Daily Archives: January 5, 2021

This ARK ETF Is Ready for the Space Industry Boom – ETF Trends

Posted: January 5, 2021 at 2:48 pm

Space is often referred to as the final frontier. Indeed, it is a frontier with massive opportunity for investors and that set can be accessed with the ARK Industrial Innovation ETF (NYSEArca: ARKQ).

The actively managed ARKQ invests in companies that potentially stand to benefit from increased adoption and utilization of robotics and artificial intelligence (AI), including those involved with industrial robotics and automation, non-industrial robots, and autonomous vehicles. Space exploration is also one of the themes the ETF taps into and data confirm that exposure is increasingly relevant.

But over the years, the space industry has grown more complex. There are significantly more providers of satellite equipment and services, and the space market has expanded into new areas, such as space tourism, reports Business Insider. A new research note from Bank of America said the space economy would likely grow by $1 trillion in the next decade.

Space companies derive the majority of revenues directly from their involvement in the space industry, enabling investors to potentially capture this growing segment of the global economy. The Commerce Department is already throwing its support behind the American space industry with ambitious goals for regulatory reform and promotional efforts.

In our view, the space economy will likely grow by over $1tn in the next decade alone. While the COVID-19 pandemic has led to delays in some public and private programs (Arianespace, Rocket Labs, ESA), the outbreak has not appeared detrimental to overall investment, according to Bank of America.

Some of ARKQs space exposure is in sympathy form via the ETFs large weight to Tesla. Tesla founder Elon Musk also started SpaceX, a still private company looking to forge into space exploration and tourism.

If the companys estimates are accurate, SpaceX will be able to save as much as $20mn per Falcon 9 launch by recovering the first stage boosters and fairings, Epstein said. If a rocket completes 10 flights over its lifetime, the company will be able to save over $196mn given current price levels, notes Bank of America.

Additionally, theres a belief that the next wave of growth for the space industry will be coming from broadband internet communication. As a result, the amount of data being generated around the world with many of these new transformational technologies reliant on satellites means bringing some notable names back into play.

For more on disruptive technologies, visit our Disruptive Technology Channel.

The opinions and forecasts expressed herein are solely those of Tom Lydon, and may not actually come to pass. Information on this site should not be used or construed as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation for any product.

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Book Review: Philanthropy – Can the rich save the world? – Independent Catholic News

Posted: at 2:47 pm

Ellen Teague

This has to be the weightiest book I have ever reviewed at more than 700 pages, and the length is the reason I have delayed reading. However, Christmas and New Year is a good time to look into altruism, and there can be no better resource than Paul Vallely's 'Philanthropy: From Aristotle to Zuckerberg'. There is no surprise that this book, which is nothing short of a 'magnus opus', is the result of five years of research.

Clearly, philanthropy - private initiatives for the public good - is a complex issue, interweaving all manner of motivations and intentions, personal and social, political and economic. We hear that both altruism and egoism are at work in philanthropy.

We learn of the scale of wealth of the world's richest people and the philanthropy of some of them. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation alone has a bigger budget than 70 percent of the world's nations. I was surprised how few of the super-rich donate substantial wealth - around nine percent - and those that do get perks out of it, from privileged access to tickets for prestigious events to having a major say on the boards of charities and even at the highest level political gatherings.

A fascinating chapter, 'Survival of the Fattest' starts with a focus on Andrew Carnegie, the rags-to riches philanthropist who was the wealthiest man in the world in the late nineteenth century. Yet, he once said, "he who dies rich, dies disgraced". Carnegie eventually gave away some $350 million, the bulk of his wealth, but it was built on ruthless tactics such as cutting the wages of his steelworkers to increase profits. He built a network of nearly 3,000 libraries and other institutions to help the poor elevate their aspirations, but social justice was absent from his agenda. Then, as now, wealth was concentrated in the hands of a few, almost completely untouched by tax and regulation. Carnegie and his associates, their critics say, neglected the great ethical question of the day, which centred on, "the distribution rather than the redistribution of wealth". Paul asks, "can epic acts of benevolence ever compensate for a lifetime of callous exploitation?"

There was a change in thinking with the founders of the Quaker confectionary companies: Cadbury's, Fry's, and Rowntree's. During the Victorian era, the popularity of chocolate catapulted the three Quaker confectioners into public prominence and they adopted innovative approaches to business. George and Richard Cadbury believed that benevolence was a quality that should inform the whole way a good life is led. They built houses, parks and recreation centres in Bourneville, Birmingham, so that their workers had comfortable accommodation away from city smog. Quaker employers also pioneered pension schemes and lobbied for improved labour laws. They founded charities and philanthropic foundations that continue today. Yet, they realised that philanthropy on its own cannot deliver social justice.

I found myself most fascinated by the sections about today's philanthropists. Philanthropy, it is popularly supposed, transfers money from the rich to the poor. However, in the US barely a fifth of the money donated by big givers goes to the poor. Much goes to the arts, sports teams and other cultural pursuits, and half goes to education and healthcare. The biggest donations in education in 2019 went to the elite universities and schools that the rich themselves had attended. In the UK, in the 10-year period to 2017, more than two-thirds of all millionaire donations - 4.79bn - went to higher education, and half to just two universities: Oxford and Cambridge. When the rich and the middle classes give to schools, they give more to those attended by their own children than to those of the poor. British millionaires in that same decade gave 1.04bn to the arts, and 222m to alleviating poverty.

Much elite philanthropy is about elite causes. It is always an expression of power and giving is often based on the personal whims of super-rich individuals. The philanthropy of Microsoft's Bill Gates has brought huge advances in tackling Malaria, for example, and his knowledge of health threats led him to warn prophetically in 2015 about the dangers of viral pandemics. However, many radical grassroots groups based in the global south question the unaccountability of his power. They suggest there has been an overwhelming focus on developing and promoting new vaccines at the expense of supporting local public health systems. Also, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has invested heavily in genetically modified organism (GMO) research and advocated for genetically modified crops - also a favourite beneficiary of the Sainsbury family - over local agroecology practices to meet food security goals. Indian ecologist Vandana Shiva has challenged "philanthro-imperialism" and said in 2019 that "industrial agriculture is inefficient, unproductive, creates dependency on corporations for eternal inputs, and dependency on global supply chains which impose uniformity on farms."

Paul explores the argument that public goods and services should remain within democratic institutions. The Global Policy Forum, an independent policy watchdog that monitors the work of the United Nations general assembly, warned in 2015, about, "the unpredictable and insufficient financing of public goods, the lack of monitoring and accountability mechanisms, and the prevailing practice of applying business logic to the provision of public goods". Perhaps philanthropists' money might be put to better use if it was collected as taxes and spent according to the priorities of a democratically elected government. In which case, Paul reflects, should the state be giving tax relief to philanthropists at all? The Facebook empire, for example, is one of the top five tech companies in the UK that avoided 1.3 billion in tax in 2018. Paul suggests that, "if Mark Zuckerberg wants to demonstrate the moral seriousness of his philanthropism he should pay more tax." Disposal of power should go alongside disposing of wealth.

A 2017 report by Oxfam called 'An Economy for the 99%' highlighted the injustice and unsustainability of a world suffering from widening levels of inequality: for since the early 1990s, the top 1% of the world's wealthy people have gained more income than the entire bottom 50%. Oxfam's report places the blame firmly with corporations and the global market economies in which they operate. Some kinds of philanthropy may have become not just undemocratic, but anti-democratic. Charles Koch and his late brother, David, are undoubtedly the most prominent example of rightwing philanthropy at work, with the secret funding of climate denial groups by Koch industries. Should philanthropists have so much power to advance their own vision of a better society?

A chapter on celebrity philanthrophy drew heavily on Paul's insights into Bob Geldof's outlook after accompanying him to Africa following the success of LiveAid. He admires how pop stars Geldof and Bono both informed themselves of the structural injustices within the issue of international debt and trade. And yet, he also documents the unease that celebrities were heard at the G8 summit in Gleneagles in July 2015 at the expense of voices from the global south. As one of the half a million people attending 'Make Poverty History' in Scotland a decade earlier who could find only Geldof being interviewed on the television news that evening, I am sympathetic to this, but undoubtedly celebrities helped make Jubilee 2000 in particular the success that it was. Geldof explained to Paul that he has continued his commitment over more than three decades, "because it works".

Of course, Jubilee 2000, Make Poverty History and today's Climate campaigns have a backbone of support from the churches. Church altruism goes back a long way: from Saints Basil the Great and Ambrose in the fourth century talking about almsgiving being redemptive, to Thomas Aquinas endorsing charitable outreach, to the growth in the Caritas network in the 1980s, to Pope Francis calling climate stability a common good and urging action to protect it. Work towards social, economic and environmental justice is firmly on the agenda of the churches. Fossil fuel disinvestment, for example, is a growing area for Christian campaigning, along with positive impact investing in such areas as renewable energy, which will first help poor communities most impacted by a warming world.

The very first question in the book is, "Can the rich save the world?"

There are more philanthropists than ever before, giving tens of billions annually to charitable causes. So how come inequality keeps rising? Paul suggests that fears are growing amongst the super-rich that further growth in inequality, "could lead to the kind of anti-capitalist unrest which might threaten the social order to such a degree that could render philanthropy quite irrelevant." He urges them to abandon top-down initiatives and pet projects and think afresh - forging partnerships with one another, with governments, with the business sector and with communities at the grassroots.

Paul's long-term experience of justice and peace networks, knowledge of the architecture of philanthropy, considerable writing skills and perception have made him the perfect person to write this fascinating book.

Philanthropy: From Aristotle to ZuckerbergPAUL VALLELY(BLOOMSBURY CONTINUUM, 768 PP, 30)Tablet bookshop price 25 Tel 020 7799 4064

Tags: Paul Vallely, Philanthropy, Philanthropy - Can the rich save the world?, Ellen Teague, Charity

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Soundbite: Post Human: Survival Horror by Bring Me The Horizon – The Current – The Student-Run Newspaper of Nova Southeastern University.

Posted: at 2:47 pm

On Oct. 30, experimental rock band Bring Me The Horizon released their nine track EP, Post Human: Survival Horror, a powerful collection of aggressive cyber punk tracks, majorly inspired by the chaos of 2020.

Prior to its release, the band shared several singles including Ludens, which remains one of the strongest on the project, Parasite Eve, an interesting anthem with an intense buildup, Obey, a sarcastic collaboration with YUNGBLUD and Teardrops, which is currently the top streaming song on the bands Spotify page. All four songs are great and Ludens and Teardrops are especially impressive for the masterful way in which they mix hard rock metal energy with impossibly catchy hooks. Parasite Eve is a little too long and intense for casual listening, but it sounds better in the context of the whole EP. Obey (feat. YUNGBLUD) fits the project nicely, but gets quite irritating with repeated listens.

The remaining five songs on the EP are mostly successful. The introductory track, Dear Diary, is a shameless nu-metal track, which jumps into the action without warning. Oliver Sykess screamo vocals set the tone for the rest of the song, so it may not be the type of song you can listen to individually. Three singles follow Dear Diary, and then, comes the electro-metal interlude Itch For The Cure (When Will We Be Free?). Its a fine transition in the center of the EP, but again, it might not be a song thats good for repeated listens.

Two amazing collaborations follow: Kingslayer (feat. BABYMETAL) and 11 (feat. Nova Twins). Although the verses of Kingslayer are a bit forgettable, BABYMETALs chorus is insanely good. It sounds like it belongs in a video game soundtrack a feature that definitely elevated the song beyond anything else Bring Me The Horizon has done in the past and its sure to become a classic in their discography. 11 is even better, boasting the catchiest chorus out of all the songs, but not compromising that gloriously angry, heavy song.

Ludens follows, and alongside 11, its easily one of the strongest in the collection, complete with a slow yet effective build up and an ear-wormy chorus. The concluding track, One Day The Only Butterflies Left Will Be In Your Chest As You March Towards Your Death (feat. Amy Lee), is extremely different from the tracks which precede it. Its quite soft, and Amy Lee of Evanescence has a powerful, ethereal voice, which contributes to a haunting, ambient atmosphere that takes the listener to a whole new world. Its a perfect ending.

Overall, this EP is not flawless, but it captures the frustration, shock and turmoil that this year has put many of us through. Bring Me The Horizon continues to bend genres and create sounds and relatable lyrics that can appeal to anyone.

Related

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Bring Me The Horizon explain delay in "bigger than intended" EP series – NME.com

Posted: at 2:47 pm

Bring Me The Horizon have discussed a delay in the release of the remaining EPs in their Post Human series.

The band released Post Human: Survival Horror at the end of October, and told NME that it would be the first of several EPs under the Post Human banner across the space of 12 months.

Now, in a new interview with Kerrang!, keyboardist Jordan Fish has explained how the project began to get bigger than the band anticipated, leading to delays.

Fish said: We planned to do four EPs in a year, but the last one was almost an album, so I think the spacing will be a bit longer than intended, just because theyre probably going to turn out bigger than intended, he added, while clarifying: That doesnt matter, as long as theyre all really good.

Jordan Fish performs live with Bring Me The Horizon. CREDIT: Getty

Weve been writing on and off for quite a while, so theres a lot of material thats being worked on, he continued. But we havent properly got into the rhythm of writing the next EP yet, well probably do that in the New Year.

Speaking to NME last year about the idea of the project, frontman Oli Sykes said: The idea behind Posthuman is looking at how weve stepped out of evolution and the food chain.

If we can do that, then we can take responsibility for what weve done to the planet and become something better than what humans are right now.

Reviewing Post Human: Survival Horror, NME wrote: Many bands in Bring Me The Horizons shoes would use this opportunity to go full Coldplay with a radio-friendly album primed for mass communication, but not Bring Me. Instead, theyre releasing four EPs across the next year, all themed around how humanity is totally screwed.

What could have been an act of self-sabotage or self-indulgence or both has transpired to be a welcome reminder of all that this band does best, rooted in raw relevance for today and the cyber-punk energy of tomorrow.

Watch Sykes give NME a track-by-track rundown of Post Human: Survival Horror above.

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Survivors of human trafficking find lifeline in task force set up to help them break free – Charleston Post Courier

Posted: at 2:47 pm

For human trafficking survivors, getting away isnt simple.

As difficult as escaping can be, advocates say rebuilding in the Palmetto State requires victims to navigate the justice system, housing, employment and health care, all without a single statewide agency designed to help.

The Tri-County Human Trafficking Task Force brings together a near-exhaustive list of Lowcountry resources,from churches to police departments,to assist survivors as they try to rebuild stable lives. But without steady funding or a full-time staff, its often been difficult to get quick, thorough help to survivors already overwhelmed by the complexities of finding stability and safety.

Everyone has their own lane, were just trying to build an interstate, said Brooke Burris, co-chairwoman of the task force. Weve all been saying it was a crisis cluster, and now its a crisis coordination.

The task force gets a handful of new clients each month, and on average staffers spend about a year helping each one get health care, housing, employment and community support.

Most clients are women who had been forced into sex work, but the task force also helps men and labor trafficking victims. Many are homeless or transient, leaders said, making it difficult to connect them with long-term support.

A solution, staffers hope, will come by the end of 2021: a physical office housed by The Formation Project, where it will be easy for the task forces slew of partners to meet and help survivors. The task force's subcommittees handle child and adult services, community education, law enforcement and legal issues.

Having a neutral location for law enforcement interviews, or to get therapy or work on a resume or do laundry, thats going to be a game-changer, said Kat Wehunt, who survived trafficking herself and went on to found The Formation Project. Weve been providing wraparound services, but were kind of running it into the ground. Were sending (survivors) to over 20 places just to get their basic needs met.

Ideally, community support would allow the service to have a residential center with some health care services beyond the year that the grant covers.

Even the humblest of setups an office near other social services where survivors can meet with law enforcement and advocates without travel and uncertainty would help the task force as it guides survivors on their journey through the system.

One call came from a Spartanburg hospital, where staff were treating a woman in her 30s who had been trafficked. Without money, education or an ID and wary of tipping off a trafficker who worked in government she couldnt get help from any of the local shelters.

We had to start from scratch, Wehunt said. I would say we made maybe 50 referrals for that one client, we used everything we could think of.

The woman is doing well now, Wehunt said. Shes got her own apartment, will soon start a job and volunteer work, and is working with law enforcement to prosecute her trafficker. But it took three months to stabilize the woman, a period that could have disheartened other survivors.

And while it took time and creativity to find the woman services, Burris was grateful they managed to do so at all. For some survivors with specific needs, she said, theyve had to look beyond the Palmetto States borders, such as sending young victims to Georgia for immediate trauma care.

Even that long process is an improvement for law officers who try to help victims navigate piecemeal services while working their cases, said Lauren Knapp, the counter threat project coordinator for the Charleston County Department of Public Safety, a member of the task forces law enforcement subcommittee and co-chairwoman.

Usually it was the police officer hand-holding all these individuals, Knapp said. Any case that Ive seen move anywhere is because a law enforcement agent went above and beyond. Theyre doing more than theyve been asked, but to actually operationalize that, officers need a resource.

To get help in South Carolina, call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 888-373-7888, or text HELP or INFO to 233733. Donations for the task forces shelter initiative can go through theformationproject.org/donate.

Reach Sara Coello at 843-937-5705 and follow her on Twitter @smlcoello.

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Microsoft posts job to ‘rejuvenate’ the design of Windows – Pocket-lint

Posted: at 2:47 pm

(Pocket-lint) - A new job listing points towards an interface redesign for Windows 10 later in 2021-22.

The listingsuggested the following: "On this team, youll work with our key platform, Surface, and OEM partners to orchestrate and deliver a sweeping visual rejuvenation of Windows experiences to signal to our customers that Windows is BACK and ensure that Windows is considered the best user OS experience for customers."

However, the language on the listing has now been softened after the reports.

We've known for a little while that Microsoft is planning a big interface refresh for the operating system and last year softened the look of the start menu, redesigned key icons more in keeping with Microsoft's Fluent Design language and teased elements like a new-look for File Explorer. As more of us are used to using more lightweight operating systems, it seems like Microsoft wants to enhance the usability of Windows as part of the work.

According to a Windows Central report back in October, internal documents from Microsoft suggest that the update - codenamed Sun Valleyt will be "reinvigorating" and is set to modernise the Windows experience. The same report believes the redesign will ship by the end of 2021 in the release currently codenamed Cobalt. The new look is said to be inspired by the upcoming Windows 10 X.

Writing by Dan Grabham.

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Dare County to post info Monday on COVID-19 vaccines for residents 75 and older – OBXToday.com

Posted: at 2:46 pm

[photo courtesy The Outer Banks Hospital]

The Dare County Department of Health & Human Services plans to announce Monday information on how, when, and where to register and receive the COVID-19 vaccine for residents who are 75-years-old or older.

Front line healthcare workers whose duties put them at higher risk of exposure to COVID-19 or who are vital to the initial COVID-19 vaccine response are currently being vaccinated.

More from an update posted Friday on Dare Countys COVID-19 Vaccination information page:

Please understand the state just changed the Priority Phasing three days ago, moving the 75 and over population to the next Priority group for us to vaccinate. This dramatically changed things for health departments across the state.

Dare County is still wrapping up the vaccinations for Priority Phase 1a. We expect to finish this Phase on Tuesday 1/5 and begin to move immediately to the Priority Phase 1b Group 1, which is the 75 and over population.

Dare County is receiving very limited allocations of the vaccine each week so it will take time to vaccinate everyone in this group who wishes to be vaccinated. Patience will be critical.

In time, everyone who wishes to receive a vaccine will be able to get the COVID-19 vaccinations at no cost. We ask for your patience as we work through the Prioritization phase groups that we are required to follow according to North Carolina Department of Health & Human Services.

The North Carolina Department of Health & Human Services issued revisions to Prioritization Phases on Thursday, which can be found here.

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Human Connection Will Be Essential During The Holiday Season For Residents Battling An Addiction – WEMU

Posted: at 2:46 pm

The Washtenaw Chapter of Families Against Narcotics, also known as FAN, says, now more than ever because of the pandemic, its important to reach out to friends and family who are battling addictions like alcohol or drugs.

Social distancing has kept many friends and family members physically away from each other to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, but FAN says the isolation can be even more difficult during the holiday season for people recovering from an addiction. Mario Nanos is president of FAN and recommends to connect over the phone or virtually with those in recovery.

Mario Nanos: When I see somebody that I miss and Im on a Zoom call, thats better. Its better than not seeing them at all.

Nanos says that if you plan to host a virtual New Years Eve party, you may want to consider not having your guests drink alcohol on camera if someone in the group is recovering from alcohol addiction.

Non-commercial, fact based reporting is made possible by your financial support.Make your donation to WEMU todayto keep your community NPR station thriving.

Like 89.1WEMUonFacebookand follow us onTwitter

Jorge Avellan is a reporter for 89.1WEMUNews.Contact him at 734.487.3363 or email himjavellan@emich.edu

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Holiday hangover? Therapists say post-holiday fatigue may be worse this year because of pandemic – WAVY.com

Posted: at 2:46 pm

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) Are you dragging yourself out of bed, struggling to get back into a routine? Bummed that the holidays are over? Well, youre not alone. All of those feelings are part of something called post-holiday fatigue.

As we come out of the most wonderful time of the year, were also coming out of a really hectic time of the year.

For most people, from Thanksgiving to New Years Day, your life pretty much shifts, said Abby Morgan, a licensed clinical social worker and owner of Sea Level Counseling and Wellness in Norfolk.

Morgan says holidays are filled with excitement, but they are also filled with stress. Stress increases adrenaline and cortisol. When hormones drop off after the holidays, we feel it.

Maggie Grindrod, a behavioral health therapist with Sentara said, Theres been a high and with the high is going to come a crash, right? For a lot of people, thats what comes with the holiday blues. Theres all this excitement and there are presents and there are festivities and then its back to normal and we kind of crash and its a bummer.

Grindrod says this year, with the coronavirus pandemic still looming, the post-holiday blues will be worse than normal

Not only is it probably going to be more intense for many people, but longer lasting because when the holidays are over, that uncertainty, that change to the routine is still going to be there because of the pandemic, Grindrod said.

So how can we get through this period? Grindod and Morgan say give yourself some grace, know that youre not alone, and do your best to incorporate healthy habits.

As human beings, were adaptable and were able to shift, even if its scary and we dont really know, said Morgan. I think being able to kind of remind ourselves of what we went through and whats going on now and our intentions moving forward can be really empowering.

The therapists say getting back to a normal routine is also helpful.

For more information, visit the National Alliance on Mental Illness website.

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The potential post-traumatic legacy of the Covid pandemic – The Guardian

Posted: at 2:46 pm

Adrian James (Covid poses greatest threat to mental health since second world war, 27 December) sees clearly that a pervasive problem like the pandemic, over which most people have only limited control and many potential points of vulnerability, is likely to leave a legacy of poor mental health on a scale not seen since the battle of the Somme. With a year to prepare, the Johnson government has failed to promote personal resilience a key lesson from preventing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in military populations and so this winter millions of Britons look ahead helplessly to a grim time indeed.

However, there is still a policy area that could reduce population illness: tackling the shocking level of health inequalities. A steep gradient of social inequality damages both physical and mental health. That damage is especially long-lasting for children at the bottom of the heap. James suggests 10 million more people will need mental health services (including 1.5 million children), but there is not much chance that existing services can be beefed up that much during 2021. Boris Johnson talks about levelling up children and families as if we were all just another brick in the wall. Starting at a community level, we need to ask families what would make a difference for them, facing the future.

As I learned from commissioning Sure Starts, hope and resilience in a population are much stronger and long-lasting if they are homegrown.Woody CaanSpecial interest group for mental health, Faculty of Public Health; former chair of the School Health Research Group

Having recently retired after a long career as a consultant psychiatrist, I welcome the increased awareness of the possible impact of Covid-19 on the mental health of the population. The statement by the president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists highlights the ongoing Cinderella status of mental health services compared with physical health, and reiterates the need for parity of esteem and funding.

However, the apocalyptic predictions of national mental health collapse are based on a raft of assumptions, and risk medicalising the normal and appropriate human response to an unprecedented public health emergency. The Centre for Mental Healths assertion that up to 20% of the population ie 10 million people, including 1.5 million children will need mental health support is based primarily on a study of self-reported anxiety/depression (the symptoms or feelings, not illnesses) in March and April this year, when many of us were understandably very worried and very unhappy. Their estimates for increased rates of anxiety, depression and PTSD in children are based on studies following human or natural disasters such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes etc, and are not directly comparable with Covid. By overstating the entirely reasonable case for improved mental health services, there is a danger that many people who would not otherwise seek health services put those with more serious illnesses (relapses, new-onset psychosis, drug/alcohol dependence) at a competitive disadvantage and pathologise normal human reactions to adversity. As Nils Bohr said, prediction is very difficult, especially if its about the future. Dr Cliff SharpMelrose, Scottish Borders

I was moved by Alexandra Toppings article (What mental health impact of second world war tells us about post-Covid life, 27 December) but wished it had mentioned the impact on members of the armed forces and their families during and after the second world war. I and a close friend suffered the behaviour of fathers who fought in the war. Clearly, we were not isolated cases. Both our fathers emerged from the war as violent and self-destructive alcoholics who, because of cultural stoicism, rarely if ever discussed their experiences the trauma of combat and witnessing the wars impact in Europe and north Africa.

My dad was 18 when he joined the army. Hed never left Glasgow, then was catapulted on to the world stage. Can you imagine spending the six most formative years of your life like that, seeing the worst of the human race? Having to kill other young people? Fight at Monte Cassino? Pick up the pieces after the devastating bombing of Dresden and Hamburg?

I am fed up with the sentimental, jingoistic tosh around the war. Its held us back as a nation because its never allowed us to really examine the impact of that war on the generation that fought it, supported it or the subsequent generation of boomers. As for the use of cheap war tropes by wannabe-Churchill politicians to manipulate and coerce the population during the pandemic well, enough said. We need to grow up and move on.Jane Easton Bristol

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