Mark Brandi: Why I’ll always feel a debt to Eddie McGuire – InDaily

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Thursday July 06, 2017

It takes time and money to write a book. Mark Brandi, author ofcrime novel Wimmera, decided to find cash by taking a journey that involved risk, humiliationand getting up closeand personal with Eddie McGuire.

No one needed to know. Not my work, or my friends. Definitely not my family.

After all, it might be a disaster I could walk away with nothing. Or worse, be humiliated on national television.

Despite hopes of becoming a writer, Id found myself trapped in the drudgery of a policy job in a government department. But with a mortgage and bills to pay, staying put made sense in my head, if not my heart.

Still I wondered could I escape this life of wage-slavery and pursue my dreams? Maybe. But I needed some kind of circuit breaker, something to kick-start a new career. And if I was to write, more than anything, I needed cash.

So I find myself, on a steamy February afternoon, waiting nervously in the green room forMillionaire Hot Seat.

While my fellow contestants scope out each others quiz show expertise, I vividly imagine my impending humiliation. What if I bomb out first question, or just completely freeze? My nerves are jangling. What the hell was I thinking?

I seriously consider doing a runner. But then, I remember something.

In the darkest recesses of my backpack battered and almost two years out-of-date an old packet of Xanax. The stuff never agreed with me, but desperate times

Before I know it, were on set and each waiting our turn in theHot Seat. The studio lights are blinding and the audience are going nuts; and theres Eddie sharp-suit and make-up like a rat with a gold tooth.

The pills (four within an hour) start hitting me hard.I feel myself drifting outside my body, away from the set, as though watching the whole thing unfold from somewhere in the audience.

Paul, a former AFL footballer, is up and nails the first question before passing. Jim, a video store employee, answers a few before bombing out.

Then comes Kathy.

Kathys the battler with a back-story. She works at Bunnings and keeps greyhounds. And shes from Frankston. Eddies eyes light up.

Despite not knowing the answers, she guesses three and seems destined for the remaining $100,000. Eddie is delighted, the crowd is loving it, and I feel like I might throw up.

But then, it happens.

Kathy falls short, just one question shy of the cash. She trudges off stage and Eddie hides his disappointment ever the pro, the thousand-watt grin shines right through.

Well be right back and Mark Brandi will have one question for the cash onMillionaire Hot Seat!

My turn. One question. $50,000.

I am thrust, with one almighty thump, back to reality. My breathing is rapid and my heart beats up inside my throat.

Its time.

The source of comic-book superhero Green Lanterns special abilities is his power what?

A: Belt

B: Ring

C: Key

D: Watch.

I talk through the answers out loud, my voice distant to my own ears. The Green Lantern? I can almost picture him

Ten seconds, Eddie says.

I read comics as a kid, but more UK than USA. More dystopia than Marvel.

Five seconds

Then, in my minds eye, it appears. I dont know if its a false memory or the benzos or what. But I see my hand reaching inside a cheap carnival show-bag from my childhood, right down in the corner a small, green, plastic ring.

Ill go with B, I say.

Final answer?

Lock it in.

Eddies eyes sparkle somewhere between charisma and malevolence Im sure Ive blown it.

But then, he says it.

Mark. Youve just wonfifty thousand dollars!

The audience erupts. Fellow contestants shake my hand. Even some of the crew manage a smile.

As the lights fade and we walk from the set, Eddie pulls me aside.

Well done mate. Fifty grand! Tax-free! You know how long it would take to save that?

We pose for a photo at either end of a novelty cheque.

You won it though, he says. Its yours.

Then, quietly, some sage advice from the boy from Broady.

Dont let anyone get their claws into it, right?

He neednt have worried I had firm plans for the cash. Soon, I changed to part-time hours and tested the waters: the writing life felt good more than that, it felt right. The money gave me time and space to complete early drafts of my novel,Wimmera, while still keeping the wolf from the door.

Publishing is a tough industry for a first-time novelist to break through, all the stars need to align. In my case, one of those stars was a celebrity of debatable talent, but undoubted tenacity a quality also vital to any aspiring author.

So I will always feel a peculiar debt to Eddie McGuire perhaps the worlds most unknowing (and unlikely) literary benefactor.

Wimmera,acrime novel aboutsmall town with a big secret,wasthe winner of the 2016 UK Crime WritersAssociation Debut Dagger for an unpublished manuscript and is now published by Hachette Australia. Brandiwas born in Italy but grew up in rural Victoria and is a former policy advisor for the VictorianDepartment of Justice.

This article was first published on The Daily Review.

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Mark Brandi: Why I'll always feel a debt to Eddie McGuire - InDaily

Researchers developing monitoring system to expose modern slavery – Phys.Org

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July 5, 2017 by Charlotte Anscombe Credit: University of Nottingham

The sight of people cleaning cars in disused petrol stations and by the side of the road is now a common scene in towns and cities across the country, but have you ever stopped and thought about whether the person polishing your car is being treated fairly?

Up and down the country 'cheap' car washes are being exposed as 'hives' of modern slavery. Employees are being poorly paid, are being provided with little or no protective equipment and are made to work long hours without breaks.

The UK government estimates that there are 13,000 slaves in the UK. Globally, there are 46 million slaves alive today. However, government agencies, such as the police, face barriers to the identification and prosecution of perpetrators.

However, government agencies, such as the police, are faced with barriers which can impact on how easily they can identify and prosecute the perpetrators.

"Although they might not be aware of it, people are faced with modern slavery in their everyday lives," said Dr Alexander Trautrims, an expert in supply chain management at Nottingham University Business School and the lead on the Unchained Supply, a Rights Lab project.

"The signs of labour exploitation are often hidden, and are often seen as somebody just being in a bad job, making it hard for the general public and law enforcement to identify victims.

"Whilst companies have to disclose certain information and data on their business activities, their performance and the impact they have on society, it is difficult to see whether the information they provide is always accurate."

With this in mind, Dr Trautrims and Dr Thomas Chesney, also from the Rights Lab, have developed a new computer programme which will enable government agencies to uncover businesses that are using slave labour without them ever having to step foot on the company premises.

The team of experts have created a tool which can help to verify if the data being provided by a company is accurate. To make this even easier, the programme enables interested parties, such as the police, to make these decisions, merely by observing the company's activities.

"By using this programme, we aim to scrutinise businesses or organisations by using data that is publically available, so that outsiders who have no access to company accounts can use proxies and assumptions around the business that allows them to see what is taking place within the company itself," said Dr Trautrims.

As the number of cheap car washes using modern day slaves is on the increase, the team felt that a good pilot for the programme would be a business such as this in Nottingham, to illustrate how it may be violating UK minimum wage regulations.

Dr Chesney says: "What we want from this programme is to be able to look and observe what is going on within a business and to create a model which captures the realistic behaviour behind it."

From an external perspective, Dr Trautrims and his team were able to count how many cars were being cleaned by the car wash in an hour. Using the charges per car displayed by the car wash, they were then able to calculate how much the company was making on average a day. They are also able to see how many workers are based at the business, and over the space of a month, the computer programme can use this data to determine the amount of profit the company is making.

As well as the data that the team can collect by observing the car wash, they also used Google traffic datawhich is publically available, and means that they don't have to sit and count the number of cars going past.

"Whilst a car wash is relatively open and easy to observe, a lot of businesses will be behind walls, so you can't see what is going on," says Dr Trautrims.

"There are ways around this though as what we can see, is what is going in to the building, and what is coming outlike with the Google traffic data. So for example, in a factory you can see how many vans are going in and coming out. You can then make assumptions which allow you to come up with a robust statement saying that whatever they are claiming to be doing in therecannot be true. We can prove it from our external observations, without having to raid a business or go into it.

"You could, for example scrutinise the costs the company is claiming to the tax office for personal protection equipment and then the size of the car park, and you could make the assumption that there isn't enough protection for the people who work there. Or you could do it the other way around and say that maybe there are more workers in there than you say there areand why aren't they being accounted for?"

Dr Chesney adds: "We are not saying that all car washes are illegitimate, but we want to put a system in place which can help law enforcement agencies to uncover the ones who ARE breaking the law.

"We are now looking at a whole range of applications where this programme could be used. For example- we're reviewing harvesting fields in Spain.

"We can easily see how many workers there are and how many oranges are coming out. If you are using slaves then that means you have workers that are not accounted for in any of your records. So you could have a farmer who sells a certain amount of cabbage and declares a profitbut then they are only declaring a certain number of workers in the fields who couldn't possibly have achieved the amount of harvested produce.

"Our aim is to create a monitoring system to assist law enforcement agencies and to help expose those who aren't treating their employees in the right way."

Detective Superintendent Austin Fuller, of Nottinghamshire Police said: "We are really excited about piloting this new programme. We worked closely with Dr Trautrims and Dr Chesney to help develop it and have high hopes about what it can achieve. We're really stepping up a gear now to combat this horrific abuse and exploring all avenues to prevent it from happening in Nottinghamshire. We continue to urge people to look out for the signs of modern slavery and report any suspicions as soon as possible."

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Researchers developing monitoring system to expose modern slavery - Phys.Org

Retail sector taps youth slaves – MacroBusiness (blog)

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By Leith van Onselen

The Turnbull Government announced on Monday that it would expand its controversial Youth-Jobs PaTH program to prepare, trial and ultimately hire young Australians into the retail sector, which has driven a strong push-back from the union movement, Labor and The Greens. From 9News:

Up to 10,000 internships will be offered to unemployed youths over the next four years in a deal struck between the federal government and retail sector.

But not everybody is pleased with the scheme, with unions arguing if there are retail positions available, employers should instead be offering young welfare recipients ongoing work.

Jobless youths aged between 15 and 24 will undertake training before securing 12-week placements with major retailers under the governments PaTH internship program.

They will get a start at a job and, you know what, they could go on to great heights, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Monday

The PaTH scheme (Prepare, Trial, Hire) offers young jobseekers $200 a fortnight on top of their income support payments to undertake internships, and gives employers a $1000 upfront payment for taking them on

But Australian Council of Trade Unions president Ged Kearney said the program offered no path to qualification, employment or workforce protection.

This is a government-sanctioned program that actually borders on slavery, she told reporters in Melbourne.

If this does create new jobs, then pay the kids for the jobs. Pay them a wage. Theyre going to be productive. Theyre going to be contributing to the bottom line of these businesses

Labor and the Greens are opposed to the program, insisting it will allow young people to be exploited by employers.

If the PaTH program becomes simply a supply of cheap labour for employers who would otherwise be paying people full time wages to do that work, then thats a bad thing, deputy opposition leader Tanya Plibersek said.

About 620 young people have been given internships through the PaTH scheme since it began on April 1, with 82 young people securing ongoing work.

Separately, the policy director at Interns Australia, Clara Jordan-Baird, also criticised the program, noting that it risked normalising internship culture in the retail sector:

My first job was at Bakers Delight. I didnt need to do unpaid work experience for 12 weeks to learn how to do it. Nobody needs to. After a short period, you are performing productive work and deserve to be paid for it as an employee.

It shouldnt be normal to pop into your local Coffee Club and see an intern waitress working for free.

MB noted similar concerns when PaTH was initially announced. That is, while the PaTH program may help at the margins, it wont do much to increase the overall supply of youth jobs and could also lead to employers substituting a regular employee for an intern, saving themselves money in the process.

Consider PaTH from an employers perspective. They will get a free kick as the Government is not only the one paying the intern, but the employer also receives $1,000 up front for employing the intern without the need to worry about sick days, annual leave or penalty rates.

Why would an employer hire a young worker on a casual basis when they can effectively get paid to take on an intern? Indeed, the evidence on these types of programs shows that employers will generally substitute a worker receiving a wage subsidy for another worker who would otherwise have been hired.

[emailprotected]

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Retail sector taps youth slaves - MacroBusiness (blog)

Abolishing tuition fees is a wasteful electoral bung but it works – New Statesman

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The most important thing about the debate over Labours tuition fee pledge is that most of the arguments, on both sides, dont add up.

I want to first address the arguments against the pledgethat dont work.

The first, and most frequently deployed, is about people who dont go to university subsidisingthose who do. The difficulty here is that they are already under the current system. After 30 years, the debt is written off by the Treasury, a bill paid out of, you guessed it, general taxation.

(Though because our tax system is already fairly progressive, this bill is again, predominantly paid by higher-earning graduates as well.)

This is more acute if people do work that is socially important but low-paying. A social worker, even one who makes the highest pay grade, is not going to pay off their tuition fees. A teacher who stays in the classroom is not going to pay off their tuition fees. The bulk of people who work as artists or designers are not going to pay off their tuition fees.

So you cant really defend tuition fees using that argument. That Labours plan to pay for abolition of which, more below is levied on the highest earners makes the argument even more redundant.

The second argument is that a tuition fee cut is regressive that is, it hands a great deal of money to above average-earners at the expense of lower earners. It is true that the policy was the single most expensive item in Labours manifesto, at 11.2bn a year. But as Ive written before, what people miss about tuition fees is that they are a form of taxation: they are levied on graduates, not students, through PAYE or through your tax return. They dont behave like any other type of fee or loan you might take out and should be seen as a tax.

That matters a great deal because taxation has to be seen in the round, not simply in isolation. The question over whether any tax cut is regressive is only partially about who the cut benefits.

Taken in isolation, decisions on tax made since 2010 have been highly progressive, increasing the share of public spending borne by the richest. But taken in concert with what is done with that revenue, changes to tax-and-spend have been highly regressive. The gains to the lowest earners from increases in the threshold the amount you have to earn before levying taxation have been more than wiped out by cuts in working-age benefits and the knock-on effects of cuts in services.

Labours tuition fee cut is paid for by increasing taxes on capital gains that is profit made selling an investment and people earning more than 80,000. So it is basically, for the most part, a tax cut for people earning 21,000 to 45,000 paid for by people earning more than 80,000. The overall package distributes from the highest earners to people earning above average so it is downward redistribution, albeit not to the very poorest.

You can argue of course that this is not a particularly good use of 11.2bn. But the difficulty here is that for this argument to work, you have to believe that Labour would have been able to go into the 2017 election without promising to abolish fees and instead planning to spend the 11bn on, say, wraparound childcare or housebuilding, and would still have received the boost in 18-24 turnout that helped the party gain Warwick and Leamington, Canterbury, Cardiff North and Bristol North West, among other seats. This doesnt seem particularly likely.

That doesnt change the fact that while Labour is getting a lot of bang for its buck electorally speaking, it is not getting a lot of value policy-wise for its 11.2bn. Why not? Because the cost per graduate is actually quite small.

The cost for Plan 1 graduates that is, graduates who went to university on the 3,000 fee starts at 2 a month for people earning 17,776 or more a year, which gradually increases as you earn more. Earners at 80,000, when Labour's planned tax hike would kick in, pay469 a month.

For Plan 2 graduates, the cost of repayment starts at 4 a month when you start earning more than 21,500 a year, and again, increases as you earn more. Earners at 80,000 pay443.

These are not life-altering sums. If you are seeking to meaningfully alter the take-home pay of a graduate tax, reducing income tax by a penny or value added tax, or for that matter duty on petrol has a far more significant effect. Just ask people earning above 80,000, who would lose significantly more than they'd gain under Labour's plans.

(This is probably why tuition fees mostly exercise the parents of people paying them and students who have yet to pay them, rather than tax-paying graduates. Its striking that Labours turnout boost came among 18-24s and they flipped parents from Tory to Labour. Actually, if you are a taxpaying graduate, Labour policies on housing and the taxable threshold do have a meaningful effect on your quality of life. Tuition fees, not so much.)

This is even more stark when you remember the cost of tuition fee abolition to the Exchequer, which comes in at a heady 11.2bn a year. There are lots of things you can do that actually would improve the pay packets of graduates not least build a lot more housing with 11.2bn, but not much that any individual graduate can do with 2 a month.

But regardless, it comes back to the earlier question: could Labour have got the results it did while pledging the tax rises that paid for that 11.2bn a year tuition fee cut but spending them elsewhere? I dont buy it myself. Abolishing tuition fees is to Labour as redistribution to the affluent elderly is to the Conservatives counterproductive as far as their policy aims go, but essential to their election-winning coalition.

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Abolishing tuition fees is a wasteful electoral bung but it works - New Statesman

Abolition of posts in mental health at the hospital of Chicoutimi – The Sherbrooke Times

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Jean-Franois Tremblay

Tuesday, July 4, 2017 22:28

UPDATE Tuesday, July 4, 2017 22:31

Look at this article

SAGUENAY | reorganization of units in mental health at the hospital of Chicoutimi is cringe unions, who complain of cuts to jobs and fear for the care of patients.

Nineteen vacant positions of nurses and auxiliaries will not be renewed. The other four positions occupied by nursing assistants are also abolished. In contrast, five part-time positions will be posted.

For the posts of assistants, the Centre intgr universitaire de sant et de services sociaux (CIUSSS) of the SaguenayLac-Saint-Jean has argued that he will attempt to retain the expertise of staff in the department by displaying other items. In the last year, 36 of the 56 mental health beds have been occupied. The directorate is preparing a medical team for 46 beds, as early as mid-September.

In the department of rehabilitation in mental health for adults, it removes the end of the week, two of the seven days work of a special education teacher who prepares patients to return home. There will only be one person full-time. However, the CIUSSS has added five days of social work.

The unions find it hard to accept that mental health is being hit again.

The respondent policy to the Alliances professional and technical staff of the health (APTS), Lynn Brie, said that this is a customer easy to touch, because it is vulnerable. Staff will make follow-up less intensive and will have to make choices about the care they receive.

The case of fugues in a hospital environment who have already made the headlines concerns the representatives of the staff.

The loss of hours in rehabilitation, to be effective on September 17. For the positions of auxiliary nurses, their abolition is expected somewhere in the fall.

Ms. Brie adds that it is no longer able to hear the speech that the cutbacks in health spending do not affect patient care.

The regional president of the Fdration interprofessionnelle de la sant du Qubec (FIQ), Martine Side, went a step further by arguing that it is necessary to take the time to work with this customer, but that it takes the world to do it.

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Abolition of posts in mental health at the hospital of Chicoutimi - The Sherbrooke Times

Charities can deliver services and campaign robustly – The Guardian

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Sir Stephen Bubb, former chief executive of the charity leaders network Acevo, has a long track record of advocacy for charities to play a bigger part in the provision of public services.

Although its never good to rush these things, its taken us almost one and a half millennia to work out exactly what charities are for. And we still arent sure.

We are a sector that delivers, campaigns, balances both, concluded Sir Stephen Bubb, who was thinking great thoughts about the future of charities after he surveyed their history in a lecture on 3 July at Oxford University. But, he conceded, their role in relation to government was still not settled.

Bubb, until recently leader of charity chief executives body Acevo, is essaying a way forward for the voluntary sector in his new capacity at the Charity Futures programme he has established. His lecture was an attempt to encapsulate the sectors story so far.

Starting in the year 597, when St Augustine founded The Kings School in Canterbury still a charity today Bubb demonstrated that charities have always delivered public services and campaigned for change.

Critics of charities latter-day engagement in the justice and penal systems should note that they were running prisons from the 12th century, he said. Critics of their political campaigning should note their decisive part in great social reform movements like the abolition of slavery.

Some of the best modern charities managed to combine both roles, he argued, citing the way the former Royal National Institute for Deaf People, now Action on Hearing Loss, had in the late 1990s campaigned forcefully and successfully for the provision of digital hearing aids on the NHS while continuing to work in partnership with state services.

While this showed it was a false dilemma to suggest that charities needed to choose between providing services and lobbying to change them, Bubb admitted that the sector had never fully recovered its sure-footedness in the former arena since the birth of the welfare state 70 years ago.

Charities have always delivered public services and campaigned for change

That singular advance of the state in service provision had given rise to the idea of subsidiarity that charities should do only those things the state did not, and where they developed innovative and proven ways of delivering services, those should become state services.

Bubb has a long track record of advocacy for charities to play a bigger part in the provision of public services. So his case against subsidiarity and for a return to what he called our good old English fashion, quoting the Duke of Wellington on the 19th century voluntary sectors clear dual role of service delivery and robust campaigning, needs to be seen in that light.

But other voices are also urging charities to make more of what they do and to be more confident of the effect they have.

In a survey by FTI Consulting for Pro Bono Economics, which enlists volunteer economists to work with charities, 81% of 1,100 members of the public said they would prioritise donations to charities that could demonstrate their economic impact.

Pro Bono said the finding showed the critical importance of being able to show and quanitify value in the post-truth era.

Julia Grant, chief executive of Pro Bono, said that by their own admission, many charities would struggle to demonstrate their impact on society in terms of hard evidence, but building the capacity to prove the importance of their work is crucial to their future stability and sustainability.

It goes almost without saying that Bubb was already on the case in his lecture. Charities spent 1,578 every second improving lives and supporting communities, he calculated. And that included animal charities rescuing 800 stray cats every week.

Talk to us on Twitter via @Gdnvoluntary and join our community for your free fortnightly Guardian Voluntary Sector newsletter, with analysis and opinion sent direct to you on the first and third Thursday of the month.

Looking for a role in the not-for-profit sector, or need to recruit staff? Take a look at Guardian Jobs.

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Charities can deliver services and campaign robustly - The Guardian

Cantt boards demand pending service charges – Pune Mirror

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PCB, KCB write to Centre for more than Rs 200 cr arrears

The cantonment boards in Pune have written to the Central Government, asking it to dispense with their pending service charges amounting to more than a hundred crores for each board. The Boards have been raising their voices against the abolition of vehicle entry tax (VET) and local body tax (LBT), after the recent introduction of the Goods and Services Tax across the country.

But now, they have also sought their rightful compensation for service charges as well. An official with the Pune Cantonment Board (PCB) said, The board is not ready to face such a huge amount of loss. More than Rs 200 crore is still pending. Now, we have written to the Centre about this. We are waiting for the money to reach us. There is a clear distinction between the municipal corporations and the cantonment boards in the country. The funds allotted to us are far lesser than our municipal counterparts, yet we are expected to work with equal amount of efficiency.

The chief executive officer of Khadki Cantonment Board (KCB) also acknowledged the cash crunch, saying, The matter is now pending at a much higher level in the central government. This is not a local matter anymore. Cantonment boards across the nation have been collectively writing for adequate compensation. More than Rs 90 crore is pending and we will have to wait for further instructions.

PCB and KCB will now be staring at an approximate loss of Rs 100 crore annually after the abolition of taxes, which the officials claim will affect the revenue drastically.

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Cantt boards demand pending service charges - Pune Mirror

Oxford tribunal rules against compulsory retirement rule – Times Higher Education (THE)

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Academics at the University of Oxford look set to challenge once again rules that force them to quit work at the age of 68 after a professor became the latest scholar to overturn enforced retirement.

In the latest clash over a policy introduced to help intergenerational fairness, a leading former judge ruled in an internal appealthat Oxford should reinstate Peter Edwards, professor of inorganic chemistry, after it discriminated [against him] on the grounds of age by seeking his retirement.

In an unusual move, Sir Mark Waller asked for his normally confidential judgment to be made public with the university also releasing a second judgment from September 2014, in which retired High Court judge Dame Janet Smith criticised the treatment of another professor under the compulsory retirement policy as fundamentally unacceptable and amounting to unfair dismissal.

Under the rules, academics are currently required to retire at the age of 67, although they can apply for a two-year extension. The age limit is set to rise shortly to 68 after a university review.

Efforts to overturn Oxfords Employer-Justified Retirement Age (EJRA), introduced in 2011 after the national abolition of the default retirement age, have so far failed. The university congregation backed the policy for the sixth time last month in a postal vote triggered by campaigners, withabout two-thirds of voters (1,142) supporting the rule and nearly one-third (538) opposing it.

However, campaigners believe that the release of the two appeal judgments could be a turning point.

David Palfreyman, director of the Oxford Centre for Higher Education Policy Studies, who is opposed to the EJRA, said that the universitys congregation has never yet been fully informed on all this when trying to make a proper decision.

The universitys pathetic hiding of the Smith judgment for so long hardly demonstrates that congregation has, so far, been properly informed, said Mr Palfreyman, bursar of New College, Oxford.

In his judgment, Sir Mark who served as the Intelligence Services Commissioner between 2011 and 2017 criticises the failure to show Dame Janets findings to the congregation before it voted on the issue, stressing the need for a balanced debate based on the facts. He also says, however, that a vote did not necessarily make the EJRA process lawful, although it could be an important material factor if it were challenged.

Paul Ewart, professor of physics at Oxfords Clarendon Laboratory, said that Sir Marks judgment was an important victory for the campaign.

Another eminent judge has confirmed Dame Janets judgment that the universitys EJRA was not objectively justified and therefore unfair, and rebuked council for withholding the original judgment from congregation before it voted to retain it, he said.

In public debates at the university over the past few months, the issue of compulsory retirement has been described as a battle between old, white menhanging limpet-like to space and resource and talented young scholarstrying to get their first stable job.

Defenders of the EJRA, which is also in effect at the universities of Cambridge and St Andrews, claim that low turnover of staff at these institutions means fewer opportunities for younger scholars particularly female and ethnic minority staff as academics are happy to stay put well into their seventies.

A University of Oxford spokesman played down the significance of the two internal appeal decisions, saying that they both relate to the EJRA system in place before September 2015 when major revisions were made to procedures in light of Dame Janets recommendations, including a one-year increase in the retirement age.

Neither decision challenges the validity of a university EJRA as a means of promoting intergenerational fairness and maintaining opportunities for career progression, he said.This fundamental principle has been overwhelmingly endorsed by congregation, which has now voted six times in the last three months to support the revised EJRA.

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com

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Oxford tribunal rules against compulsory retirement rule - Times Higher Education (THE)

Addressing youth radicalization and extremism beyond hunger,unemploy’t – Journalducameroun.com – English – (press release) (registration)

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Published on 05.07.2017 15h38 by Journal du Cameroun

The mantra

One of the most turbulent distractions to mainstream global issues is perhaps, youth radicalization and extremism. The deleterious effects of climate change and natural disasters have increased unsustainable socioeconomic practices. Unfortunately, global and local actors seem to misunderstand the potential and actual motivations surrounding this emerging phenomenon. The mantra of hunger and unemployment is dominating local and international debates on the question. But there is apparently more to the question of radicalization and extremism, in relation to hunger and youths unemployment, than it reaches mainstream understanding.

There is global awe about a suddenly obvious proliferation of youth subscription into insurgent activities often propelled by extremist ideologies. That is a known fact. Vis--vis present demographic transitions, there is an ever rising trend of misguided population movements from rural peripheries into urban metropolis leading to alarmingly loud concentration of desperate youths in city centres especially in Africa. To that effect, it is ever more imperative to identify the vulnerabilities upon which youth radicalization and extremism lies. The complications get even worse when we try to answer the question why youths are increasingly being agents of destruction instead of being productive members of their communities.

Different narratives

These trends have provoked several narratives from different development angels. But whether these narratives exist in cluster or not, the question at stake is as we feel the impacts of Boko haram insurgents in North East Nigeria and Far North of Cameroon, Alshabaab insurgents in almost all of Somalia including Kenya and beyond, and the Tuareg insurgent groups in Mali who are just about to completely retreat into the deserts, are these narratives based on old thinking or do they offer new thinking, new forms of measurement and research into the root causes of why youths are increasingly being radicalized and mobilized into extreme groups.

Much has been argued about tackling the unemployment crises that is keeping many youth idle and leaving them vulnerable as destructive agents rather than constructive ones. Other arguments have emerged about the question of alleviating youth poverty as a critical step to mitigating exposure of youths to radicalization through extremist groups. These assumptions are good, but it remains to be seen if the discussion will in fact lead to more research and a greater focus on evidence-based approaches tackling the root causes of the issues.Development efforts have often been driven by assumptions and not evidence, said Keith Proctor, a senior policy researcher atMercy Corps. In a summit held a few years ago at the White House about countering violent extremism, the U.S. government signaled that it was going to look with greater sophistication at the root causes of violence.

The causes of violence

There is no doubt that the narrative often held that poverty and unemployment were the primary motivators of violent extremism, but the factors that lead youths to become radicalized are much more complex. While not the crucial factor, jobs remain important, in part because unemployment, or underemployment, is illustrative of a number of other challenges. What about when youths perceive that they are shut out of important decisions and opportunities?Too often than not, during critical stages in youths lives, social and political exclusion can lead them to a point of anguish or hopelessness.

What were seeing is that its not just about jobs, its a broader marginalization, said Nicole Goldin, director of the Youth, Prosperity and Security Initiative at theCenter for Strategic and International Studies. As many misleading researches continue to Solutions must be genericlive on the old thinking, governments and stakeholders must be clear its not poverty alone that is leading youths into radicalization and extremism because while the vast majority of young Africans for the past half a century live in poverty and most of them are unemployed most of them are also very peaceful. In spite of the acknowledged exploitation of young people as canon fodders, the question of youths not finding identity, purpose and value in society is as important as any critical push factor. However, in all analysis than exist, it is hard to find any that is more important than the other.

Creating holistic approaches

African leaders from local and national levels are crisscrossing around the world looking for solutions to increasing violent conflicts resulting from increased involvement of young people into radicalized extreme groups. That is a sign of false hope. The push factors are self inflicted and solutions must be generic. Apart from push factors, pull factors such as personal rewards associated with membership of a radical group that offers economic gains than the governments does,that adds to ones fame and glory, and provides personal empowerment by owning a few dollars to buy a cell phone or appeal from religious ideology are critical inducements but relegated.

Often neglected are push factors such as corruption, weak governance to drive inclusive growth, lack of rule of law and social justice to address grievances, lack of social inclusion, grievances, a broader lack of opportunities that empower young people perceived marginalization. Disenfranchisement, government corruption, ethnic divisions and exposure to violence are all critical factors,said Proctor from Mercy Corps.

Any effective aversionofthis state of affairs in Africa particularly requires broad based understanding of the push and pull factors. Addressing the question of corruption as it affects the marginalized and disenfranchised groups in society is critical. Creating holistic approaches to identify critical incentives to radicalization and extremism, and developing comprehensive programs that include youths at all level particularly the question of making them to feel a sense of identity, purpose and value, and creating space where they become productive other than being destructive members of the community. This is the task that should keep our government officials waking up early in the morning and sleeping late into the night. It is the task we all should be behind.

Being a COP 23-Column of Era Environment by Tabi Joda

Tabi H. Joda is an entrepreneur, a youth activist from Cameroon and Nigeria. With a considerable working experience: he worked and still works with UN System, UN MDG, World Bank, NOWEI, MILDAS, FIFA etc. He has a Tertiary education in International Studies, Business Management and Information Technology, Development, Environmental Sustainability and Climate change. He is Multilingual and speaks English, French, Arabic, German, Hausa and Fulfulde. Since 2015, he has launched an initiative called plant a tree today to avert climate change.

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Casino Luxembourg Forum d’art contemporain – E-Flux

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Mikhail Karikis Love Is the Institution of Revolution July 1October 15, 2017

Casino Luxembourg Forum dart contemporain 41 Rue Notre Dame L-2240 Luxembourg

http://www.casino-luxembourg.lu Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

Mikhail Karikiss practice embraces moving image, sound, performance, and other media, and emerges from his long-standing investigation of the voice as a sculptural material and a political agent. His works explore the energies that create collectivist dynamics, and are intended to resonate with peoples economic, cultural, psychological, and moral circumstances. He often collaborates with communities to orchestrate performances to film, in order to highlight alternative modes of human existence.

Love Is the Institution of Revolution features two projects by Karikis: Children of Unquiet (201315) and Aint Got No Fear (201617). Both focus on the voices of post-millennials and their visions of their own future in the wake of rapid deindustrialization in the West, specifically in Europe, and legacies of crises (from environmental to financial) inherited from the current power-holding classes.

Children of Unquiet takes place in the Devils Valley in Tuscany, Italy. This is the very location where sustainable energy production was invented a century ago, and where the first geothermal power station in the world was built. Until recently, five thousand workers and their families lived there in a group of villages designed by the architect Giovanni Michelucci. Following the introduction of automated and remote operation technologies, unemployment increased and prospects for the young became limited, resulting in rapid depopulationeven the abandonment of entire villages.

The centerpiece of Children of Unquiet is Karikiss film of the same title, which he produced in collaboration with 45 children from the region. The film orchestrates their takeover of a deserted village. Youngsters five to 12 years old burst into the eerie, depopulated site and nearby scorching, vaporous wasteland and turn it into a playground. They read about love, work, and the productivity manifested by insects, and sing along with the Earths roaring geothermal sounds and the incessant hum of factory drones that form the soundscape of their childhood.

For Aint Got No Fear, Karikis worked with teenagers who live in Grain, a remote industrial corner of southeast England. In response to the isolation of their village, and the consequent lack of places and opportunities to express themselves, they organized raves in a local forest, which were raided by the police.

Using as their beat the persistent crushing noises from the demolition of a nearby power plant, boys of eleven to thirteen years sing a rap song they wrote about their lives, in which they recall memories of their youth and imagine their future in general and old age in particular. Reminiscent of a grime video, the film offers glimpses into teenage experiences on the edges of urbanity, following the youths to their secret underground hideaways in disused military tunnels and capturing their rackety reclaiming of the site where the raves used to take place.

Children of Unquiet and Aint Got No Fear reveal ways in which youths reimagine industrial locations with a sense of spatial justice defined by friendship, collective agency, love, personal empowerment, and the thrill of subverting authority. By turns playful and meditative, spectacular and intimate, operatic and realist, these works resonatewith new waysof thinking about the destiny of territories scarred by industrial obsolescence, and hint at foreseeable or potential futures conjured up in the imaginationboth poetic and activistof the generation most affected by current social shifts.

Mikhail Karikis (b. Greece, 1975) lives and works in London. He has had recent solo shows at Carroll/Fletcher, London (2015-16) and The Gallery, Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle, UK (2015). Recent group shows include the British Art Show 8, various venues, UK (201517); the 19thBiennale of Sydney (2014);and Manifesta 9, Genk, Belgium (2012).

Love Is the Institution of Revolution is curated by Miguel Amado and Kevin Muhlen. The exhibition was initiated by Casino Luxembourg Forum dart contemporain and is organized in collaboration with Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, UK.

A short film about Mikhail Karikiss practice can be viewed online at CasinoChannel.

Press contact: Nadine Clemens, nadine.clemens [at] casino-luxembourg.lu

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Akeredolu’s wife flags of women empowerment programme – P.M. News

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Women engaging in hair making during the programme

In fulfillment to her promise to spread the Women Empowerment programme across the 18 Local Government Areas of the State, wife of Ondo State Governor, Arabinrin Anyanwu-Akeredolu has flagged-off her Women Empowerment Programme in Ilaje LGA of the State.

It would be recalled that Mrs. Akeredolu had earlier in June empowered 100 women from Okitipupa LGA of the State in the first batch of the programme which was in collaboration with Make Mee Elegant firm and the beneficiaries are now in business.

The programme, which is geared towards alleviating poverty and generating employment has over a hundred women in participation in its second batch.

The trainees will be exposed to various skills acquisition programme and provided with a take-off grant in any area of their business choice after the week long training.

Addressing the participants at the event, Mrs Akeredolu said the programme was in line with the Five point agenda of the present administration in the state, particularly Job Creation through Agriculture, Entrepreneurship and Industrialization adding that the Akeredolu led administration was committed to delivering on their campaign promises.

Mrs Akeredolu, who spoke through her Personal Assistant, Mrs Lilian Ozioma Adesokan urged the participants to make good use of the opportunity to better their lots and contribute to the economy of the State.

Present at the event were the Chairman of Ilaje LGA, Aworetan Fayowole Ayanfe; Special Assistant to the First Lady on Gender Research and Planning, Mrs Temitope Abegunde Daniyan, among others.

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Western Women’s Business Conference celebrates diversity and empowerment – Mountain Xpress

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Sandra Suber has always been a lover of hats.

The bolder and brighter the hat, the better, as she sought out the latest styles and trends to wear to Sunday morning church services. But traveling twice a year to Greenville, S.C., Spartanburg, S.C. and Burlington to restock her hat supply gotto be too much, and thats when Suber decided to do something drastic: In 1995, she opened Ianodells, her very own hat shop out of her garage.

There was a need for it, a demand. And when I opened the shop that first day, it was phenomenal when the cars started coming in, you should have seen the smile on my face. The racks were just about empty, Suber recalls.

In the years since, Ianodells has flourished, selling Sunday morning finery and hats galore. Suber networks among African-American churches, sells her goods at conventions across the Southeast and runs charity fashion shows in the Asheville area. Yet she also remembers the challenges that come with starting a business.

Addressing a crowd of 260 at the Western Womens Business Conference onJune 22 at U.S. Cellular Center, Suber shared her story. Like many in the room, she never went to college, nor had she ever taken a business class. I want to speak today to anyone who has ever dreamed of going into business but has been too afraid to try, she said.

Now in its third year, the Western Womens Business Conference drew a capacity crowd of aspiring entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds for a day of workshops, presentations and networking. In collaboration with the Western Womens Business Center and the A-B Tech Small Business Center, business owners in fields ranging from event planning to photography, legal services to restaurants gathered to celebrateand strengthen their female-led companies.

I see all of us women that are here to change the world. We choose to be unstoppable in doing this important work, saidCarolyn WallaceofLife Story Catcher in her opening remarks. A theme of self-empowerment ran throughout the conference from jotting down a personal quality attendees hopedto grow in the upcoming year to listing their biggest professional fears and regrets, breakout sessions in Spanish, to a Zumba dance break midway through the afternoon and the phrase Her story, her journey remained a focus.

Female entrepreneurs are growing more prevalent in the region, explained Jill Sparks, executive director of the A-B Tech Small Business Center. Fortypercent of all new businesses within the last year were started by women, she said, as women were getting fired up and thinking bigger.

The sea of wonderful, beautiful and exuberant faces sitting in the U.S. Cellular Center conference room revealed a diverse group of women and a sprinkling of men. Thats one of the programs greatest accomplishments, says Sharon Oxendine, executive director of the WWBC. Last year, 95 percent of participants were women, 17 percent were Latino, 9 percent were African-American and 5 percent were veterans, and organizers expect this years crowd to share similar demographics.

Angie Stegall, owner of Yukon and Bean travel blog and a keynote speaker at the conference, sees the emphasis on diversity as an important step to removing prejudices in the workplace. For all the networking events Ive gone to and classes that Ive taught, it has predominantly been middle-class or upper-middle-class white people, mainly men, she says. Its a really white audience, for the most part. And it doesnt need to be because there are plenty of minorities and disadvantaged folks that just need a little direction, some You can do it support, and they become the hardest hustlers that Ive ever met.

Suber agrees. As an African-American business owner, she sees that racial barriers are indeed out there. I could name the number of African-American-run businesses that I know of on my hands theres not near enough. And Ive seen some come and go. Ive seen so many that have tried and didnt succeed.

Interspersed throughout the conference were success stories of entrepreneurswho have used services provided through the WWBC and the A-B Tech Small Business Center.

Brandy Millsdreamed of openinga cupcake shop but didnt think she could ever make it a reality.

My whole life has been filled with people who see things in me that I dont see, she explained to the crowd. Often, I dont wake up with my confidence drawn on me. When we decided to start a business, the things in my head, like how you grew up or what you looked like said, Owning a business is not for you. The world is not for you. Dont do it.

But Mills didnt give up. After being turned down by several banks which she attributed to bankers hearing her African-American voice she stumbled upon the WWBC.

No matter how much I struggled with writing my business plan, no matter how much I wanted to give up because I was working full time and a mom full time, the people at the WWBC never gave up on me, Mills says. And last October, her cupcake dream came truewhen T.B.M. Smallcakes opened in Biltmore Park.

There was the story of Meredith Bennett, who recently opened a business that sells handcrafted products for pets and pet lovers called Devoted Human. Taylor Greg shared the story behind Chestnut Ridge, her soon-to-open wedding venue that she worked to launchwhile pregnant with twins. Gloria Llanser, owner of Sacred Souls Birthing Doula Services, talked about the challenges she faced learning English after moving to the United States from Colombia, and how she found her passion inthe doula community in Asheville.

And there was the story of Andrea Wright, who moved back to Asheville after splitting from her ex-husband. After becoming ill and retiring early from a career in business development, she decided to open My Sisters and I, anevent planning and catering company.

I had the opportunity to reflect on my childhood, and my family would always cook. The meeting place was in the kitchen, of course, and they would cook these wonderful meals macaroni and cheese, a four-layer chocolate cake, cathead biscuits with homemade applesauce, she recalled with a laugh. And after working with her sisters on events such as baby and wedding showers, people started to offer topay them for their work. The idea for the business was born.

They understand you, they listen to you, Wright says of the WWBC, which helped her with marketing, networking, creating contracts and even hired her as the centers event caterer. Whatever your wants and dreams are, they become the WWBCs wants and dreams, she says.

The need for female business owners to support oneanother was reiterated throughout the conference. In a male-dominated, often competitive world, several of the speakers shared advice for how to deal with gender-based barriers.

There is definitely still a gender ceiling out there where women have to present themselves a little bit differently, says Selina Delangre, CEO of the Celtic Sea Salt brand and Selina Naturally. Theres a saying that goes, If a woman is being assertive, then shes a bitch, but if a man is assertive, then hes just a really good businessman. Theres this huge illusion of how to be assertive in the work field but also to have the authority to bring that confidence through to your employees.

And dont play the comparison game. Its like eating acid, Delangre emphasized. When you go out there and compare your successes or your capabilities to others, it will eat you alive, and thats something I have struggled with throughout my business career.

In her speech, travel blogger Stegall entertained the crowd with stories of a 16-day rafting trip through the Grand Canyon. To manage her fear, she counted the length of time it took to run the rapids,which wasroughly 14 seconds. The more I did that, the more comfortable I got, and the more fun I was able to have. Be brave, even if its just 14 seconds at a time.

Forhat purveyorSuber, the best way to start is to find an encourager, get out there and follow your dreams. I know there are so many things that people think about in their minds that may prevent them from doing a business or scare them off, but I want to encourage them that if you have a mindset that you want to do it, you can do it.

Below, watch the performance Suber gave during her keynote speech. As a music minister at churches across the area, Suber explained to the crowd that she felt more comfortable singing about her experiences than giving a speech to the audience.

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Western Women's Business Conference celebrates diversity and empowerment - Mountain Xpress

N. Korean missile test leaves clues, doubts about its technology – ABC News

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This week's long-range missile test by North Korea marks a distinct, if unsteady, advance in its quest to develop the capability to hit the U.S. mainland, according to two experts.

The distance this missile traveled confirms that North Korea is "no longer just a regional problem. This is a U.S. problem," ABC News aviation consultant Steve Ganyard, a retired Marine Corps colonel, said.

"This is the first time, if the analysis is correct, that we're seeing a North Korean weapon that can hit the United States. Not the mainland, but Alaska is very much part of the United States, and this is a very worrying development," he said on "Good Morning America" today.

Ganyard previously said, "The North Koreans launched this missile almost straight up ... because they didn't want to overfly Japan or Russia."

"The missile itself reached an apex of almost 1,700 miles, which means, had it been on a max-range trajectory, it could have reached Anchorage and wouldn't have been far from reaching Seattle," he said Tuesday on ABC News' "World News Tonight."

Scott Snyder, a senior fellow for Korea studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, said that while the latest test clarified North Korea's ability to fire missiles longer distances, a number of key questions remain.

"There's still a debate whether or not North Korea has been able to make a nuclear weapon small enough to put on the head of the weapon to deliver it, and there's still a debate whether or not North Korea ... has developed re-entry technology," he said.

Such technology would allow a missile to leave Earth's atmosphere and return without burning up, Snyder said.

"The North Koreans are claiming that they have achieved some of those technologies, but it has not yet been definitively proven, and so as a result, there's a little bit of confusion and ambiguity," Snyder said.

"We know they're working on it, so it's really a matter of time before they develop those technologies," he said. "It's not good news."

On the other side, the United States has been working to perfect its system designed to counter North Korea's long-range missile threat.

But that system still needs work, according to Ganyard.

"The U.S. has been developing a ground-based interceptor system that's designed to knock down incoming North Korean missiles, but it's very complex science," he said on "World News Tonight."

"It's very much like hitting a bullet with a bullet, and although the most recent test was successful, the system itself is still only barely over 50 percent reliable," Ganyard said.

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Investors are increasingly worried about a coming drop in technology stocks – CNBC

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These measures of volatility represent how much traders are paying to hedge against downside moves for the respective indexes. As expectations for volatility rise, it gets more expensive to buy insurance against a potential fall. The Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 volatility measures differ by 7.5 as of July 3.

The strategist shared his key reasons why Nasdaq volatility levels are rising versus S&P 500 and why it may foreshadow a tech sell-off in an email.

He noted that investors are rotating to value stocks and away from growth stocks. "As we start Q3, growth continues to lose leadership," he also said in his report.

During the first half of this year, 41 stocks in the Nasdaq 100 rose 30 percent or more. Further, he said in the email, there was a connection between bond prices and the rise in the Nasdaq 100, and now they are going down together. His conclusion: "Valuations are insane" in the Nasdaq 100.

McDonald warned his clients that technology may under perform in the coming months and recommended investors trade ahead of the potential decline.

"Getting out in front of the rotation is more important than valuation as capital flows out of highly concentrated trades it has to go somewhere in a bull market. It's a growth into value tsunami," he wrote.

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Investors are increasingly worried about a coming drop in technology stocks - CNBC

Israeli technology to help solve India’s water shortage – The Jerusalem Post

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An Israeli company that affordably extracts water from thin air signed a memorandum of understanding to bring its proprietary technology to India.

Rishon Lezion based Water-Gen and Indias SUN Group announced their collaboration in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, agreeing that the latter will be responsible for distributing the formers technology in the Indian market. The partners are focusing on providing a potable water solution to the Indian military, official institutions and government agencies in particular, according to the memorandum.

The partnership announcement coincided with the arrival to Israel of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his accompanying business delegation among whose members is the vice chairman of the SUN Group, Shiv Vikram Khemka. The signing took place at an event held by the Manufacturers Association of Israel.

We are a business company, but our vision is a humanitarian one, said Water-Gen executive chairman Maxim Pasik. In the 21st century, there is no reason for any society to suffer shortage of water.

The agreement with the SUN Group is one of many recent such collaborations cemented by Water-Gen around the world. Most recently, the Miami suburb of Miami Gardens announced that it would launch a pilot program using the companys system.

Water-Gens technology first made waves at the AIPAC Policy conference in Washington at the end of March, when Prof. Alan Dershowitz presented the companys device on stage and pulled water out of the air. Trapping humid air on-demand, the device cleans and dries the air and extracts clean water.

The company claims to offer a far more affordable option than other systems that have tried to extract water from air, as the heat exchanger in the device is made from plastic rather than from aluminum. Generating 1 gallon (3.79 liters) of water requires only 1 kW of energy, according to the firm.

Water-Gens system is available in three sizes: a small home appliance, a medium-scale model and an industrial water generator with a capacity of up to 6,000 liters of water per day.

The company stressed the importance of bringing its solution to India, which is the second-most populous country in the world and suffers from a chronic water shortage. In rural areas, where 74% of the population resides, only about 21% of the people have access to good sanitation and only 84% benefit from a regular water supply, the firm said. In urban areas, where the situation is better, just 54% of residents have access to good sanitation and 96% enjoy a regular water supply, the company said.

Globally, more than a million children under the age of five die every year from diseases related to water shortages or water contamination, added Pasik.

In this sense, the technology Water-Gen has developed is a humanitarian one, and we see it as a moral obligation to distribute it as much as possible where it is needed, he said. It is no secret that there is a need for technology like Water-Gens in India, and this is why we are so happy about the memorandum of understanding signed yesterday between us and an Indian company sharing this vision.

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Israeli technology to help solve India's water shortage - The Jerusalem Post

Williams Formula One technology creates ‘Babypod’ carrier – ESPN

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Williams has used its Formula One technology to come up with a hi-tech carrier for critically ill new-born babies needing emergency transportation.

The dubbed "Babypod 20" is being built by Williams Advanced Engineering -- a sister business of the F1 team and part of the Williams Group -- to provide a safe environment for new-born infants that require transporting to hospital either by car, ambulance or helicopter. The firm has been working on the new design alongside Advanced Healthcare Technology (AHT), a company which has produced transport systems for babies for several years.

Constructed using materials and techniques used to build Williams' F1 cars, the sleek carbon fibre transport device will be able to withstand a 20 G-force crash, while offering a more cost-effective and lightweight option -- weighing just 9.1kg (20lb) -- as oppose to heavier, cumbersome incubator alternatives used in the past.

Williams Advanced Engineering managing director, Craig Wilson, said: "The parallels between a Formula One car and transport device for babies may not be immediately apparent, but both demand a lightweight and strong structure that keeps the occupant safe in the event of an accident, and can monitor vital signs whilst remaining easily transportable and accessible.

"We have taken the existing Babypod product and worked with AHT to create a device that is not only more compact and user-friendly but, crucially, can be scaled up in its production so that more hospitals can benefit from this Formula One-inspired technology."

Mark Lait, the design director of Advanced Healthcare Technology, added: "As a UK company we are particularly pleased to have the opportunity to work with the designers and engineers at Williams, to develop this 'next generation' of BabyPods, and to harness their knowledge and skills to make this new model available.

"This design, with reduced weight and increased strength, has also delivered improved features of protection against vibration and noise and of course the dangers related to impact, which inevitably sometimes occur with medical vehicles traveling at speed."

The manufacturing process will take place at Williams' Grove-based headquarters alongside its F1 operations. The pod, which costs 5,000 per unit, will be used by the Children's Acute Transport Service (CATS) of Great Ormond Street Hospital in London initially, though plans are in place to market it much more widely.

CATS operational manager, Eithne Polke, says greater flexibility and manoeuvrability in the new design will make a significant difference to her team's transportation process.

"The new Babypod has an adapted design that allows for greater flexibility and manoeuvrability when moving critically ill infants from one mode of transport to another," Polke explained. Not only is the environment controlled at a constant temperature, but the visual opportunity afforded by the redesigned cover allows the baby to be constantly monitored and for better accessibility.

"Overall, we're delighted with the updated Babypod design and safety features and believe it has made a big difference to our transportation processes."

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Peter Kerekes’ ‘Censor’ Wins Karlovy Vary’s Works in Progress … – Variety

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Censor, directed and produced by Peter Kerekes, and written by Ivan Ostrochovsky, has won the 14th edition of the Karlovy Vary Film Festivals Works in Progress competition, which is open to projects from Central and Eastern Europe, the Balkans, Turkey, Greece and former Soviet territories.

The jury, which consisted of Iole Maria Giannattasio, directorate general for cinema at the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Activities and Tourism (MiBACT), producer Cedomir Kolar from A.S.A.P. Films, and Susana Santos Rodrigues, a film programmer, distributor, producer and co-founder of Vaivem, awarded the prize to the Slovak film for its original and vivid human portrait of a lonely woman.

The film centers on Irina, who works as a censor in a prison in Odessa, Ukraine. She spends eight hours a day in her office reading love letters. Through her, we follow various love affairs that only she can observe, according to a statement. Although she sees how women being used, and how the relationships end in disaster for them, she cannot take any action. She is a single woman and after 12 years of reading love letters full of the lies men tell, she is not capable of any relationship. If a guy on a date says, You are special, she feels sick. But, of course, even she dreams of love.

Eight projects competed and one was selected out-of-competition from 77 projects submitted. The award, which has a total value of Euros 100,000 ($114,000), includes post-production services at UPP and Soundsquare, as well as a Euros 10,000 ($11,400) cash award from Barrandov Studio.

The Stand-In, directed and written by Ra di Martino and produced by Marco Alessi, won the Eurimages Lab Project Award. The prize is for projects that are in production or post-production, and are being made outside the traditional filmmaking framework, and involve international co-operation. Eight projects were considered, selected from 45 submissions from Eurimages countries. The winning project, which received an award of Euros 50,000 ($56,800), was awarded for its ironic visual experimental approach to innovative narrative, and for being an intersection of art and film. The film is a co-production from Italy, France and Morocco.

In the movie a small film crew travel around Marrakech and the surrounding area looking for swimming-pool locations for a remake of an American movie in which a man crosses the county, pool by pool, to reach his home (presumably 1968s The Swimmer, starring Burt Lancaster). The filmmakers rehearse the shots with a stand-in to find the path through the city and the pools that the main actor will run and swim through. As we watch his struggles to become more than just a stand-in, the real actors and film crew burst onto the scene on a set where nobody seems to be in the right place, according to a statement. [It is] a film in search of itself, looking for where the real film is.

Ra di Martinos The Stand-In deconstructs the cinematic boundaries between stand-ins and actors, according to producer Marco Alessi (Photo courtesy of Dugong)

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Peter Kerekes' 'Censor' Wins Karlovy Vary's Works in Progress ... - Variety

Google’s fine said to be only the start as EU probes progress – The Mercury News

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By Aiofe White and Stephanie Bodoni

Google could see more fines from European Union antitrust regulators this year as probes into its AdSense advertising service and Android mobile-phone software near their end, three people familiar with the cases said just a week after the company was hit with a record penalty for its shopping-search services.

Both are at advanced stages, though the Android case may not be concluded until later this year, according to one of the people, who all spoke on condition of anonymity.

Alphabets Google is the EUs highest-profile antitrust target, with probes on three fronts occupying regulators for as long as seven years. EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager has called 2017 her G year during which she would seek to nail decisions against the search-engine giant. European politicians have urged the EU to sanction Google or even break it up while U.S. critics claim regulators are unfairly targeting successful American firms.

Reuters reported earlier that regulators are seeking expert advice in the Android investigation to check their case, a sign that they may be trying to test possible flaws in the case before moving toward a final decision.

The European Commission and Google both declined to comment.

High Stakes

Vestager has set high stakes for Google to comply with an EU order accompanying last months 2.4 billion-euro ($2.7 billion) penalty. Shes warned of additional fines if it wont stop systematically favoring its own price-comparison-shopping service in its general search results. Google has until late August to make changes that satisfy the EU. Shes also threatened further probes on travel or map services.

Google has strongly criticized the Android case, saying the EU is putting at risk its strategy of giving away mobile-phone software which lowers costs for customers. The company says the strict conditions it sets on apps ensure that Android phones and software work smoothly together. The EU said last year that Googles restrictive contracts unfairly require phone makers to install Google apps. Regulators also raised concerns about how telecom operators are paid to put Google search on devices.

The company was also accused last year of hindering competition for online ads over its AdSense for Search Product. The EU criticized unfair restrictions in contracts for placing ads on websites including retailers, telecommunications operators and newspapers. The company prevented customers from accepting rival search ads from 2006 and maintained restrictions on how competitors ads were displayed when it altered contracts in 2009.

Fines arent inevitable. Companies can placate regulators by offering changes that resolve antitrust issues. Google attempted to strike such a settlement for the shopping search case in 2012 but ran into opposition from rivals who protested at paying to appear in Googles promoted shopping ads at the top of the search screen.

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Google's fine said to be only the start as EU probes progress - The Mercury News

Columbus Crew SC make defensive progress in win over Minnesota United – MLSsoccer.com

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MINNEAPOLIS Talk about a response. Talk aboutprogress.

Columbus Crew SC were able to keep their first clean sheet since late May on Tuesday, beating Minnesota United, 1-0, at TCF Bank Stadium. For Crew SCcoach Gregg Berhalter, the close affair followed his desired script.

We had an objective to make it difficult for Minnesota, Berhalter said. In the first half, we had a goal to get to 0-0at the half, and we did that. We werent pleased with our counterattacking in the first half. We had an opportunity to score two or three goals.

With each team starting with a variation of a five-man back line, midfield possession was scarce. This left the two teams to focus on building through quick transitions. Columbus wereable to capitalize on one such chance in the second half, as Kekuta Manneh struck in the 58th minute on a well-taken low shot from distance.

Manneh's contributions and those of the other Crew SC attackers were not simply in the attack. They also chipped in to the overall solid defensive effort on the day by pressuring Minnesota.

Kekuta, Ola [Kamara], and Ethan [Finlay]did well to close down, Berhalter said. They worked to make it hard on defenders. You can understand why there were times that they didnt have energy for the counterattack.

The focus on the wings and counters madefor an interesting development in Columbus' midfield, which did not allow much up the middle against Minnesota en route to surrendering just one shot on target on the day.

Today was a great testament to our collective work, said Columbus captain Wil Trapp. We had a new lineup, a lot of guys who didnt start. We stayed as cohesive as possible, and thats a lot of work that we put in the training field. Its a mentality, to communicate and have the guynext to yours back.

Among the new pieces in the lineup were Lalas Abubakar, who madehis MLS debut. The rookiewas alongside Nicolai Naess and Alex Crognale, and they all did well to keep the clean sheet despite not having veteran presenceJonathan Mensahto leadthe way.

I think its good, Berhalter said of holding Minnesota scoreless. The thing about us is that we play a certain way that will concede some chances at times. We dont want to give upsilly goals. A lot of the times were the aggressor, looking to stretch the opponent, and sometimes that leaves you vulnerable.

"Tonight, the effort from guys like Abubakar, Crognale, and [Josh] Williams made it a collective effort.

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Columbus Crew SC make defensive progress in win over Minnesota United - MLSsoccer.com

Plan progress – The Daily Progress

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Its been two years since the county adopted amendments to incorporate the Germanna-Wilderness Area Plan (GWAP) into the comprehensive plan and even longer since the county had a town hall meeting on the Germanna-Wilderness Area Plan.

Approximately 75 people gathered at Locust Grove Middle School last Thursday to hear the countys most recent work on the GWAPthe countys 50-year vision for the eastern end of the county.

Last weeks town hall was the GWAP Steering Committees attempt to update the community on work that has been completed on the plan and to reengage citizens in the process, explained District 2 Supervisor and committee member Jim White.

Now is a time to reengage again because this really is the future for the most of you about your neighborhood, he said. Were calling it the Germanna-Wilderness Area (GWA), but it really is your neighborhood and we want your involvement.

Thursdays town hall specifically asked citizens for feedback on planning and zoning and transportation plans.

Prior to presentations by those working on the plan, citizens were invited to talk with speakers, as well as other committee members, and view maps and documents related to the plan.

Since the plans adoption, the steering committee has worked on adding details to GWAP in accordance with economic development, historical and cultural assets, planning and zoning, utilities and infrastructure and transportation.

Effective planning and zoning will be essential to the county meeting its goals and objectives for the plan, explained Orange County Planning and Zoning Director Josh Frederick.

Goals within the GWAP related to planning and zoning include: establishing flexible zoning techniques; promoting inter-connectivity of roads, sidewalks and paths; promoting planned development and providing adequate utilities.

[Zoning] not only affects what you see on the ground and in your day-to-day lives, but it also has this ability to coordinate different efforts together, Frederick said. Were not only thinking land-use, but were thinking transportation and utilities. Really, its in everybodys best interest that the three are really coordinated together as they are implemented and brought forward.

In order to coordinate the plans goals across the plans 14,600 acres, Frederick said the county is considering new zoning tools, such as overlay districts and new planned zoning districts.

A zoning overlay will cover the entire GWA and would allow the county to coordinate planning efforts, like the transportation master plan, utilities master plan and the Rt. 3 arterial management plan, within the area. The underlying zoning districts permitted uses and other regulations would still apply, while an overlay would provide an extra blanket of provisions.

Three new planned zoning districts specific to the GWA also have been developed since the GWAPs adoption, Frederick said, noting they encourage master planning and flexibility. The Planned Development Mixed-Use zoning district allows for integration of residential and nonresidential land uses to provide unified, pedestrian-oriented site design. Frederick said the goal of that zoning is to allow people to live, work and play in one area. Planned Development Business zoning allows for coordinated, multi-unit, multi-use commercial development and would be aimed at intensive commercial usage, he added. Lastly, the Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND) zoning district allows for a compact, efficient and classic residential development pattern with some integrated commercial uses. The zoning district is a new concept for rural communities, but provides a unique-type of development which gives citizens a sense of place, Frederick explained.

Zoning map amendments and the approval of new developments will follow the typical planning process, he said, including public hearings.

But, since the approval is ultimately for a generalized plan of development, the review materials consist of highly-visual plans, renderings and graphics, Frederick added. The public gets more to see as part of the process, which is intended to encourage more engagement and input.

Transportation planning is another asset where the communitys input is invited.

In the past two years, traffic engineers have joined the steering committees efforts to provide the GWA a safe and efficient road network that works in harmony with the development vision, provides for choice of travel modes and enhances the quality of the development.

Bill Wuensch, a transportation engineer with Charlottesvilles EPR, presented transportation strategies he said the county hopes will make it a place people and industries want to locate to in the future.

What goes hand-in-hand with that is a quality transportation system, where we can avoid having a lot of congestion in the future as Rt. 3 traffic builds, he said. A transportation network within the new development area that is efficient and allows people to walk, bike and really enhance the sense of place to have a really quality development, is another goal.

Access management would limit the driveway access to Rt. 3, which is the countys only major arterial roadway in the area and continues to get busier, making for safer and more efficient traveling, Wuensch said.

Another strategy the steering committee plans to incorporate in the GWA is internal connectivity, which he said will create high connectivity of local roads to provide multiple routes between destinations, allowing local trips to be completed on local roads without the need to use arterial highways.

Multimodal street designs are also being proposed. They will accommodate various modes of transportation and allow people to travel safely without having to use a vehicle, he added.

The countys ideas for Rt. 3 are being coordinated with regional efforts to make the arterial highway network more efficient and safe, explained Anthony Donald of the firm Michael Baker International. The firm is working on the Virginia Department of Transportations (VDOT) Route 3 Arterial Management Plan, which is a program looking to ensure the safety and preserve the capacity of the arterial highway, accommodating economic development without wide-scale road widenings.

Donald said the goal of their study is to provide Orange County a long-range plan to ensure a safe and efficient roadway network. The firm has conducted field visits, operational reviews, traffic counts, crash data reviews and analysis of existing conditions as part of its study. Two public meetings will be held to gather community input. A finalized report and recommendations are expected to be presented to the public in December or January.

Water and wastewater were other topics citizens heard about during last weeks update. Representatives from the countys engineering firms Draper Aden and Wiley|Wilson presented projected demand as well as existing needs and infrastructure.

At build-out of the GWAP, water demands are estimated at 7 million gallons a day (MGD), while the Rapidan Service Authority (RSA) has an existing capacity of 1.6 MGD and current water needs are an estimated between 1 and 1.2 MGD. Additional treatment capacity likely will be required by 2025 if the high growth build-out demand is realized, according to Draper Aden.

RSA is permitted 3 MGD from the Rapidan River, however, that is still 4 MGD less than would be required for future demands. The firm will continue to research additional water sources and future needs.

Draper Aden representatives said the information wasnt presented to cause panic, but rather so the county can start thinking about other options.

According to Wiley|Wilson, RSAs Wilderness Shores Wastewater Treatment plant has a capacity of 2 MGD, only half of which is used currently. However, in the next 15-20 years, the plant would require an expansion to meet an anticipated 4 MGD capacity, and in 30-50 years the plant likely would need a capacity of 6 MGD or a new wastewater treatment plant would need to be built.

While future water and wastewater demands were a sobering thought for those in attendance, so too were the projected costs of services associated with the countys vision for the area.

The primary driver of this plan is economic developmentattracting business investment that attracts jobscreating higher tax revenues to pay for the services, Orange County Administrator Bryan David said. One thing this plan does is sets an expectation for this area that the revenues for economic development should parallel the increase in the level of services.

White agreed.

Only about 22 percent of the countys revenue comes from the residential real estate tax, he explained. We have a $100 million budget, so $22 million comes from the taxes we all paid on our homes. The rest largely comes from our economy and thats why economic development and building the economy is so important.

Localities want their citizens to buy locally because it supports their community, he added, which is an underlying theme of the GWAmaking it a self-contained area where people can live, work and play.

The economy needs us to have that commitment to the community, he said. Sometimes we have to shop outside the county. I dont like doing it, but maybe one day we can do less of it. The more the economic wheel can grow and turn, the more it offsets and pays for the services were looking for and holds in check the amount we tax our residents.

District 5 Supervisor Lee Frame, who also serves on the steering committee, said the plan allows for the eastern end of the county to be its economic engine while allowing the rural parts of the county to remain as rural as possible.

Frame also invited people to send the steering committee their comments on the plan through the countys website.

Weve tried to make this process as open as possible because it will impact peoples lives, he said.

Documents discussed by the steering committee, including the GWAP itself, can be found on the county website: http://orangecountyva.gov/.

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Plan progress - The Daily Progress