mobile phones can cause cancer in the human brain.
The study found that exposure to microwave radiation emitted by GSM phones and other wireless home and office technology is capable of breaking down the 'blood-brain' barrier, a permeable network of capillaries that allows essential substances such as glucose to permeate the brain and fuel its metabolism.
This breakdown releases a protein called albumin that can trigger the destruction of cells, resulting in reduced brain capacity and possibly inducing premature senility.
And although the research is still in its infancy, it is thought that the effects of the release of albumin are irreversible and may even promote other brain diseases.
Dr Leif Salford, a neurosurgeon from the Department of Neurosurgery at Lund University in Sweden, conducted the research using laboratory rats. He suggested that long-term use of mobile handsets could indeed have potentially harmful long-term effects.
"The voluntary exposure of the brain to microwaves from mobile phones by one-fourth of the world's population has been called the largest human biologic experiment ever," he said.
The research also suggests that the effect of the breakdown of the blood-brain barrier may be particularly harmful to teenagers due to their extended phone use.
Dr Salford concluded: "We cannot exclude that after some decades of (often) daily use, a whole generation of users may suffer negative effects."
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Lyme disease is an inflammatory disease transmitted through the bite of a deer tick carrying the spiral-shaped bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi . Symptoms can include skin rash, joint inflammation, fever , headache , fatigue, and muscle pain . Lyme disease is also called Lyme borreliosis.
Lyme disease is an inflammatory, systemic disease, meaning that it affects multiple body systems. Although clinical signs of Lyme disease have been reported for more than 100 years, the disease was not recognized as a distinct illness until 1975, when a cluster of unusual arthritis cases in Lyme, Connecticut, led physicians to discover that town residents living near heavily wooded areas were most affected by arthritis and other symptoms. Tick bites were then linked to the cause of the arthritis cases. Borrelia burgdorferi , the spiral-shaped bacterium called a spirochete, that causes Lyme disease, was not discovered until 1981 by Willy Burgdorfer.
Although Lyme disease is easily treated, it is not easily diagnosed, since symptoms are often attributed to other conditions. If not treated early and properly with antibiotics , Lyme disease can have long-term and disabling effects. In its early stages, Lyme disease affects the skin and produces flu-like symptoms; the disease spreads to the joints and nervous system in its later stages.
Lyme disease is a vector-borne disease, meaning that it is transmitted from one host to another by a carrier—called a vector—that transmits but does not become infected with the disease. In the United States, the deer tick in the genus Ixodes is the vector for Borrelia burgdorferi and Lyme disease transmission. Lyme disease is transmitted when a tick carrying the Borrelia burgdorferi bacterium bites a human to feed on blood. The bacterium is transferred from the intestines of the tick through the mouthparts and into the bloodstream while the tick is feeding. Ticks are most likely to transmit Borrelia burgdorferi after remaining attached and feeding for two or more days. In most areas, ticks are most active from April to October, but in milder climates, ticks may bite year-round.
During their two-year life cycle and three life stages (larva, nymph, and adult), deer ticks feed on a number of mammals that may carry the Borrelia burgdorferi bacterium in their blood, but the white-footed mouse is the most common source of infection. In the summer, the larval ticks hatch from eggs laid in the ground and feed by attaching themselves to small animals and birds. At this stage, they are not a problem for humans. It is the next stage—the nymph—that causes most cases of Lyme disease. Nymphs are very active from spring through early summer, at the height of outdoor activity for most people. Because they are still quite small (less than 2 mm), they are difficult to spot, giving them ample opportunity to transmit Borrelia burgdorferi while feeding. Although far more adult ticks than nymphs carry Borrelia burgdorferi , the adult ticks are much larger, more easily noticed, and more likely to be removed before they have fed long enough to transmit Borrelia burgdorferi . Neither Borrelia burgdorferi nor Lyme disease can be transmitted directly from one person to another or from pets to humans.
Lyme disease is the most common vector-borne disease in the United States. In 2002 alone, 23,763 cases were reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a 40-percent increase over the number reported in 2001. According to the CDC, the actual number of Lyme cases may exceed 200,000 due to underreporting and limitations in disease surveillance methods. CDC statistics indicate that the largest proportion of Lyme disease cases occurs in children aged five to 14 years, and more than 50 percent of Lyme disease cases involve children under age 12. Although cases of Lyme disease have been reported in 49 of the 50 states, more than 95 percent of reported cases occur in just twelve states: Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, Maine, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Massachusetts, and Wisconsin. In the United States, the Great Lakes region and the Pacific Northwest also have a higher incidence of Lyme disease. The disease is also found in Scandinavia, continental Europe, the countries of the former Soviet Union, Japan, China, and Australia.
Lyme disease is caused by the Borrelia burgdorferi bacterium. Once Borrelia burgdorferi gains entry to the body through a tick bite, it can move through the bloodstream quickly. Only 12 hours after entering the bloodstream, Borrelia burgdorferi can be found in cerebrospinal fluid (which means it can affect the nervous system). Treating Lyme disease early and thoroughly is important because Lyme disease can hide for long periods within the body in a clinically latent state. That ability explains why symptoms can recur in cycles and can flare up after months, years, or decades.
Lyme disease is usually described in terms of length of infection (time since the person was bitten by a tick infected with Lyme disease) and whether Borrelia burgdorferi is localized or disseminated (spread through the body by fluids and cells carrying Borrelia burgdorferi ). Furthermore, when and how symptoms of Lyme disease appear can vary widely from patient to patient. People who experience recurrent bouts of symptoms over time are said to have chronic Lyme disease.
Early localized Lyme disease
The most recognizable indicator of Lyme disease is a rash around the site of the tick bite. Often, the tick exposure has not been recognized. The eruption might be warm or itch. The rash—erythema migrans (EM)—generally develops within three to 30 days and usually begins as a round, red patch that expands outward from the tick bite. About 80 percent of patients with Lyme disease develop EM. Clearing may take place from the center out, leaving a bull's-eye effect; in some cases, the center gets redder instead of clearing. On children with dark skin, the rash may look like a bruise. Of those who develop Lyme disease, about 50 percent notice flu-like symptoms, including fatigue, headache, chills and fever, muscle and joint pain, and lymph node swelling. Many children with Lyme disease can develop neurologic symptoms within a few weeks following a tick bite. Neurologic symptoms in children with early Lyme disease include dizziness , stiff neck, unilateral or bilateral facial palsy, inflammation of brain membranes (a form of meningitis ), knee and/or wrist arthralgia, tingling/numbness, sleep disturbance, and difficulties with memory, concentration, and learning.
Late disseminated disease and chronic Lyme disease
Weeks, months, or even years after an untreated tick bite, symptoms can appear in several forms, including the following:
fatigue, forgetfulness, confusion, mood swings, irritability, numbness
neurologic problems, such as pain (unexplained and not triggered by an injury), Bell's palsy (facial paralysis, usually one-sided but possibly on both sides), a mimicking of the inflammation of brain membranes known as meningitis fever, and severe headache
arthritis (short episodes of pain and swelling in joints) and other musculoskeletal complaints (Arthritis eventually develops in about 60 percent of patients with untreated Lyme disease.)
In adults, less common effects of Lyme disease are heart abnormalities (such as irregular rhythm or cardiac block) and eye abnormalities (such as swelling of the cornea, tissue, or eye muscles and nerves). However, children with Lyme disease frequently complain of chest pain and have papilledema (swelling of the optic nerve). In addition, children with late-stage Lyme disease are more likely than adults to have fever and joint swelling and pain.
A child should see a doctor if an attached tick is found that is engorged with blood (usually indicating attachment for more than six hours). Parents should remove the tick gently with tweezers. Medical laboratories can test the tick for Borrelia burgdorferi if the tick is alive; parents should place the tick in a tightly sealed plastic bag or small bottle with a moistened cotton ball and take it to the doctor. Most doctors will not prescribe antibiotics immediately following a tick bite but will ask parents to monitor their child for symptoms of early Lyme disease.
Less than 50 percent of children realize that they have been bitten by a tick. And, according to pediatricians specializing in Lyme disease, many children already have chronic Lyme disease when they are first diagnosed because children have difficulties effectively verbalizing their symptoms and their symptoms may be misdiagnosed. Any child that develops a round, bull'seye skin rash, joint pain, flu-like symptoms, and/or neurologic symptoms as described above should see a doctor. Because many children do not develop a rash or the rash may not be readily visible (e.g., on the scalp under hair), children living in or visiting areas with a high incidence of Lyme disease and those participating in frequent outdoor activities during active tick months who develop joint pain and neurologic symptoms should see a doctor.
In children, symptoms of Lyme disease can mimic those of other common childhood conditions, and children may not realize they have been bitten by a tick; therefore, diagnosis of Lyme disease in children can be difficult. Therefore, diagnosis of Lyme disease relies on information the patient and parents provide and the doctor's clinical judgment, particularly through elimination of other possible causes of the symptoms. Differential diagnosis (distinguishing Lyme disease from other diseases) is based on clinical evaluation with laboratory tests used for clarification when necessary. A two-test approach is common to confirm the results. Because of the potential for misleading results (false-positive and false-negative), laboratory tests alone cannot establish the diagnosis.
In February 1999 the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new blood test for Lyme disease called PreVue. The test, which searches for antigens (substances that stimulate the production of antibodies) produced by Borrelia burgdorferi , gives results within one hour in the doctor's office. A positive result from the PreVue test is confirmed by a second blood test known as the Western blot, which must be done in a laboratory.
Doctors generally know which disease-causing organisms are common in their geographic area. The most helpful piece of information is whether a tick bite or rash was noticed and whether it happened locally or while traveling. Doctors may not consider Lyme disease if it is rare locally but will take it into account if a patient mentions vacationing in an area where the disease is commonly found.
The treatment for Lyme disease is antibiotic therapy. If a child has strong indications of Lyme disease (symptoms and medical history), the doctor will probably begin treatment on the presumption of this disease. The American College of Physicians recommends treatment for a patient with a rash resembling EM or who has arthritis, a history of an EM-type rash, and a previous tick bite.
The benefits of early treatment must be weighed against the risks of overtreatment. The longer a patient is ill with Lyme disease before treatment, the longer the course of therapy must be, and the more aggressive the
The first sign of lyme disease is usually an itchy bull's-eye rash around the site of the tick bite.
(© 1993 Science Photo Library. Custom Medical Stock Photo, Inc.)
treatment. The development of opportunistic organisms may produce other symptoms. For example, after long-term antibiotic therapy, patients can become more susceptible to yeast infections. Treatment may also be associated with adverse drug reactions.
For most children, oral antibiotics (amoxicillin) are prescribed for 21 days. When symptoms indicate nervous system involvement or a severe episode of Lyme disease, an intravenous antibiotic (ceftriaxone, cefotaxime, ampicillin) may be given for four to six weeks or longer. Some physicians consider intravenous ceftriaxone the best therapy for any late manifestation of disease, but treatments for late Lyme disease are still controversial as of 2004. Corticosteroids (oral) may be prescribed if eye abnormalities occur, but they should not be used without first consulting an eye doctor. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications (ibuprofen) may be prescribed for joint pain and inflammation.
The doctor may have to adjust the treatment regimen or change medications based on the patient's response. Treatment can be difficult because Borrelia burgdorferi comes in several strains (some may react to different antibiotics than others) and may even have the ability to switch forms during the course of infection. Also, Borrelia burgdorferi can shut itself up in cell niches, allowing it to hide from antibiotics. Finally, antibiotics can kill Borrelia burgdorferi only while it is active rather than dormant.
Supportive therapies may minimize symptoms of Lyme disease or improve the immune response. These include vitamin and nutritional supplements, mostly for chronic fatigue and increased susceptibility to infection. For example, yogurt and Lactobacillus acidophilus preparations help fight yeast infections, which are common in patients on long-term antibiotic therapy. In addition, botanical medicine and homeopathy can be considered to help bring the body's systems back to a state of health and well-being. A Western herb, spilanthes ( Spilanthes spp.), may be effective in treating diseases such as Lyme disease that are caused by spirochetes (spiral-shaped bacteria). Therapy using a low-current electrical field or magnetic pulses is also as of 2004 under research to treat bacterial infections. It is important to note that no alternative treatments have been proven to cure Lyme disease.
If aggressive antibiotic therapy is given early and the patient cooperates fully and sticks to the medication schedule, recovery should be complete. Only a small percentage of Lyme disease patients fail to respond or relapse (have recurring episodes). Most long-term effects of the disease result when diagnosis and treatment is delayed or missed. Co-infection with other infectious organisms spread by ticks in the same areas as Borrelia burgdorferi (babesiosis and ehrlichiosis, for instance) may be responsible for treatment failures or more severe symptoms. Most fatalities reported with Lyme disease involved patients coinfected with babesiosis.
Lyme disease can be prevented by taking the following measures to reduce exposure to tick bites:
Avoid areas likely to be infested with ticks, especially during spring and summer, when tick nymphs are most likely to feed. Areas most likely to be infested with ticks include moist and shady areas, wooded and brushy areas, overgrown grassy areas, and areas with a high rodent and deer population.
When outdoors, wear light-colored clothing, long-sleeved shirts, and long pants tucked into socks or boots.
Use insect repellents according to safety guidelines for children.
Perform a full-body "tick check" after outdoor activities and use tweezers to gently remove and dispose of ticks.
Do not try to remove the tick by using petroleum jelly, alcohol, or a lit match.
Place the tick in a closed container (for species identification later, should symptoms develop) or dispose of it by flushing or by placing the tick between scotch tape.
Check pets frequently for ticks, since ticks can migrate to children from pets.
Update on vaccination
A vaccine for Lyme disease known as LYMErix was available from 1998 to 2002, when it was removed from the United States market. The decision was influenced by reports that LYMErix may be responsible for neurologic complications in vaccinated patients. As of late 2004, the best prevention strategy was minimizing risk of exposure to ticks and using personal protection precautions.
Babesiosis —A infection transmitted by the bite of a tick and characterized by fever, headache, nausea, and muscle pain.
Bell's palsy —Facial paralysis or weakness with a sudden onset, caused by swelling or inflammation of the seventh cranial nerve, which controls the facial muscles. Disseminated Lyme disease sometimes causes Bell's palsy.
Blood-brain barrier —An arrangement of cells within the blood vessels of the brain that prevents the passage of toxic substances, including infectious agents, from the blood and into the brain. It also makes it difficult for certain medications to pass into brain tissue.
Cerebrospinal fluid —The clear, normally colorless fluid that fills the brain cavities (ventricles), the subarachnoid space around the brain, and the spinal cord and acts as a shock absorber.
Disseminated —Spread to other tissues.
Erythema migrans —A red skin rash that is one of the first signs of Lyme disease in about 75% of patients.
Lyme borreliosis —Another name for Lyme disease.
Spirochete —A type of bacterium with a long, slender, coiled shape. Syphilis and Lyme disease are caused by spirochetes.
Vector —A carrier organism (such as a fly or mosquito) which serves to deliver a virus (or other agent of infection) to a host. Also refers to a retrovirus that had been modified and is used to introduce specific genes into the genome of an organism.
Because most children do not realize they have been in tick-infested areas or been bitten by a tick and because deer ticks can be the size of a poppy seed or smaller, parents should be diligent about checking children for ticks, especially if the family lives in or visits an area with a high incidence of Lyme disease or an area near tick habitats. Also, because Lyme disease is difficult to diagnose in children, parents who suspect Lyme disease in their children should inform their doctor about the possibility of the disease and be proactive in requesting further medical evaluation and treatment.
"Bacterial Diseases Caused by Spirochetes: Lyme Disease (Lyme Borreliosis)." Section 13, Chapter 157 in The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy. Edited by Mark H. Beers and Robert Berkow. Whitehouse Station, NJ: Merck Research Laboratories, 2002.
Stewart, Gail B. Lyme Disease. Indianapolis, IN: Lucent Books, 2003.
Bryant, K. A., and Marshall G. S. "Clinical Manifestations of Tick-Borne Infections in Children." Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology 7 (July 2000): 523–27.
Krupp, et al. "Study and Treatment of Post Lyme Disease (STOP-LD): A Randomized Double Masked Clinical Trial." Neurology 60 (June 24, 2003): 1923–30.
Nachman, S. A., and L. Pontrelli. "Central Nervous System Lyme Disease." Seminars in Pediatric Infectious Diseases 14 (April 2003): 123–30.
Pavia, C. S. "Current and Novel Therapies for Lyme Disease." Expert Opinion on Investigational Drugs 12 (June 2003): 1003–16.
Wormser, G. P., et al. "Duration of Antibiotic Therapy for Early Lyme Disease: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial." Annals of Internal Medicine 138 (May 6, 2003): 697–704.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 1600 Clifton Rd., NE, Atlanta, GA 30333. Web site: http://www.cdc.gov.
Lyme Disease Foundation. One Financial Plaza, Hartford, CT 06103. Web site: http://www.lyme.org.
Lyme Disease Network of New Jersey Inc. 43 Winton Road, East Brunswick, NJ 08816. Web site: http://www.lymenet.org.
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). 31 Center Drive, Room 7A50 MSC 2520, Bethesda, MD 20892. Web site: http://www.niaid.nih.gov.
"CDC Lyme Disease Home Page." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases. Available online at http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/lyme (accessed November 21, 2004).
"Children's Corner." Lyme Disease Foundation. Available online at http://www.lyme.org/children.html(accessed November 21, 2004).
Edlow, Jonathan A. "Tick-Borne Diseases, Lyme." eMedicine , December 13, 2002. Available online at http://www.emedicine.com/emerg/topic588.htm (accessed November 21, 2004).
"Neurological Manifestations of Lyme Disease in Children." LymeNet. Available online at http://library.lymenet.org (accessed November 21, 2004).
Jennifer E. Sisk, MA
Lyme Disease forum
Lying Lymphadenitis
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Tag Archives: asghar farhadi
Hassannia On Farhadi
Desperate times call for desperate measures. And the Hell Is For Hyphenates version of desperate measures is to organise an episode in slightly the wrong order. Anarchists, we.
As we said in the episode announcement, we felt it was incredibly important to this month focus on Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi. With the USA imposing a draconian travel ban on select Muslim countries, Farhadi has chosen to protest the policy by staying at home instead of attending this year’s Oscars ceremony. This despite him receiving a Best Foreign Language film nomination for The Salesman.
The real actual Japanese poster for Chicago, and definitely not something we photoshopped in like five minutes.
We enlisted the help of Tehran-born, Toronto-based film critic and author, Tina Hassannia, an expert in Farhadi’s films and author of Asghar Farhadi: Life and Cinema. The insight Tina brings to this episode as a critic, as someone who has spoken directly with the filmmaker, and as someone familiar with the culture depicted in Farhadi’s films is unique and fascinating. Long story short, this is a great episode.
Before we get to Farhadi, Sophie and Lee cast their eyes over three of this month’s films, including Ang Lee’s adaptation Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, which was released in the USA and Australia last year, but has only this month made it to British shores.
They then look at the ups and downs, pros and cons of crafting a sequel to an iconic work, as Danny Boyle finally makes good on his decades-old promise to reunite Renton, Begby, Sick Boy and Spud in the unusually-titled T2: Trainspotting.
Then, social and scientific progressiveness come together as they always should with the engaging and crowd-pleasing biopic Hidden Figures, based on the book by Margot Lee Shetterly and directed by Theodore Melfi.
Confusion abounds.
After the reviews are done, Tina joins us to talk about what role awards shows have in activism. Following Meryl Streep’s rousing Golden Globes speech and David Harbour’s viral Screen Actors Guild call to arms, do award winners have an obligation to use the spotlight to get political? Or should the glitz and glam of red carpets be done away with completely during times of suffering?
We then dig into the films of Farhadi, looking at Dancing in the Dust (2003), Beautiful City (2004), Fireworks Wednesday (2006), About Elly (2009), A Separation (2011), The Past (2013) and The Salesman (2016). We examine the social and political context of his work in a discussion that will be interesting even if you’ve never seen any of his films.
But we’re not done yet! In a special bonus segment, Sophie heads to Trafalgar Square, where the City of London hosted a special screening of The Salesman in an open air cinema. The screening, which took place about 24 hours before our episode was released, saw an estimated 2 000 people in attendance. We hear select speeches from TV presenter and journalist Mariella Frostrup, model and actress Lily Cole, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, filmmaker Mike Leigh, and in a specially-recorded video message, Asghar Farhadi himself.
If you’re wondering what our introductions referred to, click through for details on the Bowling Green massacre and the Swedish “major incident”. Our thoughts are with the victims of these not-made-up tragedies.
We kick off this month’s reviews with a look at Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk (which has just received a release in the UK), directed by Ang Lee. For more Ang Lee talk, listen back to our Ang Lee episode with guest Julia Zemiro. We take a look at Danny Boyle’s T2: Trainspotting. To hear our thoughts on the first Trainspotting, as well as all the other Danny Boyle films, listen back to our Danny Boyle episode with guest Sarah Ward.
Sophie refers to articles contrasting Danny Boyle and Antonia Bird (listen back to our Antonia Bird episode with guest Kate Hardie). The articles, which have the same opening paragraph, appeared in Bomb Magazine, and you can read the Antonia Bird piece here and the Danny Boyle one here.
The Manchester film and media school Danny Boyle is helping to launch will teach 1000 students each year from diverse backgrounds.
The book that Hidden Figures is adapted from is called Hidden Figures: The Story of the African Women Who Helped Win the Space Race and is by Margot Lee Shetterly. It can be found in book stores and all the familiar online places.
We refer to some recent protest speeches at awards ceremonies. You can check out Meryl Streep’s Golden Globes speech here, David Harbour’s Screen Actors Guild speech here, and Ken Loach’s BAFTA speech here.
Sophie refers to the Fine Young Cannibals returning their awards in protest after the Brit Awards screened a video message from Margaret Thatcher. We couldn’t find a video of the 1990 moment, but it is referenced here in The Guardian.
Sophie also mentions the red carpet protests from Raising Films. Check out their manifesto on Red Carpet activism here.
Asghar Farhadi and Salesman star Taraneh Alidoosti talk about their decision to not attend the 2017 Oscar ceremony due to the US administration’s recently-imposed travel ban.
We spend much of the middle segment offering protest speech advice to anyone attending the Oscars. Lee has an incredibly helpful video guide on Academy Award etiquette that aired almost exactly ten years ago, which features a segment on the dos and don’ts of Oscar protest speeches.
Asghar Farhadi previously won an Oscar for A Separation at the 2012 ceremony, Iran’s first ever win for Best Foreign Language film. Watch his moving speech here.
The Oscar speeches weren’t quite as political as we were anticipating, but that doesn’t mean the evening wasn’t devoid of strong opinions and activism. Here’s Time Magazine‘s roundup of the evening’s political moments.
You can read Tina’s review of Farhadi’s latest film The Salesman in Canada’s National Post.
And you can read Sophie’s review of The Salesman in Literal Magazine.
Here’s a great piece by BFI Head of Festivals and London Film Festival director Clare Stewart about the importance and impact of Asghar Farhadi’s films.
As you now know (but we didn’t yet at time of recording), Asghar Farhadi’s The Salesman won Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars. He was, as we know, not there to accept the award, but had Iranian-American businesswoman Anousheh Ansari—the first Iranian to go into space—read out a statement on his behalf, which can be both viewed and read here.
If you want to see the video of Asghar Farhadi’s message to the audience in Trafalgar Square, Curzon Artificial Eye has posted the video here.
Sophie described the evening, the speeches and the mood of the crowd in an article for Sight and Sound, available here on the BFI website.
Don’t forget to pick up Tina’s book Asgar Farhadi: Life and Cinema, featuring critical analysis of his work as well as interviews with the man himself. You can read an excerpt on the Toronto International Film Festival website.
You can listen to Tina’s podcast Everything But Sports, co-hosted by Mallory Andrews, on Soundcloud or subscribe on iTunes.
Finally, the directors of the five films nominated for Best Foreign Language Film—Martin Zandvliet (Land of Mine), Hannes Holm (A Man Called Ove), Asghar Farhadi (The Salesman), Maren Ade (Toni Erdmann), Martin Butler & Bentley Dean (Tanna)—released an extraordinary joint statement regarding the culture of fear in the USA:
Outro music: score from About Elly (2009), composed by Andrea Bauer
The latest episode of Hell Is For Hyphenates, featuring Tina Hassannia talking the films of Asghar Farhadi, can be heard on Stitcher Smart Radio, subscribed to on iTunes, or downloaded/streamed via our website.
Thousands gather in Trafalgar Square for the screening of Asghar Farhadi’s The Salesman.
“Whether you’re from Iran or Iraq, Streatham or Shoreditch, Lebanon or London, you are welcome.” London mayor Sadiq Khan.
Filmmaker Mike Leigh sings the praises of his friend and colleague Asghar Farhadi.
Asghar Farhadi speaks to the London crowd in a specially-recorded video message.
This entry was posted in blogs and tagged asghar farhadi, tina hassannia on February 28, 2017 by The Hyphenates.
We are joined this episode by film critic and author Tina Hassannia, as we look back at some of the key films of this month, including Ang Lee’s Billy Flynn’s Long Halftime Walk, Danny Boyle’s T2: Trainspotting, and Theodore Melfi’s Hidden Figures. Then, on the eve of an Academy Award ceremony that nominated Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi has refused to attend in protest of the recent US travel ban, we ask what form awards shows should take during times of social anxiety and oppressive policy. We then look at the films and career of Asghar Farhadi, the award-winning Iranian filmmaker responsible for acclaimed works such as About Elly, A Separation, The Past and The Salesman. Finally, in a special bonus segment, Sophie attends the protest screening of The Salesman in Leicester Square, and provides us with audio of the speeches from journalist and TV presenter Mariella Frostrup, model and actress Lily Cole, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, filmmaker Mike Leigh, and via pre-recorded video, Asghar Farhadi himself.
http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/www.hellisforhyphenates.com/podcasts/Episode81-February2017.mp3
This entry was posted in podcasts and tagged a separation, about elly, academy awards, asghar farhadi, beautiful city, billy lynn's long halftime walk, chaharshanbe-soori, dancing in the dust, darbareye elly, fireworks wednesday, forushande, hidden figures, jodaeiye nader az simin, le passé, lily cole, mariella frostrup, mike leigh, oscars, raghs dar ghobar, sadiq khan, shah-re ziba, t2: trainspotting, the past, the salesman, tina hassannia on February 28, 2017 by The Hyphenates.
The Asghar Farhadi Cheat Sheet
Want to become an instant expert in our filmmaker of the month without committing yourself to an entire filmography? Then you need the Hell Is For Hyphenates Cheat Sheet: we program you a double that will not only make for a great evening’s viewing, but bring you suitably up-to-speed before our next episode lands…
ABOUT ELLY (2009) and A SEPARATION (2011)
Asghar Farhadi hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons recently: instead of celebrating the Best Foreign Film Academy Award nomination for his sixth feature The Salesman, coverage concentrated on his entanglement in the Trump travel ban, as both Farhadi and the film’s star Taraneh Alidoosti stated that they would boycott the awards over the block on Iranians travelling to the US. The Salesman is their fourth film together – and the third was About Elly, which got an international release after A Separation gave the director his (hopefully first of many) Academy Award in 2012. Alidoosti played the titular Elly, a shy teacher swept along on a group trip to the seaside by Sepideh, whose daughter is in her kindergarten class. Along with the three couples who’ve known each other since law school, there’s another single guest, Ahmad, and Sepideh has plans to get him and Elly together. Romantic comedy turns into a sickeningly tense he said/she said thriller when Elly disappears and Sepideh’s half-truths come to light, subtly shading the complicit and compromised lives of Tehran’s middle classes. That’s even more palpable in A Separation, where a planned divorce leads morally-upright Nader into a compromising situation: after his wife Simin leaves him to live with her mother, prior to her moving to the US to escape theocratic oppression, he hires Razieh to look after his Alzheimer’s-afflicted father. Both the grandfather and very bright daughter Termeh are caught in the battles of wills between the parents, as well as the class agony between Nader and Razieh, with a sense of consequences that many critics have compared to Michael Haneke’s Caché. Things can’t end well.
Substitutions: If you can’t get or have already seen About Elly or A Separation, you must watch the film his two subsequent films: The Past (2013), which replays some of the themes of divorce, betrayal and children bearing the brunt of adult struggles seen in A Separation, but with the added knife-twist of cross-cultural relationships and immigration, as Farhadi shoots in France. And then there’s The Salesman (2016) is a drama about drama, going back to the filmmaker’s roots in studying theatre. It follows a couple whose relationship frays during their participation in a production of Death of a Salesman, as they confront the scandalous past of their apartment’s previous tenant. What’s past is, as ever in Farhadi’s films, all too poignantly and unsettlingly present.
The Hidden Gem: Set on Iranian New Year’s Eve, Fireworks Wednesday (2006) is punctuated by small explosions, literal and metaphorical, as Alidoosti’s character Rouhi, a bride-to-be, gets sent by her employment agency to clean for a warring married couple: Mojdeh is convinced Morteza is having an affair; Morteza thinks Mojdeh is crazy. Rouhi spends a long day caught between them, their son Amir Ali, their beautician neighbour Simin, and the febrile celebratory atmosphere outside.
The next episode of Hell Is For Hyphenates, featuring Tina Hassannia talking Asghar Farhadi, will be released on 28 February 2017.
This entry was posted in blogs and tagged a separation, about elly, asghar farhadi, cheat sheet, fireworks wednesday, the past, the salesman, tina hassannia on February 22, 2017 by The Hyphenates.
Our Next Hyphenate Tina Hassannia
Author, film critic and Hi4H February 2017 guest host Tina Hassannia
We’re breaking convention to do things a little backwards this month. Let us explain.
Before we had confirmed a guest or filmmaker for this month, it was announced that director Asghar Farhadi would be unable to enter the United States to attend the Oscars ceremony – he is once again nominated, by the way – thanks to sudden, draconian, poorly-implemented immigration policy. Farhadi’s plight is not the most heartbreaking story to emerge in the past month, but it is emblematic of how ridiculous this action has been. It became clear that this is something we would have to address on the show, probably during the middle segment.
Then we realised there would probably never be a more appropriate time for us to discuss the films of Asghar Farhadi, so we decided to do something we’d never done before: we choose the filmmaker first.
This month, Hell Is For Hyphenates will be all about the incredible films of Iranian director Asghar Farhadi.
With our filmmaker-of-the-month selected, we then set about searching for the perfect person to help us discuss him, and there was really only one choice: Toronto-based film critic Tina Hassannia.
Tina wrote the book on Farhadi, quite literally: Asghar Farhadi: Life and Cinema was released by The Critical Press in 2014, and is available from the Critical Press website, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Indigo. In the book, Tina traces Farhadi’s origins as an emerging filmmaker in Iran, from his directorial debut Dancing in the Dust through to 2013’s acclaimed The Past. The book also features an in-depth interview with Farhadi, and is undoubtedly the definitive work on this influential filmmaker.
We were delighted that Tina immediately agreed to join us on the show, and cannot wait to discuss Dancing in the Dust (2003), Beautiful City (2004), Fireworks Wednesday (2006), About Elly (2009), A Separation (2011), The Past (2013), The Salesman (2016), as well as Farhadi’s career and history with her.
This episode will also feature something else we’ve never done before, but to find out what that is, you’ll have to listen to the show when it’s released on 28 February!
Our next filmmaker of the month, Asghar Farhadi
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Elbows is a songwriter, vocalist, producer, and multi-instrumentalist creating a time-warping fusion of jazz, hip hop, electronic, and psychedelic pop. The Deli Magazine described him as “[flexing] through genres, bending tastes and traditions and creating something that sounds totally fresh." Born in the San Francisco Bay Area, Elbows is currently based in Brooklyn, NY. His debut album, Tales from the Old Mill, is set to release later in 2019 and is shaping up to be his most expansive work to date, both sonically and narratively, with sounds reminiscent of Flying Lotus, Dr. Dog, Miles Davis, Twin Peaks (the show), Goodnight Moon (the book) and many others. The album will also be accompanied by a short film and an illustrated storybook.
In January 2018 Elbows released his second EP, Sycamore. Building on the sonic stylings of his debut, the Corduroy EP, Sycamore sees Elbows home in on a more singular mood, combining damp synth pads and 808s with woodsy percussion and acoustic instrumentation. Songs segue from outros to interludes to new songs like wandering thoughts on a walk home. Beginning with a long rewind, Sycamore takes listeners on a journey through Elbows' past, with vivid verses recounting his youth in The Bay, soured relationships, and growing up sibling-less.
Opening track and lead single, “The Rain,” warps through different musical eras, moving from a contemporary hip hop beat, to would-be samples of old school swing jazz, and touching on moments of drum & bass. The song is completed by a multi-dimensional sax solo from Tru Thoughts’ Sly5thAve. Later, during interludes “Sparrow Creek” and “Supper,” sped up vocals give the sound of a younger Elbows addressing the listener from the past. Sycamore sees Elbows continue to create with his in-house group of collaborators, including fellow New York-based bassist/songwriter, Jachary. The EP serves as the next installment of material culled from multi-year, coast-spanning recording sessions in San Francisco and New York, during which Elbows amassed a body of work chronicling his foggy Bay Area upbringing.
In May 2017 Elbows released his debut EP, Corduroy, which received acclaim from Okayplayer, The Deli, Impose, and Earmilk, who flatteringly said, “Elbows is readying to take hip hop by storm.” Coinciding with the release he was interviewed by Andrew Jervis on the Bandcamp Weekly radio show alongside ATO’s Nick Hakim. Corduroy served as an encapsulating introduction to the sound of Elbows, with songs shifting from dusty boom bap beats to oafish 808s, and from jazzy guitar chops to cloudy synth beds, all the while revealing Schieble’s comfortably peculiar persona through witty and introspective songwriting. The EP was accompanied by a capsule collection of cassette tapes, socks, and a set of pins in collaboration with New York’s Pintrill, with each item representing a song from the project.
In 2015 Elbows released his debut single “Flowers,” which Indie Shuffle described as, “nothing less than intriguing.” A self-directed video (co-directed by New Jersey filmmaker Nnamdi Simon) followed later that year. He has performed live throughout New York and the greater East Coast, and has appeared with Kendra Morris, Kweku Collins, Landlady, Madison McFerrin, and more.
Additionally, Elbows is a multimedia artist, creating expansive narrative projects that connect across platforms such as visual art, film, and product, as well as music. In 2016 he opened his first solo exhibit, At The Bottom Of The Well, at Brooklyn’s IMAGE Gallery. The two-month installation featured large-scale canvases, screen prints, and original drawings, all displaying Schieble’s vibrantly surreal aesthetic of multi-faces, legged-furniture, and dotted limbs. An original score accompanied the exhibit. He has also collaborated with the Tribeca Film Festival, Complex Magazine’s First We Feast, and others as a contributing artist.
Sign up for my mailing list so I can email you about my music, videos, shows, and maybe even a photo of my cats, on occasion.
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Laetitia Beck, 25, won her first Israeli Ladies Championship at age 12.
Mark Susson
Israeli professional golfer to compete in Phoenix tournament
MARGERY ROSE-CLAPP | Special to Jewish News
Israel’s first professional golfer is in the Valley this week to compete in the Bank of Hope Founders Cup Tournament March 16-19 at Wildfire Golf Club in Phoenix.
Laetitia Beck, 25, has toured on the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) circuit for three years.
Born in Belgium, Beck moved with her family to Israel when she was 6 years old. The family lived near a golf course.
“My parents played,” she said. Although she played tennis three times a week and golf twice a week, it was golf that ultimately won her heart. She began competing and at the age of 12, she played in a ladies open tournament and won.
By the time she was 13, it was obvious that there was nowhere else to go for advanced instruction or competition. Israel isn’t known for producing professional golfers.
“I needed a coach,” she said. Her parents saw her passion for golf and when she turned 14, they sent her to the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, a boarding school that offers academics and sports training for college-bound students, as well as for collegiate and professional athletes and Olympians who want to improve their performance.
“We had school in the morning and sports in the afternoon,” Beck said. After graduation, she enrolled at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, both for its reputation in academics and its golf team. In her senior year, the Duke team won the National NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) tournament. The organization is dedicated to the academic and sports training of college athletes who strive to become professional athletes. By then, Beck had worked with a coach.
She has competed in LPGA tournaments for three years, starting after her Duke graduation in 2014.
“I’m based in Miami, but I only spend four months of the year there,” she said. She’s on the road the other eight months, playing as many as 20 LPGA tournaments a year. Following the Phoenix competition, she’ll head to San Diego for another tournament.
Beck, an observant Jew, said she keeps kosher — not always easy while traveling.
“It’s important to me to keep the tradition,” she said. Because it’s hard to find kosher food in many places, she said she eats mainly fish.
During tournament week, she practices from 2:30 to 8 p.m. Asked if she has a “lucky” golf club, she said, “Not necessarily,” but added that she keeps several small Jewish-related items in her golf bag as symbols of her faith.
“I also write [the number] 18 on my balls,” she said of the number that means chai, or life.
Beck visits her family in Israel the last three weeks of December each year, the only time she can get away. Besides her parents, she has a brother, a twin sister and another sister.
She said she wants to keep playing golf as long as she can. She was one of 60 golf competitors in the 2014 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
“I really hope I get a chance to play in 2020,” she said of the Summer Olympic Games, to be held that year in Tokyo, Japan.
“I hope to compete for a medal. If I stay calm, I know I can beat them,” she said of potential competitors.
What does she do for fun when she’s not on the golf course?
“I need to find a good hobby,” she said.
Margery Rose-Clapp is a freelance writer based in Scottsdale.
Obituaries - July 12, 2019
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Post Tashkent Files, Vivek Agnihotris next to be based on Kashmiri Pandits
Vivek Agnihotris latest directorial venture The Tashkent Files has been doing moderately well at the box office. While the film has continued to draw in the audience, the director isnt sitting calm. In fact, we hear that Agnihotri is all set to commence his next venture that will be based on Kashmiri Pandits. Talking about the same Vivek stated that post the success of The Tashkent Files, he felt confident to take on a sensitive issue, and the story of Kashmiri Pandit refugees has always been something he wanted to explore. Further talking about the venture that is tentatively titled The Kashmir Files , Vivek goes on to mention how brutal the entire scenario was with kids being shot and people being made to leave their homes in the dead of night. Stating that he wants to make an honest film on this subject after investigations, Agnihotri terms this as one of the biggest human tragedies. As for researching the film, Vivek plans on visiting all the places where Kashmiri Pandit refugees have since settled and record their first-hand accounts. If that wasnt enough, Vivek will also be working closely with Kashimri activists and politicians about the same. Coming to the actual shoot of the film, Vivek Agnihotri explains that while earlier he thought of developing a book on this topic, he now plans on making it into a film that will also break the stereotype of the army being portrayed in a poor light. Though currently still researching the subject, Agnihoti is looking to commence shooting within the next six months with an ensemble cast that is yet to be locked.
Courtesy: Bollywood Hungama News Network
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Units To Let
History of Huntershill Village
John & Susan Watson bought Huntershill Lodge (formerly the Gate Lodge for Huntershill House) in 1969, to have a family and start their haulage company, Clamshell Hire which still operates today. They gradually expanded their landholding over the years and in 1995 they established Huntershill Village, it now comprises of over 50 local businesses, employing over 200 people.
Huntershill Lodge was originally part of the Huntershill estate, which was formerly part of the lands of Auchinairn, owned by James Lyle, writer in Edinburgh.
"His circumstances having become embarrassed his Lands of Auchinairn were sold by his Creditors by Public Roup in several lots" - on the 15th day of October 1748.
"All and whole the two parks called Huntershill parks south and north, extending to upwards of twenty acres or thereby together with the pasturage of more than one half of the Bishop's moss lying on the south side of the said parks which Lands are a parts of that ten shilling ten penny land of old extent of the Lands of Auchinairn."
The neighbouring lands of "Cruchill or Crowhill" were owned by Robert Hunter, Smith in Kirkton of Calder and John Hunter, Mealmaker in Glasgow since at least 1742, this may account for the name that the area had become known as locally.
The two parks of Huntershill were sold to William Crawfurd of Bankell for £88 sterling, Crawfurd subsequently agreed to transfer his purchase of the said Land to James Wilson, Merchant in Glasgow, by disposition dated 5th July 1749 & subsequent dates.
The property passed from James Wilson to his son William, who sold it on 23rd March 1769 to James Martin, Merchant in Glasgow. Sometime after this date James Martin built his mansion house on the land.
Martin died c.1781 and the property was sold in 1782 to James Muir a prosperous hop merchant in Glasgow, his son Thomas Muir became an Advocate and political reformer, he was arrested and tried for sedition in 1793, found guilty he was sentenced to 14 years transportation to Botany Bay, Australia, from where he later escaped and after many adventures crossing the Pacific managed to make his way back to France, where he was hailed as a "Hero of Democracy".
He died on the 26th January 1799 aged just 33, at Chantilly near France.
James Muir's trustees sold the estate in 1802 to John Gallaway a corn merchant in Glasgow, it remained in this family until the 1950's when the remaining unsold lands were disposed of.
Charles Tennant, Esq. of St. Rollox and James Duncan, of Mosesfield were members of a club, founded with the main aim of commemorating the memory of Thomas Muir, they organised an event which took place on the 17th January 1838 at the residence of James Duncan.
"Reformers took place at Mosesfield, in the immediate neighbourhood of Huntershill" the object of the meeting was to "honour the memory of Thomas Muir, and as the commencement of an institution to be denominated the Huntershill Club, to promote with every constitutional means, the principle of Mr Muir."
"There was a plan to erect a monument to this patriot, in the immediate vicinity of his paternal property. A stone has been volunteered for the purpose from a quarry in the neighbourhood; and there is every reason to hope that ere long the casual passenger will be reminded that there was the earthly home of a martyr for liberty."
Huntershill Village is home to memorials of both local and National historic importance:
The Cairn, in memory of 18th century political reformer, Thomas Muir of Huntershill and his fellow martyrs in the name of political reform.
The Coal Hutch, dedicated to the Miners of the World.
© 2017-2019 John & Susan Watson Property | All Rights Reserved
Web Design Glasgow | Valid HTML 5
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Name: Roger "Woody" Whittington
Roger "Woody" Whittington served Roanoke-Benson HS as its chief timer for over 21 seasons. In 1974 he served as the assistant time for the Class A State Tournament. In 1976 he served as official timer for the tournament. Whittington also served as the timer for the IBCA’s first All-Star basketball games in the summer of 1976 at Illinois State. An avid supporter of Roanoke-Benson athletics, Whittington also attends most University of Illinois football and basketball games. "Woody" was an employee of Caterpillar Tractor Co.
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SOLARWINDS SETS ITS SIGHTS ON THE SMB AND THE CLOUD, AGREES TO ACQUIRE N-ABLE
Source: SolarWinds
AUSTIN, Texas and OTTAWA – May 21, 2013 – SolarWinds® (NYSE: SWI), a leading provider of powerful and affordable IT management software, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire privately held N-able Technologies, a leader in Cloud-based remote monitoring and management (RMM) and service automation software for Managed Service Providers (MSPs). SolarWinds is acquiring N-able for $120 million in cash. The company expects the acquisition to close before the end of May.
“Upon completion of the acquisition, the addition of N-able to the SolarWinds family gives us the opportunity to respond to a growing need in the IT industry. As more and more small businesses begin exploring ways to deploy and efficiently manage IT and SaaS-based technologies to drive their businesses, MSPs are stepping up with Cloud-based services designed to help ensure that IT environments are maintained and employees have the access and device support that they need to get their jobs done. We’re excited to expand into another highly complementary branch of IT management that we believe is ripe for our disruptive go-to-market model,” said Kevin Thompson, SolarWinds’ President and CEO.
“N-able is very excited about this opportunity to join forces with SolarWinds to continue our mission to serve the MSP market and drive this next phase of growth,” said Gavin Garbutt, CEO and Co-Founder, N-able Technologies. “We feel that this merger is a reflection of our industry-leading position and growth, the quality of our products and, most importantly, the performance of the N-able team worldwide. ”
- SolarWinds believes that a significant opportunity exists to more effectively serve small businesses’ evolving IT needs by empowering the MSPs many of them have come to rely on. Many MSPs offer Cloud-based management services designed to help ensure that IT environments are efficiently and properly maintained in line with “light IT” or “no IT” initiatives.
- SolarWinds intends to acquire N-able, giving SolarWinds a more effective and accelerated means of meeting the needs of the rapidly developing IT service market – comprised of MSPs and Value-added Resellers, and the hundreds of thousands of SMBs they serve.
- The acquisition allows SolarWinds to leverage the large opportunity associated with rapidly growing adoption of the Cloud and SaaS-based services among SMBs; enhancing its remote monitoring and management (RMM) offerings and adding MSP service automation to the broad range of management challenges that SolarWinds works to address for the IT industry.
- The functionality provided by the N-able acquisition serves a critical need for MSPs tasked with providing supplemental or complete IT services, via the Cloud, to small and mid-sized businesses, such as user support and device and application monitoring and troubleshooting. N-able has a proven track record of helping MSPs standardize and automate the setup and delivery of these IT services in order to achieve true scalability.
- SolarWinds plans to share additional details around future product direction, branding, positioning and pricing following the completion of the acquisition.
“Like SolarWinds, N-able has built a reputation for delivering products that are tailor-made to support the unique needs of their users and has invested in developing strong relationships with these MSPs,” continued Thompson. “We look forward to welcoming the N-able team into the SolarWinds family and working together to expand the SolarWinds model into this new IT management market. We believe that the combined strength of these two companies will deliver significant benefit to the larger IT community, but in particular those small businesses who need support in managing, maintaining and securing their critical IT systems.”
In support of this announcement, SolarWinds will host a teleconference on Tuesday, May 21 at 4 pm CT. The domestic dial-in number for this call is 1-888-395-3230; international participants can dial +1 719-325-2326 to access the call. Please dial in 5-10 minutes before the scheduled start time. A live webcast of the call will be available on the SolarWinds Investor Relations website at ir.solarwinds.com. A replay of the webcast will be available on a temporary basis shortly after the event at the same location.
For more information on SolarWinds and SolarWinds’ IT management solutions, please visit www.solarwinds.com.
For more information on N-able Technologies and N-able’s RMM and service automation products, visit www.n-able.com.
This press release contains “forward-looking” statements, which are subject to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding the opportunities presented for SolarWinds by the acquisition and its ability to leverage those opportunities, the ability of SolarWinds to integrate the acquisition and expand its model into the remote monitoring and management market and the closing of the acquisition. These forward-looking statements are based on management’s beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to management. Forward-looking statements include all statements that are not historical facts and may be identified by terms such as “will,” “plans,” ”believes,” “intends” or similar expressions and the negatives of those terms. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, the following: (a) the possibility that general economic conditions or uncertainty cause information technology spending to be reduced or purchasing decisions to be delayed; (b) the inability to increase sales to existing customers and to attract new customers; (c) SolarWinds’ failure to integrate acquired businesses and any future acquisitions successfully; (d) the timing and success of new product introductions by SolarWinds or its competitors; (e) changes in SolarWinds’ pricing policies or those of its competitors; and (f) such other risks and uncertainties described more fully in documents filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012 filed on February 19, 2013. All information provided in this release is as of the date hereof and SolarWinds undertakes no duty to update this information except as required by law.
About SolarWinds
SolarWinds (NYSE: SWI) provides powerful and affordable IT management software to customers worldwide – from Fortune 500 enterprises to small businesses. We work to put our users first and remove the obstacles that have become “status quo” in traditional enterprise software. SolarWinds products are downloadable, easy to use and maintain, and provide the power, scale, and flexibility needed to address users’ management priorities. Our online user community, thwack, is a gathering-place where tens of thousands of IT pros solve problems, share technology, and participate in product development for all of SolarWinds’ products. Learn more today at http://www.solarwinds.com.
SolarWinds and SolarWinds.com are registered trademarks of SolarWinds. All other company and product names mentioned are used only for identification purposes and may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
About N-able Technologies
N-able is the leading global provider of complete IT management and Automation solutions for Managed Service Providers (MSPs). N-able’s award-winning N-central® is the industry’s #1 RMM and MSP Service Automation Platform. N-able has a proven track record of helping MSPs standardize and automate the setup and delivery of IT services in order to achieve true scalability. N-central is backed by the most comprehensive business enablement support services available today and the industry’s only freemium licensing model. Thousands of MSPs use N-able solutions to deliver scalable, flexible, profitable managed services to over 91,000 SMBs worldwide. With offices in North America, the U.K., the Netherlands and Australia, N-able is 100% channel-friendly and maintains strategic partnerships with Microsoft, Intel, IBM, CA, and Cisco among others.
IT BRIEFCASE MEDIA PARTNERS
ITBriefcase brought to you by: Virtual Star Media Copyright by IT Briefcase - IT Briefcase is a targeted online publication that attracts qualified business and IT professionals who are actively researching business integration solutions. Some of the topics we cover include BI, BPM, Cloud Computing, Data Storage, Health IT and Open Source. A full list of the topics we cover can be found on the right hand side of our website.
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How Singapore Turned its Water Woes into a NEWater Model
Water scarcity is not a new phenomenon; historical records note water shortages dating as far back as the 1800s and since there’s no new water on Earth, we’re drinking the same water dinosaurs did. What if we showed you how Jacobs and Singapore’s PUB turned water scarcity into international successes with an innovative water reuse strategy?
Water taps are running dry in India and South Africa. California is once again facing a drought; Australia survived the millennium drought; and in 2015, drought and inefficient infrastructure led to a severe water shortage crisis in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Rain falling across the Asia Pacific is causing severe flooding and some hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rican communities still do not have access to critical water and power supplies more than a year after Hurricane Maria. Similarly, residents of Flint, Michigan, are still reeling from the effects of a contaminated drinking water system.
Each year, the natural and human-made threats to our global water supply get more complex; while populations surge and the demand for water across industries increases. More than 2.1 billion people lack access to safe water around the world and The World Economic Forum listed water crises as one of the top ten global risks both in terms of likelihood and impact for 2019.
The crisis facing our water supply demands a new way of thinking to create integrated, smart and sustainable solutions that embrace the challenges facing our world today – because if current usage trends don’t change, our world will have only 60 percent of the water it needs in 2030.
But what if we showed you how Singapore’s Public Utilities Board (PUB) and Jacobs turned water vulnerability into an opportunity to pilot new technologies and innovative solutions – serving as an international model for water management that extends across all facets of the water cycle to create a sustainable legacy for years to come?
of Singapore's water demand in 2060 will be met with NEWater reuse
Olympic-sized swimming pools - or about 430 million gallons - of current daily water demand
cubic meters of used water treated per day for reuse to meet both industrial and drinking water needs
energy recovered from used water and more electricity exported to the national grid from the Tuas Nexus
The truth is, all water is reused since there is truly no new water on the planet. Organizations, such as PUB, have safely reused wastewater to augment their water supplies for decades.The technology is there, but the real challenge is developing a thoughtful way to implement potable reuse programs because of public acceptance. In Singapore, every project we’ve worked on with PUB has been characterized by strong partnerships between a most innovative client and consultants and contractors who share PUB’s vision, and with the community who understands water and sustainability better because of Singapore’s investment in education – that’s what flipped the script in Singapore.
Peter Nicol
Jacobs Global Director of Water
NEWater: A Singapore Success Story
A resilient partnership
In 1965, when Singapore became independent, the island nation faced such water stress that they had to ration the precious resource just to meet minimum needs. Today, thanks to an integrated water management strategy nationwide, Singapore is one of just a few cities in the world to harvest its stormwater and practice large-scale water reuse as part of its diversified water supply approach.
Cultivating a nearly 30 year relationship, Jacobs has worked closely with Singapore’s PUB, delivering major cross-sector infrastructure projects in water and industrial facilities, including serving as program manager and designer for the award-winning Deep Tunnel Sewerage System (DTSS) and the Changi Water Reclamation Plant, one of the world’s largest water reclamation projects; the iconic NEWater Plant and Visitor Centre, an international landmark for educating the world about water reuse; and the Active, Beautiful, Clean Waters (ABC Waters) program, which transformed the waterbodies in Singapore beyond their utilitarian functions, creating new community spaces as well as higher quality living in Singapore.
In 2015, we received the Stockholm Industry Water Award for pioneering methods to clean water and increasing public acceptance of recycled water and our work with Singapore’s PUB in the early 2000s is a key milestone in our potable water reuse journey and helped evolve water reuse practices, proving not only the safety of potable reuse, but helping win public acceptance with the country’s NEWater project. By pioneering a hands-on transparent approach to public outreach and conducting the most sophisticated and comprehensive study of reclaimed water to date, the project fully integrated the best in technology with the best in public education tools to create unprecedented public acceptance of water reuse.
What’s next? The nexus!
PUB developed NEWater, its own brand of ultraclean, high-grade reclaimed wastewater. Singapore has 5 NEWater plants which further purify treated, used water to produce this NEWater, which has passed more than 150,000 scientific tests and meets and surpasses World Health Organization and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards for drinking water.
With the country’s water demand expected to double by 2060, Singapore is looking to use NEWater to meet more than half of this future water demand. Key to meeting this goal is the Deep Tunnel Sewerage System (DTSS), a super highway to collect all the used water for further reclamation into NEWater.
The first phase of DTSS covers the eastern half of Singapore while the second phase will take care of the western side of the island. A key component of the DTSS Phase 2 is the Tuas Water Reclamation Plant (WRP), a new facility under design in the west of Singapore that Jacobs is leading the detailed design. When completed, the plant will treat 800,000 cubic meters of used water per day for reuse to meet both industrial and drinking water needs and be the largest membrane bioreactor facility in the world!
A first in Singapore, the Tuas WRP will be integrated with the National Environment Agency’s Integrated Waste Management Facility (IWMF), collectively known as the “Tuas Nexus.” Tuas Nexus is a first-in-the-world green-field development, which integrates two complex facilities to reap synergies of the water-energy-waste nexus, resulting in improved efficiencies.
For example, food waste received at the IWMF will be co-digested with used water sludge at Tuas WRP to increase the yield of biogas, which in turn is used at IWMF to improve steam quality and give rise to higher overall plant thermal efficiency. As such, Tuas Nexus will double energy recovered from used water and export more electricity to the national grid, while allowing both facilities energy self-sufficiency.
Interested in learning more about how Jacobs transforms intangible ideas into intelligent solutions for a more connected, sustainable world? Visit www.jacobs.com/what-if.
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First woman appointed to head BPTT
Loop News Created : 4 May 2018 Business
Claire Fitzpatrick has been appointed as Regional President of BP Trinidad and Tobago (BPTT).
She is the first female to lead BPTT, which produces 17 percent of the BP group’s global production.
Fitzpatrick will be accountable for BPTT’s performance and BP’s business interests in Trinidad and Tobago.
She holds a BSc in biological sciences from the University of Edinburgh and is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
She joined BP from Ernst & Young in 2002 as chief accountant for BP’s upstream business and since then has held a range of commercial and leadership roles in the business.
Fitzpatrick has also worked in BP’s corporate centre and most recently managed BP’s upstream joint venture interests in Australia.
“I look forward to working with the BPTT team and stakeholders to the mutual benefit of Trinidad and Tobago and BP," she said of her appointment.
bpTT
Claire Fitzpatrick
Gov’t to revisit agreement with bpTT
WATCH: bpTT announces new gas find
bpTT seeks "much more clarity" on tax reform measures
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Tag: Melanie Greenberg Ph.D.
How to Prevent Stress From Shrinking Your Brain
Have you ever felt so stressed out and overwhelmed that you can’t think straight? We now know that prolonged stress or trauma is associated with decreased volume in areas of the human brain responsible for regulating thoughts and feelings, enhancing self-control, and creating new memories. A new research study, published in today’s issue of Nature Medicine, is a first step in uncovering the genetic mechanism underlying these brain changes.
Depressed People’s Brains are More FragmentedIn this study, conducted by Professor Richard Dumin and colleagues from Yale University, scientists compared the genetic makeup of donated brain tissue from deceased humans with and without major depression. Only the depressed patients’ brain tissues showed activation of a particular genetic transcription factor, or “switch.” While each human cell contains more than 20,000 genes, only a tiny fraction of them are expressed at a given time. Transcription factors, when activated, act like light switches, causing genes to be turned on or off. This transcription factor, known as GATA1, switches off the activity of five genes necessary for forming synaptic connections between brain neurons. Brain neurons or nerve cells contain branches or dendrites that send and receive signals from other cells, leading to interconnected networks of emotion and cognition. The scientists hypothesized that in the depressed patients’ brains, prolonged stress exposure led to a disruption of brain systems involved in thinking and feeling. Depressed brains appeared to have more limited and fragmented information processing abilities. This finding may explain the pattern of repetitive negative thinking that depressed people exhibit. It is as if their brains get stuck in a negative groove of self-criticism and pessimism. They are unable to envision more positive outcomes or more compassionate interpretations of their actions.
Glucocorticoids Damage Brain Neurons
The stress response involves activation of a brain region known as the amygdala, which sends a signal alerting the organism to the threat. This results in activation of the HPA (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal) axis and release of a cascade of hormones, including cortisol, widely regarded as the quintessential “stress hormone.” While short-term cortisol release prepares the organism to sustain “fight or flight” and fend off an attacker, long-term exposure appears to cause brain neurons to shrink and interferes with their ability to send and receive information via branches called dendrites. In animal studies, under chronically stressful conditions, glucocorticoids such as cortisol can remain elevated for long periods.
Traumatic Experiences Can Shrink the Hippocampus in Those Who Don’t Recover
This finding is another piece of the puzzle regarding how stress and prolonged distress may impair our ability to think in creative and flexible ways. Research in both mice and humans has demonstrated an association between stress exposure (foot shock in mice, life events in humans) and shrinking of the hippocampus – the brain center responsible for forming new, time-sequenced memories. Studies in women with PTSD resulting from childhood sexual abuse and Vietnam veterans with PTSD have shown 12-26 percent decreases in hippocampal volume, relative to those without PTSD. In another study, patients recovered from long-term major depression showed a 15 percent decrease in volume of the hippocampus, compared to non-depressed patients.
Major Life Stress Damages the Prefrontal Cortex
In addition to hippocampal shrinkage, major life stress may shrink brain neurons in the Prefrontal Cortex (PFC), the brain area responsible for problem-solving, adaptation to challenge, emotional processing and regulation, impulse control, and regulation of glucose and insulin metabolism. In a study of 100 healthy participants conducted by Dr. Rajita Sinha and colleagues at Yale University, and published in the journal Biological Psychiatry, those with more adverse life events had greater shrinkage of gray matter in the PFC, compared to their less-stressed peers. Recent major life events, such as a job loss, make people less emotionally aware while life traumas, such as sexual abuse, seem to go further, in damaging mood centers that regulate pleasure and reward, increasing vulnerability to addiction and decreasing the brain’s ability to bounce back.
While the evidence is not yet conclusive, these studies suggest that prolonged exposure to stress can shrink the brain, both via the damaging effects of cortisol on brain neurons and by disrupting expression of genes that facilitate neuronal connections. This raises the question of whether there is anything we can do to prevent such damage. Since we can’t always control how much we are exposed to financial, relationship, or illness stress, are there preventive activities we can do to maintain cognitive resilience so we can continue to deal effectively with the stressors? It is not known if we can reverse the damage by these methods, but we may lessen it and make our brains more resilient to stress.
Brain-Enhancing Activities to Combat Stress
While the below list is not exhaustive, the three activities below have enhanced brain functioning in controlled studies.
Take a Daily DHA Supplement – DHA or Docosahexaenoic acid is an Omega-3 fatty acid that is a central building block of brain tissue. DHA is thought to combat the inflammatory effects of cortisol and the plaque buildup associated with vulnerability to Alzheimer’s disease. According to Dr. Mehmet Oz, in one study, a dose of 600mg of DHA taken daily for 6 months led the brain to perform as if it were three years younger.
Exercise Most Days – In studies with mice exercise led to a more improved performance on cognitive tasks than exposure to enriched environments with lots of activities and stimulation. Exercise leads to increases in BDNF or brain-derived neurotropic factor, a substance that strengthens brain cells and neuronal connections. BDNF is also thought to promote neurogenesis or the creation of new brain cells from existing stem cells in the hippocampus. Although these effects can’t be studied in living human brains, researchers have found increases in BDNF in the bloodstream of humans following workouts.
Do Yoga, Meditate, or Pray – These activities can activate what scientist Herb Benson at Massachusetts General Hospital calls “the relaxation response,” which lowers blood pressure and heart rate and lowers subjective anxiety. Benson and scientists from a genetics institute showed, in a recent study, that inducing the relaxation response can beneficially alter the expression of genes involved in inflammation, programmed cell death and how the body handles free radicals. The effects shown were in the same genes implicated in PTSD and depression. According to Jeffery Dusek, Ph.D., co-lead author of the study, “Changes in the activation of these same genes have previously been seen in conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder; but the relaxation-response-associated changes were the opposite of stress-associated changes and were much more pronounced in the long-term practitioners.”
Melanie Greenberg, Ph.D. is a licensed Clinical Psychologist and expert on Mindfulness and Positive Psychology. Dr. Greenberg provides workshops and speaking engagements for organizations, life, weight loss, or career coaching, and psychotherapy for individuals and couples. Visit her website: http://www.drmelaniegreenberg.biz
This article originally appeared in Psychology Today.
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Depression in the News
Is Shock Therapy Being Underutilized in Treating Depression?
How To Prevent Stress, Anxiety And Depression At Work
DNA Tests Can Take Some of the Guesswork Out of Treating Depression
A Depression Drug That Researchers Have Called ‘The Most Important Discovery in Half a Century’ Just Got a Big Lift
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Anatoli Tarasov
Anatoli Tarasov was born December 10,1918. He is often referred to as the father of Russian ice hockey. Tarasov began his career as a player in Moscow at the end of the 1940s and quickly became interested in developing ice hockey in his native land. Under his guidance, the Soviet Union won the IIHF World Championship title in 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970 and 1971 and the Olympic Gold in 1964 and 1968. Between 1950 and 1974, he won 17 national championships and six IIHF European Cup Championships with his club team CSKA. This great coach was inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto in 1974. Anatoli Tarasov passed away in June 1995. He was inducted to the IIHF Hall of Fame within the builders' category in 1997.
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Carthay Circle/South Carthay Historic Area
J. Harvey McCarthy developed Carthay Circle, originally called Carthay Center, between 1922 and 1944. He envisioned the neighborhood, named after a variation of his surname, as a complete community with a church, elementary school, hotel, theater, commercial center and a variety of housing opportunities. Captivated by California history, McCarthy named the streets in honor of prominent figures of the California Gold Rush. Carthay Circle was the first subdivision in Los Angeles to be planned with underground utilities, maintaining the streetscape free of the clutter of telephone poles and electric wires. The architecture of this primarily residential HPOZ (Historic Preservation Overlay Zone) is dominated by the Spanish Colonial Revival style in keeping with its founder’s fascination with California history, although examples of the Tudor, French, and American Colonial Revival styles can also be found. Once home to the famed Carthay Circle Theater, site of such film premieres as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Gone with the Wind, the multicolor tiled circular dome atop the theater tower and the circular auditorium inspired the community to change the name from “Carthay Center” to “Carthay Circle.”
South Carthay HPOZ is located on the site of the former vegetable fields for Ralph’s Market. Residential development in the area began during the early 1930's. Almost half of the single-family dwellings in South Carthay were designed and built by Greek developer Spyros George Ponty, who built homes throughout Los Angeles and Beverly Hills. Ponty and other contractors constructed homes in the Spanish Colonial Revival style. The characteristic use of low-pitched red tile roofs, arched doors and windows, and smooth stucco exterior finishes provides visual continuity and cohesiveness to the neighborhood. South Carthay residences are exceptional for their quality construction, skilled craftsmanship, decorative detailing, and individuality — no two homes are exactly alike..
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Seagrasses of Australia
Benefits and Uses
Seagrass ecosystems provide habitats for a wide variety of marine organisms, both plant and animal. They serve as important nursery areas for juvenile marine animals, as well as providing food and shelter.
Mangroves, seagrasses, and saltmarshes only occupy about 1% of the seafloor, it is estimated that they capture and store up to 70% of the carbon in the marine environment.
In Western Australia, the very high productivity of seagrass communities supports the multi-million dollar Western Rock Lobster fishing industry.
Seagrass beds colonise and grow in areas of shallow water especially in the presence of unstable mud, silt and sand. The seagrass canopy reduces wave and current velocities, which reduces erosion and enhances sedimentation on the sea bed.
Seagrasses can improve water quality. Fast moving water stirs up the sediment on the bottom, which makes the water cloudy. When flowing water hits seagrass, it slows down allowing particles to settle. Seagrasses can also help by acting like a filter if there are too many nutrients in the water or sediment..
Seagrass wrack (leaves detached from the original plant) also plays a vital role as a microhabitat both in the water and along the shoreline. The accumulation of decaying seagrass on the shoreline provides food and habitat, and is a source of nutrient cycling for inshore estuarine ecosystems. When seagrass dies and begins to break down micro-organisms, such as bacteria, create fragments of decaying seagrass. This is then consumed by other micro-organisms and by prawns and other invertebrates. Other animals,including shore birds and fish, will then eat these invertebrates.
Dried seagrass was commonly used as housing insulation, until well into this century. Seagrass material was popularly used to thatch roofs in rural coastal areas in Europe and the UK from the seventeenth century.
Seagrass was extensively used to bind clay and soil, for example in the dikes of the Netherlands. Now seagrass drift is being used to produce a mulch applied to sand dunes to help with their stabilization.
It has also been used as a fertilizer for sandy soils and as a stock feed supplement.
Much of the literature about seagrasses state that " It is used as a material for stuffing pillows, mattresses and upholstery. It also used to make furniture, rope, woven baskets, matting and even shoes."
In fact the plants used for these and other crafts are generally freshwater and brackish water reeds which are abundanf China and SE Asia. he plants used for these and other crafts are generally freshwater and brackish water reeds which are abundant in China and SE Asia.
These are not classed as seagrasses, and don’t belong in the Families of true seagrasses: http://www.seagrasswatch.org/seagrass.html
The leaves and rhizomes of most true seagrasses do not have high lignin contents, and are not fibrous or resilient enough to make woven products.
The brackish and freshwater reed Phragmites australis, found in large natural stands in coastal and inland China, and species of Cyperus reed in South East Asia, are used for weaving into a range of products, including mats, shoes, baskets, etc.
The misconception has been long held, and would be very difficult to correct. The term “seagrass matting” has continued to be attractive across marketing and consumer sectors worldwide. Some marketing sites go as far as ascribing true seagrasses as the source product in seagrass matting.he plants used for these and other crafts are generally freshwater and brackish water reeds which are abundant in China and SE Asia.
The misconception has been long held, and would be very difficult to correct. The term “seagrass matting” has continued to be attractive across marketing and consumer sectors worldwide. Some marketing sites go as far as ascribing true seagrasses as the source product in seagrass matting.
Thanks to Warren Lee Long, Environment & NRM Specialist, E: warrenleelong@bigpond.com for this information.
Seagrass meadow stabilizing sediments
Furniture made from "seagrass"
"Seagrass" matting
Even slippers are made from seagrass!
Next: Threats ...
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NORTHCOM, National Guard Complete Vigilant Guard 17
APRIL 3, 2017, MARIETTA, Ga. – Six months after hurricane Matthew struck the coast of the Southeast United States, the state of Georgia hosted a large-scale training exercise to respond to real-life disaster scenarios.
Over two years of planning, immense amounts of hard work and approximately 9,000 personnel came together in the culminating event conducted March 23 to 31. The Georgia Department of Defense and the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency teamed to co-host Vigilant Guard 17. United States Northern Command, in conjunction with the National Guard Bureau, sponsored the exercise.
“The purpose of this large-scale and comprehensive exercise is to simulate a real-world natural disaster in order to improve cooperation among local, state, and federal stakeholders in preparing for emergencies and any sort of catastrophic event,” said Georgia Governor Nathan Deal.
More than 50 federal and local agencies joined the Georgia Department of Defense along with units from six other states for a series of real-world training scenarios during Vigilant Guard 17.
Everything the Georgia Department of Defense does is for, with and through its interagency partners, said Brigadier General Tom Carden, commander of the Georgia Army National Guard.
“Looking back, I believe we work at the speed of trust,” Carden said. “These exercises help us build capability and, more importantly, it helps us build trust. Trust is cultivated through relationships. When we can go out and work those relationships and build trust and build capability, the end result is a safer population.”
This is the first time the state of Georgia has ever hosted a Vigilant Guard event, Deal said. This exercise is the largest Vigilant Guard event conducted in its history. Georgia’s Homeland Security Task Force has been in the event planning process since 2015.
In that time, the state of Georgia and neighboring states in the southeast experienced real-world emergencies, from flooding in South Carolina to Hurricane Matthew’s impact along the coast. A state of emergency was declared in six Georgia counties during Matthew, but under the scenarios during the training exercise, 19 counties were in a simulated state-of-emergency.
Among the scenarios run during the exercise, which was meant to enhance readiness for situations that could arise as a result of a natural disaster, were collapsed building search and decontamination missions, search and rescue training, maritime response missions, aerial firefighting, mass-casualty medical evacuation training, cyber-attack defense and more.
“The purpose of this exercise is to simulate an event that exceeds our capacity to respond and stresses our systems to the point we have to ask for assistance outside the state,” said Maj. Gen. Joe Jarrard, Adjutant General of Georgia. “That assistance could come in the form of other Guardsman from other states, active duty forces from around the country, as well as additional assistance from federal agencies and other states.”
Participants in the exercise learned to coordinate effective disaster response. As a result, in the event of a catastrophe, agencies engaged from national to local levels should be better prepared to plan, communicate and take action to protect the citizens of the United States.
“To know that we have the Guard standing behind us is great,” said Tim Holloway, a manager for Columbia County Georgia Roads and Bridges Department. “We look forward to working together, whenever it may be.”
By Spc. Jordan Trent, 124th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
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New York Air National Guard Airmen Practice Medical…
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RISK x Unsolved: The Murders of Tupac and The Notorious B.I.G.
To celebrate its acclaimed new drama, Unsolved: The Murders of Tupac and the Notorious B.I.G., USA Network worked with Mirrored Media to bring a unique artistic tie-in to the anticipated debut. In order to add an inspiring, visual, and shareable element to the series and engage a music-oriented audience, the Mirrored team enlisted world-famous street artist RISK to create two one-of-a-kind gallery pieces to capture that audience.
As an artist who was inspired by Biggie and Tupac himself, RISK brought the two legends to life in his own unique way with two authentic and organically-created art pieces. Each consisted of four clear plexiglass plates mounted into a custom lightbox, with screened and spray-painted art that created a singular image when viewed from the front.
The pieces were unveiled at the red carpet premiere of Unsolved, which was held at Hollywood’s Avalon Theater in February of 2018. The two portrayals of the music icons inspired and touched friends and fans, becoming the perfect complement to the evening’s poignant screening. Exclusive Unsolved sweaters featuring RISK’s artwork were given to attendees, while 20 lucky fans who entered the #UnsolvedUSA sweepstakes walked away with exclusive 24”x36” signed and numbered archival prints of his work.
Additionally, we were able to follow RISK along his creative journey with long-form and short-form behind-the-scenes content. This rare footage provided an exclusive look into the stunning compound where RISK crafts his art, and allowed him to tell his story to fans in his own words.
Did you catch @BennyDRAMA7 at #VidCon2019 filming for @ComedyCentral?! Looks like he enjoyed our @awesomenesstv… https://t.co/OC1fhuKBAT 9 hours ago
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Mr Gay UK is a British annual beauty contest for gay men, with regional heats held in gay nightclubs with a grand final usually at a gay venue.
It began in 1982 as "Mr Hardware" (named after a fragrance) designed to promote a gay mail order company. The event, held in the Heaven nightclub, was filmed by the BBC as part of a documentary entitled Something For the Ladies.
In 1984, the competition name was changed to Mr Gay UK. Since then, the event has been recorded for video release (1993), featured on a Channel 4 series, Passengers (1994) and the event itself was broadcast on Five in 1998 and 1999.
Recent Grand Final’s have taken place at The Flamingo Club, Blackpool and The Ritz, Manchester.
Many star names have also been associated with the contest: Lily Savage, Jason Donovan, Phil Olivier, Graham Norton, Sonya, Jane McDonald, Tim Vincent, Rhona Cameron, the late Paula Yates and Michelle Heaton are just some of the names who have hosted the final. Sir Ian McKellen, Richard Wilson, Jean Paul Gaultier, Denise Van Outen, Antony Cotton, Danny La Rue, Justin Fashanu, Anita Dobson, Sue Pollard and a host of TV and soap stars are just a few of the fabulous people who have acted as celebrity judges.
The first step is taking part in a heat, held at clubs and pubs all around the UK. Many of the heats have their own prizes for first, second and third places, but the prize on everyones mind is getting through to the Grand Final.
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The LIFE BACCATA Project is ending the characterization phase and the habitat diagnosis 9580*
The Action A1 named “Characterization and habitat diagnosis 9580*” of the LIFE BACCATA Project is about to end, aiming to clarify the interpretation of the habitat 9580* in Spain, to obtain information in order to promote locally this habitat and to define a methodology for the development of the following actions.
This action focuses on the habitat 9580*, that currently has an “unfavourable-inadequate” conservation status in the Atlantic region and an “unfavourable-bad” conservation status in the Mediterranean, according to the report about the implementation of the Habitats Directive in the period 2007-2012 (article 17 of the Directive), both in Spain and in the EU.
It must be reminded that the yew is affected by a series a threats that directly have an impact on the biodiversity of the occupied areas. These threats appeared over the years and take various forms: fires, pruning, infrastructures’ construction, fragmentation and lack of connection between these natural areas or the impacts of climate change. Individually or together, these threats have endangered the survival of the species, its habitat and the biodiversity, it is therefore necessary to act and ensure its future in a sustainable way. The action’s works focus on pine forests in fifteen areas of the Natura 2000 Network in the Cantabrian Mountains belonging to Galicia, Castile-and-León and the Basque Country.
Two phases have been established in this Action A1. On the one hand, an inventory of pine forests was elaborated in its scope of action, studying the degree of connectivity and other aspects such as the floristic composition and the presence of threatened and exotic species. The habitat mapping through field work, the study of the relationship between the population and the pine forests and how these have impacted on traditional uses, have culminated in this first phase. On the other hand, necessary indicators have been identified to evaluate the project’s impacts on the habitat in accordance with what is established in the Habitats Directive. Now starts the following action focusing on the technical planning of the conservation.
The LIFE BACCATA Project intends to implement the necessary measures of protection and forest management that promote the improvement of the conservation status and the restauration of the yew and pine forests, by encouraging its natural regeneration, and the one of flora and fauna species in these areas, and by contributing to a slow-down of the biodiversity loss.
The LIFE BACCATA Project is co-funded by the European Commission within the framework of the LIFE call for proposals and is taking place between 2016 and 2020 in fifteen areas of the Natura 2000 Network in the Cantabrian Mountains and belonging to Galicia, Castile-and-León and the Basque Country. The University of Santiago de Compostela participates as project coordinator and also participate as partners Castile-and-León Council, Cesefor, Hazi Foundation and TRAGSA Group.
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GST/HST election for closely related persons: Important changes for 2015
The GST/HST joint election available to closely related persons (the “156 Election”) under section 156 of the federal Excise Tax Act (the “ETA”) saw significant amendments after the last federal budget was tabled last February.
Generally speaking, a Related Party Election may be made by qualifying members of a qualifying group (i.e., certain closely related corporations and partnerships). It allows corporations resident in Canada as well as partnerships each member of which is: (a) a corporation or partnership and is resident in Canada; (b) a GST/HST registrant; and (c) engaged exclusively in commercial activities, to make supplies to other similar corporations or partnerships in the same closely related group without being required to collect or remit any GST/HST. Under a Related Party Election, supplies between related persons are deemed to be made for nil consideration.
Mandatory filing in 2015
As of January 2015, to be effective, these elections must be filed with the tax the Canada Revenue Agency via form RC4116 (not yet released). This means that “retroactive” elections (where the parties acted as if an election had been made, but did not sign the required form) will likely no longer be valid without the approval of the CRA. Historically, these forms did not have to be filed, and could often be completed retroactively so long as the parties acted as if the election had been made.
A Related Party Election will have to be filed on or before the first day on which the particular specified member, or the other specified members, must file a GST/HST, for the period that includes the effective date of the election.
For related parties that currently have a Related Party Election in effect, the election will have to be filed before 2016. However, the parties are not allowed to file the election prior to January 1, 2015 (otherwise it is deemed not to have been filed). Taxpayers who have a Related Party Election in effect should ensure that they file their elections in 2015 (preferably in January, 2015); otherwise, they will no longer be valid.
Please contact your Lipton representative in order to discuss how these changes may apply to you.
Jeff Nightingale is the Senior Tax Partner and a Managing Partner at Lipton LLP, Chartered Accountants. Jeff has written a number of publications and speaks to a variety of professional and business groups, including the Canadian Tax Foundation, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario and The Law Scociety of Upper Canada. He has also completed the CICA In-Depth Tax Course as well as other advanced taxation courses and is a member of the Canadian Tax Foundation and the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners.
Learn More about Jeff Nightingale
by : Jeff Nightingale
Let’s Talk – Winter 2014 Edition
A Message from the Managing Partners
Managing Partners Fred Arshoff and Jeff Nightingale discuss what Lipton LLP is striving to achieve in the months and years ahead.
Rule Changes with Respect to Foreign Income Reporting
The Canadian government has made it a priority to “crack down on international tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance.” As part of this effort, the government has released a revised Form T1135, the Foreign Income Verification Statement. Tax partner, Sunita Arora addresses what these changes mean.
Tax Season Tips
Tax season is just around the corner. To make sure you’re prepared, assurance & advisory partner Paul Roberts offers his quick tips.
Software Compliance and Why it Matters
Manager of IT Services, Bryan Walderman provides his advice on how to avoid a software compliance audit.
Click Here to Read our Entire Newsletter
by : LiptonLLP
Getting Ready for 2014
With the exception of RRSP contributions (in most cases) and pension income splitting, any tax planning strategies intended to reduce one’s tax payable for 2013 must be implemented by the end of the calendar year.
While 2013 tax returns don’t have to be filed for at least another six months, it’s worth taking the time now to review possible tax-saving opportunities to make sure any necessary steps are taken before December 31st. Doing so can help avoid or minimize “sticker shock”, in the form of a large tax bill, when the annual tax return is completed next spring.
Make charitable donations for 2013
The federal and all provincial governments provide a two-level tax credit for donations made to registered charities during the year. To earn a credit for the tax year, donations must be made by the end of the calendar year. There is, however, another reason to ensure donations are made by December 31. For federal purposes, the first $200 in donations is eligible for a non-refundable tax credit equal to 15% of the donation. The credit for donations made during the year which exceed the $200 threshold is, however, calculated as 29% of the excess.
As a result of the two-level credit structure, it makes sense to aggregate donations in a single calendar year where possible. A qualifying charitable donation of $400 made in December of 2013 will receive a federal credit of $88.00 ($200 times 15% plus $200 times 29%). If the same amount is donated, but the donation is split equally between December 2013 and January 2014, the total credit claimed is only $60. ($200 times 15% plus $200 times 15%), and the 2014 donation can’t be claimed until the 2014 return is filed in April of 2015. And, of course, the larger the donation in any one calendar year, the greater the proportion of that donation which will receive credit at the 29% rather than the 15% level.
It’s also possible to carry forward for up to five years donations which were made in a particular tax year. So, if donations made in 2013 don’t reach the $200 level, it’s usually worth holding off on claiming the donation and carrying forward to the next year in which total donations, including carryforwards, are over that threshold. Of course, this also means that donations made but not claimed in any of the 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, or 2012 tax years can be carried forward and added to the total donations made in 2013, and then the aggregate amount claimed on the 2013 tax return.
When claiming charitable donations, it’s possible to combine donations made by oneself and one’s spouse and claim them on a single return. Generally, and especially in provinces and territories which impose a high income surtax (i.e., Ontario, Prince Edward Island and the Yukon) it makes sense for the higher income spouse to make the claim for the total of charitable contributions made by both spouses.
For Canadians who have not been in the habit of making charitable donations, there is now an additional incentive to make a cash donation to charity. In this year’s budget, the federal government introduced a temporary (before 2018) charitable donations super-credit. That super-credit allows individuals who have not claimed a charitable donations tax credit in any of the last 5 tax years (that is, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012) to claim a super-credit on up to $1,000 in cash donations made after the budget date of March 21, 2013. The super-credit is equal to 40% of donations under $200 and 54% of donations over the $200 threshold. Donations in excess of $1,000 will, of course, be creditable at regular federal charitable donation credit rates of 15% and 29%, as outlined above.
Make a registered education savings plan (RESP) contribution
It’s possible for Canadians to save for their children’s education on a tax-favoured basis, through a registered education savings plan. While no deduction is provided for contributions made to the plan, investment income earned by those contributions accumulates tax-free, and amounts paid out of the plan to pay for post-secondary education are generally taxed at lower rates in the hands of the student and not those of the original contributor.
The federal government assists contributors to an RESP through a grant program, the Canada Education Savings Grant (CESG). The CESG is equal to 20% of the first $2,500 in contributions made during the year, for a maximum annual grant of $500.
While it’s possible to carryforward grant entitlement to a future year, there are restrictions on the amount of such carryforward. The best way to ensure that the maximum possible CESG is received is to make $2,500 in RESP contributions in each calendar year, by the end of that year.
Consider accelerating medical expenses into 2013
While most out-of-pocket medical expenses incurred by Canadians may be claimed for purposes of the medical expense tax credit, the rules governing that credit can be confusing. The basic rule is that qualifying medical expenses (a list of which can be found on the Canada Revenue Agency website in excess of 3% of the taxpayer’s net income, or $2,152, whichever is less, can be claimed for purposes of the medical expense tax credit.
More practically, the rule for 2013 is that any taxpayer whose net income is less than $71,750 will be entitled to claim medical expenses that are greater than 3% of his or her net income for the year. Those having income over $71,750 will be limited to claiming expenses which exceed the $2,152 threshold.
The other aspect of the medical expense tax credit which can cause some confusion is that it’s possible to claim medical expenses which were incurred prior to the current tax year but weren’t claimed on the return for the year the expenditure was made. The actual rule is that the taxpayer can claim qualifying medical expenses incurred during any 12-month period which ends in the current tax year, meaning that each taxpayer must determine which 12-month period ending during 2013 will produce the greatest credit amount. That determination will obviously depend on when medical expenses were incurred, so there is, unfortunately, no universal rule of thumb.
Medical expenses incurred by all family members can be added together and claimed by one member of the family. In most cases, it’s best, in order to maximize the amount claimable, to make that claim on the tax return of the lowest income member of the family who has tax payable for the year.
As December 31st approaches, it’s a good idea to add up the medical expenses which have been incurred during 2013 as well as those paid during 2012 and not claimed on the 2012 return. Once those totals are known, it will be easier to determine whether to make a claim for 2013 or to wait and claim 2013 expenses on the 2014 return. And, if the decision is to make a claim for calendar year 2013, knowing what medical expenses were paid when will enable the taxpayer to determine the optimal 12-month period for the claim. Finally, it’s a good idea to look into the timing of medical expenses which will have to be paid early in 2014. It may make sense, where possible, to accelerate the payment of those expenses to December 2013, where that means that they can be included in 2013 totals and claimed on the 2013 return.
Take a look at the amount of tax instalments paid this year
Millions of Canadian taxpayers (in particular, the self-employed or retired) pay income taxes by quarterly instalments, with the amount of those instalments representing an estimate of the taxpayer’s total tax liability for the year.
The final quarterly instalment will be due on December 15, 2013. (However, since this year December 15 falls on a Sunday, the actual date on which payment is due will be Monday December 16.) By that date, almost everyone should have a reasonably good idea of what his or her income will be for 2013 and so will be in a position to estimate what the tax bill will be for the year. While the tax return forms to be used for the 2013 tax year haven’t yet been released by the Canada Revenue Agency, it’s possible to arrive at an estimate by using the 2012 form. Increases in tax credit amounts and tax brackets from 2012 to 2013 will mean that using the 2012 form will result, if anything, in a slight overestimate of tax liability for 2013.
Once one’s tax bill for 2013 has been estimated, it’s possible to compare that figure with the total of tax instalments already made for 2013 and to determine whether the tax instalment to be paid on December 15 can be adjusted downward.
Non-taxable benefits can help retain excellent employees
Good employees are difficult to find, so it may be worthwhile to offer benefits that will encourage them to stay.
Many owner-managers would like to provide their employees with additional benefits but may be reluctant to do so because Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) requires that many benefits be included in employee compensation. Unfortunately, this may attract additional income tax for the employees and add costs to both the employee and employer for employment insurance and CPP.
Some benefits, however, are not taxable to the employee, yet may provide a deductible expense to the employer.
If you, the owner-manager, could design the ideal benefit for your employees, what features would it include? The following four factors may be worth considering:
A deductible expense to you;
No extra costs for you, such as employment insurance or CPP;
Non-taxable in the hands of the employee; and
Attractive enough to keep hard-to-replace employees working for you.
You may be surprised to discover that a few such benefits already exist – if they meet the right criteria.
Uniforms and Special Clothing
In most situations, an employer cannot provide clothing to an employee without creating a taxable benefit for the employee. Uniforms and special clothing (including protective clothing, safety footwear and safety glasses) are exceptions, however.
The Employee Point of View
When employees receive special work-use clothing and protective gear, the benefits to the employee are two-fold: employees don’t have to spend their own money for these items and the CRA does not consider these items a taxable benefit.
The Employer Point of View
From the owner-manager’s point of view, the benefits are also two-fold: a distinctive uniform, usually containing the employer’s logo, is a walking advertisement for your business, while protective gear, if it helps to prevent injuries, keeps insurance costs down. The uniforms and protective gear are deductible expenses to the employer.
Reimbursement and Clothing Allowances
You can also provide employees with an allowance for uniforms, protective clothing, safety glasses, boots, etc., or reimburse them for purchases made with their own money. If the allowance is accountable (i.e., requires receipts) it is considered to be a reimbursement of expenses and is not a taxable benefit to the employee. If you do not require a receipt, the purchases must meet the following three criteria in order to be a non-taxable benefit to the employees:
Laws require protective clothing on the worksite;
The employee purchases the protective clothing; and
The amount of the reimbursement is reasonable.
If laundry or dry cleaning costs are incurred to clean uniforms or protective clothing, employers may opt to pay a reasonable allowance to the employee or, alternatively, to reimburse the employee when receipts are presented. These costs are not taxable to the employee. (The reimbursement includes HST/GST recoverable by the employer.)
Cellular Phone Service
If you provide employees with a personal cellular or other handheld device for business use, the portion attributable to business is not taxable to the employee. In theory, if an employee uses any of these devices for personal use, the personal-use portion would be considered a taxable benefit. The CRA has, however, recognized that it is impractical to try to draw a distinct line between personal and business use. Instead, the CRA states:
Generally, we do not consider your employee’s personal use of the service to be a taxable benefit if all of the following apply:
The plan’s cost is reasonable.
The plan is a basic plan with a fixed cost.
Your employee’s personal use of the service does not result in charges that are more than the basic plan cost.
Child-Care Expenses
Child care is not just a financial issue; it is also an emotional one. A non-taxable, child-care facility at work is an excellent way to keep employees happy. This benefit is only non-taxable to the employee if all the following conditions are met:
Child care must be provided at the place of business;
Services must be managed by the business;
All employees must have the option of utilizing the service;
The service must be provided free or with minimal costs attached;
Third parties (individuals who are not employees) cannot use the service.
Options to Consider
Assume for a moment you want to provide on-premises child-care facilities for your employees but the costs are so high you will have to offer the service to non-employees at a higher rate. If you decide to go that route, the difference between the cost to your employees (which may be as low as zero), and the price paid by third parties, will be considered a taxable benefit to your employees.
However, if you subsidize your employees to use the child-care services of a third party, the CRA considers the subsidy to be a taxable benefit to employees who use the service. If the subsidized care is for children 14 years of age or younger and for daily periods of less than 24 hours, you pay no HST/GST but you must contribute to CPP.
If you have employees working at home, you may wish to pay for the portion of their Internet service used for business. Internet costs for business use are a non-taxable benefit to the employee; however, the personal portion of Internet use must be included in the employee’s income as a taxable benefit. It is up to the employer to determine the fair market value and the percentage of business use. The fair market value should be based on the employer`s cost, including GST/HST.
Spouses and Business Trips
Under most circumstances, any reimbursement for the cost of having a spouse or partner accompany an employee on a business trip is taxable to the employee. If, however, the spouse or partner is involved in activities related to the business and attendance is requested by the employer, reimbursement of reasonable travelling expenses is not taxable to the employee.
Education Cost for Employees’ Children
Reimbursement of educational costs for employees’ children is a taxable benefit to the employee. The CRA recognizes, however, that education facilities may not be available to employees’ children because of the remoteness of the worksite or because the local curriculum is inadequate. If an allowance or reimbursement is paid and it is established that the following FOUR conditions are met, then the CRA may consider the amount to be a non-taxable benefit to the employee:
Education is provided in one of Canada’s official languages used by the employee;
The education facility must be the closest one available;
Full-time attendance is required; and
The reimbursement must be reasonable.
GST/HST is not included as part of this benefit.
Taxable benefits regarding parking are a contentious issue for both the employer and the employee because many employees need to drive to work and believe the cost of parking should be absorbed by the employer.
Under most circumstances, parking is a taxable benefit to employees. The benefit to the employee is calculated at the rate charged for the parking plus HST/GST. Any contribution by the employee toward parking costs is deducted from the benefit. There are, of course, exceptions to the general rule:
Employees with disabilities are not subject to the taxable benefit.
If the employer provides parking because it is necessary to conduct business AND the employee must regularly use a vehicle (their own or a company vehicle), the add-on to income as a taxable benefit does not apply.
Where your business operates from a mall or an industrial park and parking is considered free to all, a taxable benefit does not arise. The CRA recognizes that if an individual is not assigned a specific spot and therefore it is uncertain as to whether a parking spot is attainable, the benefit does not apply.
Be Prepared to Defend Yourself
In many of the situations discussed above, determination of the non-taxable portion of the benefit may be somewhat subjective. Owner-managers should be prepared to support their position with solid documentation in the event the CRA decides to challenge any claims.
Jeff Nightingale is the Senior Tax and Managing Partner at Lipton LLP, Chartered Accountants. Jeff has written a number of publications and speaks to a variety of professional and business groups, including the Canadian Tax Foundation, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario and The Law Society of Upper Canada. He has also completed the CICA In-Depth Tax Course as well as other advanced taxation courses and is a member of the Canadian Tax Foundation and the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners.
CRA Announces Change to Reporting Foreign Income on Form T1135
Recently, the CRA released the revised Foreign Income Verification Form T1135 as announced in the 2013 Federal Budget. Effective immediately, taxpayers are required to use this new form.
Taxpayers must now provide additional information, including:
The name of the specific foreign institution, investment or other entity holding funds outside Canada.
The specific country to which the foreign property relates.
The cost of the property at the end of the year, the highest cost amount during the year and the income or gains generated from the foreign property, on a property by property basis.
However, there is some good news for those taxpayers who hold foreign property through Canadian brokerage and investment accounts. The new form states that “where the reporting taxpayer has received a T3 or T5 from a Canadian issuer in respect of a specified foreign property for a taxation year, that specified foreign property is excluded from the Form’s reporting requirement for that taxation year”. The Form includes a box that must be checked where such property is held, so it appears that the Form still does have to be filed even if all of the property is subject to T3/T5 reporting.
Where a taxpayer fails to comply with the requirements of the new form, proposed legislation adds a three-year extension to the normal reassessment period (which is generally three years from the date of the original notice of assessment) to the entire tax return. As a result, if a taxpayer fails to comply with the Form’s reporting requirements, the entire income tax return for the year will not be statute barred until six years after the date of the original notice of assessment.
We continue to keep current as more details are announced.
For additional information, please contact your Lipton advisor.
2013 Federal Budget Commentary
Like its predecessor, the March 21, 2013 federal budget is entitled “Jobs, Growth, and Long-Term Prosperity”. In his eighth budget, finance minister Jim Flaherty has tabled a document focused on balancing the books, targeted spending, and fine-tuning the tax rules.
Despite being challenged by lower-than-expected growth in the Canadian economy, the government says it is on course to eliminate the deficit and return to a balanced budget by 2015-16. It projects a $25.9 billion deficit for 2012-13, an $18.7 billion deficit in 2013-14, a $6.6 billion deficit for 2014-15, and a surplus of $0.8 billion in 2015-16.
Against this backdrop of deficit reduction, however, the government has introduced several new initiatives to stimulate economic activity and get more Canadians back to work. But even with this commitment to program spending, the deficit will continue to fall because of austerity measures already in place.
The Canada Job Grant program, which received a great deal of pre-budget attention, will provide up to $15,000 per trainee, $5,000 each from the federal and provincial or territorial governments, and $5,000 from the employer. The program is expected to help key industries, like companies in the energy sector, hire the people they need, although it may take up to a year for the federal government to renegotiate existing agreements with the provinces and territories.
The new Building Canada plan pledges more than $47 billion in new infrastructure spending over ten years, starting in 2014-15. This should help restore some of the crumbling infrastructure that is plaguing Canadian cities. What’s more, the initiative makes a link between federal construction and maintenance procurement practices and the hiring of apprentices.
For small businesses, there are a number of welcome changes that will streamline compliance. These include:
Enhancing CRA’s online enquiries service by allowing small business taxpayers to “go paperless” and rely exclusively on electronic notices stored in the secure My Business portal
Increasing accountability by introducing “Agent ID”, giving taxpayers access to the names and other identifying details of CRA call centre agents
Working to expand the use of the Business Number to more governments
Introducing a pilot program for pre-approval of SR&ED claims
Streamlining the approval process for authorization of third parties to conduct business tax matters on their clients’ behalf.
The budget also contains stimulus measures for the manufacturing sector, including:
A two-year extension of the temporary accelerated capital cost allowance for new investment in machinery and equipment
Renewal of the Federal Economic Development Agency (FedDev Ontario) for southern Ontario with funding of $920 million over five years
Investing $200 million over five years in the new Advanced Manufacturing Fund in Ontario
Streamlining foreign trade zone policies and programs by cutting red tape and improving access
Extending the Hiring
Credit for Small Business for an additional year
Please click the link to read Lipton’s full commentary of Mr. Flaherty’s latest budget.
Jeff Nightingale is the Senior Tax Partner at Lipton LLP, Chartered Accountants. Jeff has written a number of publications and speaks to a variety of professional and business groups, including the Canadian Tax Foundation, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario and The Law Scociety of Upper Canada. He has also completed the CICA In-Depth Tax Course as well as other advanced taxation courses and is a member of the Canadian Tax Foundation and the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners.
6 Tips for Tax Season
It’s that time of year again, when we dig deep into our shoeboxes full of receipts and wait eagerly for official tax documents toarrive in the mail. Are you ready for it this year? Did you keep a good record of all the charitable contributions you made, the receipts you can write off? Are you aware of all the incentives you might qualify for?
Most of us aren’t. Don’t worry, you still have time to get it all in order. Here are the six steps to get ready for tax season.
Try to set aside at least one weekend to get your tax receipts and documents in order. If you’re filing on your own return, you may need an extra day to sit down and input the numbers. Find the obvious stuff first: T4 slips, or if you’re self-employed all your invoice advice documents. Print out the official RRSP tax receipts and track down all your official charitable contribution documents.
2. Inquire about All Incentives
Visit the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) website to investigate the incentives you and your family qualify for. Check out things like the child fitness credits, moving credits and education credits. There are numerous tax incentives that you may be able to take advantage of. Live agents are also on hand to answer tax questions and you can call in anonymously. Talk to colleagues doing a similar job and cross-reference each of your returns to make sure you’re not missing anything.
3. Using a Professional vs. Going it Alone
If you have a particularly complicated tax return, it might be in your best interest to seek the advice of a professional. If your tax refund is fairly simple you can use one of the reputable online tax filing programs to complete your refund. Remember to file online, sending your refund through mail delays your process by up to six weeks.
4. Have a Plan if you Owe Money
If your calculations show you owe money to the CRA, start putting that money away now. This will help you save enough to pay the balance off before it costs more in the form of interest and penalties. The faster you pay off your tax bill, the better.
Also investigate what changes you need to make this year to avoid paying next year. One of the easiest ways to lessen your tax impact is by contributing to your RRSP. Check the Notice of Assessment you received last year. You can calculate how much room you have.
5. Income Splitting
You can reduce your tax bill significantly by implementing income-splitting strategies if your spouse is in a lower income bracket. When you retire and withdraw money from your RRSP you will be taxed. By setting up a Spousal RRSP, you can transfer a portion of that income into your spouse’s RRSP to be taxed at lower rates upon withdrawl by your spouse after age 65. The contributor to the Spousal RRSP is able to bring their contribution room down and still enjoy the benefit of getting a larger refund.
6. Learn from your Mistakes
Start planning now for the 2013 tax season. Create a filing system to keep all your important documents organized. Have a permanent place for your records, charitable receipts and RRSP contribution documents. Using technology, such as a scanner to digitize all of your receipts and financial documents is also an efficient way to manage your documents, while removing the clutter.
Important Deadlines:
Your RRSP deadline for contributing for the 2012 tax year is March 1, 2013.
If you have a balance owing for 2012, it must be paid by April 30, 2013.
Tax-Free Savings Accounts
No one likes receiving unexpected notices from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). Some owners of tax-free savings accounts may have received notices and may be confused about the rules governing such accounts.
Effective since January 1, 2009, Canadians over 18 have been able to contribute up to $5,000 a year to tax-free savings accounts (TFSA). They do not obtain a tax deduction for contributions, but any investment income or capital gains earned in a TFSA is not taxed. Withdrawals from the accounts are also tax-free and can generally be withdrawn at any time.
Confusion has arisen, however, over whether withdrawals can be replaced in a TFSA within the same tax reporting year. They cannot, if such deposits take the contribution total over the $5,000 limit.
As an example, if a TFSA owner has deposited the maximum of $5,000, then withdraws $2,000 – or even transfers it into another bank account – then deposits $2,000 later in the year to top up the account, CRA deems that $7,000 has been deposited in the TFSA. There is a penalty for excess contributions amounting to one per cent of the excess, assessed each month within the taxation year. Some account owners have unexpectedly received notice of penalty assessments.
Many people were unaware of this aspect of the rules governing TFSA contributions. You have to wait until the following taxation year to replenish a TFSA if the replenishment will mean that your total deposits exceed $5,000.
The CRA has acknowledged that there has been genuine misunderstanding about the rules and is willing to reconsider the penalties in such cases. If you have received reassessment notices concerning TFSA contributions, Lipton understands the CRA’s procedures for seeking a review of penalties and have already made representations on behalf of clients.
Saving for an Education
Tuition may be increasing, but education is still the best investment we can make for our children or grandchildren. Today more than ever, it pays to plan ahead for a child’s education – and Registered Education Savings Plans (RESPs) are an excellent tool to help you do it.
Establishing an RESP helps you save along the way so that you aren’t faced with huge expenses all at once. Parents, grandparents and certain other family members or friends can contribute up to $4,000 per year to a maximum of $42,000. Plus, they can save taxes at the same time.
Even though the annual contributions to the plan are not tax-deductible, the money grows tax free until it is withdrawn. The student then pays the tax owing on the income when it is withdrawn – and usually at a much lower rate.
You can also benefit from the Canada Education Savings Grant, a federal government program whereby the government contributes an additional 20 per cent on the first $2,000 of annual RESP contributions. This guarantees a rate of return of at least 20 per cent on an annual basis – which means you can save even more.
But do your homework, if you’re considering setting up an RESP, seek advice first. Different plans have different conditions. There are certain limitations relating to the Education Savings Grant. You want to make sure that the terms of the plan you choose meet your intentions and requirements, and provide the best education fund for your children.
Partnership Year-Ends – Tax Changes
W hat are the tax implications of a member of a corporate partnership having a fiscal yearend different from that of the partnership? The latest federal budget provides a new answer to that question. Previously, partnerships owned by corporations could defer taxes on their income. They did this by setting the year-end of the partnership on a date after the year-end of the corporate partners. For example, if a corporate partner had a March 31 year-end, the partnership could have an April 30 year-end in order to defer the partners’ income taxes on 11 months of income from the partnership. The budget proposals of March 22, 2011 will do away with this deferral opportunity.
Henceforth, each corporate partner will be required to include in its current fiscal year its share of the partnership income calculated on the deferred portion of the partnership’s fiscal year. This period is referred to as the “stub period.”
There will surely be some fine-tuning of the calculations but generally this new rule applies to all corporate partners, other than professional corporations,
that have year-ends of March 23, 2011, or later. “Some clients were concerned about the additional tax burden of having to include additional income in
their fiscal years ended March 31,” says Tax Partner Sunita Arora.
“The government has made a transitional reserve available to permit the stub-period income to be brought into income over five years, using a graduated formula.”
Furthermore, the Canada Revenue Agency has stated that they will also apply similar rules to members of joint ventures and co-tenancies. At this point, these
details have not been released.
tag : Business Planning, Firm News, Tax Changes
Let's Talk 2013 Winter Newsletter
Lipton Newsletter – Winter 2015 Edition
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Stress & Anxiety >
The Stress of Life
Created in Newsletter Library, Stress & Anxiety
"The Stress of Life" is a perennial bestseller by Hans Selye, written in 1956. Selye almost single-handedly introduced the notion of stress into the worldwide consciousness. By doing so, Selye changed the way we think about ourselves, our values, and how we conduct our lives.
As Selye observed, stress is a double-edged sword. Many types of stress are good for people, both physiologically and personally. For example, Wolff's law states that bone will remodel (build more bone) along lines of mechanical stress. In other words, bone becomes stronger when it is subjected to physical loads. The physiological stress of weight-bearing exercise such as walking, running, and strength training helps prevent osteoporosis by making bone denser and more resilient. From a psychological perspective, the great German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, famously stated in "Twilight of the Idols" (1888), "What does not destroy me, makes me stronger." Apparently, Nietzsche (writing in the 19th century) was far ahead of Selye in pointing to the benefits (and dangers) of stress.
Life is filled with "good" stresses. A new love relationship, a new job, or a new baby may all provide great personal happiness and the experience of fulfillment and satisfaction. But each circumstance may also place new demands on us, calling on us to be and do much more than that of which we had previously thought ourselves capable. A person may develop all sorts of adaptive responses in attempts to cope with life's new requirements, but most of these adaptations are themselves stress-producing. Over time the adaptations become habits, stress becomes a day-by-day experience, and a host of physiological and psychological disorders and syndromes may appear.1,2 High blood pressure, diabetes, overweight/obesity, arthritis, insomnia, and depression may all be considered as long-term maladaptive responses to stress.3
Muscular aches and pains, muscle spasms, and headaches are common physiological responses to ongoing stress. A vicious circle develops in which stress leads to muscle tightness, which constricts blood vessels, which leads to headaches, which leads to more muscle tightness, more pain, and even more stress. One's day seems to become filled with stress and stress reactions. The good news is that means of ending these vicious circles of stress are available. Present time consciousness, regular exercise and a healthy diet, sufficient rest, and regular chiropractic care comprise a powerful tool kit for restoring balance in one's life.
1Wu EL, et al: Increased risk of hypertension in patients with major depressive disorder: a population-based study. J Psychosom Res 73(3):169-174, 2012
2Hristova MG: Metabolic syndrome - From the neurotrophic hypothesis to a theory. Med Hypotheses 2013 July 27 [Epub ahead of print]
3Martocchia A, et al: Targets of anti-glucocorticoid therapy for stress-related diseases. Recent Pat CNS Drug Discov 8(1):79-87, 2013
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NASA Counts Down to Launch of First Spacecraft to 'Touch Sun'
NASA counted down Friday to the launch of a $1.5 billion spacecraft that aims to plunge into the Sun's sizzling atmosphere and become humanity's first mission to explore a star.
The car-sized Parker Solar Probe is scheduled to blast off on a Delta IV Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida early Saturday.
The 65-minute launch window opens at 3:33 am (0733 GMT), and the weather forecast is 70 percent favorable for takeoff, NASA said.
The probe's main goal is to unveil the secrets of the corona, the unusual atmosphere around Sun.
Not only is the corona about 300 times hotter than the Sun's surface, it also hurls powerful plasma and energetic particles that can unleash geomagnetic space storms and disrupt Earth's power grid.
"The Parker Solar Probe will help us do a much better job of predicting when a disturbance in the solar wind could hit Earth," said Justin Kasper, one of the project scientists and a professor at the University of Michigan.
- 'Full of mysteries' -The probe is protected by an ultra-powerful heat shield that is just 4.5 inches thick (11.43 centimeters).
The shield should enable the spacecraft to survive its close shave with the center of our solar system, coming within 3.83 million miles (6.16 million kilometers) of the Sun's surface.
The heat shield is built to withstand radiation equivalent up to about 500 times the Sun's radiation here on Earth.
Even in a region where temperatures can reach more than a million degrees Fahrenheit, the sunlight is expected to heat the shield to just around 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit (1,371 degrees Celsius).
Scorching, yes? But if all works as planned, the inside of the spacecraft should stay a cooler 85 F (29 C).
The goal for the Parker Solar Probe is to make 24 passes through the corona during its seven-year mission.
"The sun is full of mysteries," said Nicky Fox, project scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab.
"We are ready. We have the perfect payload. We know the questions we want to answer."
- 91-year-old namesake -The tools on board will measure the expanding corona and continually flowing atmosphere known as the solar wind, which solar physicist Eugene Parker first described back in 1958.
Parker, now 91, recalled that at first, some people did not believe in his theory.
But then, the launch of NASA's Mariner 2 spacecraft in 1962 -- becoming the first robotic spacecraft to make a successful planetary encounter -- proved them wrong.
"It was just a matter of sitting out the deniers for four years until the Venus Mariner 2 spacecraft showed that, by golly, there was a solar wind," Parker said earlier this week.
He added that he is "impressed" by the Parker Solar Probe, calling it "a very complex machine."
Scientists have wanted to build a spacecraft like this for more than 60 years, but only in recent years did the heat shield technology advance enough to be capable of protecting sensitive instruments, according to Fox.
Tools on board will measure high energy particles associated with flares and coronal mass ejections, as well as the changing magnetic field around the Sun.
"We will also be listening for plasma waves that we know flow around when particles move," Fox added.
"And last but not least, we have a white light imager that is taking images of the atmosphere right in front of the Sun."
When it nears the Sun, the probe will travel rapidly enough to go from New York to Tokyo in one minute -- some 430,000 miles (700,000 kilometers) per hour, making it the fastest human-made object.
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Davey’s All-Star Game Memories
With the All-Star game at Citi Field fast approaching, it felt like a good time to stir the memories of former Mets manager Davey Johnson, who was in town herding his Washington Nationals this weekend. Johnson, a four-time All-Star himself (1968-70, ’73), was, of course, the skipper of the 1986 World Champion Mets when the longtime tradition tabbed him to helm the National League squad in 1987.
Johnson’s NL squad in ’87 found runs hard to come by, but they held firm until they were able to push two scores across the plate in the 13th inning and secured an All-Star shutout, 2-0. In fact, Johnson has always been associated with All-Star victories, as his NL teammates won all four games when he was on the roster in the ‘60s and ‘70s.
“Back then, just like it is now,” Johnson said proudly, “is always a great honor.”
Johnson’s best recollection of that game in ’87 naturally involved his pitchers. “I remember the game was out in Oakland, and the last guy to pitch for us was Sid (Fernandez) at the end of the game (who got the save).
“I had used the great Cubs closer, Lee Smith, for three innings (the longest stint by any NL hurler that night), and I guess I didn’t care about him (picture Davey smiling broadly as he said this). I needed Sid for the second half (of the Mets’ season).”
Hey, a win is a win, no matter how you get it. “We won the game, so that was pretty good.”
Johnson’s memories of his All-Star appearances are a little fuzzy, perhaps purposely, as he collected only one hit in his times at-bat, often filling in for Hall of Famers such as Rod Carew late in the game, and in ’69, he didn’t even make it into the game, which is a fate that befell many All-Stars in the days when sometimes a Willie Mays or a Hank Aaron would play the entire game.
Interestingly, Johnson’s teammates in the ’73 included eight future Hall of Famers. The AL squad placed nine future Hall of Famers onto their boxscore.
It’s always a juggling act for any All-Star manager these days of trying to win and trying to place every player into the boxscore.
“I remember I had Pedro Guerrero, just about the best hitter in the league at the time, and I didn’t start him. I gave him only one pinch-hit. I was trying to do him a favor cause I knew he had a little knee problem. But he was mad at me for a long time after that.”
Guerrero lined out in the tenth against Tom Henke in his only at-bat, pinch-hitting for Steve Bedrosian.
“Managing the game is very difficult cause you’re trying to win the game and trying to get everybody into the game,” Johnson emphasized. “They made the trip, so you want to get everybody in, but at the same time you want to pay service to your league and to the team.”
Putting the roster together is also a way to get yourself into trouble.
“There’s always going to be guys who deserve to be there and who you just couldn’t squeeze onto the team.”
As it turned out, Johnson ended up managing six future Hall of Famers – Ryne Sandberg, Andre Dawson, Mike Schmidt, Gary Carter, Ozzie Smith, and Tony Gwynn. The AL team featured six future Hall of Famers as well – Rickey Henderson, Wade Boggs, Dave Winfield, Cal Ripken, Jr., George Brett, and Kirby Puckett.
Johnson, 70, will join Mets manager Terry Collins as the two baseline coaches for this year’s All Star game at Citi Field on July 16.
Both staffs will have a definitive Mets flavor. As is the custom, the managers of the World Series the previous year run the squads, and have choice over selecting two other current managers as coaches. San Francisco’s Bruce Bochy, himself a former Met (1982), went with Collins and Johnson. AL skipper Jim Leyland, chose ex-Mets Robin Ventura and John Gibbons.
“I’m looking forward to just being on the bench and helping out Bochy,” added Johnson, “and watching him squirm trying to win and trying to get everybody in.”
Posted under Andy Esposito, Boxscore, Four Games, Future Hall Of Famers, Lee Smith, New York Mets, Pitchers, Rod Carew, Sid Fernandez, Star Appearances, Teammates, Top Story, Washington Nationals
This post was written by Andy Esposito on June 29, 2013
Tags: All Star Game, All Stars, Boxscore, Four Games, Future Hall Of Famers, Hank Aaron, Hurler, Jugg, Lee Smith, Manager Davey Johnson, Pitchers, Recollection, Rod Carew, Sid Fernandez, Skipper, Star Appearances, Stint, Washington Nationals, Willie Mays, World Champion
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OECD Home Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social AffairsSocial policies and dataSocial Policies in Israel - Future Directions
Social policies and data
Social Policies in Israel - Future Directions
Remarks by Angel Gurría, OECD Secretary-General, delivred at the Seminar: Social Policies - Future Directions, Organised by the Bank of Israel and the Hebrew-University of Jerusalem-Falk Institute for Economic research
Jerusalem, 5th June 2012
Governor Fischer, Professor Trajtenberg, Professor Grunau, Ladies and Gentlemen:
It is a great pleasure to be here at this seminar on “Social Policies – Future Directions.”
Thank you for the invitation.
This is a very timely topic. Improving social policy to make growth work for all and combat rising inequality is a pressing issue. Income inequality in OECD countries is at its highest level for the past half century. The average income of the richest 10% of the population is about nine times that of the poorest 10% across the OECD, up from seven times 25 years ago.
Income inequality was a key matter of discussion amongst our member ministers and partner representatives at the annual OECD Ministerial Council Meeting last May. Indeed, the theme, “All on Board: Policies for Inclusive Jobs and Growth,” intended to provide policymakers with tools to close the growing gap between the rich and the poor throughout the world.
Income inequality has economic and social consequences. It limits the capacity of an economy to grow and deliver better lives for its population. It also translates into eroded trust and social unrest, as you’ve seen from the indignados in Spain, the Occupy Wall Street movement in the United States, the March for Jobs in the United Kingdom, and, of course from the Tents Protests here at home.
As Professor Trajtenberg’s report on the Tents Protest reflects, this is quite a pressing issue in this country. In Israel, income inequality has risen substantially over the past three decades, from already high levels. In the mid-1980s, the average income of the top 10% of working-age Israelis was 9 times that of those in the bottom 10%. In 2010 it had risen to 13 times.
It is essential to reverse this trend. One of the most efficient tools to do so is by promoting high quality and inclusive education.
Investing in education: the great equalizer
Education narrows income gaps, enhances social cohesion, and provides a fundamental source of economic growth. This is a particularly useful tool in Israel, given that almost half of all children starting primary school belong to low earning Arab-Israeli and Ultra Orthodox communities.
Our recent in-depth review of education in our latest Economic Survey of Israel identified two key issues that policymakers need to focus on in primary and secondary education.
Firstly, policymakers can improve outcomes in mainstream education, particularly for Arab-Israeli children. Secondly, policymakers can foster universal quality of education, specifically in Ultra-Orthodox schools.
Some progress has been made on these fronts. The 2009 results of the OECD’s PISA tests showed improvement, particularly in reading attainment. Additionally, there are plans to make day-care and early childhood education more widely available.
These initiatives provide a double dividend. They give children from disadvantaged groups a better start and help parents balance work and family commitments.
However, there is still work to be done.
Israel remains one of the lowest-scoring OECD countries in PISA. Furthermore, test scores have widened between Arab-Israeli students and their Jewish counterparts. No country can afford, either economically or socially, to raise children that lack basic numerical and literacy skills. It is therefore essential to reduce these performance gaps.
But improving education is not the only policy tool to reduce inequalities.
Education reforms can be further compounded by labour-market and social-policy measures.
Israel’s approach in these areas has, by-and-large, embraced the OECD maxim that engaging poor and excluded communities in paid employment produces substantial social and economic benefits.
Previous OECD assessments of Israeli social policy have consistently supported the introduction of an earned-income-tax credit. We applaud Israel’s implementation of a nationwide earned-income-tax credit and its substantial increases for working mothers. However, credits could be further increased to ensure that financial incentives work and to fight in-work poverty.
Our assessments have also supported the introduction of welfare-to-work programmes. The “Light for Employment” programme was unfortunately discontinued. But the welfare-to-work programme should not be abandoned altogether.
The scheme’s previous shortcomings can be tackled. Incentives for private employment agencies to place clients in regular jobs can be strengthened. Employment support can be more personally tailored to fit clients’ needs. There is also room for improvement in vocational training and childcare. These measures must be reconsidered and revamped.
Further reforms are also needed to tackle income inequality.
Increases in work-tested income support can be a powerful tool for raising incomes in poor households. These increases must be carefully chosen to maintain work incentives and to ensure proper targeting of poor and disadvantaged households.
Schemes and initiatives targeting specific communities can also reduce income inequalities; investing in infrastructure in Arab localities provides one approach, targeted actions to eradicate discriminatory practices provide another.
This can be done by implementing existing public-sector employment minority quotas, guaranteeing equal professional opportunities for public-sector employees, and supporting private sector contractors who promote and practice equal opportunity.
Expanding the number of staff on the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission will further enable employer accountability and encourage Arab workers to come forward with their grievances.
Let me conclude with one last comment. For these reforms to produce the best results, it is essential to promote strong enforcement measures.
OECD’s work has highlighted important gaps in the enforcement of Israel’s labour laws. This puts workers not covered by collective agreements – many of which are Arab or Haredi – in a very precarious situation. Improving sanctions for non-compliant employers and strengthening monitoring are key to ensuring fair and equal employment conditions.
Ladies and gentlemen:
Economic growth must translate into social progress. Presently, the benefits of growth are not trickling down. We must make growth inclusive by applying whole-of-government approaches to reduce inequalities. Be assured that the OECD will continue to support Israel in its enforcement, labour market, and education efforts with this objective in mind. Our Economic Surveys will continue to provide regular updates of progress on labour market and social policies.
Next October, the OECD’s Employment, Labour and Social Affairs Committee will discuss progress on the policy recommendations presented in the 2010 OECD Labour Market and Social Policy Review of Israel.
The OECD stands ready to help Israel turn its economic growth into social progress. Together, we can succeed.
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On April Worries
The season hasn't started well for the Pirates. They're 3-6, ahead of only Milwaukee in the National League Central, 2.5 games behind the Cardinals and Cubs and 2 games behind the Reds. Among the problems:
They're last in the league in batting average (.207) and on base percentage (.255) and third-to-last in slugging percentage (.338). Pedro Alvarez is the only regular with a batting average above .235.
They've struck out in over 25% of their plate appearances, the most in the league, while walking in just over 4%, the second-fewest.
The starting pitchers have been pretty good--3.38 ERA, sixth in the league--but the relievers' ERA of 3.04 is the fifth highest.
They were shut out Tuesday and Wednesday by the Tigers. That's only the 14th time they've been shut out back-to-back in this century, and the first since 2013.
As I pointed out Tuesday, Starling Marte and Gregory Polanco are 1-2 in the National League in strikeouts per plate appearance (42% and 39%, respectively).
As Travis Sawchik of the Pittsburgh Tribune pointed out Wednesday, closer Mark Melancon has had a worrisome drop in pitch velocity along with a 6.75 ERA.
Still, it isn't time to panic, at least not yet. It's true that the Pirates have suffered two shutouts in a row, which didn't happen at all last year, but it happened twice in 2013, when they won 94 games, the team's most since 1992. As for the won-lost record, last year's club, which made the postseason, was in fourth place in the division as late as July 18. The first nine days do not a season make.
One of the links on the Reading tab is to Joe Sheehan's newsletter. He sends it out via email, and I always look forward to receiving it. The little asterisk next to his name means that you have to pay for it. It's well worth the $29.95 annual fee, because of gems like this, from Tuesday:
So, madding crowds be damned, I'll be the guy who points out that the stats generated in one week of baseball are just as meaningless in April as they are in June as they are in August. Attempts to glean meaning from the performances of individuals or teams over six or seven or eight games are wasteful exercises in clickbait and confirmation bias. This is the worst part of baseball fandom in the modern age, the footballification of analysis, the insistence on stamping feet and insisting that, yes, this time is different.
Joe's point--and he's one of the best analysts out there--is that a short streak doesn't mean anything. Andrew McCutchen is hitting .207 after eight games. That stinks! But he batted .206 over a ten-game streak in 2014. That streak--from May 22 to May 31--didn't occur at the start of the season so it didn't cause the hand-wringing this year's start has. McCutchen will do better. So will the Bucs.
I'm not saying everything's great. It isn't. But it's way, way early to get worried.
(Except Melancon's pitch velocity. I'm really concerned about that.)
Next Up: Milwaukee Brewers
The Pirates host the Brew Crew for three games over the weekend. Last weekend, the Bucs took two of three in Milwaukee. The Brewers haven't been has bad as the Pirates at the plate; Milwaukee's hitters were 24% below league average entering play today, while the Pirates were 33% worse. But Pittsburgh's put together a 3.26 team ERA, sixth in the league, while the Brewers' team ERA of 4.38 is second-worst in the majors. So Pittsburgh's disappointing hitters meet Milwaukee's disappointing pitchers: Somebody should get better, right?
The Brewers' best hitter has been first baseman Adam Lind, who has a .345/.441/.586 slash line. Shortstop Jean Segura, who had a terrible 2014, has also started well, .333/.379/.519. Right fielder/booing target Ryan Braun's hit an anemic .261/.292/.261. His next extra-base hit will be his first.
Posted by Rob Mains at 9:29 PM
Labels: Adam Lind, Andrew McCutchen, Gregory Polanco, Jean Segura, Joe Sheehan, Mark Melancon, Milwaukee Brewers, Pedro Alvarez, Pittsburgh Pirates, Pittsburgh Tribune, Ryan Braun, Starling Marte, Travis Sawchik
Waino
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Odds and Ends - April 26
Next Up: The Arizona Diamondbacks
How to Beat the Shift
Today's a Getaway Day. This Could Be a Problem.
Trouble in the Shark Tank: Another Year, Another S...
Next Up: Chicago Cubs
Marte's Ks, Revisited
Rewind: Carlos Quentin
Marte's Ks: Are They Just a Phase?
The Undefeated Detroit Tigers
McCutchen's Knee
Bizarro Baseball
The Very Model of a Modern Major League Bullpen
Opening Day Lineups
Does Johnny Cueto Have the Pirates' Number?
Happy Opening Day!
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How Often To Fertilize Citrus Trees In ArizonaHow To Grow A Citrus Tree In A Small Container Arizona
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The Fighter’s Regrets
Have you ever woken up with a song floating through the fog in your mind? Sometimes I think that’s just an echo of a dream or a memory, particularly if it’s a song I’ve heard or sung recently.
How about a song from your ancient history in your mind as you woke? I actually pay more attention to these; there’s less chance that it’s just my subconscious expressing itself.
I’d like to share one of these with you. You may find the process interesting, but I believe the lesson might apply to several of us.
Recently, I woke up with a song from my youth playing in my mind, and trust me, that’s from a long time ago. The song had nothing to do with the dream as far as I could tell, and I could only remember snippets of it – really only one phrase.
But that phrase kept replaying in my mind: that caught my attention. And as it replayed, my memory of the lyrics grew. This also suggested to me that this might be from God. So I spoke with Father about it, acknowledging that I thought he might be up to something; I asked for insight, and I paid attention as the memory of the song replayed and expanded in my mind.
Some themes began to stand out in the lyrics that kept playing in my memory. One of them definitely seemed to have the fragrance of my Father about it, so I meditated on that one. That is, I thought about it; I let it roll around in my mind to see what might come from it.
When my mind began to warm up (you know, I really appreciate the fact that God invented coffee!), I fired up Google and looked into it a bit more. And I realized that even after my memory had been playing it back for an hour or two, I had remembered only one verse out of five; the rest hadn’t come back to me, though those verses had actually been more important to me when the song was new.
Here’s the song: https://youtu.be/MYPJOCxSUFc. It’s called The Boxer, by Simon & Garfunkel. It was the last verse alone that spoke to me through the morning fog:
In the clearing stands a boxer
And a fighter by his trade
And he carries the reminders
Of every glove that laid him down
And cut him till he cried out
In his anger and his shame
“I am leaving, I am leaving”
But the fighter still remains*
This verse had literally never made sense to me, but suddenly, there was a message in it for me.
It speaks to me, but I’d like to share it with you, because I suspect it might speak to other, too, and maybe that includes you.
I confess: I’m a man of fairly strong conviction. I stand up for those convictions, and it’s not inappropriate to say that I fight to maintain them. If I believe something to be true, I’ll fight to defend it.
Father gently pointed out that I, too, carry reminders of those fights, reminders, I suppose, every glove that laid me down or cut me till I cried out. I’ve paid a price to defend my convictions. Like the fighter in the song, the price has been paid in several areas of my life: in my memories, in my body carrying the stress, in the solitude that comes from having lost relationships.
Then he drew my attention to the fighter’s vow, and that I’ve made vows like that as well: “I am leaving, I am leaving” but I don’t leave. I remain. I still defend my beliefs, my convictions, and I’m still laid down and cut up sometimes. I’m still wounded from the fights that I am convinced are right and good. And they still bring the fruits of “anger and shame” into my life, just like they did in his.
(Didn’t someone say “You shall know them by their fruit”? Hmmm....)
This is something that’s come partly from my character (I believe that standing up for “what is true” is important), partly from my youth (I was taught that truth is important and should be stood up for).
But this fight may have been fanned into the biggest flame from my years in Bible-believing churches. “This is what I believe to be true, so I must defend it at all costs.” We teach that, we believe that, in many evangelical churches, and while we defend different truths in denominational churches, we still defend them vigorously.
Think about how Christians respond when a movie comes that we don’t like out (remember Russell Crowe’s Noah?). Consider how Christians respond to “The Homosexual Agenda” or to political candidates, or to the abortion issue.
We’re taught to fight. And we do fight. Vigorously.
And let’s be honest. We don’t win these fights. Hollywood’s marketing now counts on “Christian outrage” as a publicity tool for their controversial movies, and they’re always right. Christians have not affected “The Homosexual Agenda” that we’ve stood against, abortion is still a very big business, and we’ve never once had an Evangelical believer in the Whitehouse, despite our fights on those issues.
The world knows: Christians are fighters. They don’t win, but they sure will fight. Behold how much they fight.
Father hasn’t been talking to me at this time about the issues in themselves. He’s only been using them to illustrate the fight, to illustrate the blows and the cuts that so many of us have taken in the fights.
Then he drew my attention to the refrain:
“Lie-la-lie. Lie-la-lie-lie-lie-lie-lie, Lie-la-lie
Lie-la-lie-lie-lie-lie-lie, lie-lie-lie-lie-lie.”*
Oh my. It’s right there. I’ve sung this haunting refrain with Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, and I never saw it: there’s a lie here, and the refrain rubs my nose in it. That’s a lie, lie lie!
There’s perhaps some room for discussing what the lie is. The song itself identifies one:
“He cried out
But the fighter still remains.”*
And I’ve done that. I’ve declared that I’m quitting this fight. But I haven’t really done it. I’ve lied. I’ve gotten tired of being beaten up, tired of the anger, tired of the shame, and I’ve tried to quit the fight. And I’ve failed.
As Father comforted me in this, I realized that for a fighter, the fight is a choice. It’s an option, but only one of several options. I don’t actually need to fight.
As he held me and murmured his love for me, I realized that these are not fights that have helped me, or have helped the Kingdom, not even a little bit.
I occasionally have “won” a fight, but what was the result? Maybe I could say I won, that I defeated someone who believed differently. So what? Now they’ve been defeated, now they’re wounded, too. And now they resent me, and worse they resent my message, and they resent the truth that I fought for.
You know, I don’t think anybody’s ever been bullied into receiving the truth, have they? Oh, sure, we’ve bullied people into acting like they know the truth, but that’s just equipping them for hypocrisy. That’s not a win, not really, not for anybody.
For myself, I’m going to reflect on this for a while. I’m wondering if I might actually defend my beliefs better by walking them out than I would by fighting for them. I don’t know. I’ll think about it.
I may not need to be a fighter, alone in the clearing. I may not need to be laid down, cut open. I may not need to subject myself to the anger and shame.
The Kingdom is not about any of this, is it?
Lie la lie….
* From "The Boxer," by the American music duo Simon & Garfunkel from their fifth studio album, Bridge over Troubled Water (1970) ©1969
Tags: 2016, change, church, discernment, fig tree, kingdom, manure, metaphor, perspective, warfare, weapons, weeds, wilderness
seasonal thoughts said...
The Lord often uses secular songs or movie clips to speak to me. One morning after a particularly rough week, I woke up to the song "Oooo child, things are gonna get easier..." :-)
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Portugal is one of the European countries that currently offers good investment opportunitie
Portugal is one of the European countries that currently offers good investment opportunities. So says Robert Shiller, Nobel Economics 2013.
He was speaking yesterday in London, and the teacher also reinforced the idea of investment in lusas land, saying it's a safer bet to do it, for example, Russia or Italy, reports the Economic Daily.
Robert Shiller, even if the bet does not appear, from the outset, the most correct, it may be the most advantageous.
Shiller did not fail to comment on the current political situation in Greece, saying that investors' reaction to the election of SYRIZA was "exaggerated".
Sortelha considered one of the finest historic villages of the world
The historic village of Sortelha, Sabugal located in the county, was recently considered one of the most beautiful villages in the world. Situated on top of a high hill, to over 760 meters, in a very rugged region of granitic nature, Sortelha is an ornate town with boulders and baroque, where the houses lean and based. This provision of the houses, exposed to the sun, explains the nickname of "lagartixos" given to its inhabitants. It is a village in granite, with typically medieval streets and alleys, enclosed by a circle of walls, guarded by a castle overlooking the thirteenth century. Sortelha continues to be certainly one of the most beautiful and ancient towns of our country, the line of which has changed little in the last 500 years. At the time of the Christian Reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula, Sortelha Pena, as it was then called, was constituted in defense of the border region, disputed between Portugal and Castile. From 1187, Sancho I (1185-1211) took measures to repopulate the place, and it was his namesake grandson, D. Sancho II granted a charter to the village (1228), the probable time of the building of the castle. About the village would benefit by D. Dinis in the thirteenth century that from the signing of the Treaty Alcanises (1297) set the boundaries beyond the land of Riba-Coa. In the following century, was erected a new fence by Ferdinand initiative. In the fifteenth century it is known that the castle was mayor Manuel Sardinha, succeeded by Pero Zuzarte. In 1510, King Manuel I (1495-1521) renewed the charter of the Village, mentioning that its inhabitants were not obliged to lodge the large and small kingdom, if that was the will of the people of Sortelha. This sovereign also started a campaign works in the castle, of which remains the flagship Manueline on the door. In 1522 Garcia Zuzarte became Captain-General. In this century also the noble D. Luís da Silveira, chief guard of King Manuel I and John III (1521-1557), acquired the castle, becoming its mayor, giving it the John III Sortelha title of Count.
Errado?
Azores are the second best islands in the world, by National Geographic
The magazine National Geographic Traveller selected the Azores in Portugal, as the second best islands in the world, behind the Faroe Islands, Denmark. Article Best Rated Islands are evaluated 111 destinations by 522 experts in sustainable tourism. The Azores get 84 100 points, which are defined as heavenly site with well-preserved buildings, respected nature and sophisticated inhabitants, most of whom already lived out. Climate whims prevent the mass of tourists lured by volcanic mountains, the green valleys of flowers or the bays of the Third. The archipelago is found in 70 place with 61 points. Despite the high quality tourism reputation, beautiful scenery, magnificent gardens, ancient water channels, striking religiosity and the charm of fado, Madeira suffered as the massive development of too high hospitality and buildings, referred to specialists. The destinations were selected at risk of giving in to pressure from tourism and they could find a balance. The remaining top 10 includes, and in order, Lofoten, Norway, Shetland, Scotland, Chiloé, Chile, Skye, Scotland, Kangaroo, South Africa, Mackinac, the US, the island of Iceland, and Molokai (Hawaii), USA. Among the islands or archipelagos which are ranked worse are some of the major tourist routes. List is also in order, St. Thomas (Virgin) in the USA, Ibiza, Spain, and Providential, the Turks and Caicos. Gather up even the island of Jamaica, Hilton Head, USA, Phuket, Thailand, Key West, USA, Oahu (Hawaii) in the USA, Cozumel, Mexico, and even St. Martin in the Caribbean.
In Portugal the summer temperatures can rise up to 40ºc.
Lisbon: Oceanarium is the 2nd best aquarium in the world
The Lisbon Oceanarium won the first position in the European ranking and the second on the list of the 25 best aquariums in the world, being overtaken on the global preferences of portal users, only by the Monterey Bay Aquarium, located in the US state of California. The European title, also the Aquarium Vasco da Gama, also in Lisbon, appears in a prominent position, having been chosen by tourists as the 7th best. The Vasco da Gama Aquarium further includes a list of the 25 best in the world, occupying the 24th position among Japanese aquariums, Colombian or Mexican. A couple of the best aquariums, TripAdvisor unveiled yet, on Tuesday, all 25 best zoos in Europe and the world based on reviews left on the site by travelers regarding their quality in the last 12 months. Portugal once again be present in the ranking through the Lisbon Zoo, which occupies the 25th position in the list of the world's best and the 12th place in Europe, a group led by Loro Parque, situated in neighboring Spain.
Lisbon is the sixth city with the best climate in the world
Lisbon is one of the ten cities with the best climate in the world, according to a study carried out by experts of the site weatherwise.org. The Portuguese capital is in sixth place in the ranking, ahead of places in California (USA), Australia and South Africa. With an average temperature of 21ºC during the day, and 13,5ºC at night, Lisbon is classified as one of the most comfortable cities in the world, reads the report now presented. Located in the Portuguese Atlantic coast, responsible for the mild climate of the city, Lisbon peaks of the high temperatures in August, with highs of 28 ° C during the day, and minimum of 18,6ºC in the evening. Even in mid-winter, with January being the coldest month faced by Portugesa capital, the maximum can reach 14,7ºC, during the day, getting up the minimum at night, by 8,2ºC. In terms of precipitation, Lisbon receives about 77.5 inches of rain per year, with the months between November and February to be the most intense in showers. The weather can affect many of our basic needs, whether physical, mental and even emotional level, reads the report presented. Taking into account a number of 'basic human needs', we were able to create a hypothetical perfect climate to live worldwide.
alentejo elected by the new york times as a destination to visit in 2015
The renowned American newspaper Alentejo elected as one of the 52 places to visit in 2015, especially with wine, landscapes and new hotels in the area.
"Bored of Bordeaux? Tired of Tuscany? "Asks The New York Times earlier this small text dedicated to the Alentejo, precisely to suggest the Portuguese region as an alternative to the two wineries provinces of internationally renowned in France and Italy, respectively, including the plain land between 52 places in the world to visit this year.
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Pressure BioSciences Inc., ("PBI") (OTCQB: PBIO), Exclusive Interview for Interlinked's Investment News Channel, InterlinkedTV at FSXinterlinked Investment Conference
Pressure BioSciences Inc., ("PBI") (OTCQB: PBIO), a company focused on the development, marketing, and sale of proprietary laboratory instrumentation and associated consumables based on Pressure Cycling Technology (“PCT”), granted Interlinked an exclusive interview at the recent FSXinterlinked Investment Conference, held at Westlake Village, California.
Pressure BioSciences CEO, Richard Schumacher, interviewed by FSXinterlinked Host, Michael Fugler
FSXinterlinked, Clean Cities &...
FSXinterlinked Introduces the...
David Weild to Deliver Keynote at...
(PRWEB) August 27, 2014
Pressure BioSciences Inc., ("PBI") (OTCQB: PBIO), Exclusive Interview for Interlinked's Investment News Channel, InterlinkedTV at FSXinterlinked Investment Conference.
Pressure BioSciences Inc., ("PBI") (OTCQB: PBIO) was one of the presenting companies at the recent FSXinterlinked Investment Conference, held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Westlake Village, California.
PBI is focused on the development, marketing, and sale of proprietary laboratory instrumentation and associated consumables based on Pressure Cycling Technology (“PCT”). PCT is a patented, enabling technology platform with multiple applications in the estimated $6 billion life sciences sample preparation market. PCT uses cycles of hydrostatic pressure between ambient and ultra-high levels to control bio-molecular interactions for the subsequent, high-quality analysis of samples in scientific studies.
During the event, FSXinterlinked host, Michael Fugler, interviewed Mr. Richard T. Schumacher, PBI President and CEO.
"Michael possesses extraordinary interviewing skills, which enable him to ask just the right questions to get the simplest, most informative descriptions of what these companies do and who these entrepreneurs are,” stated Mr. Delray Wannemacher, FSXinterlinked President.
During the interview, Mr. Schumacher discussed PBI and its powerful and enabling PCT platform and shared exciting news about the company.
Mr. Schumacher stated, "We are a life sciences tools company. We design, manufacture, market, and sell PCT-based instruments and corresponding consumables to the life science research market. We believe our target market includes about 500,000 researchers in over 80,000 laboratories worldwide. That's a very big market."
Mr. Schumacher continued, "We have 24 issued patents, over 100 independent scientific publications on our website discussing the advantages of PCT, over 150 existing customers, and over 250 instrument systems installed. Our instruments contain a computer-controlled pressure chamber. Scientists place cells to be analyzed in disposable test tubes inside the pressure chamber, tell the computer how much pressure to exert, how long to exert it, and how many times to turn the pressure on and off (thus, pressure cycling). Our instruments can safely and carefully generate pressures between 5,000 and 100,000 PSI. Since everything in nature has a pressure point, once that pressure point has been determined, the scientist is able to reproducibly and effectively place the exact amount of pressure needed to control the cell (bust it open, extract out the DNA, etc.) on each and every experiment.
There are many thousands of scientists worldwide who spend their lives looking for disease markers (“biomarkers”), in an effort to prevent, detect, control, eradicate, or cure the disease. This nearly always requires breaking open the cell and releasing the DNA, RNA, proteins, and lipids that make it up. Current methods to break cells usually rely on mechanical means (tiny beads for puncture, miniature blades to chop, etc.) and are, we believe, woefully inadequate. The PCT platform uses very gentle but powerful pulses of various levels of pressure, which our customers have found to be more reproducible and controllable than mechanical methods.
Mr. Schumacher concluded: “We have announced the release of two new instruments and two additional consumable processing tubes during the first six months of 2014. We have also announced that product sales during the half of 2014 have increased 70% over the same period in 2013, and we have not yet begun to sell the two new instrument systems. We believe, therefore, that we have many reasons to be very excited about the second half of 2014, and beyond.”
The complete exclusive interview is available only on the FSXinterlinked channel on InterlinkedTV.
More information is available at PBI's Public Profile on Interlinked.com and on their website.
About FSXinterlinked Investment Conference
FSXinterlinked is the premier investment conference organization in the United States. Founded as Financial Services Exchange (FSX) in 1983, it is one of the longest standing and most trusted investment conferences in the country for Broker Dealers and financial professionals. For more information about our organization please visit FSXinterlinked.com
About Interlinked
Interlinked is a global investment community of investors, emerging growth companies, and resource partners. Interlinked offers an efficient way for companies to maximize exposure and access a private network of funding sources and verified service providers. For investors, Interlinked provides a secure environment to find, vet and engage companies, and communicate with members. Interlinked gives members exclusive access to a proprietary investment platform, which integrates virtual data rooms, video news, a service provider marketplace, an event directory, and customized marketing services, including email marketing, video production, public relations and more. For more information, visit: http://www.interlinked.com/.
About Pressure BioSciences, Inc.
Pressure BioSciences, Inc. (“PBI”) (OTCQB: PBIO) develops, markets, and sells proprietary laboratory instrumentation and associated consumables to the estimated $6 billion life sciences sample preparation market. Our products are based on the unique properties of both constant (i.e., static) and alternating (i.e., pressure cycling technology, or PCT) hydrostatic pressure. PCT is a patented enabling technology platform that uses alternating cycles of hydrostatic pressure between ambient and ultra-high levels to safely and reproducibly control bio-molecular interactions. To date, we have installed over 250 PCT systems in approximately 160 sites worldwide. There are over 100 publications citing the advantages of the PCT platform over competitive methods, many from key opinion leaders. Our primary development and sales efforts are in the biomarker discovery, drug discovery and design, and forensics areas. Customers also use our products in other areas, such as bio-therapeutics characterization, soil & plant biology, vaccine development, and counter-bioterror applications.
This press release may contain information that constitutes forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, trends, analysis, and other information contained in this press release, including words such as "anticipate," "believe," "plan," "estimate," "expect," "intend," and other similar expressions of opinion, constitute forward-looking statements. Any such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results described within the forward-looking statements. Risk factors that could contribute to such differences include those matters more fully disclosed in the Company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking information provided herein represents the Company's estimates as of the date of the press release, and subsequent events and developments may cause the Company's estimates to change. The Company specifically disclaims any obligation to update the forward-looking information in the future. Therefore, this forward-looking information should not be relied upon as representing the Company's estimates of its future financial performance as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.
Delray Wannemacher
FSXinterlinked
Richard Schumacher
Pressure BioSciences
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What I’ll Tell My Daughter about La Sele, 2014
By Katherine Stanley Obando – July 6, 2014
Many Costa Ricans and their most fervent fans have been sitting in the eye of a storm for the past few weeks, struck dumb by amazement, watching wide-eyed as accolades all over the world for “the little team that could” have whirled around us in dizzying splendor. But today, as Costa Rica was eliminated, words returned. Here’s why this matters so much to me, what I want to tell my baby daughter someday about everything she’s seen and not understood these past few weeks:
I don’t know what it’s like not to be big. I’m from the United States, a big country in every way – size, population, loudness, impact on the world for better and for worse. I’m also 5’10”, a giant in Costa Rica, hulking and lurching my way through San José. Years ago, a man behind me in line for an ATM said to no one in particular, “Jueeeeeeputa, qué gringa más grande.” When we took our group photo at the Office of the President, I was asked to bend down at the knees in the second row so I would fit in the shot. I have, not a bird’s-eye, but a tops-of-other-people’s-heads view of many rooms I enter.
On the other hand, it looks like you, my Tica daughter, might be teeny tiny. You are small for your age, and as you run around at top speed, saying “Hi!” and “¡Gracias!” to everyone, I’m often asked by confused strangers, “How old is that baby?” It’s odd for me, the one who’s always asked to get things off the high shelves, to think of having a petite daughter. You’re small in another way, too: you are from a country of fewer than 5 million people, a country without an army, a country known in part for its love of diminutives. Even though you’re half gringa, you will always have been born in a tiny nation at the waist of the Americas, and that will always be a part of your worldview. (Thank goodness.)
“Grande” is one of the first words a Spanish student learns, but even a simple word like this has layers of meaning. It means big, of course, but also great. It means grown up: what do you want to be cuando seas grande, when you’re big? It can also mean old, as a little white-haired lady once explained to me after she referred to herself as “una señora bien grande” and smiled at my evident confusion.
Many Costa Ricans, lost for words as La Sele left low expectations in the dust again and again during this World Cup, turned to one word: “grande.” Grande Keylor Navas, the impossibly valiant goalie. Grande Bryan, Joel, Yeltsin. Grandes todos, they say. Grande La Sele. Grande mi país. This Sele has shown us – Costa Ricans, and all of us – what it means for a little team from a little country to be big, to be great, to be grown up, to be fearless, to be prepared, to prove itself against all odds. It’s been breathtaking. It’s a lesson I want you, tiny one, to take to heart.
La Sele has also shown us how to be small again. Your father is grande, grown up, with all the cynicism that implies. He watches La Sele as any real sports fan watches his team: as if he is singlehandedly paying their salaries out of his own pocket. Even as this World Cup unfolded, he was still quick to criticize or sigh heavily, all a part of his attempt to distract himself from the sheer anxiety of unexpected hope. But as the games went on, I watched him lose his ability to doubt. I watched him turn into a six-year-old boy before my eyes. He couldn’t help it. He was gobsmacked by joy. Only sports can do this to a person – or at least, only sports can do this to an entire nation at once. Only sports can fill a country with childlike pleasure in this particular way. (After Costa Rica’s elimination today, instead of crying or wallowing, people took the streets with just as much pride as before to celebrate how far they had come. La Sele will not come home with the Cup, but they’re the only team in the world that gets to come home to a country full of Costa Ricans.)
That’s why I want you to remember your first World Cup. That’s why I’ll cut out clippings and carefully fold up newspaper covers, store the little flag you waved today as we walked around our neighborhood, save the scorecard on which your dad painstakingly noted the result of every game and proudly wrote “Costa Rica” in its quarterfinal bracket. That’s why we’ll tell you, like old-timers, about Bryan and Keylor and Pinto, who vanquished the Group of Death. They showed small people how to be big. They showed big people how to be small. They reminded anyone who was paying attention that anything can happen, that a football field is a blank canvas, that little can be mighty, that old can be young, that it’s always worthwhile to believe. That life is beautiful.
This story appeared in www.ticotimes.net and is reprinted here with permission. Katherine is a freelance writer, editor, translator and nonprofit manager living in San José. She originally published this essay on her blog DictionaryOfYou.com where she writes about Costa Rican language and culture, and raising a child abroad.
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News: Freightliner launches Felixstowe - South Yorkshire service
Freightliner, the leading UK intermodal rail freight operator for transportation of maritime containers in the UK, has announced the launch of its latest rail service from the Port of Felixstowe - to land-locked Rotherham in South Yorkshire.
The service will operate to and from the Freightliner Rail port at Doncaster after development work has finished at the site. In the interim it will be serviced at the DB Cargo site operated by Newell & Wright, at Templeborough in Rotherham.
The new service will complement Freightliner's existing services to this region which has seen high demand in recent years.
Adam Cunliffe, managing director, Freightliner Ltd, said: "This new Freightliner service will create much needed additional rail freight capacity to meet the growing demands of customers who are looking for a faster, greener, safer and more efficient means of transporting freight over land. It is also another milestone in the Port of Felixstowe's strategy to increase freight on rail, not only by running additional services, but by lengthening the existing trains."
The 23rd daily rail service from the Port of Felixstowe, increases the total number of daily trains from the port to 32.
Joanne Turner, commercial director at Freightliner Ltd, added: "We are pleased to launch this new service from the Port of Felixstowe to meet the growing requirements of the Felixstowe customer base. When the site at Doncaster is fully developed we will look to further expand our capacity in the region, widening the opportunities for our customers."
Rothbiz reported last year that South Yorkshire's largest privately owned and most successful haulage contractors, Newell & Wright Group, had invested in a new container rail port facility in Rotherham in between Junctions 33 and 34 of the M1.
In total there are six sidings ranging from 300 to 400 metres allowing for a significant level of rolling stock and container handling. The operators say that they have seen a significant increase in the number of containers that are now using the rail port container facility and further investments have been made in infrastructure and capital plant equipment such as reach stackers for container handling, new hardstanding areas for container storage and a management office located on site.
Freightliner website
Newell & Wright website
Images: Freightliner
Labels: DB Cargo, Doncaster, Freightliner, Newell & Wright Group, railway, Rotherham, Transport
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Should I support my senior parent?
Dave Ramsey, Dave Says
Published Aug 11, 2018 at 8:00 am (Updated Aug 10, 2018 at 10:10 pm)
All in the family: should an adult child be expected to financially support a senior parent who has not planned for retirement?
How to help your teen start budgeting
Complications of relocation
Summer reading list with a finance slant
Handing cash to friend is not really helping
Budgeting is the best way to win with money
Risk, correlation, and modern portfolio theory
Do you believe the adult child of a senior citizen, who is physically and mentally healthy but has neglected to plan for retirement, should be burdened with providing financial assistance to that parent?
— Robbie
Dear Robbie,
Based on the wording in your question, I can only believe you don’t think the adult child should be “burdened” to provide this assistance. My guess is you’re talking about one of your own parents. I understand that you might be aggravated with a parent who has been irresponsible with their money. But in my mind, there’s a bigger question. How big is the burden?
I talked to a guy recently who was making $1.5 million a year. He was questioning whether he should help his dad — an older man in poor health, who didn’t handle his money well — by giving him $1,000 a month. There’s no question you give that guy money. You’re making millions, but you don’t want to help your sick dad? Come on!
However, if you bring home $2,000 a month, and your family is barely getting by, you’re not morally required to financially take care of a parent who was irresponsible with their money.
It’s all relative. Do you have the money? Can you provide this help without placing an undue burden on yourself and your family? If the answer is yes, you may be asking more about your own aggravation than any sort of moral obligation.
But no, you’re not morally obligated to destroy your own life, or your family, to take care of a relative who didn’t take care of themselves financially.
— Dave
I’m going to be debt-free with a full emergency fund in pace by the end of the year. I’m going to get a dog after that, but I wanted to make sure I did it the right way and was in good financial shape before making that move. Is a separate emergency fund for pets a good idea?
Dear Scott,
My wife and I love animals. We’ve had at least one dog the whole time we’ve been married. Still, I think a full emergency fund of three to six months of expenses will cover you and your pet.
You go through some expense as a pet owner, along with happy, wonderful times and heartbreaking things, too. We lost our golden retriever recently, and I can tell you that was really hard on everyone. You love them like they’re family, but you still have to use common sense sometimes, and remember that they’re animals and not human beings. Part of that includes spending reasonable amounts of money on them — and in some unfortunate cases — doing things with the animal’s best interest, not our own desires, in mind.
What is a reasonable amount? That depends on how stable you are financially. It’s really a ratio question of expense to means. But no, I wouldn’t recommend a second emergency fund just for pets.
• Dave Ramsey is CEO of Ramsey Solutions. He has authored seven bestselling books, including The Total Money Makeover. The Dave Ramsey Show is heard by more than 14 million listeners each week on 600 radio stations and multiple digital platforms. Follow Dave on the web at daveramsey.com and on Twitter at @DaveRamsey
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Sexual Assault Statistics >
Disability Communities
People of Color >
Asian & Pacific Islander
Sexual Assault >
If A Loved One Was Assaulted
Alcohol, Drugs, and Sexual Assault >
Alcohol Safety
What is Consent?
Georgia Laws
Help for Victims >
Medical Information >
Drug Facilitated Sexual Assault
Law Enforcement Process
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How Can I Help a Survivor?
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Help for LGBTQIA Survivors
Escape Site
The following information is provided by the Georgia Department of Public Health and the Center for Disease Control:
What is an STD?
An STD (sexually transmitted disease) is an infection that can be passed through sex or sexual contact.
STDs include:
Bacterial Vaginosis (BV)
Human Papillomavirus Infection (HPV Infection)
Hepatitis B and C
How does Georgia rank among other states for STD burden? Georgia is #4 in the nation.
In 2017 Georgia:
4th for Primary and Secondary Syphilis
10th for Congenital Syphilis
6th for Chlamydia
9th for Gonorrhea
STDs are Serious:
Some STDs infect only your sexual and reproductive organs. Others (HIV, hepatitis B, syphilis) cause general body infections.
Sometimes you can have an STD with no signs or symptoms. Or the symptoms may go away. Either way, you still have the STD until you get treated.
How an STD is spread:
STD is spread during vaginal, anal and oral sex, and sometimes by genital touching.
Some STDs (HIV and hepatitis B) are also spread by contact with infected blood.
STD germs need to live in warm, moist areas. That’s why they infect the mouth, rectum and sex organs (vagina, vulva, penis and testes).
What Should I Do? Get Checked:
Don’t just hope the STD will go away. It won’t!
Most county health departments have special STD clinics. Private health care providers also treat STD.
If you don’t know where to get help, call your local family planning clinic for information. Your case will be kept private.
You may feel embarrassed about having an STD. It may be hard for you to go to a provider or clinic for help. But you must get treatment for the STD. This is the only way you will get well.
Get Treated:
Many STDs can be cured. Others cannot be cured. But all STDs can and must be treated.
Many STDs can be treated with antibiotics. Do exactly what your provider tells you. Be sure to use all of your medicine.
You also must tell your sexual partner(s). If they aren’t treated, they can get sick. They can spread the STD. They might even give it to you again!
What to Watch For:
Many people have an STD with no symptoms. If you have symptoms, you may notice any of these things.
Protect Yourself
Stay Safe: Not having sex is the best way to protect yourself from STD. Having sex with only one uninfected partner who only has sex with you is also safe.
If You Have Sex:
Use latex condoms with a water-based lubricant every time you have vaginal, anal or oral sex. Condoms will protect you from STD much of the time.
Use plastic (polyurethane) condoms if you’re allergic to latex. These come in both male and female styles.
Talk to your partner about past sex partners and about needle drug use. Don’t have sex with someone who you think may have an STD.
Look closely at your Partner for any signs of STD- a rash, a sore or discharge. If you see anything you’re worried about don’t have sex.
Get checked for STD regularly. Ask your health care provider to help you decide how often and which tests you should have.
Vaccines can help protect you against hepatitis B and some types of HPV. Ask your provider if they’re right for you.
Know the signs and symptoms of STD. If you notice a symptom that worries you, get checked!
If You Have an STD:
Tell your sex partner(s). Your partner must get tested and treated too. Otherwise he or she could give the STD to someone else or back to you.
Wait to have sex. Ask your provider how long after treatment you must wait.
The Following information is provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
Chlamydia
In 2017, a total of 1,708,569 cases of Chlamydia trachomatis infection were reported to the CDC, making it the most common notifiable condition in the United States. This case count corresponds to a rate of 528.8 cases per 100,000 population, an increase of 6.9% compared with the rate in 2016. During 2016–2017, rates of reported chlamydia increased among both males and females, in all regions of the United States, and among all racial and Hispanic ethnicity groups. Rates of reported chlamydia are highest among adolescent and young adults and have increased in recent years. In 2017, almost two-thirds of all reported chlamydia cases were among persons aged 15–24 years. Among women aged 15–24 years, the population targeted for chlamydia screening, the overall rate of reported cases of chlamydia was 3,635.3 cases per 100,000 females, an increase of 4.9% from 2016 and of 8.8% from 2013.
Although rates of reported cases among men are generally lower than rates among women, reflecting the larger number of women screened for this infection, rates among men increased almost 40% during 2013– 2017. Increases in rates among men may reflect an increased number of men, including gay, bisexual, and 2 National Profile Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: STD Surveillance 2017 other men who have sex with men (collectively referred to as MSM) being tested and diagnosed with a chlamydial infection due to increased availability of urine testing and extragenital screening.
In 2017, a total of 555,608 cases of gonorrhea were reported to CDC, making it the second most common notifiable condition in the United States. Rates of reported gonorrhea increased 75.2% since the historic low in 2009 and increased 18.6% since 2016. During 2016–2017, rates of reported gonorrhea increased among both males and females, in all regions of the United States, and among all racial and Hispanic ethnicity groups.
During 2016–2017, the rate of reported gonorrhea increased 19.3% among men and 17.8% among women. The magnitude of the increase among men suggests either increased transmission, increased case ascertainment (e.g., through increased extra-genital screening among MSM), or both. The concurrent increase in cases reported among women, suggests parallel increases in heterosexual transmission, increased screening among women, or both.
Antimicrobial resistance remains an important consideration in the treatment of gonorrhea. Therapy with ceftriaxone and azithromycin is now the only CDC recommended treatment for gonorrhea. Since 2008, the percentage of isolates with elevated ceftriaxone minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) has remained low and was only 0.2% in 2017. During 2014–2017, the percentage of isolates with elevated azithromycin MICs increased from 2.5% to 4.4%. Continued monitoring of susceptibility patterns to these antibiotics is critical.
Syphilis
In 2017, a total of 30,644 cases of primary and secondary (P&S) syphilis, the most infectious stages of the disease, were reported in the United States, yielding a rate of 9.5 cases per 100,000 population. Since reaching a historic low in 2000 and 2001, the rate of P&S syphilis has increased almost every year, increasing 10.5% during 2016–2017. Rates increased among both males and females, among all racial and Hispanic ethnicity groups, and in 72.0% of states and the District of Columbia.
During 2000–2017, the rise in the P&S syphilis rate was primarily attributable to increased cases among men and, specifically, among MSM. In 2017, men accounted for almost 90% of all cases of P&S syphilis and MSM accounted for 68.2% of reported P&S syphilis cases among women or men with information about sex of sex partners. In states with consistent information on sex of sex partner, the number of P&S syphilis cases increased 8.6% among MSM, 17.8% among MSW, and 24.9% among women during 2016– 2017. Among P&S syphilis cases with known HIV-status, 45.5% of MSM, 8.8% of MSW, and 4.5% of women were HIV-positive in 2017.
The 2013 rate of congenital syphilis (9.2 cases per 100,000 live births) marked the first increase in congenital syphilis since 2008. Since 2013, the rate of congenital syphilis has increased each year. In 2017, there were a total of 918 reported cases of congenital syphilis, including 64 syphilitic stillbirths and 13 infant deaths. The national rate of 23.3 cases per 100,000 live births represents a 43.8% increase relative to 2016 and a 153.3% increase relative to 2013. This increase in the congenital syphilis rate has paralleled increases in P&S syphilis among all women and reproductive-aged women during 2013–2017 (155.6% and 142.8% increase, respectively).
United States: Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance 2017
United States: 2015 Health Profile
STD Surveillance 2017
United States Health Profile 2015
Georgia Statistics
This information is provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
HIV/AIDS Epidemic
In 2015, an estimated 39,393 people in the United States were diagnosed with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. About 1 in 7 people with HIV in the United States do not know that they are infected.
In 2015, an estimated 2,381 adults and adolescents were diagnosed with HIV in Georgia. Georgia ranked 5th among the 50 states in the number of HIV diagnoses in 2015.
Adolescent and School Health
Many young people engage in sexual risk behaviors that can result in unintended health outcomes. Sexual risk behaviors place adolescents at risk for HIV infection, other sexually transmitted diseases, and unintended pregnancy. However, there has been a nationwide decrease in the percentage of adolescents who have ever had sex:
24% of 9th graders have reported ever having sex in 2015 compared to 34% in 2005.
35.7% of 10th graders have reported ever having sex in 2015 compared to 42.8% in 2005.
Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs)
Primary and secondary (P&S) syphilis (the stages in which syphilis is most infectious) remains a health problem, primarily among men who have sex with men, but congenital transmission of syphilis from infected mothers to their unborn children persists in many areas of the country.
In Georgia, the rate of primary and secondary syphilis was 14 per 100,000 in 2015, 13.2 per 100,000 in 2016, and 14.4 per 100,000 in 2017.
There were 102 cases of congenital syphilis from 2013 through 2017.
Untreated STDs are a common cause of pelvic inflammatory disease, infertility and chronic pelvic pain. In addition, they can increase the spread of HIV, and cause cancer. Pregnant women and newborns are particularly vulnerable.
In 2017, Georgia:
Ranked 6th among 50 states in chlamydial infections (631.4 per 100,000 persons) and ranked 9th among 50 states in gonorrheal infections (219.8 per 100,000 persons).
Reported rates of chlamydia among women (687.4 cases per 100,000) were greater than those among men (363.1 cases per 100,000).
Ranked 5th among 50 states in chlamydial infections (614.6 per 100,000 persons) and ranked 3rd among 50 states in gonorrheal infections (201.2 per 100,000 persons).
Georgia Health Profile
24/7 Hotline: 706.571.6010
This website is supported by sub-grant #C16-8-083 awarded by the Office on Violence Against Women and administered by the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council. The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice. Office on Violence Against Women or the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council.
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CULVER CITY, Calif., August 27, 2012 - The 10th anniversary celebration of Sony Pictures Animation (SPA) continues with a five-week series of special screenings featuring SPA's beloved collection of animated and hybrid films, as well as reunions with filmmakers participating in Q & As following each screening, rare footage/materials from the SPA archives and giveaways. The series, which will culminate with an exclusive screening of the highly-anticipated comedy Hotel Transylvania, in theaters September 28, was announced today by Bob Osher, President of Sony Pictures Digital Productions, and Michelle Raimo-Kouyate, President of Production, Sony Pictures Animation.
Held in conjunction with ASIFA-Hollywood and Animation Magazine, the screenings will commence Wednesday, September 5 with the spotlight on SPA's 2006 inaugural film, Open Season. Ensuing weekly Thursday presentations on the Sony Pictures Animation campus will feature the Academy Award®-nominated Surf's Up, the blockbuster hit Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs, and last summer's international smash The Smurfs®. The series will conclude with a screening of Hotel Transylvania during the Saturday of the film's opening weekend of release.
Enhancing each film exhibition will be unique offerings of rarely- or never-before-seen footage and materials from SPA's first decade, and presented in coordination with panel discussions led by directors, producers and key crew members from each individual film. The exclusive weekly events will be moderated by respected animation experts, and the proceedings will be filmed and documented for sharing across the social media channels of Sony Pictures Animation, ASIFA-Hollywood and Animation Magazine.
"Milestones are an essential step for every institution to both celebrate and inspire, and I'm very proud of all that Sony Pictures Animation has accomplished in 10 short years," Osher said. "I think these screenings and panels will give wonderful perspective as an appreciation of how far we've come, what we've achieved, and where we can go next."
"This is an exciting time at Sony Pictures Animation with so much on the horizon, both near and far, but we stand here today because of the wonderful movies and filmmakers who came before us," said Raimo-Kouyate. "These screenings will properly honor our seminal slate of films, while also giving fans a glimpse toward our bright future."
"It is truly impressive to see the strides that Sony Pictures Animation has made in its first decade." said ASIFA-Hollywood President Frank Gladstone. "And it is an honor for ASIFA-Hollywood, working with Animation Magazine, to help commemorate that journey with this terrific retrospective film series." Adds Jean Thoren, President and Publisher of Animation Magazine: "Throughout this past decade, we have been lucky to witness and chronicle the rise and artistic growth of Sony Pictures Animation in the pages of our magazine. Now we are honored to help celebrate the achievements of this innovative studio along with ASIFA-Hollywood and millions of fans worldwide leading to the opening of Hotel Transylvania."
The series' initial four screenings will be hosted in Sony Pictures Animation's revered Ray Harryhausen Theater, which will feature intimate exhibitions of SPA artwork in and around its facilities. Tickets for these one-time events will be primarily made available to members of ASIFA-Hollywood and through giveaways via Animation Magazine.
The current slate of films, and filmmaking panel participants (pending professional availability) for the Sony Pictures Animation Special Screening Series, goes as follows:
On September 5, SPA will present Open Season, the first film in the studios' decade-long history. Amongst the rarities of the evening will be a presentation of the Oscar®-winning short, The Chubbchubbs, along with a panel discussion amongst Michelle Murdocca (producer), Steve Moore (executive producer) and William Haller (character animator).
The Academy Award®-nominated feature film Surf's Up will screen on September 13, followed by a panel discussion by Oscar® nominees Ash Brannon (director) and Chris Buck (director), Chris Jenkins (producer) and Rob Bredow (VFX supervisor).
Breakout directors Christopher Miller and Phil Lord (21 Jump Street) return to their animation roots to present Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs on September 20. The directors will be joined by producer Pam Marsden and VFX Supervisor Rob Bredow for a panel discussion of the film.
SPA's international animation hybrid sensation, The Smurfs, will screen on September 27. A panel discussion will feature filmmakers and key artists.
The Screening Series will close its summer run with a Saturday, September 29 offering of Hotel Transylvania - during its opening weekend in theaters - at a public venue in order to accommodate ASIFA family members. Three-time Emmy Award winner Director Genndy Tartakovsky and Producer Michelle Murdocca will lead the festivities.
Sony Pictures Animation celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2012 with a robust slate of upcoming films. Following Hotel Transylvania on September 28, 2012, SPA will welcome the July 2013 release of The Smurfs 2, the follow-up to the 2011 global sensation. Cloudy 2: Revenge Of The Leftovers, a sequel to Sony Pictures Animation's popular animated blockbuster, will reach theatres worldwide in February 2014. Also now in development are the aforementioned Popeye, based on the King Features comic strip "Popeye," being directed by Tartakovsky with the screenplay by Jay Scherick and David Ronn (The Smurfs). Avi Arad (The Amazing Spider-Man™) and Ari Arad (Iron Man) executive producing; Kazorn and the Unicorn, with Kelly Asbury (Shrek 2, Gnomeo & Juliet) at the helm and co-directed by Troy Quane. Lloyd Taylor is writing the screenplay. Sam Raimi and Joshua Donen are executive producing; and the hybrid live-action/CG feature Secret Histories, written by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein and produced by Ellen Goldsmith-Vein and Eric Robinson of the Gotham Group with Greg Little.
In Sony Pictures Animation's first feature film, the animated action adventure comedy Open Season, the odd are about to get even. Boog (Martin Lawrence), a domesticated grizzly bear with no survival skills, has his perfect world turned upside down when he meets Elliot (Ashton Kutcher), a scrawny, fast-talking mule deer. When Elliot convinces Boog to leave his cushy home in a park ranger's garage to try a taste of the great outdoors, things quickly spiral out of control. Relocated to the forest with open season only three days away, Boog and Elliot must acclimate in a hurry. They must join forces to unite the woodland creatures and take the forest back! The film is directed by Roger Allers and Jill Culton. The screenplay is by Steve Bencich & Ron J. Friedman and Nat Mauldin. The screen story is by Jill Culton and Anthony Stacchi from an original story by Steve Moore and John Carls. The film is produced by Michelle Murdocca.
Surf's Up is an animated action-comedy that delves behind the scenes of the high-octane world of competitive surfing. The film profiles teenage Rockhopper penguin Cody Maverick (Shia LaBeouf), an up-and-coming surfer, as he enters his first pro competition. Followed by a camera crew to document his experiences, Cody leaves his family and home in Shiverpool, Antarctica to travel to Pen Gu Island for the Big Z Memorial Surf Off. Along the way, Cody meets Sheboygan surfer Chicken Joe (Jon Heder), famous surf promoter Reggie Belafonte (James Woods), surf talent scout Mikey Abromowitz (Mario Cantone), and spirited lifeguard Lani Aliikai (Zooey Deschanel), all of whom recognize Cody's passion for surfing, even if it's a bit misguided at times. Cody believes that winning will bring him the admiration and respect he desires, but when he unexpectedly comes face-to-face with a washed-up old surfer (Jeff Bridges), Cody begins to find his own way, and discovers that a true winner isn't always the one who comes in first. Directed by Ash Brannon and Chris Buck. Screenplay by Don Rhymer and Ash Brannon & Chris Buck & Christopher Jenkins. With a story by Christopher Jenkins and Christian Darren. Produced by Christopher Jenkins.
Flint Lockwood is an eccentric young scientist whose awkward demeanor and half-baked inventions - ratbirds, spray-on shoes, and talking monkeys - have made him an outsider in his hometown of Swallow Falls. All that is about to change with his latest contraption: the Flint Lockwood Diatonic Super Nano Dynamic Food Replicator (or FLDSNDFR for short), a miraculous machine designed to make sure nobody ever goes hungry again. But when his creation leaves the whole world in a pickle, the forecast goes from sunny to Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Based on the best-selling book by Judi and Ron Barrett, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is written for the screen and directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (co-executive producers, "How I Met Your Mother"); produced by Pam Marsden ("Dinosaur"). The CG animation will be created by Sony Pictures Imageworks.
The Smurfs arrive on the big screen in Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation's hybrid live-action and animated family comedy, The Smurfs. When the evil wizard Gargamel chases the Smurfs out of their village, through a magical portal, and into our world, they land in the middle of New York's Central Park. Just three apples high and stuck in the Big Apple, the Smurfs must find a way to get back to their village before Gargamel tracks them down. Directed by Raja Gosnell. Produced by Jordan Kerner. Screenplay by J. David Stem & David N. Weiss and Jay Scherick & David Ronn. Story by J. David Stem & David N. Weiss. Based on the characters and works of Peyo.
Welcome to the Hotel Transylvania, Dracula's lavish five-stake resort, where monsters and their families can live it up, free to be the monsters they are without humans to bother them. On one special weekend, Dracula has invited some of the world's most famous monsters - Frankenstein and his wife, the Mummy, the Invisible Man, a family of werewolves, and more - to celebrate his daughter Mavis' 118th birthday. For Drac, catering to all of these legendary monsters is no problem - but his world could come crashing down when a human stumbles on the hotel for the first time and takes a shine to Mavis. Directed by Genndy Tartakovsky. Produced by Michelle Murdocca. Screenplay by Peter Baynham and Robert Smigel. Story by Todd Durham and Daniel Hageman and Kevin Hageman.
ABOUT SONY PICTURES ANIMATION
Sony Pictures Animation produces a variety of animated entertainment for audiences around the world. The studio is following its worldwide comedy hits-the 2011 hybrid live action/animated family blockbuster, The Smurfs (3D) and the 2009 mouth-watering Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (3D) - with the family comedy Hotel Transylvania (3D) in September 2012 and the Smurfs 2 (3D) in July 2013. Sony Pictures Animation, in conjunction with Aardman Animations, has produced two critically acclaimed feature films: the CG-animated family comedy Arthur Christmas (3D); and the stop-frame animated high-seas adventure, The Pirates! Band of Misfits (3D). In 2007, Surf's Up received an Academy Award® nomination for Best Animated Feature Film. The division, whose first feature film Open Season led to a very successful movie franchise, is turning 10 this year. Sony Pictures Animation is an operating unit of Sony Pictures Digital.
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The Resrg Review
RESRG Reports
Conferences and Working Papers
RESRG Abstracts
RESRG in the Media
Matt Sedillo on Automation, the Trump Presidency, and the Role of the Artist in An Age of Uncertainty
The Defense of Fortress Europe: Resurgent Nationalism and the Irony of Exclusion
Si Chen, “Economic and Ecological Trade-Off Analysis of Forest Ecosystems”
Brandon Cordeiro, “Nuclear Waste, Northern Ontario, and the Metabolic Rift”
Dan Duckert, “Don’t Pimp My Land”
The Resrg Review is the public platform of the Resources, Economy, and Society Research Group (RESRG) at Lakehead University, Thunder Bay
Send Us Your Working Paper
RESRG publishes working papers on sustainable development, and in particular on topics related to the interplay between resources, the economy, and society. Please contact us directly if you have a paper you would like us to consider for publication as part of our Working Papers series.
Creative Commons Statement
As public intellectuals we believe in the free flow of information. You can republish our articles for free, online or in print (please refer to our republishing guidelines).
History in the Making #5
In January 2015, RESRG hosted LA-based poet and Marxist intellectual Matt Sedillo for three days of lectures, radio interviews, poetry workshops, and spoken word performances in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Matt spoke to a wide range of students, faculty, and community members about topics ranging from the social and political implications of automation, to police brutality and the rise of the radical right in the United States.[i] As an activist poet, Matt also spoke on the role of the artist in a world that is rapidly changing, and on the importance of making one’s voice heard.
As the United States enters its second year of the Trump presidency, and as automation has become even more of a transformative force than it was only three years ago, we thought it would be a good time to reconnect with Matt, and revisit some of the key themes he explored when he was last here. RESRG member Steven Jobbitt recently reached out to Matt by email, and this is what he had to say.
RESRG: When you visited us in Thunder Bay in January 2015, you gave a lecture on automation and the revolutionary conditions that this is creating, not just in the United States, but globally. The rapid development of things like driverless cars and trucks over the last few years, as well as the introduction of fully-automated grocery stores, and more recently burger-flipping robots,[ii] has forced even the mainstream media to start paying attention to this emergent reality, and to speculate on the future that is rapidly approaching, and in many ways is already here. I am wondering if you could walk us through this historical relationship between technological innovation and revolutionary change, and reflect in particular on the social and political changes that you think are necessary and/or inevitable as we move headlong into an age of full automation.
Matt: Well, society is built around tools. Whether they be physical tools or some shared conceptual ones like language or mathematics. Often we discuss mathematics as somehow objective in ways that language is not, but this is absurd. Numerical systems are no less invented than alphabetical ones. Consider the existence of various numerical systems the world over and throughout history. Egyptian numerals, Mayan numerals, Chinese numerals, Roman numerals, Hindu-Arabic numerals that have become the world standard, all different, all functional, all capable of producing marvels of human ingenuity. Language is similar. We are forever grappling to better describe the world in front of us. We are forever struggling to understand, to categorize the world around us. These tools, these intellectual tools, are the basis for interaction. Physical tools are different. They augment our existence. Whether it be a spoon, a button, a cell phone, or a rocket ship, they change what we are even capable of.
How these grand wonders are produced are determined by the technical demands of production. How many workers are needed to produce this widget given the use of these tools of production are technical questions that are determined by the material world, by the material processes of production. How things are being produced define what demands will be placed on the individuals engaged in the production of those tools.
Who has access to things, how things will be distributed once produced, is determined by our social relationships to one another. There is nothing inherent in the shape of objects that determine what relationships people will have to given objects. That is all socially determined. That all exists in the space between us and the ability to enforce these rules and regulations, a.k.a. the law and the state apparatus.
What makes a physically produced object the property of one party or another? It is based on our relationships to each other and the ability to uphold those relationships. What makes a cup a commodity first and a cup secondarily is the cruel practice of capitalism.
Under capitalism objects are not produced for their material benefit but for their profit. Labor is the basis of value and surplus labor is the basis of profit. Profit is what capitalists convert from the surplus labor of the worker. It is what they do not pay their workers. Under capitalism what the workers produce are made first as commodities and secondly as objects of use. Succinctly put, capitalism is the commodification of surplus value and the exploitation of surplus labor.
Historically the technological base of capitalism has been based on the factory system. The factory system arose on the back of slavery, genocide, and colonialism, on murder and mayhem, on horrific exploitation and the literal owning of people in order to provide the raw materials to go into factory production. Speculation on stolen land and stolen people also bolstered the market.
It is really impossible, however, to imagine the modern capitalist world as it exists without the forging of the United States. The United States is physically impossible without genocide and its forging was economically impossible without slavery. Slavery was the point of the United States. The United States required genocide to even exist. These crimes are not simply features, they are the foundations of the United States which fed the industrial revolution before the United States even became a nation. Cotton from the colonies fed the factories in England. This is what happened. Later England expanded its empire and absorbed resources from around the world, breaking age-old economies and turning them into feeders for British industry. Other Western European nations followed suit. Capitalism cannot be separated from its origins. Ongoing capitalism cannot be separated from imperialism. History is shaped this way and the world is shaped this way and cannot be discussed in broad abstractions. Nor should it be discussed outside the fact that Spanish conquest provided the initial fusion of capital required to launch the Anglo conquest of much of the world.
The relationship between industry and extraction still very much defines where entire populations fit into the capitalist world order. However, though the factory line assembly worker may be in a better position than the workers in the extractive portion of the productive process, the terms and conditions of exploitation of the individual do not negate the fact of exploitation. The level and quality of the air conditioning in the life of the laborer does not determine whether they are being exploited. If they are selling labor power and a profit is being made from that labor they are putting down then they are being exploited. The terms and conditions, the comfort level of their exploitation, does not determine whether or not they are being exploited. It does, however, usually determine whether or not someone will do anything to confront the slings and arrows of outrageous class warfare levelled against them
What is happening today, however, is qualitatively different than varying uneven levels of exploitation. Today we are seeing the realities of expulsion from the productive process. Increasingly fewer and fewer people are required for productive processes. Today the leading job in most states is not a computer coder or some job of the future; it is a truck driver.
Truck driving does not represent the brave new world. It represents the old industrial order. It represents a job that could not have been offshored or automated. Until now. The future is forming around us. The future does not show up all at once. I was born in the future that no one bothered to tell me about. Instead I was told to prepare for the service economy, to build a diverse set of skills for the service economy. People younger than me are saddled with what’s called the gig economy. There is a straight line downward. Whatever replaces the gig economy will be even more precarious, perhaps the scrounge economy.
This process of automation on the basis of advanced robotics as labor-destroying technology really began in earnest in the 1970s and piece by piece it has disintegrated the vestiges of industrial society wherever and whenever applied. This process will continue to its conclusion. There is no overlord or Pope of capitalism to slow down this process.
The good news is that though times are changing as they always do upon a technological basis, old-school solutions will work. We must seize the means of production. We need to become the collective owners of the means of production. Questions of property and questions of production, though obviously simultaneously experienced by the individual and whole classes of individuals, are actually independent questions. One is technological based on physics. The other is social based on human relationships. Though we may be pushed from the productive process, our positions as proletariat with only our labor power to sell and only our chains to lose does not change. It’s just that no one is buying that labor power. Under such conditions seizing the means of production becomes a survival cry.
The stakes are higher than ever before. Throughout the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries, as peoples formed into modern nation states throughout the world and took on the industrial revolution, the question that stood before them in terms of social struggle was whether socialism or capitalism would be the basis of an industrial means of production. People fought and died on the resolution of that question. Today the choice is between paradise on the basis of robotic production, or global starvation on the basis of robotic production. The variable is private property. We must abolish it.
Robotic production + private property = mass proletarian death. Robotic production + the collective ownership of the means of production = freedom from the stultifying division of labor and time to write poems, stare at the stars, contemplate how to extend human life, and stretch our arms further into the cosmos free of Elon Musk.
RESRG: Many people in the US, and no doubt around the world, were surprised when Trump secured the Republican nomination, and then were shocked when he was elected. Since his election victory, pundits from both parties have scrambled to explain his appeal to millions of Americans. Were you surprised when Trump was elected? And why do you think he appeals to so many people? Do you have any confidence that the democratic structures of the American system will act as a check against his right-wing populist agenda? Can the US weather this storm?
Matt: First we must say that neither party does anything for anyone who isn’t rich. One party is in word and deed in some key ways harsher than the other, but for the most part these are largely psychological exercises.
There are two major parties in this country. The Democrats look at the pain and suffering this system creates, that they willfully reproduce, and then tell their base, “we are working on it.” The Republicans in turn point at the base of the Democratic party and say those people are the problem. This is essentially the difference in how these parties present themselves to the general public. US elections are public referendums for how the world is to be explained as millions of people are caged, as wars rage, and as poverty in the world’s richest nation explodes. During US elections, disparities along many lines are discussed and reasons are offered for their existence. Both parties victim blame.
Many observers on the left outside the country generously make the distinction between the US government and the US public. This generosity of spirit is misguided. While there are millions of Americans opposed to what this brutal war machine police state does at home and abroad, millions more in this country are actually just as deplorable as the government that represents them. Donald Trump represents the end of plausible deniability on this question. Given the Trump option, millions of Americans demanded it. The reality is that millions of Americans are equally if not more bloodthirsty than those who represent them.
To watch the Republican National Convention of 2016 was to watch a Klan rally. To watch the Democratic National Convention of 2016 was to watch a rainbow coalition of death. America is a show of horrors.
Trump is an expression of this political process turned up to an unmanageable volume. Trump represents the end of plausible deniability. This country is a horror show and so are millions of people who live in it.
Still others try to understand how Trump came to be. Americans struggle with this because the default setting for the United States of America is denial.
I for one was not surprised that he won the primaries. Once they really began in earnest Trump’s eventual victory seemed fairly inevitable to me.
Trump is often discussed as retrograde or a throwback to earlier and frankly uglier times, and in many ways this is true. The battle cry of “Make America Great Again” serves multiple purposes to his audiences. It is a call to put people back in the kitchen, the closet, the orchards, the fields, and wherever his base feels most at ease having them. It is a band of bigots collected from a mostly but not entirely White bastion of absolute reaction. It is a call for the restoration of The Alamo, Jim Crow, Father Knows Best, and The Crusades. It is scary all around. Every horrific impulse imaginable that exists in the general public is embodied and expressed by Trump.
Trumpism also serves up every false victim narrative imaginable. It is that White people are the real victims here, men are the real victims here, Christians are the real victims here, Americans are the real victims here and, at its very apex, that Donald Trump is the ultimate victim and the wronged party beset by a bastion of baseless ill-wishers, detractors, and haters. It would be funny if not for how dangerous this all is.
When watching this all unfold remember that Trump uses racist outbursts to rally his base. These are not gaffes; rather, they are rallying cries. They are displays of force. So, for instance, when the book Fire and Fury embarrassed him with his details of crumbs on the mattress, he called Africa, Haiti, and El Salvador shitholes. This wasn’t one gaffe after the other. It was Twitler refocusing attention away from pathetic images back to his own strongman imagination of himself as the Grand Wizard of the American Empire. This continues to happen. And because everyone in America lies so much, everyone acts puzzled as to why his numbers seem to spike upward with racist outbursts. No one likes a loser. Not even Trump’s army of Custers. When Trump looks like a loser his numbers go down. When he acts like a Klansman his numbers go up. Now, if you are operating in denial about large sections of the US population, this will seem confusing. If you accept the truth, then it is clear. These questions can then be explored, researched, and placed in proper context.
That’s where we are at.
When talking about how we got here, that is to say how Trump won the primaries and later was installed by the electoral college, it is important we be specific. There is no such thing as general racism or general bigotry. The communities that can be targeted by racist attack arise out of history, they arise out of the history of conquest, the history of plunder, and the culture that arose out of its justification. Donald Trump initially cleared the Republican field primarily on the Mexican question, on hatred of Mexicans, on the promise that Mexico and Mexicans would pay for their sins. He announced from the very beginning that Mexicans were drug dealers and rapists. He asked that a Mexican American judge recuse himself from a court case on the basis of Mexicanidad. He claimed Mexico was lying to the Pope about him. He questioned whether a plane flying above his head during a speech were Mexican bombers. Ann Coulter and Joe Arpaio were key figures in his campaign. One of his surrogates warned of taco trucks on every corner. One of his surrogates complained about Spanish spoken at the Democratic National Convention claiming she would have to “brush up on my Dora the Explorer.” The name of the Cambridge Analytica Trump portfolio was Project Alamo. Once he was selected by the Electoral College, Kris Kobach, the mind behind SB1070,[iii] led the transition team. Trump said many things and offered many offenses but there have been points of emphasis. And in the primaries he did all he could to solidify in a field of racists that he was the most anti-Mexican. He owned that. This wasn’t from a moral crisis or lack of trying from his opponents. Chris Christie wanted to implant undocumented workers with microchips and “track them like UPS trucks.” Trump did what he is good at, he captured the imagination of a base of monsters with simple language and baseless promises. Trump, a master brander, sold them a racist dream with two key phrases, which were “Build the wall” and “Mexico will pay.” That will show them. Those lazy job stealers, always complaining, we are the real victims here. Amiright? Amiright?
That that happened is easy to prove if you are open to the idea that it happened. If you live in some kind of denial, as do most people in this country, you will have some difficulty trying to balance concrete analysis with fanciful flights from reality about the disillusionment of the “White Working Class” about trade, or war, or something that can account for this motion.
A knowledge base of specific histories is crucial to understand why specific attacks are made. When Mexicans are attacked in this country, the resulting conversation often revolves around the history of US xenophobia which inevitably leads the conversation towards the 1800s and the East Coast, the Eastern Seaboard, and the Midwest. Trying to understand anti-Mexican sentiment without a historic base in the history of the American Southwest is the height of East Coast chauvinism but it is the dominant practice here in the United States. That is why legions of experts who sound so intelligent on a great many topics sound so ignorant and confused on this topic. The Rio Grande is not Ellis Island. Point, blank, period. You cannot talk about the politics of Joe Arpaio by talking about the politics of “Irish need not apply.” The oppression of Mexicans in the US, aside from the Irish who came in waves, predates and outlasts the period of oppression for the so called “White ethnic” populations who were recruited en masse after the civil war as an industrial proletariat to take many jobs in developing urban centers that Mexicans would be informally barred from in a myriad of ways. These pundits and historians view their section of the country as the country and cannot allow in their minds for the politics of the Southwest to even for a moment dominate the country as a whole. Such an understanding would call into question what America is and call into question their expertise of the nation as a whole. For them American history moves East to West and never the reverse. This is why they sound so confused and ignorant when talking about the rise of Trump. The Republican primaries were won by Trump on Southwestern reactionary politics.
Through this lens we can in retrospect ask ourselves why. With a clear view of what happened, why it happened can be examined. What is this shift due to? Does this have to do with the changing demographics? White anxiety over the Browning of America? I would argue that’s why it exploded as it did, but that Trump was likely acting on a narrower premise.
Unlike, say, Steve King, Joe Arpaio, Ann Coulter, Michael Savage, Kris Kobach, Pat Buchanan or many other professional racists in and out of government, Trump does not have a strong background in anti-Mexican hatred before running for president. Trump had never previously stated anything particularly pro-Mexican; however, Trump’s racism in the past was for the most part focused on Black America. There was of course his reference to a Venezuelan beauty contestant as “Miss Housekeeping” and his infamous testimony before Congress wherein he delivered the immortal lines “they don’t look like Indians to me.” Trump also under a thinly veiled guise of economic nationalism has expressed hatred of the Chinese over the years. He has also weighed in in profoundly racist ways concerning wars waged against the Muslim world. He has had anti-Semitic outbursts, most famously against Jon Stewart. But, again, if we are talking about frequency and consistency, throughout the years Trump hammered over and over again an anti-blackness in word and deed. Trump came to the American landscape on violating the fair housing act by refusing to rent to Black people. In the 1980s he used his own money to run an ad to get four young black men falsely accused of rape and convicted of a crime they did not commit to be executed by the state. Before his most recent run, Donald Trump positioned himself as one of the central figures of the so-called birther movement claiming Barack Obama was not an American citizen. Trump, like Obama, is the son of an immigrant. No one claims he was born in Scotland. Funny how that works.
Trump is a racist on many fronts, to be sure, but his emphasis for most of his career as a professional racist had been on Black America. So why the shift? Why, in his biggest political moment, shift up? Why 2015? Why reinvent himself as Davy Crockett? I would argue it is a rather simple answer. The first person he had to beat was Jeb Bush, and Jeb Bush, while extremely anti-Black, was vulnerable on the Mexican question. Trump above all things is an opportunist. He simply does not care what he says so long as it pleases him to do so.
Jeb Bush understood the impact of demographic shift and the necessity of the Republican party to split the “Latino vote” to remain a viable party in both short- and long-term elections. 63% of US Latinidad is of Mexican descent; the second largest group is Puetro Ricans at 9%. Conventional Republican wisdom was that Mitt Romney had lost the gains made in securing a competitive percentage of the “Latino Vote” and in so doing he had lost the election.
Mitt Romney received 59% of the “White vote” but only 27% of the “Latino vote.” He lost the general election by nearly 5 million votes. This was significant. Romney was perceived to have lost the gains of the Bush years with all kinds of cavalier talk, most notably his proposed plan of “self-deportation” and quotable gems like, “I say that jokingly, but it would be helpful to be Latino.”
In 2004 George W. Bush received an unprecedented 44% of the “Latino Vote,” the highest on record in no small part due to the Bush brand which is based primarily on Jeb Bush and the political use of his immediate nuclear family. Or as daddy Bush said back in 1988, “Jebby’s kids from Florida, the little brown ones.”
The Bush brand is one of the most explicitly anti-Black brands in American politics. From the Willie Horton ad of Bush Sr., to George W’s abandonment of New Orleans, to Jeb’s own support for Stand Your Ground laws in Florida, a very clear and very overtly anti-Black image emerges. Along the campaign trail, and in an act of racist desperation, Jeb Bush tried to revitalize his campaign with his anti-black outburst, saying that his message to black voters was not “get in line and we’ll take care of you with free stuff.” On the other hand, the Bush brand is perceived as “Pro-Latino” and explicitly “pro-Mexican,” which is an anomaly in Republican national politics in general. Even in the American Southwest this political position is a minority within Republican politics. However, the anti-Black, pro-Hispanic, White evangelical is a viable political type with Republican politics of the region. And while no Republican ever really wins this vote, breaking off a significant section of it is the political strategy of this brand of politics. No Republican on the national stage embodied this political trend better than Jeb Bush. No political figure served better than to win 40% or more of the “Latino vote” than Jeb Bush.
To this end Jeb Bush ran as Jeb Bush. Several years before the 2016 election the specter of a Bush-Clinton race dominated the beltway. As the primaries neared, Jeb Bush’s strategy was to run a bilingual pre-campaign, delivering speeches across the country wherein he switched from English to Spanish for points of emphasis. This was something that, to my knowledge, was unprecedented for a Republican Presidential candidate. He cut full language Spanish ads, even one celebrating Cinco De Mayo as an American as well as a Mexican holiday. The early effect of this was profound. The gamble of it was recognized early. In September of 2015 it was written that this strategy for the general election might backfire in the primary. At the time Jeb Bush was polling at 44% likeability among “Hispanics” but only 39% among Whites. Trump at the time polled at 82% unlikeability with Hispanics and 48% positive with Whites.
Trump’s path was clear. Use Bush’s family against him. Paint him as a Mexican lover. Trump had good reason to think this would work. A backlash against the Bush brand specifically on the Mexican question had been brewing for more than a decade within the Tea Party. The title RINO, Republican in Name Only, had been applied by the Tea Party to politicians that were seen as hostile to Republican values. This essentially could be applied to anyone who did not think an overtly White man’s party was a viable political platform. Both the Bush brothers were seen in this light by sections of the Tea Party, so much so that the horrific guest worker program of George W. Bush, which essentially reinstated indentured servitude, was seen in the convoluted minds of the Far White of the Republican party as kowtowing to the special interests of Mexicans and big business. Trump understood this.
Trump was merciless in his attacks calling into question Bush’s marriage, cutting an ad entitled “An Act of Love” that was almost a scene for scene recreation of the Willie Horton ad. He also chastised Jeb for speaking Spanish in public, stating in a debate: “this is a country where we speak English not Spanish.” Within months Jeb Bush, who had been the assumed next candidate of the Republican party since at the very least 2013, was destroyed and Donald Trump—a reality TV star, a real estate mogul, a professional racist carnival barker—was leading polls by double digits
Even if the electoral college had not later handed Trump the presidency, Trump’s defeat of Jeb Bush would have been of deep historic significance. In many ways it was the first Republican primary of 2040, with the question of shifting demographics placed at the center of the table. They were running a primary that pivoted on how the Republican party would handle the Browning of America. For now we have our answer.
In other primary news Kasich and Rubio marketed themselves like Jeb Bush before them as men of decency and poise, who would stand as lines drawn in the sand against Trump. Like Bush they never had a chance.
The only time Trump ever slipped in the polls was to Ben Carson, and the only primary he lost was to Ted Cruz. The reason Cruz and Carson ever had any leg up on Trump was that they had articulated a stronger hate platform against Muslims. Which is universally shared by the mainstream political spectrum of the United States of America as the United States of America is a war machine and is currently bombing seven Muslim majority countries. Vicious anti-Muslim rhetoric is shared by both parties and there is very little difference in tone and voracity.
During the primaries Ben Carson made use of every chance he got to warn his audiences of encroaching Sharia law. Cruz spoke of making the “desert glow.” It was not until Trump came up with a succinct and catchy way to convey his hatred of Muslims that he overcame his only two potential obstacles to victory. He came up with the ban. Again, Trump is a master brander.
So there it is. He knocked of Bush with a wall and knocked off Cruz and Carson with a ban. Trump understands how to keep a thing simple and how to sell it, especially if that thing is hate. Most politicians play a game of charades called the Grand Republic. Trump gets that politics, particularly Republican politics, are reality TV.
I am not surprised the hate vote won. And between Trump, Carson, and Cruz I am not surprised the non-Hispanic White guy won. And to be honest Trump is just a catchier sloganeer as I have twice now said, a master brander. I am not surprised he won the primaries.
As to the general election, Trump didn’t win. He lost. By three million votes. The electoral college won the day. Truth is Clinton banked on demographic shift to ensure her victory. And if votes counted she would have been right. But they don’t. In many ways the electoral college robbed California of its voice in this election. California is ground zero for this demographic shift and it is no surprise that it is constantly at odds with the administration. And not just high-ranking Democrats but in the streets as well. The protests against Trump during his initial campaigns were epic and the wide majority of the really major ones have been in the state of California for obvious historically developed reasons. Also consider that Trump lost the general election by 3 million votes. However, he lost California by 4 million. California alone accounts for more than the loss in the general. The electoral college as it stands today is a form of affirmative reaction. It exists as a means to empower generally more reactionary states. Demographic shift will mean nothing if it remains in place. The electoral college erased the Californian vote. A voter in Wyoming had a vote that accounted for 3.5 Californian votes. This is nonsense. The electoral college is a holdover from slavery. To repeat what I just wrote above, it is a form of affirmative reaction.
Again, why California would be at odds with Trump is not often discussed in terms of the direction of the nation, but rather in terms of the direction of California, America’s most populated state. This is because of denial and, to be frank, a sort of New England/Eastern Seaboard/Midwest chauvinism/narcissism that is never done speaking of itself. The default lens of the US is that of East Coast centrism that argues its political formations and history are the general and primary history of the United States of America and everywhere else has a regional history with regional characteristics and formations to be accounted for but still ultimately understood within the general lens of American history, meaning that dominant lens.
All this despite the fact that people are leaving those areas, primarily populating the Southwest. Seven out of the ten most populated cities in the United States of America are located in the Southwest. Yet nothing in our political discourse, cultural production, or general understanding of the country as a whole conveys that. For instance, Houston is the fourth biggest city in America. Why is there nothing about the political discourse or cultural production of this country that would convey that?
We see this play out in many ways. In the aftermath of the election, article after article spilled out of publications about the “white working class” and the rust belt and their pain, their hurt, their betrayal, and asking how could they vote for Trump. All kinds of wild, silly contextualizing for supposed non-racist reasons to vote for Trump. People just made bizarre claims saying that the Trump vote was a peace vote. It was anything but what the man had clearly campaigned on, which in the primaries and later the general election was a whole host of horrible and profound bigotries and chauvinisms with the wall and the ban being central.
Misreadings aside, the US intelligentsia could not stop talking about the Midwest in particular. Why they voted, why they didn’t vote, etc., etc. Meanwhile, the fact that California rejected Trump by over 4 million votes, 1 million more than the nation as a whole, was not seen as a fact fit for the national discourse.
Both right and left there are people who refuse to deal with the impact and significance of changing demographics and the regions central to that shift as defining the future of the country, and that’s why they sound bizarre and downright confused when speaking about Trump.
I had a discussion with a noted historian from Michigan and he completely scoffed at the idea that demographic shift accounts for California’s shift into a blue state. This despite the fact that when California had a white majority it swung for Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Bush and when the white majority was broken the vote shifted with it. He couldn’t imagine that to be true. This kind of willful ignorance is why people cannot understand the significance of a candidate relying so heavily and specifically on anti-Mexican rhetoric as a national platform.
The attempt to historicize Trump’s Southwestern politics as a chapter of American xenophobia does not simply obscure the topic, it literally changes the subject. Once again the conversation becomes about the US and Ellis Island. I will repeat, Ellis Island is not the Rio Grande and Southwestern politics cannot be understood in this manner.
Trump is the son of an immigrant. His wife is an immigrant. Most of his children are the children of immigrants. Hell, Joe Arpaio is the son of immigrants. Michael Savage is the child of immigrants. Michael Savage defines his politics as a defense of “borders, language, culture.”
There is no immigration debate in the US. There is a “keep the US white” debate in the US. By talking about xenophobia, the conversation again shifts to the Northeast and a time that no longer exists and for a targeted population to whom that history does not apply.
A debate about general US xenophobia when discussing Trump’s specific targeting of Mexican and Central American populations is a swift change of subjects. It does not historicize the conversation, it prevents the historicization of the conversation.
Similarly, it should be said that the Trump-Sessions attacks on the Central American, primarily Salvadoran, community that have become a dominant feature of the Trump presidency, must also be understood on their own terms. They cannot simply be collapsed into the attacks on Mexico or seen as simply an extension thereof, which is often how these attacks are discussed. The Trump-Sessions attacks are often simultaneous, but “why Mexico?” and “why El Salvador?” are distinct questions and do not simply exist in proximity to one another. The shift of focus to Central America in general and El Salvador in particular is rooted in the US and Mexican joint oppression of migrants from these countries. Once seizing power Trump had to deal with the realities of power, and dealing with Mexico as a trading partner became very difficult given his rhetoric. The United States’ relationship with the Central American republics is a horrific one of assassinations, coups, and again more scapegoating for domestic political purposes.
In the global sense, the United States’ relationship with Mexico and its relationships with the various republics of Central America has its facets, its features, its unique histories and conflicts. But at its base the historic processes and phenomena that have been set in motion here are not dissimilar to what is happening today in Europe and the fascist politics and rhetoric targeting populations of North Africa and West Asia around similar demographic questions. Of course, these places all have their histories as well and must be understood on their own terms. But the same patterns emerge, today and not in the 1800s, under very different conditions. To understand Trump you must look at what he is saying and learn the history behind why he is saying what he is saying. Same is true of Le Pen. Same is true of Erdoğan for that matter, or Modi or Duterte. Fascism is taking hold the world over and takes the shape of the history it stands on. We must fight the whole globe over. In order to fight we must first know what the hell we are talking about.
RESRG: I am guessing that, as a Marxist activist and intellectual, you feel a sense of urgency today that is as great as—if not greater than—it was three years ago. How does this sense of urgency, and more importantly your critique of the system we currently find ourselves in, shape your work as a spoken word artist? What role can—or should—art and artists play in a moment like this?
Matt: We should all do what we can from where we can. We should demystify these professions. A profession is a lot of things but what makes one capable of doing any said profession is just a skill set. What should I do with this skill set? I should write the best anti-Trump poems I possibly can. A professor should deliver the best lecture they can and write a poem. A poet should deliver a lecture and plumbers should write plays if so inclined. We really need to demystify titles and capacities. Hair stylists should write speeches. Accountants should deliver them. Baristas can make the signs and vice versa. We don’t have time for gate keeping in the midst of a crisis. We should all be firing on all cylinders and ringing the alarm to the best of our ability in multiple ways with whatever talent and skill we have in us.
These are extremely dangerous times. The whole of the world is teetering on becoming something new. There is so much potential and possibility but the instinct of billionaires is of course to hoard and unleash murder and mayhem to protect their wealth from the huddling masses. Unfortunately, the instinct of the majority of those masses is to kick downward in whatever historical role that is available to them at any given moment. That is why working people with so much to gain would often rather protect a spot in the pecking order by abusing people rather than fighting the common exploiter. I can’t account for this sadism. Luckily the majority is never required to reshape the world.
It will take an organized mass of people fighting for something better for us all, dragging so many people kicking and screaming into a better world. But in order to achieve that critical mass, people need to know they can reshape the world by organizing and collectivizing their efforts. This is why alternatives and platforms need to be organized and the profile of those organizations raised high and raised proud. Great people will join the fight for a better tomorrow given the opportunity. We can win. We must win. We will win. It’s only a matter of time. If not us, then a future generation. Or the species dies, and along with it most of the species that live now on earth, at least most of the animal kingdom. I don’t know enough to comment on how insects and plant life will fare.
We must abolish capitalism and pursue technology that does not destroy our ability to live on the planet. I think we win. Despite everything I am an optimist. It beats the alternative.
[i] Check out Matt’s Thunder Bay performances of his poems “Gangsters” and “Los Angeles” at http://www.resrg.ca/?page_id=219 (see also https://vimeo.com/117800904 and https://vimeo.com/117800903). Follow this link to hear his interview on CBC radio (http://www.cbc.ca/superiormorning/episodes/2015/01/15/champion-slam-poet-matt-sedillo/). Check out his website at www.mattsedillo.com. Contact Matt at mattsedillo1981@gmail.com.
[ii] http://www.bbc.com/news/av/technology-43292047/burger-flipping-robot-begins-first-shift
[iii] Editor’s Note: SB1070 refers to Arizona Senate Bill 1070, the Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighbourhoods Act, passed in 2010. It was championed by its supporters as a measure that would lead to a crackdown on “illegal” immigration. Critics of SB1070 condemned the bill, arguing that it sanctioned racial profiling, and that it amounted to a cash grab by Arizona’s prison-industrial complex.
Click here for the pdf version of this interview.
by Steven Jobbitt
It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Just over a quarter of a century ago, walls were coming down in Europe, and borders were opening up. Inspired by principles of unity and cooperation, a brave new world was being forged by optimistic European Union visionaries, while advocates of free market globalization peddled hopes for a better future, promising as they did so to bridge cultural, political, and economic divides as part of their now largely failed attempt to create a diverse but unified global village.
The political scientist Francis Fukuyama even tried to convince us that we had reached “the end of history.” With the conclusion of the Cold War, he argued, the ideological struggles that had defined the twentieth century and that had produced untold misery and suffering for millions of people had come to an end.
Freedom and democracy had won. Liberalism and capitalism would now work hand in hand to create a better, more prosperous, and equitable world.
Or so we were told.
It is hard to imagine that anyone could seriously believe this today. Since the economic collapse of 2008-2009, people in “the West” have come to realize what people in “the rest” of the world already knew from experience: history—at least as Fukuyama would have us think of it—never went away. If anything, it had returned with a vengeance.
Europe is an important and unmistakable case in point. With capitalism in crisis and political extremism on the rise, the Europe of today looks ominously like the Europe of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Like the Europe of a century ago, the gap between the rich and poor is growing (both domestically and internationally), leaving an ever-growing number of marginalized and angry citizens to seek radical political solutions to their increasingly hopeless situations.
And like the Europe of a century ago, populist leaders on the right have been very successful at manipulating people’s fears and frustrations, and steering them into right-wing radicalism and exclusionary forms of nationalism.
Though the roots of this right-wing nationalist resurgence run deep, the shift has taken many observers by surprise. Until very recently, the rigid frontiers of the nation-state appeared to be fading (at least within Europe itself), while many middle class Europeans could comfort themselves with the idea (or more accurately the illusion) that societal divisions were waning. Today, however, the walls are going back up, and societies are once again becoming re-segregated and divided along familiar lines of race, gender, class, and increasingly also age.
A siege mentality not unlike that which has propelled Donald Trump to the Republican Party nomination in the United States is currently gripping the people of Europe. Crippled by an economy that serves the interests of the few over the needs of the many, and struggling to come to terms with a rapidly mutating capitalist system defined both by austere neoliberalist policies and the revolutionary consequences of full automation, many Europeans are opting to circle their wagons, and to retreat into imagined national and “civilizational” spaces where they feel safe and protected from the upheaval and insecurity that defines their lives.
Hopes of creating a global village have been replaced by efforts to build a fortress. But even this project is on the verge of fragmenting. Given the recent outcome of the Brexit vote in the UK and a groundswell of support for Eurosceptic parties and anti-immigrant movements elsewhere, it seems that even Fortress Europe might shatter into so many tiny castles built upon rather exclusive notions of sovereignty, and propped up by a dangerously narrow and short-sighted obsession with national survival.
In the current climate, immigration has again become a hot button issue for many Europeans, with the on-going refugee crisis only pouring gasoline onto an already incendiary political and economic situation. Heightening the interconnected fears of terrorism and the non-Western “other” that already existed in Europe, the influx of refugees from the Middle East and Africa since the spring of 2015 has become a pretext for the exclusionary policies of many states, especially those that are situated on the geographical margins of Fortress Europe.
Of Fences and Militarized Borders
Hungary is a particularly instructive case in point. Faced with an inflow of migrants that many on the right have since likened to an “invasion,” Hungary announced early in 2015 its intentions to build a fence along its border with Serbia, a project which was completed with the help of the army by the middle of September of the same year. A new law was also passed at the same time that targeted undocumented migrants and refugees, and by September 21, 2015, Hungarian parliament had passed further legislation that granted the army and police sweeping new powers to prevent refugees from crossing the border, including giving troops the right to use rubber bullets, tear gas grenades, and crowd-dissolving weapons.
Hungary’s move to seal its borders to migrants and to effectively re-militarize its southern frontier was widely criticized in Europe at the time, but by the end of the year this Central European nation was looking less like a pariah, and more like a trend setter. Throughout the Balkans, increasingly repressive measures had been implemented to stem the flow of refugees that had reached a crescendo over the course of 2015. Only days after Hungary completed its fence along the Serbian frontier, for example, Croatia closed 7 of its 8 border crossings with Serbia and began building a fence of its own. Slovenia in turn blocked off its borders with Croatia and used pepper spray against refugees. Bulgaria began deploying troops on the border with Turkey, and Macedonia also erected a fence, and increased the military presence on its southern borders.
The implementation of these increasingly repressive measures was by no means an isolated Balkan or East Central European phenomenon. Some EU leaders had advocated the use of naval force as a deterrent for migration across the Mediterranean as early as spring 2015 (at about the same time that Hungary announced its intentions to build a fence), while throughout the EU, most member countries had imposed new checks and security measures at their borders by the beginning of 2016.
Austria was one of the leading states on this front. Bolstered by a groundswell of popular support for restrictive measures to stem the migrant tide, the Austrian government adopted a series of hardline measures that effectively criminalized migration into the country. Working in cooperation with Hungary and a handful of other states, Austria played a central role in closing the Balkan route into Central and Western Europe, one which had been the hope of a large number of refugees (primarily from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan) since spring 2015.[1]
The Irony of Exclusion
It is certainly not the intent of this short article to single out Austria and Hungary as Europe’s worst anti-immigrationist or anti-refugee offenders. In my opinion, all of Europe, along with the rest of the so-called developed world, has failed—and continues to fail—the roughly 60 million people who currently find themselves displaced in the world today.[2]
But there is a certain irony in the way that these two countries have dealt with the crisis, an irony that is particularly acute as Hungary prepares to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the 1956 Revolution and the refugee crisis that the Soviet suppression of this uprising created. Though today both countries scramble to seal their borders to refugees, the memory of Hungarian victims of Soviet oppression fleeing their country is still vivid for many, especially in Hungary and the Hungarian diaspora where the revolution and its aftermath has provided useful political fodder for both the left and the right.
Letters and petitions from Hungarian refugees that I recently came across in the Portuguese archives speak volumes to the irony, and perhaps even hypocrisy, of a nation now anxious to close its borders to people in need. Having fled the tyranny of Hungary’s communist regime and the counter-revolutionary violence of the Soviet crackdown, Hungarian refugees were desperate to find countries willing to host them, countries where they would be able to rebuild their lives. For some, like a doctor who had found temporary refuge in Sweden, this meant finding a place where he could once again practice medicine, and contribute to society. For others, like a former boxing champion, this simply meant finding a new home where he could practice his sport in peace, and pursue a modest life as a manual laborer.[3]
Neither of these men found refuge in Portugal, a state that deemed itself incapable of taking more than a few thousand temporary refugees (mostly orphans), and that feared the ideological and political turmoil that even a handful of refugees might inspire in their citizens.
The irony of Austria’s current response is also illuminating, and highlights just how far we have strayed from the values that inspired post-World War II reconstruction in many nations throughout Europe.
An appeal made by the Austrian prime minister in January 1957 to the United Nations is particularly revealing. Arguing that his country had done more than any other to assist the Hungarians who had been displaced by the conflict in their own country, the Austrian prime minister chastised his contemporaries for not doing more.
Appealing to their sense of moral duty as Europeans, and reiterating Austria’s own plans to “stay the course,” he wrote: “We certainly do not envisage closing the Austro-Hungarian border. By granting the right of asylum, Austria takes into account not only its obligation as a democratic country and the clauses of the Convention on Refugees, but also its humanitarian and moral responsibilities.[…] In addition, Austria, which has a common border with Hungary, has never once said ‘we have reached our quota of refugees.’ A statement of this kind, so contrary to the spirit of freedom and human pity—feelings on which the existence of the free world is based—would completely destroy the ideal to which we are all so deeply attached.”[4]
In these otherwise dark times, we have to remember that there is another way. We have been here before, and we found the political will to do the right thing (or, at least, to say the right thing). Let’s remind ourselves that compassion can indeed be the basis of politics, and that the cultivation of a nation’s moral imagination can and should be guided by universal humanitarian principles rather than the politics of fear, hate, and exclusion. It is a noble goal for our societies to strive for. The stakes, for many, are simply too high not to.
[1] On the rise of rightwing extremism in Austria, see Anna England, “Some Wrongs that Made the Right: Austria’s 2016 Election and the Global Intensification of the Political Right” http://www.resrg.ca/?p=305
[2] See Rafaela Jobbitt, “Africa and the Migrant Crisis: The Case of Eritrean Refugees” http://www.resrg.ca/?p=288 and Steven Jobbitt, “Broadening the Discussion on the Refugee Crisis in Europe: The Need for Global and Historical Perspective” http://www.resrg.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/HITM-1-refugee-crisis-Europe_global-historical-perspective1.pdf
[3] See my forthcoming article “Hungarian Refugees and the Politics of Martyrdom in Salazar’s Portugal, 1956-1957,” Hungarian Cultural Studies, Vol. 9 (2016) http://ahea.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/ahea
[4] “Declaration faite par Son Excellence M. Oskar Helmer, Ministre de l’Interieur de la Republique Federale Autrichienne devant le Comité Executif de l’UNREF, le 29 janvier 1957” (quotation translated by author from the French)
Posted on July 27, 2016 July 27, 2016 Video
Our knowledge translation expert Barbara Gauthier caught up with Si Chen, a Ph.D. student in Natural Resources Management at Lakehead University, after the first annual RESRG Graduate Conference on “Development, Sustainability, and Environment” (April 2016). Here is what she had to say.
History MA student Brandon Cordeiro shares his research with RESRG after the Graduate Conference we hosted at Lakehead University in April 2016.
Dan Duckert, a Ph.D candidate in Natural Resources Management at Lakehead University, discusses research he presented at the RESRG Graduate Student conference held in Thunder Bay in April 2016.
Some Wrongs that Made the Right: Austria’s 2016 Election and the Global Intensification of the Political Right
by Anna England
On May 22, 2016, Alexander Van der Bellen, a pro-EU independent backed by the Greens, narrowly defeated Freedom Party leader Norbert Hofer, an opposition far-right candidate, in Austria’s presidential election. The Austrian interior ministry reported that Van der Bellen won 50.3% of the vote while Hofer managed to capture 49.7%. As a result of this victory, Van der Bellen effectively prevented Austria from electing the European Union’s first far-right head of state.[i]
These election results are not only surprising when one takes into consideration Austria’s national socialist past, but also alarming when cast against the backdrop of the recent upsurge of far-right politics on the international stage.
The son of a local Austrian People’s Party councilor and electric power station director, Hofer was raised in a middle class family in Pinkafeld, Burgenland. He graduated from the Technical College of Aviation Technology in Eisenstadt as a trained aeronautical engineer, and from 1990 until 1991 served as a soldier on the Hungarian border.
A self-proclaimed Margaret Thatcher fan and gun enthusiast, Hofer garnered much of his support primarily among male manual workers. His politics promised to “put Austria first,” and promoted anti-EU sentiment along with a very aggressive fear campaign targeting migrants. Though a progressive candidate was ultimately victorious, Hofer, a man who during his swearing-in ceremony as Freedom Party candidate wore a cornflower (a Nazi symbol from the 1930s) in his lapel, lost the Austrian presidential election by a mere 0.6%.[ii] It is unsettling to think that nearly half of the Austrians who voted in the election have perhaps forgotten what atrocities can occur when a nation is directed down a path of extremist nationalism with very strict regulations regarding the type of individual who is worthy of being a citizen.
As the current Brexit crisis would suggest, the election in Austria is indicative of a broader divide throughout Europe and much of the rest of the world on matters of how to deal with the migrant crisis, the economy, and how to balance wide-ranging national interests. There is an undeniable desire for swift action and strong leadership. People are demanding reforms in all sectors from education, to health care, to the job market. With tensions rising to a boiling point, many are seeking a group to blame for the current state of disarray. Sadly, in attempting to offer a resolution for western capitalism’s current woes, the far-right have chosen to target the same groups of people who so desperately need our aid; asylum seekers, displaced people, and migrants.
While Europe and the rest of the world attempts to cope with the latest humanitarian crises, especially those in the Middle East and Africa, the recurring question of how best to manage the rising numbers of refugees and migrants is a common issue of concern. The increase in migrant populations and the growing cost of resources have tested the domestic and international policies of many core European nations. The resulting responses have many on the left arguing for the provision of aid to all those in need, and many on the right who wish to shut all borders in order to prevent any physical, economic, or political threats from potentially entering into, and devastating, a country they call their own.
In promising to “put Austria first,” Hofer and his Freedom Party echo the right-wing sentiments that have become popular worldwide. The Freedom Party portrays itself as the protector of Austrian identity while simultaneously committing their party to the rebuilding of a social welfare state—something that they argue cannot be achieved if current immigration policies continue unabated. More specifically, Hofer manipulated the facts behind the recent refugee crisis in order to benefit his political ambitions after an estimated 90,000 migrants applied for asylum within Austria’s borders. Hofer emphasized and encouraged waning public empathy and made assertions that Austria did not have enough resources to sustain the needs of both Austrians and newcomers. Arguing that migrants would undermine the vitality of the nation, Hofer endorsed a very fascistic immigration policy, one which focused on “identity,” thus excluding a vast majority of displaced peoples. What is most surprising, however, is that Hofer and the Freedom Party’s lack of compassion towards fleeing refugees is not an unpopular sentiment. Ethnic discrimination is alarmingly commonplace on a global scale and has undoubtedly become a growing factor in the ways in which public policy is formulated.
It is truly unfortunate that many local and national media outlets are often found encouraging the radical right’s message, both in Austria and elsewhere, that all immigrants are a possible danger by flooding broadcasts and webpages with negative images of refugees and the horrifying violence they have experienced. By presenting one-dimensional representations of the chaos refugees have come from, the media only helps to reinforce notions of fear in western audiences by implying that the chaos will simply come with them. In turn, Western media chooses to broadcast news of terrorist violence committed against the West, but blatantly disregards events such as the violent protests for education reform in Oaxaca, Mexico or the humanitarian crisis in the Central African Republic (just to mention two examples).
A main fault lays in the fact that the media often refers to refugees in terms of statistics and costs, rather than as people, and rarely discusses the positive impacts that a rise in immigration can lead to. Many migrants, for example, arrive with skills and abilities that only help to enhance the human capital of the host country. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) supported this argument by providing evidence from the United States that suggests that skilled immigrants contribute to boosting research and innovation, as well as technological progress.[iii]
As is apparent to many, Hofer and his principles are not alone. Donald Trump for the American Republican Party, Marine Le Pen of France’s Front National, and the Jobbik leader Gábor Vona of Hungary all subscribe to similar ultra-nationalistic, highly racialized, and discriminatory sexist policies. Recent developments like the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the EU will potentially lead to an even greater shift to the right and even deeper divides among already divided nations. Although it would be easy equate the radical right to the insane squawking of unsympathetic people who have lost touch with reality, the sheer number of supporters indicates that the issue is not so simple. Those who choose not to associate with right-wing politics find themselves fearing that many have fallen prey to the alluring sounds of the pied piper.
For a pdf version of this article click here.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/austria-president-vote-alexander-van-der-bellen-1.3596410
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05/22/who-is-norbert-hofer-and-should-europe-be-worried-about-him-beco/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/23/immigrants-in-austria-relieved-after-norbert-hofer-defeat
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1ca5e202-1cbe-11e6-b286-cddde55ca122.html#axzz4D5MzHkEV
[i]To access a more detailed review of the events of the Austrian election, see http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/24/world/europe/austria-presidential-election.html
[ii] For further reading on the Austrian election, see http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36362505
[iii] For a comprehensive analysis of the benefits and limitations of mass migration, visit the website of The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) https://www.oecd.org
[Photo credit: http://analyzingeurope.com/norbert-hofer-could-be-austrias-next-president/]
Africa and the Migrant Crisis: The Case of Eritrean Refugees
by Rafaela Jobbitt
In the last few months, the dangers that migrants face when trying to reach Europe by boat have once again become front-page news. At the end of May 2016, a succession of vessels carrying migrants capsized off the coast of Italy, claiming the lives of 700 of them. Altogether, since 2014, the Mediterranean crossings have resulted in 8,000 deaths.
The number of asylum-seekers making it to Europe is staggering, at least from a European point of view. So far this year, 203,981 migrants have come to the continent by sea, while a total of 1,015,078 arrived in 2015. They are attempting to reach Europe via two main routes: the “Greek route,” which has seen the largest number of people cross, and the “Italy route,” which has received lower numbers of migrants, but which is considered the more treacherous of the two routes. Although most of the refugees originate in the Middle East, particularly from Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq, many derive from sub-Saharan African countries such as Eritrea, Somalia, Nigeria, Gambia, Guinea, and the Ivory Coast, among others.[1]
As might be expected, the migrant crisis has sparked intense debates in Europe and elsewhere about the reasons why people are fleeing the Middle East and Africa. It is true that one finds many compassionate voices and sober assessments about the reasons why the crisis emerged in the first place. However, one also encounters several myths and misconceptions about migrants, and about what is compelling them to risk their lives in order to leave their countries of origin. The crisis has unleashed fear and anxiety in Europe. Some see it as a “migrant invasion” that Europeans, currently in the midst of economic turmoil and austerity, cannot afford to ignore. Others argue that migrants will not assimilate into European society, stressing cultural, religious, and “civilizational” differences between them. Finally, some people like to point out that many asylum-seekers are not “true refugees,” but “economic opportunists” instead.
Clearly, there is a need to gain a better understanding of what is causing such large-scale population displacement, particularly in Africa. I would argue that migrants from Africa elicit less sympathy on the part of the international community than refugees from the Middle East, especially those from Syria (largely due to the war that has been raging in that country for five years). The conflict has been relatively well covered by international media organizations. By contrast—and in keeping with long-standing practices—the same media outlets tend to gloss over the African case, and fail to provide details about the factors that are forcing many Africans to risk their lives to reach Europe.
Running parallel to and thus amplifying the poor media coverage on Africa is the problem of long-standing misperceptions of the continent and its people. Whereas it is perhaps easy to feel pity for Syrians whose country has been embroiled in a disastrous conflict that has destroyed so many people’s lives, Africa is regarded as a perpetual “basket case,” a troubled part of the world that is filled with failed and corrupt states that seem incapable or unwilling to do anything about the problems plaguing their countries. It is therefore common to come across the view that refugees from Africa are not “real refugees,” but that they are in fact economic migrants, people who are desperate to leave the continent to seek a better life in more affluent countries.
What these perceptions and assumptions obscure is the fact that Africans also live in a globalized world, although they happen to live in one of the world’s poorest continents (poor in terms of actually existing economic conditions, but not in terms of resources or human potential). Many have relatives who have emigrated to Europe and other parts of the world, family members who they visit or stay in touch with. African diasporic communities also play a significant role in generating revenues for their countries of origin in the form of remittances that they send back home to support family members. The existence of a relative in Europe, however, does not automatically mean that his or her family member(s) want to leave Africa and emigrate as well. In order to understand the reasons why Africans are joining the ranks of asylum-seekers in Europe, it is important to comprehend the factors that are compelling them to do so at this point in time.
This article is the first in a series that analyze the African dimension of the migrant crisis. The goal is to look at particular African countries that are generating refugees, and to discuss not only the causes for population displacement, but also some of the solutions that are being put in place in order to solve it. In addition, by focusing on what in some cases are deep historical roots for the current refugee crisis involving several African nations, the aim is to counter misconceptions that people have about the continent in general and migrants in particular.
It would perhaps come as a surprise to some to find out that, according to recent statistics on migrants trying to reach Europe, many are from Eritrea.[2] In 2015, Eritreans formed the fourth main group of asylum-seekers in Europe after Syrians, Afghans, and Iraqis. According to the UNHCR, since 2014, 37,000 Eritreans have requested asylum in Europe and approximately 4,000 leave Eritrea every month.[3] They figure prominently in groups of migrants arriving in Europe via the “Italy route,” which in itself is rather interesting since Eritrea was once an Italian colony. The route that Eritrean migrants travel first takes them to Khartoum, the capital of the Sudan, where they make arrangements with smugglers who take them to Libya. Once in Libya, the next step is to board a boat to Italy. Even before they reach Libya, these refugees face immense hardships and struggles. Many are physically abused and given little food or water. There are reports of rampant sexual abuse of women en route to North Africa as well. Once they arrive, migrants are locked away and hidden until the smugglers can finally put them on board a boat bound for Italy.[4]
Most Eritrean refugees, at least those requesting asylum in Europe, are young people between the ages of 18 and 24 and some are unaccompanied minors. When interviewed, some of these young people state that they were forced to leave Eritrea out of fear of persecution. The Eritrean regime, led by former rebel leader Isaias Afewerki, has been accused of perpetrating gross human rights violations. According to some reports, he is responsible for creating a surveillance state in Eritrea, and for using the on-going border disputes with Ethiopia, as well as the fear of another war with that country, as a justification for the existence of a harsh system of military conscription. Military service is mandatory for both boys and girls in their final year of high school. In theory, it is supposed to last 18 months but, in reality, Eritrean refugees who fled the country reported that either they or their family members and friends were trapped for years in indefinite and poorly paid military servitude. The Afewerki regime is also sponsoring terrorism in the region. Eritrea, which is currently under sanctions by the United States, has been a supporter of al-Shabaab and its insurgency in Somalia. Other forms of human rights abuses against its own population include indiscriminate arrest, indefinite detention, widespread use of torture and even religious persecution.[5]
If the above reasons were not bad enough, Eritreans fall prey to forced labour recruitment, including being forced to work in construction projects and on farms that are owned by the government. A company that has been implicated in coercive labour practices in Eritrea is Segen Construction, a government-owned business that received a contract to build infrastructure for the Bisha copper mine, which is jointly owned by the Eritrean government and by Nevsun Resources, a Canadian mining company.[6] The Bisha mine situation is yet another example of how foreign companies and corporations are willing to turn a blind eye and, in some cases, be complicit with human rights abuses in Africa. As long as the profits are there to be made from their extraction ventures, it does not matter to them what African states do to their citizens. People in the developed world complain about the “large numbers” of migrants applying for refugee status in their countries, without realizing that their own companies are implicated in the messy world of politics and economic exploitation in Africa. African governments of course are not without blame, and are more than willing to partake in the profits generated by the exploitation of their countries’ resources by foreign interests.
What might also come as a surprise is that many of the Eritreans refugees are in fact living in neighbouring countries, including Ethiopia and the Sudan, which currently host 155,000 and 125,000 refugees from that country respectively. Ethiopia has the largest numbers of refugees in Africa—a total of 734,000 people, primarily from countries such as the Sudan, Somalia, and Eritrea. Evidently, not all of these migrants wish to leave Africa for Europe. Their hope is, perhaps, to be able to go back to their countries of origin. Still, the international community wants to discourage them from taking the Europe route. Recently, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, paid a visit to one of the four camps housing Eritrean refugees in the Ethiopian highlands. During the visit, Grandi called for the need to improve conditions for Eritrean refugees in the camps and in the region. High on the list of requests from the refugees themselves is the desire to have access to schooling or vocational training, and to see the possibility of being re-settled in a place where they will be able to make a life for themselves as something other than refugees.[7]
For a pdf version of this article, click here.
[1] To access data on asylum-seekers in Europe, including maps showing routes and countries of origin, see the United Nations High Commission for Refugees site (henceforth UNHCR), http://data.unhcr.org/mediterranean/regional.php
[2] For a short but informative country profile of Eritrea, see the BBC’s “Eritrea Profile,” May 5, 2016. Retrieved from www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13349075.
[3] For data on refugees from Eritrea, see UNHCR, “Sharp Increase in Number of Eritrean Refugees and Asylum-Seekers in Europe, Ethiopia and Sudan,” November 14, 2014. Retrieved from www.unhcr.org/news/briefing/2014/11/5465fea1381/sharp-increase-number-eritrean-refugees-asylum-seekers-europe-ethiopia.html?query=eritrean
[4] Details about the hardships and dangers that migrants face en route to Libya are described in an article published by the UNHCR entitled “Eritrean Survivor of Lampedusa Tragedy Returns to Honour the Dead, Meet Pope Francis,” October 2, 2014. Retrieved from www.unhcr.org/news/latest/2014/10/542d0ece5/eritrean-survivor-lampedusa-tragedy-returns-honour-dead-meet-pope-francis.html.
[5] Information about human rights abuses in Eritrea can be found in “World Report 2015: Eritrea,” published by Human Rights Watch. Retrieved from www.hrw.org/world-report/2015/country-chapters/eritrea.
[6] On the Nevsun connection to alleged human rights abuses, see http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/episodes/2015-2016/nevsun-in-eritrea-dealing-with-a-dictator and http://hrc-eritrea.org/labour-struggles-truly-have-no-borders-vancouvers-connections-to-slave-labour-in-eritrea/. It is worth noting that the Bisha mine was the target of an attack carried out by Ethiopian military aircraft in 2015. See the article entitled “Canadian Mine Targeted in Eritrea: African Media Reports,” March 22, 2015. Retrieved from www.mining.com/ethiopian-jets-attack-canadian-gold-mine-eritrea/
[7] For information on Grandi’s visit to camps hosting Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia, see “Do Not Risk Your Lives, Grandi Tells Eritrean Refugees,” February 2, 2016. Retrieved from www.unhcr.org/news/latest/2016/2/56b3251917/risk-lives-grandi-tells-eritrean-refugees.html.
[photo credit: AP Photo/Antonello Nusca, File]
RESRG Graduate Conference Program 2016: Inequality – Landscapes – Resources
LAKEHEAD UNIVERSITY, FRIDAY, APRIL 8, 2016
9:00-9:30 Registration and Coffee (Ryan Building 2024)
9:30 Opening Remarks by Dr. Chander Shahi (Dean of Graduate Studies, Lakehead University) (Ryan Building 2024)
9:30-10:45 PANEL 1: Development, Sustainability, and the Environment – Ryan Building 2026 (Moderator: Dr. M.A (Peggy) Smith, Associate Professor, Faculty of Natural Resources Management)
• Anna England, “Seeing the Forest from the Trees: Analyzing the Positive and Negative Implications the Forestry industry has had on Northern Ontario”
• Si Chen, “Economic and Ecological Trade-Off Analysis of Forest Ecosystems: Options for Boreal Forests”
• Brandon Cordeiro, “‘We’ll be the only place in North America that glows in the dark’: Nuclear Waste, Northern Ontario, and the Metabolic Rift”
11:00-12:00 FIRST KEYNOTE ADDRESS (Ryan Building 2024)
Margaret Kenequanash (Chairperson, Wataynikaneyap Power, First Nation led Transmission Company)
“Connecting Remote First Nations Communities to Clean Energy”
(introduction by Dr. Andrew P. Dean, Vice President, Research, Economic Development & Innovation)
12:00-1:00 Lunch Break
1:00-2:00 SECOND KEYNOTE ADDRESS (Ryan Building 2024)
Karen Peterson, PhD (Community-based Development Planner & Educator)
“Complexity of Environmental Problems and the Move Toward Sustainability through Collaboration with Dissimilar Entities”
(introduction by Roopa Rakshit, PhD candidate, Natural Resources Management)
2:00-3:30 PANEL 2: Land Use and Reconciliation (Ryan Building 2026) (Moderator: Dr. Michel Beaulieu, Chair, Department of History, Lakehead University)
• Michael Lucifora, “Mercury Poisoning at Grassy Narrows”
• Dan Duckert, “Don’t Pimp My Land!”
• Marc H. Bohémier, “Indian Reserves, Land Use, and the Role of Police”
• Satenia Zimmermann, “Sustainability, viability and community well-being: Strengthening the future of northern Ontario’s First Nations communities through mining”
3:30-3:45 Coffee Break
3:45-5:00 PANEL 3: Nation, Empire, and the Rise of Neoliberalism (Ryan Building 2026) (Moderator: Dr. Steven Jobbitt, Assistant Professor of History, Lakehead University)
• Steven DeAlmeida, “Puerto Rico as a ‘Camp,’ Colony, and a Nation”
• Kim Young, “Neoliberalism and the New Imperialism: The Case of Syria to Present”
• Kyle Gaudreau, “No Brexit: The Far Right and the Return of the Nation State”
For the full conference program (including abstracts and bios) click here.
2016 RESRG GRADUATE CONFERENCE: CALL FOR PAPERS
The Resources, Economy and Society Research Group (RESRG) invites graduate students to present their research on questions of economic, environmental, and sociopolitical development, and problems associated with sustainability. This student led conference asks how systems of power and control foster unequal exchanges, and what can be done to promote equality in society, the economy, and resource extraction.
Conference Format:
Student researchers from multiple specialties will have a welcoming space to present 15 minute abstracts of their research to peers in a low-pressure environment. No formal conference experience is required; prepared power-points are suitable, as are presented excerpts of written material. All are welcome, particularly those interested in pursuing graduate studies or seeking additional ideas for their own prospective projects. Finally, all those who participate in this conference will have the guaranteed option of publishing their finalized paper on the RESRG website, under the Working Papers section.
Please submit a 250 word abstract of your research to either of the contact addresses below by March 25th, along with a brief personal biography. The format below would satisfy this requirement:
I am (Name), a (Year) (Program) student in the (Department) department. The focus of my studies are (Topic and Themes).
Richard Mastrangelo, History Department (rmastran@lakeheadu.ca)
Roopa Rakshit, Natural Resources Management (RSERG Secretary) (rrakshit@lakeheadu.ca)
This is a unique opportunity to share your work, network, brainstorm with fellow student researchers, and to meet experts and educators from various disciplines.
Opportunity To Publish
Students who present their work at this conference will be invited to submit their papers to our Working Papers series. Papers will be peer reviewed, and if they are recommended for publication, will be published after undergoing any necessary revisions.
RESRG grad conference poster
RESRG’s Chander Shahi and Steven Jobbitt on Shaw Cable
Watch Dr. Shahi and Dr. Jobbitt on Thunder Bay’s Community Connections, as they speak about RESRG’s local and international research initiatives in this three-part interview.
PART 2, PART 3
Leave a comment Posted on March 3, 2015 March 8, 2015
Is Illiberal Democracy Hungary’s Answer to the Challenges of Neoliberalism and Globalization?
RESRG member, Dr. Steve Jobbitt, provided a fascinating look into some of his early research on the political, social, moral and ideological challenges facing Hungary, as its right-wing Fidesz government negotiates the nation’s place in the European Union and in the global community at large. This Canadian International Council event was recorded at Lakehead University in September, and you can now view the full lecture on Vimeo.
Leave a comment Posted on February 24, 2015 February 24, 2015
The Impacts of Climate Change on the Lives of Ordinary People
RESRG Director, Pallavi Das, calls for further historical study on the impact of climate change on the lives of ordinary people, particularly the poor, in her article published in Perspectives on History: The Newsmagazine of the American Historical Association. Read the full article here.
Dr. Pallavi’s article first appeared as an RESRG Editorial in December, 2014, here on the RESRG Review website. Click here to read her full editorial.
Lauren Wallace Visits Lakehead to Present her Work on Contraceptive Use in Northern Ghana
RESRG welcomed Vanier Scholar, Lauren Wallace, to speak at Lakehead University’s series of International Development Week talks, February 2-6, 2015. Lauren, a PhD Candidate in Anthropology at McMaster University, presented results from her eight months of ethnographic research in Kassena-Nankana West District in Northern Ghana. Her work focuses on concerns of local women and men related to side-effects from contraceptive use, and the implications this has on family planning decisions and women’s well-being.
Lauren was also interviewed by CBC radio in preparation for her talk at Lakehead. Her interview on Superior Morning can be accessed below.
RESRG would like to thank Lauren for sharing her important work and contributing to a very successful slate of International Development Week events.
http://www.resrg.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/lauren.mp3
Leave a comment Posted on February 5, 2015 February 5, 2015
Access to the Canadian Journal of Development Studies
Taylor and Francis Online is currently offering free 14-day access to all 2013 and 2014 issues of the Canadian Journal of Development Studies. This is a great opportunity to catch up on prior articles and read the latest research in development studies!
Click here to either log in or create an account and activate your token to gain free access.
Leave a comment Posted on January 30, 2015
Engaging the World with a Critical Mind
In recent years, pressure has increased on social science and humanities researchers to broaden the impact of the knowledge they produce by disseminating research results beyond the traditional public presentations or publication in scholarly journals and books. A key objective of funding agencies today is to make research accessible to non-academic audiences in formats that are user friendly. Concurrent with this call for wider public dissemination is the rise of new digital media formats that have both created new audiences and also emerged as the most accessible means of communicating results across the globe. As a result, scholarly work across the social sciences and humanities is appearing increasingly in digital formats, and a growing number of scholars are utilizing various new media as a means of “publishing” research.
To appreciate the potential of new media for the mobilization of knowledge in the social sciences and humanities we only need to look back to 1913 in what is now Thunder Bay. At that time Robert Flaherty began working with moving pictures on an idea that became “Nanook of the North.” Using existing technologies, Flaherty put the knowledge he gathered about Inuit lifeways into a format that reached audiences around the world. Flaherty was the “father of documentary film,” and he created a new way to share information. His innovation was at once profound and engaging. Flaherty’s innovative approach shaped filmmaking and knowledge transfer throughout the 20th century. One hundred years after work began on “Nanook of the North,” the world finds itself in another significant era of media in transition and the opportunities created by new media for knowledge mobilization by researchers in the social sciences and humanities have never been better.
In May 2012 Google released a report that showed how on-demand video consumption is increasing dramatically in what they call the Gen V group (18-34 year olds). According to the study, there are 4 billion videos watched on YouTube everyday, and nearly 1 trillion views in 2011. Only 33% of Gen V’s have traditional TV packages such as cable or satellite and they are twice as likely to stream video rather than watch it on traditional television screens. Furthermore, the CBC says that Canadians with one screen are online for an average of 16.5 hours per week, and those with more than one screen spend an average of 27.1 hours per week on the web. Further, Canadians spend more than five hours on the internet watching online videos. Multi-screen users, sometimes called “Four-Screen” Canadians, are people who have a computer and at least one other device (smartphone, SmartTV, tablet) at their disposal, and this type of media consumption is a reflection of the phenomenal increase in the demand for “transmedia,” or cross-media platforms in recent years. The Resources, Economy and Society Research Group at Lakehead University (RESRG) is therefore pleased to serve as the platform for the launch of a new tool developed by one of our members for teaching about the challenges of international development. This tool combines the innovations made possible by Robert Flaherty and takes advantage of recent advances in new media to provide the public with insights into international development that are both profound and engaging.
Engaging the World is an interactive non-linear documentary film by Ron Harpelle. The documentary was made using the Korsakow System to generate viewing options that form an evolving structure for the film. This interactive, non-linear web doc provides viewers with insights based on conversations with a number of dynamic individuals who work in the field of international development. Engaging the World is different from other documentary forms because with the Korsakow System the viewer, not the director, decides the order in which the scenes unfold and the conclusion is what the viewer concludes based on their individual viewing experience. Every person who watches Engaging the World sees a different combination of critically interacting video components and the result is a different film every time. The foundation for Engaging the World are 52 individual videos that are linked together by keywords that self generate viewing options for the next video segment to form an evolving structure for the film. The individual videos have been edited to provide short answers to questions about international development, but the viewer chooses the questions to be answered.
The beauty of an interactive film like Engaging the World is that the main elements are stand alone videos that can be appreciated on their own or as one in a series of related videos. The individual videos are no more than a few minutes in length, but the entire film is two hours long if the viewer chooses to watch every video component in the sequence. Therefore, the film can be short, medium or feature length. You can watch Engaging the World between bus stops on the way to work. You can leave it on your desktop so that you can return to it at your convenience. Or you can sit down and make an evening of it. A viewer can also start the film over as many times as they like and always get a different result. Similarly, the order can be completely random, carefully structured or any combination of the two. Viewers watch the film at their own pace and can stop anywhere they choose. All of this makes Engaging the World something you can enjoy on your own, with your family, with friends or with students you want to engage in critical thinking about some very big issues.
RESRG welcomes people interested in knowledge mobilization to explore this new tool to see how it works and to imagine how a Korsakow film can be used to mobilize other knowledge about research in the social sciences and humanities.
Click here to Engage the World!
Leave a comment Posted on January 27, 2015 January 28, 2015
Dr. Stephen Clarkson, “Should We Redesign Rules Protecting Foreign Investment?”
International Development Week, February 1-7, 2015
For detailed abstracts, please click here.
Join RESRG and the Lakehead University History Department for an evening with poet and author, Matt Sedillo. He performs at the Finnish Labour Temple on Thursday, January 15, 2015.
Leave a comment Posted on December 30, 2014 December 31, 2014
History of Climate Change from Below: A Vision for Future Research
by Pallavi Das, Associate Professor of History, Lakehead University
Anthropogenic climate change is the most pressing global environmental issue of this century, one that was highlighted by the People’s Climate March this September in New York City, the largest march ever on climate change. This huge march, as well as other demonstrations that were held across the globe from Paris to Papua New Guinea, clearly emphasized the fact that it is people, i.e. ordinary people, who are going to suffer from the impacts of climate change, and that something needs to be urgently done about it. For example, millions of small farmers around the world depend on seasonal bio-indicators (the annual rhythm of flowering, rainfall, etc.) for the planting and harvesting of their crops. However, due to climate change, these seasonal indicators have become erratic and unreliable, thus threatening the livelihood of small farmers. Therefore, even though humans are collectively responsible for climate change, neither the causes nor the consequences of climate change are equitable across the world.
When compared to the rich, it is the ordinary people, and in particular the poor, who suffer more and are more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change in the form of floods, droughts, and so on. Although there have been studies on the socio-economic dimensions of climate change, they are largely ahistorical in their focus and analysis.[1] This lack of historical analysis of climate change is surprising given that the term “climate change” includes the word “change,” which means change over time.[2] Similarly, climate historians have largely dealt with natural climate change in the distant past, but not with contemporary climate change largely caused by human activities that the world has been witnessing over the past century. [3] In the process, these historians have neglected how climate change impacts the lives of ordinary people within societies. Even within an ecologically vulnerable ecosystem, it is the poor who are most vulnerable to the impact of climate change.[4] Therefore, climate change and the history of climate change needs to be understood from the perspective of these people using a new approach: the history of climate change from below, or a people’s history of climate change. This approach to doing history will focus on vulnerable sections of the society; that is, poor people living in places undergoing drastic climate change in the contemporary world.
People’s history of climate change has five components. It starts with the ordinary people as they live and work in particular places, undergoing climatic (as well as economic and social) changes. For example, it could be the poor people living in Chicago, which is projected to face severe heat waves more often due to climate change. In the 1995 heat wave, for example, African Americans, many of whom are amongst the poorest of the city’s citizens, had 50% higher mortality rates than the whites. Extreme heat combined with high humidity can be fatal for the old, frail, and lower-income people who do not have access to air-conditioning. The second component of people’s history of climate change is climate change perception. This perception is often shaped by where people live and how they obtain their livelihood. These people may not use the term climate change, but they can certainly describe the climatic changes taking place in their immediate environment based on how it impacts their lives. For example, the Quechua speaking farmers in the central Andes region of Bolivia perceive climate change in terms of the decrease in frost nights because they grow potatoes that require alternative frost nights with days of intensive sunlight for processing into a freeze-dried product.[5]
People’s history of climate change will examine the factors that ordinary people perceive as responsible for and contributing to climate change and its impacts, which forms its third component. These factors could be industrialization, population growth, angry gods and so forth that ordinary people hold responsible for climate change over a substantial time period of fifty years. In addition, people’s historians of climate change will investigate how the perception of climate change by ordinary people is influenced by local and national discourses about climate change.
The fourth component of people’s history of climate change is the impact of climate change perception. As people interact with nature they develop a knowledge system that includes technologies, beliefs, and skills that enable them to maintain their livelihoods by using natural resources and interacting with the local environment in a more or less sustainable way. For example, Inuit hunters in the Canadian Arctic region have detailed sea ice knowledge along with a knowledge of the wind and current conditions which they can use to forecast ice safety, allowing them to travel in a particular direction so they can avoid dangerous conditions and hunt successfully. This Inuit climate knowledge is built upon previous experience with thin ice conditions, strong wind currents, etc., and is passed from one generation to another through stories, anecdotes, and so forth. People’s history of climate change will study this knowledge and examine people’s coping mechanisms and response to the impacts of climate change over time.
Interconnected with the above is the fifth component of people’s history of climate change, which is the examination of ordinary people’s response (including adaptation) to the impacts of climate change in their lives. This could be in the form of adapting to climate change by spatially relocating their economic activities. For example, due to increasing temperatures in the lower altitudes over the last two decades, the apple farmers in the Indian Himalayas have moved to higher altitudes for apple cultivation. Ordinary people could respond to climate change by forming social-political organizations that would highlight the problems they face due to climate change. People living in areas facing drastic climate change can respond through rituals, etc., as their livelihood practices are deeply rooted in their culture and religion. For example, in Tanzania when the rains fail, people perform rituals to please the rain god.
Climate change is a deservedly “hot” topic these days in both the physical as well as social sciences. However, studies on the socio-economic dimensions of climate change are largely ahistorical, while historical studies on climate have focused on the distant past and have neglected the lives and views of ordinary people (in their geographical contexts) with regard to climate change. It is important to focus on the poor, and on ordinary people because they are most vulnerable to the impact of climate change, and this can be done through the people’s history of climate change approach. By using this approach, social scientists would have a better and more in-depth understanding of local climatic concerns, and of how climate change actually impacts the lives of people over time and how they respond to these changes. This vision/approach to studying the socio-economic dimensions of climate change historically would help start a dialogue with ordinary people and help scholars, activists, and governmental and non-governmental organizations understand their ideas about climate change and its impacts, and to mitigate and/or adapt to them.
[1] See Gita Laidler, “Inuit and scientific perspectives on the relationship between sea ice and climate: the ideal complement?” Climatic Change 78 (2006): 407-444
[2] There have been studies in climate history where historians have studied climate in relation to societies in the distant past when changes in climate where due to natural causes rather than human activities.
[3] The exception is Mark Carey, In the Shadow of Melting Glaciers: Climate Change and Andean Society. Cambridge: Oxford University Press, 2010.
[4] Donald Hughes, “Climate Change: A History of Environmental Knowledge,” Capitalism Nature Socialism vol. 21 no. 3 (September 2010): 80; Mark Carey, “Climate and history: a critical review of historical climatology and climate change historiography,” Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews—Climate Change 3 no. 3 (2012): 233-249; Elizabeth Marino, and Jesse Ribbot. ‘Editorial,’ Global Environmental Change 22 (2012) 323–328.
[5] S.,Boillat, and F. Berkes. 2013. “Perception and interpretation of climate change among Quechua farmers of Bolivia: indigenous knowledge as a resource for adaptive capacity,” Ecology and Society 18(4): 21.
For the pdf version of this RESRG editorial, click here.
Pulp Mills on the Frontlines of Global Change: RESRG Researcher Premieres New Film
Pulp Friction is a documentary film about people, places, and the global economy. Pulp mill closures are a fact of life in Northwestern Ontario, where most people remember a time when good union jobs were common and local communities thrived. In recent years, thousands of forestry sector jobs have been lost across Canada and the Northern Hemisphere. At the same time, forest companies have moved a significant portion of their industry to the Global South and new giant pulp mills are appearing on the horizon in these unlikely locations. The trees these new southern mills rely upon are grown on plantations in a fraction of the time it takes a tree in Northwestern Ontario to grow to harvest size. The environmental impact is enormous, as these fast-growing trees extract the same amount of nutrients over a much shorter period of time. The new mills are also fully automated, requiring far fewer people to operate. People who are fortunate enough to have jobs in these new industries work for far lower wages than their northern counterparts. The shifting economies of the pulp industry bind people and communities from different parts of the world together. In Pulp Friction, Ron Harpelle introduces audiences to the people on the front line of this change and provides a timely examination of how this global industry shapes our world and impacts our communities.
The film looks at the lives of people living in the shadow of a pulp mill in three separate communities. It opens in Terrace Bay, Ontario, where the mill was spared from the wrecking ball by the Aditya Birla Group, an Indian multinational that will produce a pulp product that will be shipped abroad and used to make rayon fabric. The people of Terrace Bay are aware of how close they came to losing their only industry and the economic rationale for their town. Viewers are then taken to Kemijärvi, Finland where the world’s northern-most pulp mill recently closed. This community also depended on the mill to keep their town alive but were not as lucky as the residents of Terrace Bay. The mill is now closed, leaving the community to wonder what they will do. The film concludes in Fray Bentos, Uruguay. Unlike Canada and Finland, Uruguay is a country without natural forests. Today, one million hectares of eucalyptus plantations feed an enormous modern pulp mill that is changing everything. The future in this part of Uruguay is like the past in Terrace Bay and Kemijärvi, but at what cost? Pulp Friction tells the stories of these three communities and sheds light on globalization and how the lives of people in different parts of the world are bound together by this industry that knows no borders. Pulp Friction is in English, French, Finnish, and Spanish.
Ron Harpelle is a member of RESRG. He teaches history at Lakehead University and is an award-winning filmmaker. His previous films include, Hard Time, about a man who spent 29 years in solitary confinement for a crime he did not commit, In Security, a film about barbed wire, and Banana Split, a film about Canada’s favourite fruit. Pulp Friction is the product of a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Public Outreach Grant.
Pulp Friction will premiere on December 11, 2014 at 8 pm at the Finnish Labour Temple in Thunder Bay, Ontario, 314 Bay St.
Introducing the Resources, Economy, and Society Research Group (RESRG) at Lakehead University
Whether we consider ourselves scholars or activists (or perhaps both), there is little doubt that the current challenges we face both locally and globally are too complex, and indeed too immense, to deal with on our own, or in a piecemeal fashion. The dominant problems of our time, ones which range from climate change and environmental degradation to social inequality, political instability, and the growing gap between the rich and poor, are inextricably linked and demand innovative, comprehensive approaches to questions of sustainable development, and social and economic change.
The current need for cooperation between academic disciplines, and between diverse communities working on a wide range of developmental issues, has been reflected in recent years by a pronounced shift in research funding priorities. At the federal level, for example, organizations such as the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), CIDA/Foreign Affairs, and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) have moved strongly in the direction of collaborative, targeted, interdisciplinary projects. Inspired by this shift, academics across Canada (and around the world) have begun to rethink their relationships not only to the communities around them, but also to the very institutions they work in, and are now engaging increasingly in research that is both critically-engaged and action-oriented. Freeing themselves from the disciplinary silos in which they have traditionally worked, scholars now frequently work with each other across disciplines, and in recent years have begun to form fruitful working relationships with practitioners, policy makers, NGOs, social movements, and community members.
It is within this context of interdisciplinary cooperation and community-based collaboration that the Resources, Economy, and Society Research Group (RESRG) was formed at Lakehead University in Spring 2014. Funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council’s Aid to Small Universities grant, RESRG was founded as a means of building research capacity by encouraging new research activities among faculty with diverse interests and experience. Focusing on issues related to local, regional, and global development, our research group brings together scholars from multiple disciplines working on issues pertaining not only to Canada, but also to Latin America, India, Africa, and Europe.
As academics working locally but thinking and researching globally, we feel we are in a unique position to develop projects and produce outcomes that are both relevant and ground-breaking. Globalization processes, for example, combined with new resource discoveries in Northwestern Ontario, are creating substantial problems that need to be addressed. The need for innovative, interdisciplinary research has become increasingly apparent in light of current discussions around the so-called Ring of Fire mineral discoveries, and also in light of conversations that have emerged in the wake of the recent acquisition of Terrace Bay Pulp by an Indian foreign multinational, Aditya Birla Group. As the work of some of our RESRG researchers suggests, these are examples of Northern developments that can be studied in the light of insights learned from the challenges of resource development in the Arctic, and of global mining and forestry industries in the Global South. Many analysts are arguing, in fact, that the North is the new South.
By developing research capacity in cooperation with local communities, RESRG is in a position to develop innovative comparative research on questions of economic, environmental, and sociopolitical development and sustainability. Our expertise and research interests are broad, ranging from community forest management and Arctic development, to the history and sociology of labour. Moreover, beyond our interest in applying lessons learned in the Global South to questions of sustainable development in the Global North, our researchers are also pursuing projects that seek to understand the radicalization of social movements on both the right and the left, and which promise to break new ground in the people’s history of global warming.
Providing Lakehead University faculty and students with new opportunities to collaborate across disciplines and backgrounds, RESRG is dedicated to sustainable development and increased interaction with like-minded scholars and programs at other institutions. RESRG is committed to helping support a research-intensive culture in Social Sciences and Humanities at Lakehead University, and to building bridges with scholars working in Natural Resource Management. Our goal is to create a new venue for enhancing research in the region, and for increasing research funding, recruiting research talent, and “modeling” research activity within the university and in the community.
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True Artificial Intelligence will change everything Juergen Schmidhuber TEDxLakeComo
The Church - His Body
www.TheChurch-HisBody.com
Artificial Intelligence – Mind Field (Ep 4)
So you say you love your computer or smartphone...but can it love you back? As we become more dependent on technology, and our technology becomes more lifelike, where does the line between human and computer lie? And what happens when our relationships become romantic? In this episode of Mind Field, I look into Artificial Intelligence.
Available with YouTube Premium - https://www.youtube.com/premium/originals. To see if Premium is available in your country, click here: https://goo.gl/A3HtfP
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Will This Trick Your Mind? (Artificial Intelligence TEST)
SimpliSafe is awesome security. It’s really effective, it's really
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REFERENCES/FURTHER READING
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/technology-45827813/ai-painting-to-go-under-the-hammer
https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2018/01/18/technology-has-already-taken-over-90-of-the-jobs-humans-used-to-do/#22ce4ff51bdd
https://medium.com/@hello.obvious/ai-the-rise-of-a-new-art-movement-f6efe0a51f2e#.eemf26f2n
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/video/2018/may/09/new-google-assistant-mimics-human-voice-video
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2016/05/11/this-professor-stunned-his-students-when-he-revealed-the-secret-identity-of-his-teaching-assistant/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.936427035d46
https://arxiv.org/abs/1703.10593
https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-350-million-photos-each-day-2013-9
https://mashable.com/video/bob-ross-challenge-donald-trump-david-carl/
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/techtank/2018/04/18/will-robots-and-ai-take-your-job-the-economic-and-political-consequences-of-automation/
https://qz.com/488701/humans-are-confusing-music-composed-by-a-computer-for-j-s-bach/
https://ai.googleblog.com/2018/05/duplex-ai-system-for-natural-conversation.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVBe6_o4cMI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wejt939QXko
https://soundcloud.com/donyaquick/kulitta-short-example-1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rx3aekqJQ-w
https://resources.wolframcloud.com/NeuralNetRepository/resources/CycleGAN-Orange-to-Apple-Translation-Trained-on-ImageNet-Competition-Data
http://www.openculture.com/2018/12/artificial-intelligence-creates-realistic-photos-of-people-none-of-whom-actually-exist.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSLJriaOumA
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-25/ai-generated-portrait-is-sold-for-432-500-in-an-auction-first
1,256,405 views 23 comments
Is It Artificial Intelligence or Something More? Ai Scary Story Time // Something Scary | Snarled
After the recent news of Facebook's artificial intelligence creating it's own language... Sapphire tells us the creepypasta story, " Don't Buy an RT " by Raidendp1 about an Ai bot who wasn't what she seemed.
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बहुत जल्द खत्म हो जाएगा इंसानों का वजूद | Will Artificial Intelligence destroy Humanity in Hindi
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Video Source Credits: NTDTV https://www.youtube.com/user/NTDTV
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Artificial Intelligence: A New Age or Another Doomsday Scenario | Kamal Fataliyev | TEDxADA
The aim of Artificial Intelligence is to create intelligent machines. Creating intelligent agents would be the biggest event in human history or perhaps the very last. This talk will be about the process of creating intelligent machines, some Artificial Intelligence successes and challenges, and the future
Kamal Fataliyev is a software developer and entrepreneur. He is also an adjunct instructor at two universities in Azerbaijan. He has been working with Artificial Intelligence methods and applications for some years.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx
Jos Polfliet, Faction XYZ (BE) – Predicting ad effectiveness by using Artificial Intelligence
Jos Polflietin presentaatio SFD18-tapahtumassa. Presentaatio ladattavissa PDF-muodossa: https://screenforce.fi/etusivu/sfd18/
Diversity, Collaboration, and Artificial Intelligence | Jamal Afridi | TEDxMSU
Jamal will discuss his research explaining why diversity and collaboration are of utmost importance for machines that learn about our world using AI.
Jamal is passionate about designing artificial intelligence (AI) for real-world applications. His Ph.D. in Computer Science at Michigan State University was focused on designing and investigating Al techniques for medical data analysis. He has presented his research at various national and international venues.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
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Great Debate – Artificial Intelligence: Who is in control? (OFFICIAL) (Part 01)
Part 01 - Will progress in Artificial Intelligence provide humanity with a boost of unprecedented strength to realize a better future, .
The ASU Origins Project is a transdisciplinary initiative that nurtures research, energizes teaching, and builds partnerships, offering new possibilities for .
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Artificial Intelligence and the future Andre LeBlanc TEDxMoncton
Jordan Etem: Driving Innovation
Prediction Machines: The Simple Economics of Artificial Intelligence
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By: Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans, Avi Goldfarb
Narrated by: LJ Ganser
"What does AI mean for your business? Read this book to find out." (Hal Varian, Chief Economist, Google)
Artificial intelligence does the seemingly impossible, magically bringing machines to life - driving cars, trading stocks, and teaching children. But facing the sea change that AI will bring can be paralyzing. How should companies set strategies, governments design policies, and people plan their lives for a world so different from what we know? In the face of such uncertainty, many analysts either cower in fear or predict an impossibly sunny future.
But in Prediction Machines, three eminent economists recast the rise of AI as a drop in the cost of prediction. With this single, masterful stroke, they lift the curtain on the AI-is-magic hype and show how basic tools from economics provide clarity about the AI revolution and a basis for action by CEOs, managers, policy makers, investors, and entrepreneurs.
When AI is framed as cheap prediction, its extraordinary potential becomes clear: Prediction is at the heart of making decisions under uncertainty. Our businesses and personal lives are riddled with such decisions. Prediction tools increase productivity - operating machines, handling documents, communicating with customers. Uncertainty constrains strategy. Better prediction creates opportunities for new business structures and strategies to compete.
Penetrating, fun, and always insightful and practical, Prediction Machines follows its inescapable logic to explain how to navigate the changes on the horizon. The impact of AI will be profound, but the economic framework for understanding it is surprisingly simple.
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Ginni Rometty: It Should Be Augmented Intelligence, Not Artificial
Ginni Rometty, the Chief Executive Officer of IBM, sits down with Fareed Zakria to discuss artificial intelligence and what it means for the future of work. We should be clear about the purpose of these technologies, says Rometty, and they should be in the service of mankind. The conversation was originally published on January 18, 2017.
Augmented Reality + Artificial Intelligence
augmented reality demo in Virtools
In this demo, each marker has a label with the number id (1,2,3,4), the character runs through all the bases (like baseball game)in numeric order, even if the markers are moved in real-time.
Theres two types of obstacles, one he can jump over , other he can’t, that he can recognize in real-time.
Não consigo passar – I can’t pass through! (english)
http://movlab.ulusofona.pt
E-Commerce Trends 2018 – Amazon, Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Reality
Watch my keynote presentation from the Arvato Xperience Day in Berlin in September 2017. It was a great event with participants from leading international fashion brands.
This talk covers:
-consumer expectations in 2018 (frictionless shopping)
-how Amazon is eating all of retail with its Amazon Prime (Now) programme
-how direct to consumer brands like Warby Parker and Away Travel offer much better value for money by cutting out the middlemen
-how offline retail has to change if it doesn't want to die
-how brands have to embrace big data (example: Stitchfix)
-how brands can use Amazon Echo, Augmented Reality and chatbots to improve the customer experience
-the importance of mobile payment methods such as Apple Pay and WeChat Pay
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#228 Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), Mixed Reality (MR) & Artificial Intelligence (AI)
We interact with the digital world through PCs and smartphone screens. According to Robert Scoble and Shel Israel, renowned authors of the new book “The Fourth Transformation,” that’s about to change dramatically as head-mounted virtual interfaces (VR), powered by artificial intelligence A.I. and machine learning, will immerse us in digital worlds. You’ll rethink every part of your digital strategy once you see the world through Scoble and Israel’s virtual reality goggles.
Michael Krigsman is an industry analyst and the host of CXOTALK
For more information: https://www.cxotalk.com/episode/augmented-reality-artificial-intelligence
See our upcoming shows: https://cxotalk.com
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/cxotalk
From the transcript:
(04:39) Shel Israel, why does this all matter? What are the implications?
Shel Israel:
(04:48) Well, that gets to the core of the Fourth Transformation. I’m not going to walk through the whole thing, but in the First Transformation, we started with putting words into PCs, on knowledge worker desktops, in the form of personal computers. Then, we went to point-and-click with the McIntosh, and that meant everyone could use these desktop things. Then, we went to touch and mobility, and that brought us into what is now this third transformation where anyone is using digital technology everywhere. Now, we’re going to go to a system which is much more intimate than what we have with phones. We’re going to have things in a few years that look like glasses I’m wearing. And, they are going to allow us to do all the things that I had just named: MR, AR, VR; and we’re not going to look freakish, and we’re not going to be tethered to anything.
(05:56) This means that the customer experience in stores is going to be changed because they can do things in 3D. They will walk into stores, be at home, and have an immersive experience with the product.
Robert Scoble:
(10:48) Sensors that are seen around the world, that is billions of dollars for R&D, right? IM-Sense was bought by Apple. Google Tango is doing the same kinds of research, Meta is doing the same kind of … Everybody who wants to build a mixed reality glass has to build sensors to see the world in 3D and bring it into the glass. Then, you talk about the connectivity that you're going to need, right? Because with mixed reality glasses, you get as many TV screens around you as you want. So imagine being able to watch CNN here; here, ESPN is playing; and over here, you can watch your security cameras from your business; and over here, you can watch Amazon servers; and over here, you can watch Facebook. You just look around, you have dozens of screens all around you, and you don't have to buy more if you want more screens.
(11:42) But, to serve all those screens with hi-res 4K or 8K video, or eventually even more in the future, you’re going to need a lot of bandwidth, and that’s 5G. 5G brings 35 gigabits per seconds down to the glasses, but we don't yet have 5G and we're going to … And, Verizon has to re-do the architecture on a city, because the cell tower needs to be a kilometer and a half from you or closer, and that's not true with today's cell technology. You can be 15 kilometers away. So, they need to put a lot more cell towers into a city and they put fiber into each one of those antennas, so it's going to bring us 5G. That's coming this year, right? Verizon is turning on the first 11 cities this year. And that's really […]
(12:29) You go through the GPU; the GPU is needed to display the polygon. So, when you are seeing virtual things in VR or AR, you're seeing millions of little polygons or little triangles that are underneath what you're seeing; and you'll need a better GPU to process more of those. So, if you want to increase the resolution or increase the frame rates, or increase the experience of being immersed in the media, you need more GPU; or, you need to do a lot of trickery with […] rendering. And you look at the R&D budgets of NVidia, and AMD, and Qualcomm, and [Mallway], and other companies that are building these chips; they are spending billions of dollars per quarter in R&D.
(13:10) Then you keep looking around; there are companies that are building eye sensors. GoogleBot, Eyefluence that’s in our book, Facebook product company called Eye Tribe; there is lots of money spent on that, and particularly in the new user interfaces that you’re experiencing when you get a glass like this. They’re investing that.
Panel – Who is winning the race for artificial intelligence
The Future of Artificial Intelligence – Stuart Russell – Strata + Hadoop World London 2016
Stuart Russell argues for a fundamental reorientation of the field artificial intelligence. Click here to watch the full keynote http://oreil.ly/1YSpwEh
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Stuart Russell on Artificial Intelligence: What if we succeed?
Stuart Russell is a professor of Computer Science at UC Berkeley as well as co-author of the most popular textbook in the field – Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach. Given that it has been translated into 13 languages and is used in more than 1,300 universities in 118 countries, I can hardly think of anyone more qualified or more appropriate to discuss issues related to AI or the technological singularity. Unfortunately, we had problems with our internet connection and, consequently, the video recording is among the worst I have ever published. Thus this episode may be a good candidate to listen to as an audio file only. However, given how prominent Prof. Russel is and how generous he was with his time, I thought it would be a sad loss if I didn’t publish the video also, poor quality as it is.
During our 90 min conversation with Stuart Russell we cover a variety of interesting topics such as: his love for physics and computer science; human preferences, expected utility and decision making; why his textbook on AI was “unreasonably successful”; his dream that AI will contribute to a Golden Age of Humanity; aligning human and AI objectives; the proper definition of Artificial Intelligence; Machine Learning vs Deep Learning; debugging and the King Midas problem; the control problem and Russell’s 3 Laws; provably safe mathematical systems and the nature of intelligence; the technological singularity; Artificial General Intelligence and consciousness…
As always you can listen to or download the audio file above or scroll down and watch the video interview in full. To show your support you can write a review on iTunes, make a direct donation or become a patron on Patreon.
https://www.singularityweblog.com/stuart-russell/
Prof. Stuart Russell – Building Artificial Intelligence That is Provably Safe & Beneficial
How can we harness the power of superintelligent AI while also preventing the catastrophe of robotic takeover? As we move closer toward creating all-knowing machines, AI pioneer Stuart Russell is working on something a bit different: robots with uncertainty. Hear his vision for human-compatible AI that can solve problems using common sense, altruism and other human values.
Recorded August, 2017
The Future of Artificial Intelligence – Prof. Stuart Russell
Stuart Russell is a computer scientist known for his contributions to artificial intelligence.
Link to the following panel discussion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIGLvsfgxDg
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine organized a half-day colloquium on artificial intelligence and its implications for U.S. interests on August 7, 2017.
TOP ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE STARTUPS IN 2018
The Truth Behind Artificial Intelligence with Andrew Zeitler
What is a true artificial intelligence and why don't we have it today? To answer this question, high school student Andrew Zeitler looks at the different parts of our mind that make us human beings. We are given an idea of how certain processes of our brain can be programmed with today's technology. He takes us on a journey from the hard-wired neurones of our brain to the very fundamental aspects of the human species. Within this thought-provoking talk, Andrew shares his idea of how an artificial mind may "think" and how such a program would function just like a human being.
Andrew Zeitler is a 17-year-old student in grade 11 at St. Mary CSS. Growing up, Andrew has had many influences from his three siblings and parents. From a young age, he has spent a lot of time working with computers. This experience with computers has allowed Andrew to develop a passion for computer related topics such as electronics and programming as well as partake in the school’s robotics team. Andrew is also interested in music and is a member in the school’s senior and jazz bands. Within these bands, he plays both the tuba and bass guitar. On top of this, Andrew also works part time as a deli clerk within a grocery store. When he finds spare time between school and work, Andrew works on developing different programs and algorithms for learning purposes. After graduation, Andrew hopes to study in the field of computer science at a nearby university. This will be Andrew’s first TED event and he looks forward to having the opportunity to share his ideas.
The future of artificial intelligence and how it will impact everyday life
While much of this technology is still fairly rudimentary at the moment, we can expect sophisticated AI to one day significantly impact our everyday lives.
How Will Artificial Intelligence Affect Your Life Jeff Dean TEDxLA
How will artificial intelligence affect income inequality? | Julian Jacobs | TEDxBrownU
Is this time different? Artificial intelligence is capturing the curiosities, hopes, and fears of people all over the country. Will AI spur extraordinary improvements in security, healthcare, and convenience all while creating new industries, boosting US productivity, and improving quality of life? Or will AI cause millions of workers to become redundant, catalyze massive unemployment, and undermine the socio-economic fabric of American democracy? Born in Ithaca, New York, Julian is the Founding Editor in Chief of the Brown University Journal of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) and a journalist. He has published more than 35 articles and essays in 15 publications and has conducted interviews with Bernie Sanders, David Cameron, Noam Chomsky, Peter Hitchens, Tom Perez, and Reza Aslan among others. For over a year, his work has focused on emerging technology and the effects of artificial intelligence on US income inequality and American democracy. His research on the topic is being used to support his senior thesis, which is being supervised by political economy scholar Mark Blyth. He has also worked as an intern at The Brookings Institution and in President Barack Obama's post-presidency office, where he supported the 44th President's correspondence, communications, and speechwriting teams. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
Geordie Rose Quantum Computing Artificial Intelligence Is Here
Geordie Rose, Founder of D-Wave (recent clients are Google and NASA) believes that the power of quantum computing is that we can `exploit parallel universes’ to solve problems that we have no other means of confirming.
Dr. Fei Fei Li of Stanford's Artificial Intelligence Lab | Innovate and Celebrate 2016
Dr. Fei Fei Li, Director of Stanford’s Artificial Intelligence Lab explores how AI will be a driver for our future. She discusses what AI technology is already being developed, the challenges scientists are still facing, and the potential consequences for every industry and almost every facet of our lives.
Martin Ford – The Rise of Artificial Intelligence & Technological Unemployment
Martin Ford is a futurist focusing on the impact of artificial intelligence and robotics on society and the economy, and the author of two books: Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future (2015) and The Lights in the Tunnel: Automation, Accelerating Technology and the Economy of the Future (2009). Both books deal with the effects of automation and the potential for structural unemployment and dramatically increasing inequality.
Recorded: July 2017
Alan Turing and the Birth of Artificial Intelligence – Dermot Turing, at USI
Information and subscription on http://www.usievents.com
Alan Turing (1912-1954) is well known for many things, most notably his work in breaking German codes during World War 2. After the war he was closely involved in the development of Britain’s first programmable electronic computers, and laid important foundations for research into artificial intelligence. Sir Dermot Turing reviews the life of Alan Turing and his contribution to AI. From this perspective, he examines whether AI has moved on since 1949, when the question whether ‘machines can think’ first came to the public consciousness, and whether the fears and threats to society which were first discussed 70 years ago remain valid today.
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5,860 views one comment
Artificial intelligence in the software engineering workflow – Peter Norvig (Google)
Artificial intelligence is playing an increasingly important role in new software products, but the workflow of an AI researcher is quite different from the workflow of the software developer. Peter Norvig explains how the two can come together.
Artificial intelligence, video games and the mysteries of the mind
Video provided by Moonshot N.A. and Terence Mills
Provided by AI.io
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BPA in the NY Times
NY Times columnist Nicholas Kristoff writes about the ubiquity of BPA in our bodies, plus a gaggle of new studies linking BPA exposure to a variety of abnormalities in test animals. If you've been following the BPA Saga (including this impressive bit of corporate nastiness by Sigg), you'll see that the latest research keeps upping the ante on the potential ill effects of BPA exposure in our food and water.
It always seems to me that the American Way of doing business really fails when it comes to protecting people from unknowns like chemical toxicity in products. The presumption in our system is that something is innocent (ie safe) until proven otherwise, and "proof" of either the legal or scientific variety is stunningly difficult to come by when you factor in the nature of statistical Randomness—not to mention the far-too-cozy relationship between industry and regulators, or the fact that the only organizations with enough money to fund large studies on these chemicals are the very companies who sell them.
I've always thought the big issue with chemical exposure is not the impact of any one chemical, but rather the rich brew Americans are exposed to only a daily basis as we use our computers, fire-safe rugs, clothing, and furniture, and all the other products of the modern age. What interactions and multiplying effects arise directly as a consequence are anyone's guess—and virtually impossible to establish via any sort of replicable study.
My guess is future generations will be baffled by our cavalier attitude toward chemical exposures. And they'll probably have the data, at long last, to show just exactly what the impact of something like BPA actually is. Wouldn't it be nice, though, if we didn't have to wait a hundred years or more before our various industries switched to safer alternatives?
Robert K November 10, 2009 at 2:48 pm
You say that "the American Way" of doing business is to assume something is safe until proven otherwise, but I would argue that is not specific to our culture. Or even a cultural issue at all. The principle of falsifiability would seem to say that it's impossible to prove a product is irrefutably safe. Sort of like trying to prove there's no such thing as a black swan. That said, given how litigious our society is I suspect we hold companies to a higher standard than most nations.
I know this is naive but in an ideal world, it's that risk of litigation that is an important motivator for companies to verify the safety of their products. The fiscal and social impact for companies that voluntarily discover and disclose safety issues is dramatically reduced than for those that don't.
Andy November 10, 2009 at 3:20 pm
Jeez, you're in a contrarian mood today! Next you'll be telling me smoking prevents Alzheimer's. Surely the impossibility of absolute proof doesn't preclude testing a product's safety prior to releasing it? And why not find ways for testing to be done by an independent agency or organization, rather than the corporation trying to sell the product?
I think you're greatly overestimating the impact of fears of litigation. First of all, companies can easily budget payoff and hush money from the earnings of successful products. And don't forget your principle of falsifiability cuts both ways...especially when you're a lone individual standing in a courtroom trying to prove a case against a well-prepared multinational corporate defendant. Bah I say!!
Contrarian? No, not really. I'll readily agree that chemical toxicity is an issue, and the BPA issue is a great example of that. And also that companies could do a better job of testing products. But to link these two by saying this is an artifact of the American Way of doing business? Seems a bit of a stretch. I don't see where "the American Way" ties into this.
For starters, SIGG is a Swiss company, not American. And the problem isn't that SIGG or any other company wasn't adequately safety testing their products. In fact, there's a long history of scientific scrutiny into the effects of BPA that these companies and the public have had available. It seems like the problems center more around how our government (ala the EPA) failed to properly account for these studies in industry regulation, and the ethical behavior of corporations (regardless of nationality) when presented with data that affects their bottom line.
When it comes to "proving" something is safe, corporations and governments alike are put in a tough bind. There is an expectation among consumers that products they buy are "safe" in an absolute sense, but establishing "absolute certainty" about something - especially when it comes to issues like long-term toxicity effects - can be extremely difficult due in part to the principal of falsifiability. It becomes exponentially more time-consuming and expensive. So much so that companies often have little choice but to either "play it safe" and watch their competitors gain an insurmountable advantage in the market, or "do the best they can and see how the chips fall."
I'd certainly be curious to hear your thoughts on how the government and/or corporations could have done a better job at protecting consumers from the risks of BPA.
Well, as much as I'd love to trounce you with my flawless logic, maybe it'd be more productive for me to back up and muse a little about why I find the BPA story so interesting. My big assumption (and it remains that) is that we are eventually going to learn that BPA is a very nasty chemical that has no business being in our water and food containers and anywhere else where it can leach into our bodies. My second assumption is that evidence of BPA's nastiness isn't hard to come by, as the slew of new studies all suggest.
So the question is, what happened? How did this chemical become so ubiquitous in American products and therefore within our bodies? I suspect that story will be a telling one, and I hope it leads to changes in the relationships between regulators, lobbyists, and industry.
I suppose we could lament the lack of wariness on the part of consumers, which certainly plays a part in this saga, but to be honest I don't believe it is the consumer's job to ask, for example, "Is this baby bottle I'm purchasing actually safe for babies?" There is a presumption, after all, that the FDA isn't totally incompetent.
But alas, I'm sticking to my position that America, contrary to our self image, isn't always a leader when it comes to product safety. Europe banned lead from paint in residences in 1921. Safety-first America waited until 1977!
Scott November 11, 2009 at 8:50 am
What concerns me more than BPA is its replacement. Chemical companies didn't get together and maliciously decide to put a toxic chemical in food and drink packaging just to screw the consumer (Sigg's overt misdirection notwithstanding); they used BPA because it is one of the few materials that both produces a hard, durable polymer and is not overtly toxic (as in, won't immediately kill you from exposure to small doses). What replaced it? What is Nalgene using to make hard polymers now? And in five years will the story still be the same as with BPA?
As for the FDA's incompetence, the fact that Aspartame (Nutrasweet), a known carcinogen and neurotoxin continues to remain on the market pretty much solidifies that. Caveat emptor.
I'm going to stay with my polyurethane bottles for the forseeable future. Lightweight, reasonably safe (tested for decades now in many many bottles), reasonably freeze resistance; there just doesn't seem to be a reason to not use them now.
Andy November 11, 2009 at 8:57 am
Yeah, I'm with you on that Scott. I wonder all the time whether the new BPA-free plastics are substituting something that's actually safer, or whether it's just "BPA free". I definitely prefer the known and small risks of HDPE for water bottles. As for the new plastics...who really knows? If there's one thing the BPA story proves, it's that it isn't hard for disruptive chemicals to get past today's regulatory hurdles and into our products.
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Health During Pregnancy/
Prenatal Class Attendance
By Parity
Attendance at Health Unit Prenatal Classes
First Trimester Visits
Primary Care Provider During Pregnancy
Routine visits with a health care provider throughout pregnancy, including the first trimester, are important for the health of a pregnant woman and her soon-to-be newborn infant.
Prenatal classes are offered by a number of local health organizations, and can help pregnant women learn about what to expect in the weeks before and after giving birth. For more information, or to register for in-person or online prenatal classes, visit the health unit’s Prenatal Classes webpage.
According to the Better Outcomes Registry & Network (BORN), in 2017 24.5% (23.2%, 25.7%) of new mothers in Simcoe Muskoka attended a prenatal class during their last pregnancy. This rate is similar to the proportion of new mothers who attended a prenatal class across Ontario (22.7% (22.5%, 23.0%)). New mothers aged 25-34 years old are significantly more likely to report having attended a prenatal class (27.6%) than younger (18.7%) or older (17.4%) mothers.
Nearly half (44.0% (41.8%, 46.1%)) of first-time mothers reported attending a prenatal class during their pregnancy. This is significantly higher than attendance observed in new mothers who had given birth previously, where only 6.6% (5.6%, 7.6%)) reported attending a prenatal class during their most recent pregnancy.
In 2017, 507 pregnant individuals and 471 support persons attended prenatal classes in person delivered by the health unit. In February 2017, online prenatal classes were introduced as an additional prenatal education option, for which 460 pregnant individuals and 39 support persons registered.
For more information about attendance at health unit prenatal classes, see our Prenatal Education Infographic.
In 2017, 93.2% (92.4%, 93.9%) of new mothers in Simcoe Muskoka had a first trimester visit with a health care provider during their last pregnancy, similar to the rate for Ontario overall, with 91.3% (91.1%, 91.5%) of new mothers reporting a first trimester visit. New mothers aged 15-24 years are significantly less likely to have a first trimester visit with a health care provider (88.1% (85.2%, 90.4%) than mothers aged 25 or older (94.0% (93.2%, 94.7%). The percentage of new mothers who had a first trimester visit with a health care provider does not differ significantly for women having their first baby compared to women who had given birth previously.
A pregnant woman may receive care from multiple health care providers during her pregnancy. For women from Simcoe Muskoka who gave birth during 2017, the most commonly consulted health care providers during pregnancy were obstetricians, with 64.2% (62.9%, 65.6%) of pregnant women in Simcoe Muskoka receiving care from obstetricians. This was followed by 51.3% (49.9%, 52.7%) of pregnant women receiving care from a family physician, and 22.9% (21.8%, 24.1%) receiving care from a midwife. Younger pregnant women (aged 15 – 24) are the most likely to visit a family physician (57.1% (53.2%, 60.7%)), compared to older women, who are the most likely to visit obstetricians: 62.6% (60.9%, 64.2%) of women aged 25 – 34 years, and 71.0% (67.9%, 73.9%) of women aged 35-49.
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Don’t wake up the Russian bear!
This was an advice from Germany’s first Reich Chancellor Otto von Bismarck.
Today, after a century, this advice didn’t lose its relevance.
Five major field commanders of the terrorist organization HTS «formerly known as Jabhat AL-Nusra» paid the ultimate price, which is their lives for their attack on the Russian military unite in the Syrian province of Idlib.
These days, it’s not easy for an ordinary European who doesn’t particularly understand the media content of world politics, especially, military and political conflicts that are occurring outside of his continent, in particular, understand the situation in the Middle East.
The media covering the war in Syria and in adjacent territories are in most cases used by their owners and funders for propaganda and conspiracy purposes.
Only those few media outlets that are trying to convey truthful information to the audience are, as a rule, too far from an objective assessment of what is actually happening.
Meanwhile, as evidenced by the events of recent years, the situation of the crisis in the Arab world, fueled by major world players, has a significant impact on the political and social processes in Europe.
Not so long ago, still tried to understand the situation, which is rather actively exaggerated by Western, in particular, American media says: «Russian planes bombed a De-escalation zone in the province of Idlib, (the so-called a region with no war».
This phrase actually is shocking, «a region with no war», this is a place where no one is fighting, an area where peaceful Syrian citizens live in peace — women, elderly and children.
What is it with the Russians who aren’t tired of talking about the need for a political settlement of the conflict in this troubled country, decided to substitute it so?
Rummage through the heaps of messages that were thrown on the visitor of the Internet space by numerous information and analytical agencies had several days to read and filter to compare.
With folding all the pieces of the puzzle cut in this way, the picture that emerges is the curious picture.
In mid-September, the formerly known Jabhat AL-Nusra launched an offensive on… «a region with no war» an area inside the de-escalation zone area near Hama, at the Idlib province.
There were, for obvious reasons, few military men — a group of 30 Russian policemen who were on duty at observation posts.
They also got surrounded, together with a couple of dozens of opposition fighters who refused to participate in the fighting and signed an agreement on a cease-fire.
The blockaded group was fired from artillery shells and mortars for a long time, and then they tried to capture it by hurling hundreds of soldiers under cover of armored vehicles.
Having occupied, along with the opposition fighters, a circular defense, the Russian military fought desperately — if captured by the militants known for their cruelty «AL-Nusra», nobody would envy the prisoners' fate.
That’s for sure!
After several hours of unequal combat, the Russian Special Forces with am air support broke through the ring from the outside, in fact, saved all those who were in the boiling cauldron.
Immediately after the policemen were safe, the HTS «Jabhat AL-Nusra» militia units were «punished».
In just one day, The Russian air force and artillery destroyed 187 objects of the terrorist organization, 38 weapons depots, 15 tanks and infantry fighting vehicles, 5 mortars and more than 50 vehicles.
Only and according to official figures, as a result of the operation, about 850 militants were killed.
At this «action retaliation» the payback isn’t over yet — apparently, the Russians are very angry at «al-Nusra», and there will more.
As few news agencies reported scantly, two weeks later, as a result of the missile and bombing, five HTS «formerly known as Jabhat AL-Nusra» field commanders, the chief of the southern sector of Idlib province, Abu Salman AL-Saudi, the financial person Abu AL-Abbas Anadin, adviser to the Minister of War Abu Hasan, assistant spiritual leader Walid AL-Mustafa, as well as Abu Mujahid, Shariah judge of «AL-Nusra».
Among the killed was and the closest assistant to the HTS leader Abu Muhammad AL-Juliani — the head of the security service of the group Ahmad AL-Ghizai.
According to several intelligence services, these figures participated in the development of the attack plan against the Russian troops in Hama, but then, they managed to delay their deaths… until their second attempt that took place in Idleb.
A secret meeting of field commanders, according to independent sources, a plan for another attack was discussed, however it was interrupted by a punctual strike by the Russian air force.
As a result of the air strike, more than 30 «AL-Nusra» militants, ammunition and explosives depots, and 6 jeeps with large-caliber weapons were also destroyed.
As the Russian general, who directed the operation, notified the interested parties, «special measures to search and destroy all those who involved in the attack on Russian servicemen in Syria are continuing», and, therefore, ALL OF THEM WILL BE FOUND AND DESTROYED…
On the possibility of just such a sad outcome, with the irony of what Otto von Bismarck, once had warned…
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Merry Christmas: a drop in gas prices should be in play during Holidays
“And please drive safely while on the road …” says OPM
Samoa News staff
reporters@samoanews.com
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — ASG Office of Petroleum Management (OPM) has excellent Christmas news for the territory, especially motorists. The new maximum allowable price (MAP) or wholesale price for all petroleum products sold in the territory got a decrease — effective Dec. 15th through Dec. 31, 2018.
For gasoline it's an 11-cent per gallon drop, according to petroleum data released yesterday by OPM, whose petroleum officer, Sione Kava said the “significant drop” in the price of fuel sold by the refinery in Singapore — where American Samoa and the rest of the neighboring islands get their fuel — in November is felt in the December MAP.
“Consumers will have more change jingling in their pockets this holiday season,” he said yesterday. He continued, “Merry Christmas to all of American Samoa. And please drive safely while on the road during the Holidays.”
Average price at local gas stations is now $3.54 per gallon for gasoline and $3.87 per gallon for diesel, according to the Dec. 15 to Dec. 31, 2018 fuel price glance for American Samoa report, released by OPM.
The report shows that within the aforementioned time period, the maximum allowable price (MAP) or wholesale price for gasoline — compared to the previous MAP is a reduction of 11-cents per gallon.
For diesel products such as road, boilers/generators, commercial fishing vessels and other marine diesel, the current MAP shows a decrease of 6-cents per gallon. Additionally, the MAP decreased by 8-cents per gallon for the ultra-low sulfur for road diesel and ultra-low sulfur diesel for boilers/generators.
And the MAP for kerosene and jet fuel decreased by 7-cents, according to OPM data in its report.
The fuel price report points out that globally, crude oil supply is growing faster than anticipated. It notes that contributing to the surplus is the United States’ record-breaking production levels — which hit the highest level ever recorded by the Energy Information Administration.
In addition, there is more Iranian supply in the market than expected, due to the U.S. granting crude sanction waivers to some of Iran’s largest importers, including India, South Korea and Japan.
ASG/OPM reminds consumers that it does not have control over the prices at the gas station, as the retail price is determined by the owners. ASG/OPM does have control over the MAP.
With the volatile market, and the changes that continue to happen, OPM’s current MAP covers only up to Dec. 31st and will release at a later date the MAP covering Jan. 1 to Jan. 14, 2019 - for the start for the New Year. The MAP released by OPM in the past is effective from the 15th of that month to the 14th of the following month.
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Ferruccio Busoni: Works for solo piano
Works for solo piano
Liner notes.
Empoli, central Italy, April 1st, 1866. A baby boy is born to Ferdinando Busoni, a noted clarinettist, and his half German wife Anna Weiss, a pianist of repute who often accompanies her husband in recital. It is a fervent time. The epic campaigns of Garibaldi and the shrewd maneuvering of Cavour have unified Italy just five years previously. The new country is emerging from centuries of fratricidal tension, civil war, corruption, and scandal; the looming presence of the Pope in the Vatican City still holds considerable influence and temporal power. For the first time in history, the people of Italy are united and intent on building a bright future for the common good. In this climate, the Busoni’s christen their child with a name full of expectation and promise. It reads, no less, Ferruccio Dante Michelangelo Benvenuto! The boy quickly develops an interest in the world of sound, and the age of four he can play the piano and the violin fluently. At six he begins to compose simple piano pieces and more ambitious chamber music works for clarinet and piano. His first public performances are met with rapturous success, and by the age of twelve Ferruccio Busoni is a veteran of the concert stages of Europe, an acclaimed and determined wunderkind with an illustrious accolade of supporters the includes Anton Rubinštejn and Liszt; the latter declares to have nothing to teach him, prophetically asserting that such a genius should be left to develop freely. Despite such promising beginnings, the domineering figure of Ferdinando, a ruthless disciplinarian who forces Ferruccio to endless hours of daily practice and tries relentlessly to exploit the boy’s talent for financial gain, make for a very unhappy adolescence. Busoni seeks refuge in Literature, Philosophy, and languages, becoming fluent in most European idioms. The stage is now set for one of the most remarkable adventures in the entire history of music, an adventure that will propel its protagonist to some of the highest pinnacles of musical creation.
One of the greatest pianists who ever lived, Busoni was a man of genius torn between extremes and obsessions. Although enamored with his native Italy, he could not tolerate the country’s provincial mentality and never lived there, preferring instead the more organized and intellectually advanced German society. Financial difficulties forced him to teach, an activity he disliked profoundly. The life of a concert pianist he found unsatisfactory also, and only composing seemed to give him the intellectual satisfaction he craved. Endowed with supernatural mental capabilities (he was the proud owner of a library comprising more than five thousand volumes, and could recall the contents of each at random), Busoni entertained diverse activities, notably writing. He collaborated with the Italian newspaper Indipendente, sending portraits of famous pianists he had had occasion to hear during his travels (of Vladimir de Pachmann he wrote that his facial expressions and grimacing were such to make music accessible to a multitude of deaf!). In 1889 he married Gerda Sjöstrand, who would become his lifelong companion and trusted soul-mate. Gerda was the only topic in Ferruccio’s life that was not open to discussion, his anchor and supporter. Their correspondence offers a deep insight into Busoni’s tribulations and bear testament to Gerda’s devotion to her illustrious and problematic husband.
In 1906, Busoni published a seminal work, the Entwurf einer neuen Ästhetik der Tonkunst (Sketch of a New Aesthetic of Music). It was a scant pamphlet packed with musical wisdom and visionary intuition. Within these few pages, Busoni pointed the way towards the future, setting the principles that would animate the musical avant-garde for much of the Twentieth Century and illuminating such advanced concepts as bi-tonality and quarter-tone harmonies. He put his novel conceptions to the test with a series of six pieces, the Elegien of 1907. “My entire personal vision I put down at last and for the first time in the Elegies,” he wrote to Egon Petri. Indeed, these mercurial miniatures signalled a break with anything Busoni had written previously, and created a bit of a furore since their publication (by Breitkopf & Härtel in 1908) and first public performance (by Busoni, on the 12th of March 1909 at the Beethovensaal in Berlin). Busoni’s treatment of harmony, and his tendency to switch between major and minor mode within the same musical phrase, created a shimmering play of light and shade that, deployed in its full force, generated a luminous and, at first hearing, disorienting effect. He was well aware of the difficulties of his newly-found musical language, but plunged ahead with more public performances in the conviction that he had found the right path, adding to the series the hypnotic Berceuse (later to become the masterful Berceuse Elegiacque for orchestra) in 1909. The thus enlarged collection was published by Breitkopf & Härtel in 1910 with the subtitle Seven new piano pieces. The Elegies begin with a pensive reflection, Nach der wendung (‘after the turning point’), that serves as a prelude to the series. The second piece, All’Italia! is subtitled in modo Napolitano. It is a gloomy barcarolle that changes into a spirited tarantella and back Based on material from the gargantuan Piano Concerto of 1904, this is the most extrovertly virtuosic piece of the collection, displaying some truly magnificent piano writing. Next comes a vast chorale prelude, Meine Seele, bangt und hofft Zu Dir (My Soul Trembles and Hopes of Thee), written in the style of Bach’s organ chorale preludes and complete with a quotation of the Lutheran chorale Allein Gott in der Höh’ sei Ehr’ (Glory to The Lord in Heaven). The Fourth Elegy, Turandots Frauengemacht, is a concert transcription of the fifth movement of an orchestral suite Busoni had written in 1905 after Carlo Gozzi’s Chinese fable Turandot. The theme is the famous Greensleeves (but Busoni believed it to be a Chinese melody); here it is embroidered with zesty dissonances and pianistic flair, making it the most accessible and popular of the Elegies. The fifth piece, Die Nächtlichen, also comes from the Turandot Suite (the Seventh movement); it is a ‘nocturnal waltz’ of mephistophelian character, a brief excursion into the ethereal nature of nocturnal mystery and bewilderment. The same fascination with the the tenebrae animates the sixth piece, Erscheinung (notturno). Busoni was particularly fond of this creation, confessing to Egon Petri that “the structure and proportions of the Erscheinung seem exemplary,” and later using it in the first act of his opera Die Brautwahl (The Bridal Choice). The Berceuse that closes the series is a trance-like reverie, where the concepts of bitonality are once again explioted to the full and call for an advanced, truly ‘contemporary’ use of the sustaining pedal.
Ever the restless spirit, Busoni continued to tour extensively, teach reluctantly, and dream of having enough time to compose. In 1909 he wrote to Gerda: “I must make a great effort to practice the piano, and yet I cannot do without it! […] Composing, on the other hand, is like a road, now beautiful, now difficult, but one on which we can travel ever longer distances; we can reach and surpass an ever growing number of places, but its ultimate destination remains unknown and unreachable.”
The year 1910 saw Busoni in the United States for a particularly gruelling concert tour. While in Boston, Bernhard Ziehn and Wilhelm Middelschulte suggested that the maestro complete the three-subject fugue that Bach had left unfinished in his ethereal masterpiece, Die Kunst der Fuge. Busoni showed immediate interest in the project and set to work with unusual alacrity, as attested by the flurry of correspondence with Gerda. January 20th: “I am studying counterpoint again […] It is a beautiful weapon which one must be able to handle”; February 19th: “I have altered the plan for the Fantasia contrappuntistica […] I shall not begin with a Fantasy, but bring into the fugue itself everything in the nature of fantasy. It will sound like something between a composition by Franck and the Hammerklavier sonata, with an individual nuance”; February 22nd: “the Fugue is becoming monumental”; March the 1st: “I had intended to finish this monster fugue in February, and I have succeeded, but I shall never undertake such a thing again!”; March 3rd: “the Fugue is my most important piano work […] its plan is not common, but every note ‘fits'”. The ‘Fugue’ was published by Schirmer of New York in 1910 as Große Fuge, in a limited, numbered edition, dedicated to ‘Wilhelm Middelschulte, Meister des Kontrapunktes’. Busoni, however, had second thoughts. He wrote to Gerda on April 18th: “I thought I would arrange the great fugue for orchestra. Transcribe the Choral Prelude (Meine Seele bangt und hofft zu dir – the third Elegy) as an Introduction to it and let this recur as a reminiscence just before the Stretta in the fugue. It would be a great work!” Busoni carried out his plan half-way: he did not produce an orchestral version of the piece, but did add the Choral Prelude. Breitkopf & Härtel of Leipzig published the revised, ‘definitive’ version in June of the same year under the title Fantasia contrappuntistica. It was, and is, one of the most impressive works in the entire piano literature, a monumental undertaking that stretched the possibilities of composer, instrument and performer to the limit. Its breadth and proportions were set on an epic scale and articulated in twelve sections: 1. Choral prelude; 2. Fuga I; 3. Fuga II; 4. Fuga III; 5. Intermezzo; 6. Variation I; 7. Variation II; 8. Variation III; 9. Cadenza; 10. Fuga IV; 11. Choral; 12. Stretta. Busoni, who was also a talented draughtsman, produced a drawing of a classical building representing the imposing structure of the work: three tall, symmetrical edifices formed the main body of the architecture (respectively assigned to the first three fugues, the three variations, and the fourth fugue), resting on a lower construction that embodied and interlinked them (comprising the other parts of the composition, depicted as transitional passages). Busoni’s mastery of counterpoint is in evidence at every step of the way, displaying his apparent delight with mixing subjects in every fashion imaginable. Moreover, he increased the texture of each fugue by combining its thematic material with that of its predecessor, producing some spectacular combinations. The third fugue, based on the BACH theme (B flat, A, C and B natural), is thus a labyrinth of melodic convergence. The three variations that follow offer a brief respite from the stern laws of counterpoint, whilst the Cadenza fluctuates among esoteric harmonies before plunging into the fourth and final fugue. This is the apex of the work, a massive six voice architecture where one can hear all the thematic material presented so far: each of the three fugues’ subjects, plus of course the theme of the fourth fugue itself. A restatement of the Chorale leads to a final Stretta, which closes the work in splendid grandeur. Busoni intended this as ‘pure’ music, its destination for the piano being just a by-product of its composer’s mastery at the instrument, and the Fantasia contrappuntistica is indeed a pinnacle of musical expression, a work of mystical allure and visionary genius.
During World War I, Ferruccio Busoni took refuge in Switzerland, giving there a number of epoch-making recitals (notably, an all-Liszt cycle comprising no less than eighty works) and working on several of his own compositions. After the end of the hostilities, he returned to Berlin and resumed his discontinuous and chaotic life, but always troubled by self-doubt and creative torment. He never got the recognition he craved and deserved as a composer, despite the fact that much of his original work is indeed beautiful and ground-breaking, a quality that was to become a prerequisite during the Twentieth Century. While working on the opera Doktor Faust, his physician advised Busoni to cut down on tobacco and champagne. He did not. Ferruccio Busoni died of renal failure in Berlin on July 27th, 1924. He was fifty-eight years old.
Sandro Ivo Bartoli, 2011
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Scecina musicians on the road again for Sacred Music Concert
Music director Donnie Glowinski leads the Advanced Choir in practice.
By Beth Murphy, Director of Marketing Communications
It’s another roadshow for Scecina’s musicians. Scecina music director Donnie Glowinski takes the Advanced Mixed Chorus and the Orchestra to Holy Spirit Catholic Church for the third annual Scecina Memorial High School Sacred Music Concert. The concert is at 7 p.m. Monday Oct. 10. It is free, open to everyone, and features Scecina’s most talented students.
This year there is no special theme to the musical pieces, but Mr. Glowinski says he did have the idea of “peace” in mind when selecting the music. “With everything going on in the world today, a prayer for peace is needed,” he explained.
Mr. Glowinski started this special annual event in 2014 with the first Sacred Music Concert at Little Flower Catholic Church, with plans to take the concert to a different East Deanery parish each year. The second concert was at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church.
“I participated in something similar when I was in high school,” Mr. Glowinski said, in explaining why he started Scecina’s Sacred Music program. “Churches create such a good setting for performing music, especially sacred music. It is a great way of taking the good things that we are doing on campus and getting it out to the community.”
Junior Patience Ewing has been part of Scecina’s Sacred Music Concert since its inception. “My favorite thing is that everyone gets moved by the music,” said Patience, an alto in the choir. “They’ll come up and tell us afterward. “Mr. Glowinski has a lot of time invested in this, so we like to prove him right,” she said.
Junior Libby Joson, a soprano, also looks forward to her third concert, saying, “I’m so glad this started the year I was a freshman.” She loves everything about the concert and says the work they put inot it really shows.
The music, Libby said, definitely is “challenging to sing and at first I hadn’t had much experience with such music."
The musical selections by the choir are: “Pray for Peace,” “Thank You Lord,” “Resting,” “Canta Una Cancion” and “Sanctuary.” The orchestra will perform “Bravery and Grace,” a medley from “The Prince of Egypt,” “Water Reflections” and “In the Company of Angels.”
The groups will join together to perform “Baba Yetu.”
Everyone is invited to this special evening of music that will induce a sense of prayer, peace and serenity amid the chaos of today’s world.
Posted on Sun, September 25, 2016 by Beth Murphy filed under
The Prince of Egypt
Donnie Glowinski
East Deanery
Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church
Littl Flower Catyholic Church
Bab Yetu
In the Company of Angels
Canta Una Cancion
Water Reflections
Pray for Peacer
1. Catherine Solomon wrote:
Donny Glowinski: what a gift you are sharing with your community! I know those who share it with you are grateful for the injection of peace.
Wed, September 28, 2016 @ 7:16 AM
2. Angelique Michele Wilson wrote:
I most certainly agree! Indeed, with the current state of our world, it's a wonderful sight to behold when a glimmer of togetherness and hope has the opportunity to shine through! Absolutely inspirational!
Thu, October 6, 2016 @ 5:41 PM
What a information of un-ambiguity and preserveness of precious familiarity about
unexpected feelings.
Sun, January 6, 2019 @ 3:55 PM
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Fri, January 18, 2019 @ 5:07 PM
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Home Feature Transparency in iterative game development
Transparency in iterative game development
Reuben Joosse
In the world of today’s game developers, there seems to be a growing trend towards increasing transparency. While some may disagree and point to games that are hidden in a shroud of secrecy, such as Red Dead Redemption 2, there are many developers that appear to be banking on their willingness to reveal key elements of their projects in advance to bolster end results in the revenue column.
Transparent (adjective): (of an organization or its activities) open to public scrutiny.
Some of this may be dependent on the genre of the game in question. Story-driven games like The Last of Us do not lend themselves to consistent information sharing for fear of showing too much. At the same time, independent of genre, not all developers have a desire to share the intimate details of their games ahead of release. For example, some developers prefer not to provide an indication of changes made to subsequent entries in a series. From Software is hardly forthcoming with a list of tweaks they make to gameplay from one Dark Souls game to the next, for example, and you will find out even less about the narrative in any pre-release media.
That being said, it does appear that some game developers see a benefit to transparency in their development process. This includes not only sharing information on the game in question, but also facilitating discussion and providing opportunities for players to submit feedback. This can often come in the form of beta trials of games, discussions hosted on the game’s official site or Kickstarter, or in streams on sites like Twitch to provide interested parties with the opportunity to see and hear information on the game live.
GIANTS Software, the developer of Farming Simulator 17, provided a consistent flow of information on the game in the lead up to its release. They released a list of major gameplay improvements well before release, and followed it up with a number of trailers explaining changes and improvements, weekly fact sheets detailing equipment that would be featured in the game, and weekly releases of basic information on additional equipment. This is certainly above and beyond what we see from the majority of developers or publishers, and it benefitted the company by helping them to release a more fan-oriented game.
The steady flow of information provided prospective buyers with a relatively significant level of information upon which they could base a purchasing decision. The provision of details on the game also facilitated discussions amongst fans on GIANTS’ forums, providing valuable feedback for the developer that they could either address prior to release, or if that was unfeasible, through a post-release patch.
Sony San Diego has taken a similar approach in the development of their MLB The Show series. Leading up to the release of their most recent iteration, the studio engaged in a series of live streams on Twitch to provide viewers with insight into the upgrades, tweaks, and added features that have been done since the previous iteration of the game. The pertinent sections of these streams were edited into videos and subsequently posted to Sony San Diego’s YouTube channel in order to expand the reach further than the Twitch audience. Similar to GIANTS, Sony San Diego also hosts official forums where players are welcomed to offer feedback on what they have seen so far, and suggestions for future improvements.
Transparency can have its drawbacks for the developers as well. Some observers may feel as though changes to a follow-up game in an iterative series may not be significant enough to warrant a purchase. Some may also dislike the changes that have been made. Despite this, however, ultimately transparency should lead to a more satisfied consumer of the product, as those who feel this way are less likely to purchase the game, or if they do purchase it they will be less likely to feel “tricked” by marketing.
While quantitative data is lacking, based on discussions observed on social media and the respective forums for Farming Simulator and MLB The Show, it appears that offering information to prospective players has a positive effect on the level of anticipation for a game and its reception at release. Those who may have been marginally interested initially are presented with substantive information upon which they can base a purchasing decision, and there are fewer surprises for the buyer at launch. Rather than leaving a potential purchaser to rely on reactive sources such as reviews, some companies are utilizing this proactive approach, which in turn has become a form of advertising for their product.
MLB The Show
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Reuben's a desk jockey with a wife and two kids, and when he wants to get a little crazy he'll stream some Farming Simulator on Twitch. If you want to be bombarded by tweets about simulation games, go follow him on Twitter.
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Kubota Not in Farming Simulator 19 – New Brand Mistakenly Revealed...
Real Farm Sim’s release window revealed at Gamescom
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Ericsson's Mobility Report / June 3, 2015 by Neil Savage
Ericsson just published their international mobility report (which can be found in its entirety here.) At risk of seeming xenophobic*, we focused on the North America appendix. And to no one's surprise, Ericsson predicts that their market will continue to grow into 2020. From the introduction:
"Internet connectivity has reached its 25th year. Mobile devices are now affordable and in ample supply, while mobile networks are keeping pace with the latest networking technologies. Consumers in the U.S. and Canada, alongside other developed markets, have passed the introductory phase of the Networked Society. The pervasive connectivity of people and devices is transforming our lives, including our homes, jobs, health, relationships and more. In 1990, the internet had existed as a public resource for less than a decade, and almost 80 percent of the world’s internet users resided in the U.S. or Canada. Now, 99 percent of households in the U.S. have at least 1 device connected to the internet and nearly 50 percent have 5 devices or more."
Ericsson offers up some interesting factoids and predictions:
By 2020, there will be one smartphone subscription per person.
By 2020, data traffic will increase 7.5 times to the equivalent of about 4.2 billion movie downloads.
Two years ago, less than 50% of employers provided a data plan and device for at least one employee. In 2014, 75% of businesses did the same.
In 2014, there were approximately the same number of households with a tablet as with a landline.
*Our boss bought us a word-a-day calendar. He only just gave it to us, even though it's June.
http://www.wirelessweek.com/news/2015/06/report-70-global-population-smartphones-2020 Ericsson, The future June 03, 2015
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UA Studio
Borderlands Ensemble
Home » Articles » Artist Collaborations for Solo Horn Project
Posted by johanna on Aug 22, 2017 in Articles | 0 comments
Artist Collaborations for Solo Horn Project
The premiere concert featuring the solo horn project with visual accompaniment is swiftly approaching! The event will take place on August 31 at MOCA Tucson — tickets are available here! Here is more about the artists and the pieces they are creating:
Born in 1994 in Taiwan, Shiang Hwang is an illustrator who tells stories through visual images using traditional and digital media. She recently graduated from the University of Arizona, and won awards at the 2017 UA Illustration and Design Exhibition. Shiang and I worked together to create a story for the piece Concert Etude, which she has brought to life with animated illustration. The story unfolds as the wind blows a magical hat off a man’s head. Follow him through a desert scene as he tries to catch it!
Christine Rogers is a photographer based in Nashville, where she teaches photography at Belmont University. Recent highlights include a two-person show at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Santiago, Chile and a Fulbright Scholarship for a project in India. Christine is fascinated by our everyday scenes and actions and embraces them as magical. Her piece is based on Sea Eagle, which centers on water and wind. But like Arizona and many urban centers, Nashville has no access to the sea. Fortunately, there is one place we can all go to find wind and water – the car wash.
Robert Jaime, a native of Arizona, started his career in digital media, producing music videos, short films and commercials. He has worked as a broadcast designer and art director at television stations in Tucson and Phoenix. Robert’s piece is based on the movement Interstellar Call from the larger work From the Canyons to the Stars… by Olivier Messiaen.
Messiaen was commissioned to write the piece by New York arts patron Alice Tully. He traveled to Bryce and Zion Canyons in Utah and based the piece on that experience. He was a devout Catholic, and the music is filled with the rich symbolism and imagery of his faith. Robert and I worked together to create a visual representation true to Messiaen’s score using images of canyons, birds, and skies. Carl Bowser and James Karrer have shared their incredible nature and bird photography for Interstellar Call.
Carl Bowser was introduced to the camera early in life and it became constant companion in his 40-year career as a geologist and educator. His images are inspired by the reality of the world, striving for the camera to become invisible.
James Karrer, Principal Double Bass of the Tucson Symphony, grew up in Worthington, Ohio, where his family embraced the musical and photographic arts and exploring the natural beauty of America. His interest in birding and bird photography was sparked by friends and colleagues of the orchestra and Tucson Audubon.
Finally, there are two artists collaborating on my crowdfunding campaign. Amy Dunn of Red Collar Press is designing the t-shirts, which celebrate new music.
Anne Gordon Fritz is an artist based in New Mexico who has created three silk scarves based on the pieces above: Concert Etude, Sea Eagle and Interstellar Call. Each scarf is a one of a kind piece of art. See them here; they are truly stunning! If you are interested in helping me reach my goal, please click here!
Warm-Up for Flexibility July 1, 2019
TPYO Fall Retreat 2017 October 31, 2017
Approaching Contemporary Solo Music September 9, 2017
Artist Collaborations for Solo Horn Project August 22, 2017
Crowdfunding Update August 18, 2017
International Horn Society
The Downtown Chamber Series
The University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music
True Concord Voices and Orchestra
Tucson Pops Orchestra
Tucson Symphony Orchestra
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LIVING WITH SOURCE
OUR HANGOUTS
Sent Home To Die At 42, Lester Levenson Figures Out The Secret To Life And Lives To 84!
Jerry & Esther Hicks And The Secret Behind “The Secret”
There are no “accidents” – but here’s mine.
In 1952, Lester Levenson was an absolute materialist – if you could see it and touch it, it was real. Although successful at the money game, he was living alone and his health was a mess. He suffered through depression, jaundice, migraines, hyper acidity, perforated ulcers, kidney stones, appendicitis and persistent pain. Then at age 42 he had a second and massive heart attack and barely survived. His doctor, Dr Schultz, sent him home with no promise of life beyond the day he was in. “Get loafers”, was the advice he gave Lester to have him avoid the strain of bending over his shoes. Lester Levenson was angry.
Lester Levenson – sent home to die
Later in his Manhattan penthouse overlooking Central Park, Lester felt like he was in a tomb and stayed in a paralyzing fear of death for three days. Then he got angry again at the thought of being a living corpse without the common sense to end it all. He checked his pill supply – enough morphine to exit comfortably in a cozy cloud. So now he had stood at a crossroad. The sense that he had a choice was empowering. He decided as long as he was breathing, he would try to find a way out of his desperation. He could always take the pills later.
He had a sense that his problems were a part of him – his body, mind and emotions. He began to ask himself – “What am I? What is this world? What is my relationship to it? What do I want from it?” He thought of all the books that he had and all the things he had studied – psychology, physics, medicine and philosophy – and realized that if the answers were there he would have already found them. He would put aside all “that crap” he had learned and start from scratch. Immediately he felt a load lifting off his back – a load he had been carrying his whole life without realizing it.
Lester Levenson – The search for happiness
Forgoing the rest the doctor had prescribed, he became absorbed and excited. After a month he arrived at the question of happiness – what was it. It wasn’t being loved. His family loved him and he wasn’t happy. It wasn’t accomplishing things because he could remember no happiness in his accomplishments. He began to review his past love affairs to find the times when he had been truly joyful. There was Virginia. When she loved him it, he was pleased, but it was a selfish pleasure that needed constant replenishment. Then Nettie, the girl with whom he had been so happy, flooded into him. For the first time in his life the dam broke and he wept over the loss of his love. After hours, he collapsed into bed and slept.
Lester Levenson – The first big shift
Next morning, feeling invigorated, he continued his dialog with himself. Then it hit him. It was so clear. Happiness was when he was loving. And unhappiness was when he wasn’t loving. He laughed and cried and laughed and cried at the realization that happiness was from within – not from others. Then he thought, maybe I can control whether I love people or not. He thought of his doctor with whom he had been so angry. Did he deserve love? No. But that was not the point. Was it possible to change a feeling of hatred into love – not for the sake of the other person, but for his own sake. He tried it on the doctor. Something big inside shifted. At first he didn’t trust it. It was too easy. He tried it again and found himself saying with a grin “Dr Schultz, I love you”.
Lester Levenson – the journey begins
With this newfound skill, Lester embarked on a journey – working his way through his life and sweeping aside the remembered pain and hurt. This was invigorating. Sometimes it came easily. Other subjects took hours to make a shift. But he stayed with all of it and bit by bit cleaned every corner. He gave up bed and took naps in his chair. Each day he felt stronger and happier. He became intrigued. How far could this road take him? Were there limits?
Over the next month, Lester continued the process and got so involved that he avoided social contact. When he did mix with people and they were not lovable, he found he could flip to loving them no matter what they did. It worked every time. Every time that is except one day when he remembered Nettie. Then he found he couldn’t shake the hurt – why had she chosen someone else? He wanted to run away from it but was dogged by the sense that if he avoided it, his journey was over. He felt the pain of his ulcers returning and remembered that the ulcers began on the day Nettie left him.
Lester Levenson and Nettie – his lost love, and the next breakthrough
Thinking of Nettie he cried to himself “It can’t be finished, I won’t let it be”. Then his words hit him. He was still trying to control this event 20 years later. This was where the hurt was coming from. “Screw that” he thought in a fit of pique and let it go. Suddenly the despair lifted. He remembered he and Nettie as they were. He simply loved her.
Lester Levenson – giving up control
He felt the surge of this huge revelation. All his life he had been trying to control things – Nettie, the government, the world. Now, giving up on the need to change things became a new part of his journey. He followed the threads of his past, and insights and revelations came tumbling at him. Past mysteries suddenly unraveled. Philosophers were understood. The world became a brighter, clearer place.
Lester Levenson – what is my mind?
“What is my mind?” This was the next question that came to him. As he worked with this, he realized that everything that happened to him had its origins in prior thoughts. When his business had failed it was not others who were at fault. It was that he had subconsciously withdrawn his interest when he discovered the business and the money were not a source of happiness. He was not, and never was, a victim of anything.
A tremendous freedom came to him. Not only was happiness under his control (he could love as he chose), he could also control the events of his life by his thoughts (he could live as he chose). He was both joyful and at the same time eager to find just how joyful he could possibly be. It was now month three and things were speeding up.
Lester Levenson discovers joy
Sometimes Lester’s thoughts almost overcame him, but he stuck with it and released them all. Sometimes he felt so top-heavy with joy, he could look at his body but he couldn’t move and had to spend hours coming down and down until he was sufficiently in his body to be able to operate it.
Lester Levenson – conquering the fear of death
In this third month, an old enemy that had been lurking showed its face – the fear of death. Lester realized how if had dogged him all his life. He followed these thoughts, allowed them to dissolve – and they did! This worst of foes was nothing after all. Then a feeling of well being came from within. It brought with it a certainty – he knew that his illnesses were gone, his body was whole. In less then three months he had gone from physical wreck to complete wellness. He was blissful and the world and everyone in it had become extremely beautiful.
Lester Levenson discovers peace
What is beyond this he thought? Sitting slouched in his chair one day the answer came to him – peace beyond all fear and tension. He sensed that there was an entry, and if he went in, he would never leave. And enter he did – easily – into a great stillness that was ecstatic and indescribable. His question about the limits to happiness was also answered – there were none, but there was a sameness to it and if felt good to slip into this new place of peace.
Lester Levenson – the connectedness of everything
This was a place of Beingness – at one with everyone and everything. To him it was like a comb and he was now the spine seeing the connectedness. Before, he had been one of the teeth, disconnected by his preoccupations. Now he could tune in where he chose. He thought of a friend in California and immediately saw him in his living room talking with friends. He called him and started to describe what he saw. Suddenly feeling negative thought, he realized it was his friend’s panic in believing that Lester could actually see him. Lester backed off, made a joke of it and his friend calmed down.
He realized in future he’d need to more careful to recognize when people were still thinking as he had done only three short months before when he saw the world as solid – like concrete. Now he understood that the world was just a result of his thought. Twenty years of buildup began to fall apart. His body shook. It shook for days until the ideas shook loose. The solid thing was not the world. The Beingness that was all of him was the reality. Like one big ocean, it had no limits. He let go of identifying with his body and saw himself as a part of everybody, of everything. The extremes couldn’t have been greater. He had moved from depression to indescribable serenity.
Lester Levenson – What can I do?
The then question became “If I am now all powerful, what power can I exert?” Powers came to him. In his early days of enlightenment, if he had a receptive audience, he would demonstrate moving a cup around the table with thought alone. Later he moved on from these demonstrations except for rare occasions when he felt someone would benefit. Even then, he did not regard himself as the doer, just the catalyst. By the time his experiments were done, he had proven to himself that the mind has no limits except those that were self-imposed.
He began to mix with metaphysical groups and found he had a receptive audience. Sometime his advice was practical. In 1953, he realized that he had never made a million dollars. In part to prove his abilities and in part to affirm that enlightenment did not mean giving up on ambition or prosperity, he decided to invest in real estate in New York. With no cash and no effort, within six months he had 23 apartment buildings and his goal was achieved.
Lester Levenson – mantifestation on demand
“What’s next?” he thought. Wealth did not grant security because it could be lost. The need to have it meant no faith in your ability to manifest at will. Just before Christmas, Lester decided to holiday in Los Angeles. He packed a bag but no money and walked out. Within one block, he ran into an old friend with whom he had lost contact and who owed him money and delightedly paid him back on the spot. That paid the air fare. During his whole trip, friends appeared exactly at the right time and place with accommodation and transport, and airline seats for his return appeared on just the right plane even though all flights were booked solid for a month. He returned to New York as he had left – with no money.
Lester Levenson was always happy to share his knowledge. He never charged for his work. Impromptu gatherings would occur in New York and on his occasional drives across the country – sometimes with an audience of hundreds simply gathered by word of mouth.
Lester Levenson – the move to Sedona
In 1958 he decided to move to California. Along the way an inner voice sidetracked him to Sedona Arizona and he bought a farm there and settled in until he transitioned at age 84 – 42 years from being given months to live. During those later years, he never completely stopped his work – sometimes traveling to Phoenix, to what became a regular group in California and occasionally to New York. He felt himself at oneness with all and continued to share his insights with whoever was drawn to his presence.
Lester Levenson & The Sedona Method
There’s a set of release techniques that have evolved from the teaching of Lester Levenson known as The Sedona Method. TBC
footer for Lester Levenson page
Everything I need I find whenever I drop in on one of the LOAC call-ins. I always, always, always, feel welcome, wanted and worthwhile. It doesn’t matter if I come fearful, depressed, anxious, angry, content, happy, or excited. I can find answers, encouragement, camaraderie and fun. However, what really, selfishly, brings me back every week, are those “a ha” moments of new understandings that make me excited about my life and so happy to be me.
Helen D, NV
http://www.theloaclub.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/161/2016/07/2016_03_03-TESTIMONIAL.mp3 03 Mar 2016 17:28 Conference
Testimonial MP3
I realize that when I’m in the midst of something I don’t want, all I have to do is stop and ask myself how I want to feel and that’s all it takes, just some gentle shifting of my focus. I really get that. Now I can see myself enjoying what I never thought I could do before. I’m in awe of where I am and all the ways I’ve been expanding. I’m looking forward to more fun and continuing this awesome journey, realizing I’m always at choice.
Angela T, NY
This is a community for those on a journey, for those seeking to understand the game of Life On Earth, the way the Law Of Attraction works, and how we can all apply that understanding to create more joyfully.
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← This Week on TV – 10/4/15-10/10/15
Sunday on TV – 10/4/15 →
If We Controlled Your Remote… 10/4/15
Posted on October 4, 2015 by Jenny and Kyle
I’m excited for the return of The Good Wife tonight. When we left off last season, Kalinda met with Lester, Lemond Bishop’s lawyer, and threatened to release information she had on him if he didn’t leave Alicia and the others alone. Meanwhile, Peter got word that the Democratic National Committee wanted him to run for president in order, with the ultimate goal of him becoming the top contender for VP. This news excited Zach and Eli, but Alicia and Grace weren’t too thrilled. And elsewhere, when Diane, Cary, and David Lee discovered that Louis Canning’s wife was working at their firm under her maiden name, they immediately fired her. Louis then stormed into their office threatening to burn their practice to the ground. The season ended with Louis at Alicia’s door, asking her if she wanted to partner with him.
Will Alicia take Louis up on his offer? Will he really try to destroy the firm that fired his wife? How will this season play out now that Alicia is on her own? Will we see her going up against her former partners in cases, or will she once again try to join them? And what about Peter’s political aspirations? Will they finally cause Alicia and Peter to publicly dissolve their relationship?
On tonight’s episode, “Bond,” Alicia attempts to revive her struggling law career by representing arrestees seeking release on bail in bond court. There, she meets attorney Lucca Quinn, who competes for her clients. Meanwhile, Peter brings in a national strategist to help with his presidential campaign, which creates an interesting dynamic with Eli in the process.
Check out the season premiere tonight on CBS at 9/8c.
I’ll also be watching/recording Madam Secretary, Once Upon a Time, Blood & Oil, Quantico, The Simpsons, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Family Guy, The Last Man on Earth, The Strain, Fear the Walking Dead, The Leftovers, Project Greenlight, Homeland, and The Affair.
Not everyone loved the CSI spin-off, CSI: Cyber, as much as I did, but for those who did enjoy it last season, be happy because tonight is the season premiere! Last season, Avery learned who’d stolen her files, the man who murdered Krumitz’s parents was released on parole – only to die when Krumitz’s sister killed him, Elijah got back together with his ex-wife, and Sifter got passed over for a promotion. Peter MacNicol, who played Avery’s boss, Stavros Sifter, is gone from the show this season, which I find a shame, since I love the actor, but new to the team is Ted Danson, playing his CSI character, D.B. Russell. I have no idea how they’re going to fit him in, since he’s a CSI but not specifically trained for tech like the Cyber team is, but I’m excited to find out!
On tonight’s episode, “Why-Fi,” Avery welcomes D.B. Russell to the team as they investigate a burglary/homicide committed by someone who hacked the home’s security system remotely. Also, Avery considers moving to a new position within the hierarchy of the FBI, Krumitz is a witness in his sister’s trial, Elijah deals with a delicate family situation, and more is revealed about Nelson’s and Raven’s backgrounds. Ted Danson joins the cast as D.B. Russell, the new Director of Next Generation Forensics, who transfers to Washington, D.C. from Las Vegas.
Find out how Russell fits in and catch up with the team tonight on CBS at 10/9c.
I’ll also be watching/DVRing The Great British Baking Show, Guy’s Grocery Games, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Halloween Wars, & Cutthroat Kitchen.
This entry was posted in If We Controlled Your Remote and tagged CBS, CSI: Cyber, The Good Wife. Bookmark the permalink.
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At 82, Chita Rivera's Still Got 'A Lot of Livin' to Do'
November 6, 2015 | By David Hinckley
Don’t count Chita Rivera among those surprised she’d still be headlining a Broadway musical at the age of 82.
“I’m not amazed at all,” says Rivera. “I still love telling stories. I feel sorry for kids today who take it easy.”
That attitude may explain why Rivera’s Great Performances special Friday night on PBS (9 o’clock) is titled Chita Rivera: A Lot of Livin’ To Do.
Don’t expect a retirement party any time soon.
The PBS show tracks a career, mostly on stage, that led her to become the first Latina to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in 2009.
She started in 1951, age 18, in Call Me Madam. She went on to create or play characters as memorable as Anita in West Side Story (left), Rosie in Bye Bye Birdie and Velma in Chicago.
She thought about quitting after the birth of her daughter Lisa in 1958, she admits, “but then I realized I could continue my career and also raise my daughter. So I did.”
A lot of performers probably would have retired in 1986 when a car hit Rivera’s taxi on W. 86th Street and broke her leg in 12 places.
That’s not the kind of development you want when you’re a dancer in your 50s.
But she was back on Broadway by 1990 in Hello Dolly and then in Kiss of the Spider Woman, for which she won one of her two Tonys.
Not surprisingly, Rivera has a reservoir of stories from her years in show biz.
Dean Martin “made me a little nervous” when she appeared on his TV show, she recalls, “because he came in on the day of shooting, and I was used to rehearsals.”
Sid Caesar made her nervous in a different way. “He was so talented,” she says, “that you felt you had to live up to his standards.”
She talks about working with Elaine Stritch back in Call Me Madam. She suggests she was “a little luckier” than fellow Puerto Rican Rita Moreno, who played Anita in the film version of West Side Story.
“Rita found more discrimination than I did,” says Rivera. “She was typecast from being in the film. From the Broadway show, I wasn’t.”
The discrimination problem with the Broadway version, Rivera says, came from the Tony Awards.
“West Side Story didn’t win a Tony,” she says, with a look as incredulous as it must have been more than 50 years ago. “Can you imagine that?”
Still, engaging as Rivera’s early show biz stories remain, she often steers the conversation toward the present.
She’s extremely proud, she says, of having played the lead Broadway role last spring in The Visit (left), a dark musical by Terrence McNally, John Kander and Fred Ebb.
While it only ran about three months, Rivera won another Tony nomination for her performance. Beyond that, just getting the show to Broadway at all was an epic achievement, since it took 14 years and four productions.
“It’s a great show,” says Rivera. “It’s about what’s happening in our world today. I wanted to take it to Beijing and Singapore and London so everyone everywhere could see it.
“A lot of people thought it was a story about revenge. It wasn’t. It was a love story. But I guess people don’t always like to see what is going on in their own backyards.”
Rivera also went through a personal drama over those 14 years: Her voice changed.
“The doctor always told me to be prepared,” she says. “Because it will happen. And when it changes, you have to go with it. He told me to listen to Mabel Mercer.”
She laughs.
“I hope to be somewhere near that good.”
More specifically, she says, “When I first heard the music for The Visit, I wanted to sing it like Renee Fleming. I told that to Fred Ebb and he said he didn’t write it for Renee Fleming.” But if everything about that show took a path of its own, Rivera says that’s all right, because her life has done the same thing.
She’s fine with the constant being change, and she says she’s looking forward to more rounds of the same.
“Just walking into a theater,” she says, “is an extraordinary feeling” – as is a song she performed in Sweet Charity.
“Every time I hear Where Am I Going,” she says, “it puts me in the exact place I want to be.”
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Emily REGAN
2019 World Rowing Cup II - Poznan, POL
Final Time
W4- USA FA Final 4 06:55.900 View Details
W4- USA SA/B 1 Semifinal 2 06:55.520 View Details
W4- USA H2 Heat 2 06:35.690 View Details
2019 World Rowing Cup I - Plovdiv, BUL
W2- USA R1 Repechage 2 07:14.070 View Details
+ See all results
Emily Regan (USA)
Athlete of the Month – March 2018
The first time Emily Regan competed internationally for the United States was back in 2010 at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships. She competed in the women’s eight and won gold.
In 2013 she joined the senior women’s eight and participated in its successes through to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Regan has also regularly doubled up in the four and in the eight at World Rowing level.
For international women’s day, Regan shares how she sees the future of rowing for women nationally and internationally and how she thinks women can overcome the challenges facing them in sport.
World Rowing: How did you discover rowing?
Emily Regan: I grew up in Buffalo, NY, where rowing has always been a relatively big sport. I always knew what rowing was, but I played other sports until I started school at Michigan State University in 2006. I picked the sport up pretty quickly and in 2008 attended a camp that selected the under-23 women’s eight. I was the youngest athlete there and was in way over my head. I didn’t make the team, but I knew I wanted to try again in the future. I went to the under-23 selection camp again in 2010 and I earned a spot in the eight. Once I graduated from college, I started training with the National team.
WR: Rio was your first Olympic Games. How would you define the experience?
ER: Rio was incredible. I’ve been a huge fan of the Olympics for as long as I can remember, so earning the opportunity to represent the United States at an Olympics is an experience I’m so proud of. It’s really amazing to be surrounded by the best of the best from so many different sports.
WR: Can you describe the Rio Olympic final in your own words?
ER: At the start I was nervous, but my nerves calmed when the race started. In the first 500 meters, I remember focusing completely in our boat and trying to do everything exactly as Katelin (the coxswain) was calling. As a boat, we were prepared for the race to play out in a lot of different ways and I trusted my teammates completely. I felt confident even as we were down through the 1000-meter mark because I knew that we had another gear. Coming into the sprint, my only thought was more, more, more. At the finish, I was emotional. I kept alternating between happy sobbing and just smiling in disbelief that this distant dream that we had worked towards for so long was a reality.
WR: You have doubled up several times at World Rowing Cup level in the four and in the eight. How do you prepare to take on that challenge?
ER: The training we do every day prepares you to double up at a regatta. When we do double up, there is more preparation prior to each day of racing and recovery is twice as important. I like to find a quiet place to disconnect between my races. I usually listen to music,quickly evaluate my first race and then put it out of my mind and start preparing for the next.
WR: Which race was your most difficult so far?
ER: The women’s four final at the 2014 World Rowing Championships. We placed second behind a really talented and fast New Zealand boat. I had a difficult year leading up to those championships and I was drained and really disappointed when the regatta season was finished. As a boat we had the potential to be much faster, but sometimes potential doesn’t translate to speed. As frustrating as those World Championships were for me, it ended up being a turning point in my lead up to the Rio Games. I figured some things out, made changes to the way I was training and saw some huge improvements. To this day, I don’t think I would have made our Olympic team if I hadn’t faced the adversity that I went through during the 2014 season.
WR: Where do you find your motivation?
ER: Improvement. My motivation is the challenge of trying to be the best rower I can possibly be and pushing the barriers of what I think I am capable of.
WR: What is your main strength in the boat?
ER: Mental toughness. I think I tend to rise to a challenge. The higher the pressure the better I am able to perform.
WR: How do you think your success has encouraged other women to pursue elite rowing?
ER: Hopefully it has shown younger girls that you don’t have to be perfect to be successful. Hard work and going the extra mile can help you attain your goals. Also, I walked on to my university’s rowing team when I was 18, so I think it shows that you don’t have to row your entire life to be successful as an elite athlete.
WR: How do you see the future of women's rowing in the United States ten years from now? Why?
ER: The speed of the athletes from the junior level all the way to elites is going to be so much faster. Title IX has only been in place for 46 years. It’s a law that prohibits discrimination based on gender in the US and provides equal opportunity for women to compete in sport in our collegiate system. Every year, we’re still seeing more and more young girls and women getting involved in sports which I think this will continue increasing the speed of women’s sports all the way up to the top levels. At both the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games over half of our female athletes were walk-ons at their universities.
WR: How do you see the future of female rowing internationally ten years from now? Why?
ER: I think we’re going to start seeing some significantly faster times and more competitive racing. 2018 is the first year that the World Rowing Championship programme provides equal opportunity for women and men, and I think that will translate to more countries providing opportunity for their female athletes. The 2017 women’s four field is a good example of how quickly things can change. In the span of a year, the entries jumped and the depth of the field was so much greater.
WR: What are some of the challenges you see that women encounter in the sport of rowing?
ER: There is a stigma that women’s sports are less competitive and entertaining than men’s sports and therefore our accomplishments are not as impressive. Also, women are under-represented in exercise science, especially in regards to injury and performance studies. This means women have to take greater ownership over our training adaptations and understanding our bodies.
WR: Who is your female rowing hero and why?
ER: Laurel Korholz. She is our coach and one of the few female coaches internationally. We’re really lucky to have her around our team every day. Before she was our coach she raced internationally for the United States until 2004. She is a trailblazer for women’s rowing in the United States and helped pave the way for a lot of the success our team has had over the last 15 years.
WR: Who are some of the other female athletes you admire and why?
ER: Billie Jean King and Serena Williams. They’ve both opened so many doors and broken down barriers for female athletes in the United States. And Ekaterina Karsten - I really admire the longevity of her career and can only imagine how difficult it is to stay so competitive over such a long time span.
WR: What is your next goal in rowing?
ER: We’re currently prepping as a team for our National Selection Regatta in May. I’m hoping to make some progress between now and then to have a good performance and help set me up for the rest of our selection throughout the summer.
Sunday Podiums at the 2019 World Rowing Cup III in Rotterdam, Netherlands
2019 World Rowing Cup III Recap Clip
Sunday Racing at the 2019 World Rowing Cup III in Rotterdam, Netherlands
Saturday Racing (2) at the 2019 World Rowing Cup III in Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Top 10 Male
1 Richard SCHMIDT GER
2 Hannes OCIK GER
3 Malte JAKSCHIK GER
Top 10 Female
1 Emily REGAN USA
2 Nicole BEUKERS NED
3 Agnieszka KOBUS-ZAWOJSKA POL
Milda VALCIUKAITE
Jason OSBORNE
Hillary JANSSENS
Melvin TWELLAAR
Christina BOURMPOU
Charles BRITTAIN
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10 Questions With The Book of M Author Peng Shepherd
Photo credit: Rachel Crittenden
Memories can be difficult to hold onto, but what happens when they’re ripped completely away from you? Are you still the same person?
With her debut novel The Book of M, author Peng Shepherd dives into a post-apocalyptic world where those questions take on a terrifying urgency.
Shepherd spoke to me recently her debut novel, how her writing process starts off messy, but ends with a great finished product, and, of course, the importance of memory.
Sean Tuohy: When did you know you wanted to be a storyteller?
Peng Shepherd: I think I always did, truly. When I was five, I was already trying to make my own books, which my mother would get bound and then give back to me. It was sometimes hard to find time to write in university and when I first started working, but the breaks never lasted for long—I just loved it too much.
ST: What authors did you worship growing up?
PS: Ursula K Le Guin has always been and will probably always be my biggest source of inspiration. Her books were life changing for me, and are among my favorites of all time. There’s another writer too, Michael Kurland, who wrote Perchance: The Chronicles of Elsewhen, which was the first book to make me realize I loved and wanted to write specifically science fiction and fantasy stories. I still have my original copy of that book, which I think is long out of print now, and it’s one of my most treasured possessions.
ST: What is your writing process?
PS: It starts out messy—when I first have an idea, I’m too excited by the newness of it to plan anything, and end up churning out a bunch of possible scenes and settings and chapters that don’t always match or make much sense. After about 50 pages of this “exploration,” as I like to call it, things calm down a little, and I can see the bigger picture. At this point, I try to think of an ending, and if I can figure that out, then the rest of the story starts to fall into place.
ST: What inspired The Book of M?
PE: The Book of M was actually inspired by a real-life phenomenon known as Zero Shadow Day. It turns out, every year on a certain day in India, everyone’s shadows actually do disappear—for just a few minutes. I knew that I wanted to write something that involved shadows because they’re eerie and mysterious, but when I came across Zero Shadow Day in my research, I was so fascinated that I had to make it the start of the story.
ST: What attracts you to the post-apocalyptic setting?
PE: I think post-apocalyptic settings are fascinating because they’re able to ask, in sometimes much more direct ways than other genres, what it means to be human. When all the constraints and systems are removed, who do we become? Is it more true, or less?
ST: How much of yourself went into the character of Max?
PE: None at all, actually! There are a few other minor characters that have little bits of me or people I know in them, but funnily enough, Max always felt to me like completely her own person—almost more like I met her rather than created her.
ST: What is the importance of memory in The Book of M?
PE: The idea of memory is really the heart of The Book of M. It’s something we don’t think about most of the time, but memories are such an integral part of a person. They tell us who we are, and what matters most to us. In the story, the characters face situations again and again where they have to decide if their memories are worth more to them or if they would give them up in exchange for something else—and if so, which ones? And would they still be themselves afterward? While writing the book, it made me reflect on the things I value most in my life and what I would do to preserve them, and hopefully readers will be moved to do the same.
ST: What’s next for you?
PE: I’m in the very early stages of working on a second novel. I’m still figuring out exactly where it’s going, but I think it’s going to be a mystery, and set in our present day world this time—with just enough strange occurrences and seemingly impossible moments that the only explanation might be magic.
ST: What advice do you have for aspiring authors?
PS: As frustrating as this advice is, you just have to write. There’s no way to get better at something without a lot of practice, and writing is no different. There’s also no way to finish a book without actually writing it, either.
ST: Can you please tell us one random fact about yourself?
PS: I’m obsessed with yaks, the animal. It’s become a long-running joke among my friends, who buy me yak stuffed animals or send me pictures of yaks whenever they come across one. They’re just so adorable.
To learn more about Peng Shepherd, visit her official website, like her Facebook page, or follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
The Writer's Bone Interviews Archive
Tagged: Peng Shepherd, The Book of M, William Morrow, writing, writers, publishing, books, fiction, science fiction, apocalyptic
Nancy Rommelmann Investigates How A Mother Could Kill Her Own Children in To the Bridge
Pushing Past the Stigma of Sex Toys With Hallie Lieberman
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The Research Bureau was engaged by the Investing In Girls Alliance (IIG), a project of the Women’s Initiative of United Way of Central Mass, to conduct a new needs assessment. The Alliance was established in 2007 to improve services for middle-school girls in Central Massachusetts through research, education, advocacy, and collaboration. Following a six-month needs assessment, the Alliance developed a strategic plan through the year, 2011. The plan’s purposes included the following:
build the capacity of its member organizations;
engage a wide range of constituencies in efforts to improve services for girls;
improve access to information about girls and girls’ programs;
raise public awareness of the unique strengths, needs, experiences, and perspectives of girls;
collectively advocate for girls’ needs among legislators and policymakers.
With funding from the Fred Harris Daniels Foundation and United Way, the IIG spent three years implementing strategies and programs related to the Alliance’s mission. The Research Bureau updated the needs assessment through surveys of middle school girls, parents, service providers, and focus groups. These surveys provided sufficient data for the Alliance to set its priorities for three years and to benchmark its progress on an ongoing basis.
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World Wide Angle
filming – photography – music
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Spotlight: The Band – The Last Waltz
Dec 10, 2008 by Derrick Faw · 7 Comments ·
Filed under: Cinephile, Music
“This film should be played loud!”
It is beautiful, it is inspirational, it is exhilarating, all these things in the face of a solemn occasion. It is The Band’s The Last Waltz filmed by Martin Scorsese. Mostly consisting of concert footage from The Band’s final concert on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1976. Bill Graham hosted this event at his Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, which happened to be the first place The Band ever played under the name “The Band”. It was a kind of “by the skin of your teeth” experiment, not only in filmmaking but also musically. Scorsese is well know as fanatical movie buff, but he is a great lover of music as well. Just listen to most any soundtrack from his films. Being an admirer of The Band, the collaboration produced a special magic never yet matched. The Band by the way consist of a misplaced Southerner and 4 Canadians. They are Levon Helm, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel, Garth Hudson, and Robbie Robertson. They began as the backup group for Ronnie Hawkins and then Bob Dylan on his legendary 1966 world tour, where he unleashed his brand of rock and roll to unexpecting folk fans, Then they where known to the world as The Hawks. After so much press of this tour would only refer to them in comments like Bob Dylan and “the band”, the name stuck and they became The Band. They would continue to collaborate with Dylan off and on throughout their existence. No other group was ever able to capture all the roots, history, and atmosphere of America and put them together so genuinely.
Ronnie Hawkins and Robbie Robertson
The audience really had no idea what they were in for that night just there may be some special guest. The event started at 5:00 pm, a crowd of 5000 people were served turkey dinners followed by ballroom dancing with music performed by the Berkeley Promenade Orchestra. Then after reading of poetry The Band hit the stage at 9:00 pm and the music went on until the the early hours of the morning. All the members of the band were at the top of their game and their guest were sensational. Throughout the concert the audience was continually treated with a barrage of musical talent playing with The Band. Including: Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton, Ronnie Hawkins, Dr. John, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Neil Diamond, Paul Butterfield, Ringo Starr, Ronnie Wood, Stephan Stills, Bobby Charles, Bob Margolin, and Joe “Pinetop” Perkins. Each guest had a reason for being there. Invited by The Band as a whole or from individual members, they all represent elements of American music.
Robertson had one choice in mind for the film, he wanted Martin Scorsese. Through a mutual friend, Jonathan Taplin, they would meet and form a lasting bond. Taplin had been the road manager for Bob Dylan and The Band and later went on to produce the film Mean Streets. Marty was no stranger to filming music either. He was the first assistant director and principle editor of the film Woodstock. Scorsese’s was already busy in the process of filming at the time. The film New York, New York was over budget and behind schedule. Scorsese was under contract making it virtually impossible to shoot another film, especially on the other side of the country. It came as you could say a labor of love, something that he simply could not refuse. In the process he did something that had never been done before. Winterland was converted into a set and the footage was filmed on 35mm. With an elaborate plan of lighting and camera positions the concert was converted into a theatrical performance. The stage was even decorated with 3 crystal chandeliers said to have been used in Gone With The Wind. The set was borrowed from the San Francisco Opera’s production of Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata. In all 7 cameras were used by some of the most noted cinematographers. Scorsese went to great lengths to create a 200 page musical script. The whole concert was set to a storyboard complete with illustrations. Taking the lyrics of the songs to be played and matching them with camera angles and movements and with lighting effects. As could be expected with a live performance, the crew had to keep on their feet. Due to the length of a role of film and fatigue of the camera men, not all of the concert could be caught on film. Scorsese used a headphone system to communicate with his cameramen. Giving them valuable detail of what shots and movements he wanted at the precise time. Though due to his “heated stream of instructions” veteran cinematographer Laszlo Kovacs became annoyed and removed his headset early in the show. By a simple twist of fate, what turned out to be one of the greatest moments of the whole show was rescued by this revolt. While all the other cameras were taking time to reload, Muddy Waters was giving a phenomenal performance of Mannish Boy. Kovacs’s camera caught skillfully captured this moving event. His footage was used up until the very last seconds of the song, by that time the others had scrambled their rigs back in working order. The famed David Myers was another key cameraman in the filming lineup. Robertson had his guitar bronzed for the event. Later on it was offered to Scorsese as a gift, and now resides in the Cappa Office in Manhattan.
The Staples
Martin Scorsese and Rick Danko
The film also featured amazing studio takes of The Weight performed with the Staples (Roebuck “Pops”, Mavis, Yvonne, and Cleotha Staples), Evangeline with Emmylou Harris, and also The Band performing The Last Waltz Theme. To add to the music, interview segments were made at a point after the concert at The Band’s Shangri-La studio in Malibu. It was an old bordello converted into their office, work, and play area. The interviews give the film a whole new dimension, giving a glimpse of who these people are and where they came from. Somewhat filled with melancholy, it showed the reminiscence and reflection of what they had just been through the last 16 years as a group. The Last Waltz is like a snapshot, a night frozen in time, of what became of the 60′s and what the 70′s were about. For Scorsese fits in with his other films of the time making a series of documentaries about America. This trilogy consist of Italianamerican, American Boy: A Profile of: Steven Prince, and of course The Last Waltz. Technically speaking the film is virtually flawless, a great accomplishment for filming a live event. I invite any of you to check out this film or soundtrack, and if you are familiar with it, check it out again, it never gets old. Special thanks to Samantha for teaching me a lot about this wonderful moment in the history of music.
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Tags: Bob Dylan, Music, The Band, The Last Waltz
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7 Responses to “Spotlight: The Band – The Last Waltz”
FILMCASTLive! says:
It was pleasant surprise to read the posting about The Last Waltz….
It has been my favorite filmed concert ever- cinematography and music-
It truly shows Scorsese vision and skill as a filmmaker to make an universal four dimensional story from a uni dimensional row of people standing on a stage….
Every brilliantly executed camera move denoted a cinematic understanding of the music and the historical importance of the moment and each of the members of the Band and outstanding guests….
Samantha Halfon says:
Glad you liked the post. The Band is my favorite Band (with Wilco) and Scorsese is my favorite filmmaker so I rank this film pretty high. But it’s very interesting to know that Scorsese actually storyboarded it like he would have a fiction based on the setlist, the lyrics and subject of each song. The lighting for StageFright is a good example of this concern. Of course The Weight being shot later on with the Staples allowed him to really film and move the camera like he wanted, it’s an incredible moment. I’ve watched this film close to 100 times and can only remember of two mistakes. One is the camera panning away from Levon and coming back to him because it failed to find something else to catch up with. The second is the camera being lost up in the stage curtains and coming down to perfectly frame Dylan. I think it was an accident but it’s one of the greatest moments in the movie. What a shot! So, I correct that, there is one mistake in the entire movie. Wow.
It is the DVD that I wish would never end…..It is replayed in my house several times a year if not lately it has been Monthly,,,,,,,,If some body had another run of footage/audio of that day ………..It would be greatly appreciated if it were to be added on and redistributed……….
Rob Cohee
Hi Rob, I’ve never seen any unreleased footage of that night but there are at least two versions of the audio that were released. The complete 4CD set and the 2CD version. There is also a bootleg version of the 4CD set which some people prefer as some of the tracks were “tweaked” on the official release they say. Here is the one I have: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000063DS1?ie=UTF8&tag=worwidang-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000063DS1
I am a big fan of this movie myself and have a lot of stories to tell about how I came to watch it but to tell you how special it is to me, I’ll tell you that the DVD case holds the guitar pick that Wilco’s sound master-guy gave me. It’s one of the picks Jeff Tweedy went through that night in Paris back in 2005.
danko says:
The fact that Richard was cut from the filmed performances is terrible, and that is what ruined he film for me and so many others. but was it the greatest gig you ever saw or what!
Check out what others are saying about this post...
A Different Kind of Musical #3 – Bob Dylan | World Wide Angle says:
[...] 1978 would mark the release of Dylan’s own attempt at filmmaking with Renaldo and Clara. This rarely seen film received a lot of press for being incoherent, and therefore was widely rejected by movie theaters. The movie is made up of a combination of concert footage and documentary clips intertwined with a fiction story of Renaldo, played by Dylan, and Clara, his wife Sara. The cast includes members of Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue which toured the country between 1975 and 1976. Included in the film is footage of Alan Ginsberg reading poetry, Dylan visiting Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, and a visit to the grave of Jack Kerouac. Rather or not audiences find the theatrics of the film understandable or enjoyable, the concert footage stands out as a true testament to Dylan’s stage prowess during one of the most creative and energetic periods of his career. Dylan would also appear in film The Last Waltz by Martin Scorsese, also released in 1978, and further discussed in Volume 2 of this series. [...]
Gena Montoya says:
Spotlight: The Band – The Last Waltz | World Wide Angle http://tinyurl.com/ygt8ogu
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Bookie Favourite Rami Malek Wins Golden Globe
categories: The Oscars
Since the Oscar nominations were announced for 2019, Rami Malek was a favourite with the bookies to win Best Actor. The odds of Malek winning his very first Oscar was 5/6, while the odds of Christian Bale winning were 7/4.
Rami Malek’s role in Bohemian Rhapsody as Freddie Mercury got him the nomination for the Golden Globe’s Best Performance award. He competed with A Star is Born actor Bradley Cooper as well as Willem Dafoe in the Film At Eternity’s Gate. Malek’s toughest competition for the award was Bradley Cooper, although he was the favourite at the bookies from the start.
Bohemian Rhapsody nominated as film of the year
Bohemian Rhapsody was also nominated as the film of the year and was Malek’s biggest role ever. This was true even though Malek has already won an Emmy for Best Drama actor for the role he played in Mr Robot.
Rami Malek scooped the BAFTA awards statue and won Best Actor enjoyed the victory he won a Screen Actors Guild for his Outstanding Performance as a Male Actor. He also won a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Drama.
It was nothing short from being the most challenging role ever, and actor Rami Malek not only had to mentally prepare for portraying Freddie Mercury but also needed some physical adjustments to transform into the legendary Freddy Mercury successfully. Apart from prosthetic teeth to transform his look, he intensely studied Freddie Mercury, spent time with Queen to nail both the Mercury look and several of his stage habits.
Rami Malek’s speech started off by thanking Queen for all their assistance, and he personally thanked Roger Taylor and Brian May for welcoming him into the Queen family. He paid special tribute to Freddie Mercury, as without him, Malek would not have enjoyed the most extraordinary moment of his life, winning Best Actor. The film that won the Outstanding British Film was The Favourite and not Bohemian Rhapsody, although it did win the Best Sound award.
Malek Nominated for 43 Awards
In total Rami Malek has been nominated for 43 awards and has won 12. He already won the Best Actor award at the British Academy of Film and Television Art Awards, Best Actor for Bohemian Rhapsody at the Golden Globe Awards and at the Screen Actors Guild Awards he won the award for Outstanding Performance in a Leading Role. At the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards he won Best International Lead Actor for Bohemian Rhapsody.
Malek won the Breakthrough Performance Award by the Palm Springs International Film Festival as well as Best Actor awarded by the Los Angeles Online Film Critics Society. At the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Malek won the Outstanding Performance of the Year Award.
For those who love Queen, the film is a must-see since no one leaves the theatre without a spring in their step, critics describe the film as exhilarating and highly entertaining. The music by Queen is the core of the film, while a truly fine actor pays tribute to a musical legend.
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‘Star Wars: Episode IX’ Enlists ‘Americans’ Star Keri Russell
Well here’s one piece of Star Wars casting news that just couldn’t wait until the end of the day (thankfully!): Keri Russell is reportedly the first official newcomer to sign on for Star Wars: Episode IX, which is heading into production at the end of this month with J.J. Abrams back at the helm. It’s also a fairly major reunion, as Russell previously starred in the long-running hit series Felicity (created by Abrams) and Mission: Impossible III (directed by Abrams).
Per Variety, Lucasfilm and Abrams spent the past couple of months meeting with numerous actresses for what is being described as an “action-heavy” role involving fight scenes. Russell definitely has the physical prowess for the part, having trained in stunt work extensively for her role in the FX series The Americans, which ended its run this year. The actress was reportedly chosen just before the Fourth of July holiday, but she won’t be the only new addition to the Star Wars ensemble.
Abrams will reportedly cast two more actors in Episode IX before it heads into production in a couple of weeks. Russell and the other, yet-to-be-determined newcomers will join returning cast members Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac, John Boyega and Adam Driver in the sequel, which concludes the current trilogy — and officially brings an end to the Skywalker saga.
Star Wars: Episode IX hits theaters on December 20, 2019.
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Source: ‘Star Wars: Episode IX’ Enlists ‘Americans’ Star Keri Russell
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The First Black Hole To Be Imaged Gets a Name: Powehi
posted by R.J. Johnson - @rickerthewriter - Apr 13, 2019
Say hello to Powehi.
The ground-breaking black hole photo that's blanketed social media this week has an official name thanks to a Hawaiian language professor at the University of Hawaii at Hilo.
Astronomers involved with the project approached Professor Larry Kimura to ask him for help to name the black hole located some 55-million light-years away from Earth in the nearby Virgo galaxy cluster.
"It is awesome that we, as Hawaiians today, are able to connect to an identity from long ago, as chanted in the 2,102 lines of the Kumulipo, and bring forward this precious inheritance for our lives today," Kimura said in a statement.
"To have the privilege of giving a Hawaiian name to the very first scientific confirmation of a black hole is very meaningful to me and my Hawaiian lineage that comes from po," he added. "I hope we are able to continue naming future black holes from Hawaii astronomy according to the Kumulipo."
The name was chosen for its roots in the Kumulipo, an 18th-century Hawaiian chant that describes creation. The word comes from two terms in the chant: Po, which means profound dark source of unending creation, and (wehiwehi), which is one of the ways that po is described in the chant.
Powehi was imaged thanks to more than 200 scientists working together to network a series of ground-based telescopes around the world known as the Event Horizon Telescope.
The photo shows an uneven ring of orange light surrounding a dark circle. The orange halo represents hot gas emissions located near the black hole's event horizon - the point where nothing, not even light, can escape the hole's massive gravity well. Powehi is massive with scientists estimating it to be more than seven BILLION times more massive than our own sun.
Black holes are made up of enormous amounts of matter all crammed together in a small space, warping gravity in its area. A black hole's gravity well is so strong that it draws in everything around it, including light. Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity describes gravity as the result of matter and energy warping space, much like a stretched out sheet will sag under the weight of a bowling ball in the middle. When too much matter and energy is concentrated in one place, space-time can collapse, resulting in a black hole like the one imaged by the EHT team.
Scientists believe black holes are common in the universe with many super-massive black holes located at the heart of every galaxy.
Photo: National Science Foundation
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How Nikita Parris' nutmeg move introduced the masses to England's newest star
28dTom Hamilton
Nikita Parris last month signed with European powerhouse Olympique Lyonnais after finishing second in the WSL goal rankings for Manchester City. Peter Powell/EPA
Tom HamiltonSenior Writer
• Joined ESPN in 2011
• Covered two Olympics, a pair of Rugby World Cups and two British & Irish Lions tours
• Previously rugby editor, and became senior writer in 2018
NICE, France -- With one move, Nikita Parris went viral.
In the 12th minute of England's opening Women's World Cup match against Scotland, they appeared boxed into their own corner. But after neat interplay from Steph Houghton and Lucy Bronze sent the ball down the right toward Parris, the 25-year-old forward had her back to the approaching Nicola Docherty.
And then, with the flick of her right foot, she nutmegged Docherty and spun away. Just minutes later, Parris scored a penalty to get England on board en route to a 2-1 victory.
Social media networks were flooded with clips of Parris; moments later FIFA started purging unauthorised postings of the viral video.
After the full-time whistle, she stood in the mixed zone in the heart of Stade de Nice, wearing a beaming smile and clutching her Player of the Match trophy. She admitted to butterflies that morning of June 9, and then laughed as she talked through the nutmeg.
"I'd done my research on the full-back and I knew she was going to come steaming in, so I had to do something, whether it was take a foul or try and spin her," Parris later explained.
The specific piece of resourcefulness is nothing new to Parris -- "Just have a look at the clips," she will insist. The Liverpool-born star has always had talent -- the cheekiness and confidence to attempt the unpredictable. Now, in her first World Cup appearance, she has the stage to show the world what she's capable of. That she's grasped the opportunity is no surprise to those who have seen her develop from promising youth player to a forward who can torment defenders in a World Cup.
"The first time she showed up at trials and training for our younger age groups at Everton her pace and physical presence stood out and that's something you see on the world stage," said Andy Spence, who coached and observed Parris after she joined the Everton Ladies' Centre of Excellence at age 14. Spence spent 15 years at Everton's academy as its director and then later manager.
Women's World Cup 2019: Schedule, how to watch, analysis
England again reach Round of 16
"She was doing those nutmegs to some of the more experienced heads in Everton when she was breaking through and got a few kicks as reminders not to be too cheeky to the senior pros, but that's Nikita," he added. "She's got a creative mind and you only have to see her interviews after the game -- she hasn't changed. She's still that humble person who wants to better herself and she's always had that ambition to be one of the best players in the world in her position."
Spence remembers showing a young Parris videos of Ian Wright, Thierry Henry and Robbie Fowler scoring so she could analyse how they finished chances. Now, he shows the next generation videos of Parris. She also hasn't lost her sense of humor from those days. A player who could show a "jovial side" at Everton Ladies, Parris is one of England's pranksters, whether it is putting salt in coach Phil Neville's tea when he's not looking, or perfecting her self-proclaimed "knock-a-door dash," knocking on a teammate's door and then scampering away and giggling.
"It's been so nice to go full circle," Spence told ESPN. "With Nikita, she's at a good age, she's built up some fantastic experiences and she's going on to have a stronger next four-five years to push on again. That's part of the mindset of always wanting the next challenge and wanting to be better."
Parris was, and still is, fiercely ambitious. She made her senior debut in 2010, five months after turning 16. In 2015, with Everton relegated to the WSL2 (Women's Super League 2), she joined Manchester City on loan for a season, when she reunited with current England teammates Toni Duggan and Jill Scott. The move soon became permanent and she went on to win two FA Cups and a league title.
Next season, Parris will start a new chapter. Last month, she signed with all-conquering European giants Olympique Lyonnais after finishing second in the WSL goal rankings for Manchester City. The worrying thing for the rest of Europe is Bronze and Parris will be working again in overlapping harmony at Lyon, causing all sorts of mischief down the right wing.
England national coach Phil Neville said the pressures around the move affected her during the first few days of their World Cup camp, but she played her way through the nerves, starting both of their warmup games and unleashing all of her pent-up stress against Scotland.
"She has all the attributes she needs to be one of the best strikers in the world; she has been showing that all season at City," Bronze said. "She's been prolific, she's got an eye for goal, she's tenacious and she has the speed and energy. We've got a really good partnership; we enjoy playing together."
But Lyon is a long way from Toxteth in Liverpool, where she grew up. That part of the world means a huge amount to Parris, who has continued to work with the community to create opportunities for younger people - opportunities she had as a child.
Last July, she launched the NP17 Academy, in conjunction with City of Liverpool College and Puma, where girls between the ages of 17 and 19 can earn a full-time Sport Development foundation degree, which mixes playing football with education. The 12-student, Year 1 group is now finishing and, as they head into Year 2, the program plans to offer education to more girls from different backgrounds for their new class in September.
Nikita Parris, who is playing in her first Women's World Cup, has been embraced by her England teammates and has become of the group's pranksters. AP Photo/Claude Paris
Brad Senar, who runs the course at City of Liverpool College, tutored Parris when she was a student there.
"This all stems from her as a person," Senar told ESPN. "She lives her life as she does on the pitch -- she's so focused and driven. ... When she's come into the academy, she [has been] stopped and asked where her badge was, as they thought she was a student. She's so engaging and what you see is what you get with her.
"We tried to tell Nikita to put into her Lyon contract that we could bring all the students from the academy over five times a year," Senar joked. "But, no ... we've got some plans lined up for progression, which Nikita will be heavily involved with from Lyon."
Her main message to the students is to believe in themselves and not let setbacks stand in the way of achieving their dreams. Parris passes on her own experiences, like back in 2015 when she was hopeful of going to the World Cup but was told by former coach Mark Sampson over a coffee -- she had hot chocolate -- that there was not a spot on the squad for her.
"That would've been fuel for Nikita ... as she does have that edge," Spence said. "She probably would've been, inside: raging, upset, disappointed, as she does play off emotion at times. ... She would've been determined that she wouldn't have that conversation again in the future as she would've ensured she was going to do everything possible to [make the next Women's World Cup team]."
Parris won't be getting carried away, it's not in her nature. She gave herself a "six or seven" out of 10 for her performance against Scotland. In England's next match, against Argentina, she will remember her missed penalty more than her impressive performance on the right flank. But she will compartmentalise the penalty-miss, dwell on it for a couple of days and then use it as motivation.
Regardless of where she ends up and where her career takes her, her heart will remain in Toxteth, where they remember the young Parris -- fiercely talented with that cheeky side.
"That nutmeg? She's been doing that since she was at college -- she always used to put the ball through the lads' legs in five-a-side in the sports hall," Senar said. "We always knew she was destined for greatness, but now the rest of the world gets to see it as well.
"We're super proud of her."
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Twin Studies and AST
April 1, 2017 Jeff/neighsayer
Pulled from Google:
phe·no·type
ˈfēnəˌtīp/
the set of observable characteristics of an individual resulting from the interaction of its genotype with the environment.
If I may, to state the simplest form of Nature plus Nurture above in an even shorter way –
Genes + Environment = Phenotype
– right? That’s the basis of it, isn’t it, and so the basis of the famous and never-ending twin studies? The opportunity to move genes around to different environments and see what changes and what stays the same?
Now, I’m not the first to point out that adoptable homes in adoption-capable countries are largely selected for similar socially acceptable reasons, but that’s just not clear enough; the problem is even more basic, and it’s in the definition above. The amazing, specific identical things that some of the separated twins showed that seemed to give all the power to the genetic side of the argument do the very opposite with more logic, prove the opposite.
These amazing parallels defy the phenotype equation, for starters. Either some of these behaviours and propensities are purely genetic, unaffected or unaffectable by environment, or the very impressiveness of the phenotypal match proves that there was no difference in the environment, at least no difference that would or could change that trait. Empirically. The same phenotype means same (relevant) genes and same relevant environment, by definition.
To my untutored mind, that looks like a huge fail. I’m sure the biologists have some long-assed answer that I’d need to be a geneticist or a statistician to argue with, but if they don’t have something to explain away the first rule, the basic syllogism, then . . . on the other hand, though, it’s an understandable conclusion, considering the setup. They move genes to new homes and hope they’ve made an environmental change, but really, we don’t know what it is that might have changed, do we? We’re black-boxing this “home environment” thing, we look at what we put in and what comes out as a sort of high level troubleshooting method, like how it’s done in electronic systems, when we can’t know the inner workings of some device. We really haven’t worked out what about the home environment does what . . . well, hadn’t, I mean. AST has, possibly.
The evidence has been right in front of us the whole time. There is no evidence for all the details of parenting styles, for anything “positive.” The evidence is for abuse, so that’s the environment factor that when we change it, we’ll see statistical results, changes in incidence of all that correlates with abuse, meaning problems. That is possibly the upshot of the adoptable home criteria as well: socially acceptable levels of structure, discipline, control, and abuse. When all that varies only within a narrow range, then it’s not going to matter how widely less important things vary.
Biologists, you want to convince us that parenting doesn’t matter? Change your test twins’ environment in a meaningful way, and there’s only one, level of abuse. You can’t arrange to have one tortured, so all you can do is try to raise some separated twins without discipline and punishment, that’s legal, I think.
Either that, or you’re going to have to explain to us how all the experiments that you say proved the power of our genes seem to disprove your most basic rule.
I don’t know why people never understand me in this way: this is a question, I have posed a problem here, and I’m looking for an answer, an explanation, an argument, something. Silence indicates assent and submission in court, but I don’t think I can make that conclusion here on the interwebs.
April 1st., 2017
#antiparenting, abuse, child-rearing, evolution, evolutionary psychology, Nature VS Nurture, Psychology, social science, sociology, Uncategorizedsociology
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14 thoughts on “Twin Studies and AST”
Benjamin David Steele April 2, 2017 / 5:28 am
The problem is twin studies are some of the worst research one could possibly find. There is a near total lack of controls for even the most basic confounding factors. Many of the famous cases of twin similarities were twins that had already met and interacted before being studied.
We first need some good twin studies, of any variety. Then we could see about researching more specific issues like abuse. But I would argue that there is a lot more going on than abuse.
The Piraha is a case in point. They have a society that doesn’t fit our expectations in so many ways, not in terms of childrearing and not in terms of how children turn out. That seems to indicate that we have utterly failed to correctly understand our own human nature.
How is it a society like the Piraha can apparently lack any evidence of spanking/beating, trauma, addiction, depression, anxiety, suicide, long period of young child dependency on parents, teen rebellion, etc? The Piraha in some ways may seem to live a harsh and stoic lifestyle, but they appear to be relaxed, happy, friendly, and forgiving.
Most modern Westerners have assumed that such a society is impossible, that it contradicts human nature. Still, the Piraha go on existing, unconcerned about our beliefs about human nature.
Jeff/neighsayer April 2, 2017 / 7:53 am
you get this point, though, right? They have declared that they changed one of the two things, environment, and when the same phenotype results, they ignore that logically, that requires the same everything.
Yeah, I get that point. But it went over my head before, in the significance you were giving it. That does hit upon the crux of the matter. Even the same genes won’t express in the same way without also the same environment.
That goes back to such things as epigenetics, the longstanding impact of environment in determining which genes will be expressed and how. That issue touches upon why twin studies have failed to offer any satisfying evidence for much of anything, no matter what theory one prefers.
You’re suggesting the possibility of doing a twin study that would lead to interesting results. But I might suggest animals studies would be preferable for proving the most basic points, as animals also rear their children. Scientists can’t take thousands of genetically identical mice and create identical environments. Then they can maybe alter the brains of some of the mice mothers so that they act more aggressively toward their pups.
Even then, it would require great care to get at any valid results. I think I’ve shared that one study with you where they repeated the exact same study to the exact same precise detail, using genetically identical mice. Yet surprisingly different results were observed that couldn’t be explained by any known and controllable factors. Obviously, there were tiny differences in the environment that could not be detected, even as they had fairly large impacts on the development and behavior of the mice.
This is why human research is problematic. It’s impossible, in human research, to even come close to the controls used in this kind of animal research. Then among human research, twin studies are the least controlled of them all. It’s not that we’ve failed to do worthy research for a lack of trying. We simply don’t at present know how to create the controls that would be necessary. We are barely at the early stage of figuring out how to do this kind of research.
It’s really amazing, all that literature, all that work around the twin studies, and the very first part of the premise so badly flawed. That’s the parasitic social meme, though. We seem to make a point of misunderstanding it in the most basic way, as I’ve been saying, good for bad, violent for civilized. That’s a solid point about animal studies. It was a mouse or rat study that originally started the study of stress at all, I’m just cracking Sapolsky’s book, Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers. Need to brainstorm it a little, try to imagine what sort of test might actually address the point, “parenting,” somehow, do something to the adult mice, drug them or something to make them meaner, or nicer to their kids. Yes, that attempt to replicate, when chaos theory asserts itself at those identical sites. That was a bit of a mind-blower. That was a genius experiment itself, wasn’t it? Test for chaos, empirically. I think it was an accident, right, they were trying for identical environments and results, weren’t they? So the genius part of the experiment wasn’t the human bit, so much, it just worked out to a genius setup.
I don’t know what the intended purpose of that research was. It might have been studying replicability itself. The identical studies were done simultaneously at multiple labs in different cities in the United States. They controlled for everything, even the brand of lights used in the lab. They were trying to control the studies more than is even typically done, just to see what would result. One of the scientists involved must have had some suspicions about replicability, probably from years of experience doing research.
I think chaos theory is the one that says “there are more things under the sun that are dreamt of in your philosophy . . . ” It’s just cool, an experiment that proves the theory that destroys experiments . . .
Jared Diamond mentions the Piraha in one of his books, The World Until Yesterday.
The Piraha don’t have any formal system of community sanction or punishment. Everything in Piraha society operates on a level of relationships. There is no hierarchy of authority, no governing body, no group of elders to tell anyone else what to do. Still, they maintain social norms.
There is an incident that Diamond mentions. A Piraha teenager killed a member of a neighboring tribe. He was ostracized, although Diamond doesn’t make clear what that means. I doubt he was forced out, but most likely he became a non-entity to the Piraha.
The people he once knew as family and friends stopped relating to him or doing anything with him. He was a pariah. It probably didn’t need to be enforced beyond the personal level. He had acted outside of Piraha norms and so, to the other Piraha, he was no longer Piraha.
That Piraha teenager left the village. He lived alone for a period of time before dying. Diamond states that it was claimed that he died of a cold, but he speculates he was killed. Unless Everett is wrong in his years of observation, it is unlikely the teenager was killed. Where the Piraha live, it is extremely dangerous and little healthcare. Piraha die all the time and an isolated Piraha surviving on his own wouldn’t likely last long.
That is a great incentive for social conformity, with no need for social forms of violence and punishment. Exclusion would not only mean death of your social identity but likely physical death as well. In being excluded, that teenager probably fell into depression and simply died of loneliness. It might be the only condition under which a Piraha becomes depressed.
I don’t know how that relates to this post. I guess it could be considered an aspect of childrearing. This involved a teenager, but I don’t know how young he was. Maybe it demonstrates Piraha childrearing. There are ways of controlling behavior without overt punishment. It wasn’t what anyone did to this teenager but what they refused to do, that is interact with him.
Maybe that is what happens to Piraha children as well. If they did something contrary to social norms, they maybe have social attention withdrawn. That is powerful to a child, as they long for social attention. That would be even more true for such an intimate society as that of the Piraha where their entire society is built on personal relationships.
I ain’t feeling argumentative, it’s just where the conversation goes, but I gotta tell you, having recently been shunned by my family group and made a pariah, that ain’t gentle. They killed that boy, plain as day. I expect if I can’t find a way out of this stress, I’m not gonna last long either.
and in this state of mind, I gotta go out now and find a place to live, convince someone I’d be a good fit in their suite, LOL. Wish me luck. Back later.
I agree with you. That is part of my point. It is real punishment, just not physical punishment. But as far as I know ostracism was rare in Piraha society. That is the only example I’ve heard of, in reading about them. It requires something extreme like murder before ostracism occurs. Otherwise, they seem to be rather forgiving. There are three other examples I can think of.
In the first, some Piraha got drunk because a trader gave them alcohol and they became violent and threatening, but the Piraha in the community simply disappeared for a while until they passed out and that was the end of it. In another example, a married man slept with another woman and his wife gently chastised him, although it seemed rather playful and the husband submitted to being held down by his wife for the rest of the day, even as he was a powerful hunter who could have got up at any moment and left. The third example involved a man killing his brother’s dog and the brother, while acknowledging it was wrong, put greater value on their relationship.
In none of those cases was there any form of societal punishment. It was entirely resolved on a personal level or else simply ignored on a personal level. Going by Everett’s writings, I’d assume murder is extremely rare in Piraha society, as they aren’t known for normally being aggressive and violent. It’s their non-violent tendencies that led them to ostracize the boy because, if they didn’t, it might have led to conflict with the other tribe and that could have meant tribal war or violent feuding.
There always has to be some way to enforce social norms, either personally or through societally, either violently or non-violently. The Piraha prefer the personal and non-violent. Still, it is surely an unhappy experience for the Piraha who transgresses social norms. Then again, that is true of any society. In the US, if a person transgresses social norms in an extreme way, they will likely end up institutionalized or homeless, sometimes dead when they transgress the wrong people such as an authority figure or onto someone’s private property.
In your case, I assume that you haven’t transgressed so far as to be banished from all of society. The suite your looking for probably won’t be a shack in the woods where you will become a hermit. But if so, there may be worse fates. I’ve always sort of wanted to be a hermit. It was a fantasy I had when younger, based on watching too many tv shows like “Gentle Ben” and “Grizzly Adams”. I dreamed of escaping social norms and expectations along with all of society.
Anyway, good luck on your new life! The nice thing about our society is that it is so large and diverse. If you lose one social network, you can always gain a new one. It sure can be a challenge, though.
Jeff/neighsayer April 2, 2017 / 3:40 pm
first thing – I think ‘death or exile’ was the option generally in the ancient world, like at least up until classical times, something I read about jails in classical Athens. If you killed someone, you’d be considered a danger and be killed, or the jail was easily escapable and you could run off to another city and maybe start a new life. Only possible with town-sized populations, I guess, that Piraha kid had no-where to go. No shared culture, no melting pot in their world.
Yeah, I think it was my and my family’s non-violent tendencies that leads us to ostracize one another too, maybe . . .
I swear to God, B., my transgressions are thought crimes, verbal crimes, all social stuff. I raised my voice a few times, I complained that they weren’t treating me right (my wife and young adult daughters), and that was it, it was over. It’s a little more complicated, but basically. I treated them too nice, I guess, there was no room for me to have a feeling about them, no room for me to be anything but happy. It should have been their adjustment, their transition to adulthood, but the wife stepped in to stop any of that and I’m out . . . it’s personal shit here, don’t feel the need to take anything on, no worries.
Benjamin David Steele April 2, 2017 / 5:42 pm
I suppose, prior to more complex societies, death or exile would have been a fairly typical way of dealing problems. It intrigued me that, when Socrates was given the choice of death or exile, he chose death. Exile apparently was a far worse fate to his mind, as he had spent his entire life in Athens and it was all he knew. To be exiled would have meant social death and he probably would have died of depression and despair.
Other Greeks, though, seemed to have dealt with exile just fine and were able to join other Greek societies or else later on to be allowed to return to their home. Socrates was older and he probably thought there was no point in trying to start a new life at that point. Ostracism does suck. Relationships can take a lifetime to develop. And there is nothing more important than family, especially in a society like ours where community has taken on a lesser role.
I’m sorry to hear about your troubles. I haven’t been in that kind of situation, but it’s not hard for me to sympathize with feeling alone. I also sympathize with the demands of others that one should be happy, as if it is a social obligation never to show unpleasant emotions. Hiding what I feel isn’t an option with my depression… nor should it be. That is an unfair and uncaring expectation to place on another.
Everyone deals with their own issues. The reason some people can’t face normal human emotions in others is because they can’t acknowledge those normal human emotions in themselves. Instead, those repressed emotions get projected onto others and sometimes that means scapegoating someone, such as ostracizing them. It’s not a psychologically healthy way of relating. We live in a society where there are many people who are like this. Few of us ever are taught how to process our own emotional experience and maturely respond to the emotional experience of others.
There are many crippled in the world. The trick is to find people who have personal issues that are compatible with your own personal issues.
I read the Death Of Socrates. He was in an argument with the city elders or something, and he was taking the stance that he was more dedicated to and more a part of the city than they were, so I guess he had to put his money where his mouth was. Something like that, i forget exactly. I think he wanted a measure of martyrdom, to embarrass someone.
Jeff/neighsayer April 26, 2017 / 4:08 pm
just re-read the personal bits, thanks, B.
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Home / Consumer Topic / Angry Child? Fix the Behavior, Not the Feelings
Angry Child? Fix the Behavior, Not the Feelings
by James Lehman, MSW
Many parents make the mistake of assuming that since their child's behavior is connected to their feelings, fixing the feelings will fix the behavior. Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth. It's critical for parents to understand that processing your child's feelings while they are happening is not constructive. Children become overwhelmed with emotions, and by the time they're feeling angry or resentful, you're already way into a negative situation. The time to teach kids about fire safety is not when the curtains are burning. In the same way, appropriate behavior is best learned before the crisis. And make no bones about it, if your child is screaming, yelling or punching things, you are already in crisis mode. I like to remind parents that the Chinese symbol for crisis is a combination of the characters for "danger" and "opportunity." So when your child acts out, although it's a dangerous situation, also remember that it presents a good opportunity for learning to take place.
Many parents try to deal with their child's emotions first because they believe that's where the bad behavior is coming from. If your child gets angry and smashes his sister's dollhouse, asking him, "Why did you get angry?" or "Why did you do that?" is ineffective. It focuses on the emotion or the act itself, not the child's thinking behind the behavior, which is what you really need to address. Your goal is to help your child solve the problem from which his feelings emanate, the thinking that sparks the emotion. The key is to focus on the underlying thinking and the faulty problem-solving that triggers the whole crisis.
It's important to acknowledge that most kids solve problems by being compliant. For instance, when you tell one child, "You can't ride your bike, it's too close to dinner," that child might shrug and say, "OK," and come into the house. But some kids solve problems by being defiant. If you tell another child exactly the same thing, he might answer you with, "I don't care. Ben rides his bike! Why do I have to do this?" He starts raising his voice, getting more and more frustrated and angry. The underlying thought for the kid who acts out is probably something like, "This isn't fair, you don't have the right to stop me, other parents let their kids do it," or some other thought which triggers a negative emotional response. Focusing this kid on his feelings of anger and frustration will not change his behavior.
Instead, you have to focus him on the original thought or perception that made him think your direction wasn't fair, and the inappropriate behavior he used to solve the problem of "fairness." In life, the problem for everyone - including your child - is that things are not always going to feel fair. There's injustice in life, and injustice leads to frustration. Or there are times when you want to do something, but it's just not the right time. And that can lead to frustration and anger for your child if he doesn't process it the right way.
How do you start effecting this change in your child's perceptions? The next time your child acts out, instead of asking him why he did it, try saying, "Let's look at what you do when you get angry." That way, you're teaching him that he's angry and getting him to look at what he's doing with the anger. The primary goal of behavioral change is to get people to do something different when they're upset, angry, or afraid. The next step is to ask, "The next time this happens, what can you do differently?" Don't try to tell him, "You shouldn't feel this way," or "Those feelings aren't valid." Just say, "The next time you feel this way, what can you do differently?" It's a very different process than the one that begins with "Why do you feel that way?" or "Why did you do that?" When you ask those questions, you're going to get all the excuses and justifications which are so detrimental to actual problem-solving.
Make the shift. Focus on your child's thinking, not his emotions. This is the most powerful step you can make toward changing his behavior.
Angry Child? Fix the Behavior, Not the Feelings reprinted with permission from Empowering Parents.
Author: James Lehman is a behavioral therapist and the creator of The Total Transformation® Program for parents. He has worked with troubled children and teens for three decades. James holds a Masters Degree in Social Work from Boston University.
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Saturn Apollo Program
U.S. President Richard Milhous Nixon (center), aboard the U.S.S. Hornet aircraft carrier, used binoculars to watch the Apollo 11 Lunar Mission Recovery. Standing next to the President is astronaut Frank Borman, Apollo 8 Commander. The recovery operation took place in the Pacific Ocean where Navy para-rescue men recovered the capsule housing the 3-man Apollo 11 crew. The crew was airlifted to safety aboard the U.S.S. Hornet where they were quartered in a Mobile Quarantine Facility (MQF) for 21 days post mission. The Apollo 11 mission, the first manned lunar mission, launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida via the Saturn V launch vehicle on July 16, 1969 and safely returned to Earth on July 24, 1969. The Saturn V vehicle was developed by the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) under the direction of Dr. Wernher von Braun. Aboard were Neil A. Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, Command Module (CM) pilot; and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., Lunar Module (LM) pilot. The CM, piloted by Michael Collins remained in a parking orbit around the Moon while the LM, named “Eagle’’, carrying astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, landed on the Moon. Armstrong was the first human to ever stand on the lunar surface, followed by Edwin (Buzz) Aldrin. During 2½ hours of surface exploration, the crew collected 47 pounds of lunar surface material for analysis back on Earth. With the success of Apollo 11, the national objective to land men on the Moon and return them safely to Earth had been accomplished.
Title: Saturn Apollo Program
Rights: MSFC
Album: rlobrie1
Depicts similar person
Wernher von Braun
Depicts related event
PRESS CONFERENCE - GEMINI-TITAN VII
ASTRONAUT MICHAEL COLLINS - TRAINING - WATER EGRESS (GEMINI-TITAN [GT]-10) - GULF
APOLLO X - CREW TRAINING
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Microsoft Co-Founder and Visionary Paul G. Allen Dies at 65
Oct 9, 02 / Oct 16, 18
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Paul G. Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft whose vision brought personal computers into homes all around the world, died in Seattle this Monday at age 65. Along with co-founder Bill Gates, Mr. Allen is responsible for the shift in the use of a personal computer from that by a few to a mainstream technology relied upon by businesses and individuals. “Personal computing would not have existed without him,” said Mr. Gates.
“In his own quiet and persistent way, he created magical products, experiences and institutions, and in doing so, he changed the world,” said Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s current chief executive.
The wealth Mr. Allen accumulated as a result of Microsoft success fueled his innovative and philanthropic activities. He donated more than $2 billion to nonprofits in the science, technology, education and environmental sectors. He also funded the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence in 2014.
In 2011, Allen announced the launch of StratoLaunch Systems, with the goal of creating a new air launch into the orbital system.
Space exploration was among his interests. In 2004, in a joint venture with Burt Rutan’s Scaled Composites, SpaceShipOne was launched, becoming the first privately funded effort to put a civilian in suborbital space. The same year, the joint venture won the $10 million Ansari X Prize for developing the first NGO launch of a reusable manned spacecraft into space.
In 2011, Allen announced the launch of StratoLaunch Systems, with the goal of creating a new air launch into the orbital system. The company is yet another joint venture between Paul G. Allen and Scaled Composite, a scaled-up version of SpaceShipOne. There are three components of the mobile launch system: a carrier aircraft built by Scaled Composite, a multi-stage payload launch vehicle, and an integration system.
Just a few days ago, StratoLaunch announced that the world’s biggest airplane moved one step closer to its first flight after it did its latest round of taxi tests at California’s Mojave Air and Space Port at speeds as fast as 80 mph. Takeoff is projected to happen at a speed of 140 mph, and those tests are coming soon.
And while the world mourns the death of the visionary, inventor and philanthropist, the fact that his legacy lives on – through Microsoft and StratoLaunch’s planes for test flights in 2019 – may offer some solace.
Week 07.10-14.10
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Breaking News: ISS Crew Survives Rocket Crash
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You are at:Home»Uncategorized»Documents boost EEO defense
Documents boost EEO defense
By on February 21, 2010 Uncategorized
Any manager who has ever gone to the agency’s human resources office to get help with a problem employee has heard the question, “Where’s your documentation?”
Documentation is just as important for a manager who has been or who might be accused of discrimination in an equal employment opportunity case, but there’s a twist.
In the EEO arena, the manager is in a reactive mode. There are times and methods and uses of documenting in an EEO case that can significantly decrease the likelihood that a manager will be found guilty of discrimination.
The fundamental difference between taking a disciplinary or adverse action against a problem employee and defending an EEO case lies in the burden of proof. In an adverse action, the manager must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the adverse action was justified. In an EEO case, a manager need only state legitimate, business reasons for a decision that becomes the subject of an EEO complaint.
The manager has no burden of proof, but only a burden of articulation. The employee can prevail only if he or she can show that the manager’s articulated business reason was a pretext for discrimination. However, the manager’s credibility is demonstrated and strengthened through the effective use of documentation.
Let’s examine the use of documentation in a nonselection-for-promotion case, one of the more frequent reasons for the filing of an EEO complaint.
The first step for a manager is putting something in writing as soon as possible detailing the reason for the selection decision. The more contemporaneous a document, the more credible it will be. The initial documentation can be informal via an e-mail from the selecting manager to him or herself giving reasons for the selection. The e-mail can also be sent to the HR office. The format matters less than the timing and level of detail.
A manager who makes a controversial promotion selection decision is well-advised to put down specific reasons for the selection of one candidate over others. The following types of statements are not sufficient: “Three candidates were referred to me, and I was told I could select any of them, and I chose John” or “John interviewed better than Mary” or “In my opinion, John was more qualified than Mary.”
Instead, give detailed reasons why John’s experience, knowledge or demonstrated abilities showed him to be the better candidate. No one will argue with or dispute a truthful, detailed reason for a decision.
A manager who fails to document the reasons for a nonselection or other personnel action that is later the subject of an EEO complaint will receive a second chance. Within about a month and a half of the selection, the selecting official will receive a call from the EEO counselor requesting a meeting or telephone conference to discuss the selection decision. The manager should then prepare a detailed memo justifying the selection.
The manager need not show the memo to the EEO counselor, but in discussion with the counselor should give reasons that are consistent with the memo. The manager should prepare a document summarizing the discussion with the EEO counselor, keeping in mind that the counselor will also be preparing a report about the meeting that the manager may never see.
At later stages in the EEO process, the manager will be asked to make a statement to an investigator and to testify at a deposition and hearing or trial. A prudent manager will review the earlier documentation at each of these steps to assure consistency in testimony.
Human memories fade and change over time. A manager who makes good, well-documented decisions may, years later, remember details in a different way.
The lawyer on the other side may then impeach the manager by showing inconsistencies with earlier statements.
Remember: Early, detailed documentation that is maintained, easily located and reviewed will assure credible consistency and the likelihood of prevailing in an EEO case.
Bill Bransford is managing partner of Shaw, Bransford & Roth in Washington. He serves as general counsel to the Senior Executives Association, Federal Managers Association and other professional associations. He co-hosts the “FEDtalk” program on Federal News Radio on 1500AM in the Washington, D.C., area. E-mail your legal questions to lawyer@federaltimes.com and view his blog at blogs.federaltimes.com/federal-law.
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Hi bye goosyb history
By benj
Global Markets Final Exam: The Principles Launch Introduction to Italy In order to ensure a successful launch for Principles in Italy, Proctor and Gamble (P&G) needs to tailor their marketing strategies to the culture of Italy. While experiences from Principles launches throughout the world can be helpful, there is no guarantee that Principles can achieve the same level of success in Italy. P&G has a very unique and popular product in Principles, but it will require a correct marketing strategy focusing on Italian consumers in order to be successful.
Italy is clearly different from other European countries. Some large brands that are popular throughout Europe, such as Nikkei, have become extremely popular in Italy. Certain brands such as Neutral and VESA have achieved this level of success only in Italy. On the other hand, some U. S. Leading products such as Kellogg cereals and Pepsi- cola sodas achieved success throughout Europe, but not in Italy. This demonstrates that Just because P&G’s marketing strategy has worked in other European countries, it doesn’t mean that its current strategy will work in Italy.
Italy vs.. Europe P&G’s management should look at Principles launches in other European countries to alp prepare for the Italian launch. At the same time, they need to recognize that Italy is very different from these other countries. P first achieved success in the U. K. And Germany, countries where consumption patterns were similar to those in the North American market. Principles began to expand into the southern European market as well, where launches in Spain and Greece both achieved success. In southern Europe, consumption patterns were entirely different.
Rather than grabbing market share for the snack market, these countries required Principles to try to modify the consumption habits of consumers. For example, Italy eats a larger percentage of their meals at home (77% for lunch, 90% for dinner) compared to the US (< 50%). This clearly translates into less snack food consumption and an immediate less favorable outcome for Pringles. Another issue with Italian consumption habits is the widespread perception that potato chips are unhealthy. These cultural differences must be addressed to a greater degree than elsewhere.
In Principles ads, P should attempt to emphasize the benefits and fun associated with snacking (as done in the current ads), because the Italian market is not necessarily familiar with these concepts. In the future, P may also consider marketing Low-Fat/Healthier brands of Principles in Italy, to deal with the health-conscious consumers. Test launches have been run in other European countries such as Spain and Germany before their launches of Principles. Both Spain and Germany have experienced success with Principles. The market test results of Italy can be compared to those of Spain and Germany to gain projections on future outcomes.
The market tests results came out very favorably for Principles (See Exhibit 24). Results from purchase intention, value rating, and likeability were all at least as good as those in Spain and Germany. Given that Principles was very successful in both of these countries, it looks like it is definitely possible for the same to occur in Italy. Market tests revealed that Italian consumers launch initially, both BBC and Paprika were successful, with BBC seeming more innovative and Paprika seeming more reassuring for regular consumption.
P should definitely attempt to expand flavors in Italy over time, but if the added costs of expanding flavor lines is too high initially (additional fixed costs > additional demand generated), Paprika may be the safest initial flavor because it will generate repeat researches, which will aid in building the brand and reputation of Principles in Italy. Consumption Trend While the amount of potato chip consumption in Italy may be lower than that of other markets, the trend of that consumption in Italy should be analyzed to see if there will likely be growth in the future.
Potato Chip consumption has been increasing in Italy since 1994 (See Exhibit 19). From 1994 to 1998, Per-capita consumption in Italy (keg/ capita) went from . 76 to . 85. While consumption of other salted snacks increased as well, they did not increase to the degree that potato chips did. Potato chips are the largest salty snack category in Europe and it continues to increase. Total annual potato chip consumption increased 12. 6% in volume and 20. 8% in value over this time period. Health freaks are decreasing (32% to 28. 4% from 1994 to 1997) while followers are increasing (35. % to 394%) (See Exhibit 22). These changes look like good news for Principles. Potato chips, as well as other salty snacks, are consistently becoming more popular in Europe and Italy. If this trend continues, the market size should continue to grow, providing more opportunities for Principles. Sweet snack eave been significantly more successful than salty snacks in Italy. Sweet snacks have had a strong focus on consumer needs, constant innovation of product and packaging, and heavy investments in advertising and trade promotion. Salty snacks currently do not do this.
If P can apply these marketing strategies to the salty snack market, they may find that it has Just as much untouched potential as the sweet snack market. Competition When entering a market, P must look at its competitors. What are the traits off successful competitor? How will P differentiate themselves from competitors to steal their market share? San Carlo owns the largest market share of the salty snack market in Europe, with about 25% of the market (See Exhibits 8-11). It owns about an equal share in the percent of salty snacks at both the retail and catering/bar sectors.
When looking at potato chips specifically, San Carlo is even bigger in Italy, owning 45% of the market at retail and 42% at catering/bar sectors. What contributes to San Carol’s success? One of the main things looks to be its distribution setup. With over 160 warehouses and 1300 direct salespeople selling to stores, this distribution system seems to be its competitive advantage. P&G must ensure that it can match this distribution system if it wants to someday gain some of San Carol’s market share. Another competitor, Babbles Italian Sir, is selling a product very similar to Principles – chips in a tube.
Why will Principles be more successful than this company, who owns less than 2% of the market? P is confident that Principles is a unique product that is better than existing alternatives in Italy. Market tests have revealed that most consumers agree (See Exhibit 25). P must make these advantages clear to potential Italian consumers. P may be able to use its expertise to better market the brand to the Italians. Another potential advantage is P’s already existing throughout Europe in the past and should be able to use some of the same resources and knowledge to produce Principles in large quantities.
P&G will have to make tough adjustments, though, because snack products are often consumed away from home in alternative channels such as hotels, restaurants, and catering. P&G currently is not set up for this system, but will require it in order to experience any success. Making the investments to make Principles available at places like bars and cafeterias (which represent about 25% of sales) will be well worth it in the long-run (See Appendix 1 for investment costs). P&G should look into the marketing strategies of its competitors as well.
San Carlo had about a 36% share in voice in 1998, proving that its marketing skills may be part of the reason of its success. Babbles had about 7%, compared to 0% the past 3 years. This signifies that Babbles is starting to advertise its product, making it important for Principles to enter the market as soon as possible. A marketing strategy should involve a high number of advertisements in order to match the success of San Carlo. Age Distribution The age distribution of consumers is important to understand in marketing Principles in Italy as well.
P&G should look at both what age are those who actually consume the product, and what age are those who buy the product. In both the U. S. And the U. K. , those who actually eat Principles tend to fall within the 10-34 age range. However, those who decide/buy the product tend to be between 18-44. Italy is different in that kids aged 5-12 consume more than in the other countries. The decision influence, however, is similar to other countries, with ages 13-44 having the most “decided” volume per year. This tells us that this age range contains the people who are actually buying the product, whether or not they consume it.
Marketing methods could be adjusted to target these kids more, but it is still most important to target those who have the decision influence. Thus it is recommended that P&G attempt to target the younger population to a higher degree than in other countries. The cost of GRIP for the 4-14 age group is actually less than 50% of the cost of GRIP for the 15-44 age group, resulting in savings. At the same time, we recommend a new advertisement, requiring significant investment, to target this age group (See Appendix 1 for advertisement costs) Advertisement Content One way to analyze a country culture is through Hopefulness 5 forces.
In designing ads for Principles, P&G will want to take into account Italy’s position within each of these 5 forces. Current marketing strategy by competitors includes ads that show young people gathering to snack on products, often referencing U. S. Culture. These ads fit with Italy’s high level of individualism (DIVIDE). Other features of Italy include high masculinity (MASS), high uncertainty avoidance (AJAX), and low long-term orientation (L TO). High MASS implies that Italy is a competitive society, high I-JAG implies that Italians do not like unexpected scenarios, and a low L TO implies that
Italians are more short-term oriented. Future advertisements should look to apply to these cultural values of Italy. Italy also should carefully consider how it plans to newspapers, indicating that TV ads would likely be more effective than newspaper ads. These strategies should be used in creating ads in the future. Pricing It is recommended that Principles follow the recommended price of 2990 Lire. While, this may not be a good choice in the long-run as a result of a low profit margin, it will attract a lot of first time users who will then become repeat customers.
Prices eave been on an upward trend (See Exhibit 5), and thus price increases can be made in the future if they are determined to be needed (See Appendix 1 for pricing effects). P&G will likely want to utilize price discrimination in order to optimize its profits in different regions with different demographics in Italy. P&G likely has data on the demographics of Italy from its other businesses and studies can be carried out to find how demographics affect potato chip consumption. Promotions are a valuable tool P&G can use to help begin to develop a strong Principles brand in Italy.
A strong rand presence, linking the consumer to the product, will lead Principles on the path of long-term success. Promotions are especially important early on. Getting a customer to buy Principles once will potentially make them a lifelong customer. Through word of mouth, every customer is also a form of free advertising for the company. Smaller packaging has proven to improve volume of sales, and thus should be used at this stage of the launch. Initially, pricing decisions may be adjusted in order to expose as many people to the product as possible. One possible option for P&G to consider is an acquisition of a similar brand in
Italy. P&G has had a lot of success with acquisitions in the past, and should keep its eye open for potential targets. For example, a company that has a good distribution system to the non-retail outlets, something that P&G currently lacks, may be a good investment. Uniqueness With other products similar to Principles not having much success, it is very important that Principles emphasizes what makes it unique in order to develop a good brand reputation and to attract customers. Conclusion The limitations on this analysis include the lack of data provided regarding profits, ales, and costs in other countries.
With further data, more cause and effect relationships could be determined to help analyze how a new strategy will affect sales, etc. In the future, P&G should continue to adjust its marketing strategy to find what works best for Italy. In summary, P&G should look to further target the 5-12 age group through an additional TV advertisement focused on younger kids. The Paprika flavor, as well as original and SC&O should be introduced rapidly at the price recommended (2,990 Lire) in order to build a brand and attract repeat customers.
Essay Papers. (July 2019). Hi bye goosyb history. Retrieved from https://benjaminbarber.org/hi-bye-goosyb-history-2/
“Hi bye goosyb history.” benjaminbarber.org. 07 2019. 07 2019. .
Essay Papers. July 2019. Hi bye goosyb history. [online]. Available from: https://benjaminbarber.org/hi-bye-goosyb-history-2/ [Accessed 16 July 2019].
Essay Papers. Hi bye goosyb history [Internet]. July 2019. [Accessed 16 July 2019]; Available from: https://benjaminbarber.org/hi-bye-goosyb-history-2/.
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2016 Research Annual Report
Accelerating Breakthroughs
Frontier Programs Create New Paths for Research Discovery and Clinical Care
Frontiersmen historically are a rare breed of adventurers willing to brave the unknown in order to discover new paths. The physician-researchers who are leading new Frontier Programs at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia embody this pioneering spirit as they forge ahead to help children achieve optimal health and better lives.
The Frontier Programs initiative at CHOP designates funding to large internal programs that connect translational research and clinical care in extraordinary ways. This spring, 19 programs applied, and after a rigorous review process, the oversight panel selected two outstanding programs: the Thoracic Insufficiency Syndrome (TIS) Program and the Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Program.
Breathing Easier: Thoracic Insufficiency Syndrome Program
TIS encompasses a group of at least 28 rare and potentially fatal disorders in which spinal and chest wall deformities early in life compromise children’s lung growth and ability to breathe. Robert Campbell, MD, director of the Center for Thoracic Insufficiency Syndrome (CTIS) at CHOP and an attending surgeon, invented the first FDA-approved Vertical Expandable Prosthetic Titanium Rib (VEPTR device) that enables surgical reconstructive procedures to enlarge these children’s rib cages and help to correct scoliosis to increase their chances of lung growth.
As VEPTR has become the standard of care for treating TIS, CTIS has treated more patients and more acute cases from all over the world and increased surgical volume for patients with TIS by an average of 15 percent every year since 2012 at CHOP. The need for more TIS research has grown along with the Center.
Being named a Frontier Program will allow Dr. Campbell and a multidisciplinary team of specialists to perform sophisticated imaging, construct new metrics for clinical outcomes, better understand the biomechanics of TIS, and establish reliable evidence to support new surgical strategies and develop new medical devices.
“The Frontier funding supports programs that are clinically robust and have the potential for rapid advancement,” Dr. Campbell said. “It’s like getting a turbo charger. It’s hard to win the race if you don’t have one.”
CTIS hit the starting line with about 20 research projects that are underway. For four years, Dr. Campbell and his colleagues have collaborated with Jayaram Udupa, PhD, a professor of Radiologic Science from the University of Pennsylvania Department of Radiology Medical Image Processing Group, to develop dynamic lung magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) image analysis as a way to measure thoracic performance — which is how well the thorax, spine, and rib cage work in combination — before and after surgical intervention for TIS. The research team will refine and scientifically validate this new assessment technique in correlation with pulmonary function.
In order to get a complete view of the anatomy in these unusual diseases that the CTIS treats, the research team also collaborates with Sriram Balasubramanian, PhD, an associate professor in the School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems at Drexel University, to perform detailed software analysis of computed tomography (CT) scans of patients, which shows bone better than MRIs.
Together, these approaches will be the basis for the CTIS’ advanced imaging research program. One of the investigators’ first projects is called the Virtual Growing Child, which will help to establish normative data for comparative analysis. Quantifying the degree of dysfunction in the rib cage and diaphragm will provide a new metric to define thoracic performance in TIS.
CTIS also is launching a basic science lab that will establish an animal model of TIS. Casey Olson, PhD, a medical bioengineer who recently joined the CTIS team, will be leading this research to better understand at an anatomic level how expanding these children’s chests promotes lung growth. This biological platform will help them to develop new devices and surgical methods that closely mimic thoracic function to treat TIS.
As this body of research forms the scientific basis for TIS surgical interventions, Dr. Campbell also is excited to pursue studies that focus on patients’ and families’ quality of life outcomes. Measuring these surgeries’ success goes beyond if the MRI and CT images look better, he pointed out. Many children who receive VEPTR devices are no longer dependent on oxygen support or mechanical ventilators. When these children can breathe easier, so can their parents, in many ways.
Dr. Campbell shared the example of a mother who had been sleeping every night at her son’s bedside so that she could suction him if he became congested or had mucus plugs in his lungs. As the surgery slowly allowed her son’s lungs to expand and move, he became more comfortable and could sleep through the night — and so could mom in her own bed.
“After treatment, these children feel better, are happier,” Dr. Campbell said. “They gain weight. They don’t go to the emergency room or intensive care unit as much, and they recover faster from illnesses. We don’t measure those type of things yet, but the Frontier funding will make it possible. We’re very appreciative of this. There are so many innovations at CHOP just waiting to happen.”
Making it Personal: Inflammatory Bowel Disease Program
Frontier funding will expand pediatric IBD care and research at CHOP, as an inventive multidisciplinary team takes a new approach that combines genomics and microbiome analysis to fulfill an unmet need for improved diagnostic modalities and therapeutics. IBD is a chronic autoimmune disease that includes Crohn disease and ulcerative colitis, and it has been rapidly increasing in incidence — especially among young children — mostly likely due to a complex combination of genetic and environmental factors.
The Center for Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease at CHOP is the largest of its kind in the country, providing care for more than 1,400 children and adolescents. Under the combined leadership of Robert Baldassano, MD, and Andrew Grossman, MD, co-directors of the Center for Pediatric IBD; and Judith Kelsen, MD, a pediatric gastroenterologist and researcher; the Frontier program will increase the Center’s size and scope to provide the most advanced comprehensive care to pediatric patients with IBD from the U.S. and internationally. At the same time, their scientific observations will generate novel insights into pediatric IBD, which often is harder to treat than older-onset IBD, and can have dramatic consequences including poor growth, malnutrition, and the need for intravenous feeding and surgeries.
“The bottom line is we’re trying to improve the care of children who are suffering with this disease all over the world,” Dr. Baldassano said. “We believe that the model we are creating will be used at other institutions five or 10 years from now.”
At the heart of this model is CHOP’s ability to provide personalized medicine for children with IBD. Patients treated by the Center for Pediatric IBD undergo next-generation sequencing to identify the genetic defects that may underlie their disease. This not only aids diagnosis, but it also suggests which medications have the best chance of being effective. Another benefit is that it provides CHOP the opportunity to develop new gene-based therapies.
For example, previous research by Dr. Baldassano and his colleagues at the Center for Applied Genomics at CHOP discovered that many children with pediatric IBD and other autoimmune diseases have loss of function mutations in a specific immune regulatory protein that dampens inflammation caused by a pro-inflammatory protein called LIGHT. As part of a CHOP collaboration with industry partners that was announced in June, Dr. Baldassano will help to test a potential therapy that would be a first-in-class anti-LIGHT monoclonal antibody that binds excessive LIGHT to help control inflammation in pediatric patients with IBD.
The Center for Pediatric IBD also aims to move science forward by analyzing patients’ microbiome, which is the community of microbes that live on and within your body (the bulk of these organisms live in the gut) and contribute to numerous biological functions. Growing evidence supports the idea that the microbiome helps drive inflammatory bowel disease in people who are genetically predisposed.
In order to better understand the intestinal environment associated with IBD and characterize the disease more comprehensively, the Center for Pediatric IBD collects stool samples from IBD patients and uses next generation sequencing techniques available through the PennCHOP Microbiome Program, which Dr. Baldassano also codirects, to sequence hundreds of microorganisms’ genomes. The researchers will establish microbiota signatures of subsets of pediatric IBD, and then they will correlate these key communities of bacteria with patients’ genetic variants to help select the most appropriate therapeutic options.
“We believe the future of treating IBD will require us to combine the microbial information with the genetic information to figure out how the immune system is being manipulated by both,” Dr. Kelsen said. “Ultimately, we want to really understand the individual person’s disease to provide optimal therapy.”
The Center for Pediatric IBD team’s national leadership in clinical, translational, and basic research in IBD is exemplified by its expertise in treating very-early onset IBD (VEO-IBD), which is IBD that presents before age 5. Children with VEO-IBD are a unique part of the IBD patient population because they frequently present with more severe symptoms and greater extent of GI tract involvement than older children and adults with IBD. In addition, these patients tend to respond poorly to conventional IBD therapies used for older patients.
Research led by Dr. Kelsen identified some of the underlying genetic causes of VEO-IBD that may allow for targeted therapy in these children. These gene variants appear to influence the immune system and may result in defective or inappropriate immune responses that contribute to the development of VEO-IBD. For many of the patients who Dr. Kelsen sees in the VEO-IBD clinic that she runs with Kathleen Sullivan, MD, PhD, chief of the division of Allergy and Immunology, they are now using therapies that are directed to diseases of the immune system, instead of prescribing traditional IBD drugs.
Dr. Kelsen shared the inspiring story of a young infant with a form of IBD who spent four months in CHOP’s ICU being cared for by specialists from gastroenterology, immunology, and rheumatology who were committed to figuring out why she was so gravely ill. They discovered that she had a gene defect that caused an overwhelming inflammatory response. The team received compassionate use permission from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to try an investigational drug that blocked that inflammatory process from happening. They recently described the patient’s case in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
“She went from an infant who was incredibly sick and couldn’t tolerate even an ounce of formula by mouth to a little girl who is now eating pizza and growing,” Dr. Kelsen said.
Dr. Kelsen and her colleagues expect to have many more success stories to tell, as the Center for Pediatric IBD at CHOP utilizes this multidisciplinary translational research approach to provide personalized therapy to more children worldwide. Already, they receive biospecimens from IBD patients nationally and internationally to perform sophisticated sequencing, analysis, and interpretation.
“We are incredibly excited,” Dr. Kelsen said. “This is an opportunity to provide better care and better science so that hopefully we can change the natural history of the disease.”
Valuable Lessons Learned From Research in Schools
Why are top-notch scientists at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia going back to school? They are conducting enlightening research projects — from implementing behavioral health interventions to analyzing what’s on school cafeterias’ menus — to ensure that students are prepared to learn and excel. Let’s take a look at some of the research in education that rose to the head of the class this year. (Now pay attention … there may be a quiz later!)
Empowering “Mean” Girls to Use Positive Social Influence
One of these thought-provoking projects is a small-group in-school educational program that teaches positive social skills, called Friend to Friend (F2F). F2F has been in development and testing for more than 15 years by Stephen Leff, PhD, co-director of the Violence Prevention Initiative (VPI) at CHOP and professor of Clinical Psychology in Pediatrics and Psychiatry in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, in collaboration with CHOP experts, students, parents, teachers, and other school stakeholders.
The program’s curricula and innovative teaching methods include videos, cartoons, and role-plays targeted to urban, ethnic minority girls. These educational tools are designed to help girls in third to fifth grade find friendlier alternatives to relational aggression, the set of behaviors colloquially known as “mean girl” behaviors that are often a component of bullying.
One year after a randomized controlled trial of F2F, participating relationally aggressive girls had sustained improvements in social behaviors, Dr. Leff and colleagues reported in the journal Psychology of Violence. Another CHOP study reported in the journal Behavior Modification showed benefits for the entire classroom environment. The program’s inclusion of a co-teaching role for girls to share their new friendship-focused skills with their classmates may have turned the greater social influence that many such “mean girls” often hold into a force for good. Through VPI, future directions for the program are focused on scaling F2F to reach more classrooms in more schools.
Program Helps Parents Find the Good in Bad Child Behavior
Joanne Wood, MD, MSHP, is an attending physician and faculty member in PolicyLab at CHOP, and she also is a mom who knows how stressful parenting can be when children are misbehaving. Dr. Wood and colleagues Philip Scribano, DO, MSCE and Steven Berkowitz, MD, in PolicyLab realized that, in some cases, negative and reactive parenting can lead to increased child behavior problems and downstream undesired effects on school readiness, academic outcomes, and behavioral health disorders.
“And really we want to keep kids from getting there,” said Dr. Wood, who is also an assistant professor of Pediatrics at Penn.
She found a promising tool to do so in a small-group parenting intervention called CARE, which she helped implement and evaluate during PolicyLab’s work with the city of Philadelphia helping caregivers in the foster care system. Through a combination of lectures with discussions, role plays, and other interactive elements, caregivers became familiar with positive parenting and stress-management skills for themselves and for their children.
Providing a six-week version of this program, called PriCARE, to parents of preschool-age children at CHOP’s primary care facility in South Philadelphia was effective at improving ratings of child behavior and improving parent attitudes. Dr. Wood and her colleagues reported these results in the journal Academic Pediatrics. They hope that with further study the program will prove to prevent children’s later problems in school or with mental health.
New Project Aims to Reduce Inner City Students’ Anxiety
When children from low-income, urban backgrounds start their school days, often their minds are already filled with weighty issues that can lead to anxiety disorders and aggressive and antisocial behavior. Unfortunately, counselors in inner city schools usually are scarce, overextended, and lack adequate training to provide effective behavioral health services.
Bringing mental health services to underserved schools and students has been the research focus of Ricardo Eiraldi, PhD, a psychologist in the department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and program director of the Behavioral Health in Urban Schools program at CHOP, for two decades. His latest project is to use a “train the trainer” approach to train mental health agency supervisors and therapists to provide cognitive-based therapy in schools and reduce behavior problems.
Dr. Eiraldi and his study team received a new grant this year from the National Institute of Mental Health to find effective approaches to build internal capacity within under-resourced schools in order to provide mental health services to children who present excessive anxiety. Thirty-six schools in Philadelphia will participate, and the researchers expect to enroll 90 therapists, a minimum of 18 clinical supervisors, and 360 students in grades four through eight. By the conclusion of the five-year grant, the study team aims to report on the children’s outcomes, implementation outcomes, and cost-effectiveness. The study protocol was published in the journal Implementation Science.
“Low income, ethnic, minority children are much less likely to receive high quality mental health services compared to those in the middle class who are not ethnic minorities, so schools can play a very major role in addressing mental health issues in children,” said Dr. Eiraldi, who also is an associate professor of Clinical Psychology in Pediatrics and Psychiatry at Penn.
In another study currently in its fourth year in six schools in Philadelphia, Dr. Eiraldi and colleagues are testing two levels of support provided to school personnel for the implementation of School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS), a service delivery framework used to improve school climate and children’s mental health. This project is described in detail in Implementation Science. In an article published in Behavior Modification, Dr. Eiraldi and his study team reported that a pilot study of SWPBIS showed children with a diagnosis of depression, anxiety, or behavior problems who received the small group–based services over 14 once-a-week sessions had a decrease in their diagnostic severity level.
Cafeteria Lunches Come With a Side of State Laws, But Are They Effective?
State and local lawmakers over the last few years have introduced healthy changes in the places where kids spend most of their day, most of the year: schools. Such laws take a range of approaches, such as requiring in-school nutrition education, restricting the sale of junk food in cafeterias and school vending machines, or requiring specific credentials for school food service directors. But there is limited data about the effectiveness of these policies.
A CHOP study published in Preventive Medicine examined nine types of such laws and identified two that were associated with decreased obesity, although the data couldn’t determine cause and effect. Deepak Palakshappa, MD, MSHP, an attending physician at CHOP, instructor in General Pediatrics at Penn, and faculty member in PolicyLab and the Center for Pediatric Clinical Effectiveness, and his colleagues’ main analysis looked at possible associations between the strength of state nutrition laws in 2010 and the weight of children age 10 to 17 in those states in 2011, controlling for state-level differences in children’s weight in prior years and for reported differences between children’s nutrition and physical activity that could affect their weight status outside of school.
Strong laws limiting the sales of unhealthy or junk foods in cafeterias, vending machines, and school stores (known as competitive food and beverage laws) had a significant association with lower obesity in the 10-year-old, elementary-aged children. And strong laws limiting food and beverage advertising in schools were associated with lower obesity in all ages of youth studied. The other seven categories of laws showed no significant associations.
Making a Better Connection for Children With Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Remember that experiment when you and your best friend made a telephone using just cups and some string? But when the string went slack, your conversation was lost. In much the same way, a poor connection exists between the two separate systems — healthcare and schools — that are involved with the treatment of children who have attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Alexander G. Fiks, MD, MSCE; Thomas J. Power, PhD; Robert W. Grundmeier, MD; Jeremy Michel, MD; and colleagues at the Center for Pediatric Clinical Effectiveness, PolicyLab, and the Department of Biomedical and Health Informatics at CHOP have developed an electronic portal called ADHD Care Assistant to help better coordinate communication between pediatricians and teachers, bringing their treatment plans into alignment with families’ goals.
“ADHD Care Assistant closes this barrier where there might be intermittent doctor-family communication sometimes, and it brings the teacher centrally into the conversation,” Dr. Fiks said.
The electronic portal helps to gather information from parents and teachers of children with ADHD on their symptoms, treatment, and medication side effects. They complete online check-in surveys using ADHD rating scales, and the results are shared with the children’s primary care physicians via the hospital’s electronic health record (EHR).
Findings from a feasibility study conducted across 19 primary care providers in CHOP’s network showed that 67 percent of providers activated the ADHD Care Assistant system for at least one patient, and 32 percent activated it for five or more cases. The results appeared in Advances in School Mental Health Promotion. In that article, the authors also discussed the challenges of developing the portal, such as meeting the needs of multiple school districts with different resources and policies about electronic information sharing.
“Our ongoing work is related to building relationships between the health system and the schools that enable there to be trust and understanding of what’s going to be accomplished on both ends so that information can move to the benefit of kids without encountering substantial barriers,” Dr. Fiks said.
A new clinical trial called Communication to Improve Shared-Decision Making in ADHD (ADHD-Link) led by James Guevara, MD, MPH, an attending physician at CHOP, an associate professor of Pediatrics and Epidemiology at Penn, and a founding member of PolicyLab, will explore whether using the online portal plus a care manager can help to improve care coordination. The care manager will contact families every three months during the study to discuss their child’s ADHD care and help to communicate their goals and preferences to the child’s physicians and teachers, identify new concerns, and problem-solve. Approximately 300 participants will be enrolled, and they will be randomly assigned to use either the EHR portal alone or the portal plus a care manager. The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute is providing funds for the study.
“Good health isn’t housed only in the health system,” said Dr. Fiks, who also is an ADHD-Link co-investigator. “It requires collaboration across school systems and engagement of a community.”
Seeing the Unseen to Change the Picture for Lymphatic Disorders
A baby born with fluid-filled body cavities and unusual swelling is a rare sight in neonatology, but experienced neonatologists know these chylous disorders can be dire. With few medical interventions available for these largely mysterious and often devastating conditions of the lymphatic system, these infants face a poor prognosis if the symptoms do not resolve on their own.
“Caring for neonates with lymphatic disorders can be very challenging given the limited understanding we have on these diseases,” said Dalal Taha, DO, an attending neonatologist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and assistant professor of Clinical Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. “We are beginning to see that change, now that we have the capability to perform advanced imaging.”
Interventional radiologist Maxim Itkin, MD, and pediatric cardiologist Yoav Dori, MD, PhD, are the pioneers behind new imaging techniques and minimally invasive interventions for lymphatic disorders. Their efforts have kick-started the rapid emergence of lymphatics as a new specialty in medicine and led to the establishment of the Center for Lymphatic Imaging and Interventions Program at CHOP and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP), directed by Dr. Itkin. They are showing that the lymphatic system plays an understudied role in many diseases, providing new ideas for minimally invasive treatments, and offering insights into fields from pulmonology to immunology. Neonatology is only one of these many specialties where the pair is beginning to make inroads with help from so-called “lymphomaniacs,” like Dr. Taha, who see the potential in their new approaches.
“Max and I have gone from department to department giving lectures and showing images, and we’re still doing this constantly,” said Dr. Dori, director of Pediatric Lymphatic Imaging and Interventions and Lymphatic Research at CHOP and assistant professor of Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine. “We’re trying to educate and get everybody up to speed about what we’re dealing with, what are these disease processes, and how to treat them.”
Imaging Drives Everything
The lymphatic system is a set of vessels throughout the body that collects fluids from soft tissues and organs, especially the liver and intestine. It carries those fluids to the thoracic duct, the largest lymphatic vessel, from which the fluid is transported back into the veins. But due to the vessels’ small size and unpredictable anatomy, older standard lymphatic imaging methods, which involve injecting imaging dye through a patient’s foot, are both difficult and time-consuming, while producing low-resolution and incomplete imaging of the flow of lymph through the body.
Drs. Itkin and Dori’s new methods to image the lymphatic system have revolutionized the potential for treatments in the way imaging innovations transformed treatments in many of the body’s other systems 50 years ago. The advent of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), arteriography, CAT scans, and other imaging technologies in the 1960s and 1970s suddenly made physical abnormalities of many of the body’s systems visible to physicians. Many of those abnormalities could then be treated with easy-to-explain interventions — embolizing to close off passages that should not be open, inserting stents to open those that should not be closed. But the lymphatic system was notoriously hard to image, so it was left out of that medical revolution of a generation ago.
“Imaging drives many fields,” said Dr. Itkin, who is also an associate professor of Radiology at the Perelman School of Medicine. “The more you can see, the better you can treat.”
The drive for better imaging in lymphatics belatedly emerged from the first treatments for the lymphatic system, which were themselves relatively recent. Twenty years ago, one of the fathers of interventional radiology, Constantin Cope, MD, conceptualized the idea of accessing the lymphatic system through the abdomen to treat traumatic cases of a condition involving leakage of lymph into the chest, called chylothorax. This idea initially sounded like science fiction to other experts in the field, but, slowly, the concept emerged as the main treatment approach. As Dr. Cope neared retirement, Dr. Itkin came to Penn to learn these techniques. He ultimately continued the tradition and refined the eight-hour surgical procedure into a 40-minute one.
In 2012, Dr. Itkin also began to make progress on a new imaging method, the intranodal lymphangiogram. In this method, he injected dye into the lymph node in a patient’s groin, making it possible to see the lymphatic anatomy almost immediately. This technically simple replacement of a traditional lymphangiogram technique made lymphatic interventions easier to perform and more widely accepted by other physicians. But this method still lacked the level of detail of cross sectional imaging methods such as MRI and computerized tomography.
The next step forward for lymphatic imaging was the lucky outcome of a conversation after a recreational basketball game between Dr. Itkin and Dr. Dori. Until that day, the pair had never worked together, and Dr. Dori had never given much thought to the lymphatic system. But Dr. Itkin had given a lot of thought to pediatric cardiology, trying for some time to find collaborators at CHOP to explore the possible role of lymphatic flows in complications of congenital heart disease.
Together, Dr. Dori and Dr. Itkin conceptualized the idea of MRI lymphangiography. This technique utilizes the same approach as the intranodal lymphangiogram but delivers a magnetic resonance contrast agent.
“Suddenly we discover the whole world of lymphatic abnormalities,” Dr. Itkin said. “Nobody had ever done that before. We can actually light up almost the whole lymphatic system and see abnormalities there.”
Showing Success With Plastic Bronchitis
Before long, they tried their new imaging technique on a patient with the devastating condition plastic bronchitis, in which the lungs suffuse with fluid that hardens into rubbery casts. With that first patient, it was immediately clear to Drs. Itkin and Dori that some lymph from the thoracic duct was leaking into the lungs — and they have since found a similar flow pattern in patients with other conditions. Dr. Itkin hypothesizes that such lymphatic leaks into the lungs are a normal variant that some people are born with, and that typically does not cause major medical problems.
But it predisposes some people to plastic bronchitis. Although this condition can occur at any age and without any specific triggering event, doctors see it most commonly in children who have undergone a Fontan operation for congenital heart disease. The researchers suggest that this occurs because, in children who have congenital heart failure on the right side, soft tissues are congested, and the amount of fluid that the lymphatic system would normally absorb and carry away exceeds the system’s capacity. Far too much excess lymph flow can then accumulate in the lungs in patients prone to these flow leakages.
Now that they can see the abnormal flows in plastic bronchitis, Drs. Dori and Itkin are treating them with a minimally invasive procedure that is as simple to explain as the revolutionary, imaging-driven treatment changes in many other fields a generation ago: While imaging the abnormal flows in a patient, they selectively embolize lymphatic passageways to stop the fluid from leaking into the lungs.
“Predictability is almost 100 percent,” Dr. Itkin said. “It’s a simple plumbing problem.”
In 2016, the team caught the world’s attention with the publication of their results treating 18 patients with plastic bronchitis. Fifteen of the 17 patients who underwent their new intervention procedure had a significant improvement in symptoms nearly a year later, they reported in the journal Circulation. Previously, the only intervention that offered some patients long-term relief from plastic bronchitis was a heart transplant. This effort confirmed the role of the lymphatic system in the mechanism of the disease. And their success is likely just the first of many to emerge from the team’s lymphatics discoveries.
Flowing Toward the Frontiers in Research
“We have opened a small door to enormous opportunities to discover new diseases and explanations for known diseases,” Dr. Itkin said. “And we’re already working on that.”
The team’s efforts have been designated as a CHOP Frontier Program, a type of program awarded priority funding to combine cutting-edge clinical discovery with fundamental research in critical areas of medicine where CHOP has unique strengths. Frontier funding gives the team the opportunity to further refine their imaging techniques, including the development of different dye agents to better show lymph in different areas of the body. For example, the liver and intestinal lymphatic systems generate a high volume of lymph, but the exact role of the lymphatic system in liver and intestinal disease is still poorly understood. The team is investigating the role of the lymphatic system in the liver disease ascites, as well as in a group of rare diseases, lymphangiomatosis.
A large part of the Frontier Program funding from CHOP is further helping to establish a comprehensive research program focused on lymphatics. The center has hired research assistants to gather data and create a database to track patients seen for suspected lymphatic disorders in a prospective study, and they are establishing a basic science research lab to better understand the lymphatic system in model organisms.
The lymph itself is opening up new possibilities for study in immunology as well.
“We now have the first-time opportunity to sample the lymphatic system from live human beings and analyze it,” Dr. Itkin said. “We are working closely with the Penn Institute for Immunology, of which CHOP is a member, with multiple studies planned and already going on to understand the immune function of the lymphatic system better than ever before. This has enormous implications in areas such as HIV and cancer immune therapy.”
For now, this intensive study and treatment innovation in lymphatics is unique to CHOP and Penn, found nowhere else in the world.
“This is kind of a new organ system,” Dr. Dori said. “It’s extraordinarily rare in medicine to fall on something like this, an organ system that has been ignored because people couldn’t see it.”
New Genetics Collaborative Follows Unique Blueprint to Individualize Medicine
It was only 15 years ago that the first human genome sequence was revealed, the result of a huge National Institutes of Health project that spanned over a decade and cost $2.7 billion. This spurred a period of genomic discovery that has changed exponentially how we understand human health, with the field of pediatric medicine at the forefront. Today, mostly due to advances in technology that have dramatically reduced the cost and turnaround time of genomic sequencing, the newly established Roberts Individualized Medical Genetics Center (Roberts IMGC) at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia can coordinate a genetic testing plan that provides patients and families accurate and comprehensive results within a few weeks.
“It is revolutionizing what we do in medicine,” said Ian Krantz, MD, an attending physician in the division of Human Genetics at CHOP, who also codirects the Roberts IMGC along with Livija Medne, MS, LCGC, a senior genetic counselor. “We now have this power to do next-generation sequencing, and as tests have become more and more complex, and we’re able to understand more and more of the genome, testing in genetics has broader applications across all fields of pediatric medicine.”
This unprecedented growth of genomics was the impetus for creation of the $50 million Roberts Collaborative for Genetics and Individualized Medicine that launched in September at CHOP. It is the first program in the nation that will apply genetic testing technology to individualize diagnostics in pediatrics and then translate patients’ unique genetic blueprints to inform clinical management, family education and counseling, innovative research, and eventually new therapeutics.
A $25 million gift by the Roberts family made the Collaborative possible. CHOP is matching the gift with $25 million in internal funding, and together they will support multidisciplinary efforts that harness the energy and enthusiasm of genomics experts across the institution, including the Roberts IMGC, the division of Human Genetics, the division of Genomic Diagnostics, the Center for Applied Genomics, the department of Biomedical and Health Informatics, The Raymond G. Perelman Center for Cellular and Molecular Therapeutics, and others.
“We are extremely grateful to the Roberts family for this remarkable gift, which will help the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia usher in a new era of genetics and broaden the scope of genetic medicine across all clinical areas of the hospital,” said Madeline Bell, president and CEO of CHOP. “Research is core to CHOP’s mission, and growing CHOP’s Research Institute is fundamental to our strategy and commitment to breakthroughs.”
CHOP’s new integrated approach that capitalizes on understanding the genetic underpinnings of childhood diseases already is making a difference in young lives. Dr. Krantz shared the story of 9-year-old Emily, who came to the Roberts IMGC after experiencing two years of progressive hearing loss. She had genetic testing for a panel of about 75 genes that are known causes of hearing loss, but the tests came back normal. Two years later, Emily returned after developing some visual loss. Dr. Krantz and his genetics team dug deeper for answers and analyzed Emily’s entire genome — all 20,000 genes in a single test.
“The results showed that she had a rare, one-in-a-million diagnosis for a progressive neurological disorder that would lead to death in early adulthood,” Dr. Krantz said. “Her genetic changes caused a problem in the way she metabolized a vitamin called riboflavin. This was very important for the family to know because both parents carried the same genetic mutation. We could counsel them about recurrence risk and prognosis. And even more exciting is that there was a treatment.”
Emily went on high dose therapy for the missing vitamin, and although her symptoms may not be reversible, her condition has stabilized. The genetics team also tested her asymptomatic 5-year-old brother and found that he also has the gene mutation. He is receiving treatment as a preventive strategy, and hopefully he will not develop any symptoms.
This family’s experience is a good example of where Dr. Krantz sees genomic medicine heading in the next decade — toward the screening of all newborns and individuals with genetic testing technology to give clinicians the opportunities to intervene early, such as by recommending lifestyle changes or prescribing pharmacologic therapies. Genetic testing may help to identify risk factors for many of the common diagnoses that adults face, such as diabetes, hypertension, and Alzheimers, that may be able to be managed and treated during childhood in order to improve outcomes throughout lifetimes, Dr. Krantz suggested.
The biggest stumbling block currently for genomic medicine is uncertainty. Scientists do not yet understand everything that they see in the genome, and that can sometimes be anxiety-provoking for families and clinicians. It also could lead to unnecessary tests that could increase healthcare costs. For instance, genetic testing may reveal that a child has a potential risk for a heart problem, but it may be unclear if the identified mutation will actually result in a damaging physical change. As a precaution, the child might need to visit a cardiologist once a year for an echocardiogram.
“Until we find a balance, or study and understand that the benefits outweigh those costs, people are a little hesitant to make genetic screening universal,” Dr. Krantz said.
In the meantime, the Roberts IMGC has three pediatric geneticists, Cara Skraban, MD; Kosuke Izumi, MD, PhD; and Matthew Deardorff, MD, PhD; and two genetic counselors, Emma Bedoukian, MS, LSCG, and Jennifer Tarpinian, LSGC, who ensure that families receive thorough clinical evaluations, education, and counseling before and after genetic testing on its usefulness and limitations. They also discuss families’ choices about the type of results that they want back. In some cases, families may only want answers to the possible genetic problems that their child is experiencing, while others may also want to know about secondary findings that could be medically important. The counselors meet with families about the results to explain their potential significance and put them in touch with specialists if needed.
So far, the Roberts IMGC has worked with about 2,000 patient referrals, and they continue to see about 100 patients a month, a number that Dr. Krantz expects will expand along with the availability of affordable genetic testing. As more medical insurance companies begin to acknowledge the utility of genetic testing, Roberts IMGC clinical coordinator Jasmine Montgomery navigates the nuances of pre-authorization and billing so that families do not end up with big balances to pay.
In many ways, genetic testing could be seen as a long-time investment in children’s healthy futures because it provides insights into their genetic predispositions that are never static. A central mission of the Roberts Collaborative is to integrate patients’ genetic makeup into their electronic health records so that this valuable information is always accessible and portable.
“We can test a 6-month-old’s genome today and not find an answer, but two years from now, we may go back and re-analyze that information and find one,” Dr. Krantz said.
Genomic medicine straddles both the clinical and research sides of CHOP. It may guide physicians in patient management, but it also generates a huge amount of data that, with appropriate consent from families, researchers can leverage to make discoveries to improve care. They can search for new genes or associations, figure out how changes in suspected disease genes are functioning, and translate that knowledge into developing therapies. Part of the Roberts IMGC’s goal is to invite every patient that they see to participate in a protocol approved by the Institutional Review Board to have their samples put in a biorepository to drive research. Already, the Roberts IMGC has found six brand-new genes that they are evaluating.
“I think the world is going to change dramatically,” Dr. Krantz said. “And it’s happening really, really fast, as far as medicine goes. It challenges all of us in genomics to constantly be at the cutting edge and stay on top of these breakthroughs so that we can translate them directly back to our patients, which is our mission here at CHOP.”
Research Affinity Groups Creating Strong Ties, Patterns for Success
Affectionately known by their acronym, RAGS, Research Affinity Groups at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Research Institute are like the bits of cloth that a resourceful crafter weaves together to create a colorful tapestry. In the same way, two new RAGS launched this year — the Global Health RAG and the mHealth RAG — assemble investigators from varied disciplines with common research interests to form strong ties and intertwine novel ideas and approaches that are the fabric of pediatric research.
Investigators who join the Global Health RAG, led by Elizabeth Lowenthal, MD, MSCE, research director for CHOP’s Global Health Center, can learn from their own backyard about the challenges unique to international pediatric research. They also can find out about existing resources and infrastructure available within CHOP, the Penn Center for Global Health, and other affiliated groups such as the Penn Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) that currently support research projects in 14 countries, including regions in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Many of these low-income communities have huge populations of children who are suffering from treatable, preventable illnesses.
One researcher’s journey to advance international pediatric research took him back to his homeland. Osayame Ekhaguere, MBBS, a CHOP neonatology fellow from Nigeria, is leading a randomized trial that seeks to improve infant immunization rates there. He will test an intervention that involves sending reminder text messages, calls, and emails to parents before their scheduled immunization visits are due.
In the Dominican Republic, where rates of anemia are high, a recent Global Health Center resident, Ryan Close, MD, is studying if giving families an iron ingot shaped like a fish and instructions on how to cook with it could be a successful long-term dietary supplementation strategy to support children’s growth and development.
With funding from a pilot grant through CHOP’s Global Health Center, orthopedic surgeon David Spiegel, MD, is assessing the long-term outcomes of a procedure to repair clubfoot in children living in Nepal.
While their results could catalyze improvements in pediatric health worldwide, these projects still have a long road ahead. Global Health RAG members will help them navigate some of the practical and ethical considerations that often come up when working in resource-limited settings, such as financial management, data security in settings with limited internet access, onboarding foreign research staff, and reporting results to appropriate international stakeholders.
“I hope the Global Health RAG will bring us all together and give us some inspiration on how we can expand and strengthen our programs and systems within the institution to allow us to have strong collaborations on the other end,” Dr. Lowenthal said. “I’d like to hear from CHOP researchers about the amazing global health research they’re doing and what their dreams are so that we can help them to find potential collaborators and move their ideas forward.”
Another brave new world for pediatric researchers is the uncharted territory of mHealth, or mobile health, which incorporates an array of communication technologies — from basic text messages, apps and social media; to more complex wearable devices that link to electronic health records; to futuristic ideas such as implantable and ingestible devices — to connect with young patients and families.
“mHealth is a new paradigm of research in a lot of ways,” said Nadia Dowshen, MD, an adolescent medicine specialist at CHOP and an assistant professor of Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Dowshen is a co-chair of the mHealth RAG along with co-chairs Lisa Schwartz, PhD, a CHOP psychologist and assistant professor of Pediatrics at Penn, and Linda Fleisher, PhD, MPH, a senior scientist in CHOP’s Center for Injury Research and Prevention, and a senior fellow in Penn’s Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics.
An important aspect of mHealth, the three co-chairs pointed out, is that mobile technology is constantly changing. The mHealth RAG members will help each other keep pace with this fast-moving field to ensure that their research activities remain relevant and are aligned with the latest mHealth trends. Also, mHealth gives researchers opportunities to understand human health and behavior in more detailed ways, but the amount and type of data that it generates will require bioinformatics specialists who can relate their knowledge of mHealth data management and analysis.
For example, Dr. Dowshen conducted a mHealth trial to improve adolescents’ adherence to antiretroviral medication using two-way text messaging and an app with interactive features. She kept track of every text sent and received by the 25 participants during the six-month study. Previous research relied on electronic signals from pill boxes or bottles to record adherence, but Dr. Dowshen found that her patients with HIV did not routinely use them to store their medication in order to protect their confidentiality. Collecting mHealth data through text messaging was feasible and acceptable for youth and allowed Dr. Dowshen to look at patterns of adolescents’ adherence to antiretroviral therapy in a way that previously would not have been possible.
mHealth certainly has the potential to encourage patients to take more responsibility for their health and improve their quality of care; however, more evidence is needed to determine the best approaches for mHealth, from policy to implementation. Researchers will need to act quickly, as consumers’ expectations for mobile patient engagement continue to rise.
“Patients and families certainly want to use these new ways of communicating, but there is a lot of research to be done to understand how best to do that, who uses it, who doesn’t use it, and in what situations,” Dr. Fleisher said. “Although mHealth seems ubiquitous already, there is much we don’t know.”
An internal survey conducted by the mHealth Working Group revealed that almost 50 percent of the 173 CHOP researchers who responded were interested in learning more about mHealth, and almost 35 percent were currently conducting mHealth research or quality improvement projects. Those already involved in mHealth research said they would welcome support in the areas of in-house development, information systems, and vetting commercial and academic partners. As more research funding opportunities for mHealth begin to emerge, it is likely the mHealth RAG will attract even more investigators who want to interlace mHealth research methods into their projects.
“The mHealth Research Affinity Group will get the key players and stakeholders together to compare notes, experiences, and expertise to determine how we can best move mHealth research forward at CHOP,” Dr. Schwartz said.
Childhood Cancer Research Effort Shoots for the Moon
A parent experiencing a cancer diagnosis in his child knows a unique pain. Often, that pain transforms to passion directed against the disease. Rarely, that passion ignites a rocket powering massive change. This was clearly the case for former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden. In the wake of the loss of his adult son Beau to brain cancer in 2015, Biden took the helm of an ambitious national effort to dramatically accelerate progress against cancer in all its forms.
“The goal of this initiative is simple — to double the rate of progress. To make a decade’s worth of advances in five years,” Biden said upon the February 2016 launch of the initiative, dubbed the Cancer Moonshot. The effort is designed to increase public and private resources to fight cancer while breaking down silos to bring cancer fighters together. It is built on the premise that together, a coordinated strategy and well thought-out flight plan can reach a lofty shared goal like NASA’s effort to reach the moon.
Fortunately for the many advocates and scientists focused on childhood cancer, a prominent leader in pediatrics was among those helping to plot the scientific course for this initiative in its planning stages. As a member of the Blue Ribbon Panel for the Cancer Moonshot initiative, Peter Adamson, MD, a pediatric oncologist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and professor of Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, was one of a select group of experts from academia, industry, and advocacy, who guided the National Cancer Institute (NCI) on how to achieve this goal.
“It was very important that the NCI recognized that out of all the potential areas for accelerating research, childhood cancer must be a priority,” said Dr. Adamson, who also chairs the Children’s Oncology Group (COG). “Cancers in children are often fundamentally different from cancers that occur in adults. The approaches to treatment may differ, and the scientific opportunities may prove unique.”
Childhood cancer has also historically been underrepresented in research and research funding, and the need for progress on more effective and targeted treatments remains urgent. Childhood cancer is the leading cause of death from disease in children, and even those cancers that have high survival rates leave many children with lifelong health difficulties related to their treatments.
As co-chair of the Blue Ribbon Panel’s working group focused on pediatric cancer, one of seven such groups addressing major topic areas, Dr. Adamson convened leaders from across the country to identify innovative areas of science that were poised to make transformative advancements with the appropriate investments. Two of Dr. Adamson’s colleagues from CHOP, Stephen Hunger, MD, director of the Center for Childhood Cancer Research, and John Maris, MD, a pediatric oncologist and co-head of the Pediatric Cancer Dream Team, served as members of the working group, which took a broad view of the state of the science and considered recommendations solicited from the public. The chairs of multiple working groups met as the ideas began to take shape, in order to identify cross-cutting themes and develop shared recommendations.
The Moonshot effort comes at a key junction in pediatric cancer research and cancer research in general. Technologies for sequencing the human genome, once seen as the great frontier in developing more precise treatments, have yielded a number of findings of genetic mutations that drive various types of cancer. As this technology has become inexpensive, fast, and ubiquitous, however, scientists are beginning to reach its limits.
One limitation: Pediatric cancers turn out to have fewer mutations than adult cancers, leaving a need for further explanation through epigenetic or other mechanisms. Another limit: Sequencing studies reveal that many cancers that appear to be a single type under a microscope in reality comprise distinct molecular subtypes that may respond to distinct treatment approaches. As a consequence of making already-rare cancers even rarer, these findings make it all the more necessary for national and international collaborations to make new discoveries and test new therapies. Such collaborations and sharing infrastructure that have already been part of efforts through the NCI, COG, and other groups, are poised to reach new levels as the Cancer Moonshot plan gets off the ground.
The Blue Ribbon Panel’s scientific roadmap, adopted in September 2016 by the NCI’s National Cancer Advisory Board (on which Dr. Adamson is also a member), encompassed 13 transformative research recommendations. Many of them span multiple types of cancer and address the most critical needs for large-scale infrastructure and collaboration. Three recommendations in particular have direct relevance to the greatest challenges facing pediatric cancer today.
One of the key recommendations for pediatric cancer research focuses on cancer therapy resistance — as experts recognize that if cancer returns after treatment, it often is far deadlier than a newly diagnosed cancer.
A second area of pediatric cancer research that the Blue Ribbon Panel chose to highlight is fusion oncoproteins. These proteins arise as a result of two genes becoming inappropriately fused together, like two stuck pages in a cookbook. The protein those fused genes then produce is akin to preparing a mixed-up recipe, such as a dish that is half creamy English trifle, half meaty shepherd’s pie. Serving those unpleasant entrees in specific cell types turns out to be essential in driving many childhood cancers, including certain leukemias, brain tumors, and many types of sarcomas. Better organized and better funded efforts can fill the large knowledge gaps about how these fusion proteins drive cancer and lead to new therapies that target these proteins.
Likewise, more work remains to be done to advance therapies that harness the body’s immune system to attack cancer. At CHOP, research on Dr. Maris’ Dream Team and in the T-cell therapy research of Stephan Grupp, MD, PhD, and colleagues, are prime examples of immunotherapies’ emergence as some of the most promising approaches to cancer. Yet research thus far suggests that molecular targets that the immune system will need to attack in pediatric cancers are likely to be distinct from those in adult cancers. The Blue Ribbon Panel therefore recommended creating cancer immunotherapy clinical trials networks for both pediatric and adult cancers. The networks would coordinate efforts nationwide both for developing new therapies and testing them effectively.
“I see a way forward to develop specific treatments for cancers that have defied targeted treatment for many years,” Dr. Adamson said. “Knowing the drivers of the cancers, but not understanding how those drivers work, and not knowing how to develop a therapy for them, is perhaps one of the more frustrating situations not only for clinicians and scientists, but most importantly for patients and families. We still use drugs developed in the 50s, 60s, and 70s to treat these cancers. If we can change the paradigm and understand how these fundamental genetic changes in the tumor lead to cancer and how we can develop a therapy towards that, then we will begin in earnest to enter an era of precision medicine that is both more effective and less toxic.”
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HANSARD 1803–2005 → 1990s → 1991 → November 1991 → 12 November 1991 → Commons Sitting → Orders of the Day
Local Government Finance Bill
HC Deb 12 November 1991 vol 198 cc917-1004 917
§ [SECOND DAY]
§ Order read for resuming adjourned debate on Question, That the Bill be now read a Second time—[11 November.]
§ Question again proposed.
I must announce to the House that I have not selected either of the amendments on the Order Paper, but they may be referred to during the debate.
§ The Secretary of State for Scotland (Mr. Ian Lang)
At the height of the first day's debate on the Second Reading of the Local Government Finance Bill, there were six Labour Back-Bench Members present. There are now about 24, but that count is falling fast. I am sure that the House will start to fill rapidly as I address it at the start of the second day of debate on the Bill. After all, the Scottish clauses comprise a substantial proportion of its contents. The House will be aware that, for the most part, these are closely equivalent to the clauses which relate to the introduction and operation of the council tax in England and Wales which my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment described yesterday. It is important that we have this opportunity to concentrate on the Bill as it affects Scotland.
We have already done some of the groundwork for the new tax. It was necessary, if we were to meet the target of I April 1993 for introduction of the tax, to ensure that the first step towards the levying of the tax—the valuation of properties—was begun as soon as possible. Therefore, we enacted, before the summer recess, the Local Government Finance and Valuation Act 1991. That enabled a considerable amount of groundwork for the valuation exercise to be undertaken over the summer. In Scotland, the assessors, in discussions with the Inland Revenue valuation office in Scotland, have been preparing for the actual task of valuation, which will get under way shortly. Therefore, we are very much on course for the introduction of the new tax in 1993.
Clauses 84 to 92 carry over and develop the arrangements for valuation set out in the 1991 Act and provide for changes to be made in lists to take account, for example, of new properties and appeals against taxation. The hon. Member for Glasgow, Garscadden (Mr. Dewar) described our valuation arrangements for Scotland as a recipe for disaster. I am sure that he did not intend to insult thereby the professionals involved—the assessors—who will be responsible for the valuation and the Commissioners of Inland Revenue, who are responsible for ensuring consistency in the way in which the valuation is undertaken throughout the country. I am glad to reassure him that all is on course and going smoothly.
Our decision to give the assessors that responsibility reflects the views put to us during the consultation which persuaded us that they were best placed to undertake the work and to do the job well within the timetable allowed. Our decision to give the Commissioners of Inland Revenue responsibility for overseeing the work reflected our understanding of the demand in Scotland for consistency in the way in which taxes operate throughout Great 918 Britain. The arrangements are working well and I have every confidence that the job will be completed satisfactorily on time.
Clauses 70 to 73 provide for the introduction of the council tax set separately by the regional, islands and district councils in respect of dwellings in their areas. Clause 74 provides for the valuation bands into which dwellings are to be placed and which have already been described in the Domestic Property (Valuation) (Scotland) Regulations 1991. It also provides for the range of tax payable for the bands.
I think that it would be helpful now if I described in some detail what the effect of the banding arrangements will be, as there has been considerable misunderstanding of the provisions. The hon. Member for Garscadden said last week that he finds it incomprehensible that many properties may stay in the same band in perpetuity. But why should they not? A dwelling in Scotland that is placed in band D will have been assigned that band because its value at 1 April 1991 is over £45,000 but does not exceed £58,000. That value is around the Scottish average. Of course, the Bill includes provisions to allow the assigned band to be changed if the value of the property changes sufficiently to take it into another band. If the band is higher, however, the change can be made only on change of ownership of the dwelling. If there is no such change, the banding decision will remain unchanged.
The banding system irons out much of the effect of relative changes in property values within an area which, under the rating system, brought regular pressure for revaluation. The need for general revaluations is therefore much reduced. If, however, such a revaluation were required, say, 20 years hence, the same house in band D would probably remain a band D house, provided that its relative position within the range of property values had not changed so much as to take it outwith the new parameters for that band.
Clause 74 places an upper limit on the amount of tax that any person can be liable to pay. This aspect of the arrangements—inevitably, I suppose—has produced the standard response that the rich are being protected. That neatly ignores the imperfect correlation between people's circumstances and the value of their home. It demonstrates only the Labour party's vindictive desire to extract the maximum revenue from high-value properties regardless of the circumstances of their occupants, or any relationship between the tax burden and the services that are provided.
§ Sir Nicholas Fairbairn (Perth and Kinross)
Will my right hon. Friend explain to a simple fellow like me why it is considered sensible to return to a system of socialist taxation based on the capital value of an asset that produces no income and that is unrelated to the services for which the occupant is paying and to the income of the occupant, this asset being normally called a home?
§ Mr. Lang
My hon. Friend gives an admirable description of the so-called fair rates proposals of the Labour party, to which we do not intend to return.
Clause 75 defines liability to pay as an individual liability that is dependent on the relationship that persons have with dwellings. This liability would fall in the first instance on the resident owner, then the resident tenant and so on.
919 Clause 79 provides for discount where there is only one or no resident in the property. These arrangements will be fair and simple to administer.
During our debate on the Gracious Speech last Wednesday, we heard a different story from Opposition Members and especially from the hon. Member for Garscadden. The hon. Gentleman is determined, as ever, to see administrative nightmares where none exists. His contacts in local government have told him, presumably before even seeing the Bill, that discounts will be difficult to administer, and uncritically he believes them.
When it comes to the hon. Gentleman's examples of why the system will be difficult to administer, what do we find? There is a complete misunderstanding on his part of how the discount proposals will work in practice. As the mouthpiece of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, he asks whether authorities are supposed to send out bills for 100 per cent. of the liability to everyone and leave discounts to be claimed by householders. The answer is to be found in paragraph 4 to schedule 2. Local authorities are required to take reasonable steps to ascertain entitlement to discount, but in the absence of firm information they can send out an undiscounted bill. In other words, as a matter of sensible administrative practice, authorities should make efforts to ascertain discount households before sending out bills. [HON. MEMBERS: "How?"] By referring to existing information.
§ Mr. Allen McKay (Barnsley, West and Penistone)
Can the Secretary of State tell me how local authorities will do what he describes?
They can make reasonable efforts by examining existing information or by carrying out a canvass. There are local authority housing tenancy lists. Authorities will be able to examine electoral rolls. They could even study community charge registers. They are most definitely not required to know the composition of every household in their areas before billing. There is no question, therefore, of a register being required.
We come now to what might be called COSLA's auntie problem. The hon. Member for Garscadden quoted COSLA as being concerned about what would happen if someone's aunt came to stay for a couple of months. Again, the answer is in the Bill—in clause 79 for Scotland. Discounts are calculated according to who is resident in a dwelling, and "resident" means having one's sole or main residence there—a concept not unfamiliar to Labour Members.
In the case described in our earlier debate by the hon. Gentleman, the local authority would make its decision to withdraw or not to withdraw discount on the basis of whether it thought that the dwelling in question was the auntie's sole or main residence. In fact, if she were there for two months, it would be unlikely that it would regard her as a resident. However, there will be a right of appeal against any decision.
Clauses 81 and 83 make provision for the appeal arrangements that will apply in Scotland. As the House will be aware, appeals under the community charge are, for the most part, made initially to the community charge registration officer and thereafter to the sheriff under summary procedure. That system has, by and large, worked well. However, we are aware of the concerns that have been expressed about the system as compared with the arrangements in England and Wales, where appeals are 920 made to valuation and community charge tribunals. We have taken note of those concerns in formulating the arrangements for the council tax. Appeal on questions of valuation liability and levying of the tax will therefore lie with valuation appeal committees, with further appeal on points of law to the Court of Session.
Clause 94 and schedule 7 make provision for capping. They re-enact the arrangements already provided in the Local Government Finance and Valuation Act 1991, which is to be repealed and replaced by the Bill and do not, therefore, make any changes to the present arrangements. The House will be aware that I announced last month the principles that I am minded to adopt next year in considering whether planned expenditure is excessive or has increased excessively.
At this point, it might be appropriate to spend a few moments on a specifically Scottish aspect of the Bill.
§ Mr. David Nicholson (Taunton)
Before my right hon. Friend passes on to a specifically Scottish aspect, I wish to raise a general point. I am glad that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment and my hon. Friend the Minister are on the Front Bench. I agree with my right hon. Friend that the intervention of my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Perth and Kinross (Sir N. Fairbairn) aptly summed up the Labour party's position.
My right hon. Friend will be aware that most Conservative Members accept that, while some taxes may fall on income and others on spending, there is scope for a modest tax to fall on what we might describe as the amenity of property. One lesson that we learnt from the transition from domestic rates to the community charge was the injustice of the former rates system to the single-person household. My right hon. Friend is probably aware that there is considerable pressure from single-person households for an increase in the 25 per cent. discount. Will he and our right hon. and hon. Friends, over the next few weeks, consider whether there is scope for increasing that discount to something more related to the ability to pay of the single person?
My hon. Friend made a point that obviously concerns him, and he did so lucidly. I and my right hon. Friend are grateful for his support for the underlying principle of the Bill. I am sure that he will wish to develop that issue in Committee, if he is fortunate enough to be a member.
We gave close consideration to the appropriate discount level and I am sure that my hon. Friend will agree that there is a certain symmetry and element of justice readily apparent in the concept of a 25 per cent. discount for a one-person residence and a 50 per cent. discount for a house that has no resident occupant.
§ Mr. Frank Haynes (Ashfield)
What will the Scottish electorate think when they discover what the millionaire Secretary of State for the Environment, who is sitting on the right hon. Gentleman's left, has to pay? Will they think that he is getting a massive discount, as he will have to pay only a small amount? No doubt the Scottish electorate will think that he drafted the Bill to suit himself.
If my right hon. Friend were fortunate enough to be resident in Scotland, he would find that about 89 per cent. of the cost of local government services was funded by central taxation. If my right hon. Friend is fortunate enough to be in the circumstances described by 921 the hon. Gentleman, he is making a far larger contribution as an individual to income tax and other central Government taxation than would otherwise be the case.
As to the Scottish electorate, I reassure the hon. Gentleman that they were at the forefront in seeking the abolition of domestic rates and they will be at the forefront in resisting their reintroduction by the Opposition.
I want now to discuss an important aspect of the Bill which affects Scotland—the council water charge set out in schedule 11.
§ Mrs. Ray Michie (Argyll and Bute)
Can the Secretary of State tell us something about the effect of the council tax on the agricultural community? I have already had queries about what will happen. Many farmers and tenant farmers live in big old rambling houses. Crofters lost their 50 per cent. derating with the introduction of the poll tax and, given the present state of agriculture, there is considerable concern about what will happen under the council tax.
The hon. Lady will know that the market value of such houses will reflect the present state of agriculture and the demand for such houses. Therefore, they are likely to be put in a lower band and so attract a relatively lower tax than under the community charge. If they are tied houses of the sort that the hon. Lady described, that would be reflected in the market value. Therefore, no particular difficulty arises.
Let me press on to the important subject of the council water charge which is set out in schedule 11. Hon. Members will be aware that at the same time as we consulted about our council tax proposals, we issued a consultation paper in Scotland about water and sewerage charges. Among other things, that paper proposed that sewerage charges should be separated out from the new council tax in the same way as water charges are at present separately levied.
However, it became apparent during the consultation that separate charges would have borne most heavily on those about whom the hon. Lady is concerned—people in rural areas. It would also have meant higher administrative costs which would have had to have been borne by charge payers. Therefore, we have decided that it would not be appropriate to introduce separate charges for sewerage and the provisions in the Bill for water and sewerage charges in Scotland will essentially maintain the existing system whereby regional and island councils set the appropriate levels.
§ Mr. Donald Dewar (Glasgow, Garscadden)
indicated assent.
I am grateful for the hon. Gentleman's support.
§ Mr. Malcolm Bruce (Gordon)
Many will welcome that sensible proposal, but can the right hon. Gentleman underline it with a categorical assurance that the Government have no intention of privatising water in Scotland either this side of an election or afterwards?
I can reassure the hon. Gentleman that, to use the time-honoured phrase, we have no present plans to undertake such an exercise.
Water will continue to be charged via either the council tax, linked to property value bands, or the non-domestic 922 water rate, linked to the rateable value of premises, or by direct metered charges. Sewerage will continue to be charged via the council tax or the non-domestic sewerage rate. All the discounts that will apply to the council tax itself will also apply to the water and sewerage charges.
No fundamental changes are, therefore, proposed in the Bill, but we have taken the opportunity to make two improvements in the way in which the charges are levied. One is that the Bill will extend to all consumers in Scotland the option of being able to pay for water by metered charges if they wish, having the amount that they use recorded and being charged direct. That is a useful extension of consumer choice. It offers an option to Scottish consumers which is available in England and Wales and which I am sure will be welcomed.
Some small businesses may also benefit from that option since the Bill abolished the minimum threshold of rateable value which a business previously had to meet to be eligible for a metered supply. We have also taken the opportunity in the Bill to provide for water to be supplied free of charge for fire training purposes and for other emergency purposes as well as fire fighting.
§ Mr. Dewar
There will be a widespread welcome for the Secretary of State's announcement about sewerage, if only because up to now, if I remember rightly, the water charge has not been included in the rebate scheme. Are there any plans to bring it within the rebate scheme?
I have no announcement to make about that at present, but, as the hon. Gentleman will have heard, I made it clear that the discounts would apply to water and sewerage.
The claim has been repeatedly made by Opposition Members, and most recently by the hon. Member for Renfrew, West and Inverclyde (Mr. Graham), who is not in his place today, that we are starving local government of resources. That is simply not true and I shall outline the facts. Starting with financial support, Government grants to Scottish authorities—rate support grant or revenue support grant and specific grants—have increased in real terms from £2,562 million in 1979–80 to £2,809 million in 1991–92. Therefore, far from Government support having been reduced during the period that the Government have been in office, there has been an increase in real terms of 9.6 per cent.
Then there is the alleged deterioration in local authority services; again, the facts are different. In education, since 1979 the percentage of pupils staying on until the fifth year has increased from 35 per cent. to 54 per cent. and the percentage staying on until the sixth year from 14 per cent. to 25 per cent. The percentage entering higher education has increased from 16.8 per cent. in 1978–79 to 24 per cent. and is still rising fast. Expenditure per pupil has increased in real terms by 49 per cent.—[Interruption.]
§ Mr. Sam Galbraith (Strathkelvin and Bearsden)
The Secretary of State is yawning at his own speech it is so boring.
The hon. Gentleman is supposed to be in the medical profession, so he will know that that was not a yawn; I was choking.
The number of field social workers has also increased from 2,985 to 4,700, an increase of 47 per cent. There has been a 26 per cent. increase in all social work staff and a 13 per cent. increase in home care staff. The number of 923 places in local authority day care centres is up by 152 per cent. for the elderly, 59 per cent. for the mentally handicapped and 49 per cent. for the physically handicapped.
§ Mrs. Margaret Ewing (Moray)
The Secretary of State has just referred to the number of social workers. What decision has he reached about funding social workers involved in the Orkney inquiry?
It would not be appropriate to answer such a question in a debate on the Local Government Finance Bill. Any answer will be given in the appropriate way at the appropriate time.
§ Mr. Harry Ewing (Falkirk, East)
I am grateful to the Secretary of State. He has been most generous in giving way. All the increases that he has just quoted—in the number of pupils staying on to the fifth and sixth years and in the number of social workers—are down to the fact that all the regional authorities in Scotland are controlled by the Labour party and they see as their spending priorities the need to create educational opportunities for young people and to provide home helps for old people. Now the Secretary of State is telling them that he will cut their budgets next year to stop them increasing the number of educational opportunities and social workers. The Secretary of State cannot have it both ways.
The hon. Gentleman is seeking to disguise the fact that under the Government in which he served the quality of service under the headings that I have just listed was vastly inferior to the quality of service provided under this Government.
Local authority expenditure during the 12 years since we took office has risen by 26 per cent. in real terms. It is an astonishing 30 per cent. higher in Scotland than in England and Wales, a fact for which COSLA has been unable to give any credible explanation.
To help sustain that substantial expansion of local government expenditure, the Government have shifted the burden so that central Government now bear up to 89 per cent. in Scotland with only 11 per cent. borne at local level. But now we are told that the Labour party plans to increase the local contribution to no less than 20 per cent.
§ Mr. Bryan Gould (Dagenham)
Before the Secretary of State repeats that totally misleading canard, will he kindly check with his right hon. Friend the Secretary of State the percentage that he quoted? I think that 22 per cent. was the claim that the right hon. Gentleman made on behalf of his Government in exactly the same week that, in response to a question, I used the figure of 20 per cent. At that point, the Secretary of State and I were operating on a particular definition of local government spending. The fact that the Prime Minister then chose to use a totally different definition of local government spending seems to have eluded the Secretary of State and many of his right hon. and hon. Friends. Will they kindly sort out which statistical base they are using, because otherwise they simply confirm that the Government are, literally, at sixes and sevens?
It is interesting to note that the discussion centres simply on the amount by which Labour intends to increase the burden on local government spending.
The hon. Gentleman must be aware that the basis in Scotland differs from that in England and Wales: 11 per 924 cent. of council expenditure in Scotland comes from local tax-raising, whereas in England and Wales the figures is 14 per cent. If the hon. Member for Garscadden can reassure me categorically that the next Labour Government will not increase the local contribution to 20 per cent., I shall be interested to learn to what level they will increase it.
If, before Labour even increased the actual spending level, a £300 local tax bill were increased by that proportion in Scotland, the charge would rise to nearly £600. Labour may claim that it proposes to reduce direct taxation through income tax or VAT—although, given Labour's record in that regard, we should be very sceptical about any such claim. The doubled figure that Labour would bring about, however, would appear before capping was lifted and before Labour transferred to local authorities a raft of new responsibilities.
Labour's policy document "Power to Act" contains a nightmare list of proposals for the extension of local authority power to training and economic development and intervention in local enterprise companies, health boards, community housing associations, transport, consumer protection, the environment, equal opportunities, crime prevention and community safety. The cost of such an explosion of power—with local councillors intervening in every sphere of activity—is not, of course, given; but to lay that burden across the weak framework of a revived domestic rating system would be to court disaster.
I seek elucidation on, in particular, Labour's proposals for capping. The purpose of capping is to protect local residents from extravagant local authorities: to protect, for example, the residents of Edinburgh, who were faced with a disgraceful and irresponsible proposal to levy a £584 poll tax until the Government stepped in. Capping, however, is also a measure of public expenditure control. Local authority expenditure accounts for a massive proportion of total public expenditure in Scotland. Next year's Scottish Office budget totals some £12.5 billion and local authority spending not only accounts for over half total public expenditure—54 per cent. this year—but has risen from 45.5 per cent. of the total since we came to office. Local government expenditure consumes millions of pounds that could be devoted to other cherished projects relating to health, roads or the environment.
Every year, a subsidy must be transferred from the Scottish block grant to meet current local authority spending levels and to try to protect local taxpayers. Labour has committed itself unequivocally to abolishing capping. I invite the hon. Member for Garscadden to confirm today that that is still his party's intention. What estimate has the hon. Gentleman made of the impact of that decision on public expenditure by a future Labour Government? Will it increase public expenditure in Scotland alone by £1 billion, £1.5 billion or more? Will the proportion of Scottish Office expenditure accounted for by local authorities rise from 54 per cent. to 64 per cent., or 74 per cent.? Perhaps it would not; we know that Labour is also committed to vast public expenditure increases, totalling some £35 billion, across the whole range of Government policy.
The right hon. and learned Member for Monklands, East (Mr. Smith) must, however, preserve at least a figleaf of fiscal responsibility. What clearance did the hon. Member for Garscadden obtain from his right hon. and learned Friend to unleash such a surge of expenditure right 925 across the board? To what level will local authority expenditure be allowed to rise before Labour reneges on its commitment to abolish capping?
§ Mr. George Foulkes (Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley)
On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. With my hon. Friend the Member for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth (Mr. Hogg), I have been perusing the Bill in an attempt to find the part that covers what the Secretary of State is now discussing. There is no such clause. Will you please ask the right hon. Gentleman to return to the content of the Bill?
§ Mr. Deputy Speaker (Sir Paul Dean)
I have heard nothing from the Secretary of State which is out of order.
Capping is central to our proposals; it is central to the protection of residents from the extravagance of local authorities; and it is one of the central issues of disagreement between the Government and the Labour party. I want answers to my questions and I expect to hear them later from the hon. Member for Garscadden.
Several Hon. Members
Labour Members do not like what I am saying, because it goes right to the heart of the matter.
What other programmes will be cut to fund the insatiable extravagance of local authorities, while enabling them to meet public expenditure targets? Will Labour cut health expenditure, as a Labour Government did between 1974 and 1979? Will it cut expenditure on roads, as it did in that period? Or will it make cuts across the board, as it did then? Who will pay? Will it be the local resident, the national taxpayer or both—with the IMF thrown in as well? Under Labour, when will the party be over?
§ Mr. Andrew Welsh (Angus, East)
It seems that the right hon. Gentleman, as Secretary of State for Scotland, does not want extra billions to be spent on Scottish services, so that people can return to work and the country can start moving again. If he is worried about the cost, why does not he turn to the oil revenues—which could fund the full amount—rather than slating local government, which is doing a good job on the minimum that he chooses to give it?
Certainly I want Scotland to be on the move economically—as, indeed, it has been under the present Government. The only sense in which the hon. Gentleman wants to move Scotland is that he wants to move it outside the United Kingdom. He wants to erect tax and customs barriers and to shut Scotland off from the rest of the United Kingdom and Europe.
I have another question to ask the Labour party: what will be the effect of its proposals on business ratepayers? We all know that Scottish business rates are higher than those in the rest of the United Kingdom. I acknowledge that that is partly because Scotland's rating base is slightly smaller and partly because of the dominance of council housing. The central and underlying reason, however, is the huge extravagance of Scottish local authorities over the years. As I mentioned earlier, local government expenditure in Scotland is no less than 30 per cent. higher than it is in both England and Wales.
Businesses have no vote. Business rates are a direct on-cost. Year after year, under Labour councils, they have 926 risen by more than the rate of inflation. They are perceived as arbitrary, unfair and oppressive and economically they are very damaging.
We have set out to introduce fairness and equity to business rates. We have been harmonising valuation practice and ironing out the anomalies. We have committed ourselves to introducing a uniform business rate over five years or so to achieve a level rate across the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. Robert Hughes (Aberdeen, North)
Why is the Secretary of State now reading a speech that he clearly had not seen before he came to the Dispatch Box? [Interruption.] I cannot help it if the right hon. Gentleman cannot read his civil servants' handwriting.
In the earlier part of his speech, the Secretary of State gave Scottish local government credit for the increase in the number of pupils staying on at school and in social work expenditure—for the improvement in all services that are provided directly by elected local government representatives. In the later part, he has rubbished the lot. The right hon. Gentleman really should be able to do better than that.
This may be poor stuff, but it is mine own.
The point that I was making—it may have been lost on the hon. Gentleman—was that, because of our prudent management of the economy, the Government have been able to expand services and increase in real terms the funding of local authorities. They have allowed the economy to develop, prosper and have left people better off. In contrast to that, Labour's irresponsible approach—its proposed abandoning of all the controls that have made our achievements possible—would place burdens on our people that would cause immeasurable damage.
The cost of business rates has been reduced by some £270 million as a result of the steps that we have taken to bring them down to a level that would be comparable across the United Kingdom. Last year, they rose by 1.5 per cent., the rate of inflation being over 10 per cent. We have brought about a gradual convergence and I hope that we shall be able to do more this year.
Labour would undo all that. Labour would dismantle all the progress that we have made and all the justice that we have introduced; it would tear away the protection that we have brought in—especially for small businesses—and let business rates rip. I assume that the party would not take such action lightly: presumably it has thought it through and considered the consequences. I have another question for the hon. Member for Garscadden.
§ Mr. James Wallace (Orkney and Shetland)
Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
No, not at the moment. This is an important point. The hon. Gentleman will want to hear the answer, as it will affect businesses in Orkney and Shetland just as it will affect businesses in Dumfries and Galloway. By how much does the hon. Member for Garscadden expect business rates to rise in the first two years after he has taken off the controls that we introduced on business rates? How many jobs will be lost as a result? How many businesses will close? Scottish business deserves and awaits answers to those questions. Those whose jobs would go deserve answers to those questions. I expect the hon. Gentleman to answer that question in his speech.
927 The Labour party wants to embark on a three-point programme to punish local government.
§ Mr. Wallace
Will the right hon. Gentleman now give way?
The 1986 Green Paper foreshadowed special arrangements for business rates in Orkney and Shetland, because of the anomaly created by the oil terminals. What progress is being made to implement the social arrangements promised by the Government?
As the hon. Gentleman knows, since he and I have had many exchanges on this subject across the Floor of the House, Orkney and Shetland almost always have special arrangements. These matters are continually up for review and reconsideration, but his representations will, as always, be borne in mind.
The Labour party has a three-point programme for punishing local government. Simultaneously the Opposition want to return to the worst injustices of the domestic rating system. They want to remove all safeguards to protect local taxpayers through capping. They want to expose the business community and its employees to the horrors of runaway council spending. It is an extortion racket that would make the mafia look like a children's charity.
If the Labour party really wants to get rid of the poll tax, it should help the Bill through. If not, the inescapable conclusion will be that it wants to stop the Government abolishing the poll tax for its own dark reasons.
What we are proposing is a tax based upon property and upon the people who live in it. It is a tax that will recognise that taxes are paid by people, not by buildings. It is a tax that will take account of the needs of single-person households, many of which contain pensioners, students, student nurses, apprentices and trainees, and of the needs of the young, the old, those on low incomes and those who live in high-priced areas. It is a tax which will be administratively simple, which will require no register to determine liability and which will provide a firm basis for local government finance. In other words, it is a fair tax, a sensible tax, a workable tax and a tax which I commend to the House.
§ 5.1 pm
That was an entertaining performance, by the standards of the Secretary of State for Scotland. It contained one or two memorable lines. I was interested in the concept of the Secretary of State not yawning but choking over his script. I imagine that that is something he gets used to. I was also intrigued by the concept that somewhere in the International Monetary Fund there are a number of gentlemen who are very worried in case Stirling district council is not capped in 1996.
Before dealing with the Bill, may I say a few words about the way in which the Bill is to pass through the House and the parliamentary timetable. What is proposed—and what will no doubt happen, because of the power of the Whips—is an attack on Parliament itself. This is a complicated and controversial Bill that will be forced through its Committee stage in three weeks. The Committee will meet almost literally day and night. There will be no possibility of proper consideration. There will be 928 no detailed scrutiny of very important matters that will have an impact on everyone. It is a straitjacket that makes a total mockery of the parliamentary process.
§ Mr. Nicholas Budgen (Wolverhampton, South-West)
Will the hon. Gentleman confirm that it will be impossible within this three-week period, if the House votes for the three weeks, for there to be any proper consultations with interested parties and any sort of repetition, by means of which the ordinary person in the pub may understand what is to be visited upon him, and that it will be a complete abortion and distortion of the way in which Parliament ought to consider a complicated piece of legislation?
I have a great deal of sympathy for what the hon. Gentleman says. I was about to refer to the constant approaches to me by professionals. I am referring not to politicians but to officials and assessors who are extremely worried about the practicality of many of the Bill's provisions. Poor souls—they approach me because they say that it will be possible, of course, to obtain the answers in Committee and to tease them out there. That will not be so. I do not want to enrage the Secretary of State, if that is not a contradiction in terms, by asking him about COSLA's views. For those on the Conservative Benches who are not familiar with the Scottish scene, that is the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities. Local authorities of every political colour are members of COSLA. Its recent circular deals with the need for a statutory canvass which it says many people believe to be essential. The circular continues: No doubt these are issues which will be debated more fully within the Committee stages of the Bill". COSLA appeals to its members to send in detailed suggestions for improvements and amendments.
Within that three-week period it will be very difficult to separate the Scottish provisions from the English provisions. There are differences—differences of starting base and differences of tradition. This is a very serious departure from the standards that we expect from a Government when dealing with the House of Commons.
In a letter to me on 30 October the Secretary of State said that, whatever else, he was sure that the Scottish interests will be dealt with appropriately. If the Secretary of State thinks that this is dealing with Scottish interests appropriately, he is not living in the same world as I am. It will be met with deep cynicism and deeper dismay in Scotland.
§ Mr. Budgen
Is there not a serious risk that the problem of peope refusing to pay may become worse if they feel that the proper authority of Parliament has not been given to the Bill by means of proper discussion and argument?
All I can say to the hon. Gentleman is that I very much hope that that is not the case. As he knows, my colleagues and I have turned our face against non-payment from the very beginning of this argument. We are opposed to such a policy. I would not want to see anything that encouraged that problem, either under the present system or any successor system.
May I put a point to the Secretary of State in very muted terms, because I do not wish to overstate it? It is extraordinary that one of the last Conservative politicians in Scotland should argue that Westminster is the right forum properly to look at Scottish legislation, to dissect it and to make sure that it reaches the statute book in a way 929 that is a credit to the legislative process. It is extraordinary that the Secretary of State for Scotland should be responsible for and should be backing the kind of timetable motion that has been put before the House. It is an abuse of the parliamentary process that goes beyond the ordinary. It is a cop-out by the Secretary of State for Scotland, who gives the impression of having given up by allowing such a thing to happen.
As for the Second Reading debate, the right hon. Member for Henley (Mr. Heseltine) gave a spirited performance yesterday. I use the word performance advisedly. He is a little bit faded these days, compared with the bright years of his youth, but undoubtedly it was a triumph of technique. He knows that when one is in difficulty one does not talk about the Bill that one is defending. One attacks, because that is the best form of defence. I suppose it is something that he learnt in the old days in the combined cadet force at some public school. He certainly did that during the exchanges.
It was interesting to listen to the arguments put forward by a string of distressed loyalists, who got little in the way of a response from the Secretary of State for the Environment. Their only consolation will be that the Hendon Times, the Brent Bugle and other local papers will record that they asked the questions, but they will not be able to record any of the answers to the worries that clearly exist among their Back Benchers, particularly in the south-east of England. That gives added force to the points that are being put forward from our side about the way in which the Bill is being railroaded through the House.
In particular, I noticed that the hon. Member for Gravesham (Mr. Arnold) asked a question about the revenue support grant in the south-east of England. He was told by the Secretary of State that it was an important point and that he would deal with it specifically in his speech. I read the speech with great care this morning. There was not even an attempt to provide an answer. That is typical of the way in which the debate was conducted yesterday and has been conducted again today by the Secretary of State for Scotland.
The Secretary of State for Scotland made some interesting remarks about how we deal with sewage charges in Scotland and I believe that he was right, but I fear that the main reason that they were paraded was because it took up a few minutes without him having to deal with the fundamentals of the Bill. He went on to give a litany of hatred about local government and its responsibilities.
I do not want to spend a great deal of time on this subject, but it must occur to the Secretary of State that if he creates such an abrasive atmosphere, if on the one hand he says that local government has done well and he claims the credit while on the other hand blaming it for everything that goes wrong, he is undoubtedly creating a situation in which there will be continuing difficulties. With a better atmosphere, one could get more reasonable results for most parties. One of the tragedies has been the constant confrontation. I do not think that that area of policy has been conducted with any form of common sense in recent years.
For the Secretary of State to lecture us about the non-domestic rate—the business rate—and say that fear of 930 that is driving companies out of business takes one's breath away. When I talk to business men, when I look at the records of insolvencies, liquidations and business failures, people talk to me about Government economic policy and the recession and not about some sort of hypothetical concern that lives large only in the mind of the right hon. Gentleman.
As regards the Bill, a number of our past arguments are clearly highly relevant to the debate. I said earlier that the Secretary of State was not noted for his phrases but, to be fair, he introduces them occasionally. He was the first person that I have heard talking about the dampening effect of banding and it may well be his modest monument. However, I object strongly to that phenomenon. I do so because I know that it is a form of protection racket, although I know that that is a phrase that Tories have found offensive, but it makes the point. To be fair, Conservative Members have not tried to hide that fact. They have said that they want to protect those in the upper range of the property market. They accept that there is a link between income and the housing that most people live in and they want to protect people who are likely to have substantial incomes. They want artificially to protect them by squeezing the range of banding—it is unashamed and unabashed.
The answer is that modest home owners such as first-time buyers will inevitably pay more than they otherwise would have done. The other day I described—I shall not do so again to save embarrassment, although it is the Conservatives' and not mine—all the tears that were shed for those at the bottom of the home ownership market, especially council tenants who bought their property who we were told would be victimised as the Labour party would take vengeance by taxing them on the full value of their houses when they had bought at a considerable discount. If that is not hypocrisy and if it was genuinely meant, there must be some troubled consciences on these Benches when Conservative Members consider what they are introducing.
It is not merely a question of the elimination of the discount in the local taxation system; there is also the weighting to which I referred which will clearly be a considerable problem for those people. I do not believe that there is misunderstanding of the system or that there is such lamentable ignorance on the Conservative Benches that they did not understand the argument when they made it so vociferously only a year or 18 months ago. When the Government defend what they once condemned we are looking at plain hypocrisy.
The right hon. Member for Henley lectures us about the politics of envy. I think what he means by that is that he does not want a system that is too progressive. It occurred to me that I should argue that that would be an odd thing to suggest because if one applied it to income tax one would have a regressive and unfortunate situation. However, when I consider what the Government have been doing to the tax system in the past year or two, it could be an argument that appealed to them. I have to repeat that it is not merely a matter of trying to protect or victimise. It ought to be a question of the fair distribution of the burden. The present rigging—if that is not too cruel a word—or, if we want to be more mealy-mouthed, the present adjustment of the banding system, ensures that there will not be a fair distribution. That also has another effect which has given rise to great discontent in areas such as Hendon. I see that one of the Members representing 931 Hendon, the hon. Member for Hendon, South (Mr. Marshall) is here. The problem with banding, even with an eight-band system in place, is that in some areas virtually all the properties fall into one or two bands. As a result, one is suspiciously near to a flat-rate tax system of the type that we are supposed to be abandoning.
My second serious point is the question of the complexity of the new tax and I shall put that in general terms. I listened carefully to the Secretary of State but I was not convinced. I noticed in the Financial Times this morning the suggestion that the right hon. Member for Henley does not know anything himself but knows a man who knows. I was quite impressed until I discovered that that man turned out to be the Minister of State, the hon. Member for Enfield, Southgate (Mr. Portillo). That was a strange accolade for a man who only a few months ago thought that the poll tax was a vote winner. In any event, he may have some grasp of some of the technical details, but I am not convinced that the Secretary of State for Scotland has the same grasp. When I listened to him musing about when a register becomes a list, I could only conclude that he wants to duck out of the controversy and leave it all to local authorities.
The Secretary of State knows that if one talks to people who will be involved, it is nonsense to say that everything is on course and is going smoothly. I shall give one example. In the middle of September, as the Secretary of State knows, a draft circular on the Local Government Finance and Valuation Act 1991 was issued. It dealt with the financing of the new valuation process. In mid September local authorities replied, raising a number of important issues. Unless the midday post brought something unexpectedly, since then there has not been a cheep out of the Scottish Office. We have not got the circular. There is a great deal of confusion and hiatus because understandably local authorities want to know about funding arrangements, practical details and want answers to their questions about the use of private sector surveyors and they have not had any answers. They are not being obtuse or refusing to act. They have waited week after week for the circular but it has not appeared and the timetable is slipping by. If that is things going smoothly, the Secretary of State is talking a different language from the ordinary people of Scotland.
That is a painful contrast with the way in which preparations for the passage of the Bill are being bulldozed through with no respect for the niceties of the parliamentary process.
Everyone knows that Opposition Members are concerned about the discount because we do not believe that it is a properly targeted concession. Many people argue that a statutory canvass is essential. I notice that the Secretary of State disagrees and says that it is very much a matter for local authorities to take what he describes as "reasonable steps". However, given that it is all on a daily basis and that it might not be an auntie but perhaps a youngster who moves from address to address—that happens frequently in my constituency and perhaps even in the Secretary of State's constituency—all the problems with identifying the number of folk in the house, which sank the administrative basis of the poll tax, will to a large extent arise again under this system. It is no good saying that it will be up to the local authority to take reasonable steps and then going home to Bovril or Horlicks and thinking that the problem has been solved.
932 I shall cite one example and I invite the Secretary of State to stop me if I am wrong. It is likely that I am because, although I have taken good advice, no one is sure that they know exactly how the system will work, but let me try. Let us consider students. That is fair because there has been a recent announcement and it will be fresh in the Secretary of State's mind. He will be able to keep the House right and that may also save time in Committee, which is important given the lack of time that will be available.
As I understand it, if a student lives in a hall of residence, he will be exempt. I am sure that the Secretary of State will nod his assent.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland (Mr. Allan Stewart)
The Under-Secretary, the hon. Member for Eastwood (Mr. Stewart), who is slightly more animated, is doing so. I distinctly saw his sideburns move in the wind. The advice that I am given is that if a student is not in a hall of residence but is in a flat where he is the liable person, either because he is the owner or tenant, and no one else lives there, he will not be exempt. Am I right?
§ The Minister for Local Government and Inner Cities (Mr. Michael Portillo)
We are making progress. The Minister is shaking his head.
§ Mr. Foulkes
The Scottish Minister of State is nodding.
It is very complicated indeed to read the signs. It will be by guess and by God, and certainly not by good advice.
In Scotland the impression, as explained to me by several experts, is that the liable person, if he is a student owner or tenant, will get a 50 per cent. reduction—25 per cent. because he is a single person and 25 per cent. based on his status. If he is the liable person but he is married, even if he is married to another student, he will get only a 25 per cent. reduction. If he is at home with one parent, he will get a 25 per cent. reduction. If he is at home with both parents, the full charge will be payable by that household. If there is a group of students in a flat, the position is not at all clear, unless they will be exempt under clause 4 in England or clause 72 in Scotland. It is a matter for interesting speculation what happens if one student fails his examinations so that one failed non-student is staying in the flat.
We in Scotland are proud that our failure rate is below the national average, but we did not realise that it would be a financial necessity to coach our colleagues through to avoid this chaos. I accept that I may have got that example wrong, but I hope that the Minister understands that I do not make these suggestions lightly. I have tried to canvass the best opinion that I can find, and that is the best advice that I can get.
§ Mr. Portillo
The reason why the hon. Gentleman is not entirely clear is that much of that will be covered by regulation. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I have made these points clear in press conferences and the Secretary of State for Wales made it clear in his reply last night. Since the hon. Gentleman is obviously unclear about this, I undertake to make it clear in my reply this evening.
That is a handsome offer and—I will not say that it ensures my presence, as I would have been here out of curiosity in any event—I shall certainly be present.
The point that I am making, perhaps rather over-lengthily, is that there are great areas of confusion, which are compounded by the fact that the system operates on a daily rate. I understand what the right hon. Gentleman says about a person having to have a principal residence or dwelling and that if somebody comes casually to visit that will not count. Nevertheless, there are great problems. I can think of categories of people, for example, Members of Parliament, and of interesting little tricks of the trade that may arise there. [HON. MEMBERS: "Oh."] Yes, that may well be. The position is not clear.
§ The Secretary of State for the Environment (Mr. Michael Heseltine)
I am interested. Perhaps the hon. Gentleman will explain what he means by "tricks of the trade" by Members of Parliament.
I certainly hope that no right hon. or hon. Gentleman would in any way seek to escape his liability. I have no doubt that sometimes people do. I can think of privatisation issues where rules have been bent. Those are exceptional cases. All I am suggesting is that there are great complexities and doubts.
I will give the right hon. Gentleman another example—the oil rig worker. As we know, under the poll tax there has been endless litigation and no satisfactory outcome. Such a worker may be away from home for over half a year, when the days are aggregated. That raises the question of how his liability can possibly be calculated on a daily rate.
§ Mr. Heseltine
Have we not seen the clearest example of scaremongering, invention and allegations without foundation? When challenged about the "tricks of the trade", the hon. Gentleman has nothing to say because his comment was wholly without foundation.
The right hon. Gentleman has gone red in the face and he is making himself look ridiculous. I repeat that in a large number of areas there will be complexities and difficulties of interpretation which will lead to great confusion and a good deal of unhappiness.
That is a climb-down.
It is not a climb-down at all. The right hon. Gentleman is, to say the least, seizing at any straw, if he is reduced to using that as an argument.
The other day the Secretary of State for the Environment put up a pathetic display about the 20 per cent. rule. When challenged to say why it could not be abolished in April next year, he said it was simply because income support levels had been set and it was impossible to change them. The reason is beyond me. We all know that every hon. Member is agreed that the 20 per cent. rule is indefensible. We have had it from the Audit Commission that its collection results in a net loss to the Exchequer. I cannot see that the technicality behind which the right hon. Gentleman shelters is any defence for the clear breach of principle in allowing an inhumanity and a financial nonsense to continue in a system where it has no place. It should go in April 1992. If the right hon. Gentleman had the courage of his own arguments, it would go then. To suggest otherwise is contemptible.
934 My view—I have to put it as bluntly as this—is that the Bill is a disorganised hypocrisy and few of its authors believe in it. Some at least would admit that in private. The Scottish Office team, largely still intact, attacked the so-called roof tax—a property-based system with capital valuations and a single person in the household liability—as an abomination. The team made it clear that it was a wholly unacceptable concept and said of the family home that it would be the family millstone, yet the team has ended up in exactly the same area.
When will the hon. Gentleman get round to answering the questions that I put to him during my speech?
I know that the right hon. Gentleman does not like this, but I am talking about the proposals in the Bill before us and I intend to continue to do so. I am extremely interested in the arguments used in this debate in the past 24 hours or so.
Another "trick of the trade".
It may well be.
Does my hon. Friend recall that the right hon. Member for Ayr (Mr. Younger) had himself registered at a fictitious address in the town of Ayr to deceive the electorate that his principal home was in Ayr and not, as we all know, in Stirling? Is that properly described as a "trick of the trade"?
I have no idea, but that is an interesting anecdote.
On 11 November the Secretary of State for the Environment was challenged by the hon. Member for Norfolk, North (Mr. Howell), who said that the Government should just add a further 2.5 per cent. to value added tax. The right hon. Gentleman said that the Government were determined to make progress, but that they did not believe that progress would be made by the imposition of a further 2.5 per cent. to VAT. He said: the inevitable conclusion on my hon. Friend's proposals … is that every authority's spending is fixed precisely. Authorities have no capacity to raise additional revenue, and, to the most minute detail, central Government fix their expenditure. That would not be the right way to progress. I am grateful for that information, but I do not believe that that principle is operating in local government now. I do not believe that that is the general thrust of the policies advocated by the right hon. Gentleman and his colleagues.
The Secretary of State also argued that the council tax would maintain accountability. He said: Thirty-eight million of the 42 million adults in Great Britain—that is, more than 90 per cent.—will be directly taken into account by the council tax."—[Official Report, 11 November 1991; Vol. 198, c. 786–789.] I regard that as sophistry. I remember trying to argue that under the old rating system, and the successor that we were proposing, everyone in a household made a contribution towards its running and should be taken into account and counted as being part of the taxation system. I was vilified by Scottish Office Ministers for holding such a view—vilified is a word that I can take seriously. I was told that only one person was legally liable and therefore only a small percentage of the electorate was covered by the taxation system. I was told that that was totally unacceptable.
Now the right hon. Member for Henley has the brass neck to repeat that argument and attach it to a system to 935 which, in terms of the arguments that he and his colleagues used for so long, it does not apply. I thought that that was the most outrageous claim from the right hon. Gentleman in recent weeks until I remembered some of his other remarks. He said that the Scots had complained when they got a separate poll tax bill and asked why they should complain now that they do not. That was a remarkable statement. The right hon. Gentleman also said that the only thing standing in the way of the abolition of the poll tax was the Labour party. Such comments will merely lead the right hon. Member and his colleagues into disrepute.
§ Mr. Malcolm Bruce
Surely it is remarkable that, when the Secretary of State for the Environment was asked why he did not oppose the poll tax in Scotland when he did so in England, he replied that he thought the Scots had wanted it. Is that not a sign of how out of touch Ministers are with the people of Scotland?
That is unfair to the right hon. Gentleman as I believe he is being misquoted. What he said was even more alarming. He said that he had asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if the Scots wanted it, and then he believed him.
§ Mr. John Butcher (Coventry, South-West)
It is the duty of the Opposition to oppose and the hon. Gentleman is doing so with great vigour. I pay tribute to the Scottish Labour party for spearheading the Opposition's view on the community charge and local government reform. If the hon. Gentleman's speech is to have any intellectual and moral integrity on behalf of the Scottish Labour party, he should, in all conscience, answer the specific questions put to him by my right hon. Friend. The hon. Gentleman, more than any other hon. Member, has a duty to state his party's proposals and their effects on the Scottish people.
If the hon. Gentleman believes that the relationship with local government should depend for ever on the ever pressing presence of capping power, he takes a gloomy and miserable view of the future of that relationship.
The Secretaries of State for Scotland and for the Environment have a great influence on spending in local government because they control the revenue support grant and the ability of additional expenditure to attract that grant. There are a number of ways in which they can, should and will influence responsibly, but the idea that one must spend one's time in a constant war over capping is mistaken.
In recent weeks the right hon. Member for Chingford (Mr. Tebbit) has made his stand against a single currency in Europe. He said that if we had such a machinery it would leave the Chancellor of the Exchequer as nothing more than the treasurer of a rate-capped local authority. That tells us something interesting about the disunity on the European issue, but in the context of the Bill it is also interesting. The right hon. Member for Chingford is not noted for his lack of imagination or his inability to think of vindictive comparisons. Obviously he could think of nothing more wounding to say about the Chancellor than that he should be compared to the treasurer of a rate-capped local authority. The Government should not seek to rely upon such capping powers. We do not want such a machinery and we would not rely upon it.
The hon. Gentleman will recall that his former colleague, Lord Ross of Marnock, said that a Secretary of State should have necessary reserve powers to restrict grants where an authority fails to maintain standards or spends excessively. The hon. Gentleman's predecessor thought that such capping powers were necessary, as did Bruce Millan, now a commissioner of the European Community. Will the hon. Gentleman now answer the questions that I put to him?
I have already answered—we do not believe that such powers will be necessary.
The Secretary of State was a decade out when he spoke about this recently. We put section 5 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1966 on the statute book because it was thought to be necessary at the time. I was not party to that decision. However, no Secretary of State ever found it necessary to use it and we would not wish to see those powers restored. We would not contemplate using those powers and therefore the comparison is wrong.
§ Mr. Bill Walker (Tayside, North)
Can the hon. Gentleman tell us why real deductions in local government expenditure took place in Scotland under the Government of 1978 as a result of the decision taken—quite properly in my view—by central Government to control expenditure? The reductions were not small, but massive.
I am extremely grateful to the hon. Gentleman, who so often rides gallantly to the rescue of his enemies. That is exactly the point I was seeking to make earlier. The decision in 1978 was an unpleasant one, but it was thought necessary at the time. The reductions were made by cutting the rate grant support from central Government. That machinery is always open to a Government. At that time the Government rightly chose not to use the capping powers that existed.
§ Mr. Harry Ewing
I apologise to my hon. Friend for intervening and I know that he has been generous in giving way. The Secretary of State referred to the late Lord Ross but it is important to clarify that the Secretary of State is not talking about capping powers—those powers were described as indicative costs. At no time did any Labour Secretary of State, either Lord Ross or Bruce Millan, allow a local authority to set its budget and then cut that budget in the knowledge that cuts would then be made to public services. Unfortunately, the Secretary of State has deliberately misrepresented the late Lord Ross.
I appreciate that my hon. Friend speaks from his experience in the Scottish Office.
Ministers are fond of complaining bitterly about the draconian way in which Labour Governments have controlled local authority spending in the past. It seems rather odd therefore that they should now complain that we would not use the capping machinery. We regard such machinery as redundant.
I have given way a great deal and I do not want to prevent other hon. Members from contributing to the debate. In conclusion, I believe that the story of the past two or three years has been an unhappy and disreputable one. Those who have followed the debate in the past few weeks will know that I have read the press releases that were put out in the past by hon. Members who are now part of the Scottish Office team. My fax machine used to go mad every Sunday when yet another letter to cheer me 937 up was sent by the then chairman of the Scottish Conservative party. Hon. Members will remember when the Minister of State at the Scottish Office had that dignity.
I re-read one such letter from the hon. Gentleman this morning and it was full of words such as "deceitful" and "disreputable". The hon. Gentleman predicted that a property-based tax on a capital valuation, taking everything else as it was at that time, would produce a tax of between £30 and £40 per £1,000 of the value of a house.
I accept that the £140 sweetener must be taken into account, but the figures are so dramatically wrong, even taking account of that, that I can think only that they were put about with malice as scare stories. Such malice would, no doubt, be engaging at a fringe meeting of Young Conservatives, but it is alarming coming from a Minister of the Crown.
When I read the Minister's remarks, the words "disreputable" and "deceitful", which he used cheerfully about Labour Members, struck me as a useful vocabulary when considering his efforts. I find intellectually contemptible the way in which Conservative Members have stood on their heads when adducing such arguments.
We then had strong advice from the right hon. Member for Henley to read the Municipal Journal. When I examined the issue of that publication for 8 November, I noticed a splendidly robust quotation from Mr. Roger Humber, director of the Housebuilders' Federation, who said: Mr. Heseltine is talking absolute nonsense. Mr. Humber will find that the right hon. Gentleman has a habit of doing that, certainly when dealing with local government taxation and house building statistics.
From Conservative Members and Ministers we have had bluff and bluster. They are attacking proposals from the Labour party which are sensible and coherent. In Scotland we have a valuation base that was put together in 1985 and is still hardly out of date, even if the system had run on. It is intact and would be a practical starting point. We propose to build on it, to move from that practical starting point to a reformed, improved and modernised rating system. That would be infinitely preferable to a scheme which was spawned by political disaster, and cobbled together in considerable panic.
The Secretary of State said that his system was fair. We question that. He also said that it was welcomed. As he said, no tax is likely to be popular. It is interesting to note that in the MORI poll of 1 November it was discovered that fewer than one in five favoured the so-called council tax. That poll was better for my hon. Friends than for Conservative Members, and that is true of most polls these days. At least we reached the 25 per cent. mark. The Liberals achieved only 11 per cent. with their proposals. I take some consolation from that.
We have a Government who dislike and distrust local democracy, and the reason is obvious. It is because, as the Secretary of State has constantly said, local authorities tend to be controlled by the Labour party. That does not happen by magical chemistry or conspiracy. It happens because people vote for and elect Labour candidates.
There is something shabby in a Government making great play of the fact that they lose elections at the local level. The result is that we are plunged into a situation in which, despite the quotation from the Secretary of State for the Environment to which I referred—about the need 938 to prevent local government being controlled in every detail by central Government—in Scotland, only 11 per cent. of revenue is in local government control. The Secretary of State has only one argument and policy, and that is ever more brutal capping. That is not an argument for local democracy. Rather, it is an argument against the Government and their attitudes.
I fear that the Bill will do no service for Parliament. Nor will it be of service to the people of the United Kingdom and particularly to the people of Scotland. In Scotland it will buttress and reinforce the conviction that the Government are running out of energy and ideas and, best of all, running out of time. They should go.
§ Sir Richard Luce (Shoreham)
I enjoyed the speech of the hon. Member for Glasgow, Garscadden (Mr. Dewar) because it was entertaining. Although he spent much time criticising the council tax, only towards the end of his remarks did he touch on the alternative proposed by the Labour party and he did that without enthusiasm. Indeed, he failed throughout to answer the challenging questions put to him by the Secretary of State for Scotland. I can only conclude that the hon. Gentleman is not convinced that the Labour party has better proposals for dealing with local government taxation.
In 21 years in this place, I have not before found it possible to speak with enthusiasm about any local government taxation system. At least on this occasion I can give a modest welcome to the council tax. It is certainly a marked improvement on the community charge and it is infinitely better than Labour's proposals for a return to the rating system, remembering the intense pain that that caused to many people through the 1960s and into the 1970s. The fact that the Labour party is not proposing to introduce a formula which would allow for restraint in public expenditure by local government means that its ideas could prove disastrous.
§ Mr. Harry Barnes (Derbyshire, North-East)
The right hon. Gentleman says that the council tax is an improvement on the community charge. In which way is it an improvement?
§ Sir Richard Luce
I was talking not about the Labour party proposals, but about the council tax—
§ Mr. Barnes
Answer my question.
If the hon. Gentleman will listen, he will see why the council tax is an improvement on anything that we have had in post-war years. It is a vast improvement on the rating system as proposed by the Labour party.
The four factors that must be looked for in a local taxation system are a measure of fairness, some reflection of ability to pay, an adequate measure of accountability and the maximum of administrative simplicity. No one can have any illusions about any form of local government taxation being perfect. It is almost an area in which one cannot win. There is bound to be an element of rough justice. But the Government's council tax proposal achieves a judicious balance of those elements. It may not be perfect, but it is better than any of the alternatives.
§ Mr. John Maxton (Glasgow, Cathcart)
I assume that the alternatives about which the right hon. Gentleman is speaking include the poll tax. If my memory serves me 939 right, he was a Minister when both poll tax measures went through the House. If he felt that that system was so wrong, why did he remain in that Government?
The hon. Gentleman has got me wrong. On all the taxation system that we have had since the war, including the rating system and then the community charge—he is right to say that I supported the latter—the council tax represents an improvement. That is all that I am saying.
I hope that, when replying to the debate, the Minister of State will deal with some points that I have to make about the standard spending assessment. But first I have some general comments on the Bill, in particular on accountability. It is important to bear in mind the fact that the Government are allowing local taxation to be increased to the extent of 15 per cent. of total resources. Some would argue that if it is to be at that low level, relatively speaking, we should do away completely with an element of local taxation and fund it all from central Government.
I believe that it would be a profound mistake to do that. For a Government who believe in decentralisation, it would be a damaging policy. I should have preferred a larger element of local funding to central grants and other forms of revenue. Indeed, had not Labour-controlled authorities in the past driven small businesses out of the inner cities and acted in a thoroughly irresponsible way, creating unemployment in those areas, I should have preferred more flexibility in the business rate system. However, experience does not encourage that.
I am glad that the single bill which people will receive under the council tax will contain two elements—property and personal. Constituencies such as mine have large retired populations and I am concerned about the effect of the Bill on widows and single people. They were heavily hit under the old rating system and the position of most of them was eased considerably under the community charge system. I watch with considerable anxiety to see whether they will lose out under the new council tax. I should be grateful if my hon. Friend the Minister will reassure me on that matter when he winds up.
As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State said, in two-tier authorities it is important that bills should contain two elements to make it clear to members of the public what element relates to the county, for example, and what element relates to the district. Hitherto, one misfortune of the systems has been that people are not sure who is responsible for certain expenditure.
I have corresponded endlessly with my hon. Friend the Minister and his predecessors on the standard spending assessment. He will no doubt be saying, "Thank God he is leaving Parliament at the next election". Nevertheless, the issue will remain because, under the new council tax system, it is essential that local authorities and the public have absolute confidence in the fairness of the method of or criteria for calculating the standard spending assessment. It becomes even more acute because the Government—rightly—decided to extend the potential to cap authorities spending less than £15 million. The standard spending assessment system must be based on local authorities having as much confidence as possible. In my area, the two district councils of Arun and Adur—one of which is Conservative and the other Liberal—are profoundly concerned about that issue.
940 I realise that, whatever system we have, it will be complex. The previous system was even more complex and the Government have done much to simplify it. The present system has six major service blocks, ranging from education to highways and maintenance. The "other services" block contains issues such as environmental health. Also taken into account are population factors, commuters, visitors, density and sparsity of population and the social index, which are all designed to reflect the physical, demographic and social characteristics of each area, so it is bound to be fairly complex. I accept the argument that some complexity cannot be avoided and that there will be an element of rough justice, but the experience in my constituency demonstrates that rough justice can go too far. The disparities in the per capita grant received in my district compared with the neighbouring districts of Worthing and Hove have been such in the past two or three years that much injustice has been caused. Anyone who glances at those areas—it is no disparagement of the neighbouring authorities—will see that the social conditions in my area are acute compared with those in neighbouring areas, yet the per capita grant that my area receives from central Government is much lower. Something is wrong with that and the formula is too crude.
Will my hon. Friend undertake, over a reasonable period and before the council tax is introduced, to carry out an independent review of how that works, taking into account the views of a cross-section of authorities? That review should be published and an adjustment to the standard spending assessment should be considered. In the meantime, there are some arguments for suggesting that the smaller the authority, the rougher the justice and the cruder the formula. Therefore, there is an argument for the higher authorities—in my case the county council—to have an element of discretion in dispersing funds so that they can iron out the worst anomalies and disparities between the various district councils. I hope that when my hon. Friend winds up he will comment on that and consider my proposals, which are intended to be helpful, as positively as he can. I give my encouraging support to the Bill.
§ Mr. Jimmy Wray (Glasgow, Provan)
It must be made clear that the Labour party is not to blame for the poll tax which the Government introduced. The nation should he told about the chaos, poverty and hardship that the Government have created in deprived areas throughout the country. I am not too worried about the new council tax because I doubt whether it will see the light of day. Will the nation vote the Government back in? They will be voted out and it will be a long time before we have a Conservative Government in Britain again.
Let us consider democracy in local government and the three Secretaries of State for the Environment who have had a go at local government taxation. The right hon. Member for Cirencester and Tewkesbury (Mr. Ridley), the right hon. Member for Bath (Mr. Patten) and now the right hon. Member for Henley (Mr. Heseltine) have all been unsuccessful and got it wrong. Who would have thought that, as we enter the 21st century, 7.5 million people would have been served with warrants? Yesterday, the Secretary of State for Scotland made a statement condemning local councils for overspending. The poll tax 941 collection rate throughout Britain varies from 33 per cent. to 93 per cent. Non-collection is not confined to Strathclyde and Glasgow but applies also to the shires, which collected only 82 per cent. and inner London, which collected only 66 per cent. Scotland is owed some £437 million in unpaid poll tax.
Local authorities should be given some money to get them out of the mess. Although the Secretary of State for Scotland condemned district and regional authorities such as Lambeth, Hackney and Strathclyde, no one could say that they have not tried to collect that money. Strathclyde regional council even decided to hold an auction because the ruthless Government have allowed it to deteriorate. It is nearing bankruptcy and has had to make 720 employees redundant, which is a sorry state of affairs.
§ Mr. William McKelvey (Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
There are difficulties in collecting the charge. Strathclyde authority undertakes the task diligently, but still faces problems. I received a letter this morning from the social security office stating that it cannot take anything off the income support of one woman who is being pursued for arrears because she is too poor. However, the Government refuse to abandon their policy of making everyone pay 20 per cent. although they know that it costs twice as much to try to collect it as the amount that they actually collect. They penalise poor people such as my constituent.
§ Mr. Wray
I sympathise with my hon. Friend the Member for Kilmarnock and Loudoun (Mr. McKelvey) but surely he has been a Membeer long enough to know that the Government do not care. Conservative Members are not interested in the poor, but are interested only in their own shares and in the rich. During the Government's term of office they have cut £600 million from the Strathclyde budget for services, so that council has to increase its bills this year by 32 per cent. The Government are guilty of mismanagement, gross neglect and maladministration, and should be turned out tomorrow because they are not fit to govern.
It annoys me when I hear the criticisms that come from the Secretary of State for the Environment. He talked about what my hon. Friend the Member for Dagenham (Mr. Gould) said. I shall quote a couple of paragraphs to see if anyone knows who said them: Once implemented and through transition, 1 believe the new system will prove enduring and a vast improvement on the status quo. It was said at the annual conference of the Association of District Councils on 1 July 1988. [HON. MEMBERS: "Who was it?"] Maybe hon. Members will know who it was when they hear the next part. Three years later the same person said: I'll tell you about the poll tax. We were bounced into it quickly because there was such a fuss about rates in Scotland and we were bounced without thinking because of the political fuss. That was said by the Prime Minister. It was easy to see that he was running for his job then.
Why do we have to wait until 1993 before the poll tax is abolished? We know what the position is. In Strathclyde alone, 1.25 million warrants have been issued; many others have been issued in various constituencies. The position is so bad that the sheriff officers are afraid to go into homes. The saddest story I heard was of a sheriff officer going to a door to collect items that were to be sold at auction. He 942 said that the woman in the house had only a table and television, and had spent the night before polishing the table so that it would bring in a wee bit extra to clear her debt. Is that the sort of Government we have? Yes, they do not care.
Why will not the Government abolish the 20 per cent. rule? Why are they allowing the ratepayers and taxpayers of this country to go on throwing money down the drain? It costs the Government 19 per cent. of what they collect if they collect 6 per cent. of the charges. Why do not the Government abolish the whole damn lot and give the people a free run for Christmas? They should do so if they have any compassion.
§ Mr. George Howarth (Knowsley, North)
They are stony-hearted.
Yes, they are stony-hearted.
I have taken a long look at local government finance. The Government collect only about 14 per cent. of the charge and the rest comes from central Government—is it worth collecting it? Some £4.25 billion has been thrown away on trying to get the people out of the mess into which the Government have placed them and £5,795 million has been poured in to try to save the Government from embarrassment. But the people of Scotland and Britain will never forget the sad 13 years in which people have been brought to their knees. The most deprived regions are still suffering from cuts in social services, the police force and education. The Government are hoping to carry on and according to the Secretary of State for the Environment the people will have to put up with the tax until 1993.
The Government have made a mistake with the new tax from the very start. They have valued the average house at £80,000. They were told months ago when they first set out valuations that they were wrong by between 16 and 26 per cent. Some of the houses that were valued at £80,000 were worth 26 per cent. less and others 16 per cent. less. The Government were warned about their assessments by the Local Government Information Unit and by building societies. When they try to collect the money, with all the various bands involved, they will need the St. Francis pipe band to get out of the mess. They are worried about the people in the top bands and they are ensuring that those in the highest band cannot be made to pay more than three times the amount charged to those in the lowest band. The Government are protecting very wealthy people.
What nonsense it is for the Government to say that they will give a 25 per cent. discount for everyone in every household—25 per cent. for a pensioner in the poorest slum district and 25 per cent. for a millionaire living in a penthouse. If they consider that to be fair they have got it wrong again.
The Government do not want to get rid of capping and have retained it in the Bill. The only reason that they have not capped local authorities as much as they would have liked is because of the word "unreasonable" contained in the legislation to implement the poll tax. However, the new Bill does not contain the word "unreasonable". If that word had not been included in the poll tax legislation, the Government would have capped about 31 local authorities in Scotland for overspending by a small percentage. It is a sad day when the Government put the jackboot into local authorities because of their expenditure—democracy and accountability have gone out of the window. The new 943 system is a costly business for local authorities because big changes have to be made, computers are brought into education departments and offices which means extra cost. Local authorities also have to consider gearing. When a local council increases a bill by £1, it means a 6 or 7 per cent. increase for the charge payer, which is bad news for them.
The poll tax meant a bonanza for private landlords—the Rachmans in Britain. About one week before the Act came into force to abolish rates those landlords were running about trying to get their tenants to sign to agree a rent increase, and they will do the same thing with this legislation. How will the Government deal with multiple occupations? They will tell the Rachman landlords to collect the money. They might get half the money—the other half will go in the landlord's pocket. There will be no registers. When the properties are valued they will be looked at from the outside so there could be 30 or 40 people inside. I know one place in Alliston street in which there are 20 or 30 people in one room sleeping in hammocks. If valuers do not go inside the properties, how will they be able to value them? In some streets all the buildings look alike although they may contain three, four or even six apartments, and it is unfair to place them all in one band.
The Government say that they will use the services of estate agents. Two or three of them have been out to value my place and have given me three different valuations—none of them right.
§ Mr. McKelvey
I advise my hon. Friend not to tell us what the valuations were.
I certainly will not; I am afraid to.
Even some Conservative Members have been grumbling about the bands and asking for another two or three at the top of the ladder because of the jump from £160,000 to £320,000. But some houses in this city are worth £2.5 million. What band should they come under? I hope that a new Government will come to power so that the council tax cannot be implemented. [Interruption.] I am running out of material.
§ Mr. John Battle (Leeds, West)
But my hon. Friend is using it well.
Before my hon. Friend stood up to speak he told me that it was a scandal that so little time is being allowed for a Bill of this magnitude. It is all the more astonishing that Scottish Conservative Members should not have learnt the lessons from the implementation of the poll tax which they—backed by the legions of Tory Back Benchers who are not here today—thrust on the people of Scotland. They should at least have learnt not to push through legislation like this in so short a time, thereby denying the opportunity to discuss it thoroughly.
It is difficult for any Government to justify the type of legislation that has been passed here over the past three years.
The average council tax in England will be £400, in Scotland £270 and in Wales £163—or so we are told. But I think that the figures are wrong. The Government should realise that the time has come to fund local authorities centrally. Democracy has been thrown out of the window by this Government and we shall return to democracy only 944 with the return of a Labour Government pledged to bring in a fair tax system based on ability to pay. Our document takes incomes into consideration; the council tax does not.
I will be glad when a Labour Government are returned to power and we implement the fairer system known as fair rates.
§ Miss Emma Nicholson (Torridge and Devon, West)
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State said yesterday that, despite the Opposition's fears and unyielding opposition to the proposed council tax, they managed to muster only 20 Members for the debate. I see that that number has fallen still further today—[Interruption.] Despite the laughter, only 14 or 15 Opposition Members are able to be here at this early hour for what will be a lengthy debate. What is more, I see that the Liberal Democrats cannot be bothered to be present at all, such confidence do they have in their proposals and their amendment. [HON. MEMBERS: "Where are the Tories?"] I shall not respond to blandishments inviting me to criticise my hon. Friends for not fielding more people. After all, we support the Government. We have no need to summon up armies to support our logic. It is the Opposition who need to oppose our proposals, and that they have significantly failed to do, to judge not only by numbers but by the lack of content in their speeches.
I welcome the council tax, and I find it difficult to understand the reasoning behind the Opposition's staunch refusal to see its virtues. I am forced to conclude that their opposition is comparable to their opposition to the £140 reduction in the community charge, against which many Opposition Members voted. Their opposition derives from a mulish obstinacy which directly harms the electorate; it does not rest on logic or reasoning, and it is not worth listening to.
The council tax, by contrast, responds to the electorate's wish to maintain a tie between local government revenue-raising and housing, thus identifying a centuries-old notion of ability to pay. I suggest that that notion of ability to pay still applies. Most people who live in large houses are more able to pay than those who live in small ones. Whether or not that is an accurate assumption, it became clear in the lengthy debate on the community charge that the electorate wanted us to retain that tie.
§ Mr. Maxton
It is interesting to hear the hon. Lady stress the centuries-old tradition of the link between property and ability to pay. That being so, why did she support the poll tax, which did not meet that criterion for a local tax?
§ Miss Nicholson
I do not blame the hon. Gentleman for not listening to some of my statements on the community charge, but I pointed out at the time——
§ Mr. John McAllion (Dundee, East)
Yes, but how did the hon. Lady vote?
I pointed out at the time and in the way I voted—and I say again now—that it is the country's perception that a house provides a notion of ability to pay, even if it is not a truly accurate assumption. We all know, for instance, that under this Conservative Government wealth has been created more readily, so people have had more money to spend, and they do not spend it just on 945 where they live. Their sense of self-worth is not based solely on their dwelling place. They also buy video recorders, tape recorders, televisions by the armful, cars and all sorts of other things. People's wealth is visible in a variety of ways. But, as I said, the electorate at large still believes strongly that the house in which someone lives reflects at least in part his or her ability to pay.
This tax is a light touch on local wallets, since it raises only 25 per cent. of local authority revenue, the remainder being raised from and distributed by central Government taxation systems. I give credit to the Government for this considerable and generally welcome innovation. That leaves the United Kingdom with the second lowest rate of value added tax in the whole of Europe. That is due to our large 25 per cent. of zero-rated items. We are managing an extraordinarily intelligent mechanism to raise more money while still having the second lowest VAT average in the Community. I congratulate the Government on that splendid achievement.
The council tax recognises the duty and the desire of the responsible citizen to contribute to local services. Opposition Members may smile. Some irresponsible Opposition Members did not wish to make a contribution. Several of them had such a desire to duck their contributions that they were found guilty in court. The desire to contribute to services is a badge of civic dignity, and the Bill will help to build a responsible society.
The council tax will exempt or grant a quarter discount to students, student nurses and YTS trainees and will thus build a caring society. It recognises the crucial importance of food production, thus contributing to the building of a practical society. It is thoroughly sensible—and what more could one ask of a mechanism for raising local government revenue?
The Opposition do not wish to be sensible, but that is nothing new. That gives me an opportunity to look at their uneasy and uncomfortable proposals which smack of their obsession with the continuance of the command economy. Perhaps I should say command extravagance and incompetence and, ultimately, the stagnation by command that socialist systems produce. The Opposition propose large-scale meddling in private matters, and that lies at the heart of Labour's obsession with a fair rates system. Their system would not work without an army of snoopers. [Interruption.] There is an overlarge army of Scottish Opposition Members. If I had my way, there would be a fair system of Scottish representation. There would be fewer Scottish Members, and none of them would be Labour. [Interruption.] The Opposition cannot down a good Conservative.
Labour's fair rates system smacks of that party's usual incompetence and, even more sadly, of their naive and unrealistic belief in the perfection of man-made systems. What does Labour propose? First, in the most incorrigible, sad and old-fashioned belief, it is determined to return to the rating system based on 1973 values, a truly crazy idea. Secondly, Labour proposes a new system of valuation, a second earthquake after its reversion to the early 1970s, and that system will be based on a rolling revaluation of 22 million properties based on four values, the first of which is maintenance and repair costs. Someone will have to call to see whether I have managed to replace my back door with one that has glass panes instead of wooden panels. It 946 is important that maintenance and repair costs are taken into the rolling revaluation on the critical first valuation. How does Labour propose to work out rebuilding costs, the second of its four values? The other two are rental values and insurance values. One can see the chaos and confusion that such a dreaded system would create.
The hon. Member for Glasgow, Garscadden (Mr. Dewar) said that people would pay more than they needed to pay, but that is possible only if one of two events occurs. First, it can happen because of extravagance on the part of those who spend taxpayers' money such as, dare I say it, the councils in Lambeth and Camden where 40 per cent. of the electorate leave every year. Those people vote with their feet and get out. The second cause for people to pay more than they need to pay would be the introduction of a cumbersome mechanism for identifying and collecting tax revenue. The fair rates system smacks of both those matters.
I suggest that Labour's proposals are not even supported by its Front-Bench spokesmen. We do not need to go far to find all too revealing quotes. On 5 October, on "Any Questions", Mrs. Margaret Beckett said——
§ Mr. Deputy Speaker (Mr. Harold Walker)
Order. We usually refer to hon. Members by constituency.
She said that there was "no question" but that they would replace the council tax with their rates system. On 17 October another Opposition spokesman said that Labour would "amend the council tax" and scrap the 1973 rates stepping stone. A third Opposition spokesman said that Labour would … repeal it in almost all circumstances", but might pick up the council tax valuation register.
I think that I am correct in saying that over the past four years Labour has adopted 70 different positions on local government finance. That puts the author of the "Kama Sutra" in the shade. Labour has suggested capital value rates and a twin tax—which sounds like Dracula and his brother—of local income tax and roof tax. It has suggested a floor tax which gives me, and I suggest the electorate, cold feet. I shall tell the Serjeant at Arms about that because we need more floor space in the building for our secretaries.
Labour has been twisting and turning and has offered a variety of local income taxes that puts even Heinz to shame. It has adopted a number of positions that I have already referred to in perhaps an unseemly manner. I could not support those proposals even if I were the daughter of a coal miner. I am the daughter of an MP who actively assisted coal miners and I am remarkably glad to support the Government's sensible and sane proposals.
As I have said, the Liberal Democrats have so little confidence in their proposals that they seem to have left the SDP to carry their banner, which I am sure that that party could do with far greater competence than the Liberal Democrats. The local income tax would be difficult and complex to create and to continue, tasking the Inland Revenue, as it would, as the agent of collection. It offers the horrific uniformity of a rate throughout the year that will be the same for everyone. Thus far does the Liberal Democrat imagination take one, and, lo and behold, it proposes a variety of adjustments at the year end. Is that really local initiative? The Liberal Democrats would tax wealth creation and there would be a little bureaucrat in every town hall. A high local income tax would create debtors, destroy jobs, and drive out wealth creators.
947 The Inland Revenue operates on the basis of where people are employed and not on where they live. Those of us who have been employed all our lives in real businesses know that. Therefore, the hugely complex computerised Inland Revenue system would have to be recreated. A new collection point would have to be added to the existing system. This new machinery would be created for a fictitious local additional accountability that would give more authority to local councils. There would be a creation of new power bases for no new benefits to the electorate.
Both Opposition parties offer systems that do not help individuals or families—the people whom we, the Conservatives, are pledged to serve. Instead, they offer more bureaucrats.
§ Mr. David Nicholson
My hon. Friend has made an effective attack on the proposals of both the Labour and Liberal parties, but she has not mentioned one of the greatest weaknesses in those proposals, which is that both parties have consistently voted against the Government's attempts to curb excessive local government spending through the capping mechanism. The Labour party—I should not be surprised if the Liberal Democrats thought this way too, but I have not explored their policy on this—is committed to abolishing the capping mechanism. Would that not leave council tax payers open to the burden of extravagance in local government?
I wholly agree with my west country colleague. We see things sanely and sensibly there.
Both Opposition parties are pledged only to help bureaucracy. In the case of the Liberal Democrats, that is their favourite repository of power—the local council officials. As a result of the Labour party proposals, new armies of snoopers would arise. If Labour Members fail to see the truth of that, then they are even more foolish than I thought. Only the Conservative proposals will raise the necessary sums of money for appropriate local government expenditure with a light touch and with fundamental fairness and sureness. I support the Government.
§ Mr. John Cartwright (Woolwich)
The kindest thing that I can say about the speech of the hon. Member for Torridge and Devon, West (Miss Nicholson) is that she obviously believes that attack is the best form of defence, although I notice that she did not go into a great deal of detail in defending the Bill.
It may seem a strange charge to level against this Government that they are imbued with the philosophies of Leon Trotsky, but when it comes to local government, this Administration seem to believe in the Trotskyite theory of permanent revolution. We used to have a local government Bill every two or three years, but now we have two or three local government Bills a year. No sooner do we get one system in place and local authority officials beginning to understand it than it is torn up and something new is put in its place.
We should spare a thought for the officials in finance departments in town and county halls who are trying to sort out the last remnants of the rating system while fighting a losing battle to cope with the problems of the poll tax. On top of all that, they are being asked to prepare for a completely different system which is apparently being worked out as we go along on some sort of do-it-yourself 948 basis. Any hon. Member with recent experience of trying to help constituents with poll tax rebate problems knows that the system is creaking badly and is under considerable strain. It is at least possible that it will be unable to meet the timetable that the Government have laid down for this change. If it does, I expect that the resulting quality of service will be pretty poor.
The great tragedy is that the lessons of the poll tax fiasco have not been learnt. Once again, we shall drive complex legislation through the House at breakneck speed, with all the risk of major flaws not being discovered until it is too late. Perhaps there is a more fundamental lesson to be learnt. Once again, Ministers are trying to persuade a bewildered public that they have stumbled on a magic solution to the age-old problem of local government finance. We have seen them waxing lyrical about the Bill. Two Secretaries of State, on two successive days, have been ecstatic about the Bill, but we saw the same fervour and enthusiasm marshalled, a couple of years ago, behind the poll tax. How are we to believe that, this time, they have got it right? The more enthusiastic Ministers become, the more disillusioned the punters will be when the reality of the situation finally comes home.
I may sound cynical, but all my experience at the sharp end of local government, leading a London borough council, in the local authority association and as an original member of the Layfield committee, leads me to believe that there is no ideal solution to the problem of paying for local council services. We can think up no system—fair rates, council tax, poll tax or local income tax—that would be regarded as fair by everybody and that would have no snags, drawbacks, anomalies or defects.
Every time that we change the system, there are gainers and losers. We should by now have learnt that the gainers take their gains and, saying nothing, scuttle away to enjoy them, while the losers complain long and loud. That is an old political truth which I suspect the Government will once again discover when the full impact of the council tax hits their traditional supporters in London and the south-east.
If there is no perfect system, we are looking for the least worst solution, the one with the fewest drawbacks and injustices. I make no apology for saying that, ever since Layfield reported, I have been convinced that the best solution and the one with the fewest injustices is a local income tax. All those Conservative Members who painted spine-chilling pictures of the adverse impact of local income tax should explain why the system works in Europe and, beyond Europe, in North America. Are we so incompetent that we cannot make it work at least as well as it works in other nations?
The injustice of a property-based tax is evident. The value of a home is only a rough guide to the affluence of the person who lives in it and in many cases is no guide at all. We can all think of circumstances in which the value of somebody's home has gone up through no effort of his own. The area becomes fashionable, property values go up and suddenly he is sitting on an asset that does not reflect his income. For example, although the London borough of Hackney is not widely recognised as a centre of gracious living, 70 per cent. of the households there are in bands D, E and F, but in Rotherham, 84 per cent. of households are in bands A, B and C. That shows the impact of London property values on the tax.
Many of the people in higher-banded properties in Hackney, Greenwich, Southwark and other London 949 boroughs will be council tenants who have no choice about where they live. They have to go where they are put and accept the property that they are offered. If that property has a high theoretical market value, they will have to pay a high council tax. The only answer that Ministers give to this problem is the celebrated dampener. It protects, to some extent, those in upper bands, but only at the price of imposing larger burdens on those in the lower bands.
I was interested to read the Conservative party's research department document on the Bill, dated 26 April this year. It said about the impact of the council tax: There will be no return to the very big bills that characterised the rates. With considerable courage, it went on to say: Indeed, the Government believes that only those who can afford to are likely to have to pay more in council tax than in Community Charge. Armed with that brave statement, I looked at the impact of the council tax on my constituents in the London borough of Greenwich. The Government have helpfully provided us with figures showing how the council tax can be worked out on the basis of this year's council spending. It makes frightening reading for my constituents. In the London borough of Greenwich, the average home is in band E.
Couples with a property in that average band would this year have been paying £213 more than they are paying in poll tax. Only 2 per cent. of households in Greenwich would pay less than the sum that they pay in poll tax. Single people would be even worse off. Those in average property in band E would be paying double what they are now paying in poll tax. That is £547 compared with £242. No single person in Greenwich would pay less than they are paying now. For many of my consituents, the switch from poll tax to council tax will be turning a crisis into a disaster.
It is not only Greenwich that has high-value property, but I have no doubt that Ministers will say that the outturn lies entirely with the borough's spending. That is true because Greenwich is spending 14.1 per cent. in excess of its standard spending assessment and grants will continue to be based on the SSA. It has been said already that the system is riddled with anomalies.
Does any local authority accept that its SSA accurately reflects its need to spend? I have never accepted that civil servants in the Department of the Environment in Marsham street, however sophisticated their computer programmes may be, can decide better than those on the spot what a local authority needs to spend.
I shall give one example of anomalies in the SSA system. The child populations of the London boroughs of Greenwich, Lewisham and Wandsworth are almost identical, yet the social service SSA per child is set at £271, £437 and £514 respectively. How can anyone accept that the methodology and the system are fair and reasonable when there is that sort of variation?
That leads me to capping. I speak about it with some authority because the London borough of Greenwich—I represent one of the constituencies within its area, and that is where I live—must be in the "Guinness Book of Records". It has succeeded in getting itself capped every year since capping began. It is the only local authority in the length and breadth of the land that can claim such a record. We know something about capping in Greenwich. 950 I accept that the system limits total spending, but it does so at a pretty high level. It does not, however, protect local people from the impact of spending curbs.
The local authority has not been encouraged by capping to make itself so efficient that it can deliver good-quality services at a lower price within the spending limit. Indeed, the reverse has happened. Sensitive services have been cut to some of the most needy groups to enable the borough to make the political point of blaming the Government. That was entirely predictable. Unplanned cuts have been made at the last minute wherever they could be made quickly. As a result, day centres for the handicapped have been closed, the home bathing service has been scrapped and home help services have been cut. Basic services, including the provision of public toilets, have been brought to an end. Grass in parks has not been cut.
Throughout, the council has said, "It's not our fault, guy. It is not us. This is the result of poll tax capping. It is that rotten Government who have made us do all these terrible things." That is the basic problem with capping. It undermines the accountability of local authorities. It gives a poor local authority a perfect excuse to shift the blame off its shoulders and place it on someone else's. In a borough such as Greenwich the result is the worst of all possible worlds—high bills and a poor quality of service.
§ Mr. John Marshall (Hendon, South)
Does the hon. Gentleman believe that it is significant that Greenwich, which has a Labour council, seems unable to elect any Labour Members? Does that suggest to him that the Labour-controlled council of Greenwich may be the borough's greatest asset?
§ Mr. Cartwright
That thought often strikes me when I return home after an evening's canvassing. I think that I should sink to my knees and offer a prayer of gratitude to the London borough of Greenwich. Whenever I think I am in trouble, another inspired piece of lunacy comes forward which guarantees that I find more support, especially on council estates. Nevertheless, it is monstrous that we should have a capping system. It produces high taxation and a poor quality of service.
The Bill's epitaph may be "Another Chance Missed". When the Secretary of State for the Environment began this round of local government changes, I thought that at last someone had understood the fundamental error that had found its way into every previous attempt at reform for the past 30 years. The right hon. Gentleman seemed to want to try to find changes that would stick and that would bring some much-needed stability to local government. Once again, however, complex legislation is being driven through the House without any search for consensus and with all the risk that such a speedy process involves.
Once again, it seems that Ministers are convinced that they have found a magic solution to an age-old problem. Once again, we are changing local government finance in isolation from its functions and structures. I do not believe that the proposed tax will turn out to be any better or any more popular than the poll tax. I do not believe that it will work. We have been round the course many times before and I suspect that it will not be long before we have to go round it yet again.
951 6.46 pm
I welcome the opportunity to talk about the Bill. As the House will be aware, one part of it refers exclusively to Scotland. Unlike many others, I have no complaints. I think that we have been presented with a sensible way in which to legislate. Where there is commonality throughout the United Kingdom, Scottish sections should be included in English Bills where that is possible. That removes much of the girning and grieving that is often the result of the timing of legislation rather than its content.
When examining local government financing we must consider the history of local government if we are to understand why we are where we are now. Earlier in the proceedings I intervened in the speech of the hon. Member for Glasgow, Garscadden (Mr. Dewar) to remind him of the problems that were caused by the Labour Government. I did not do so accidentally. Anyone who remembers the trust that used to exist between local government and central Government will realise that that trust began to vanish rapidly during the administration of the Labour Government and especially during the winter of discontent.
It is not surprising that that trust disappeared. During the period to which I have referred, local authorities were upset because that Government had, properly, in an attempt to control the economy, decided to reduce local government funding and, therefore, local government expenditure. A new set of problems was created and the trust that had previously existed, which all Governments had enjoyed, began to vanish. Against that background, the incoming Conservative Government of 1979 found that Conservative-controlled authorities had followed substantially the edicts and wishes of central Government and had restrained their expenditure, while many Labour-controlled authorities had become profligate to offset the impact of the reduction in support from central Government. The Labour authorities had decided to enable that to happen by increasing the rating burden.
When examining local government spending in 1979 it is essential to understand that central Government had to control the national economy. That was especially important during 1977 to 1979, when the country was rapidly going bankrupt and it was necessary, at the behest of the International Monetary Fund, to introduce measures that had a substantial impact on local government funding and expenditure. That was certainly so in Scotland, the area about which I shall speak.
When the Conservative Government came into office in 1979, there was a Conservative district council in Perth and Kinross and a Labour district council in Dundee. The Dundee council proceeded to spend in every way that it could and, accordingly, pushed up the rates. As a result, the Government had to introduce measures to control local government expenditure. The blunt instrument of cutting central Government grants meant that the pain had to be shared, but the view was taken that the measure should be implemented. Therefore, Perth and Kinross had to share some of the pain with Dundee. At the time, that appeared to be unjust and unfair and my view has not altered. It is sad that that lack of trust between central and local government has resulted in the councillors no longer running the councils. The truth is that the chief executives and the executives run the councils. In Scotland, the councils are substantially being run by NALGO.
952 We must find ways and means to achieve a balance between expenditure and accountability. I am not 100 per cent. enthusiastic about every dot and comma in the Bill, but I have been assured that I will have an opportunity in Committee to speak about the matters that concern me.
§ Mr. Ernie Ross (Dundee, West)
Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
§ Mr. Walker
I am happy to give way to the hon. Gentleman, with whom I collaborate regularly.
§ Mr. Ross
The hon. Gentleman said that he disagreed with Dundee council's decision to make up for the spending spree of the former Tory-controlled council, which was an attempt to bribe the electorate by spending all the reserves, with the intention of ensuring that the services provided would be reflected in the rates charged. He lauded the actions of the Angus and Perth district councils which did not follow that line. Would he tell the House who has run Dundee, Angus and Perth district councils since then?
During the period to which I referred, Dundee council was controlled by the Labour party. I stuck to specific areas and times. The hon. Gentleman is right that Angus district council is currently controlled by the SNP. He and I agree that it is most unsuitable to run anything, especially as it has no respect for the rule of law. Yet again, the SNP is not represented in the Chamber, which is usual when we are debating important Scottish legislation. Indeed, the SNP is even more part time than the Liberal Democrats, who I accused of being part time only the other day.
Although the hon. Gentleman and I rarely agree on political philosophy and thought, I respect his views. He is one of the few people whose views I do respect, because he holds them honourably and he does not trim them for personal advantage. Dundee is fortunate to have a man of his integrity representing it.
I am glad that the hon. Gentleman referred to people not trimming their views. I hope that he will face the fact that he was one of the most loyal and ardent supporters of the poll tax. We should be grateful to know why he is now supporting at least the principle of a property tax. We should like to know how he intends to vote tonight. Quite clearly, this Bill should be called the "Abolition of the Poll Tax Bill". As he was such an ardent supporter of the poll tax, I wonder whether tonight he will vote "Aye" or "No" for this Bill.
I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving me the opportunity to put my views on record. He should have at least done me the credit of reading my paper, in which I made proposals for the structure and financing of local government. That is what fundamentally influences my attitude tonight. The Government took on board substantially what was contained in my—paper[Interruption.] I do not claim that that was by design; it could have been by accident—[Hon. Members: "Answer the question."] I am answering the question. My attitude to the Bill is conditioned by the proposals and objectives that I put forward.
I want to retain the community charge, but at much lower levels. I want to resolve the problems that resulted from the rebates. My paper dealt with those issues, but that is one aspect that the Government did not take on 953 board. However, because they took on board substantial parts of my paper and because I am an honourable man, I feel that the least that I can say is that, although there are some matters with which I am unhappy, I support what they are attempting to do.
The hon. Gentleman has let the Minister off the hook. It is a mighty relief to the Minister to think that the country believes that the Bill is the brainchild of the hon. Gentleman—if that is a correct description of the hon. Gentleman. The Minister has been getting the blame for it for the last six months.
It is easy to see that the hon. Gentleman has the "about to retire" feeling. He has lost his edge and his sharpness. There was a time when the shafts of his interventions would have hurt. His shafts tonight were wide of the mark. I do not lay claim to inventing the Bill. I am explaining why it would be churlish of me not to recognise that the Government have accepted my proposals for resolving the problems of the community charge.
The point that I was making is fundamental. In the absence of trust, and where councillors are not really in control of a local authority, much of what they do is restricted by the wishes of organised labour. If the Government of the day, regardless of political complexion, are to control the national economy, they must have levers to control local government expenditure. That was why I intervened on the hon. Member for Garscadden. It was the blunt instruments used by the previous Labour Government that led to the winter of discontent. Labouv employees and Labour councillors lost faith and confidence in their Government and the trust that had previously existed was broken—[Interruption.] Labour Members do not like it because it is true. Central and local government used to work in tandem and harmony, but that disappeared.
It is because of that history that the House again faces the problem of what to do about the funding and financing of local government. The fact that the local element of the tax which will be met by the community is 11 per cent. of expenditure means that the tax can be contained at levels that everyone can accept. That is important. The problem with the community charge was substantially the level of that charge on individuals. That is why I and others suggested ideas to deal with the problem.
Some people in Scotland, including myself, feel that any tax related directly to property is not based on a sound principle. However, if we can keep the tax at a low enough percentage of the whole, it will go some way to resolving the problem. That is the message that I want to leave with my right hon. and hon. Friends on the Front Bench.
§ Sir Nicholas Fairbairn
Will my hon. Friend give way?
I shall give way in a minute to my hon. and learned Friend, whose views I hold very dear. [Interruption.] The Opposition find it funny, but I would never dream of looking into anything to do with Scottish legal matters without first consulting my hon. and learned Friend. There is no question in my mind but that if one wants the best advice that is the place to go.
The important thing to recognise is that any tax will be acceptable as long as it is kept at acceptable levels.
I am most obliged to my hon. Friend for his compliment. However, let me advise him that if he ever comes to me for advice he must realise that he is coming to a simple fellow who sees his problem simply.
And charges high fees.
And never receives them.
Let me ask my hon. Friend a simple question. To steal only 11 per cent. of an old woman's possessions is no justification for stealing. How can my hon. Friend justify us going back to a tax on a capital asset called a home which does not bear an income and which bears no relationship to the services that it receives or does not receive, or to the income of the occupants, however many or however few? How can he justify going back to the wrongness of that simple concept?
I thank my hon. and learned Friend for putting his finger on the flaw in any property tax. I do not argue with him on the principle. However, I hope that I have made my position clear. As a member of the Standing Committee I shall have the opportunity—I hope that other hon. Members who will be commenting on the Bill tonight will volunteer to serve on the Committee—to address that aspect of the Bill. I promise my hon. and learned Friend that I shall not be silent and he will know from my track record that I am not likely to be.
§ Dr. John Reid (Motherwell, North)
In the spirit of collaboration which is pervading the evening, I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on having disclaimed the authorship of the tax which earlier I thought he was claiming. That could have been the worst mistake of his political career. Let me ask him an equally simple question to the one asked by the hon. and learned Member for Perth and Kinross (Sir N. Fairbairn). The hon. Gentleman has said that a vital feature of the tax is its reasonable level. I should have thought that any tax passed at a reasonable level relative to the ability to pay would have been acceptable. But since the hon. Gentleman has decided to distinguish between the two, can he answer this question? Given the same level of reasonableness of the council tax that he is espousing tonight and the poll tax to which he was previously committed, which would he have preferred? If it is the poll tax, and he assumes that the same amount of money could have brought the poll tax to a reasonable level, why is he not voting against the council tax tonight?
Obviously I failed earlier when I explained that, because I am a sensible and reasonable chap and because the Government have substantially taken on hoard what was contained in my local government paper, which includes the structure of local government and other matters, not just finance, and which I believe was important, although I personally would have preferred to retain the community charge, which was never a poll tax—I made that clear to anyone who wished to discuss the matter with me—it perhaps should have been but it was not, it was a community charge—[Interruption.] It is not funny. It had nothing to do with the poll tax.
Local government in Scotland has seen a 9.6 per cent. increase in real terms in grants received from central Government over and above inflation since 1979, so all the nonsense that we hear about cuts must be properly addressed. Local government, at the behest of NALGO, is 955 saying that it will not be able to cope in the year ahead because central Government are cutting its support too much. The facts do not stand up to that. There has been a 9.6 per cent.increase over and above the rate of inflation. During debates on the Bill the Government must make clear the additional support that has come from central taxation in real terms so that we can destroy the myth that somehow there have been cuts. The only real cuts that ever occurred in Government expenditure occurred under the previous Labour Government.
In the last twelve and a half years the British people have become used to the Government's approach of attempting to govern by image management. They are getting used to the Government introducing instant paper initiatives which, with regard to housing, health and local government, are sometimes not even worthy of the back of the envelope on which they are written. There is an illusion of substance, but often their proposals never address the real issues.
No member of the Government has a greater reputation for that strategy than the Secretary of State for the Environment. In his previous incarnation in that job in the early 1980s, he earned his spurs by throwing acronyms at inner cities, publishing Government press releases on urban programme monitoring initiatives, urban development grant schemes and city action areas, all of which fizzled out once the headlines had faded away. It was all done for local effect to create impressions of competence. Now, after twelve and a half years of that carry-on, the British people see through what is put before them.
We were told earlier this year that the Government had turned round completely and abolished the poll tax. During the local council elections I can even recall Conservative candidates putting out leaflets telling people that they would not be getting another bill at the beginning of this financial year. There was even the view that, because the delay to those bills had been deliberately engineered by the Government by changing the rules so often, people would not get those bills until the election was over and so would believe that the poll tax had gone. Sadly, some did, only to discover a few weeks later another poll tax bill.
§ Mr. Simon Burns (Chelmsford)
Before polling day in May this year, the Chelmsford local authority was most anxious that those bills should be on the doorstep and, as a result of the £140 reduction in the community charge, we saw for the first time in eight years the Conservative party taking control of Chelmsford borough council and driving out what is now the opposition party.
§ Mr. Battle
II is interesting that the hon. Gentleman refers to the £140 reduction being received by the people of Chelmsford. Elsewhere in the country people did not receive that rebate. It was a case of buying votes in some areas to protect Conservative seats but making sure that other areas went down. On television and in the media the Government created the pretence that they had abolished the poll tax there and then. But the people were not conned by that argument because the British people are not stupid. They were not prepared to forget who introduced the poll tax in the first place. The chaos caused by administrative 956 changes that were imposed on local authorities only weeks before the end of the financial year meant that only a few could send out their bills on time.
The Government promised that everyone would receive a £140 reduction in their poll tax bills. The problem is that the Government often do not associate local government with social security provision. Because of the reduction in transitional payments, those receiving social security benefit—particularly pensioners—did not receive the full £140 refund. That is the reality; but the Conservatives were prepared to propagate the myth.
§ Mr. John Marshall
The hon. Gentleman has given the impression that some councils were not able to reduce the charge by £140. Does he acknowledge that all headline community charges were reduced by that amount?
It is all headlines for the present Government. There is headline inflation, and now there is a headline community charge. What the £140 headline meant in practice was that many people in receipt of benefit would not actually receive the money. That was an election con. It was a hollow promise, especially for those who bore the harshest consequences of the poll tax burden.
The Government have also blindly refused to tackle the basic injustice that has been inflicted on those who cannot pay. They still insist that everyone contribute a minimum of 20 per cent.; they do not relate the charge to people's ability to pay. The 20 per cent. must be paid regardless of income—or, more precisely, regardless of the lack of income.
I remember the political abuse that accompanied the introduction of the poll tax. Conservative Members tried to create the impression that some people were simply refusing to pay, describing those who receive 100 per cent. rebates as scroungers. The Prime Minister said at the Dispatch Box that the purpose of the tax was to ensure that everyone paid something, regardless of whether they had any money with which to pay. I am glad to see that, in this Bill, the Government have finally conceded the fundamental injustice of the 20 per cent. rule in principle, and have accepted the idea of 100 per cent. rebates.
If the 20 per cent. rule is indeed unjust, however, why can it not be dispensed with now? That would take the pressure from the housing benefit crisis that most authorities are experiencing because of the link between housing benefit assessments and the 20 per cent. minimum. Such a provision should surely be contained in clause 1 of the Bill. It would lift repression and injustice from some of the poorest members of the community, who are currently paying the price of the poll tax experiment.
A Sunday Times article, headed How we've been landed with a new gentry", analysed the new squirearchy, and featured a picture of the Secretary of State for the Environment at home wearing plus-fours. The article told us: So much does Heseltine play the patrician that he is paying this year's poll tax for his 20 staff. Why does the Secretary of State feel that it is his duty to relieve his staff of that burden, when it was he who imposed it on them in the first place? The Government are prepared to give—inch by inch—only when put under pressure by Labour and the country.
Not only are the poor paying the price of the poll tax; it is an inefficient policy to maintain the 20 per cent. rule. It costs local authorities more to collect the minimum charge than they receive by collecting it. According to the 957 Audit Commission, for every £15 that authorities spend in collecting the 20 per cent., they receive only £6 in return. The waste and inefficiency that the Government ascribe to local authorities is occurring at the centre, and is quite deliberate.
The Audit Commission predicts that, by the end of 1992, the introduction of the poll tax will have cost the country £19 billion. This afternoon, the Secretary of State for Scotland spoke of local authorities' "insatiable extravagance"; but, with the £19 billion that has been spent on a wasteful experiment, we could have tackled all the public and private housing problems in my city of Leeds. We could have dealt with all the derelict land in the inner city, regenerated the local economy, rebuilt and replaced all the older schools in the city, provided an adequate number of home helps for the elderly and ill, introduced measures to make sense of community care, built sheltered housing and day-care facilities, set up an integrated transport policy and provided nursery education for every child under five—and we could still have had money left over. That £19 billion could have been devoted to the real, practical, down-to-earth problems that face local authorities. But, instead of financing much-needed action, the money was spent on the introduction of an instrument to repress local government and reduce its ability to meet local needs.
Clause 54 of the Bill retains the draconian capping powers that were applied to the poll tax. Despite what was said by the hon. Member for Tayside, North (Mr. Walker), who is no longer in the Chamber, the Government are continuing to reduce the amount available to local authorities. They have reversed the previous arrangement under which 60 per cent. of local government resources were contributed centrally. Now, central Government give local authorities only 40 per cent. of what they need, and 60 per cent. must be raised locally. Authorities must squeeze another 20 per cent. out of the poll tax system without capping, simply to stand still. Local budget settlements have yet to be set against the council tax measure; the evidence demonstrates that, so far, standard spending assessments do not measure up to the real needs of the community.
Will the council tax be any fairer than the poll tax? The top band covers property worth £240,000 or more—my constituency does not contain many of those, of course. Although such properties must be worth at least eight times as much as those in the lowest band, their occupants will pay only three times as much as the occupants of properties in the lowest band. I see no redistributed justice there. This is just another hotch-potch provision—another pretence that the Government are introducing a measure of equality.
What will be the local impact of the council tax? Leeds city council cannot forecast that, nor can the Government, because there is so little detail in the Bill. The Department of the Environment knows the number and valuation of the properties in Leeds, but the figures are bound to be affected by the number of single people in the area, the number of people who will receive the 25 per cent. discount and the categories—students, for instance—who will be disregarded. If the local authority cannot anticipate the position, it will be unable to work out its income under the new tax, or the natural impact on local people. How can 958 the Department of the Environment know who lives alone in Leeds, or who is eligible for a discount, unless the local authority can give it the information? Yet the local authority does not have that information.
When the poll tax was introduced, we discovered that registers were costly and difficult to maintain. Between April 1990—when the tax was introduced in Leeds—and September this year, 534,000 amendments have been made to the register. We do not want to go through that nonsense again, but the Bill does not make clear what the position will be.
According to the crude figures that the Government have announced, a single person living in a property in Leeds that costs more than £68,000—band C—will have to pay more than he or she pays now in poll tax. So much for helping single elderly persons living on their own. Many of my constituents will end up subsidising and helping the rich elsewhere.
The Government claim that they are consulting people all the time. When the Secretary of State visited Leeds in February, the local authority advised him not to mix a property tax and a head tax; it would be a nightmare scenario that would cause administrative chaos. If the Bill goes through in its present form, it will be impossible to implement that proposal. That is why we should not allow the Bill to proceed. However, it seems that, sadly, the Secretary of State overrules any consultations that there may have been, in just the same way as he is prepared to overrule genuine consultation here.
Water metering is being introduced compulsorily by water authorities, such as Yorkshire Water. They now insist that all properties built after April 1990 should be metered. The argument is that they cannot refer to rateable values, which were abolished when the poll tax was introduced. The Government propose to return to rateable values, so that argument no longer holds good. Can the Minister assure me that residents in new houses will have a choice and will be able to say to the water authority that they do not want their water supply to be metered? The newly-privatised water authorities forced them to have meters, regardless of their circumstances.
It is still unclear how students in private accommodation—few students in Leeds are in halls of residence—will be treated, or how student nurses—there are many in Leeds, which has a large teaching hospital—will be treated. Schedule I defines the word "student." When it comes to nurses, it all depends on whether they are on Project 2000 courses and receive a bursary or whether they are on conventional nursing courses and receive a training allowance. The incomes of the two groups of student nurses may be similar, but the Project 2000 students will have to pay 20 per cent. of the tax while the other student nurses pay the full 100 per cent. Although those nurses may be working together making the same beds and caring for the same patients, when they come off duty one nurse will pay the full council tax while the other will pay only 20 per cent.
As for joint and several liability, will that not live on after the death of the poll tax? Women had to pay their husbands' bills, and vice versa. Under the new council tax and what is quaintly called in clause 6 the "hierarchy of liability", the hierarchy will consist of two tenants who, if they are at the same level in that hierarchy, could become responsible for each other's council tax jointly and severally. A tenant could be held responsible for an absentee landlord, in exactly the same way as couples 959 living together are held to be responsible for each other's liabilities. That is unfair and unjust. It will also require checks to be made, leading to the return of the iniquitous snooping system in order to decide who is liable to pay.
On close examination, it is evident that the Bill is a hotch-potch. It is a shoddy Bill. It was interesting to hear Conservative Members claim that they are against the poll tax now and that the best thing to have happened since the invention of sliced bread is the council tax. If the Bill is so good, why do the Government have no confidence in it? Why are they not confident enough to discuss it? Why do they have to bludgeon it through Committee? Why are they going to guillotine it in Committee without allowing proper time for discussion?
When the Prime Minister became the newly elected leader of the Conservative party, he said in the Daily Mail that the party had been bounced without thinking into the poll tax. In this debate, we are in danger of repeating the poll tax tragedy, this time as a farce. The Bill is not worth discussing further and should be rejected by the House. In the meantime, the reality of the dreadful poll tax will, sadly, have to drag on for the people of this country until there is a change of Government.
I knew the new hon. Member for Hemsworth (Mr. Enright) as a Member of the European Parliament, where he was hard-working, conscientious and a man of principle. I welcome his election to the House. He provides one of the vagaries of political life, in that in 1984 he was deselected as a European candidate because he believed in the European Community, whereas he was imposed as the Labour party's candidate a few weeks ago——
On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Is it in order that a new Member of Parliament who has not yet made his maiden speech should be attacked in this way by the hon. Member for Hendon, South (Mr. Marshall)? A Member who has not yet made his maiden speech should not even be mentioned, far less attacked in the way that the hon. Gentleman is cynically going about it.
§ Mr. Deputy Speaker
It is not unusual for a new Member to be welcomed, despite the fact that he may not yet have contributed to our proceedings.
§ Mr. Marshall
Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, for those words of wisdom. If to tax and to please, no more than to love and be wise, is not given to man, may I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment on seeking to do the impossible. When I tell people that I spent 10 years in the European Parliament, they tell me that I was a hedonist. When I tell them that I spent 17 years in local government, they tell me that I was a masochist. I suspect that I was a masochist twice over.
There is no doubt that the old rating system was based on the nebulous concept of a fair market rent. There has been no free market in residential property since the early years of this century. It was decreed that the old rating system should seek to produce a value based on a free market in property, but the House destroyed that free market in property during the first world war. That is why valuation, under the old rating system, was a most inexact science. That is why it had to be abolished.
960 Capital values at least have the benefit of being related to a market, although I am sure that many owners will seek to convince their bank managers that their property should be in band H while they seek to convince the rating authorities that their property should really be in band F.
During my 17 years in local government I served as the chairman of the finance committee in Ealing. We were able to boast of having set the lowest rates in west London and of providing sufficiently good services to attract the Leader of the Opposition to Conservative-controlled Ealing from Liberal-controlled Richmond. As a man who spent 17 years in local government I have a sense of shame that yet again there has to be another attempt to reform local government finance, due to the incompetence, extravagance and doctrinaire opposition to competitive tendering of Labour councils.
If Labour councils had listened to the advice of the Audit Commission, if historically they had collected rents, rates and the community charge, we should not he faced with our present difficulties over local government finance. Labour councils, throughout the length and breadth of the country, have delighted in presenting high bills to ratepayers and charge payers and in providing poor services. They are renowned for planning delays, empty council homes and poor education results. All too often Labour councillors dream of monuments to municipal munificence—which, incidentally, bear the name of the councillor who had that dream.
I congratulate the Government on accepting the case for regional banding as between Scotland, Wales and England. My hon. Friend the Minister of State represents an outer London borough and he would be surprised if I did not at least briefly mention the position in the London borough of Barnet. Under the Government's proposals, taxpayers in Barnet will pay a lower tax than they paid under the discredited rating system which the Government abolished and they will pay less than they would under the Labour party's proposals.
I ask my right hon. and hon. Friends on the Treasury Bench to study closely the problems that affect house owners in the south-east and in London. There are great regional variations in house prices, illustrated by the fact that in the London borough of Barnet 1 per cent. of properties will be in bands A and B, 6 per cent. in the three lowest bands and 46 per cent. in the top two bands.
Some people in the Labour party believe that high house prices mean high living standards and affluence. However, the net monthly mortgage repayment in London is £539; it is £478 in the south-east, £263 in Yorkshire and Humberside and £255 in the Northern region. Monthly mortgage payments in London and the south are twice those in Yorkshire, Humberside and the north.
I hope that if my right hon. and hon. Friends cannot accept the case for regional banding for London and the south, they will reconsider the problems that the revenue support grant can produce for London. I am one of those who believe that the revenue support grant makes the Schleswig-Holstein question a model of clarity. There is an undoubted risk that the high bandings that apply in London and the south-east could lead to an outflow of grant. That is terribly important because under the council tax 85 per cent. of local expenditure will be met centrally. As my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow, West (Mr. Hughes) pointed out yesterday, it is important that we get the grant for London and the south-east correct. I hope that my hon. Friend the Minister will be able to give some 961 commitment to that this evening. We look forward to a generous settlement in a few weeks' time when he might deal with the London Regional Transport anomaly which is afflicting us as Members representing outer London.
It is important to remember that there is a tight timetable for the introduction of the new tax. The difficulties associated with the introduction of the community charge were not caused by the time taken for the Bill to pass through the House, but by the fact that a large number of regulations relating to the charge were passed close to its introduction.
Will my hon. Friend the Minister give us some assurance that regulations relating to the council tax will be in place by the end of this year? Local authorities will need a substantial amount of time to ensure that their information technology is correct and is in place to deal with the council tax. It was not in place to deal with the community charge.
If that is to be the case, both systems will have to run parallel, which will be an extra burden on local authorities. So far the Government have not even given a commitment to reimburse the full cost of that.
Of course, there will be the process of introducing the council tax as there would be if we listened to the Labour party and introduced its tax. The trouble with the Labour system is that it would spend many more years trying to introduce it before it could get rid of the poll tax.
I welcome the fact that the Government are committed to capping a large number of local authorities as part of the introduction of the council tax. Every change in local government finance, whether by revaluation or the introduction of the community charge, has been accompanied by a large element of extravagance by many local authorities.
§ Mr. Allen McKay
There are about 400 local authorities. How many is the hon. Gentleman talking about?
It would be fair to say that a substantial number would be included. In my estimation, the number of extravagant local authorities——
§ Mr. McKay
I am answering the question.
The hon. Gentleman does not know the answer.
The number of extravagant local authorities would be more than 100.
There are many benefits of compulsory competitive tendering in London, but many local authorities resisted it. The Minister told me the other week that compulsory competitive tendering can produce savings of 8 per cent. in street cleaning in London. Why did not local authorities do that a long time ago? All the authorities that refused to indulge were extravagant. They were putting the jobs of members of the National Union of Public Employees before the good of charge payers and of the local authority. Those authorities that indulged in competitive 962 tendering and got the jobs done more quickly were able to expand the level of services and reduce the cost to the charge payer.
§ Mr. William O'Brien (Normanton)
What about the quality of service?
One need not assume that the quality of service is lower——
§ Mr. O'Brien
I am telling the hon. Gentleman what happened. Yesterday my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for the Environment presented an award to the best street cleaner in London. He came from an authority which put the service out to compulsory competitive tender some time ago. The best street cleaner in London does not work in a direct labour department in Hackney, Lambeth or Lewisham. He was working for Westminster council, an authority which went out to tender some time ago. Whose streets are cleaner—Westminster's or Camden's? The answer is Westminster's.
Compulsory competitive tendering provides better services at lower cost to the charge payer in London. Therefore, many local authorities which, as a matter of principle, refused to go out to competitive tender were extravagant high-cost local authorities, unconcerned about the good of their citizens and of the charge payer.
My authority went out to tender to test prices long before the House thought about it.
I must congratulate that authority on doing what so many other Labour authorities refused to do. All too often Labour councils were reluctant to go out to competitive tender.
I once sat on a Labour-controlled council which went out to tender and would not accept the lowest tender because it did not come from a direct labour department.
§ Mr. Phillip Oppenheim (Amber Valley)
What does my hon. Friend think of the actions of Derbyshire county council, which refused one low-cost tender because it came in the wrong coloured envelope and ended up accepting a higher tender from its own work force at an enormous extra cost to charge payers?
Am I allowed to use swear words in the House? I suspect not. All that I can say is that the actions of Councillor Bookbinder are so incredible as to defy belief. My hon. Friend the Member for Amber Valley (Mr. Oppenheim) is a lucky man. Councillor Bookbinder was his opponent at the last election, if I am not mistaken, and I am sure that he at least doubled my hon. Friend's majority.
§ Mr. Oppenheim
He trebled it.
The level of arrears of community charge is a side issue connected to the introduction of the new tax. I hope that my hon. Friend the Minister will be able to tell the House that there will be no amnesty for poll tax dodgers and that however high and mighty—be they Members of the House, Labour councillors or whoever—no one will receive an amnesty for refusing to pay the community charge. As for old-age pensioners, one such Member of the House was slow to pay her community charge bill to the London borough of Barnet, but then a friend paid it for her.
963 Some of my hon. Friends and the hon. Member for Glasgow, Provan (Mr. Wray) have suggested that central Government should pay more of the cost of local authority expenditure than the Bill provides for. Although superficially attractive, that would present a huge constitutional problem. If central Government are to pay even more of the cost, there must be greater control over the activities of every local authority. It would be a question, not of capping a minority, but of central Government determining how much should be spent by each local authority and how it should be spent. I do not want central Government to say how many teachers should be at a school in Barnet or how much should be spent on books in Barnet. I much prefer the system of devolved power to individual schools either by their becoming grant-maintained schools or through the local management of schools. If 100 per cent. of local authority expenditure were financed centrally, it would be disastrous for the future of local government and for the linkage of powers between central Government and local authorities.
Later this evening we shall debate a guillotine motion on the Bill, which will provide a chance for a constructive, positive Committee stage. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has always shown himself to be a listening Minister. Earlier in the debate we were told how he listened to my hon. Friend the Member for Tayside, North (Mr. Walker), who is no longer here. I hope that in Committee he will listen to the pleas of Members representing Greater London and the south of England because they are dear to my heart and may to some extent be dear to his.
I have listened with great interest, if some difficulty, to the hon. Member for Hendon, South (Mr. Marshall). First he supported the legislation and then we heard his special pleading for his constituency. That is precisely what is wrong with the legislation. There are so many anomalies that of the 650 Members who make up this House of Commons, including Mr. Speaker himself, each one of us could present the Government with a list of the anomalies in the Bill the length of our arm.
We are discussing a Bill that will never be implemented. There are two reasons for that. The principal reason is that the Government will he defeated in four or five months' time and be replaced by a Labour Government who will take the Bill off the statute book as soon as they come to power. Even if that does not happen—I am realistic enough to know the vagaries of elections—the legislation will not be implemented in the form in which the House is discussing it tonight. That is my forecast, although I will not be here to see it unfold. The evidence on which I base it is that, within three weeks of the White Paper being introduced in the middle of this year, there were 15 announcements of changes to the proposals now in the legislation. Even since the legislation has been published, it has been made clear that the Government will introduce amendments in Committee—that against the background of the guillotine timetable under which the Committee will operate.
To my colleagues on this side of the House I say that I shall not object too much to the guillotine for one simple reason: I hope that they will take it as a model for the in-coming Labour Government. I hope that they will use 964 the guillotine procedure when they deal with the damaging legislation on the health service, the poll tax and many other matters that Conservative Governments have passed through this House during the past 13 years.
As I shall leave the House at the general election, one of the saddest features of this debate is that the Bill is one more attack on local councillors. In more than 20 years here I have seen many pieces of major legislation which were designed to attack the standing of local councillors. I do not care whether they are Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democratic, independent or, in Scotland, Scottish National councillors. All those who stand for election submit themselves on a sincere platform and with a will to serve the electors from whom they ask for support.
When the hon. Member for Hendon, South attacks Labour councils as he did so vehemently, it is almost as if they were not elected. People voted for them. He must have fresh in his memory the fact that in May this year, not many months ago, the Conservative party lost 500 seats in England and Wales in the local government elections. Despite all the criticisms that he has levelled at Labour-controlled local authorities, it is an inescapable fact that in England, Wales and Scotland Labour-controlled authorities are there by virtue of the democratic decision of the people. That is how it should be but, of course, that is not what the Government want.
If I may, I shall for a minute trace the history of attacks on local government, the constant reorganisation of local government and the uncertainties created for councillors in my time here. In 1972 local government reorganisation in England and Wales set up the Greater London council and the metropolitan borough councils, and brought changes to all local government. It was quickly followed in 1973 by the reorganisation of local government in Scotland. At that time there were also two major housing acts: the Housing Finance Act 1972 for England and Wales and the Housing (Financial Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1972—the Rent Acts as they were referred to. Later legislation abolished major elements of the local government structure that had been set up under the 1972 Act. The metropolitan borough councils were abolished, not because they were not doing a job but because they were Labour. The authorities were abolished to silence them.
I think that it was the hon. Member for Tayside, North (Mr. Walker)—I apologise if I am misrepresenting him—who said that councillors no longer run councils and that councils are run by officials. The simple explanation for that is that when local government was reorganised we reduced by 50 per cent. the number of elected members. In other words, we reduced the democratic element by 50 per cent. It was as plain as a pikestaff, as sure as night follows day, that the bureaucratic element would double. When people complain that local government is being run by bureaucrats, it is simply because there is not enough democratic input.
I do not know what form the reorganisation of local government or local government finance will take in the years to come. However, I do not waver from my belief that the democratic input in local government must increase not only in Scotland—I say that in the presence of the Secretary of State and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary, the hon. Member for Edinburgh, West (Lord James Douglas-Hamilton)—but throughout England and Wales. If the House moves further down the road of bureaucracy, all it will do is store up trouble for itself.
965 We are now faced with another piece of major legislation that represents another attack on local government and yet another major reorganisation of its structure—the seventh we have had in the past 20 years. How on earth can any organisation be efficient when it is continually subjected to the type of reorganisation that the House has inflicted upon local government in the past 20 years? There has been no cohesion or consistency of approach.
By and large, councillors do everyday jobs and devote some of their leisure time to try to make conditions better for the people in their locality. It is unacceptable to expect such councillors to adjust to the changes that are imposed upon them by the House in such a draconian way and with such monotonous consistency.
The council tax Bill has its origins in the demise of the former Prime Minister and the loss of 500 seats in the local government elections. It was cobbled together in a hurry, as is obvious from reading it. The hon. Member for Hendon, South has already demonstrated, and far more ably than I could, the deficiencies and anomalies in the Bill.
If any local authority had squandered the amount of money that Ministers are guilty of squandering on the poll tax in the past four years there can be absolutely no doubt that councillors would have been surcharged under local government legislation. How can one try to explain to a councillor how on earth inefficient Ministers can get away with squandering millions of pounds of taxpayers' money? However, if that same councillor is "seen" to squander between £40,000 and £50,000, the Secretary of State for Scotland or the Secretary of State for the Environment would be on his neck like a ton of bricks. The councillor would be surcharged for seemingly squandering that money. However, the real guilty people are Ministers who have squandered billions of pounds of taxpayers' money, but they have got off scot-free.
Those same Ministers then come to the House and with brass neck defend the introduction of a council tax with the same conviction with which they condemned the principle of a property tax when the poll tax was introduced. Recently the Secretary of State for Scotland and the Minister of State went around Scotland attacking the concept of a property-based tax. The Minister said that we would never return to a property-based tax. In fact, the Minister is on record as saying that just three years ago, but the backbone of the Bill is a return to a property-based tax.
I believe that the rating system of England and the revaluations that should have taken place, but never did, were the basis of the problems in England. However, I bow to the superior knowledge of English colleagues in all parts of the House when it comes to the English system.
In Scotland, however, at the time of the 1983 revaluation three factors combined, the effects of which no local taxation system could have withstood—not even the Liberals' proposal for a local income tax. The first factor was the reduction of 12 per cent. in the rate support grant from the Government to Scottish local authorities. The then Secretary of State for Scotland, the right hon. Member for Ayr (Mr. Younger), directed the assessors to switch the burden from industry to the commercial and domestic ratepayers. That was followed by a dramatic 966 increase in the property values valued by the assessors. No system of local government taxation could have withstood those three factors and their combined effect.
What did the Government do? To try to repair the damage that they had done they switched the burden to the commercial and domestic ratepayer. The Government told the assessors to make that switch and they then introduced a system whereby any ratepayer, commercial or domestic, whose rates had increased by a factor of three could get rating relief. A small number of people qualified for such relief, but the Government wondered at the outburst that followed. As a result of that we got the ill-thought-out and ill-fated poll tax.
I am a devotee of the rating system—I speak for myself when I say that—and at the time of the introduction of the poll tax I do not believe that a sufficiently vigorous defence of the rating system was made. Those of us who supported the rating system failed miserably to argue for its retention and development.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environment (Mr. Robert Key)
I am listening with great interest to the hon. Gentleman as I respect the fact that he has been a Member of the House for 20 years and a member of a Government for five years with special responsibility for devolution. The hon. Gentleman understands the working of Government and the inter-relationship with local government.
What is the hon. Gentleman's opinion of the current attempts to reorganise local government? I share his frustration at the fact that for many years local government has been considered from a financial point of view only. Local government finance has been reorganised many times, but now the Government are considering that together with local government structure and its functions. The Government are also considering the internal management of local government—how and who makes the decisions. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that such an approach is likely to be more constructive?
§ Mr. Ewing
To be honest, I would have to study the hon. Gentleman's question before I answered. To study local government finance and local government structure at the same time is not a new concept. The Layfield commission sat at the same time as the Wheatley commission in Scotland—one studied local government finance, the other studied local government structure. Whichever Government are in power—I hope and pray that it will be a Labour Government next time—they must tread carefully when it comes to the reorganisation of local government to ensure that we do not throw the baby out with the bathwater. There is a lot to be said in favour of local government, but because other hon. Members wish to take part in the debate, I will not be led down that path.
I have made it clear that I am a supporter, indeed a devotee, of the rating system. I would be willing to debate that issue in public with any hon. Member and to explain the advantages of the rating system. It had the one major advantage of being collectable; 90 per cent of people paid their rates bills. Nobody could claim that for the poll tax, and the council tax will, I fear, have the same fate. To keep the value of properties up to date, it would have been simple to update valuations each year in line with inflation.
Do the Government wish to be responsible for central economic management, including managing the finances of local authorities? If so, that is bound to lead them to the 967 100 per cent. financing of local government services. The Government must make up their mind on this issue. Do they wish to decide the level of services that local communities should have? If so, will they use their capping powers to achieve that end?
The Labour Government of which I was a member never used capping powers. We had a system of indicative costs in Scotland. If the Government intend to be responsible for the level of services of local government, they must be prepared to take the responsibility for funding those services. Or perhaps they will do what I would prefer, and that is to allow councils to decide the level of services that their communities should have. If low rating levels are satisfactory to an electorate, that will be expressed through the ballot box. If higher rating levels resulting from the provision of better services are acceptable to the electors, that too will be expressed through the ballot box.
I cannot understand why the Government want to become so involved in the management of the affairs of local authorities. In the last 13 years they have made a big enough mess of the nation's economy. Why do they now wish to get so involved in local authority expenditure? The Bill should go no further and I advise the House to reject it absolutely.
I welcome the Bill. In effect, the council tax will be a modernised and updated version of the rates. One of the biggest problems with the rates was that the system of assessing rates on the basis of notional rentable values created enormous difficulties. Not only was virtually every house rated differently, but problems were caused when people went in for relatively minor improvements to their properties and suffered disproportionate rates increases as a result. Capital value hands will not solve the problem entirely, but the system will address the issue to a significant degree.
All hon. Members must have received complaints, and been told on the doorstep, about the way in which the single person living alone in exactly the same house as that of his or her neighbour paid about the same rates, even though the neighbour may have had a large family with a number of people living in the house. The council tax will, to a significant degree, deal with that injustice which was inherent in the old rating system. I also welcome the protection enshrined in the Bill for students and student nurses, with rebates for those on low incomes, rebates for people in training and a rebate of 25 per cent. for single person households.
Most Opposition Members believe that the rebate for single person households is unfair. I appreciate that the basis of their argument is that the council tax is son of poll tax and that some account is taken of the number of people in households. If they believe it unfair to give a discount, even a small one of 25 per cent., to people living alone, I hope that when he winds up the debate for the Opposition the hon. Member for Sheffield, Brightside (Mr. Blunkett) will make it clear that the Labour party is committed to abolishing the single person household discount. I will gladly give way to the hon. Gentleman if he will give a clear commitment to that effect. Does he intend to intervene now?
§ Mr. David Blunkett (Sheffield, Brightside)
I will make my own speech in my own time.
Characteristically, the hon. Gentleman backs off from giving a firm commitment. I do not blame him. After all, a commitment to abolish that discount would be fiercely unpopular in the country, not simply among those who live alone but among those who live in homes containing several people and who recognise the fundamental injustice of people living alone having to pay exactly the same rate as themselves. The country will have noted the failure of the hon. Gentleman to answer my question.
It was commonly said of the community charge that it would have worked if only the bills had been lower. I accept that had the Government limited increases in local authority spending in year one of the community charge, the bills would have been significantly lower, not least due to the gearing of the system, and that may have made the charge more acceptable.
Hon. Members in all parts of the House must face the fact that, whatever system is introduced, if councils, whatever their complexion, spend unwisely—I accept that some Conservative-controlled councils are equally guilty—bills will become high and possibly unacceptably high. In my area, the rates for many years, including the poll tax, ended up being far too high because of the profligate spending of the county council. I shall not dwell on that subject. We accept that priorities in public spending at national and local level are difficult issues because choices must be made and it is difficult to make them. Even so, some priorities appear strange. When a county council has, since 1981, increased its overall staff by 8,000, the largest increase in England and Wales, yet is the only county with fewer policemen in the Derbyshire police force, that is strange.
It is a strange set of priorities for a council to spend millions of pounds pegging school meals to 1981 prices in a way that does not benefit even the children of the least-well-off—because they get free school meals anyway—yet is in the process of sacking hundreds of teachers. It is strange for a council which pleads for more capital for school buildings and repairs to spend £5 million of its capital allocation on the redundancy costs of sacking teachers.
A council has a strange set of priorities when it says that it cannot afford Home Office offers of more policemen, yet can find plenty of jobs for the cronies and friends of the leader of the council, such as the former Labour councillor who got the plush job, at £40,000 a year, of being in charge of the so-called Derbyshire enterprise board, or such as the chairman of Derbyshire Labour party, one David Skinner, who got a well-paid job supposedly escorting Japanese business men around Derbyshire, despite the fact that he had been sacked for corruption by the council in the 1970s from his job as a road ganger. The former Labour Member, Reg Race, was given a highly paid job as a chief executive of Derbyshire county council, despite the fact that most people believed that he was unsuitable for that task. In defence of Mr. Race, I should say that, when he realised the policies that the council was following, he had the honour to resign his post. Unfortunately, he did not have enough honour to refuse the golden handshake which the council offered him to buy his silence about what he had learnt during his brief tenure as chief executive.
Should a Labour Government come to power, would they cap such excesses? The hon. Member for Dagenham (Mr. Gould) has criticised the Government for capping local authorities, yet he said on the "Today" programme 969 that a future Labour Government would cap local authorities "in extremis". What did "in extremis" mean? Would they cap Lambeth, Derbyshire or Haringey, or are they not in extremis enough? It should not be forgotten that the Labour party supported Liverpool council against the Government in the mid-1980s. Yet history has shown what a discredited bunch those Liverpool councillors were. Would they have been in extremis enough to be capped by a Labour Government?
I condemn the Opposition's attempts to slay the Bill. Indeed, I do not know how they have the face to do so when, after 12 years in opposition and almost as many changes to their policies on local government finance, they have simply come up with a system that deals with none of the fundamental problems inherent in the old rating system. The individual household valuations which they propose would be extremely complex, and they have already said that they would take no account of single person households. Those are two of the most basic problems of the old rating system which they want enshrined in their so-called fair rates. Above all, they have not said how their valuations would be carried out under their so-called fair rates scheme. How do they have the cheek to oppose the Government's proposals when they have no real alternative? They should be ashamed of themselves.
The confusion goes further, because the Opposition do not even know what they would do if they came to power. On 5 October, the shadow Chief Secretary, the hon. Member for Derby, South (Mrs. Beckett), said that Labour, should it come to power, would replace the council tax with fair rates. However, 12 days later, the hon. Member for Brightside said that it would not abolish the council tax but would simply amend it. On 27 October, the hon. Member for Dagenham said that the Labour party would repeal the council tax. Clearly the Opposition Front Bench do not even know what the Labour party would do if it came to power. It is confused, is talking at cross purposes and has no real proposals to put before the House.
I welcome the Bill. It offers a relatively simple system that ensures that a high proportion of people will pay but, at the same time, takes account of people's ability to pay. I recognise that no tax will ever be popular. But I do not see how the Opposition can, in all honesty, oppose the Bill when they have called for the abolition of the poll tax and cannot even say what the basis of the valuations that they propose would be. For a party that has been in opposition for 12 years, that is a disgrace. Above all, it shows that it deserves to remain in opposition.
There is something odd about this debate. Those hon. Members who served on the poll tax Committee and were therefore involved in the last great discussions on local government finance have been represented among Opposition Members but not by Conservatives. Conservative Members who were on the Standing Committee that dealt with the poll tax have deserted the Floor of the House rather than bring their expertise to bear. We had a third day's discussion of this subject during the debate on the Queen's Speech. The hon. Member for Spelthorne (Mr. 970 Wilshire), who was on that Committee, turned up on that occasion but he talked about the reorganisation of local government rather than local government finance. So why is there this great peculiarity? Why are the Conservative Members who have tussled with the arguments and listened to the alternatives not around?
When a Bill of the magnitude of the Local Government Finance Bill is presented to us, those who speak in its favour should say how it overcomes some of the manifest defects that need to be altered. In that general context, we need to understand what they are saying about this Bill. That is never done by Conservative Members, with the exception of the hon. Member for Aldridge-Brownhills (Mr. Shepherd), who talked yesterday about some of the things that were wrong with the poll tax. People outside will be very cynical about the Government's position if Conservative Back-Benchers refuse to say what they think is wrong with the current situation and why fresh legislation needs to be introduced.
The Opposition know why fresh legislation needs to be introduced. We have constantly said what is wrong with the poll tax. We have expressed our opposition in the House, in debates on the subject, on the guillotine motion that was debated on that measure, in Committee, in Committee debates on statutory instruments, some of which emerged only recently, and in meetings and campaigns. We have strutted the country and argued about what is wrong with the poll tax. I have been to the constituencies of two of the Conservative Members present—the hon. Members for Amber Valley (Mr. Oppenheim) and for Portsmouth, South (Mr. Martin)—to tell people what is wrong with the poll tax. The hon. Member for Amber Valley has already spoken, but it would be nice if the hon. Member for Portsmouth, South would say what he believes is wrong with the measure and needs to be overcome.
Plenty was wrong with the poll tax. It was the worst taxation system that was ever introduced into a democratic society at any time. It was quite unbelievable. Its unfairness was astonishing and led to all sorts of interferences with civil liberties and rights, with knock-on consequences. The Government had engaged in a vast centralising activity, so that the Department of the Environment took over masses of power and local government was run even more centrally than through other measures which the Government had introduced. Conservative Members, who are supposed to believe in great freedoms—freedoms of the market place and decentralisation—could not see that point. If they saw it, they chose to ignore it in their contributions.
Compared with the poll tax legislation, the Bill makes significant changes, which the Government should tell us about. For instance, although there is a minor distinction between the bottom and the top bands—those on the top pay only three times as much as those on the bottom—it is an important principle. The House debated that principle in the so-called Mates amendment. Under the provision suggested by the hon. Member for East Hampshire (Mr. Mates), people on salaries below taxation levels were to pay half the poll tax and some were to pay the full poll tax, while those on a surtax level were to pay one and a half times the normal poll tax. The difference between the highest and lowest amounts to be paid was a multiple of three. For many Opposition Members that provision did not seem to make a great difference, but it was important to Conservative Members because it 971 involved a change of principle that could later be extended. If some people were to pay three times the amount paid by others, that principle should have been discussed. In the same way, the property-based aspect of the legislation is significant and should be debated, but we have not heard much about that.
The present Bill also differs from the poll tax legislation in that the exemption list has been improved. Under the poll tax provision, those serving in overseas forces and residing in this country and foreign diplomats are excluded from paying the tax. As far as I understand it, under the new Bill they are not excluded from paying the tax. If I am right, why do we not hear Conservative Members arguing in favour of that change?
The case is being argued in a most cynical fashion. The argument has not been in terms of the principle of local government finance, but merely on the grounds that political difficulties arose in relation to implementing the poll tax and urgent action had to be taken, especially in the light of the election of the new leader of the Conservative party, the promises being made and the general position of the party at the time. Therefore, this measure was introduced and attempts are being made to push it forward as quickly as possible.
We should keep producing within their constituencies the voting records of Conservative Members to show where they stood on the poll tax. Conservative Members who have spoken in the debate have tried to show that they were minor rebels and to imply that some sort of mass rebellion took place. When was that rebellion and when did we eagerly await votes in the House to see which side had won? The voting results were not close, but showed solid majorities.
The Committee that debated the poll tax legislation included three Conservative Members who were liable to rebel at any time, but never rebelled in unison because that might have caused a drawn vote and could have resulted in the legislation being returned to the Floor of the House. The hon. Member for Ealing, Acton (Sir G. Young) has since repaired his breach with the Conservative party. The mildest of the rebels was the hon. Member for Harrow, East (Mr. Dykes) and the late Sir Brandon Rhys Williams was probably one of the major rebels. He wanted to have a low poll tax instead of a high one, but was not particularly arguing against the principle.
Where did the Secretary of State for the Environment stand on all those issues? What of his famous rebellion that was supposed to take place in the House? He made three speeches and two interventions on the subject during the 1987–88 Session proposing differing views. When we debated subsequent measures such as statutory instruments he was not present. During the 1988–89 Session and the 1989–90 Session he made no contributions when we discussed measures associated with the poll tax. Where was the rebellion? As the parliamentary record shows, the Secretary of State was not present very often. He was out canvassing for the leadership of the Conservative party and did not take part in many of the votes.
The measure includes some other oddities. Why does clause 117 (5) state that the legislation does not extend to Northern Ireland? The poll tax was never introduced in Northern Ireland, but the argument being used in favour of the new tax is that it is superior and will be the answer to all sorts of problems relating to local government finance. If so, is it the intention to introduce legislation relating to Northern Ireland? We are normally given some 972 sign that that is to happen. It is possible to introduce wide measures via Orders in Council whether by negative or positive procedure. It seems that Northern Ireland will not be touched by the legislation because it still has a reasonable and viable system of raising local government finance which the mass of the people pay. The rating system still applies in Northern Ireland, where they have never suffered the nonsense of the poll tax.
Why does the legislation contain no mention of the changes that need to be made in standard spending assessments? With the exception of an authority in Dorset, my constituency receives the lowest grant per poll tax payer and has the lowest standard spending assessment. Anyone who knows anything about the district will realise that it suffers from social deprivation and requires funds. How can a formula be worked out which does not allow decent standard spending assessments and decent grants for such districts? I have previously explained to the House the fiddles involved and why the conditions of the standard spending assessments hit North-East Derbyshire harder than any other authority, although others are sorely hit. If we are reviewing the whole of local government finance, we should include debates on that subject. It was not just the principle of the poll tax that hit the authorities; the nonsense of standard spending assessments helped to push up the poll tax in many districts because money was not made available to local authorities.
The most important element missing from the legislation involves what is to be done to overcome the harm to electoral registration that was and continues to be caused by the poll tax. A survey carried out by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys revealed that 1 million people are missing from the register. The problem began in Scotland when the poll tax was introduced there and moved to England and Wales. It did not occur in Northern Ireland because it never had the poll tax. What action is being taken to restore 1 million people to the electoral register? What will the council tax do about that? Why are we not spending as much to encourage electoral registration as is being spent overseas to encourage expatriates to register and vote in this country?
The hon. Member for Tayside, North (Mr. Walker) said that the poll tax was not a poll tax because it had nothing to do with the electoral register. It had everything to do with it. We have a little time before the next election in which to put matters right if it is fought on next February's register. In the meantime, what legislation will we pass and what expenditure will we sanction to overcome this greatest of evils? Hon. Members should be more worried about the electoral register problem than about any of the other erosions of our civil liberties. The problem arose because of the unfairness of the poll tax. People dived for cover and kept themselves off the register—an understandable mistake by people facing bills which they could ill afford.
I conclude with an historical analogy and a warning to the Government. It concerns the introduction of the first poll tax, which was promulgated not in 1371, but was introduced in 1367 as a flat rate measure which great masses of the poor did not pay. That is fantastically similar to the modern poll tax. Two years later, in 1369, a further measure was introduced—the poll tax mark II—bearing some similarity to this poll tax mark II. It was to be banded according to differing levels of wealth. On that occasion it was the rich who did not pay and who thus breached the legislation.
973 So in 1371 the country returned to the principle of a flat rate payment and that was when the peasants' revolt broke out. Thank goodness, in this repeat performance we will not have a mark II or mark III version of the poll tax. The legislation for the mark II version may be passed, but because of the coming election it will bite the dust along with the poll tax. Labour's proposed measure will be enacted instead. If it is not, and if Labour does not win the election, the farce that took place in the 14th century may be repeated.
§ Mr. John Bowis (Battersea)
I shall refrain from returning to the 14th century.
This evening we have heard two confessions of paternity. The hon. Member for Falkirk, East (Mr. Ewing) claimed to be the father of the Labour party's return to the rates. My hon. Friend the Member for Tayside, North (Mr. Walker) suggested that he had some involvement in the conception of the council tax. I shall not compete with him for that paternity because I suspect, along with the hon. Member for Woolwich (Mr. Cartwright), that paternity in matters of taxation is to be avoided if at all possible.
There may be some surprise that I, who represent Battersea in the London borough of Wandsworth, should welcome the transfer of local government finance from the community charge to the council tax. In Wandsworth we showed how the community charge could and did work. I am not ashamed of the principles behind the community charge. They were the right answer to the hon. Member for Derbyshire, North-East (Mr. Barnes). But there were good reasons why those principles could not be followed in practice.
The proof of the pudding was in the electoral results in Wandsworth. In my constitutency last year the number of Conservative councillors there increased from six to 18, an increase repeated throughout Westminster, Ealing, Hillingdon and places such as Derby and West Lancashire. That showed that when people perceived that their vote could make a difference to the community charge, they used it in the Conservative cause.
The electors in boroughs such as Lambeth, however, did not perceive that a vote could change control of the council, so they said "Ouch" to the Government, in effect. In Wandsworth the community charge has not even been an issue—[Interruption.] The hon. Member for Sheffield, Brightside (Mr. Blunkett) will pay our zero rates this year, so no doubt he will support me. There is no point in our romping to victory in Wandsworth, with the help of the secret vote of the hon. Gentleman, if our party is not as successful elsewhere.
§ Mr. Tom Clarke (Monklands, West)
The hon. Gentleman seems to feel that his party met with great success in Wandsworth. Would he be willing to agree to the same financial contribution by central Government being provided to my district of Monklands so that we can see whether his enthusiasm will be shared there?
§ Mr. Bowis
I will not contrast like with unlike, but I can compare like with like in the form of Wandsworth and next door Lambeth, a similar London borough. The grant per head of population from central Government to 974 Lambeth council was £1,500 compared with £1,000 to Wandsworth, in the year when Wandsworth's community charge was £148 and Lambeth's £548. I hope that the hon. Gentleman will learn and inwardly digest those figures and then ask his colleagues in the Labour party why they could not produce the same high-quality services at the lowest cost as those for which Wandsworth—unlike its socialist neighbours—has been known in London.
There are reasons for this change. There have been some anomalies, and this Bill tackles some of them, not least those involving students, student nurses, apprentices and people on youth training schemes. Perhaps, too, we underestimated the involvement of spouses in joint decisions on households and family spending—they were probably more conscious of the costs of local government than we thought.
Some Opposition Members question our failure to abolish the 20 per cent. minimum, but the reason for that is that it is incorporated in income support levels. People on income support in Wandsworth are not particularly anxious that the system should be changed, because if an element for the community charge is incorporated in income support but a person pays zero community charge, he is inevitably quids in. A person living in a high-spending Labour authority begins to suffer, however——
§ Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones (Ynys Mon)
Does the hon. Gentleman acknowledge that the majority of people being hauled before the courts for non-payment of the poll tax are the very people who should have paid the 20 per cent. contribution? Would it not make economic sense if the Government acknowledged that and abolished it immediately?
The people being hauled before the courts in Labour council areas are being so hauled because those councils did not keep the community charge low enough for them to afford to pay it. The overspending by Labour councils has been a prime reason for this change. We know that in the year that the community charge was introduced Labour local authorities' spending plans increased by 30 per cent. That is why the system was painful and why we had to find a better way to raise money. Conservatives care not only about the quality of local services but about the cost to the local charge payer because that is as important to the vulnerable as the quality of service.
The Opposition seek to return to the discredited rates system and the hon. Member for Falkirk, East can claim the credit for that. It would be a return to a system in which each property has to be valued and where home improvements are deterred. Its rolling revaluation would be based on a valuation that is 20 years out of date. Labour would insist that 20 per cent. of local government's costs be raised by local taxation. Overnight, that would increase every household bill by 50 per cent.
The Leader of the Opposition is often quoted as having condemned the rating system. I shall quote not the right hon. Gentleman but his right hon. Friend the Member for Manchester, Gorton (Mr. Kaufman). Writing in The Daily Telegraph, and probably hoping that his hon. Friends would not see it, the right hon. Member for Gorton said: The rates are irrational, inefficient and highly resented. The rating system makes no sense whatsoever. The right thing to do is to abolish it once and for all. I am not surprised that the right hon. Gentleman was banished to foreign affairs.
975 Much of the debate has centred on whether it is right to cap. It is argued that capping is wrong if accountability suffers, but capping is necessary because of the unwillingness of Labour authorities to be reasonable in their spending. Wandsworth has shown that targets can be met or even bettered. That is why Wandsworth's community charge started at £148, dropped to £136 and was reduced to zero as a result of the Chancellor's £140 grant last year. Wandsworth now provides much better services than before.
I had to look at services in Lambeth during the Vauxhall by-election and I saw dereliction and despair and people who are desperate for home ownership, which has been denied them. By comparison, the neighbouring council in Wandsworth has made efficiency savings that have enabled it to improve the quality of service. Tendering has produced savings of 33 per cent. and even when work remains in-house, tendering results in savings of 25 per cent. Staffing ratios have been cut to 2.1 per 1,000 compared with the inner London average of 3.7 per 1,000. A saving of 50 per cent. has been made in refuse collection. One tonne of refuse is collected per man per day in Southwark compared with 4 tonnes per man per day in Wandsworth.
Library costs have been reduced by 45 per cent. but there has been a 30 per cent. increase in book lending. In the first 12 years of Conservative control in Wandsworth there have been £50 million worth of efficiency savings, and the 123 services provided by that council cost each resident £136 before the change in the last Budget. The results in Labour authorities are quite different. In Hillingdon the Labour council was ousted last year and the new Conservative council dropped the community charge from £435 to £370. In Merton the reverse was the case because on the day after Labour took control it announced that it would double the community charge.
I shall give some more examples of how cost savings do not mean lowering the quality of service. Wandsworth recently took over education from the discredited Inner London Education Authority and is already providing free nursery education for every child. It is spending £71.03 per 1,000 of population on higher and further education compared with the inner London average of £51.50. The inner London average on special needs is £38 but Wandworth is spending £49. The inner London average at the chalk face, the money that goes to schools, is £144 per 1,000 of population but the figure for Wandsworth is £146. Bureaucracy in inner London costs £124 per 1,000 of population whereas Wandsworth spends £50.
That is why we need to consider capping. Overspending does not have to occur because good quality services can be provided at reasonable cost. That is what capping is all about and it is why I welcome the element in the Bill which provides for that and deplore the Opposition's commitment to abolish it.
We must look at income as well as spending. Wandsworth has rent arrears of £4 million. In Lambeth the amount is £35 million and in Southwark it is £60 million. In Wandsworth there are 90,000 housing benefit claims per year and 1 per cent. await assessment, not for weeks, which is the average in inner London, or for months, which is the average in Lambeth, but for two days. Labour high spending is not to improve services as the Opposition would suggest. Labour Liverpool spent £250,000 on councillors' media rooms and the Labour council in Dudley spent £21,000 teaching teachers how to 976 clap. Labour Hackney spent £70 million on new offices and Labour Lewisham sent advisers to the Caribbean for two months to learn about youth and leisure.
London is fed up with Labour's level of service. People support the concept of capping and we support the Government's new proposals for the council tax because, ultimately, it will be fair. According to the Department's figures, in Wandsworth the A to G bands will produce a range of community charge on the same basis as this year—8 per cent. spending below target—of £90 in band A and £224 in band G for a two-person household. That shows that the charge will be manageable, even in an area such as Wandsworth which has shown that the community charge can work. It will be manageable as long as the grant settlement continues to take account of the borough's needs.
I welcome the Bill's provisions for dealing with non-payment. It is not a question of can't pay, but can pay won't pay, and that is deeply resented by law-abiding citizens. In March last year my right hon. Friend the Member for Mole Valley (Mr. Baker) wrote to the Leader of the Opposition saying that the Anti-poll Tax Federation was Militant-inspired. The hon. Member for Copeland (Dr. Cunningham) replied that that was a hysterical smear. He was right. Not only was Militant involved, but Mr. Steve Nally, the organiser, was also a member of the Labour party. About 30 members of the party and many Labour councillors have campaigned for non-payment. Such antics should be penalised when it comes to serving on a council and dealing with other people's money.
I deplore the statement by the hon. Member for Livingston (Mr. Cook) who, writing in Marxism Today, said: I do not describe not paying the tax as civil disobedience. Decent people do consider that to be civil disobedience and unacceptable. That is why I believe that when the people of this country have an opportunity to vote, they will vote against the party that stands for non-payment and for high spending, inefficient, low-quality councils. They will vote for the party producing better quality, lower-cost councils under the council tax system.
§ Mr. John Home Robertson (East Lothian)
The hon. Member for Battersea (Mr. Bowis) spoke of the "can't pay, won't pay" campaign. In previous debates on the poll tax, I have pointed out that I and almost all hon. Members fall into the category of those who can pay, and should pay, more. What is so morally wrong about the poll tax is that those who are better off pay considerably less, with the consequence that people on the lowest incomes pay more. The people have found that out and that is why the poll tax is so unpopular.
One of the most interesting changes that I have seen in any Parliament—I have been around for far too long—is that which has occurred in this Parliament. Back-Benchers who for years have been loyally supporting their Government are now performing in a different role. They seem to think that they are already in opposition, because they spend all their time attacking the Labour party. Conservative Members supporting the Bill have been signally absent in this debate, probably for a good reason.
As I said, I have been here for some time and I vividly remember the Second Reading debate and the Committee sittings not only on the Bill introducing the poll tax for 977 England but on what became the Abolition of Domestic Rates Etc. (Scotland) Act 1987. We are all familiar with extravagant claims by Ministers in winding-up speeches in Second Reading debates. I have here a quote from a Mr. Michael Ancram, who once represented a Scottish constituency and who has most recently been seen in Devizes, seeking, for the third time, selection in a constituency. He will soon qualify for the golden carpetbag.
On 9 December 1986, in winding-up the Second Reading debate on that Bill, Mr. Ancram said: The Bill is no short-term stop gap. Talking about poll tax, he continued: It is no hurried or temporary expedient. It is a well considered and well worked out reform which sets up a new and viable system for financing local government for generations to come. It creates a new balance, a new fairness and a strengthening of local democracy and accountability which will stand the test of time."—[Official Report, 9 December 1986; Vol. 107, c. 275.] He did not stand the test of time and nor did a number of his colleagues. [HON. MEMBERS: "Name them."] I served on the Committee and I remember them vividly. I have the Division list which followed that resounding speech from Mr. Ancram. Those who voted for Second Reading included John Corrie, Alexander Fletcher, Peter Fraser, Barry Henderson, Michael Hirst, Anna McCurley, John MacKay and Alexander Pollock, and Gerry Malone was a teller. They all lost their seats, as did the unfortunate person who chaired the Committee, Sir Albert McQuarrie.
§ Mr. Tom Clarke
My memory on these matters is not terribly good. Is the Mr. Gerry Malone mentioned by my hon. Friend the same Mr. Gerry Malone who, as a delegate to the Tory party conference, demanded the poll tax for England "now"?
§ Mr. Home Robertson
That may be so and he may be sorry about that because he will be standing in Winchester at the next election.
What is even more interesting about the list is those who did not vote for Second Reading. The hon. Member for Tayside, North (Mr. Walker) did not vote for it, although he has told us that he supports the poll tax. A significant person who voted for Second Reading was the right hon. Member for Henley (Mr. Heseltine). Some of these people should show a little contrition.
As my hon. Friend is going through this list of people, can he tell us whether the hon. Member for Dunfermline, West (Mr. Douglas)—Honolulu Dick as he is known—was there?
That is erroneous. He was not in Honolulu; he was in Houston on private business. My hon. Friend must not go down that road.
In fairness to the Secretary of State for Scotland, who opened today's debate, he has been remarkably consistent in his attitude to the poll tax. He was supporting it through thick and thin, against all the evidence, until fairly recently. He described it as a great success story, while at the same time describing the council tax as a roof tax, something that he reviled only a few months ago.
As my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow, Garscadden (Mr. Dewar) said earlier, the vultures are coming home to roost for the Tory party in Scotland. However, the Tories must not be allowed to forget the 978 misery and chaos of the poll tax, the distress that it has caused to so many of our constituents, of the disruption of local government that it has caused. Above all, they must not be allowed to forget the discredit that the poll tax has brought on the House of Commons and on Parliament. There is something fundamentally wrong with a Parliament that can allow such legislation to be inflicted on our people. Frequently, we hear Tories say that they voted for the Scottish Bill because it seemed a good idea at the time, or because they knew that the Tory party in Scotland was in difficulties and felt that it should be supported. That is the line taken by the right hon. Member for Henley. They did it, although they are now trying to wash their hands of it. They are responsible for the poll tax that has brought such discredit.
Even if the Bill is passed, the poll tax will be with us this year and next year. The poorest people will still have to pay 20 per cent. of that poll tax. To add insult to further injury, the people whom I represent in the Lothian region—this is true of other regions—are heavily penalised by the shamelessly discriminatory system of distributing revenue support grant in Scotland. I know that the same applies in England and Wales.
The quicker and far less risky way out of the poll tax—the way proposed by the Labour party—is a return to the rates. We know that that system can be made to work acceptably and efficiently. I would not leave it at that. Having returned to the rates, we should embark on a wide-ranging independent inquiry into local government finance, including local income tax and any other system. If a consensus were to develop that there was an alternative that should be pursued, we should get on with it.
The Government have learnt nothing. The last local government Act introduced the poll tax. It was a panic reaction to what the Government perceived as a problem arising from the revaluation in Scotland. They legislated from the hip and shot themselves in the foot and they are doing it again. This will be another disaster that will reflect badly on them. If we do not vote against the Bill, it will reflect badly on Parliament.
§ Mr. David Martin (Portsmouth, South)
No new tax can be considered in isolation from what has gone before. The original Elizabethan rating system, as everyone knows, outgrew its useful shelf time some time during the 19th century. Instead of tackling increasing inadequacies at their roots, Governments from the end of the 19th century until almost the end of this century grafted on to the system changes of monumental and often Byzantine complexity. The one sacred principle until modern times seemed to be the retention of the notional rental system with periodic revaluations—a system which few understood either in its origins or in its modern version.
Government grants, both general and specific, funded out of central taxation took an increasing share of the burden of the rating system as the tasks of local government grew in quantity and depth. The way in which the various grants were calculated and distributed and the way in which they related to the original property element of the rating system meant that local government finance needed the ingenuity of an Abbé Sieyès for detailed explanations of their niceties and of precisely how they worked. Council treasurers began to be looked on almost 979 as those who in ancient times understood the Eleusinian mysteries. At last the problems were faced radically and head on with the creation of the community charge.
Few people quarrelled with the principle that everyone should pay something. Even now, I find that people's minds have not changed on that. The crucial questions were how much and what was the bottom line in each individual case. If the headline amount of any tax is too much and the rebate or allowance system too miserly or unfairly based, the system will be unsustainable. Fortunately, these objections are met fairly and squarely in the proposals set out in the Bill.
The council tax, with its banding arrangements, does not take an unreasonable amount even at the top of the scale, while the discounts and exemptions are based on reason as well. I thoroughly approve of the transitional arrangements and the capping powers that are designed particularly to stop councils shielding greatly increased expenditure in the first year of the new tax, as happened in the change from rates to the community charge. That was the single most damning feature of the charge on its introduction in Portsmouth and elsewhere. It was expected that the final bill would be under £200 a head and it turned out to be £308.50. Overspending meant that the rebate system was not properly triggered and from then on, if only because of the amounts, the principle underlying the community charge became impossible to defend.
I spoke to a typical pensioner couple with a small occupational pension. Their rebated rates bill had been under £200 and between the two of them they were paying £617 under the community charge without a rebate being triggered. When told of that, I recalled Emperor Tiberius's answer to a governor who had written to him to recommend an increase in the burden of taxation. Tiberius replied that a good shepherd sheared his flock; he did not skin it. The Bill has many features which makes the shearing—it must never be a pleasant operation for the sheep, I imagine—at least defensible.
The Labour party roundly criticises the Bill's provisions, yet Labour Members propose nothing better than a return to the old rating system, without any effective capping on unreasonable expenditure. During the afternoon and evening we have heard examples relating to the likes of Lambeth, Haringey, Hackney, Brent and Derbyshire. Such examples, when added to all the others, would result in a nightmare for London and many other unfortunate areas. However, under the Labour party—I think that it was Anthony Crosland who tried to stop this happening in the 1970s—it would be back in full swing.
I turn briefly to an argument that has been advanced by some of my colleagues, including my hon. Friend the Member for Hendon, South (Mr. Marshall), for regional banding to be introduced for valuations in London and the south-east. Attractive though such an idea seems at first—who does not want his constituents to pay less, even if it is at the expense of others—the more the practicalities are investigated, the less it appeals. It would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to define a fair boundary of any such region and outside that region there would be many with similarly valued properties who would clamour to receive the same treatment. This would be a fertile area of endless dispute. It would soon be reflected in the ballot boxes, let alone in further legislative changes in the House.
Nor must we fashion a large and significant part of the proposed tax system, as we did with the community charge, around admittedly genuine worries about single, 980 elderly people—they are usually widows—who often remain in highly valued family homes and who will not love us for reintroducing a property tax. The 25 per cent. rebate for a single person is extremely welcome, but who would not wish for more on behalf of his or her constituents?
Even though some will blame us for bringing back a more expensive tax compared with their experience with the community charge, I ask them to compare what they will pay under the council tax with their old rate bills, the rates being a system to which the Labour party has promised to return. I remind the House and those outside that under a Labour Government, bearing in mind all the spending plans of the Opposition, it would not be long before all the valuable contents of many people's homes—for example, the cherished walnut table bought for 30 bob in 1937 that is now valued at over £2,000—would fall to be taxed. Not far from any Labour Government is the desire, after a while when they need the money, for a wealth tax.
Finally, I welcome the sensible arrangements in the Bill for students, which were caricatured ridiculously by the hon. Member for Glasgow, Garscadden (Mr. Dewar). I welcome also the recognition of other suitable candidates for special consideration, including student nurses. I ask my hon. Friend the Minister of State to take on board the fact that the relevant provisions will require detailed regulations. In the hope that councils can make progress in setting up the necessary arrangements, including the relevant software, I look forward to the rapid introduction of regulations. It is important that councils know where they stand so that they can pass on the relevant information to our constituents. I know that Labour Members are anxious that that should happen, as are Conservative Members. When the Bill becomes an Act and when Opposition Members find themselves on people's doorsteps, they will face the same questions—this always happens to them—time and time again. These are as follows: "What are you going to do? How are you going to pay for it?" When that happens, the virtues of what we propose will be extremely clear.
§ Mr. David Lambie (Cunninghame, South)
I wish to make only one or two points in the short time available to me. I am disappointed with the attendance in the Chamber today, as I was with yesterday's attendance. This Bill is the flagship of the Government's legislative programme, and Labour Members are opposing it hook, line and sinker.
All six of them.
§ Mr. Lambie
It is a six-line Whip.
The general public and those who watch our proceedings on television must wonder whether we are really fighting. We should have had a general election last Thursday, rather than three by-elections. We have only to look around the Chamber to know that this Parliament is finished; it is dead. A general election last Thursday would have settled once and for all the political policies that the country will follow for the next few years.
The hon. Member for Tayside, North (Mr. Walker) said that he was glad that there was only one Bill covering England, Wales and Scotland. That will not go down well in Scotland. Scotland has its own system of local government that is quite different from that in England 981 and Wales. We have district councils and regional councils. We have a different system of valuation. In Scotland, it is carried out by assessors who are employed by the regional councils. In England and Wales, it is carried out by a branch of the Inland Revenue.
I do not understand why we should be dealing with local government finance in Scotland in a Bill that covers the United Kingdom. The only reason is that after the by-election in Kincardine and Deeside only nine Conservative Members representing Scottish constituencies are left in the House, and the majority of those sit on the Government Front Bench. There would be no Scottish Tory Members to man a Standing Committee on a separate Scottish Bill. That is a disgrace both to this Parliament and to the Tory party in Scotland. If the Government cannot man a Committee, they should draft in English Members. The Scottish people would then realise that it is the Labour party, not the Conservative party, that represents Scotland.
Scotland was the first area to have poll tax imposed on it. Why? I made many speeches during the passage of that legislation. I blame both local councillors in Scotland and Scottish Members of Parliament, from both sides of the House, who were stupid enough to allow revaluation in Scotland to continue after the English stopped it in 1973. The Inland Revenue said that it did not have enough workers to carry out the revaluation in England and Wales, so from that date there were no revaluations of property.
In Scotland, Members of Parliament from both sides of the House and local government employees and councillors stupidly said that they would continue with the revaluation, and so we had five-year revaluations until 1985. The way that the assessors in Scotland attacked the valuation of domestic property led to a revolt among Scottish Conservative voters living in the big houses of Scotland. As the Member of Parliament for my former constituency, I represented the town of Troon, a very Tory town that had more millionaires per head of population than any other area in the United Kingdom.
That was the area that was attacked by the Tory Government in their valuations and that is why we had the revolt. That is why the people of Scotland rose up against the rating system. It was not because the rating system was bad, but because of the way in which the rating system was being carried out, attacking certain areas of domestic property, and, because the English had not carried out a revaluation since 1973, Scotland got out of line. Unfairly, the Scottish domestic ratepayer was badly hit and, in the area near to the constituency of the then Secretary of State for Scotland, the right hon. Member for Ayr (Mr. Younger), the majority were Conservative voters. We had to change and the poll tax was introduced in Scotland a year before it was introduced in England and Wales. Stupidly, the English followed us and made the same mistake.
At present local taxation accounts for only 14 per cent. of local government expenditure in England and Wales and only 11 per cent. in Scotland. This is a point that I have made often in the House and on which I think that I have the support of the Adam Smith Institute which I hope will also be supported by many Conservative Members. Instead of local taxation in Scotland accounting 982 for only 11 per cent. of total local government expenditure, why do not the Government pay 100 per cent.? Why do not we set an example in Scotland, as we did for the poll tax? Why do not the Government abolish local rates in Scotland and pay a 100 per cent. grant to the Scottish local authorities, basing local accountability on the principle that local councillors will determine how that money should be spent?
If we did that, we would do away with all these debates about local taxation, whether we should have the rating system or another system such as the poll tax or the council tax, and we would have a system which, at the end of the day, would give the local people the opportunity to determine priorities. This is one case where, again, I make the point that I am proud to stand here and support the policies of the Adam Smith Institute which every Tory Member should also support, but unfortunately they are afraid to do so because they are facing a general election, knowing that they will be out of power within six months.
During the past two days we have heard a vast number of contributions and I pay tribute to the common sense and foresight of Labour Members who have not only pointed out the inequalities of the system that is still in being but the pitfalls that we see ahead of us.
To begin with, I pay tribute to an intervention made by the hon. Member for Wolverhampton, South-West (Mr. Budgen) who, earlier today, rightly pointed out that in a democracy Parliament should be expected to debate a measure such as this in a sane and sensible fashion.
The guillotine motion after 10 o'clock tonight will attempt to preclude sensible contributions, attempt to preclude people from dealing with the difficulties and technicalities in the Bill, and pose a real problem for those of us who believe that local government is not a political football to be kicked about at whim, but an essential part of our democracy for the provision of essential services. The hon. Gentleman was brave to say what he did.
The hon. Gentleman was far more brave than the hon. Member for Torridge and Devon, West (Miss Nicholson) who has adopted the role of reading out central office briefs in the House to apologise for the Conservative party. She invented a new phrase tonight about the council tax being a light touch on people's wallets. I believe that Dickens used that phrase in "Oliver Twist". It will have a similar connotation when people discover what drops through their letter boxes if they are foolish enough to vote Conservative at the next general election.
We have also heard some honest interventions, however, The hon. and learned Member for Perth and Kinross (Sir N. Fairbairn) staggered to his feet to tell us that he did not believe a word of what Ministers were saying. He did not believe in the new property tax; he believed that it would constitute theft from the old ladies living down the road, who would consequently vote against the Tories.
The right hon. Member for Shoreham (Sir R. Luce) thinks that we should change the standard spending assessments. The hon. Member for Gravesham (Mr. Arnold) said the same yesterday, but Ministers were unable to enlighten him about the method that might be used. The previous Secretary of State—the right hon. Member for Bath (Mr. Patten), now chairman of the 983 Conservative party—had promised two years ago that he would have a look at SSAs; that promise, however, came to nothing, as has every other Government promise relating to local administration.
Yesterday, we heard 10 interventions from the Tory Benches on the Secretary of State's speech. They came from the right hon. Member for Brent, North (Sir R. Boyson); from the hon. Member for Hendon, South (Mr. Marshall); from the hon. Member for Lancaster (Dame E. Kellett-Bowman), who wanted to retain the poll tax—I do not think that anyone has told her yet that the Conservatives propose to do away with it. The hon. Member for Rochford (Dr. Clark) had some worries. The hon. Member for Norfolk, North (Mr. Howell) said that VAT should he increased: I suspect that he was giving away a secret Tory agenda.
We heard from the hon. Member for Leeds, North-West (I)r. Hampson), and from the hon. Member for Warrington, South (Mr. Butler). The hon. Member for Honiton (Sir P. Emery) spoke of abolishing the poll tax by April 1992. We could not agree more with that; we proposed it on 13 December last year, when the Government were introducing the Community Charges (Substitute Settings) Bill. A bigger waste of time has never been seen, for that legislation will be overturned by this Bill. We offered the Government time, saying, "Let us not waste each other's time: let us abolish the poll tax now, and get rid of it by April 1992." Would the Government agree? Of course not; at that stage, they were still clanging to the poll tax.
The hon. Member for Birmingham, Hall Green (Mr. Hargreaves) also intervened in the Secretary of State's speech yesterday, expressing anxiety about the new tax. The hon. Member for Amber Valley (Mr. Oppenheim) mentioned Derbyshire county council; I remind the hon. Gentleman that Labour took Amber Valley in the local elections in May.
Hon. Members seem to think that the council tax is the best thing since sliced bread, but we know that the sliced bread is extremely stale. This is the same sort of tripe that Conservative Members came out with when they were defending the poll tax; the poll tax was indefensible, and the council tax is going the same way.
As my hon. Friend the Member for East Lothian (Mr. Home Robertson) rightly pointed out, surely it is time for a little contrition. Surely it is time for the present Home Secretary—who started all this in Cabinet, along with the right hon. Member for Cirencester and Tewkesbury (Mr. Ridley)—to apologise. The present Secretary of State for Employment saw the poll tax legislation through its Committee stage; perhaps he too will apologise. Perhaps the current Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, and the current Secretary of State for Wales—both of whom were responsible for the implementation of that legislation—will do the same. All those Ministers were promoted as a result of their work in that regard.
The present Minister for Local Government and Inner Cities was still defending the poll tax at the time of the fated Ribble Valley by-election, only a few months ago. I shall not go into details about his speeches; that was done at great length on 12 June, and people can read the speeches at their leisure. The Minister declared, however, that any form of property tax would constitute a betrayal of what was then seen as the Thatcherite mantle, of middle England—Conservative England—and of those who had scrimped and saved to secure their homes. But times 984 change. People stand on their heads and wiggle their feet in the air. Some cannot tell whether people are standing on their heads or their feet, because the same kind of rubbish comes out. That is why we should be receiving apologies tonight from Conservative Members. Some bare their souls on their feet and some bare their souls in the bars.
Behind the scenes, many who sit on the Conservative Benches are betraying their concern even before the Bill has received its Second Reading. They are as worried as we are about the implications for the people of this country. Those Conservative Members and the electorate know that we are not to blame for the mess that we are in. The Conservatives introduced the poll tax and made a mess of implementing it. The British people will hold them to account at the election.
Local government faces nothing short of a catastrophe. Debt stands at unprecedented levels. The debt in England alone amounts to £1.5 billion. Two thirds of the Scottish population have warrants out against them. We expect 7.5 million orders to be issued against people in England. The law is in disrepute. Collection of the tax is in a shambles. Conservative Members, however, have the cheek to suggest that that is the fault of local government, not theirs.
My hon. Friend the Member for Leyton (Mr. Cohen) yesterday asked the Under-Secretary of State for the Environment, the hon. Member for Salisbury (Mr. Key), whether he would consider the abolition of the minimum 20 per cent. contribution. That is to be found at column 860 of Hansard. My hon. Friend said that it should be abolished this year, or at least in 1992–93. The hon. Member for Salisbury got to his feet and made the most amazing pronouncement in the two-day debate. It was one word. He asked "Why?" Why? Because it costs two and a half times as much to collect as the money that is received.
The Audit Commission pointed out that 4 million people would be lifted out of the penury of having to pay it and that it would be possible to concentrate on those who can genuinely afford to pay but who do not. The administrative burden would be lifted from local government; it would then be able to concentrate on the job in hand. The Minister, however, does not give a damn about what is happening to people on the lowest incomes; he does not even understand what is happening to local government.
It is no wonder that Ministers do not understand the problems local government faces in having to prepare for the final year of poll tax, in having to work out how to collect the current year's poll tax, in having to prepase the software for collection of the council tax. Local government is on the verge of collapse, but who gives a damn on the Conservative Benches about that and what it means for local government services? Instead of contrition, instead of apology, constant and unmitigated attacks are made on Labour councils that are struggling, in the most difficult areas of the country, to provide services.
§ Dame Elaine Kellett-Bowman (Lancaster)
What about rents?
§ Mr. Blunkett
Does the hon. Lady wish to intervene? I see that she does, so I shall certainly give way to her.
§ Dame Elaine Kellett-Bowman
It is not only a question of many Labour-controlled councils not bothering to collect the community charge. Many of them do not even 985 bother to collect rents. Not even the hon. Member for Sheffield, Brightside (Mr. Blunkett) can defend their policy not to collect rents.
The hon. Lady does not know what she is talking about.
Rubbish.
§ Madam Deputy Speaker (Miss Betty Boothroyd)
Order. Come along now—the hon. Lady has had her say.
My hon. Friend the Member for Barnsley, West and Penistone (Mr. McKay) could not have put it better. The hon. Lady's response admirably sums up, in one word, what the council tax is all about—absolute and unmitigated rubbish.
Councils throughout the country are doing their utmost, including court cases that the police will not assist with and that the Home Office will not instruct the police to assist with, to collect the poll tax and, of course, any outstanding rates bills.
We have a system of local government finance which has concentrated its attention on the poll tax payer, bringing in gearing which has resulted in enormous increases in bills, without any material increase in spending or improvements in services. We have witnessed the abolition of the local domestic business rate, the introduction of the non-domestic business rate and the way in which that has concentrated the power of decision-making still further in the hands of Ministers. It is a shambles, which has resulted in local government being undermined and the role of the local community being seen as a threat rather than as a partner trying to rebuild broken economies, help the unemployed and do something about essential services.
Every time that Labour local authorities spend more money on education or social services Ministers claim credit for the increase in spending. Every time that it comes to capping regulations, those same authorities are blamed and pilloried for the spending for which Ministers have happily claimed the credit.
Instead we need a sensible system with decent values, not a tax which assaults families. The present proposal, in all its glory, with the present valuation and discount system is an attack on the family.
I do not know whether Conservative Members have given any thought to what the present discount system is likely to do—it is more likely to accelerate the disintegration of the family than to bring people together. It is the Norah Batty syndrome, if I may be sexist, where far from losing a million people off the register as happened during the last census because of the poll tax, in the next census men will be sent to the shed at the bottom of the garden to keep out of the way. We will have a nation of single widows, with men escaping from the tax and their spouses claiming the 25 per cent. discount.
In the past two days we have heard a lot about students. My hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow, Garscadden (Mr. Dewar) rightly pointed out some of the anomalies that the Minister says he will reply to, such as the marrried student with two children who will receive a 25 per cent. discount but who will be exempt from the tax if he leaves his wife and family and moves in with his student friends down the road. That is the nonsense. Students in halls of 986 residence will allegedly be exempt from the tax. However, many halls of residence will have to pay business rate because many of them undertake business activities in the recesses. Those who know anything about the way in which universities and polytechnics work know that they are businesses and not merely halls of residence. Are we presuming that those students will not be expected to pay anything in the charge that they pay for staying in the halls of residence? If not, will halls of residence pay a business rate only during the recesses? Will it be assessed on a daily basis as the amount of council tax will be? Those are the types of question that need answers before we know what sort of chaos we are going to face with the council tax.
As the hon. Gentleman is clearly so hostile to the concept of a single person household discount, will he state clearly and unequivocally whether any future Labour Government would abolish it?
Our fair rates proposals make the situation unequivocally clear. We say that we will protect single retired people, we will ensure that the rebate system is improved not only to help those people, but to target help on all those who need it and we will ensure that what people pay is based on their ability to pay and not on their status. We are not in the business of giving handouts to the Duke of Westminster because he happens to move out of the present matrimonial home and into a single person's flat. We are not in the business of expecting other people who can ill afford it to pick up the cost of a single person's discount for the rich. We are not in the business of putting on the backs of the poor the cost of the 50 per cent. discount that second homes will be accorded. That, too, is in the Bill.
Every time the Government bring in something to protect the rich, the burden is passed to the rest of us. The poor will pay for the protection accorded to the better-off. That is what the proposed valuation and banding are all about. That is why we are so opposed to the system that charges the richest person in Westminster only £273 a year but the poorest person in Wigan £339 a year. That is why we are opposed to the poorest person in Westminster paying only £3 a week less in council tax than the richest, including some Tory Members.
The banding system and property valuations are devised deliberately to protect the rich at the expense of the rest. That is why we know that people will not only feel that it is unfair and understand that it is unfair, but will at the general election bring home to roost the chickens that many Tory Members will be voting on at 10 pm tonight.
The same applies to much else that languishes in this tax as an alternative to the ill-fated poll tax. Not for Tory Members the speed, simplicty and certainty of the broad-based tax that we should have. Not for them the buoyancy, cost-effectiveness, fairness and progressiveness that "Fair Rates" offers to the British people. Not for them the comprehensibility or even the logic spelt out by the Prime Minister shortly after his election as leader of the Conservative party when he rightly said that there was something wrong with a tax that resulted in 50 per cent. of the population having to receive a rebate or discount on the amount that they paid. Yet that is exactly what the council tax will involve.
With the intricacies, unfairness and technicalities, it is no wonder that the Secretary of State for the Environment has declined to serve in Committee. No wonder he will not 987 join us three days a week from now until Christmas. Instead, he will have a fortnightly visit to Brian Walden on Walden's weekly interview. [Interruption.] My hon. Friend the Member for Dagenham (Mr. Gould) corrects me: it is rather that Brian Walden will visit the Secretary of State for lunch and take the cameras with him. No wonder the Secretary of State has been given a roving brief across Europe. He fails to understand even the one that he has.
Get on with it.
A Tory Member shouts, "Get on with it". That is not surprising because it is difficult to protect the Secretary of State from his own inadequacies. As my hon. Friend the Member for, Garscadden said earlier this afternoon, the Secretary of State has to rely on his Minister—the AA man, as he was described in the Financial Times. Although the Secretary of State knows nothing about the Bill, he knows the man who does, and that man does a good job.
In the 40 minutes that we shall have to debate each clause it will be difficult to point out to Tory Members the Bill's inadequacies. It will take us until clause 100 before the poll tax is abolished. It will take more than the three weeks to reveal the confusion that abounds, but we shall do our best.
We know that if, in the introduction of the council tax, the Government inflict on the British people what they did with the poll tax—the £10 billion that it has cost us, the increase in VAT to manipulate it and the innumerable changes to make it more acceptable—local government and the British people will face the same sort of inadequacies and misery.
We have heard Conservative Members talk about the necessity of capping. We were told that capping would be necessary until the poll tax was introduced as that would bring accountability. We were then told that only a handful of high-spending authorities would be capped. Then we were told that when the poll tax really bit, capping would not be necessary. Now we are told that universal capping is necessary because the Secretary of State and his colleagues are frightened of trusting local people to make local decisions under the new banded system. No wonder they are frightened, because the way in which the council tax will be implemented will confuse people to the point where they will be unclear about who is paying what and who is making the decisions.
The gearing procedure will result in a 1 per cent. increase in spending, incurring an average increase of between 7 and 8 per cent. in the local tax. The proposed national business rate will ensure that the narrowness of the domestic base under the council tax will inflict misery on local people. That is why our "Fair Rates" proposals offer a different solution.
The 20 per cent. contribution will be abolished, the rebate system will be improved and single retired people will be protected. All that will ensure that the tax is fair and progressive. It will also ensure that it has a broad base and that the business rate is decentralised. We will introduce rebates for small businesses to protect those who are setting up in business or struggling to stay in business.
The Labour party believes in fairness and justice. In the weeks ahead it is therefore beholden upon us to get across 988 the message that, once again, the Government have got it wrong. We are witnessing the third change in three years, a change that will produce further misery and confusion.
My colleagues and I do not believe that the British people will be fooled a second time—one can take a horse to water but one cannot make it drink. The general election will be the opportunity for which we have waited. That opportunity has been delayed too long. That general election will be fought not simply on fair rates, but on a fair Government. The people of Britain will understand clearly that to achieve that they must vote Labour.
We have reached the end of the third full day's debate on the council tax. We had one day on the Queen's Speech, and now we have had two full days on Second Reading. I am bound to say that I do not believe that this debate has reached the level of fizz that one might have associated with a Bill that was to be fought doggedly tooth and nail by the Opposition.
At the climax to the debate a few minutes ago the hon. Member for Cunninghame, South (Mr. Lambie) was addressing a single Labour Back Bencher. During much of the debate we have had no representation from the Liberals or the Scottish Nationalists. Indeed, when the wind-up began this evening there were no Liberals or Scottish Nationalists present.
It has been an exhausting three days for the Labour Whips as they trawled the corridors of the Palace to try to find people who they could wheel in to speak in this debate. None the less, fortunately there have been fine contributions to the debate from the Conservative Benches. We have had such contributions from my hon. Friends the Members for Torridge and Devon, West (Miss Nicholson) and for Tayside, North (Mr. Walker). My hon. Friend the Member for Hendon, South (Mr. Marshall) included in his speech one of the pithiest denunciations of the rates that I have ever heard. We also heard fine contributions from my hon. Friends the Members for Amber Valley (Mr. Oppenheim) and for Battersea (Mr. Bowis), who has a quarry of good stories from the London borough of Wandsworth.
My hon. Friend the Member for Portsmouth, South (Mr. Martin) provided us with a model of how much can be put into a brief speech. My right hon. Friend the Member for Shoreham (Sir R. Luce) asked me to consider the standard spending assessments. I assure him that we look at them every year, but he is aware, as he said during his speech, that there are two different objectives: one is to make the assessments as simple as possible; the other is to make them as fair as possible. The two objectives do not necessarily lie in the same direction.
The Opposition raised the canard that some sort of register is required under the council tax. We have denied that categorically. It can only be obtuseness or a refusal to believe that can still lead the Opposition to make that claim.
The basis of the council tax is, first, a property element. In that respect it is like the rates. We want to give discounts to single people—the Labour party does not—and single people will have every incentive to make themselves known. It is not like a council tax register with people not wishing to make themselves known. Single people have every reason to come forward and declare that they are 989 entitled to a discount. But if they do not come forward, there is no penalty. There is no statutory requirement to hold a register of such people. There is all the difference in the world between finding out who the single people are and having a statutory register as we have under the community charge.
There is no difference in principle between what we propose for finding out about single people and what is proposed in the so-called Bill put forward by the hon. Member for Sheffield, Brightside (Mr. Blunkett), in which he would need to identify pensioners, pensioner couples and people on low incomes. There is no difference, either, between what we have under the community charge and under the rates in respect of identifying people who are entitled to help through social security benefit, if they are on low incomes.
There has been a misunderstanding of the Government's plans from the point of view of social security benefits. Just as with the rates, when people in receipt of social security benefit had living with them someone who was not in receipt of benefit, there was a system known as non-dependent deductions—the hon. Member for Brightside will be well aware of that system—so, too, under the council tax it will be possible for the claimant—the person liable to the tax—simply to let us know, through a single declaration, about the other people in the household who may not be eligible for income support and who may be eligible to make a contribution to the council tax bill.
There has been some confusion—I do not know why there should have been because it was made clear last night by the Secretary of State for Wales—about the position of students. There are two issues. First, students should not be counted as adults when we are deciding whether the single person discount should be given to a household. Students, including all student nurses, YTS trainees and apprentices, will be invisible. In other words, they will not count as though they were adults in a household. They will not stop a single person who is not in one of those categories from being able to qualify for the single person household discount.
The second issue is that, if a household is composed entirely of students, it should be exempt. It is easy to do with halls of residence, but it is also easy to do where students are living in digs or even when they are the owners of properties. Where they are all students, they will be exempt and no payment will have to be made. In this case we include student nurses on Project 2000 because they are, like other college students, not eligible for social security benefit. In this second category we do not include other student nurses, YTS trainees and apprentices because all those people are entitled to social security benefits.
If their incomes are low—if, for example, a student nurse has a low income—there will be no difficulty; she will be able to claim social security benefit, so there is no reason why she should be entitled to the exemption available to other students. I hope that that puts the matter beyond doubt, and I believe that my hon. Friends will greatly welcome that important development in the new council tax.
The Government have chosen to have regional banding for Scotland, Wales and England. The council tax is 990 composed 50 per cent. of a property tax. I sometimes think that some of my hon. Friends who would like to see the tax in some way equalised between one place and another are hankering after a tax which this tax is not. With a tax based on property, it follows as night follows day that the amount people pay will vary according to where they live and the properties in which they live. Those who would like the tax to be the same for everyone, no matter where they live and no matter what property they live in, will be disappointed by the council tax because, frankly, it is not that sort of tax.
Being a property tax—there is not now any contention between the two main parties about that—we can either tax the kind of house and say, for example, that all three-bedroom properties shall be taxed the same, in which case my hon. Friends should be aware that we would soon have tremendous anomalies as the same tax is placed on a Mayfair flat as is put on a flat in a mining village, or we can have regional banding, and then there must be boundaries between regions.
There are no natural boundaries between property price regions, so let us assume that one would use the standard regions—the south-east, the east midlands, the west midlands and so on. There would then be extraordinary anomalies. For instance, taking a semidetached house worth £60,000 in Milton Keynes and a semi-detached house also worth £60,000 in Northampton, the household in Northampton would pay £88 more in tax simply because it happened to be across the regional boundary. Hon. Members should try to explain that to people in Northampton and Milton Keynes.
Alternatively, people in an average house in Southampton would pay £89 less than people in Salisbury. I doubt whether my hon. Friend the Member for Salisbury (Mr. Key) would be amused by that. People living in a semi-detached house in Cambridge would pay £89 more than people in a similar house in Oxford simply because they were in East Anglia rather than the south-east, even though the semi-detached house in Oxford had cost much more.
Therefore, the only basis on which we could have a property tax and valuation would be on a national banding system because that would be understandable and objective. I agree that such a tax system based on the capital value of houses, on a national banding system, would be unfair unless we had taken care to provide for compressed rates of taxation. We do not say that if a house is worth eight times as much as another the tax bill should be eight times as much. That has been the position of Labour speaker after Labour speaker, but we could not tolerate such an unfair system. For people living in the same area, those in the most expensive properties should pay not more than three times as much—the maximum variation—as those in the least expensive properties.
However, that is only part of the answer. The other part is what has already been done—the massive and permanent shift in funding from local to central taxation. In future, 15 per cent. of local spending will be raised in local taxation only in England and 11 per cent. of spending will be raised in local tax only in Scotland. My hon. Friends may fear that in some parts of the country we shall return to the oppressive and unfair bills which people received under the rates system. That is certainly not the Government's intention, and the Bill does not provide for that.
991 For example, in Barnet, the borough of my hon. Friend the Member for Hendon, South, the rates bill on a four-bedroomed detached house used to be £986. We now propose a council tax that would have produced a bill this year of £617. Last year, two of my hon. Friend's constituents in such a house paid £676 in community charge, so this year's council tax would have been cheaper for them—[Interruption.] My right hon. Friend the Member for Brent, North (Sir R. Boyson) takes the prize, because the rates bill in Brent on a four-bedroomed house was £1,826. The council tax bill would have been £706, making the bill £1,120 less under the council tax. We heard yesterday from my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow, West (Mr. Hughes). A four-bedroomed house in Harrow, West was charged £1,137 in rates. The council tax would have been £588, a reduction for his constituents of £549. My hon. Friend the Member for Rochford (Dr. Clark), whose rates bill on a four-bedroomed house was £1,280, would have received a council tax bill of £510—a reduction of £770.
§ Mr. Gould
The Minister is giving extremely persuasive and interesting figures. Given the huge disparities which are of such enormous benefit to those at the top of the scale, who will pick up the bill? Who will bear responsibility for paying every penny of savings gained by top people?
I have already explained that the most important change that we have made is to shift the balance between what is paid centrally and what is paid locally, so I can answer the hon. Gentleman's question. If he fears that in some houses lurk people on high incomes, those people will pay vast sums in income tax, VAT and corporation tax to provide the grants for local government.
Will the Minister give way?
This is my speech, not the hon. Gentleman's, and I warn him that if I give way now it will be for the last time.
In what the Minister has just said, I detect exactly the same argument that he and many others used to justify the flat rate principle of the poll tax. Is he not conceding and making clear something that was always true: the 2.5 per cent. VAT required from everyone who buys anything, which is paid to local government taxpayers, is entirely for the benefit of those who are most wealthy and best able to meet the bills?
As the hon. Gentleman knows, the people who spend most on VAT are those who spend most on goods that attract VAT; they are not the poorest in society. Children's clothes, food, transport and fuel are all zero-rated under the VAT system. Is the hon. Gentleman saying that, if he were in power, he would repeal the increase in VAT? He spent much time today and yesterday denying that he would increase from 14 to 20 per cent. the proportion paid by local taxpayers. He now appears to be saing that he would repeal the increase in VAT. If he is not saying that he would repeal the increase in VAT, he is simply speaking out of both sides of his mouth at the same time.
Order. I think that I heard the Minister of State say that he would not give way.
We have just heard from the hon. Gentleman that all our proposals for discounts for single people and alleviation of the top rates of the tax are anathema to the Labour party, which wants to return to the full rigours of the rates. Under Labour, people in a house worth £200,000 must pay five times as much as people living in a £40,000 house, regardless of regional disparities or anything else.
Wherever the Labour party detects that there might be someone who could pay more under the rates, it wants every last penny out of that person. That is what we mean when we say that the Labour party is advocating an envy tax. We have just heard the hon. Member for Dagenham (Mr. Gould) dismiss the argument that people pay more income tax and VAT if they are on high incomes.
What about the discounts? We have heard many Labour arguments against them. The Labour party fears that somewhere there might be a single person who is also a millionaire who could benefit from a single person's discount, so it is absolutely against the proposal. Under a Labour Government, there would be no relief to widows, single mothers or young people starting out in life who live on their own. According to the hon. Member for Brightside, under Labour's proposals there is to be a discount for single retired people, even if they are billionaires.
There have been 70 changes of Labour party policy. I do not include in that 70 the number of occasions when the hon. Members for Brightside and for Dagenham have said contradictory things. I have always assumed that Brightside had it right and Dagenham was merely contributing a series of Gouldisms to the discussion.
Among the many popular items in this Bill is the provision that councillors who will not pay their community charge or their council tax will not in future be entitled to vote on setting a budget for their local authorities——
Come on.
The hon. Gentleman says that because there is a lingering interest among Labour Members in people who have avoided the community charge. We heard it yesterday from the hon. Member for Dagenham, who referred to the community charge register as a threat to civil rights. He talked of the hundreds of thousands who traded away their votes so as not to register for the community charge. The Labour party cloaks under expressions such as "attack on civil rights" the fact that such people have not registered for the tax and have been indulging in tax avoidance, a practice for which the Labour party still shows some sympathy.
The Government are accused of changing their mind over local authority finance. I am accused of that; I am even accused of changing my hairstyle because of my attitude to local authority finance. Certainly I defended the community charge, which gave Labour councils in many areas the fright of their lives. I am asked whether I am sorry. I am sorry that we did not manage to pin the overspending of Labour authorities on those authorities and that we did not have a chance to repeat across the 993 country the electoral triumphs that we enjoyed in Trafford, Southend, Brent, Hillingdon, Ealing, Wandsworth and Westminster.
So I am happy to say that the Government have changed their mind on local authority finance, but the world still goes round and the Conservative party is still a Conservative party. Has the Labour party ever changed its mind? Has it changed its mind on unilateral nuclear disarmament, or on the Common Market, or on nationalisation, or on trade unions, or on the free market? [HON. MEMBERS: "Yes."] Has the Labour party changed its mind on capitalism, or on the Soviet Union? Is there anything on which the Labour party has not changed its mind? [HON. MEMBERS: "Yes: the poll tax."]
One principle has been rescued form the wreckage of socialism—the principle that local authorities should not be capped and should be allowed to spend and spend as though there were no tomorrow. For the Labour party, there is no tomorrow.
Is there one honest man left in the Labour party? Perhaps it is the right hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent (Mr. Foot), who fought an election on an honest programme and was defeated. Then there is the hon. Member for Coventry, South-East (Mr. Nellist), who is willing to go to prison for his views. Perhaps it is the hon. Member for Bolsover (Mr. Skinner), who is willing to continue to enunciate the principle that there is no such thing as a free lunch. And what is the uniting feature of all these people? I have discovered a dress code among Labour party members. If an hon. Member's jacket and trousers do not match and his clothing in general does not reach the heights of elegance, we know that he is an honest man. The dark suits of the Labour Front-Bench spokesmen betray those who have turned their coats.
The council tax is based on a new distribution of local and central finance. It consists of a property element and a personal element. It is fair and will be accepted as fair by the people. We shall take it through the House, despite the Labour party's opposition.
§ Question put, That the Bill be now read a Second time:—
§ The House proceeded to a Division——
§ 10.2 pm
§ Mr. Bob Dunn (Dartford)
(seated and covered): On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. I understand that there is a bomb scare, and that hon. Members are finding it difficult to get access to the Lobbies. Will you advise us as to what can be done?
I am aware that there is some difficulty in getting into the building. I am having the matter looked into, and I shall make a statement about it in a few minutes.
§ Mr. Peter L. Pike (Burnley)
( seated and covered): On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. The time has elapsed when the doors should be locked. We all know that there is some disturbance outside—you have already said that you will make a statement on that—but it is unusual for the doors not to be locked by this stage in a Division.
There is a slight problem. There is some difficulty in Members getting to the House because a street has been closed. I propose to allow a further 10 minutes before the doors are locked.
§ The House having divided: Ayes 334, Noes 245.
Division No. 4] [10 pm
Adley, Robert Davies, Q. (Stamf'd & Spald'g)
Aitken, Jonathan Davis, David (Boothferry)
Alexander, Richard Day, Stephen
Alison, Rt Hon Michael Dickens, Geoffrey
Allason, Rupert Dicks, Terry
Amery, Rt Hon Julian Dorrell, Stephen
Amess, David Douglas-Hamilton, Lord James
Amos, Alan Dover, Den
Arbuthnot, James Dunn, Bob
Arnold, Sir Thomas Durant, Sir Anthony
Ashby, David Dykes, Hugh
Aspinwall, Jack Eggar, Tim
Atkins, Robert Emery, Sir Peter
Atkinson, David Evans, David (Welwyn Hatf'd)
Baker, Rt Hon K. (Mole Valley) Evennett, David
Baker, Nicholas (Dorset N) Fallon, Michael
Baldry, Tony Farr, Sir John
Banks, Robert (Harrogate) Favell, Tony
Batiste, Spencer Fenner, Dame Peggy
Beaumont-Dark, Anthony Finsberg, Sir Geoffrey
Bellingham, Henry Fishburn, John Dudley
Bendall, Vivian Fookes, Dame Janet
Bennett, Nicholas (Pembroke) Forsyth, Michael (Stirling)
Benyon, W. Forth, Eric
Bevan, David Gilroy Fowler, Rt Hon Sir Norman
Biffen, Rt Hon John Fox, Sir Marcus
Blackburn, Dr John G. Franks, Cecil
Blaker, Rt Hon Sir Peter Freeman, Roger
Body, Sir Richard French, Douglas
Bonsor, Sir Nicholas Fry, Peter
Boscawen, Hon Robert Gale, Roger
Boswell, Tim Gardiner, Sir George
Bottomley, Peter Gill, Christopher
Bottomley, Mrs Virginia Gilmour, Rt Hon Sir Ian
Bowden, Gerald (Dulwich) Glyn, Dr Sir Alan
Bowis, John Goodhart, Sir Philip
Braine, Rt Hon Sir Bernard Goodlad, Alastair
Brandon-Bravo, Martin Goodson-Wickes, Dr Charles
Brazier, Julian Gorman, Mrs Teresa
Bright, Graham Gorst, John
Brooke, Rt Hon Peter Grant, Sir Anthony (CambsSW)
Brown, Michael (Brigg & Cl't's) Greenway, Harry (Ealing N)
Bruce, Ian (Dorset South) Greenway, John (Ryedale)
Buck, Sir Antony Gregory, Conal
Budgen, Nicholas Griffiths, Sir Eldon (Bury St E')
Burns, Simon Griffiths, Peter (Portsmouth N)
Burt, Alistair Grist, Ian
Butcher, John Ground, Patrick
Butterfill, John Grylls, Michael
Carlisle, John, (Luton N) Gummer, Rt Hon John Selwyn
Carlisle, Kenneth (Lincoln) Hague, William
Carrington, Matthew Hamilton, Rt Hon Archie
Cash, William Hamilton, Neil (Tatton)
Chalker, Rt Hon Mrs Lynda Hampson, Dr Keith
Channon, Rt Hon Paul Hanley, Jeremy
Chapman, Sydney Hannam, John
Chope, Christopher Hargreaves, A. (B'ham H'll Gr')
Churchill, Mr Hargreaves, Ken (Hyndburn)
Clark, Rt Hon Alan (Plymouth) Harris, David
Clark, Dr Michael (Rochford) Haselhurst, Alan
Clark, Rt Hon Sir William Hawkins, Christopher
Clarke, Rt Hon K. (Rushcliffe) Hayes, Jerry
Colvin, Michael Hayhoe, Rt Hon Sir Barney
Coombs, Anthony (Wyre F'rest) Hayward, Robert
Coombs, Simon (Swindon) Heath, Rt Hon Edward
Cope, Rt Hon Sir John Heathcoat-Amory, David
Cormack, Patrick Heseltine, Rt Hon Michael
Couchman, James Hicks, Mrs Maureen (Wolv' NE)
Cran, James Hicks, Robert (Cornwall SE)
Currie, Mrs Edwina Higgins, Rt Hon Terence L.
Curry, David Hill, James
Hind, Kenneth Moss, Malcolm
Hogg, Hon Douglas (Gr'th'm) Moynihan, Hon Colin
Hordern, Sir Peter Mudd, David
Howard, Rt Hon Michael Neale, Sir Gerrard
Howarth, Alan (Strat'd-on-A) Nelson, Anthony
Howarth, G. (Cannock & B'wd) Neubert, Sir Michael
Howe, Rt Hon Sir Geoffrey Newton, Rt Hon Tony
Hughes, Robert G. (Harrow W) Nicholls, Patrick
Hunt, Rt Hon David Nicholson, David (Taunton)
Hunt, Sir John (Ravensbourne) Nicholson, Emma (Devon West)
Irvine, Michael Norris, Steve
Jack, Michael Onslow, Rt Hon Cranley
Jackson, Robert Oppenheim, Phillip
Janman, Tim Page, Richard
Jessel, Toby Paice, James
Johnson Smith, Sir Geoffrey Parkinson, Rt Hon Cecil
Jones, Gwilym (Cardiff N) Patnick, Irvine
Kellett-Bowman, Dame Elaine Patten, Rt Hon Chris (Bath)
Key, Robert Patten, Rt Hon John
Kilfedder, James Pattie, Rt Hon Sir Geoffrey
King, Roger (B'ham N'thfield) Pawsey, James
King, Rt Hon Tom (Bridgwater) Peacock, Mrs Elizabeth
Kirkhope, Timothy Porter, Barry (Wirral S)
Knapman, Roger Porter, David (Waveney)
Knight, Greg (Derby North) Portillo, Michael
Knight, Dame Jill (Edgbaston) Powell, William (Corby)
Knowles, Michael Price, Sir David
Knox, David Raffan, Keith
Lamont, Rt Hon Norman Raison, Rt Hon Sir Timothy
Lang, Rt Hon Ian Redwood, John
Latham, Michael Renton, Rt Hon Tim
Lawrence, Ivan Rhodes James, Sir Robert
Lawson, Rt Hon Nigel Ridsdale, Sir Julian
Lee, John (Pendle) Rifkind, Rt Hon Malcolm
Leigh, Edward (Gainsbor'gh) Roberts, Rt Hon Sir Wyn
Lennox-Boyd, Hon Mark Roe, Mrs Marion
Lester, Jim (Broxtowe) Rossi, Sir Hugh
Lilley, Rt Hon Peter Rost, Peter
Lloyd, Sir Ian (Havant) Rowe, Andrew
Lloyd, Peter (Fareham) Rumbold, Rt Hon Mrs Angela
Lord, Michael Ryder, Rt Hon Richard
Luce, Rt Hon Sir Richard Sackville, Hon Tom
Lyell, Rt Hon Sir Nicholas Sainsbury, Hon Tim
McCrindle, Sir Robert Sayeed, Jonathan
Macfarlane, Sir Neil Scott, Rt Hon Nicholas
MacGregor, Rt Hon John Shaw, David (Dover)
MacKay, Andrew (E Berkshire) Shaw, Sir Giles (Pudsey)
Maclean, David Shaw, Sir Michael (Scarb')
McLoughlin, Patrick Shelton, Sir William
McNair-Wilson, Sir Michael Shephard, Mrs G. (Norfolk SW)
McNair-Wilson, Sir Patrick Shepherd, Colin (Hereford)
Madel, David Shersby, Michael
Major, Rt Hon John Sims, Roger
Malins, Humfrey Smith, Tim (Beaconsfield)
Mans, Keith Soames, Hon Nicholas
Maples, John Speed, Keith
Marland, Paul Speller, Tony
Marlow, Tony Spicer, Sir Jim (Dorset W)
Marshall, John (Hendon S) Squire, Robin
Marshall, Sir Michael (Arundel) Stanbrook, Ivor
Martin, David (Portsmouth S) Stanley, Rt Hon Sir John
Mates, Michael Steen, Anthony
Maude, Hon Francis Stern, Michael
Mawhinney, Dr Brian Stevens, Lewis
Maxwell-Hyslop, Robin Stewart, Allan (Eastwood)
Mayhew, Rt Hon Sir Patrick Stewart, Andy (Sherwood)
Mellor, Rt Hon David Stewart, Rt Hon Sir Ian
Meyer, Sir Anthony Stokes, Sir John
Miller, Sir Hal Sumberg, David
Mills, Iain Summerson, Hugo
Miscampbell, Norman Tapsell, Sir Peter
Mitchell, Andrew (Gedling) Taylor, Ian (Esher)
Mitchell, Sir David Taylor, Sir Teddy
Moate, Roger Tebbit, Rt Hon Norman
Monro, Sir Hector Temple-Morris, Peter
Montgomery, Sir Fergus Thompson, D. (Calder Valley)
Moore, Rt Hon John Thompson, Patrick (Norwich N)
Morris, M (N'hampton S) Thorne, Neil
Morrison, Sir Charles Thurnham, Peter
Morrison, Rt Hon Sir Peter Townend, John (Bridlington)
Townsend, Cyril D. (B'heath) Wheeler, Sir John
Tredinnick, David Whitney, Ray
Trippier, David Widdecombe, Ann
Trotter, Neville Wiggin, Jerry
Twinn, Dr Ian Wilkinson, John
Vaughan, Sir Gerard Wilshire, David
Viggers, Peter Winterton, Mrs Ann
Wakeham, Rt Hon John Winterton, Nicholas
Waldegrave, Rt Hon William Wolfson, Mark
Walden, George Wood, Timothy
Walker, Bill (T'side North) Woodcock, Dr. Mike
Walker, Rt Hon P. (W'cester) Yeo, Tim
Waller, Gary Young, Sir George (Acton)
Walters, Sir Dennis Younger, Rt Hon George
Ward, John
Wardle, Charles (Bexhill) Tellers for the Ayes:
Warren, Kenneth Mr. David Lightbown and
Watts, John
Mr. John M. Taylor.
Abbott, Ms Diane Davies, Rt Hon Denzil (Llanelli)
Adams, Mrs Irene (Paisley, N.) Davies, Ron (Caerphilly)
Allen, Graham Davis, Terry (B'ham Hodge H'I)
Alton, David Dewar, Donald
Anderson, Donald Dixon, Don
Archer, Rt Hon Peter Dobson, Frank
Armstrong, Hilary Doran, Frank
Ashdown, Rt Hon Paddy Douglas, Dick
Ashley, Rt Hon Jack Duffy, Sir A. E. P.
Ashton, Joe Dunnachie, Jimmy
Banks, Tony (Newham NW) Dunwoody, Hon Mrs Gwyneth
Barnes, Harry (Derbyshire NE) Eadie, Alexander
Barnes, Mrs Rosie (Greenwich) Eastham, Ken
Barron, Kevin Edwards, Huw
Battle, John Evans, John (St Helens N)
Beckett, Margaret Ewing, Harry (Falkirk E)
Beith, A. J. Ewing, Mrs Margaret (Moray)
Bell, Stuart Fatchett, Derek
Bellotti, David Faulds, Andrew
Benn, Rt Hon Tony Fearn, Ronald
Bennett, A. F. (D'nf'n & R'dish) Field, Frank (Birkenhead)
Benton, Joseph Fields, Terry (L'pool B G'n)
Bermingham, Gerald Fisher, Mark
Bidwell, Sydney Flannery, Martin
Blair, Tony Flynn, Paul
Blunkett, David Foot, Rt Hon Michael
Boateng, Paul Foster, Derek
Boyes, Roland Foulkes, George
Bradley, Keith Fraser, John
Bray, Dr Jeremy Fyfe, Maria
Brown, Gordon (D'mline E) Galbraith, Sam
Brown, Nicholas (Newcastle E) Garrett, John (Norwich South)
Brown, Ron (Edinburgh Leith) Garrett, Ted (Wallsend)
Bruce, Malcolm (Gordon) George, Bruce
Caborn, Richard Gilbert, Rt Hon Dr John
Callaghan, Jim Godman, Dr Norman A.
Campbell, Menzies (Fife NE) Gordon, Mildred
Campbell, Ron (Blyth Valley) Gould, Bryan
Campbell-Savours, D. N. Graham, Thomas
Carlile, Alex (Mont'g) Grant, Bernie (Tottenham)
Carr, Michael Griffiths, Nigel (Edinburgh S)
Cartwright, John Griffiths, Win (Bridgend)
Clark, Dr David (S Shields) Grocott, Bruce
Clarke, Tom (Monklands W) Hain, Peter
Clay, Bob Hardy, Peter
Clelland, David Harman, Ms Harriet
Cohen, Harry Hattersley, Rt Hon Roy
Cook, Frank (Stockton N) Heal, Mrs Sylvia
Cook, Robin (Livingston) Healey, Rt Hon Denis
Corbett, Robin Henderson, Doug
Corbyn, Jeremy Hinchliffe, David
Cousins, Jim Hoey, Kate (Vauxhall)
Cox, Tom Hogg, N. (C'nauld & Kilsyth)
Crowther, Stan Home Robertson, John
Cryer, Bob Hood, Jimmy
Cummings, John Howarth, George (Knowsley N)
Cunliffe, Lawrence Howell, Rt Hon D. (S'heath)
Cunningham, Dr John Howells, Geraint
Dalyell, Tam Howells, Dr. Kim (Pontypridd)
Darling, Alistair Hughes, John (Coventry NE)
Hughes, Robert (Aberdeen N) Parry, Robert
Hughes, Simon (Southwark) Patchett, Terry
Illsley, Eric Pendry, Tom
Ingram, Adam Pike, Peter L.
Janner, Greville Powell, Ray (Ogmore)
Jones, Barry (Alyn & Deeside) Prescott, John
Jones, Ieuan (Ynys Môn) Primarolo, Dawn
Jones, Martyn (Clwyd S W) Quin, Ms Joyce
Kennedy, Charles Radice, Giles
Kilfoyle, Peter Randall, Stuart
Kinnock, Rt Hon Neil Redmond, Martin
Kirkwood, Archy Rees, Rt Hon Merlyn
Kumar Ashok Reid, Dr John
Lambie, David Richardson, Jo
Lamond, James Robertson, George
Leighton, Ron Robinson, Geoffrey
Lestor, Joan (Eccles) Rogers, Allan
Lewis, Terry Rooker, Jeff
Litherland, Robert Rooney, Terence
Livingstone, Ken Ross, Ernie (Dundee W)
Livsey, Richard Ruddock, Joan
Lloyd, Tony (Stretford) Salmond, Alex
Lofthouse, Geoffrey Sedgemore, Brian
Loyden, Eddie Sheerman, Barry
McAllion, John Sheldon, Rt Hon Robert
McAvoy, Thomas Short, Clare
McCartney, Ian Skinner, Dennis
Macdonald, Calum A. Smith, Andrew (Oxford E)
McFall, John Smith, C. (Isl'ton & F'bury)
McKay, Allen (Barnsley West) Smith, Rt Hon J. (Monk'ds E)
McKelvey, William Smith, J. P. (Vale of Glam)
McLeish, Henry Snape, Peter
Maclennan, Robert Soley, Clive
McMaster, Gordon Spearing, Nigel
McNamara, Kevin Steel, Rt Hon Sir David
McWilliam, John Steinberg, Gerry
Madden, Max Stephen, Nicol
Mahon, Mrs Alice Stott, Roger
Marek, Dr John Strang, Gavin
Marshall, David (Shettleston) Straw, Jack
Marshall, Jim (Leicester S) Taylor, Mrs Ann (Dewsbury)
Martin, Michael J. (Springburn) Taylor, Matthew (Truro)
Martlew, Eric Thomas, Dr Dafydd Elis
Maxton, John Thompson, Jack (Wansbeck)
Meacher, Michael Turner, Dennis
Meale, Alan Vaz, Keith
Michael, Alun Wallace, James
Michie. Bill (Sheffield Heeley) Walley, Joan
Michie, Mrs Ray (Arg'l & Bute) Warden, Gareth (Gower)
Mitchell, Austin (G't Grimsby) Wareing, Robert N.
Moonie, Dr Lewis Watson, Mike (Glasgow, C)
Morgan, Rhodri Welsh, Andrew (Angus E)
Morley, Elliot Williams, Rt Hon Alan
Morris, Rt Hon A. (W'shawe) Williams, Alan W. (Carm'then)
Morris, Rt Hon J. (Aberavon) Wilson, Brian
Mowlam, Marjorie Winnick, David
Mullin, Chris Wise, Mrs Audrey
Murphy, Paul Worthington, Tony
Nellist, Dave Wray, Jimmy
Oakes, Rt Hon Gordon Young, David (Bolton SE)
O'Brien, William
O'Hara, Edward Tellers for the Noes:
O'Neill, Martin Mr. Frank Haynes and
Orme, Rt Hon Stanley Mrs. Llin Golding.
§ Question accordingly agreed to.
§ Bill read a Second time.
§ Motion made, and Question put forthwith, pursuant to Standing Order No. 61 (Committal of Bills), That the Bill be committed to a Committee of the whole House.—[Mrs. Margaret Ewing.]
§ The House divided: Ayes 241, Noes 322.
Division No. 5] [10.24 pm
Abbott, Ms Diane Anderson, Donald
Adams, Mrs Irene (Paisley, N.) Archer, Rt Hon Peter
Allen, Graham Armstrong, Hilary
Alton, David Ashdown, Rt Hon Paddy
Ashton, Joe Fraser, John
Banks, Tony (Newham NW) Fyfe, Maria
Barnes, Harry (Derbyshire NE) Galbraith, Sam
Barnes, Mrs Rosie (Greenwich) Garrett, Ted (Wallsend)
Barron, Kevin George, Bruce
Battle, John Gilbert, Rt Hon Dr John
Beckett, Margaret Godman, Dr Norman A.
Beith, A. J. Golding, Mrs Llin
Bell, Stuart Gordon, Mildred
Bellotti, David Gould, Bryan
Benn, Rt Hon Tony Graham, Thomas
Bennett, A. F. (D'nt'n & R'dish) Grant, Bernie (Tottenham)
Benton, Joseph Griffiths, Nigel (Edinburgh S)
Bermingham, Gerald Griffiths, Win (Bridgend)
Bidwell, Sydney Grocott, Bruce
Blair, Tony Hain, Peter
Blunkett, David Hardy, Peter
Boateng, Paul Harman, Ms Harriet
Boyes, Roland Hattersley, Rt Hon Roy
Bradley, Keith Haynes, Frank
Bray, Dr Jeremy Heal, Mrs Sylvia
Brown, Gordon (D'mline E) Healey, Rt Hon Denis
Brown, Nicholas (Newcastle E) Henderson, Doug
Brown, Ron (Edinburgh Leith) Hinchliffe, David
Bruce, Malcolm (Gordon) Hoey, Kate (Vauxhall)
Caborn, Richard Hogg, N. (C'nauld & Kilsyth)
Callaghan. Jim Home Robertson, John
Campbell, Menzies (Fife NE) Hood, Jimmy
Campbell, Ron (Blyth Valley) Howell, Rt Hon D. (S'heath)
Campbell-Savours, D. N. Howells, Geraint
Carlile, Alex (Mont'g) Howells, Dr. Kim (Pontypridd)
Carr, Michael Hoyle, Doug
Cartwright, John Hughes, John (Coventry NE)
Clark, Dr David (S Shields) Hughes, Robert (Aberdeen N)
Clarke, Tom (Monklands W) Hughes, Simon (Southwark)
Clay, Bob Illsley, Eric
Clelland, David Ingram, Adam
Cohen, Harry Janner, Greville
Cook, Frank (Stockton N) Jones, Barry (Alyn & Deeside)
Cook, Robin (Livingston) Jones, Martyn (Clwyd S W)
Corbett, Robin Kennedy, Charles
Corbyn, Jeremy Kilfoyle, Peter
Cousins, Jim Kinnock, Rt Hon Neil
Cox, Tom Kirkwood, Archy
Crowther, Stan Kumar, A.
Cryer, Bob Lambie, David
Cummings, John Lamond, James
Cunliffe, Lawrence Leighton, Ron
Cunningham, Dr John Lestor, Joan (Eccles)
Dalyell, Tam Lewis, Terry
Darling, Alistair Litherland, Robert
Davies, Rt Hon Denzil (Llanelli) Livingstone, Ken
Davies, Ron (Caerphilly) Livsey, Richard
Davis, Terry (B'ham Hodge H'I) Lloyd, Tony (Stretford)
Dewar, Donald Lofthouse, Geoffrey
Dixon, Don Loyden, Eddie
Dobson, Frank McAllion, John
Doran, Frank McAvoy, Thomas
Douglas, Dick McCartney, Ian
Duffy, Sir A. E. P. Macdonald, Calum A.
Dunnachie, Jimmy McFall, John
Dunwoody, Hon Mrs Gwyneth McKay, Allen (Barnsley West)
Eadie, Alexander McKelvey, William
Eastham, Ken McLeish, Henry
Edwards, Huw Maclennan, Robert
Enright, D. A. McMaster, Gordon
Evans, John (St Helens N) McNamara, Kevin
Ewing, Harry (Falkirk E) McWilliam, John
Ewing, Mrs Margaret (Moray) Madden, Max
Fatchett, Derek Mahon, Mrs Alice
Faulds, Andrew Marek, Dr John
Fearn, Ronald Marshall, David (Shettleston)
Field, Frank (Birkenhead) Marshall, Jim (Leicester S)
Fields, Terry (L'pool B G'n) Martin, Michael J. (Springburn)
Fisher, Mark Martlew, Eric
Flannery, Martin Maxton, John
Flynn, Paul Meacher, Michael
Foot, Rt Hon Michael Meale, Alan
Foster, Derek Michael, Alun
Foulkes, George Michie, Bill (Sheffield Heeley)
Michie, Mrs Ray (Arg'I & Bute) Short, Clare
Mitchell, Austin (G't Grimsby) Skinner, Dennis
Moonie, Dr Lewis Smith, Andrew (Oxford E)
Morgan, Rhodri Smith, C. (Isl'ton & F'bury)
Morley, Elliot Smith, Rt Hon J. (Monk'ds E)
Morris, Rt Hon A. (W'shawe) Smith, J. P. (Vale of Glam)
Morris, Rt Hon J. (Aberavon) Snape, Peter
Mowlam, Marjorie Soley, Clive
Mullin, Chris Spearing, Nigel
Murphy, Paul Steel, Rt Hon Sir David
Nellist, Dave Steinberg, Gerry
Oakes, Rt Hon Gordon Stephen, N. R.
O'Brien, William Stott, Roger
O'Hara, Edward Strang, Gavin
O'Neill, Martin Straw, Jack
Orme, Rt Hon Stanley Taylor, Mrs Ann (Dewsbury)
Parry, Robert Taylor, Matthew (Truro)
Patchett, Terry Thomas, Dr Dafydd Elis
Pendry, Tom Thompson, Jack (Wansbeck)
Pike, Peter L. Turner, Dennis
Prescott, John Vaz, Keith
Primarolo, Dawn Wallace, James
Quin, Ms Joyce Walley, Joan
Radice, Giles Wardell, Gareth (Gower)
Randall, Stuart Wareing, Robert N.
Redmond, Martin Watson, Mike (Glasgow, C)
Reid, Dr John Williams, Rt Hon Alan
Richardson, Jo Williams, Alan W. (Carm'then)
Robertson, George Wilson, Brian
Robinson, Geoffrey Winnick, David
Rogers, Allan Wise, Mrs Audrey
Rooker, Jeff Worthington, Tony
Rooney, Terence Wray, Jimmy
Ross, Ernie (Dundee W) Young, David (Bolton SE)
Ruddock, Joan
Salmond, Alex Tellers for the Ayes:
Sedgemore, Brian Mr. Andrew Welsh and
Sheerman, Barry Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones.
Sheldon, Rt Hon Robert
Adley, Robert Bruce, Ian (Dorset South)
Aitken, Jonathan Buck, Sir Antony
Alexander, Richard Burns, Simon
Alison, Rt Hon Michael Burt, Alistair
Allason, Rupert Butcher, John
Amess, David Butterfill, John
Amos, Alan Carlisle, John, (Luton N)
Arbuthnot, James Carlisle, Kenneth (Lincoln)
Arnold, Sir Thomas Carrington, Matthew
Ashby, David Cash, William
Aspinwall, Jack Chalker, Rt Hon Mrs Lynda
Atkins, Robert Channon, Rt Hon Paul
Atkinson, David Chapman, Sydney
Baker, Rt Hon K. (Mole Valley) Chope, Christopher
Baker, Nicholas (Dorset N) Churchill, Mr
Baldry, Tony Clark, Rt Hon Alan (Plymouth)
Banks, Robert (Harrogate) Clark, Rt Hon Sir William
Batiste, Spencer Clarke, Rt Hon K. (Rushcliffe)
Beaumont-Dark, Anthony Colvin, Michael
Bellingham, Henry Coombs, Anthony (Wyre F'rest)
Bendall, Vivian Coombs, Simon (Swindon)
Bennett, Nicholas (Pembroke) Cope, Rt Hon Sir John
Benyon, W. Cormack, Patrick
Bevan, David Gilroy Couchman, James
Biffen, Rt Hon John Cran, James
Blackburn, Dr John G. Currie, Mrs Edwina
Blaker, Rt Hon Sir Peter Curry, David
Body, Sir Richard Davies, Q. (Stamf'd & Spald'g)
Bonsor, Sir Nicholas Davis, David (Boothferry)
Boscawen, Hon Robert Day, Stephen
Boswell, Tim Dickens, Geoffrey
Bowden, Gerald (Dulwich) Dicks, Terry
Bowis, John Douglas-Hamilton, Lord James
Boyson, Rt Hon Dr Sir Rhodes Dover, Den
Braine, Rt Hon Sir Bernard Dunn, Bob
Brandon-Bravo, Martin Durant, Sir Anthony
Brazier, Julian Dykes, Hugh
Bright, Graham Eggar, Tim
Brown, Michael (Brigg & Cl't's) Emery, Sir Peter
Evans, David (Welwyn Hatf'd) Knight, Greg (Derby North)
Evennett, David Knight, Dame Jill (Edgbaston)
Fallon, Michael Knowles, Michael
Farr, Sir John Knox, David
Favell, Tony Lang, Rt Hon Ian
Fenner, Dame Peggy Latham, Michael
Finsberg, Sir Geoffrey Lawrence, Ivan
Fishburn, John Dudley Lawson, Rt Hon Nigel
Fookes, Dame Janet Lee, John (Pendle)
Forsyth, Michael (Stirling) Leigh, Edward (Gainsbor'gh)
Forth, Eric Lennox-Boyd, Hon Mark
Fowler, Rt Hon Sir Norman Lester, Jim (Broxtowe)
Fox, Sir Marcus Lilley, Rt Hon Peter
Franks, Cecil Lloyd, Sir Ian (Havant)
Freeman, Roger Lloyd, Peter (Fareham)
French, Douglas Lord, Michael
Fry, Peter Luce, Rt Hon Sir Richard
Gale, Roger Lyell, Rt Hon Sir Nicholas
Gardiner, Sir George Macfarlane, Sir Neil
Gill, Christopher MacGregor, Rt Hon John
Gilmour, Rt Hon Sir Ian MacKay, Andrew (E Berkshire)
Glyn, Dr Sir Alan Maclean, David
Goodhart, Sir Philip McLoughlin, Patrick
Goodlad, Alastair McNair-Wilson, Sir Michael
Goodson-Wickes, Dr Charles McNair-Wilson, Sir Patrick
Gorman, Mrs Teresa Madel, David
Gorst, John Major, Rt Hon John
Grant, Sir Anthony (CambsSW) Malins, Humfrey
Greenway, Harry (Ealing N) Mans, Keith
Greenway, John (Ryedale) Maples, John
Gregory, Conal Marlow, Tony
Griffiths, Sir Eldon (Bury St E') Marshall, John (Hendon S)
Griffiths, Peter (Portsmouth N) Marshall, Sir Michael (Arundel)
Grist, Ian Martin, David (Portsmouth S)
Grylls, Michael Mates, Michael
Gummer, Rt Hon John Selwyn Maude, Hon Francis
Hague, William Mawhinney, Dr Brian
Hamilton, Rt Hon Archie Maxwell-Hyslop, Robin
Hamilton, Neil (Tatton) Mayhew, Rt Hon Sir Patrick
Hampson, Dr Keith Meyer, Sir Anthony
Hanley, Jeremy Miller, Sir Hal
Hannam, John Mills, Iain
Hargreaves, A. (B'ham H'll Gr') Miscampbell, Norman
Hargreaves, Ken (Hyndburn) Mitchell, Andrew (Gedling)
Harris, David Mitchell, Sir David
Haselhurst, Alan Moate, Roger
Hawkins, Christopher Monro, Sir Hector
Hayes, Jerry Montgomery, Sir Fergus
Hayhoe, Rt Hon Sir Barney Moore, Rt Hon John
Hayward, Robert Morris, M (N'hampton S)
Heathcoat-Amory, David Morrison, Sir Charles
Heseltine, Rt Hon Michael Morrison, Rt Hon Sir Peter
Hicks, Mrs Maureen (Wolv' NE) Moss, Malcolm
Hicks, Robert (Cornwall SE) Moynihan, Hon Colin
Higgins, Rt Hon Terence L. Neale, Sir Gerrard
Hill, James Nelson, Anthony
Hind, Kenneth Neubert, Sir Michael
Hogg, Hon Douglas (Gr'th'm) Newton, Rt Hon Tony
Hordern, Sir Peter Nicholls, Patrick
Howard, Rt Hon Michael Nicholson, David (Taunton)
Howarth, Alan (Strat'd-on-A) Nicholson, Emma (Devon West)
Howarth, G. (Cannock & B'wd) Norris, Steve
Howe, Rt Hon Sir Geoffrey Onslow, Rt Hon Cranley
Hughes, Robert G. (Harrow W) Oppenheim, Phillip
Hunt, Rt Hon David Page, Richard
Hunt, Sir John (Ravensbourne) Paice, James
Irvine, Michael Parkinson, Rt Hon Cecil
Jack, Michael Patnick, Irvine
Jackson, Robert Patten, Rt Hon Chris (Bath)
Janman, Tim Patten, Rt Hon John
Jessel, Toby Pattie, Rt Hon Sir Geoffrey
Johnson Smith, Sir Geoffrey Pawsey, James
Jones, Gwilym (Cardiff N) Peacock, Mrs Elizabeth
Kellett-Bowman, Dame Elaine Porter, Barry (Wirral S)
Key, Robert Porter, David (Waveney)
Kilfedder, James Portillo, Michael
King, Roger (B'ham N'thfield) Powell, William (Corby)
King, Rt Hon Tom (Bridgwater) Price, Sir David
Kirkhope, Timothy Raffan, Keith
Knapman, Roger Raison, Rt Hon Sir Timothy
Redwood, John Tebbit, Rt Hon Norman
Renton, Rt Hon Tim Temple-Morris, Peter
Rhodes James, Sir Robert Thompson, D. (Calder Valley)
Ridsdale, Sir Julian Thompson, Patrick (Norwich N)
Rifkind, Rt Hon Malcolm Thorne, Neil
Roberts, Rt Hon Sir Wyn Thurnham, Peter
Roe, Mrs Marion Townend, John (Bridlington)
Rossi, Sir Hugh Townsend, Cyril D. (B'heath)
Rost, Peter Tracey, Richard
Rowe, Andrew Tredinnick, David
Rumbold, Rt Hon Mrs Angela Trippier, David
Ryder, Rt Hon Richard Trotter, Neville
Sackville, Hon Tom Twinn, Dr Ian
Sainsbury, Hon Tim Vaughan, Sir Gerard
Sayeed, Jonathan Viggers, Peter
Scott, Rt Hon Nicholas Wakeham, Rt Hon John
Shaw, David (Dover) Waldegrave, Rt Hon William
Shaw, Sir Giles (Pudsey) Walden, George
Shaw, Sir Michael (Scarb') Walker, Bill (T'side North)
Shelton, Sir William Waller, Gary
Shephard, Mrs G. (Norfolk SW) Walters, Sir Dennis
Shepherd, Colin (Hereford) Ward, John
Shersby, Michael Wardle, Charles (Bexhill)
Sims, Roger Warren, Kenneth
Smith, Tim (Beaconsfield) Watts, John
Soames, Hon Nicholas Wheeler, Sir John
Speed, Keith Whitney, Ray
Speller, Tony Widdecombe, Ann
Spicer, Sir Jim (Dorset W) Wiggin, Jerry
Squire, Robin Wilkinson, John
Stanbrook, Ivor Wilshire, David
Stanley, Rt Hon Sir John Winterton, Mrs Ann
Steen, Anthony Winterton, Nicholas
Stern, Michael Wolfson, Mark
Stevens, Lewis Wood, Timothy
Stewart, Allan (Eastwood) Woodcock, Dr. Mike
Stewart, Andy (Sherwood) Yeo, Tim
Stewart, Rt Hon Sir Ian Young, Sir George (Acton)
Stokes, Sir John Younger, Rt Hon George
Sumberg, David
Summerson, Hugo Tellers for the Noes:
Tapsell, Sir Peter Mr. David Lightbown, and Mr. John M. Taylor.
Taylor, Ian (Esher)
Taylor, Sir Teddy
§ Question accordingly negatived.
§ Bill committed to a Standing Committee.
cc1001-2
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE 400 words
LOCAL GOVERNMENT FINANCE BILL [MONEY] 126 words
WAYS AND MEANS
LOCAL GOVERNMENT FINANCE BILL 64 words
Back to Orders of the Day
Forward to BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
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Kevin De Bruyne suffers knee ligament damage
Belgian international likely to be out for up to six weeks
Kevin De Bruyne has suffered knee ligament damage, and is expected to be out for up to six weeks, the club revealed on Friday.
The Belgian midfielder limped off in the latter stages of last night's Carabao Cup victory against Fulham, and underwent scans to confirm the extent of the injury today.
De Bruyne previously injured a ligament in his right knee in August, and as such has only made three appearances so far this season.
Pep Guardiola said: "Unfortunately he is injured but fortunately he will come back in four-six weeks.
"He was so sad. But today less sad and tomorrow he will be stronger again. He can spend time with his family, then it's international break and then he will be back."
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/ Cory Doctorow / 12 pm Mon, Jun 29 2015
Why I'm leaving London
My family is moving to Los Angeles in two weeks. Many Londoners understand intuitively why we're going.
The short version is that we want to live in a city that's a livable place to work, where we can raise our family, and where we can run our respective small businesses. But London is a city whose two priorities are being a playground for corrupt global elites who turn neighbourhoods into soulless collections of empty safe-deposit boxes in the sky, and encouraging the feckless criminality of the finance industry. These two facts are not unrelated.
My office rent has doubled this decade. We live in 600 square feet, up six flights of stairs, and can't possibly afford anything even remotely larger. The last time someone told us what our place was worth, I called him a liar. Then he showed me the paperwork; it's worth as much as it is because someone can tear it down, along with all the other small flats in our neighbourhoods, and replace them with luxury flats.
I've lived in lots of cities that were going through bubbles. Hell, I lived in San Francisco in the late 1990s. But this is different: the bubble here isn't because people are doing (allegedly) exciting things in the city's environs. The bubble here is driven by the place itself. Every single place where people do stuff, or live, is being torn down, to make room for chains and luxury blocks—and nothing much else.
It's awful. We're not poor. In any other city, and by national standards, we are the one percent. Low-income people we know and live near are in much worse shape. For one thing, they can't leave.
We've seen the writing on the wall: this is not a city for families. It's not a city for people running small firms. It's not a city for people who earn their living in the arts. We've given it the best we have, and we're getting out because we can.
A generation ago, squatters might have sneered at me as "gentrifying scum." Now, the titans of finance and extraction sneer at me as someone who's occupying land that could be put to better use by being "redeveloped," left largely empty, then flipped a decade later to someone even richer.
Why Los Angeles? I've lived there twice before. Both times, I found my neighborhood to be walkable, full of independent companies, and packed with people making cool stuff without any of the much-vaunted Los Angeles phoniness.
The USA is putting curbs on surveillance, expanding its national healthcare, and there are mass parental boycotts of standardised testing in its public schools. The UK just elected a Tory majority government that's going to continue to slash and burn the welfare state, attack schools, health, legal aid and teachers, and impose mandatory cryptographic backdoors in the technology we use to talk to each other. They've even announced that merely not breaking the law is no reason to expect that you won't be arrested.
Los Angeles is building new subways!
Don't take my word for it. Read Rowan Moore's outstanding Observer piece on the decline of London as a living city, and it's rise as a symptom of the crony-capitalism system. It summarises my feelings about leaving the city I adopted (and the country I took as my own) better than I ever could.
Even when the planning system protects, for example, the use of a location as a shop or restaurant, it has few ways of defining what sort of place that might be. It cannot tell the difference between a shop such as José Cardoso’s and an Asda, or between a gay pub with decades of social history and glass-walled retail unit at the bottom of a new tower of flats. Places can now be designated “assets of community value”, which gives local groups the opportunity to come up with bids for such sites, but it does not seem to be making much real difference. Efforts to insist on retaining some workspace in Hackney Wick are unlikely to provide space of the type and price that local businesses need.
At the same time, local authorities have had their budgets assaulted, which puts pressure on them to come up with money in any way they can, which helps explain why boroughs such as Lambeth want to make as much as they can out of the property they own in places such as Central Hill. It is also the reason why libraries and day-care centres have closed or are threatened.
Which brings us to an outrageous inequality in the government’s attitude to austerity. The deregulation of the restrictions on conversion of sites from other uses to residential is in effect a colossal gift to those lucky enough to own them; a jackpot, a shower of golden coins from a vast, state-owned slot machine. At the same time, local authorities are bullied and squeezed into surrendering their assets, at whatever cost to their residents and tenants, just to keep financially afloat.
Beyond this inconsistent generosity is the failure by national government and London’s mayor to face up to the scale of the issues involved. London’s population is expected to reach 10 million by 2031, which would be 150% of its mid-1980s level, within the constraints on expanding sideways set by the green belt. This is a vast challenge that is about more than counting bedrooms. “Of course there’s a housing crisis,” says Harding, “but there’s also an employment space crisis. It includes highly professional artists and creative businesses, the self-employed and sole traders that are the future of employment.”
London: the city that ate itself [Rowan Moore/The Observer]
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Detroit's police commissioner arrested at commissioners' meeting for demanding answers about secret meetings where facial recognition was planned
Alan Wendt writes, "Detroit commissioners arrested the police commissioner Willie Burton during a public meeting because he wouldn't stop talking about the secret meetings where the commission decided to install facial recognition systems."
Mysterious New Orleans "anti-crime" camera emblazoned with NOPD logos outside surveillance contractor's house is disavowed by NOPD
New Orleans is festooned with police cameras, the legacy of a secret partnership with the surveillance contractor Palantir, which used New Orleans as a covert laboratory for predictive policing products.
The internet has become a "low-trust society"
Writing in Wired, Zeynep Tufekci (previously) discusses how the internet has become a "low-trust society," where fake reviews, fraud, conspiracies and disinformation campaigns have burdened us all with the need to investigate every claim and doubt every promise, at enormous costs to time and opportunity.
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Russia Adds 600,000 Ounces of Gold to Reserves in April
May 22, 2018 Ralph Gold News
Central Bank of Russia adds another 18.66 Tons of Gold to Reserves in April.
The Russian Central Bank announced this week that its gold reserves had reached 61.4 million troy ounces (approximately 1909 metric tons). The total included an additional 600,000 ounces (approximately 19 metric tons) of gold added in April.
In 2017, the Russian Central Bank added a record 7.2 million ounces or approximately 224 tons of gold to reserves. Over the past two years, Russia has led the world in adding gold to her central bank reserves, ahead of the People’s Bank of China, the central bank that has added the second largest of amount of gold. Indeed, in 2017 the Russian Central Bank’s gold holdings surpassed the People’s Bank of China’s gold reserves to take sole possession of fifth place among the gold holding nations of the world.
The Central Bank of Russia added 208 tons of gold to reserves in 2015. In 2016, Russia added 199 tons of gold to her reserves.
In addition to increasing its gold hoard, Russia’s overall foreign reserves have grown from $371 billion in January 2016 to $459.8 billion as at April, 2017, a 24% increase.
As of April 2018, Russia 1909 tons of gold constituted about 18% of the Central Bank of Russia’s $459.8 billion reserves with her gold hoard valued at approximately $80.58 billion, up from $52 billion or 12% of overall reserves as at August 31, 2016. The Central Bank of Russia held $96.1 billion in United States Treasury securities as of the end of March 2018.
The Central Bank of Russia has added 2.3 million ounces (approximately 71.5 tons) of gold to her reserves from January 2018 – April 2018.
Click to Buy Gold at BGASC.com
Russian gold reserves have increased by about 628 tons since June 2015.
U.S. Treasuries as Part of Russia’s Foreign Reserves
In January 2016, Russia’s U.S. Treasury position was $96.9 billion. In January 2014 Russia held $131 billion in U.S. Treasuries. In reaction to U.S. inspired sanctions being placed on her, Russia has sold a substantial portion of her U.S. Treasury holdings. Russian U.S. Treasury holdings reached a low of $66.5 billion in April 2015. As of March 2018, Russia held $96.1 billion in U.S. Treasury Securities about the same amount as held in January 2016.
As a result of Russia’s gold buying binge, Russia has vaulted into fifth place among holding nations.
The Central Bank of Russia holds approximately 1910 tons of gold.
Alan Greenspan said recently that “Gold is currency… the premier currency, no fiat currency, including the dollar, can match it”. Russian gold mining produces the second largest annual output in the world behind China. Russia adds a substantial percentage of its domestic mining production to her reserves. By retaining a large percentage of its gold mining output the Central Bank of Russia has been in effect converting its currency, the rouble, into gold.
Tagged russian gold reserves russian gold reserves 2018
What really goes on inside Britain’s only remaining gold factory?
China lays claim to £40bn gold and silver bonanza in the Himalayas
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Monthly Archive for October, 2018
: October, 2018
Not Enough Time for Lion Air Pilots to Save Flight
By Christine Negroni on October 29, 2018 at 11:19 AM
Data from the airplane tracking site FlightAware indicates that the flight of the Lion Air Boeing 737 Max that crashed into the Java Sea on Monday morning was irregular from the start. The plane departed Jakarta on a clear day an hour after sunrise, with 189 people on board. Lion Air Flight 610 was headed north to the Bangka Belitung Islands. But the FlightAware data shows the flight was slow to ascend from the start and never during its ten-minute flight did it get higher than 5,500 feet. Equally distressing is the speeds of descent recorded in the last minute. Plummeting towards the Java Sea… …
The post Not Enough Time for Lion Air Pilots to Save Flight appeared first on Christine Negroni. …
Bnb’ing With My Peeps; Flying a Bike and Sleeping With Airplanes
By Christine Negroni on October 18, 2018 at 2:53 PM
Note to readers: Many photos and all the videos in this post graciously provided by aviation vlogger and pilot Pedro Saldarriaga. Follow him on YouTube. It was a quick trip to Florida to take care of some business. I would be there and gone in just 24-hours so all I really needed was a clean, inexpensive room. But as my cursor hovered over the selections on the Airbnb website, how could I say no to the Man Cave, located, the listing said, “in my airplane hangar.” Click, and it was mine for the night. Like every other internet-age disruptor, Airbnb has its downsides, but where… …
The post Bnb’ing With My Peeps; Flying a Bike and Sleeping With Airplanes appeared first on Christine Negroni. …
With Female Pilot, Olay Ad Sells a Future of Possibilities for Girls
By Christine Negroni on October 2, 2018 at 4:00 AM
Twenty-one-year-old airline pilot Tristan Mazzu thought she’d found her dream job when she was hired as a first officer at SkyWest Airlines in 2017. But the glamour of flying was elevated when she was selected by Olay to appear in an ad campaign celebrating women who take on challenges. Her inadvertent entry into the world of modeling, has turned Mazzu into a role model for girls. In the minute-long ad, Mazzu reflects on the instructor who questioned her potential, stereotypes that reinforce discrimination, voices of doubt in her own head and the raised eyebrows of others when they see her in her pilot’s uniform. She… …
The post With Female Pilot, Olay Ad Sells a Future of Possibilities for Girls appeared first on Christine Negroni. …
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> eBooks
> Music, Stage & Screen
> Music: styles & genres
> Musicals
Sullivan's Scores - The Absent-Minded Beggar - Sheet Music for Voice and Piano EPUB
by Arthur Sullivan, Rudyard Kipling
"The Absent-Minded Beggar" is an 1899 poem by Rudyard Kipling, set to music by Sir Arthur Sullivan.
Sullivan was an English composer best known for his comic musical opera collaborations with the librettist W.
S. Gilbert. His works also include 23 operas, 13 major orchestral works, eight choral works and oratorios, two ballets, incidental music to several plays, and numerous hymns and church pieces.
Classic Music Collection constitutes an extensive library of the most well-known and universally-enjoyed works of music ever composed, reproduced from authoritative editions for the enjoyment of musicians and music students the world over.
Publisher: Read Books Ltd.
Category: Musicals
Available to Download
Download NowRead on PC, tablet,
phone or eReader
Also by Arthur Sullivan | View all
The Savoy Operas: The Complete Gilbert...
Reference and Structure in the...
The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu...
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2000s and UK Boot Camps
Boot camps were brought to the UK by Robin Cope, a retired British Army officer, in 1999 “as an alternative form of group training to gyms” (BMF, 2012). However, Wikipedia suggests that the fitness boot camp concept did not reach our shores until 2005 (Wikipedia, 2012). The idea of British Military Fitness (BMF) was to get people of all fitness abilities outdoors training in parks, with motivation provided by military trained and qualified fitness instructors.
However, BMF states that with this form of military fitness “It was never the intention to make this a ‘boot camp’ but a fun and effective form of training using the highly professional skills learnt in the military to get people fit.” (BMF, 2012).
BMF started in Hyde Park, London, in April 1999 with just three people: “two nurses, and a wannabe commando who turned up in his own uniform.” (Startups, 2011). Just three years later members numbered in the thousands, which is not bad for a ‘passing fad’ as some fitness professionals described it at the time.
By 2011 BMF had over 25,000 members, spread across more than 120 parks covering the length and breadth of the UK (Startups, 2011). Turnover was reported to be £12 million, with profit in excess of £1 million. BMF has already expanded into South Africa, and has plans to expand into other international markets.
From 1999 to approximately 2005, BMF remained the sole provider of boot camp or military-style fitness training. The years 2005 and 2006 witnessed an explosion in the number of training providers offering boot camp and associated products, with well over 200 different boot camp and military-style fitness training providers by 2012. Unfortunately, the industry was slow to develop suitable qualifications and training courses for fitness professionals engaged outdoor fitness with these only being available from 2012.
BMF (British Military Fitness) (2012a) How It Started. Available from World Wide Web: <http://www.britmilfit.com/about-bmf/how-it-started/> [Accessed: 08 November, 2012].
Wikipedia (2012) Fitness Boot Camp. Available from World Wide Web: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitness_boot_camp> [Accessed: 10 November, 2012].
Startups (2011) Robin Cope: British Military Fitness: The Ex-officer Tells Us How He Used The Forces to Create a New Kind of Exercise Class. Available from World Wide Web: <http://www.startups.co.uk/robin-cope-british-military-fitness.html> [Accessed: 08 November, 2012].
History of Boot Camps British Army, British Military Fitness, Fitness boot camp, History of Boot Camps, Physical exercise
← 2000s and Celebrity Boot Camps
Science Souring on Sugar →
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Front Page » Archives » May 2006 »
" DIEBOLD'S DELIBERATE SECURITY VULNERABILITY "
DIEBOLD'S DELIBERATE SECURITY VULNERABILITY
EXPERTS AGREE: 'It's the Most Serious Security Breach Ever Discovered in a Voting System
3 States Issue Mitigation Plans, Georgia Ignores The 'Black Hole', AP Ignores BRAD BLOG Reporting...
By John Gideon on 5/11/2006, 4:16pm PT
Guest Blogged by John Gideon
As was expected the corporate media picked-up the latest in Diebold's sordid story --- which we reported first here last Friday --- with articles by Ian Hoffman yesterday and today and even the Associated Press stepped in as well.
Unfortunately the headline of Hoffman's article yesterday characterized the security hole as being a 'glitch'; which this certainly is not. It is also not a 'flaw' as it was characterized by today's Hoffman and AP articles. (Ed note: Hoffman has been very good at reporting on all of these related stories, so we don't wish to be overly critical of him, but rather point out the inaccurate characterization.)
This is a 'feature' that was knowingly installed by Diebold. It was not a mistake or something that was overlooked in the design of the software. It is not a 'bug', 'glitch', 'flaw', 'error in programming' or any other simplistic name. Michael Shamos, a Carnegie Mellon University computer science professor and veteran voting-systems examiner for the state of Pennsylvania has said this:
"It's the most serious security breach that's ever been discovered in a voting system. On this one, the probability of success is extremely high because there's no residue.... Any kind of cursory inspection of the machine would not reveal it."
Johns Hopkins University computer science professor Avi Rubin, who published the first security analysis of Diebold voting software in 2003 had this to say:
"I think it's the most serious thing I've heard to date. Even describing why I think its serious is dangerous. This is something that's so easy to do that if the public were to hear about it, it would raise the risk of someone doing it. ... This is the worst-case scenario, almost."
In the meantime the state of Georgia has decided that there is nothing that they have to do because their administrative rules already mitigate the problem. Of course, they made that statement without knowing what the full problem is.
A redacted copy of the Hursti "Critical Security Alert: Diebold TSx and TS6 voting systems" can be found at BlackBoxVoting.Org. Bev Harris guarantees that the redaction only resulted in 50 words being removed from this copy of the report.
Finally, I would be remiss in not pointing to this final line of Dan Goodin's article for AP:
The story was reported earlier by the Oakland Tribune.
Uh, Dan, you could have had a more timely article, and probably scooped Ian Hoffman if you had read The BRAD BLOG on Friday, where you would have found the whole story posted exclusively that day.
It's about time that the corporate media begin looking to the blogs as a source instead of ignoring us like we aren't here. Or at least admitting that they're looking to the blogs as a source, instead of only attributing those in the MSM.
Will Dan Goodin or the AP post a clarification to their story? We're not holding our breath.
Article Categories: Diebold/Premier, Mainstream Corporate Media, Mainstream Media Failure
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"DIEBOLD'S DELIBERATE SECURITY VULNERABILITY"
... bluebear 2 said on 5/11/2006 @ 4:34 pm PT...
With the apparent coup d'etat and war with Iran coming, this may all be a moot issue - getting way scary out there!
... Grizzly Bear Dancer said on 5/11/2006 @ 5:30 pm PT...
While the AP makes money selling their "glitched" stories to newspapers etc., i find that their stories tend to misinform the reader especially if the reader has no previous knowledge of what the AP author is writing about AND tend to be in favor of the Bush administration's position from the slant they put on the story. This can be illustrated by recent articles i read by AP writer Becky Bohrer on Yellowstone brown bear delisting. There was a long article of Bushit in the Orange County Register about a month ago. For example, while Wild Bears Project Director Louisa Willcox submitted a paper stating 57 IMPORTANT REASONS AGAINST DELISTING THE ISOLATED YELLOWSTONE POPULATION OF BROWN BEARS SUFFERING FROM INBREEDING, Ms. Bohrer mislead the reader by skimming over the important reasons against delisting and many other fact, such as the importance of the bear. She ended her story with the following quote: "If we do not delist now when can we delist>." So, if there is a way for AP to screw up a story, when and if they finally write it, the article can twist the story away from the truth and and mislead the American people under the disguise of being written by an unopinionated 3rd party.
Uninformed 3rd party perhaps.
Grizzly - it's off topic, but I thought you would like it - at least part of it:
DNA Test Confirms Hybrid Bear in the Wild
The bad part is it was shot by a hunter and will now be a "Trophy" - that part disgusts me!
... John Dean said on 5/11/2006 @ 6:51 pm PT...
My sincere thanks to Bev Harris, Brad Friedman, and everyone else involved in this battle.
... Bev Harris said on 5/11/2006 @ 8:04 pm PT...
Thanks, Brad and John Gideon, for your persistence in covering story after story illustrating the need for real election reform.
As of 8 a.m. this morning I was doing final edits on a 23-page report. You may notice that it is only 12 pages.
Harri had hoped to split the report into two --- one concerning the devastating and inexcusable flaws, and another "laundry list" of secondary issues, some of which are also quite troubling.
Then we put the whole thing into one report. Harri and I were both up pretty much the whole night making final decisions as to what to redact and who needs to receive the unredacted portion and so forth. I left to get coffee around 8 a.m. and realized that the "laundry list" was very easy for reporters to understand, lots of photos and so forth. Problem is, the devastation is in the triple-play (bootloader/operating system/files) and that part is harder to understand.
If we kept the whole report together, reporters would pick up the easy stuff and use that instead of the really important story on the triple-play.
Therefore, we pulled the laundry list for Monday publication. It has a concise but very interesting section on macros, as well as some other disturbing news.
It is time for all communicators and activist groups to truly work together to pull these beasts out of elections.
... city of angels lady said on 5/11/2006 @ 8:38 pm PT...
When are we going to do something? Why have we let them get away with fraud, stealing the election, then one crime after another?
Do we have to put a comedian into office to get something done?
Kay In L.A>
... Tandalayo Scheisskopf said on 5/11/2006 @ 9:23 pm PT...
This reads to me like they built in an intentional backdoor. Keep looking people. Likely there are more.
In the computer world, redundancy is A Very Good Thing.
... Simon Magus said on 5/11/2006 @ 10:17 pm PT...
RELEASE THE HACK TO THE PUBLIC!!
That is the only way they will listen. Public exposure has been used many times with security exploits involving software like Microsoft Windows. The vendors cannot ignore a serious security flaw that is in the wild and nor can election supervisors.
... Larry Bergan said on 5/12/2006 @ 2:02 am PT...
Wow! Things really seem to be converging into something tangible, even for the MSM.
The press has been guilty of ignorance until now. It's VERY maddening to see this plagiarism of the brave people who cared enough to do something about this years ago!
At least there are hundreds of us who know who the real hero's are, and we will NEVER forget you!
... Floridiot said on 5/12/2006 @ 4:39 am PT...
The way I'm reading this,
Are we only able to talk about vulnerabilities in the future tense , and not past election hacks to be noticed by the Corporate media ?
... Bev Harris said on 5/12/2006 @ 7:20 am PT...
to Simon Magus:
"RELEASE THE HACK TO THE PUBLIC!!"
We have released the hack to the public. Fewer than 50 words were redacted from a 12 -page report. Quite possibly it would violate the Patriot Act to release the names of the files to the public before CERT, EAC, NIST and the secretaries of state of Florida, Georgia, California, Pennsylvania, Utah, Washington, Arizona, Texas, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Virginia, Maryland, New Hampshire, Vermont, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Tennessee and Ohio have the opportunity to pull the machines out of use.
However, if they do NOT act promptly to remove these machines from service, and they have had time to do so, it is quite likely that we will release the filenames needed to hack the system.
Really that's all we redacted. Specific filenames. The road map is in the report, but at this time we did not put gas in the car.
... Dredd said on 5/12/2006 @ 9:29 am PT...
A "deliberate security vulnerability" in this context is a deliberate attempt to destabilize the American government.
If the people, for any reason, cannot change their government thru their vote, then we have by definition a dictatorship.
A republican dictatorship. Big brother is a republican.
In theory there are only 3 IT managers at the big 3 election machine companies. Diebold has a head of IT in its election systems division, ES & S has one, and Sequoia has one.
Massive destabilization of the ability to change the government, transparently and honestly, has taken place.
Wake up and smell the republican dictatorship.
In tribute:
"The citizenry owes an immense debt of gratitude to Bruce Funk, the Emery County Clerk for Emery County, Utah who, upon noticing anomalies in the Diebold TSx machines delivered to his county, requested an independent evaluation of this voting system." (Bev Harris and/or Black Box Voting)
... Simon Magus said on 5/12/2006 @ 11:32 am PT...
Thank you Bev. I was worried the details would remain secret. That is a relief.
Wow, these comments are taking a long time to register tonight! That was redundant!
... Larry Bergan said on 5/13/2006 @ 12:03 pm PT...
Floridiot #11
Good point, I think you're probably right.
Good point! I think you might be right on that.
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cat@catmcgill.uk
CAT McGILL
All about ‘Adopting a Musical Approach’
Adopting a Musical Approach is a project devised by Cat McGill, and funded by Arts Council England, the Folk Camps Society, and some awesome Kickstarter backers.
It’s a project designed to help adoptive families primarily, but the songs and games devised throughout the course of the project can of course be enjoyed by any and all children! To find out more about the project please have a read of the information below, or contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
What exactly are you going to be doing?
During the project Cat will compose and record an album of new music aimed at primary-age children and families. She’ll be doing a UK-wide tour in summer 2019, and putting on ten FREE performances which will be open to anyone who is interested in coming to hear the songs. (Tour dates can be found at catmcgill.uk/projects)
What’s so special about the songs?
Cat is using her psychology background to craft a set of songs that will serve a specific purpose. For example, one song might be designed to help a child with making choices, another might be to explore feelings around moving to a new family. In much the same way as you might use stories to explore a concept with a child, Cat believes that song can be a valuable tool for learning - with the added benefit that music often seems to find it’s way to the deepest parts of the brain in a way that we don’t entirely understand yet.
It sounds like the songs will be pretty boring...
Cat says “Yes, I can see that! However, I can assure you they’re definitely not going to be..! The songs aren’t going to have any impact if no-one wants to listen to them because they’re too boring - so for example, the song I’m writing about choice is all about making sandwiches, and choosing from silly sandwich fillings. I’ve recruited a production team (see below) who will feed back on the songs throughout the process - plus of course they will all be vetted by my two children!”
Communicative Musicality
Music is an innate part of being human - we are all musical by nature. For this project Cat is tapping in to the most natural, instinctive part of human musicality - the way in which parents communicate with their babies. Infant Directed Speech (IDS) - which you’d probably call ‘babytalk’ - has been shown to have musical properties that are consistent across different people, and across different cultures.
When you talk, even though you’re not trying to ‘sing’, your voice will naturally go up and down - there’s an element of melody to it. When you talk to a baby, you instinctively modify your voice - you’ll talk at a higher pitch, and you’ll emphasise the up and down (melodic contours) in your speech. A psychologist called Stephen Malloch called this ‘Communicative Musicality’ - to describe the musical way in which parents and babies communicate with each other.
But why do we do that?
Research in to IDS indicates that there are particular melodic patterns of speech that carry specific information - regardless of the words that the adult is using. When we talk about this, we use the word ‘contour’, to describe the shape of the melody - so for example a rising contour is a melody that starts off at a lower pitch and then gets higher. Scientists have repeatedly found that parents use a rising contour in order to get their child’s attention - but when they already have it and want to keep it, they use an up and down wave shape. Questions usually have a rising contour, except for questions that use wh- words, which have a falling contour. All of these things and more have been found in different studies across the world.
The really fascinating part is that none of this is deliberate. Parents all over the world use these exact patterns in their speech to babies and children, without even realising they are doing it. So therefore we have to conclude that these musical patterns are really important for development - of communication skills, social skills, and potentially even the relationship between parents and children.
How is this relevant to the songs you’re writing?
For the songs in this project, Cat is going to take these melodic, information-carrying elements of IDS, and incorporate them in to her songs. The idea for this was born out of learning how to parent her own adopted child - adoptive parents are encouraged to ‘fill in the gaps’ of a child’s development, to give them the experiences they may have missed out on. Children who have suffered neglect in their early years may well have missed out on some - or all - of these vital early interactions we’ve been talking about. Some children may like to pretend to be a baby, and have their adoptive parents address them in babytalk, but for others this might not be appropriate, or they may not feel safe enough to do it. Cat hopes that by incorporating the key elements of IDS in to her songs that this will allow the children to benefit from the exposure but in a much less threatening way.
This sounds fascinating, I’d love to know more!
Well I’m glad you said that, because - for a limited time - we are allowing exclusive behind-the-scenes access to the project, for a few special supporters. This will allow you to see the songs as they are being written, to read about the process that has gone in to each song, and to offer your feedback on each song as it develops. There are a few different ways you can access this:
1. You can become an official backer of the project, and join Cat’s production team (see below). You’ll also receive a signed copy of the final CD with your name in the sleevenotes, along with the other backers.
2. If you’re an adoptive parent, you can head over to Twitter and enter Cat’s competition - we’re giving away behind-the-scenes access to six adoptive families. (Please note this doesn’t entitle you to a CD, but you can pre-order one from the link below if you wish.) COMPETITION NOW CLOSED.
3. If you are an adoptee, or have experienced the care system, then you can have free and unlimited access behind the scenes. We would absolutely welcome input from people who have experienced the things we’re trying to address. Please email Cat on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to request access. Again, we’re not able to promise CDs to everyone, although could probably be persuaded to reward any prolific contributors..!
I missed the Kickstarter but I’d really like to support the project!
Thank you! We have a limited selection of rewards still available:
Have your name in the CD sleevenotes (includes a copy of the CD) Available until 30th April 2019.
Join the production team! Listen to early versions of the songs and offer feedback, help select songs that go on the final CD. Includes a signed copy of the CD with your name in the sleevenotes. Available until 31st March 2019.
A personalised video message for you or a person of your choosing, followed by a live performance of a song of your choice from the CD. Plus join the production team, signed copy of the CD with your name in the sleevenotes.
A live performance of your favourite songs from the CD via Skype! Plus join the production team, signed copy of the CD with your name in the sleevenotes.
Preorder a copy of the CD £12.00 GBPMy name in the sleevenotes! (Includes a copy of the CD) £15.00 GBPJoin the production team! (Plus all of the above.) £35.00 GBPPersonalised video message! (Plus all of the above) £45.00 GBPLIVE Skype concert! (Plus all of the above excl video message) £55.00 GBP
AAMA Supporter log in
Kickstarter backers and project supporters, enter your username and password here to access your exclusive content.
Join Cat’s mailing list to be the first to hear about exciting new projects and releases, and get this fantastic FREE ebook as a thank you!
© 2019 Cat McGill
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Tag Archives: P. acnes
Now wash your hands!
You must have spent the last 20 years on a distant planet if you’re unaware that we’re heading for Antibiotic Armaggedon — the rise of “Superbugs”, i.e., bacteria resistant to once-successful medication. Microbes resistant to multiple antimicrobials are called multidrug resistant. It’s a desperate matter because it means trivial infections may become fatal and currently safe surgical procedures may become dangerous.
Time-line of the discovery of different antibiotic classes in clinical use. The key point is that the last antibiotic class to become a successful treatment was discovered in 1987.
It’s 30 years since we came up a new class of antibiotics. The golden age launched by Fleming’s celebrated discovery of penicillin is long gone and while the discovery curve has drifted ever downwards since 1960 the bugs have been busy.
Just how busy a bug can be was shown by a large-scale experiment carried out by Roy Kishony and friends. They built a “Mega-Plate” — a Petri Dish 2 ft by 4 ft filled with a jelly for the bacteria to grow in. The bugs were seeded into channels at either end so they would grow towards the middle. The only thing stopping them was four channels dosed with antibiotic at increasing concentrations — 10 times more in each successive channel.
The bugs grow until they hit a wall of antibiotic. There they pause for a think — and, after a bit, an intrepid little group start to make their way into the higher dose of drug. Gradually the number of groups expand until a tidal wave sweeps over that barrier. This is repeated at each new ‘wall’ — four times until the whole tray is a bug fest.
When they pause at each new ‘wall’ they’re not ‘thinking’ of course. They’re just picking up random mutations in their DNA until they are able to advance into the high drug environment. So this experiment is a fantastic visual display of bugs becoming drug-resistant. And it’s terrifying because it takes about 11 days for them to overcome four levels of drug. It’s even more scary in the speeded-up movie as that lasts less than two minutes.
It should do as this is a cancer column and readers will know that cancers arise by picking up mutations. To highlight the similarities the picture below is the left-hand half of the bug tray with new colonies shown as linked dots. You could perfectly well think of these as early stage cancer cells acquiring mutations in ‘driver’ genes that push them towards tumour formation.
So that’s pretty scary too and the only good news is that animal cells reproduce much more slowly than bacteria. The fastest they can manage is about 48 hours to grow and divide into two new cells and for many it’s much slower than that. Bugs, on the other hand, can do it in 20 minutes if you feed them enough of the right stuff.
Which is why we don’t all get zonked by cancer at an early age.
The evolution of bacteria on a “Mega-Plate” Petri Dish. The vertical red lines mark the boundaries of increasing antibiotic concentrations. You could equally think of each dot that represents a new bacterial colony being early stage cancer cells acquiring mutations in ‘driver’ genes (white arrows) that push them towards tumour formation. From Roy Kishony’s Laboratory at Harvard Medical School.
Enough of that!
But for once I don’t want to talk about cancer but about a really fascinating piece of work that caught my eye in the journal Cell Reports. It’s by Gianni Panagiotou, Kang Kang and colleagues from The University of Hong Kong and The Hans Knöll Institute, Jena, Germany and it’s all about their travels on the Hong Kong MTR (Mass Transit Railway). This is the network of over 200 km of railway lines with 159 stations that serves the urbanised areas of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, and the New Territories and has a cross- border connection to the neighboring city of Shenzhen in mainland China.
An MTR train on the Tung Chung line that links Lantau Island with Hong Kong Island.
Being scientists of course they weren’t just having a day out. They wanted to know the contents of the microbiome that they and their fellow travellers picked up on the palms of their hands when riding the rails. ‘Microbiome’ means all of the collection of microorganisms — though in practice this is almost entirely bacteria. So they swabbed the palms of volunteers and then threw the full power of modern DNA sequencing and genetic analysis at what they’d scraped off. Or, as they put it: “We conducted a metagenomic study of the Hong Kong MTR system.”
And if you’re thinking it might be possible to take a trip on the Hong Kong Metro without grabbing a handrail or otherwise engaging in what on the London Underground used to be called ‘strap-hanging’ you clearly haven’t tried it!
Hong Kong MTR.
The MTR System and Sampling Procedure. Left: The eight urban lines studied: the Airport Express line and Disneyland Resort branch were excluded. The Central-Hong Kong station and the cross-border rail stations connecting with the MTR and the Shenzhen metro system are labeled. Right: The sampling procedure included handwashing, handrail touching for 30 min and swabbing. From Kang et al. 2018.
Hold very tight please!
It’s going to become a seriously bumpy ride. The major findings were:
Four groups (phyla) of bacteria dominated: Actinobacteria [51%], Proteobacteria [27%], Firmicutes [11%] and Bacteroidetes [2%]. Followers of this blog will be delighted to spot the last two (B & F) as we’ve met them several times before (in Hitchhiker Or Driver?, Fast Food Fix Focuses on Fibre, Our Inner Self, The Best Laid Plans In Mice and Men, and, of course, in “it’s a small world”) — that’s how important they are in the context of cancer.
The dominant organism (29% of the community) was P. acnes (one of the Actinobacteria — it’s the bug linked to the skin condition of acne).
Some non-human-associated species (e.g., soil organisms) also popped up that varied enormously in amount from day to day — perhaps because of weather conditions (e.g., humidity).
Variation in the make-up of the microbial communities picked up depended, more than anything else, on the time of day. There was a marked decrease in diversity in afternoon samples compared with those taken in the morning.
Specific species of bacteria associated with individual metro lines. That is, sets of bug types are relatively abundant on a given line compared with all other lines, giving a kind of line-specific signature — though the distinction declines from morning to afternoon. The most physically isolated line, MOS (Ma On Shan), had a greater number of signature species. The MOS runs entirely above ground alongside the Shing Mun Channel, a polluted brackish river, and its ‘signature’ includes bacteria found in sewage.
All of which brings us to bugs with antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Across the network 136 ARG families were detected including 24 that are clinically important. Strikingly, lines closer to Shenzhen (ER (East Rail) and MOS) tend to have higher ARG input during the day. Critically, the ER line a.m. signatures become p.m.-enriched in all MTR lines far from Shenzhen — that is, these ARG families spread over the network during the day.
Simplified map of the Hong Kong MTR indicating how antibiotic resistance genes spread during the day from the ER and MOS lines to the entire network. Tetracycline resistance genes: tetA, tetO, tetRRPP and tetMWOS; vancomycin resistance genes: vanC, vanX. From Kang et al. 2018.
These results clearly suggest that the ER line, the only cross-border line linked to mainland China, may be a source of clinically important ARGs, especially against tetracycline, a commonly used antibiotic in China’s swine feedlots. Antibiotics, including tetracycline, can be detected in the soil in the Pearl River Delta area where the cities of Hong Kong and Shenzhen are located.
It should be said that this is by no means the first survey of bugs on rails. Notable ones have looked at the New York and Boston metro systems and they too revealed the potential health risks of the bug communities found on trains and in the stations, including the presence of pathogens and antibiotic resistance. The Boston survey highlighted that different types of materials have surfaces that are preferred by different microbes with high variation in functional capacity and pathogenic potential.
One obvious suggestion from these studies is that world-wide we could do a lot to improve sanitation, e.g., by having hand sanitizer dispensers in all sensible places (at the exits of metro, railway and bike-sharing stations and airports and of course in hospitals). The Hong Kong data are seriously frightening and most people seem blissfully unaware that the invisible world they reveal carries the potential for the destruction of us all.
But, as ever, there’s two sides to the matter. We’ve evolved over millions of years to live with bugs and they with us. However you wash your hands you won’t get rid of every bug and anyway, as what’s-his-name almost says, “They’ll be back!” We all carry around micro-organisms that can be fatal if they get to the wrong place. But, if you’re reasonably fit, there’s a lot to be said for simply following sensible, basic hygiene rules with a philosophy of ‘live and let live.’
Have a nice day commuters, wherever you are!
Kang K., et al. (2018). The Environmental Exposures and Inner- and Intercity Traffic Flows of the Metro System May Contribute to the Skin Microbiome and Resistome. Cell Reports 24, 1190–1202.
Wu, N., Qiao, M., Zhang, B., Cheng, W.D., and Zhu, Y.G. (2010). Abundance and diversity of tetracycline resistance genes in soils adjacent to representative swine feedlots in China. Environ. Sci. Technol. 44, 6933–6939.
Li, Y.W., Wu, X.L., Mo, C.H., Tai, Y.P., Huang, X.P., and Xiang, L. (2011). Investigation of sulfonamide, tetracycline, and quinolone antibiotics in vegetable farmland soil in the Pearl River Delta area, southern China. J. Agric. Food Chem. 59, 7268–7276.
Leung, M.H., Wilkins, D., Li, E.K., Kong, F.K., and Lee, P.K. (2014). Indoor-air microbiome in an urban subway network: diversity and dynamics. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 80, 6760–6770.
Robertson, C.E., Baumgartner, L.K., Harris, J.K., Peterson, K.L., Stevens, M.J., Frank, D.N., and Pace, N.R. (2013). Culture-independent analysis of aerosol microbiology in a metropolitan subway system. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 79, 3485–3493.
Afshinnekoo, E., Meydan, C., Chowdhury, S., Jaroudi, D., Boyer, C., Bernstein, N., Maritz, J.M., Reeves, D., Gandara, J., Chhangawala, S., et al. (2015). Geospatial Resolution of Human and Bacterial Diversity with City-Scale Metagenomics. Cell Syst 1, 72–87.
Hsu, T., Joice, R., Vallarino, J., Abu-Ali, G., Hartmann, E.M., Shafquat, A., Du- Long, C., Baranowski, C., Gevers, D., Green, J.L., et al. (2016). Urban Transit System Microbial Communities Differ by Surface Type and Interaction with Humans and the Environment. mSystems 1, e00018–e00016.
By Cancer For All Posted in Uncategorized Tagged acne, Actinobacteria, antibiotic, Antibiotic Armaggedon, antibiotic resistance genes, Arnold Schwarzenegger, ‘driver’ mutations, bacteria, Bacteroidetes, Boston metro, cancer, cancer drugs, Cell Reports, chemotherapy, China, DNA, DNA damage, DNA sequence, drugs, evolution, Firmicutes, gene, Germany, Gianni Panagiotou, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong MTR, Jena, Kang Kang, Kowloon, Lantau Island, London Underground, microbiome, microorganism, multidrug resistance, mutation, New Territories, New York metro, P. acnes, Pearl River Delta, Proteobacteria, Roy Kishony, Shenzhen, Shing Mun Channel, superbug, Tetracycline, The Hans Knöll Institute, The University of Hong Kong, Tung Chung line, vancomycin
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← My Mother Said I Never Should
Edward Seckerson: Bernstein Revealed →
Amanda McBroom: Up Close and Personal
Posted on April 29, 2016 by Fiona Jane Weston
Amanda McBroom makes a welcome return to Crazy Coqs with another of her shows Up Close and Personal. The inspiration for this latest creation came from Marie Kondo’s book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing, which exhorts us to keep only those possessions that bring joy, much like the philosophy of our own William Morris: “Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.”
She started on her music studio and excavated rhymes she’d forgotten writing, but re-discovered how good they were e.g. “We fell in love too soon or met too late,” from Beautiful Mistake written in 2004, and It’s Still Spring describing “skin tone and chances fleeting” in a woman who, “like fine expensive red wine is ready for tasting”, with which she opened the show.
It was in 1974 that she and Michele Brourman, her accompanist/arranger/fellow song writer first met, introduced by a record producer living in the same block of flats. McBroom wrote a Western style song Amanda and Brourman wrote the music, where Amanda is the song of the wind in the open plains. Haunting and evocative, the piece was the start of their deep friendship and fruitful collaboration. It was, in fact, Brourman who dared suggest the title Amanda. McBroom protested: “I can’t put my name in a song!” “I can”, was the reply.
Included in the show are a couple of Cole Porter numbers, ordered by McBroom’s singer husband George Ball: “For God’s sake, sing something they know!” They are Under My Skin and Just One of Those Things, both featuring excellent original piano arrangements by Brourman.
The patter between songs and personal stories are great, but it’s the poetry of McBroom’s lyrics that captivate. There are old favourites, including Wheels about the vicissitudes of life and homelessness, together with material that is as new as 3 months old.
For me, the two new pieces that particularly stand out are Brourman’s brittle and funny You’re Only Old Once, which is offered to us as a taster for Brourman’s own cabaret show on Monday 9th May, and a lovely gentle ballad London in the Rain, McBroom’s gift to us.
I have seen these two perform together many times, each time special, but this is truly a memorable evening. If you are interested in the arts of cabaret and song writing, you really must not miss this.
This entry was posted in Cabaret Reviews and tagged Amanda McBroom, cabaret, Crazy Coqs, fiona jane weston, London cabaret, Michele Brourman, Up Close and Personal. Bookmark the permalink.
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‘The Prodigal Son in Misery’, 1780: a study of a teapot in Brighton Museum & Art Gallery
by kevinbacon | posted in: April 2019, Blog, Brighton Museum & Art Gallery, Collections, Decorative Art, Kayleigh Peters, RPM Insider, Willett's Popular Pottery | 0
University of Brighton student Kayleigh Peters looks at the back story to a teapot in Brighton Museum that tells a biblical tale.
This short study investigates a teapot, which is on display in Willett’s Popular Pottery, a gallery on the ground floor of Brighton Museum. I will ask, who made it and why it was made?
Teapot by William Greatbatch, c1780, The Prodigal Son in Misery. A creamware teapot, decorated with enamel and print. Mr Willett’s Collection of Popular Pots, Brighton Museum. Personal photograph by the author. 18 Oct. 2018
The teapot was made in about 1780 in Staffordshire in England, by William Greatbatch (1735-1813) when he was a prominent potter in the town of Fenton. It is a highly decorative pot; printed and enamelled, in fashionable white earthenware clay or ‘creamware’. It is entitled ‘The Prodigal Son in Misery’, from the biblical parable of the prodigal son, which was a popular design for teapots during the mid-eighteenth century in England. The actual design is derived from a set of six engravings of paintings by the French artist Sebastien le Clerc II. Later, the engravings were re-worked by Richard Purcell, and Greatbatch followed these designs closely, keeping the position of the characters, whilst updating their hairstyles and clothes to the 1780s.[1]
To give some context to the rise in pottery production in the 1780s, Great Britain was experiencing the far-reaching effects of industrialisation. In turn, this brought greater prosperity, resulting in a raise in living standards, which drove demand for refined practical household pottery and tableware, and the teapot became an especially desirable possession. With its rich seams of clay, North Staffordshire saw a greater number of small potteries than anywhere else in Britain, and the collection of pottery towns became known simply as ‘The Potteries’. It was the creation of The Piecemeal, a network of inland canals, which allowed the faster transportation of goods, which ensured the success of The Potteries. This was a time of transition in ceramic production, from what we term ‘cottage industry’, meaning pottery workshops in people’s homes, to the industrial workshops or manufactories, situated away from people’s homes. In all, over 130 working potteries were set up in the region.
The Potteries made significant progress in ceramic technology. An important development was the use of a cream-coloured earthenware clay, with great plasticity, known as ‘creamware’. Creamware was ideal for refined tableware and other notable potters such as Josiah Wedgwood made fortunes from new technology, and especially creamware.[2]
At the time of making this teapot, Greatbatch was working in collaboration with other potters Thomas Whieldon and Wedgwood. Due to the rapid sale of the ‘Prodigal Son’ series, Greatbatch entered a period of successful manufacture at his manufactory in Fenton. However his good fortune did not continue and he suffered heavy financial losses leaving him bankrupt. Luckily, his talent was recognised by Wedgwood, who took him on at his Etruria Works, offering him a lifetime wage of five shillings a day, including a rent-free house.[3]
To summarise, this decorative teapot with its ornate features and biblical narrative, stands in Brighton Museum as a testament to another time. It demonstrates a time when Britain was changing; rising living standards led to changes in the way food and drink was consumed, and tea-drinking became hugely popular across society. It was a time of fast-paced development in ceramic technology in Staffordshire, and potters such as Wedgwood became very successful, and whose company is still producing work today.
William Greatbatch had a varied career as a talented potter, and this teapot was made at a time where he saw great financial success, which unfortunately was not to continue. This teapot signifies the way an object can both represent a moment in history, and also give insight to someone’s life. ‘The Prodigal Son’ is therefore a fascinating time-capsule of historical information.
Kayleigh Peters, student on BA (Hons) 3-D Design & Craft, University of Brighton
Beddoe, Stella. A potted history: Henry Willett’s ceramic chronicle of Britain. Suffork: ACC Art Books, 2015. Print.
Barker, David. William Greatbatch a Staffordshire Potter. Milton Keynes: Jonathan Horne Publications, 1991. Print.
Cooper, Emmanuel. 10,000 Years of Pottery: Craft into Industry Britain 1750-1950 London: The British Museum Press, [1972] 2000. Print.
Richards, Sarah. Eighteenth-century ceramics: products for a civilised society. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1999. Print.
Thomas, John. The rise of the Staffordshire Potteries. Bath: Adams and Dart, 1971. Print.
Towner, Donald. Creamware. London: Faber and Faber, 1978. Print.
[1] David Barker, William Greatbatch a Staffordshire Potter. (Milton Keynes: Jonathan Horne Publications, 1991) 100, 229.
[2] Emmanuel Cooper, 10,000 Years of Pottery: Craft into Industry Britain 1750-1950 (London: The British Museum, [1972] 2000) 226-228.
[3] Donald Towner, Creamware. (London: Faber and Faber, 1978) 38.
Ceramics, Decoarative Art, Henry Willett
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Agreement to expand prevailing wage taking shape
A framework of a deal in Albany would require some private development projects that get significant public funding to pay workers prevailing wage. (Derek Gee/News file photo)
By Stephen T. Watson and Matt Glynn|Published Wed, Jun 19, 2019 |Updated Thu, Jun 20, 2019
ALBANY – An agreement in the works among state lawmakers to expand the state’s prevailing wage requirement to private development projects receiving public support would threaten development in the region, says the region’s largest business group.
The Buffalo Niagara Partnership said the framework of the Albany deal calls for the prevailing wage to kick in for any project receiving state and local assistance equal to 30% of total project costs, for projects over $750,000. Now, there is no prevailing wage requirement for private development projects.
An expanded prevailing wage would make it harder for more complex, challenging projects to move forward, said Dottie Gallagher, the Partnership’s president and CEO. She said the higher wages that would have to be paid on private projects crossing the 30% threshold for public support would cancel out the value of incentives granted to the projects.
"This is really a worst-case scenario, because there's no provision to protect brownfield tax credits, there's no provision to protect historic tax credits,” Gallagher said. “So any project that gets any of those tax credits will be subject to prevailing wage, which is going to make the economics not happen on those projects."
The change would take effect July 1, 2020, if lawmakers adopt the legislation and the governor signs it.
The agreement calls for exemptions for affordable housing, as well as solar energy, university and health care-related projects, according to the Partnership.
"The bill hasn't hit the floor for a vote, but our understanding is that this has been agreed to by all the parties: governor, Assembly, Senate,” Gallagher said. “That's the framework."
However, late Wednesday came word that some members of the Democratic conference in the Assembly object to provisions of the bill and it faces an uncertain future now.
Supporters of an expanded prevailing wage say the change would benefit local workers and the economy. The New York State AFL-CIO has said when taxpayer dollars are used on construction work, “we should be raising the standard of living and quality of life for our workforce and all New Yorkers.”
During the debate over the legislation, the New York State AFL-CIO has countered that labor costs make up less than 25% of the typical costs of a construction project, and that an expanded prevailing wage would not raise project costs.
Gallagher said the agreement would exempt New York City, which she called “adding insult to a significant injury. You would think the reverse would be true. You would think it would be New York City only, and not the rest of the state.”
In New York State, prevailing wage must be paid to workers on projects that are publicly funded, like highway construction, but this mandate doesn't presently apply to privately funded projects.
The difference between the market wage and prevailing wage can be sharp. For example, State Labor Department data shows the median hourly rate in Western New York for a carpenter is $27.01, compared with the prevailing wage of $32.15.
The Legislature for years has debated whether to extend this mandate to private projects that receive public support, such as tax breaks, subsidized loans, brownfield tax credits and historic tax credits. Many projects in this area, particularly in downtown Buffalo, have received those incentives.
Advocates, including many trade unions, say expanding the prevailing wage would put more money into workers’ pockets – and into the local economy. Opponents, including contractors and builders, say it would make many developments cost prohibitive.
The state Association of General Contractors said its members would like clarity on which projects qualify for the prevailing wage. And there are taxpayer-supported projects that likely should qualify, such as some of the Buffalo Billion projects, said Michael J. Elmendorf II, the AGC’s president and CEO.
But Elmendorf said many developments in New York, particularly in upstate, receive tax breaks because the math already doesn’t work for developers. Increasing the cost would only make it that much harder to build.
“It will stop construction activity all over the state,” Elmendorf said.
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Dr. Rhonda Adele Ricks, 56, Buffalo developer's work marked by passion and joy
By Anne Neville|Published Mon, Jun 24, 2019 |Updated Mon, Jun 24, 2019
Aug. 30, 1962 — June 19, 2019
For Rhonda Adele Ricks, president and CEO of R+A+R Development, the success of her career in real estate development in Buffalo didn't show up on a balance sheet.
It was driven by passion and paid in joy.
"She mentored a lot of men and women who were interested in being developers," said her sister, D. Stephanie Ricks-Albert. "She told them that they needed to identify projects that they had a passion for, where they had seen a need and wanted to address that need."
In January, Dr. Ricks talked about the joy of her work with Buffalo News reporter Jonathan D. Epstein. "The joy comes in looking at the tenants and showing them a better product than they’ve been accustomed to, as far as what affordable housing should look like, and what the expectations should be, which makes them better tenants and helps with their self-esteem and that of the kids, too," she said.
Dr. Ricks died on June 19, 2019, in her Buffalo home after a short illness. She was 56.
She was born Aug. 30, 1962, in Buffalo, the second of four children of Mary and Clarence Ricks. As a 5-year-old, she accepted Christ at Second Temple Baptist Church.
Dr. Ricks attended School 74, West Hertel Middle and Lafayette High School, from which she graduated in 1980. She earned a bachelor’s degree in telecommunications from Morgan State University in Baltimore, then enrolled in the University at Buffalo, where she earned a master’s degree in education administration and a Ph.D in higher education administration. Described as "a lifelong learner" by her family, Dr. Ricks graduated in 2012 from the University at Buffalo Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership.
Dr. Ricks was the first female New York State Minority and Women Owned Enterprise certified housing developer in Western New York, and her firm was among the first developers to commit private-sector money to the city's East Side.
She worked in community outreach for LPCiminelli, then became compliance monitor on Buffalo’s $1 billion dollar school reconstruction project. Dr. Ricks also consulted on the construction of Westminster Commons senior housing at Adams and Monroe streets.
R+A+R Development's first signature project was the redevelopment of former Public School 59 at 769 Best St. into the 59-unit Parkview Apartments, which opened in July 2017.
Her company was a partner with Stuart Alexander & Associates in the $50 million project to transform the former Buffalo Forge Manufacturing Co. into the Forge on Broadway, which contains 158 apartments.
In 2017, Dr. Ricks predicted that the East Side would be the next focus of redevelopment.
“I believe there’s a lot more opportunity, and I believe there’s a lot more coming,” she told The News. "There’s no place else to go but on the East Side of Buffalo, because every place else has been developed or somebody owns it. So if you want to get something done, you’ve got to come to the East Side."
Dr. Ricks was known for her dedication to her family, especially her two sons, Domonique E. and Denzell M. Washington.
"At the top of her list of accomplishments in her life was the overwhelming joy of becoming a mother," her family said.
For her sons, she stressed the importance of "having an exemplary work ethic and quality education."
Her family recalled that when Dr. Ricks spoke to her sons about a health issue, her sons, who are living out of the area, responded, "We’re coming home!" Her family recalled that "she emphatically replied, 'Domo, do not leave your job, and Denzee, finish school!' "
Her family described Dr. Ricks as "a proud Buffalonian" who celebrated the city's rich culture and heritage.
Dr. Ricks received many awards, including being named Entrepreneur of the Year at the 2017 Black Achievers gala and receiving a citation from the Afro-American Police Association of Buffalo. She was appointed to the Buffalo Preservation Board last year, was a trustee of the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library System, a board member of the Library Foundation of Buffalo and Erie County and vice president of the Buffalo Niagara Freedom Coalition.
Besides her sister and sons, Dr. Ricks is survived by her mother, Mary E. Ricks-Stephens; another sister, Elett D. Ricks-Chambers; a brother, Clarence H. "Bud" Ricks; a grandson; eight nephews and two nieces; aunts and uncles; great-nieces and great-nephews; and cousins.
A Celebration of Life will begin at noon Wednesday in True Bethel Baptist Church, 907 E. Ferry St.
Anne Neville – A native of Albany, Anne Neville has a master's degree in public affairs journalism from Ohio State University, where she was a Kiplinger Fellow. Since 2018, she has been assigned to write obituaries.
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The Michael Jackson Innocent Project
Proving Michael's Innocence a Video at a Time
Michael Jackson - Humbug of the World
Michael Jackson - How to Become a BOSS
The 48 Laws of Power
Michael Jackson Death Hoax Investigators
Hoax Investigation
After June 25, 2009
The Conrad Murray Investigation & Court Case
Court Case & Hearings; Discussion and Articles
Prosecutors want another delay in trial of Michael Jackson's
on: June 24, 2011, 03:17:43 PM
Prosecutors want another delay in trial of Michael Jackson's doctor
Los Angeles (CNN) -- Prosecutors want another delay in the start of the involuntary manslaughter trial of Michael Jackson's doctor, but the judge will wait until next month to decide the request.
"I'm not surprised by all of this," Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor said during a hearing Friday.
The trial has already been delayed twice since Dr. Conrad Murray invoked his right to a speedy trial after his arraignment in January.
"When I got myself involved in it, I said 'It ain't gonna happen,' " Pastor said, referring to the original starting date of late March. The case has been "creepy crawly," he said.
Jury selection was under way in May when the defense requested a delay so its expert witnesses could have more time to prepare for new experts hired by the prosecution. Pastor then dismissed hundreds of prospective jurors and rescheduled the trial to start on September 8.
Deputy District Attorney David Walgren said Friday morning that the prosecution needed another three weeks to prepare because of "scheduling issues." Defense lawyers did not object to moving jury selection to the end of September.
Pastor, who said he "rearranged all sort of cases, including capital cases" to start the trial in September, said he would wait until a July 12 hearing to decide.
Also on Friday, the judge approved a plan to allow defense lawyers and prosecutors to view dozens of hours of raw video shot of Michael Jackson's last rehearsals. The video was bought by Sony Pictures for its film "This Is It."
Pastor hasn't ruled on what clips, if any, defense lawyers might be able to show at the trial. He has previously limited the prosecution to just raw video of Jackson's last two days alive.
Saturday is the second anniversary of Jackson's death, which the Los Angeles coroner ruled was from an overdose of the surgical anesthetic propofol, combined with other drugs.
Murray, who was hired as Jackson's personal physician as he prepared for his comeback concerts in London, is charged in the singer's death.
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/06/24/california.conrad.murray/
« Last Edit: July 28, 2011, 08:58:52 PM by ~Souza~ »
Create your day. Create the most astounding year of your life. Be the change you want to see in the world! L.O.V.E.
***********************************************************************************************
"I am tired, I am really tired of manipulation." Michael Jackson, Harlem, New York, NY, July 6, 2002
******* Let's tear the walls in the brains of this world down.*******
Time to BE.
all4loveandbelieve
LIVE AND LET LIVE.
Re: Prosecutors want another delay in trial of Michael Jacks
Thank you for your post.. Oh boy! How did I know this. I have been posting it for so long that they will postpone the september trial.. I guess Michael is not ready yet to come out of hiding. So let it delay again... Michael knows what to do.. blessings.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
I'm happy to be alive, I'm happy to be who I am.
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Faculty, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Academics
Note: this blog post was originally published on our career advice column on Inside Higher Ed. Dr. Betsy Lucal is a professor of sociology and director of the First-Year Experience program at Indiana University South Bend, where she also teaches in the women’s and gender studies and master of liberal studies programs. She has won several local, state and national teaching awards, including the American Sociological Association’s Hans O. Mauksch Award for distinguished contributions to undergraduate teaching.
Among the many tasks associated with my position as a professor, one is to talk to my students about their future plans. What kind of job would they like to find? What career have they decided to pursue?
Not so long ago, I was heartened by knowing that a few of my students liked the idea of becoming a professor, of doing the same job that I do. Something about their college experience had gotten them hooked on the idea of pursuing a future in the ivory tower. What could be more flattering than students coming to me for advice about how they could do what I do for a living?
But more recently, things have changed. Students still come to me seeking advice about pursuing a Ph.D. But I have found myself, without much conscious reflection, pointing out the pitfalls of a career in academe. So many more applicants than positions available, the track toward tenure ever more precarious …. Eventually, I began telling my students that I thought they needed to reconsider their plans, or at least to be very deliberate in making them.
How did it come to that?
In the last couple of years, I have been writing and speaking about neoliberalism. To characterize it as an earthquake is inexact, both literally and figuratively; it is an imprecise metaphor. But I have no doubt about the tsunami it has unleashed on academe — not to mention society as a whole. How soon will it drown us all in its insistence on small government and free markets, competitiveness, deregulation and privatization? Its celebration of ever-lower taxes, consumerism, individual empowerment and self-interest has had dire effects on education in general and on higher education in particular.
Tuition skyrockets, students bear staggering debt burdens, cost cutting must always be prioritized — even over learning. Institutions lean ever more heavily on poorly paid contingent faculty members (don’t even ask about fringe benefits), pit faculty against administrators and create a culture of accountability that takes time and energy away from the important and difficult work of teaching. Students focus on earning a credential and pray that all the debt they are taking on is worth it. (No wonder many of them only seem to care whether this information will be on the exam and if a course fulfills a particular requirement.)
Like most academics, there are aspects of my job that I enjoy, others that I tolerate grudgingly and, increasingly, some that I deplore. That said, I realize that I am luckier than many people, given that I love aspects of my job — that they still get me so excited after more than 20 years that I can barely contain myself. Seriously. There are times when the process of teaching feels like the farthest thing from work. As I sometimes tell my students, I get paid to read books and talk to people about them. How bad could that possibly be?
And I say this despite all the demands on our department, which already teaches more students than others in our college, to serve still more students and despite the uncertainties that I continue to feel about teaching online. Despite any number of other changes wrought by neoliberalism, I still have a dream job.
If my job only involved working with students, then I would extol its virtues to anyone. Even if it just included scholarship and service on top of teaching, I would still consider it a great option for anyone’s future.
I have gone places and had experiences that I could never have dreamed of as a child, all because of my job. I have made lifelong friends and had opportunities to meet scholars whose work I teach. I have co-authored a book and written articles that have brought me recognition. I have made a living reading books and talking to people about them.
But I also have to wonder whether I will actually be able to make a living at this work for the rest of my life. When I entered this profession in the 1990s, I had no idea that possibility would ever even enter my mind, let alone become something I had to push out of my thoughts.
I remember hearing sometime during my first decade as an academic that things were changing — that for every three retirements from tenured faculty positions the result was a single tenure-track job. One position became a contingent job. The other was eliminated entirely.
Then I started to hear that public colleges and universities, which had once been state funded, were now merely state supported — and would soon be merely state located. Indeed, the loss of state funding is key to the impact of neoliberal ideology on higher education. But it was only when my partner, herself a sociologist, turned me on to neoliberalism that I really started to understand the big picture.
Life as a faculty member is not what it was when I began my first full-time job. As the dean of my college said just a few weeks ago, we used to have fun. We used to deal with everyday, mundane concerns. We used to complain about grading and entertain each other with amusing stories about hapless students. We would cheer when we passed something by vote in a faculty meeting because it was so uncommon.
Now we debate the meaning of DFW rates (drop-fail-withdrawal — funny how no one talks about grade inflation these days) and wonder not whether, but how much, the budget will be cut this time. We obsess over retention and graduation rates and wait on tenterhooks to find out if our summer courses have sufficient enrollment to be taught and allow us to support our families through those months. We feel pitted against our administration rather than valuable, and valued, partners with it.
For all of these reasons, I strongly urge any student who will listen to reconsider their plans to go on to earn a Ph.D. I tell them flat out that I think they should not do it. And that if they do, they need to be prepared for the high likelihood that they will not end up in a tenure-track faculty position.
How can I tell my students not to pursue the very career that I love? How can I urge them to reconsider the dream of getting paid to read books and talk to people about them, just like I do?
How can I not?
This entry was posted in Graduate School, Teaching and Mentoring, Tenure-Track and tagged Betsy Lucal. Bookmark the permalink.
← PhDs Of Color, Don’t Accept The Initial Job Offer!
A Queer Confession: Academia Made Me Conservative →
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An Intersectional Framework For Campus Sexual Violence Prevention
Note: this blog post was originally published on our career advice column on Inside Higher Ed (here). Nadeeka Karunaratne serves as the student development coordinator in the Cross-Cultural Center at the University of California, Irvine, and previously worked as the violence prevention coordinator in the university’s Campus Assault Resources and Education Office. She is a trauma-informed yoga instructor and is fascinated about all things at the intersection of yoga and social justice.
I used to work as the sole violence-prevention educator at a large public research university. So I understand many of the demands placed on staff in campus prevention and advocacy offices. Those demands include fulfilling workshop requests, hosting training after training, creating engaging programming, and educating an entire campus community about sexual violence.
However, I also know that the ways in which we do all of that can be isolating, marginalizing and ineffective for many student communities.
As a woman of color, I have often been in white feminist anti-sexual-violence spaces where my identities and experiences are erased and further marginalized. My journey toward an intersectional framework of prevention — one that focuses on the most marginalized communities and discusses how multiple forms of oppression intersect with sexism — began with my own experiences as a prevention educator.
I began to place my own experiences within a larger context when I heard Jessica Harris speak at the 2016 annual conference of NASPA: Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education. She connected critical race feminism to sexual violence and the experiences of women of color. CRF examines the intersections of race and gender in relationship to power and aims to deconstruct interlocking systems of domination — specifically, white supremacy and patriarchy. Harris shared her conceptual framework, explaining that women of color do not just face quantitatively more issues when they suffer from violence, but also that their experiences are qualitatively different from those of white women. Indeed, research shows that women of color undergo different rates of violence and have qualitatively different experiences of trauma.
I was able to further develop my intersectional prevention education philosophy through a conceptual framework at the 2016 conference of the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault. There, Farah Tanis of the Black Women’s Blueprint introduced her theoretical expansion of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Social-Ecological Model. She included “structural” and “historical” levels in her framework and discussed the importance of considering history and systemic structures of oppression in prevention. Indeed, the history of sexual violence in the United States has foundations in racism and colonialism. Rape is a tool in white colonizers’ violent tactics to eradicate and oppress indigenous communities. White people’s use of rape as an oppressive tool continued during slavery, wherein white men raped black women without consequence.
Our country’s system of higher education also shares a history of colonization, as the first colleges were established within a colonial context. Today the media and the dominant narrative in this country can portray stereotypes about women of color that are harmful and serve to legitimize their sexual abuse. In addition, the dominant narrative depicts men of color as preying on innocent white women. This can be seen from the dominant portrayal of what survivors on college campuses look like. It can even be seen in the renowned documentary The Hunting Ground, where the only named perpetrator is a black man who raped a white woman. However, even with all of this historical context and present-day narratives, discussions of racism and other forms of systemic oppression are often absent in our prevention education.
In order to address multiple forms of oppression in our education, we must move beyond supposedly inclusive prevention education, where we use gender-neutral pronouns and images that represent visible diversity, to a framework of prevention that is intersectional at its very foundation.
Below are some of the ways I have begun to do so in my own work. These strategies have been effective in engaging students in complex conversations about issues of sexual violence.
I open my workshops by introducing the issues of sexual assault, stalking and relationship violence through the lens of power and control. I explain that a perpetrator uses these forms of violence to exert power and control over another person. I then discuss how those forms of violence are about power and control on both an individual and a systemic level. I have used this framing of the issues as an opportunity to educate students about the historical, racist and colonialist context of sexual violence.
One of the core tenets of critical race feminism is the importance of storytelling, specifically counterstorytelling. Counternarratives can serve a vital role for empowerment in our prevention education, particularly when mainstream white feminism excludes those narratives. We need to think of how the current national conversation centers on white, cisgender female bodies and then critically reflect on how our programming and prevention education does the same. We must then center the most marginalized in our society within our work. One example of a counternarrative I use is the pushback against the California legislation on mandatory minimum sentences in the aftermath of Brock Turner’s conviction. I explain that, while some advocacy organizations have lobbied for mandatory minimum laws, other organizations, particularly those led by women of color, emphasize the disproportionate impact of incarceration on communities of color. Additionally, I note that the notion of justice is complicated, since the definition of “justice” (i.e., incarceration of perpetrators) does not look the same for all survivors.
In many workshops, I discuss trauma-informed approaches for supporting survivors, as a form of tertiary prevention. I address some of the specific barriers to seeking support, leaving abusive relationships and reporting sexual assault (administratively and criminally) that exist in different communities. In addition to discussing barriers, I also talk about the community-specific ways of healing and coping that exist. This is important for moving away from a solely deficit-based way of thinking about marginalized communities. Introducing such nuanced ways of understanding support-seeking and healing will help people to assist any survivors who may disclose to them — and in ways that do not perpetuate further violence or marginalization.
When talking about rape culture, we must discuss how different people’s bodies may be represented in the media, rather than talking generally about the representation of women. That includes highlighting how the hypersexualization and exotification of women of color and their bodies, and the negative portrayal of people with disabilities, to name a few examples, contribute to rape culture and sexual violence.
One of the most utilized forms of prevention education within higher education is bystander intervention. However, traditional bystander intervention education does not account for the experiences of some of our students on many levels. Common lessons — such as calling 911 as a strategy, asking students to visualize perpetrators and ignoring the influence of identity in intervention — range from problematic to harmful. These lessons may make bystander intervention inaccessible for students from certain communities and further perpetuate stereotypes about men of color. We must complicate how we talk about bystander intervention — for example, by highlighting the salience of identity in intervention and acknowledging specific barriers — in order for it to be an effective tool.
These are just a few ideas and strategies to help us move beyond traditional methods of prevention education. We must invest in research and practices that explore new models, particularly in the context of higher education. Discussions of identity and intersectionality are vital to prevention education. Students are not interested in hearing presentations where their lived realities are not reflected. Students are not interested in engaging in education that fails to acknowledge the complexity of identity or that does not address the wholeness of what they experience.
I will end with a quote from the brilliant Audre Lorde that further illustrates the importance of an intersectional framework of prevention education: “There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.”
This entry was posted in Diversity and Inclusion, Scholars of Color, sexual violence, Women of Color Scholars, Women Scholars and tagged bystander intervention, intersectionality, Nadeeka Karunaratne, voices against violence. Bookmark the permalink.
← A Xicana Scholar Pays Tribute To Her Academic Mama
Supporting LGBTQI Survivors Of Campus Sexual Violence & IPV, Pt. 2 →
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You’re Such a Pietist
HOW MANY CHRISTIANS would want to be called a “pietist” nowadays? The term has taken on a meaning that is associated with smug self-righteousness and escapism.
This issue will demonstrate that the word should be understood in a wider and richer context in terms of the historical movement itself and what it believed, how it behaved, what it sought to accomplish, how it understood and affirmed the gospel.
What Is Pietism?
Pietism is an historical movement which arose within the Protestantism of Continental Europe during the closing decades of the seventeenth century. Lutheran scholars have usually dated its beginning from Philip Jacob Spener’s publication of his Pious Desires in 1675. It should be understood, however, that the same movement is discernible in the Reformed communion and was shared by so called “radicals” and others who eschewed any ecclesiastical affiliation. By the middle of the eighteenth century it had largely run its course, though the religious impulses it had generated were incorporated in various subsequent movements down to the present day.
Pietists were basically interested in the religious renewal of the individual, belief in the Bible as the unfailing guide to faith and life, a complete commitment to Christ which must be evident in the Christian’s life, the need for Christian nurture through the faithful use of appropriate devotional aids, including sermons and hymns, and finally a concern to apply the love of Christ so as to alleviate the social and cultural ills of the day.
A Second Phase of the Reformation?
The Pietists themselves generally believed and often asserted that their movement was an extension of or second phase of the Reformation. Whether or not that is true is a question that is still debated today.
From the Publisher: A Much Maligned Movement Re-Examined
Overview of this issue on Pietism.
Pietism: Did You Know?
Interesting facts about the Pietist movement.
Overwhelmed as with a Stream of Joy: An Autobiography
Autobiographical extracts from a Pietist who led the way in social action.
Auguste Hermann Francke
Pietism Gallery — Thumbnail Sketches of Important Leaders in the Pietist Movement
Who was who in the Pietist movement.
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Toy Story 4 breaks global box office record for animation
by Farida Yusif
Toy Story 4, the long-awaited fourth film in the animated franchise, has broken global box office records for an animated movie.
It earned $238m (£187m) since opening worldwide over the weekend, performing particularly well in Latin America and Europe.
The film struggled in China, however, and also failed to meet expectations in the US, where its $118m (£93m) fell short of a predicted $140m (£110m).
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It comes 25 years after the first film.
Film audiences’ introduction to Sheriff Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks) and Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) and their band of fellow toys in 1995 went on to make $395m (£310m) at the global box office.
It’s been nine years since Toy Story 3 opened to rave reviews and became the first animated film to gross over $1 billion worldwide in ticket sales.
There were some fears the latest instalment could underperform as many fans felt the third movie wrapped up the series so perfectly.
However, the new film – which sees Woody Buzz and the gang joined by a new homemade toy called Sporky – has been warmly reviewed with a 98% fresh rating on critical aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes.
Other new toys in the film include doll Gabby Gabby (Christina Hendricks), Bunny and Ducky (Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key) and stunt motorbike rider Duke Caboom (Keanu Reeves).
In a widely-viewed Twitter thread, US journalist Mark Harris suggested the fact the star-studded film failed to match expectations was because “endless brand extensions are starting to bore people”.
Despite failing to match more enthusiastic box office predictions, Toy Story 4 ranks as the fourth-biggest US opening for an animated movie behind Incredibles 2, Finding Dory and Shrek the Third.
The film also set a UK record, opening with $15m (£12m) for the three-days, the highest ever for an animation.
Toy Story 4 is yet to open in many markets such as France, Germany, Italy, and Japan.
It’s also only the third film in 2019 to pass $100m during its opening weekend in the US. The other two, Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame are also Disney
Facebook:'No evidence' of Russian interference in Brexit vote - Nick Clegg
Water tariff up by 8.01 percent
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Media suffer winter chill in coverage of Sochi Olympics
In the run-up to the Sochi Winter Games, official repression and self-censorship have restricted news coverage of sensitive issues related to the Olympics, such as the exploitation of migrant workers, environmental destruction, and forced evictions. The information vacuum comes amid a generally poor climate for press freedom across Russia. A CPJ special report by Elena Milashina and Nina Ognianova
On October 17, 2013, Roman Kuznetsov, a construction worker from the Russian city Orenburg who had traveled to Sochi to help build the media center for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, sewed up his lips using a needle and black thread, staging a one-man protest against his employer’s failure to pay his wages for months. On a blank sheet of paper, Kuznetsov wrote: “Please help get the reporters’ attention! I am not from around here.”
Exploitation of migrant workers is but one abuse that has stained preparations for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi in February, along with corruption, environmental damage, eviction of local residents with little or no compensation, bankruptcy of local businesses, and adoption of laws contrary to the Russian Constitution, local journalists and activists told CPJ. According to these sources and the international organization Human Rights Watch, which has done extensive research and advocacy on human rights in Russia ahead of the Games, these violations are known to local law enforcement, the Russian government, the national justice system, and the International Olympic Committee, or IOC—the Lausanne, Switzerland-based organizer and designated custodian of the Olympic principles of equality and human dignity through sports.
More in this report
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But the abuses have gone largely uncovered by the Russian news media. The majority of news outlets, particularly those controlled directly by the state, prefer to cover Sochi the way they would cover a deceased man: in a positive light or not at all. CPJ research shows that both official repression and self-censorship have restricted coverage of sensitive issues in the run-up to Sochi—the most expensive Games in Olympic history, according to news reports.
The information vacuum comes amid a generally poor climate for press freedom across Russia. Since returning to the presidency in May 2012, Vladimir Putin has signed a number of restrictive laws directly or indirectly curbing media and Internet freedom. In addition, a cycle of impunity has continued to chill coverage of sensitive subjects, with investigative journalism declining due to self-imposed or external censorship.
In compiling this report on local press freedom, CPJ’s Moscow correspondent spent a week in Sochi and the regional capital, Krasnodar, and interviewed dozens of people, including editors-in-chief, reporters for local and national media outlets, bloggers, rights activists, lawyers, and local residents.
Censorship and state financing
Sochi, a resort city on the Black Sea coast of the western Caucasus and adjacent to the Georgian Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia, is the de facto summer capital of Russia. With the presidential Bocharov Ruchei residence on the city’s outskirts and the frequent presence of the president, Sochi, population 370,000 according to the latest census, is known as “Putin’s town.” Tourism is the main economic driver. The food and food-processing industries were signatures of the area in Soviet times, but state farms and manufacturing plants are in decay. In the run-up to the Olympics, Sochi has become a boomtown, with high-rise residential and office complexes dotting a city otherwise filled with Stalinist Gothic architecture.
Development has not extended to the local media sector. Sochi residents rely mostly on national, state-owned news outlets, which have correspondents either in the city or the region. The local print media are all dependent on the municipal budget for survival, so critical information about political, social, and economic issues is scarce. Periodicals consist mainly of entertainment content reprinted from the Internet and local business advertisements.
In theory, the Olympics should be the main topic for Sochi journalists. Yet almost all local media—state- and privately owned—report only those news events that have been officially cleared for coverage, according to local journalists. These include the arrival of IOC delegations and public statements by federal and local officials praising the pace and progress of preparations.
“Local media largely ignore issues crucial to Sochi residents directly affected by the arrival of the Olympics on their doorsteps,” Olga Beskova, editor-in-chief of Sochinskie Novosti (Sochi News), Sochi’s only private online newspaper, told CPJ. These issues, she said, include “multiple, long-lasting power and water outages, most inconvenient in wintertime; the colossal traffic jams caused by Olympic construction; the eviction of residents from homes that had the misfortune of standing in the path of planned Games venues; the faulty construction of homes offered by the state to evicted residents; multiple violations of the Labor Law, and, last but not least, corruption committed in the course of Olympic construction, as well as in receiving illegal permissions from the Sochi administration for the construction of large private homes and shopping malls unrelated to the Games.”
Local residents, civil activists, and human rights defenders who try to bring public attention to these and other issues say they are largely ignored by state media in Sochi even though these outlets receive budget financing, or in other words, are funded by taxpayers to cover matters of public interest. According to the local Internet portal Blogsochi, which cites the government website Zakupki (Purchases), in just the four months from December 2012 to March 2013, the Sochi administration distributed 32,628,600 rubles (US$988,778) from its budget to 17 media recipients, including four television channels, six newspapers, one magazine, three radio stations, and one informational agency. It is not clear what form the funds took—for example, to pay for advertising or simply as government handouts.
Local reporters and former reporters told CPJ it is common for Sochi media that receive government financing to be directly censored by the information department of the Sochi city administration. This includes review of programming before it airs; the banning of articles or the airbrushing of broadcasts to rid them of details embarrassing to the authorities; and the granting of access to city government activities only to the local crew of the government-run All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK), which then shares its coverage with other media. The prism of VGTRK is pro-government, and its broadcasts resemble paid advertising rather than independent reporting. Local journalists told CPJ that VGTRK often stages interviews with people speaking scripted lines but passing as ordinary Sochi residents.
Anna Gritsevich, a former correspondent for the Sochi branch of VGTRK, told CPJ that the channel produces a total of 15 minutes of original news programming a day. “This is either commissioned and paid content, or advertisement passed for news,” Gritsevich said. She recalled an example. “Once I was assigned to report on the building of a parking lot next to a kindergarten. Parents were indignant and against the parking lot. However, I was forced to interview only specially prepared people, who all said it was ‘so great that there will be a parking lot here,’ ” said Gritsevich, who now works at Sochinskie Novosti. VGTRK’s Sochi branch did not respond to CPJ’s faxed request for comment.
Said blogger Aleksandr Valov, the founder of Blogsochi: “One begins to understand why Sochi media only talk about the government’s achievements and keep silent about the problems. The popular saying, ‘He who pays the piper calls the tune’ comes to mind.”
In addition to ignoring sensitive issues stemming from preparation for the Games, some state media issue propaganda to play down or discredit the grievances of people adversely affected by the Games. This relationship has damaged Sochi residents’ trust in the Russian media, CPJ found. Sochi civil activists and human rights defenders shun a number of state media outlets, including the national television channel NTV, which is known for producing damaging “documentaries” about rights defenders, for fear that they would fail to accurately report on the issues of their concern.
In 2010, NTV produced a film marketed as a journalistic investigation, in which the station depicted Sochi residents protesting eviction from their homes in connection with Olympic construction as greedy, unscrupulous people trying to blackmail the state for major financial compensation for their dilapidated property. The program was shown nationwide. Human Rights Watch, the Russian service of the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and a handful of Russian independent news outlets, including the regional news website Kavkazsky Uzel and the Moscow-based newspaper Novaya Gazeta, have reported that many evicted residents received inadequate or no compensation for their homes and were offered poor quality, hastily built alternatives, but the NTV film did not cover this angle. NTV’s management did not reply to CPJ’s faxed request for comment.
One thing that did feature in the NTV program was a statement by the press secretary of Russia’s Olympic Committee, Gennady Shvets, who said he believes Russia must emulate the Chinese example when it comes to upholding human rights in the Olympic context. “In Beijing,” Shvets said in the NTV film, “they don’t care much about protest moods. They call their armed guys, who quickly collect the protesters, load them quickly into vans, and drive them out. And the space for building the Olympic venues is cleared spotless.”
Programming like this damages the credibility of all journalists, not just those employed by state media. Gritsevich told CPJ she had to work hard to earn the locals’ trust when she was assigned to cover protests by residents in Kudepsta, a Sochi neighborhood, in April 2013. The residents were demonstrating against the construction of a power plant that environmental experts said would threaten the local ecology; the government said it would be the largest natural gas-powered station in the world. Although the protesters needed publicity to amplify their message, they were reluctant to talk to her at first. (The project was eventually abandoned after the activists’ campaign.)
“Local residents whose rights have been abused in the course of Olympic venues’ construction do not trust Russian journalists. In the beginning, people rejected my interview requests,” but they warmed up after a year, said Gritsevich, who has gained greater editorial freedom since switching news outlets. “They stopped being afraid of talking to me. They stopped fearing that our newspaper will publish something false about them. Now, on the contrary, they call me when something happens and ask me to go to the scene and cover it.”
Activists take on journalistic roles
In the local information vacuum, a community of environmental activists and human rights defenders has taken on some journalistic functions. The activists use social media and blogs to raise social, political, and economic issues.
Vladimir Kimaev is an activist with Ekologicheskaya Vakhta po Severnomu Kavkazu (Environmental Watch on North Caucasus, or Ekovakhta for short), the most prominent environmental organization in the Krasnodarsky region. He was drawn to the line of work when Olympic construction led to the wholesale destruction of Sochi’s forested areas in 2009. He would video record authorities’ steps to destroy the forests, and the protests that followed. He would publish his recordings on YouTube and blog about what he had witnessed on the Internet platform Privet Sochi.
Kimaev founded his own site, Word-Sochi where he regularly published information about environmental damage related to Olympic preparations, including water pollution, deforestation, and mudslides, all documented by Ekovakhta and other environmental activists. Local residents told CPJ that they preferred to call Kimaev and activists like him than to take their complaints to the police or prosecutors. “It’s useless to call the authorities because they don’t react,” a Sochi taxi driver told CPJ, “but environmental activists are always there for us.”
Activists have drawn official pressure and harassment for their work. Not a single one of Ekovakhta’s news conferences regarding the environmental impact of Olympic construction has taken place “in peaceful conditions,” Kimaev told CPJ. The police have sealed Ekovakhta’s rented conference venues right in front of international reporters, he said, forcing the activists to talk to the journalists in the street or at local coffee shops. Even withholding the details of a conference until the last minute has not prevented security services from showing up, he said, leading him to suspect that his and other activists’ telephones are tapped.
The local branches of the Federal Security Service (FSB) and the Interior Ministry’s Center for Combating Extremism, a police division, have pressured individual Ekovakhta members to stop their activities as environmental defenders and to cease publishing critical reports about the impact of Olympic preparations. During a March 2013 joint inspection of Ekovakhta, the FSB and the Interior Ministry warned the organization that its activities were consistent with those of a “foreign agent” and that it must register as such. Under a July 2012 law, nongovernmental organizations that receive international financing and are involved in “political activity”—the law does not clearly define the term—are to register as foreign agents with Russia’s Justice Ministry. The designation bears a negative connotation and in effect vilifies the NGOs as traitors or enemies of the state.
Kimaev told CPJ that he receives regular calls from the local police and the FSB. “Agents would call and ask if we were planning any protests and whether we were sure we needed to do that.” The implication, he said, is that there could be consequences if the plans went ahead. Sochi police did not respond to CPJ’s faxed request for comment.
One Ekovakhta activist, Suren Gazarian, has already been subject to politically motivated prosecution, according to Human Rights Watch. Gazarian was forced to flee Russia in December 2012 because of a threat of imprisonment on trumped-up attempted murder charges, the rights organization reported. Gazarian, who recounted his ordeal for a variety of publications from his exile in Tallinn, Estonia, said the case stemmed from his visit to a construction site on the Black Sea where a private marina was reportedly being built, allegedly for Putin. He and other activists, traveled to the site to estimate its environmental impact. There, an armed guard approached and seized Gazarian, twisting his arm behind his back. Two other security guards appeared. Gazarian said he was able to free himself from the guard’s grip and, to defend himself, picked up a small rock and told the guards to back off. One guard claimed Gazarian’s actions constituted a death threat against him. Authorities opened an attempted murder criminal case against the activist in August 2012.
Kimaev has also faced official retaliation. On May 28, 2013, investigators from the Sochi police simultaneously ransacked his apartment and his summer home, allegedly in connection with a criminal case in which they said Kimaev was a witness, Kimaev’s lawyer, Aleksandr Popkov, told CPJ. Kimaev said neither search was carried out with preliminary court approval as required by law. The investigators’ goal, Kimaev told CPJ, appeared to be to search his properties in his absence and, as is common practice for local law enforcement, “find” compromising items such as drugs or weapons. He said authorities were forced to cut their searches short when they discovered he was not out of town as scheduled. Sochi police did not respond to CPJ’s request for comment on Kimaev’s allegations.
Other local rights defenders told CPJ that instead of investigating reports of corruption, labor law violations, and other abuses related to the Games, authorities have pursued the organizations and individuals who publicize such issues. Semyon Simonov, coordinator of the Migration and Law Network at the Sochi branch of the prominent human rights organization Memorial, which monitors conditions for migrant workers, said his center has been receiving complaints by uncompensated workers since 2009. “When the situation took on a public dimension, Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Olympic supervisor Dmitry Kozak admitted to only two such cases while there were hundreds more,” Simonov told CPJ. “The prosecutors did not react in any way. The Russian Investigative Committee to this day has not opened a single criminal case against unconscionable employers.”
Popkov, the lawyer, also works with Memorial on migrant workers’ claims. He told CPJ he was “not aware of a single criminal case” opened by authorities related to unpaid workers’ wages. “Nothing has changed in this aspect since the beginning of the Olympic construction,” Popkov said, “and now practically all venues are completed.”
Simonov said local prosecutors have summoned him several times for “conversations,” in which they have threatened to start criminal investigations against him in retaliation for his outspokenness, in media like Facebook posts, on the seeming inaction by authorities to address migrant workers’ grievances.
Instead, the Sochi prosecutor’s office, along with the local branch of the Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor, since the beginning of 2012 has started 45 administrative cases against Sochi media outlets on the pretext that these outlets have failed to leave copies of each new issue of their periodicals at local public libraries, reported popular local blogger Roman Shikarev, founder of the rights monitoring center For Law and Order, citing the Central District Court of Sochi’s website. Shikarev reported that the officials filed claims with the court to have the outlets’ licenses withdrawn. Under Russia’s Law on Mass Media, all media are obligated to register with and receive a license from the Justice Ministry. The same law obligates outlets to submit copies of their issues to public libraries.
CPJ interviewed the chief editors of several of those publications, who conceded that they have sometimes not carried out this requirement, which is cumbersome and costly. They said the requirement is routinely ignored by the majority of Sochi media.
Meanwhile, none of the outlets were officially informed of the prosecutors’ actions; library workers informed them of the inspection. The cases have not proceeded further, but the editors told CPJ that the intention was intimidation.
Svetlana Sagradova, the editor-in-chief of the local business magazine Na Stol Rukovoditelyu (On the Manager’s Desk), told CPJ: “I know that, any time they want, authorities could use this ridiculous pretext to close down my publication. I don’t want any problems, and this is why I don’t publish much” about the Games. Sagradova added: “Nobody calls me; nobody says to me what I should or should not write about. But I know what the topics that would anger the authorities are, and I have imposed self-censorship when it comes to those. Because—one move by the prosecutors—and my publication could lose its license.”
In an emailed response to CPJ’s faxed request for comment, Aleksei Rakhvalov, deputy head of Roskomnadzor’s South Federal District, which includes Sochi, said a news outlet that does not file the mandatory library copy cannot be punished by closing down the publication. He said that any obstruction of the free flow of information is punishable by law.
The Sochi Prosecutor’s Office did not respond to a separate request for comment.
International coverage can boost local coverage
Gazarian, the exiled environmental activist, told CPJ that his organization relies on a few independent Russian media and especially on international reporters to raise the issues of concern, while Shikarev said there is an inverse correlation between the audience size of Russian outlets and the amount of coverage they devote to problems related to the Games. The majority of the Russian media, local and national, cover Sochi in a critical manner only when an issue has already taken on global proportions and the publicity has crossed Russia’s borders.
Even large, privately owned media come under some degree of state pressure. One example is the decision by the management of the prominent business daily Kommersant to take the seasoned journalist Olga Allenova off the Sochi story after Allenova illuminated embarrassing facts related to the Olympics’ preparation.
Allenova told reporters at an investigative journalism forum in April 2012 in St. Petersburg that her removal from the Sochi beat and the dismissal of her boss, Maksim Kovalsky, as editor of the sister Kommersant-Vlast magazine, was due to their refusal to bow to official pressure to stop investigating the eviction, without compensation, of Sochi residents whose homes were destroyed to make room for Olympics venues.
In an interview for the online portal Lenizdat, Allenova said she spent six months in 2011 investigating social issues and human rights abuses in Sochi, all related to the Olympics, on assignment for Kommersant-Vlast. During the course of the investigation, which resulted in a series of articles, Allenova said, the newsroom received a number of threatening letters from various tiers of Russia’s government. The government agencies “made sure we understood that if we did not shut up and stop ‘spoiling the country’s image,’ we would have serious problems,” Allenova said. The pressure caused a rift in Kommersant-Vlast’s editorial board between those who wanted to comply with the government demands and those who did not, Allenova told Lenizdat. Kovalsky decided to ignore the threats and continue publishing Allenova’s series.
Kovalsky was fired in late 2011, a few months after the series was published. The stated reason was that he had recently allowed the publication of a controversial photo of an electoral ballot on which a voter had scribbled an expletive addressed to then-Prime Minister Putin. According to Allenova, the expletive was used as a pretext by Kommersant’s owner, Alisher Usmanov, who is a friend of Putin and, according to Forbes magazine, Russia’s richest man.
After Kovalsky’s dismissal, the new magazine management took Allenova off the Sochi story; Kommersant continued to cover the Games’ preparations, but as part of the so-called Olympic pool, consisting mainly of state and mainstream media reporters, whose newsrooms comply with the unwritten directive to cover the Olympic story in a positive light. Kommersant’s coverage now differs drastically from Allenova’s. Neither Usmanov nor Kommersant-Vlast’s interim editor-in-chief, Azer Mursaliyev, responded to CPJ’s emailed request for comment.
CPJ’s Moscow correspondent had the opportunity to witness how censorship of the Olympic subject works. A Sochi correspondent for a major Russian news agency sent three news stories to the Moscow headquarters during an interview with CPJ. The first story dealt with the arrest of Sochi journalist Nikolai Yarst, in which the evidence points to foul play by law enforcement. (Yarst, a reporter with the public television channel OTR, was investigating the case of a local girl who was taken out of Russia by her stepfather against the will of her blood relatives and the possibility that authorities had taken bribes to allow the girl to be taken abroad, according to news reports. At the time of his arrest, Yarst was headed to the Investigative Committee agency to see the girl’s case files. His report for OTR was never finished. The police claimed to have found narcotics in Yarst’s car, and he was placed under house arrest. Yarst’s lawyer, Aleksandr Popkov, told CPJ that his client’s detention and the evidence of drug possession against him were marred by procedural violations.)
The second story the Sochi correspondent filed with her Moscow headquarters was about the malfunction of the waterworks at a new, hastily built residential complex where evicted residents had been housed. The third was about worsening weather in Sochi and the possibility of a major storm. (The week before, torrential rains had flooded newly built roads and downtown Sochi streets had been submerged.)
None of the three stories made it to the news wires. The Sochi correspondent told CPJ that her Moscow editor explained, “You may have a storm, a twister, and even a 9-Richter-scale earthquake; still, we have to write that all skies are clear over Sochi.”
Kimaev, the environmental activist and blogger, told CPJ: “I have no hope that the Russian media would cover what goes on here. We have figured out that the most effective way of applying pressure to the government is through telling our stories to the Western media and to international organizations.” He continued, “We send our press releases to all leading international news agencies and media outlets, from Reuters to Al-Jazeera.” Ekovakhta invests in translating its press releases into English. “The list of our international subscribers is 10 times bigger than that of domestic journalists. Western journalists react quickly and professionally, and their coverage has an impact,” Kimaev said.
When the resonance of international coverage is such that an issue can no longer be ignored by Russian media, Kimaev said, the domestic media will pick up the story, too. More important, Kimaev said, Russian authorities may then have to address the problem.
International attention is what helped local residents protect their environment from the planned building of the Kudepsta power plant, Kimaev said. The building of the plant was canceled in May 2013. “It is the solidarity of international media and human rights groups that gives us a sense of being protected,” Kimaev told CPJ.
Simonov, the Sochi coordinator of Memorial, told CPJ that the group works mostly with Russian independent, Internet-based portals and international media as there is little interest from traditional, established Russian media. In 2012, Simonov said, he gave 20 interviews, but only three of them to domestic media. “It would be good if Russian media were half as active as international media,” Simonov said, “but they are either uninterested in the Sochi theme or I am drawing the conclusion that they are simply forbidden to cover it.”
Yet some international journalists have also been obstructed or harassed when reporting on events in Sochi. In a striking example, the police from the southern Russian Republic of Adygea neighboring Sochi repeatedly stopped, detained, bullied, and threatened with imprisonment a two-person crew with the Norwegian TV2 television station—the country’s official broadcaster of the Olympic Games. From October 31 to November 2, 2013, officers stopped reporter Øystein Bogen and cameraman Aage Aunes six times and detained them three times while the crew was reporting on the impact of the Games’ preparations on local residents, the journalists told Human Rights Watch.
The officers repeatedly questioned the journalists about their intended work in Sochi and the region, and tried to elicit information about their sources as well as their personal lives, education, and even religious beliefs, the rights organization reported. On several occasions, the police refused to allow the crew to contact the Norwegian Embassy in Moscow. In one particularly aggressive episode, the police tried to coerce Bogen into taking a drug test, and, when he refused to do so, threatened to jail him. Eventually, police told the journalists there had been “a misunderstanding,” and released them, Human Rights Watch said.
In an email interview with CPJ, Bogen said the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs apologized for the harassment, blaming it on low-ranking officials and human error. But Bogen expressed concern that the detentions were a pretext to extract information—including access to TV2’s sources in the region—from the reporters’ equipment, which the police at one point confiscated and kept for three hours. “When I received my iPhone back,” Bogen told CPJ, “there was clear indication that the SIM card had been removed and probably copied. I have reasons to believe my contacts have been compromised.” Bogen said some of TV2’s local contacts reported being harassed by authorities after the crew left the region. “Some of my contacts have reported that they have been interrogated and have had their houses searched after we left,” Bogen told CPJ.
In a separate case, also in October 2013, Dutch photojournalist Rob Hornstra, cofounder of the multimedia Sochi Project dedicated to shedding light on the region beyond the Olympic glow, was denied a Russian visa in an apparent attempt to stop him from doing further work in the turbulent North Caucasus. Hornstra had interviewed local residents and uncovered human rights abuses stemming from the Games’ preparation for the Sochi Project, press reports said. Russian authorities did not explain the reasons for denying the visa, the English-language newspaper The Moscow Times reported. In the past, authorities have used a law against critical journalists, which allows them to bar “internationals” from Russia “for the purpose of protecting the defense capability and security of the state or the social order, or for the protection of the public health,” CPJ research shows.
An international journalist working for a major news agency told CPJ that the agency regularly reports on sensitive issues around the Olympics. But the journalist, who declined to be named because of a lack of authorization to comment on behalf of the news organization, said officials have often been unhelpful, ignoring requests for comment, or outright hostile. “We also have had indications that our phone calls and email have been monitored during reporting trips in Sochi,” the journalist told CPJ. “Security officials have seemed to know in advance about meetings arranged by phone or email.”
At least one major foreign publication plans to devote resources to covering Sochi beyond the Games. Oliver Fritsch, sports writer for Die Zeit, said the German weekly will split its coverage in two, with one half devoted to the sporting competition and the other to politics, economy, ecology, and the plight of homosexual athletes. “The latter half will be printed in black and white to show readers, at a first glance, that there are ‘two games,’” he told CPJ. “It's always important for us to consider sports as a sociopolitical matter, not only in Sochi.”
A record repressive climate
Russian media’s silence about the plight of those affected by Olympic abuses comes as the climate for human rights and press freedom in the country is at a historic low point.
“After returning to the Kremlin in 2012, Putin rolled back the modest progress in the realm of rights and freedoms gained under [former President Dmitry] Medvedev’s one term in office,” Rachel Denber, deputy director of the Europe and Central Asia Division of Human Rights Watch, told CPJ. “The present is the worst time for civil activists, rights defenders, and independent journalists since the break-up of the Soviet Union.”
During his third term in office, Putin signed a breathtaking number of restrictive laws, all approved by Russia’s parliament, the State Duma, quickly and with little if any debate. Some of the most significant pieces of legislation are the “foreign agents law,” which came into force on July 21, 2012; a bill signed nine days later, which returned defamation to the criminal books; and another law, signed days after the defamation bill, which blacklisted websites carrying “unlawful content”—a term open to broad interpretation. A few months later, on November 12, 2012, Putin signed a law that expanded the definition of treason in a manner so vague that it could chill regular contacts and information-sharing between Russian and international journalists, human rights defenders, and civil activists as an act of espionage.
And on June 30, 2013, Putin signed legislation commonly known as the homosexual propaganda law—an act that legitimizes discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons, and which, in effect, encourages homophobia and chills news coverage of the LGBT community. Konstantin Iablotckii, a Moscow-based LGBT rights defender and a member of the Russian LGBT Sport Federation, said recent waves of violence against LGBT persons have not received media coverage partly because of direct censorship, “but part of it is fear of the application of this law.” At a news briefing in New York in December 2013, Iablotckii said: “If the media cover the LGBT rights in anything that resembles a sympathetic way, they could be blamed with producing gay propaganda and punished for it. Better to play it safe.” He also said that LGBT athletes who have been supportive of the Russian LGBT Sport Federation have been approached by Russian authorities and “advised” to “stop talking to the media” and “stop promoting their sexual orientation.”
This atmosphere of restriction, vilification of “otherness,” and hostility to all things “foreign” is in sharp contrast to the Olympic Charter, which Russia, as host of the Games, is obligated to uphold. “The Olympics are part of the Kremlin’s vision of a great Russia, fully revived from the chaos that followed the break-up of the Soviet Union, and resurgent on the world stage,” Denber said. “This has clearly eclipsed the other part of the Olympic equation—adherence to values enshrined in the Olympic Charter.”
The proximity of the Games to the volatile North Caucasus region also casts a shadow over the event. According to CPJ research, the region is Russia’s most dangerous place for journalists. Of the 16 murders of journalists in Russia over the past decade, eight were committed in the North Caucasus republics—all of the victims were local journalists, and all of the crimes were committed with impunity. The staple violence against the press has chilled coverage of the region as reporters censor their own coverage to protect their safety.
Jane Buchanan, associate director for Human Rights Watch’s Europe and Central Asia Division and the organization’s lead researcher on the Sochi Winter Olympics, told CPJ that international journalists traveling to the Games could have significant impact on the landscape. Reporters, Buchanan said, “should look to highlight issues of concern for all of Russia including, but not only related to, press freedom, free expression, LGBT rights, as well as issues related to Russia’s preparations for the Games in Sochi: including evictions, exploitation of workers, and environmental damage.” Foreign journalists could also investigate the continued violence against Russian colleagues who try to cover the North Caucasus.
Buchanan noted that the IOC, which has the responsibility to engage with Russian authorities in cases of clear violations of the Olympic Charter, “has largely acted as a courier rather than an active participant” in resolving issues of concern.
Furthermore, the international community should not shift its gaze once the Games are over; a consistent spotlight on Russia would help protect the journalists, activists, and rights defenders, who have taken personal and professional risks to report on Sochi in detail. CPJ research has found that after the Beijing Summer Olympics in 2008, local authorities who had loosened some restrictions on the media backtracked once international attention had moved on.
“After the experience of Sochi and Beijing, the need to establish human rights benchmarks as a criterion for receiving the privilege of hosting the Olympics is clear,” Buchanan said.
“The candidate countries must commit to meeting clear and specific human rights benchmarks in order to be declared ready to host the Games,” she said. “Those benchmarks must be monitored and evaluated as thoroughly and with the same vigor that the IOC applies to monitoring a country’s readiness with Olympic venues and material resources.”
Elena Milashina is an award-winning investigative journalist with the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta and CPJ’s Moscow correspondent. Nina Ognianova is CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator.
CPJ's Recommendations
To the International Olympic Committee:
Clearly and unequivocally condemn press freedom violations, including harassment, obstruction, and censorship of journalists, and demand assurances for their redress from Russian authorities.
Ensure that host countries that fail to reach international standards for press freedom and freedom of expression suffer repercussions.
To the Russian government:
Repeal laws that chill freedom of the press and freedom of expression. These include a law vilifying non-governmental organizations as “foreign agents”; a law censoring the Internet; a law expanding the definition of treason; a law re-criminalizing defamation; and a law restricting news coverage of LGBT minorities.
Abstain from passing any new laws that chill freedom of the press and freedom of expression.
Cease all censorship of the media, whether direct or through government-friendly media owners.
Allow free, independent, and unobstructed coverage—by both international and domestic journalists and news outlets—of all issues surrounding the Sochi Olympics. Do not harass, prosecute, threaten to prosecute, or place under surveillance journalists or others who have criticized the negative impact of the Games on the local population.
Investigate all press freedom violations, including the harassment of reporters and their sources, in a thorough and transparent manner. Hold to account those responsible for the obstruction of journalists and the harassment of their sources.
Cease the practice of using state media to produce propaganda smearing the victims of human rights abuses perpetuated by authorities and the activists who defend such victims.
Allow all international journalists, including those who have criticized your policies, entry into Russia.
Halt the collection and storage of telephone and Internet data on journalists’ communications.
To corporate sponsors of the Games:
Use your influence with the IOC and Russian authorities to ensure that Russia fulfills its pledges on media freedom. Insist that the IOC speak out on media freedom violations.
To international journalists covering the Games:
Insist that Russian authorities honor their press freedom commitments to the IOC, both for visiting and Russian journalists.
Report violations of press freedom, including harassment and intimidation of journalistic sources. After the Games, follow up with your Russian colleagues and journalistic sources and report any instances of harassment stemming from their previous communication with you or other foreign media representatives.
Aage Aunes
Aleksandr Popkov
Aleksandr Valov
Alisher Usmanov
All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company
Anna Gritsevich
Øystein Bogen
Blogsochi
Confiscated
Dmitry Kozak
Dmitry Medvedev
Federal Security Service
Gennady Shvets
Jane Buchanan
Kommersant-Vlast
Na Stol Rukovoditelyu
Nikolai Yarst
Novaya Gazeta
Olga Allenova
Olga Beskova
Privet Sochi
Roman Kuznetsov
Sochi Project
Sochinskie Novosti
Suren Gazarian
Svetlana Sagradova
Threatened
VGTRK
Vladimir Kimaev
Word-Sochi
Short URL: https://cpj.org/x/585a
Record number of journalists jailed as Turkey, China, Egypt pay scant price for repression
December 13, 2017 12:00 AM ET
For the second year in a row, the number of journalists imprisoned for their work hit a historical high, as the U.S. and other Western powers failed to pressure the world’s worst jailers--Turkey, China, and Egypt--into improving the bleak climate for press freedom. A CPJ special report by Elana...
October 31, 2017 8:00 AM ET
CPJ's 2017 Global Impunity Index spotlights countries where journalists are slain and the killers go free...
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« DRC: New attack in Beni, at least 10 dead | Main | US: Measles outbreak in Brooklyn »
A virus even more dangerous than Zika to pregnant women
Via The New York Times: A Virus Even More Dangerous Than Zika to Pregnant Women. Excerpt:
The mosquito-borne virus that causes Rift Valley fever may severely injure human fetuses if contracted by mothers during pregnancy, according to new research.
In a study published last month in the journal Science Advances, researchers used infected rats and human fetal tissue to discover how the virus targets the placenta. Results showed that the virus may be even more damaging to fetuses than the Zika virus, which set off a global crisis in 2015 and left thousands of babies in Central America and South America with severe birth defects.
“Zika caught everybody by surprise,” said Amy Hartman, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Pittsburgh, who led the research. “If doctors had known about Zika’s birth effects, they could have done a lot more to protect pregnant women and babies. With Rift Valley fever, we’re trying to get ahead of the curve.”
Rift Valley fever primarily occurs in livestock in sub-Saharan Africa, where outbreaks cause 90 to 100 percent of pregnant cows in a herd to miscarry or deliver stillborn calves, often a significant economic loss.
But hundreds of cases also occur in humans each year, causing flulike symptoms and severe liver problems. The outbreaks have moved beyond Africa: In late 2000, an outbreak in Saudi Arabia infected more than 100,000 people and led to at least 700 deaths, according to Dr. Hartman. The mosquito that carries the disease is also found in Europe and the Americas.
“Climate change can alter how emerging infectious diseases will spread,” Dr. Harman said. “As mosquito populations move and change, we have a potential for this to spread far beyond its normal boundaries.”
There are no vaccines or treatments for Rift Valley fever. The World Health Organization has called the disease a potential public health emergency.
Two cases of infected fetuses have been documented. One infant was born with an enlarged liver and spleen, among other symptoms; the other died within a week. Because the disease can be asymptomatic in pregnant women, many more cases of abnormalities and stillbirths may have been misidentified.
Among rats used in the study, 65 percent of the pups born to infected mothers died, compared to 25 percent of pups born from uninfected controls. Each infected mother lost at least one pup, and all of the infected mothers’ offspring contracted the virus.
Pregnant rats were also more susceptible to death from Rift Valley fever than nonpregnant rats.
Most surprising to researchers, the infected mothers’ placentas harbored more virus than any other tissue in the body — more than even the liver, where the virus’s damage is typically observed.
January 08, 2019 at 08:29 AM in Climate and health, Maternal health, Mosquito-borne diseases, Rift Valley fever | Permalink
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