NewzIntel.com

Category: Great Britain

  • MIL-OSI USA: ERO Boston arrests Dominican national convicted of drug charges in Massachusetts

    Source: US Immigration and Customs Enforcement

    BOSTON — Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston apprehended an unlawfully present 33-year-old Dominican national charged with assault and battery on a household member, destruction of property, indecent exposure, carjacking, two counts of trafficking a controlled substance, and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. Officers with ERO Boston arrested Luis Esmeraldo Rodriguez Aug. 12 in Roxbury. The U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts arraigned Rodriguez Sept. 16 for unlawfully reentering the United States after having been previously removed.

    “Not only has Luis Esmeraldo Rodriguez has displayed a complete disregard for U.S. immigration laws — he also attempted to use our Massachusetts neighborhoods to peddle poison to our residents,” said ERO Boston acting Field Office Director Patricia H. Hyde. “Now he has been charged with some much more severe offenses and clearly poses a threat to our community. ERO Boston will continue to prioritize the safety of our public by aggressively apprehending and removing egregious noncitizen offenders from New England.”

    U.S. Border Patrol apprehended Rodriguez Nov. 23, 2014, after he unlawfully entered the United States near Laredo, Texas, without inspection, admission or parole by a U.S. immigration official.

    On Jan. 16, 2015, ERO Batavia served Rodriguez with a notice to appear before a Department of Justice immigration judge.

    A Department of Justice immigration judge in Batavia, New York, granted Rodriguez an immigration bond Feb.18, 2015.

    On May 12, 2015, a Department of Justice immigration judge in Batavia ordered Rodriguez removed from the United States to the Dominican Republic.

    The U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts arraigned Rodriguez on a charge of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribute fentanyl and an additional charge of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl. The court convicted Rodriguez of those charges Feb. 27, 2019, and sentenced him to 30 months in prison.

    ERO Philadelphia arrested Rodriguez Feb. 15, 2020, after his release from state prison and removed him from the United States to the Dominican Republic Feb. 18, 2024.

    Rodriguez unlawfully reentered the United States on an unknown date, at an unknown location, without inspection, admission or parole by a U.S. immigration official.

    The Roxbury District Court arraigned Rodriguez June 10 on charges of assault and battery of a household member, destruction of property, indecent exposure, carjacking, two counts of trafficking a controlled substance, and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

    Later that day, ERO lodged an immigration detainer against Rodriguez with the Suffolk County House of Corrections in Boston.

    Officers with ERO Boston arrested Rodriguez Aug. 12 at the Roxbury District Court and served him with a notice of intent/decision to reinstate a prior removal order.

    The U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts arraigned Rodriguez Sept. 16 on a charge of unlawful reentry into the United States after removal.

    As part of its mission to identify and arrest removable noncitizens, ERO lodges immigration detainers against noncitizens who have been arrested for criminal activity and taken into custody by state or local law enforcement. An immigration detainer is a request from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to state or local law enforcement agencies to notify ICE as early as possible before a removable noncitizen is released from their custody. Detainers request that state or local law enforcement agencies maintain custody of the noncitizen for a period not to exceed 48 hours beyond the time the individual would otherwise be released, allowing ERO to assume custody for removal purposes in accordance with federal law.

    Detainers are critical public safety tools because they focus enforcement resources on removable noncitizens who have been arrested for criminal activity. Detainers increase the safety of all parties involved — ERO personnel, law enforcement officials, the removable noncitizens and the public — by allowing an arrest to be made in a secure and controlled custodial setting as opposed to at-large within the community. Since detainers result in the direct transfer of a noncitizen from state or local custody to ERO custody, they also minimize the potential that an individual will reoffend. Additionally, detainers conserve scarce government resources by allowing ERO to take criminal noncitizens into custody directly rather than expending resources locating these individuals at-large.

    ERO conducts removals of individuals without a lawful basis to remain in the United States, including at the order of immigration judges with the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review. The Executive Office for Immigration Review is a separate entity from the Department of Homeland Security and ICE. Immigration judges in these courts make decisions based on the merits of each individual case, determining if a noncitizen is subject to a final order of removal or eligible for certain forms of relief from removal.

    As one of ICE’s three operational directorates, ERO is the principal federal law enforcement authority in charge of domestic immigration enforcement. ERO’s mission is to protect the homeland through the arrest and removal of those who undermine the safety of U.S. communities and the integrity of U.S. immigration laws, and its primary areas of focus are interior enforcement operations, management of the agency’s detained and non-detained populations, and repatriation of noncitizens who have received final orders of removal. ERO’s workforce consists of more than 7,700 law enforcement and non-law enforcement support personnel across 25 domestic field offices and 208 locations nationwide, 30 overseas postings, and multiple temporary duty travel assignments along the border.

    Members of the public can report crimes and suspicious activity by dialing 866-DHS-2-ICE (866-347-2423) or completing the online tip form.

    Learn more about ICE’s mission to increase public safety in our New England communities on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @EROBoston.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Everything Liz Saville Roberts said in her speech to annual conference

    Source: Party of Wales

    Our Westminster parliamentary leader, Liz Saville Roberts, gave the closing speech to the annual conference.

    Diolch yn fawr, Gynhadledd.

    Mae’n bleser siarad efo chi ar derfyn deuddydd gwych o sgwrsio, o drafod syniadau, a chwrdd â ffrindiau hen a newydd.

    Dwi’n falch o’r cysylltiadau sydd ganddon ni fel plaid. Ro’n i’n falch o glywed Stephen Gethins ddoe o’r SNP – wrth gwrs mae hir draddodiad ganddon ni o gael rhywun o’n chwaer blaid yr SNP i’n cynhadledd.

    Ro’n i’n falch iawn o glywed John Finucane o Sinn Fein. Mae’n gysylltiad gweddol newydd rydyn ni’n ei gryfhau wrth ei gael yma yn siarad heddiw.

    A dwi’n meddwl ‘mod i’n siarad dros bawb pan dwi’n dweud bod yr anerchiad gan Lysgennad Palesteina, Husam Zomlot, yn un o’r pethau mwyaf grymus dwi erioed wedi ei glywed mewn cynhadledd Plaid Cymru.

    A dwi’n falch hefyd o’ch annerch heddiw fel arweinydd y Grŵp cryfaf sydd gan Plaid Cymru erioed wedi bod yn San Steffan.

    Dani wedi cael cyfnod prysur a dweud y lleia.

    Er bod nifer ohonom wedi bod yn hir aros yr etholiad, roedd amseriad yr Etholiad Cyffredinol yn syndod i bron bob un ohonom – gan gynnwys Rishi Sunak yn hynny o beth!

    Ond, fe wnaethom ateb yr alwad fel plaid.

    Dwi’n hynod falch bod Plaid Cymru wedi sicrhau’r gyfran uchaf o’r bleidlais mewn Etholiad San Steffan yn hanes ein plaid!

    Mae’n rhaid i mi ddiolch i’r gwirfoddolwyr ar draws Cymru gyfan a’n helpodd i gnocio ar ddrysau a gyrru’r ymgyrch i lwyddiant.

    Rhaid i mi roi diolch arbennig i griw Dwyfor Meirionnydd, ac yn arbennig, arbennig, i fy asiant Arwyn Herald gyda’r gwaith arwrol, amyneddgar, lliwgar, ieithgar weithiau! A’r holl luniau yn ystod yr ymgyrch yn yr etholaeth newydd sbon – sydd gyda llaw yn fwy na Luxembourg!

    Ar y nodyn cychwynol yma hefyd – yn drist iawn, mi gollon ni un o’n cefnogwyr mwyaf brwd yn ddiweddar. Roedd Dewi Pws yn arwr cenedlaethol, ond i mi hefyd yn gymydog, yn ffrind ac yn ymgyrchydd brwd. Yr hyn roedd Dewi yn ei wneud yn unigryw oedd gyrru yr achos cenedlaethol, nid ag och a gwae ond â gwên ar ei wyneb.

    Daeth Dewi a Rhiannon lond trol o hapusrwydd i Nefyn.

    Roedd o’n genedlaethwr i’r carn, ac yn enghraifft i ni gyd.

    Diolch am bopeth, Dewi Pws.

    Roedden ni’n gwybod ein bod ni’n wynebu cyd-destun anodd wrth fynd i mewn i’r etholiad cyffredinol.

    Ond gyda’ch gwaith caled chi a’ch ymroddiad chi, mae gennym dîm cryf a phenderfynol newydd yn San Steffan.

    A dwi eisiau troi atyn nhw fesul un rwan.

    Mae’r ymryddawn Ben Lake wedi’i ddychwelyd gyda chyfran uwch o’r bleidlais – supermajority bron – yng Ngheredigion Preseli newydd.

    Arweiniodd Ann Davies ymgyrch gampus yng Nghaerfyrddin a phwy all anghofio’r ddelwedd eiconig o Ann yn cael ei chanu oddi ar y platfform i gyfeiliant Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau ar ei thrên cyntaf i Lundain?

    Mae etholiad Llinos Medi yn Ynys Môn yn profi bod pobl yn ysu am wleidyddion sy’n cael eu gyrru gan angerdd dros eu cymunedau ac ysfa i wella bywydau pobl.

    Y gair i ddisgrifio Llinos? Ysbrydoledig. Mae Ynys Môn yn mor lwcus o dy gael di.

    Nid yn unig enillon ni ein seddi targed ond cawsom ganlyniadau gwych ar hyd a lled Cymru – Caerdydd, Llanelli, Bangor Aberconwy. Diolch yn fawr i ymgeiswyr ar draws Gymru am ymgyrch ragorol.

    Rhan allweddol o’n llwyddiant yn yr etholiad oedd perfformiad ein harweinydd Rhun ap Iorwerth. Roedd o’n bwerdy yn y cyfryngau. Oherwydd Rhun, roedd llais Cymru i’w glywed yn yr etholiad. Mae o wedi codi proffil Plaid Cymru. Felly diolch yn fawr iti, Rhun.

    We have every reason therefore to be hopeful for the future.

    Another reason to be hopeful is that we played our part in kicking out the Tories out of Wales.

    They may still be the second largest party in Westminster, but they are a spent force in Wales.  

    Let us be clear:

    Plaid is the official opposition for Wales in Westminster. Not the Conservatives.

    We will do what the opposition are supposed to do – hold the Government of the day to account.

    As I speak with you today, it is UK Labour’s 100th day in office – and what have we seen so far?

    They have maintained the cruel two child benefit cap.

    Cut winter fuel payments for over half a million pensioners in Wales, just as energy prices have increased by 10%.

    Overseen the end of steelmaking in Wales despite claiming they had a plan to save it.

    Continued to give Israel a carte blanche for its actions in the Middle East in defiance of international law.

    From ‘Change’ to 100 days of continuity.

    We were promised the sunlit uplands of a UK Labour Government supposedly working in partnership with the Labour Government in Cardiff.

    The reality is much different, with Wales continuing to have a child-parent, supplicant-master, relationship with Westminster, with Labour in Wales following orders.

    Sue Gray has recently been appointed an ‘envoy for the nations and regions’ – a backwards term for an outdated way of governing.

    But she didn’t even bother to turn up to her first meeting in Edinburgh.

    Non-job. Non-starter. Labour have no understanding of Wales.

    Let me give you two examples.

     

    This month marks 5 years since the Thomas Commission report recommended the full-scale devolution of justice and policing to Wales.

    This isn’t a nice to have – this is fundamental if we want to make a fairer and healthier society.

    Due to the crisis in our prisons, prisoners are being released early, and yet some are re-offending to avoid being homeless.

    With a devolved system we could divert people away from prison ending Wales’ status as having the highest imprisonment rate in Western Europe.

    It would also be a way of ensuring that those who are released are fully supported by housing and health services – reducing the reoffending rate in the process.

    Yet UK Labour is not interested in allowing Wales to do this, despite a fully devolved justice system being the policy of the Welsh Labour Government.

    Labour in Wales also nominally want the Crown Estate devolved, yet Eluned Morgan isn’t even asking her boss Keir Starmer for these powers.

    It is left to Plaid Cymru to lead where Labour fail.

    We are campaigning to ensure that it is the people of Wales who benefit from the use of Welsh natural resources – not the Monarchy.

    The millions of pounds that could be generated from a devolved Crown Estate could be transformative for our communities.   

    Profit from the Scottish Crown Estate is directly transferred to Scottish councils to support community benefit projects.

    Last year £11.2 million was transferred to councils, with those in deprived areas such as the Highlands prioritised for funding.

    Conference. Let’s say it clearly: if Scotland can, so – can – Wales.

    UK Labour have brushed aside the idea of devolving the Crown Estate instead promising that GB Energy will solve Wales’ energy needs.

    But where is the evidence of HOW it will reduce bills?

    We can do so much better than this.

    Plaid Cymru’s plan for cheaper energy bills starts right here, in our communities. We would expand community energy projects – where the power generated locally is used locally, and it’s sold to our people at affordable prices.

    Just yesterday, Llinos Medi MP on this stage called for regional pricing – a bold idea that energy prices should reflect where it’s produced.

    Wales is an energy powerhouse, yet we’re paying the most!

    We in the north pay the highest standing charges in all of Britain.

    It’s outrageous. Plaid Cymru will scrap these unjust standing charges once and for all.

    Imagine the difference that would make in an energy-rich nation like ours.

    For our low-income families, we would also introduce a social tariff to protect them from skyrocketing prices. And we would fund it by making sure those with vast, unearned wealth finally pay their fair share.

    This is more than just lowering bills – this is about fairness, about justice, and about Wales taking charge of our future.

    No more empty promises – it’s time our communities see the REAL benefits of the energy we produce.

    Labour is tired and letting us down.

    They are continuing the failed status quo which people in Wales know isn’t working.

    Wales needs a fresh start, and Plaid Cymru are the Government in waiting ready to provide the bold change and vision our nation needs.

    In rural areas where young people are often forced to leave their communities to look for opportunities further afield.

    Plaid Cymru have already acted to address the problem of second homes but must do more to increase access to housing and jobs.

    Wales could draw on international examples where other countries are already acting such as in Western Australia where they run successful promotional campaign to draw workers to fill roles in public services, and regions of Spain which use their tax systems to incentivise people to stay in their communities.

    These are examples of creative ideas that Wales could emulate with the right powers and the right ambition.

    If we look at industrial areas, we see the managed decline of historic industries such as steel in Port Talbot.

    Whilst this is a complete economic misstep, there is an opportunity through the development of floating offshore wind in the Celtic Sea for places like Port Talbot to thrive once again if we maximise the benefit by ensuring local supply chains are used.

    If we look at our valleys, there is a strong community spirit that is untapped.  We want to change that with an economic vision centred on community wealth building.

    Plaid Cymru is offering the bold ambitious vision for the whole of Wales – we are ready to be the change that Wales needs.

    As we look to the future, there are many challenges, but I am increasingly hopeful for the future of Wales.

    Plaid Cymru is offering the bold ambitious vision for the whole of Wales – we are ready to be the change that Wales needs.

    We will take this positive message forward into 2026.

    Conference lets go forward together, let’s bring about the change we want to see and bring the people of Wales on the journey with us.

    Ymlaen!

    Diolch yn fawr.

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Ultra-processed foods: Why Public Health warnings could backfire Scientists say issuing blanket advice against UPFs would be premature Least well off could actually end up switching to LESS healthy foods More research is needed first into the links between these products and poor health :east well-off may be most affected if blanket pubic health warnings issued without more scientific evidence.

    Source: University of Aberdeen

    Professor Alexandra JohnstoenScientists say issuing blanket advice against UPFs would be prematureLeast well off could actually end up switching to LESS healthy foodsMore research is needed first into the links between these products and poor health:east well-off may be most affected if blanket pubic health warnings issued without more scientific evidence.
    Premature warnings to consumers to avoid eating all ultra-processed food products have likely social costs and may harm the health of people facing food poverty – at least in the short term.
    This is the clear message to policymakers in a newly-published perspective article from Professors Alexandra Johnstone from the Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health, University of Aberdeen and Eric Robinson of the University of Liverpool.
    They say that until the link between ultra-processed foods (UPFs) and poor health is better understood, the focus of official public advice should remain on avoiding known threats: high fat, sugar and salt content.
    Issuing formal warnings about UPFs in the UK – which some other countries have done – could be counter-productive, leading some people to switch to alternatives that are not classified as ultra-processed but are less nutritious than what they were consuming before, they argue.
    And they highlight the potential “social cost for many people with more limited resources” of removing convenient options and the possible negative mental health impacts on “those who worry about their health or live with eating disorders, particularly if social circumstances make avoiding UPFs difficult”.
    The article – published by PLOS Medicine as part of a collection on the subject of UPFs – concludes: “Based on the balance of current evidence, we do not believe it is appropriate to be advising consumers to avoid all UPFs and we await further evidence to inform consumer guidance on the need to limit consumption of specifics foods based on their degree or type of processing.
    “We know with certainty that foods which are energy dense and/or high in saturated fat, salt or sugar are detrimental to health and we should continue to advise consumers to limit consumption of these foods. Likewise, we should be encouraging consumption of health promoting foods, like fruits, vegetables and wholegrains.

    We must guard against the possibility that the people in our society who are already most at risk of not being able to afford to eat healthily are not put in an even worse position as we continue to investigate the links between some ultra-processed foods and poor health.” Professor Alexandra Johnstone

    “Mechanistic uncertainty over food processing and health should not prevent immediate and much needed public health policy to regulate the food industry in order to dramatically reduce the advertisement, availability and dominance of foods high in energy and/or saturated fat, salt or sugar on national diets.
    “However, mechanistic uncertainty should determine how the public are communicated to and play a central role in determining public advice and emerging national dietary guidance on UPFs and food processing health risks.”
    Pressure to issue guidance against eating UPFs – which account for a significant part of national diet  – has mounted in the media and elsewhere because of consistent evidence from a growing number of observational studies that they are linked to poor health outcomes.
    But many UPFs are also high in fat, sugar and salt and as yet, the Food Standards Agency believe other possible causes of ill health from consuming them “have not yet been fully explained by the science” and so specific public guidance has not been issued.
    Food Standards Scotland (FSS) warned in March that “there is a risk that the emphasis on ultra-processed foods creates a distraction from the key diet issues where there is robust evidence for action, i.e. high fat, salt and sugar foods, thereby providing further impetus for FSS to provide clear consumer messaging on this issue.” FSS has since published its organisational position on the topic, alongside consumer facing advice, reaffirming these conclusions.
    Professor Johnstone said: “We must guard against the possibility that the people in our society who are already most at risk of not being able to afford to eat healthily are not put in an even worse position as we continue to investigate the links between some ultra-processed foods and poor health.
    “We need more high-quality mechanistic research in humans, using controlled diets, to tease out the effects of nutrient profile and ultra-processing per se. Diet reformulation and diet quality are two key aspects of our food environment and alongside affordability, these remain food system challenges.”
    Professor Robinson said: “Foods classed as ultra-processed which are high in fat, salt and/or sugar should be avoided, but a number of ultra-processed foods are not. We should be thinking very carefully about what advice is being given to the public, as opposed to providing simplified and potentially misleading messages that grab headlines.”

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: New Collaboration Model For The Wee Ferintosh Bus

    Source: Scotland – Highland Council

    Issued in partnership with Communities in Motion and The Highland Council

    Communities in Motion CT (CiMCT) and The Highland Council (THC) have signed a new form of collaboration agreement that secures the services of the highly acclaimed Wee Ferintosh Bus.

    From Monday 2 December 2024, thanks to the long-term support of THC, CiMCT will run the Wee Bus, seven days a week, with a team of paid and volunteer staff.

    This announcement coincides with Community Transport Week. This is a week-long celebration of the impact of local, non-profit transport projects and services across the UK, which is being led by the Community Transport Association (CTA). Between 14 and 18 October 2024, communities across the UK are celebrating the vital role and inspiring work of Community Transport in helping millions of people to stay independent, participate in their communities and access essential public services and employment.

    Angus Watson, Chair of CiMCT said: “It’s a real privilege to be the first Chair of Communities in Motion CT as this new Charity pulls together, and benefits from, all the fantastic efforts of many volunteers and organisations who have been working tirelessly over many years to introduce this essential community service. 

    Specific recognition and thanks go to The Highland Council’s Community Transport team for their unwavering support, professional guidance and belief in the vision, for our charity to further develop community transport for the community, in the community, by the community.

    As we move forward with the brilliant support of our community volunteers and soon to be appointed staff, I have no doubt the Wee bus will go from strength to strength, continuing the critical service that our neighbours now enjoy, while endeavouring to resolve more community transport solutions.”

    Councillor Ken Gowans, Chair of the Council’s Economy and Infrastructure Committee said: “I would like to thank everyone involved for all their collaboration and hard work to get to this exciting stage. Creating this sustainable transport provision tailored to meet the needs of those living in and visiting the Black Isle is a great achievement.   The commitment of everyone involved to make this a success reflects the vibrant, community-led push to achieve a more accessible, more frequent and more sustainable service for local residents.”

    He added: “It is very fitting that this announcement about the Wee Bus Service is being made at the start of Community Transport Week as the theme this year is “Celebrating Community Solutions” which is all about celebrating how accessible, inclusive and affordable transport is fostering stronger and more connected communities.”

    Becky Richmond, Chair of Ferintosh Community Council said: “It has been fantastic to witness the tremendous effort from FCC and its volunteers in providing community transport for our residents. The establishment of CiMCT not only secures the future of the Wee Bus for Ferintosh but also provides a platform for looking at the wider transport aspirations of the Black Isle Community as outlined in the newly registered Black Isle Local Place Plan.”

    Bookings for the Wee Ferintosh Bus can be made by calling 07387 364541 or through email: weeferintoshbus@gmail.com

    ENDS

    Communities in Motion CT (CiMCT) and The Highland Council (THC) have signed a new form of collaboration agreement that secures the services of the highly acclaimed Wee Ferintosh Bus.

    From Monday 2nd December 2024, thanks to the long-term support of THC, CiMCT will run the Wee Bus, seven days a week, with a team of paid and volunteer staff.

    This announcement coincides with Community Transport Week. This is a week-long celebration of the impact of local, non-profit transport projects and services across the UK, which is being led by the Community Transport Association (CTA). Between 14 and 18 October 2024, communities across the UK are celebrating the vital role and inspiring work of Community Transport in helping millions of people to stay independent, participate in their communities and access essential public services and employment.

    Angus Watson, Chair of CiMCT said: “It’s a real privilege to be the first Chair of Communities in Motion CT as this new Charity pulls together, and benefits from, all the fantastic efforts of many volunteers and organisations who have been working tirelessly over many years to introduce this essential community service. 

    Specific recognition and thanks go to The Highland Council’s Community Transport team for their unwavering support, professional guidance and belief in the vision, for our charity to further develop community transport for the community, in the community, by the community.

    As we move forward with the brilliant support of our community volunteers and soon to be appointed staff, I have no doubt the Wee bus will go from strength to strength, continuing the critical service that our neighbours now enjoy, while endeavouring to resolve more community transport solutions.”

    Councillor Ken Gowans, Chair of the Council’s Economy and Infrastructure Committee said: “I would like to thank everyone involved for all their collaboration and hard work to get to this exciting stage. Creating this sustainable transport provision tailored to meet the needs of those living in and visiting the Black Isle is a great achievement.   The commitment of everyone involved to make this a success reflects the vibrant, community-led push to achieve a more accessible, more frequent and more sustainable service for local residents.”

    He added: “It is very fitting that this announcement about the Wee Bus Service is being made at the start of Community Transport Week as the theme this year is “Celebrating Community Solutions” which is all about celebrating how accessible, inclusive and affordable transport is fostering stronger and more connected communities.”

    Becky Richmond, Chair of Ferintosh Community Council said: “It has been fantastic to witness the tremendous effort from FCC and its volunteers in providing community transport for our residents. The establishment of CiMCT not only secures the future of the Wee Bus for Ferintosh but also provides a platform for looking at the wider transport aspirations of the Black Isle Community as outlined in the newly registered Black Isle Local Place Plan.”

    Bookings for the Wee Ferintosh Bus can be made by calling 07387 364541 or through email: weeferintoshbus@gmail.com

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: India and Colombia sign Audio-Visual Co-Production Agreement to boost film co-production and cultural ties

    Source: Government of India (2)

    Posted On: 15 OCT 2024 7:18PM by PIB Delhi

    India and Columbia have signed the Audio-Visual Co-Production Agreement which will enable Indian and Colombian film producers to utilize a platform for collaboration on various facets of film making. The agreement is expected to deepen the engagement between the critical sectors of the film industries of both countries thereby, unfolding a new chapter of collaboration. The agreement was signed by the Honourable Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting Dr. L. Murugan and His Excellency Mr. Jorge Enrique Rojas Rodriguez, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Colombia to India.

    Colombia – 17th Country to sign Audio Visual co-production Agreement with India

    The agreement between India and Columbia is expected to benefit producers from both the countries in pooling their creative, artistic, technical, financial and marketing resources for the co-production. It will also lead to exchange of art and culture and create goodwill among the people of both the countries thereby boosting cultural ties.

    The agreement will also provide an opportunity to create and showcase India’s ‘Soft Power’ and lead to employment generation among artistic, technical and non-technical human resources engaged in film production including post-production and marketing.

    The Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Dr L Murugan, highlighted the strengthening cultural and cooperative ties between India and Colombia. Speaking on the long-standing relationship, the Minister emphasized India’s diverse and multi-dimensional collaboration with Colombia.

    “India has enjoyed a rich cultural exchange with Colombia over the years. We have cooperation in various fields, including science and technology, defence, IIT, health, and culture. The Government of India acknowledges the importance of co-production agreements, a significant step towards fostering international partnerships. Our first co-production agreement was a landmark moment, and we have consistently built on that foundation,” said the Minister.

    The agreement is expected to boost the utilization of Indian locales for shooting. It will increase the visibility/prospects of India as a preferred film shooting destination across the globe and will lead to the inflow of foreign exchange into the country. The agreement will also lead to the transparent funding of Film Production and will boost export of Indian Films into the Columbian Market.

    Audio-visual co-production agreements with various countries

    Earlier, the Government of India had signed similar agreements with the Government of Italian Republic and Government of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in 2005, Federal Republic of Germany in 2007, Government of the Federative Republic of Brazil in 2007, Republic of France in 2010, Republic of New Zealand in 2011, Republic of Poland and Republic of Spain in 2012.  More recent agreements were signed with Canada and China in 2014, Republic of Korea in 2015, Bangladesh in 2016, Portugal in 2017, Israel in 2018, Russia in 2019 and Australia in 2023.

    Agreements unlock Government financial aid and support

    The Co-production agreements signed so far seek to achieve economic, cultural and diplomatic goals. For filmmakers, the key attraction of a treaty co-production is that it qualifies as a national production in each of the partner nations and can avail benefits that are available to the local film and television industry in each country. Benefits accruing from such agreements include government financial assistance, tax concessions and inclusion in domestic television broadcast quotas.

    Enhanced financial support for official co productions and foreign productions in India

    India has increased the incentives for film production in India including for coproductions 12 times with the maximum incentive possible being 300 Million Rupees. The incentives scheme for official co-productions offers reimbursement of up to 30% of costs incurred in India, with a maximum of ₹300 Million. Services undertaken in India for Foreign Productions can claim an additional bonus of 5% for showcasing Significant Indian Content subject to a maximum of INR 300 Million. A further 5% can be claimed for employing 15% or more Indian manpower raising the reimbursement to 40% of the expenses.

    Speaking on the occasion, the Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, announced about India’s upcoming role as a global platform for the best in cinema, media, and entertainment. “Starting from the 20th of November, India will be hosting the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa which will showcase the best cinema from across the world and within India. ” said the Secretary.

    The Secretary also highlighted that in February 2025, India will also be hosting the much-anticipated World Audio Visual & Entertainment Summit (WAVES) which will witness the convergence of traditional broadcasting, films, and new forms of media and entertainment, marking a pivotal moment in the future of the industry.

    Participants from Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India –

    I.          Dr. L. Murugan, Hon’ble Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting

    II.        Shri Sanjay Jaju, Secretary (I&B)

    III.       Ms. Neerja Shekhar, Additional Secretary(I&B)

    IV.       Ms. Vrunda Manohar Desai, Joint Secretary (Films)

    V.        Ms. Shilpa Rao Tanugula, Director, (IIS, IIMC, CRS)

    Participants from Republic of Colombia

    I.          H.E. Mr. Jorge Enrique Rojas Rodríguez, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Colombia (Head of Delegation)

    II.        H.E. Dr. Victor H. Echeverri Jaramillo, Ambassador of the Republic of Colombia to India

    III.       Mr. Juan Carlos Rojas, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of Colombia to India

    IV.       Ms. Laura Montejo Espitia, First Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Colombia

    V.        Ms. Alejandra María Rodríguez, Second Secretary, Embassy of Colombia to India

    VI.       Mrs. Minni Sawhney, Resource person.

    *****

    Dharmendra Tiwari/Kshitij Singha

    (Release ID: 2065093) Visitor Counter : 9

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: North-west firefighters awarded National Emergency Medals

    Source: Victoria Country Fire Authority

    Recipient group photo

    More than 90 local volunteer firefighters and six CFA staff members have been honoured with National Emergency Medals for their efforts in the 2019-20 Australian bushfire crisis.

    The National Emergency Medal (NEM) is part of Australia’s Honours and Awards system and recognises significant or sustained service to others in a nationally significant Australian emergency.

    At ceremonies on 11 and 13 October, firefighters from across Buloke, Mildura, Swan Hill and Yarriambiack became the latest of more than 5,500 CFA members to receive the honour for the 2019-20 fires.

    CFA Board Members Beth Davidson and Rosemary Martin presented the medals and said they were an important recognition of the valiant efforts of CFA members.

    “The National Emergency Medal is a formal recognition that Australia appreciates the efforts and contributions of CFA members during the 2019-20 bushfire crisis,” she said.

    “It is a great honour to receive this medal, and I hope it goes a small way to thanking our members for their service.

    CFA Chief Officer Jason Heffernan spoke of his pride for the CFA members’ efforts.

    “The 2019-20 fires devastated East Gippsland and the north-east of Victoria,” he said.

    “But from that crisis arose the most remarkable human spirit of generosity and ‘lending a hand’.

    “Our medal recipients have exemplified that spirit, and I am incredibly proud of each and every one of them.

    “Whether they joined a firefighting strike team, worked in an incident control centre or provided other assistance to affected communities – every contribution was valuable and made a real difference.

    Swan Hill Fire Brigade Captain and NEM recipient Harold Jochs, who was deployed to Port Macquarie and Batemans Bay said events such as these are special and recognise the time that everyday Victorians gave up to lend a hand.

    “Giving up work or taking leave to go out to help is what we do as volunteer firefighters, whether that was going to New South Wales or Gippsland, it didn’t matter. To receive thanks is really appreciated,” Harold said.

    “There were fellow Australians who needed us, and we have people who were prepared to go.

    “The experience itself was very different from our fires here. When you were driving down the street or going somewhere, we had people just walking up to us and thanking us for our service.

    “When they realise where you’re from and that you’ve come all this way they were so grateful that we gave the time. So it’s bittersweet to now come together again and reflect.”

    Submitted by CFA media

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: NSW first in the world to identify number of people living with metastatic breast cancer

    Source: New South Wales Premiere

    Published: 16 October 2024

    Released by: Minister for Health, Minister for Women

    In a world first, Cancer Institute NSW has identified that around 7,900 people in NSW are living with metastatic breast cancer. A discovery which will help improve cancer outcomes not just in NSW, but across the entire country.

    Using the Cancer Institute NSW’s unique linked data sets, a methodology which will soon be shared nationally and internationally, it has been determined that 7,850 women and 50 men in NSW are living with metastatic breast cancer.

    Understanding the number of people living with this disease will help overcome the feeling of invisibility described by so many and ensure that NSW is prepared to support the growing number of people living with and surviving cancer, thanks to medical advancements in treatment and care.

    It will also ensure health professionals and researchers better understand the impact of diagnostics and treatment on breast cancer recurrence and survival, and work to make life-changing improvements in cancer research, care and policy reform.

    Metastatic breast cancer is an invasive form of breast cancer which has spread from the breast to other parts of the body. While the number of people initially diagnosed with breast cancer is available through each state and territories cancer registries, the exact number of people who go on to develop metastatic breast cancer, following an initial breast cancer diagnosis, is unknown in Australia and around the world.

    Breast Cancer Network Australia (BCNA) has led Australian advocacy efforts to develop a clearer picture of the number of people living with metastatic breast cancer, holding a roundtable last year with key government, non-government and community agencies.

    Following the roundtable, the Cancer Institute NSW set to work to identify the number of people living with metastatic breast cancer, using well established and robust data assets.

    By linking cancer incidence and mortality data with NSW clinical datasets, Commonwealth Medicare Benefits Schedule, Pharmaceutical Benefits Schedule and National Death Index data, the Institute was able to determine the number of people living with metastatic breast cancer in NSW.

    The Cancer Institute NSW will soon share its robust data methodology to help support national and international efforts in understanding and treating metastatic breast cancer

    Today, Minister for Health Ryan Park also opened a new BreastScreen NSW clinic at the Royal Hospital for Women in Randwick. For eligible women, a breast screen every two years can help detect breast cancer in its earliest stages when it is easier to treat. For more information on breast cancer and breast cancer screening visit http://www.breastscreen.nsw.gov.au.

    Quotes attributable to Minister for Health Ryan Park:

    “As NSW Health Minister, I am incredibly proud NSW clinicians and researchers have made this remarkable discovery.

    “NSW is proud to lead global efforts to understand how many people are living with metastatic breast cancer and lift the veil of uncertainty and invisibility experienced by thousands of people in our community.

    “Australia is now one step closer to understanding just how many people are impacted by this aggressive form of breast cancer, and in an important next step, understanding how many other people in our community are living with other forms of metastatic cancer.”

    Quotes attributable to Federal Minister for Health and Aged Care Mark Butler:

    “This is an important step forward for people with metastatic breast cancer in New South Wales and I applaud the world-leading efforts of Cancer Institute NSW.

    “Knowledge is power and this information will help drive a new era of research to improve the lives of thousands of people, not just in NSW but across the country.”

    Quotes attributable to Minister for Women Jodie Harrison:

    “I congratulate the Cancer Institute NSW on this incredible research.

    “With breast cancer being the second most commonly diagnosed cancer in Australia, discoveries like this helps us get ahead and ensure that NSW is prepared to support the growing number of people living with and surviving cancer.”

    Quotes attributable to Member for Coogee Marjorie O’Neill:

    “Breast Cancer Awareness Month is the perfect time for women to make an appointment for your next mammogram. It’s quick, it’s easy and it’s free.

    “The refurbished and expanded BreastScreen NSW clinic here at The Royal Hospital for Women will make such a difference for local women, and as a result between 3 – 5 thousand additional women will be able to get a potentially life-saving mammogram each year.”

    Quotes attributable to NSW Chief Cancer Officer and CEO Cancer Institute NSW Professor Tracey O’Brien AM:

    “While our global understanding of cancer has improved significantly, cancer rates are projected to triple in the coming decades with more people currently living with cancer than are being newly diagnosed.

    “Pinpointing how many people have metastatic breast cancer is more than just knowing a number. It’s about giving a voice, options and hope to people living with and beyond cancer and letting them know we see them and are here for them.

    “Although a cure for metastatic breast cancer remains the ultimate goal, our immediate focus must be on helping those living longer with the disease to live well. It’s not just about treating the cancer – it’s about treating the whole person, improving their quality of life and addressing their physical, emotional, financial and practical needs.”

    Quotes attributable to Director Policy, Advocacy & Support Services Breast Cancer Network Australia Vicki Durston:

    “NSW is setting a benchmark as the first state to establish a method for reporting on the number of people living with metastatic breast cancer.

    “The data we now have reveals a reality far greater than we ever anticipated. BCNA stands for every individual whose life remains invisible in cancer data registries—not just here in Australia, but globally.”

    Quotes attributable to Breast Cancer Network Australia Consumer Representative Lisa Rankin:

    “As someone living with metastatic breast cancer, I am incredibly excited that it is now possible to recognise those living with the disease. Until now we have been hidden in plain sight and vastly underestimated in numbers.

    “I want to thank the NSW Government and BCNA’s advocacy for their achievement. I look forward to the positive change which will result from being recognised, improving the lives of those living with the disease, their families and others important to them.”

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Government backs veterans by approving Veteran Card as voter ID for first time  

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    The government has backed the armed forces community by allowing HM Armed Forces Veteran Cards to be used as Voter ID in forthcoming elections, while a wider review of the Voter ID policy takes place to understand its impact on citizens.

    The government has backed the armed forces community by allowing HM Armed Forces Veteran Cards to be used as Voter ID in forthcoming elections, while a wider review of the Voter ID policy takes place to understand its impact on citizens.

    The government has laid a statutory instrument in Parliament to put the HM Armed Forces Veteran Card on the list of photographic identifications accepted in polling stations as voter ID, in addition to the already accepted MOD 90 ID card.

    A thorough review of the Voter ID rules is currently underway with firm proposals on the policy set to be brought forward in due course. However, while this takes place the government has taken immediate steps to address gaps in the current provision by including the Veteran Card on the list of acceptable IDs.

    The Veteran Card is a tangible symbol of veterans’ service and its addition to the list will help around two million veterans to engage in the elections process and exercise their democratic rights, with these changes set to be made in time for the 2025 local elections in May.

    Alex Norris, minister for elections, said: 

    No veteran should be turned away from the polling station while trying to use their Veteran Card as voter ID.  They are an incredible community who have dedicated their lives to this country, and it is wrong that the exclusion of this Card has been a barrier to their ability to vote.

    That’s why we’re supporting our incredible veterans by expanding the list of voter identifications to include it so they can participate in democracy without the fear of being turned away on election day.

    We stand behind our veterans and today’s announcement demonstrates that we will meet our manifesto commitment to strengthen support for our armed forces communities. 

    This government is committed to helping veterans to thrive in civilian society, and we are continuing to support our armed forces:

    • Within the last month, the government announced that all UK Armed Forces veterans will be exempt from rules which require a connection to a local area before accessing social housing in England.
    • In 2021, NHS England launched Op COURAGE – a dedicated mental health service for veterans, and over 35,000 veterans have used this service to date.
    • Op FORTITUDE, a housing hotline for veterans, has supported hundreds of veterans into supported housing with wraparound care.

    Veterans are represented by the Secretary of State for Defence in Cabinet, and cross-government support is coordinated by the Office for Veterans’ Affairs in the MOD.

    Minister for People and Veterans, Alistair Carns, OBE MC MP said:

    Veterans Cards are a tangible symbol of the extraordinary sacrifices our veterans have made to defend our nation and it is only right that the Government gives these cards the recognition they deserve. 

    We are committed to renewing the nation’s contract with all those who serve and have served, and this is an important step to making this important community feel supported when voting.

    Mark Atkinson, Director General of the Royal British Legion, said:

    This is good news. Veterans have found it frustrating that they were unable to use their Armed Forces Veteran Card as voter identification.

    It is vital that the voice of the Armed Forces community is heard at every election, now that voter ID is required to vote in elections in the UK, this change will make it easier for those who have served to cast their vote.

    This change follows a veteran of the armed forces being turned away from the local elections earlier this year because they attempted to use this card at their polling station and were turned away.  This government committed to making sure that this important community is better supported to participate in our vibrant democracy.

    This government is also making our democracy stronger than it has ever been and the addition of the Veteran Card is only the first step in delivering on our commitments to encourage participation in our elections, and we are taking further action:

    • Work has begun to extend the franchise for all UK elections to allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote so that we can empower young people to take part in our democracy. 
    • We know there remains a significant number of people missing from our registers, so we will tackle this unacceptable participation gap by taking action to improve rates of electoral registration.    
    • We will act to protect our democracy from malign actors by strengthening the rules around donations to political parties.

    Today marks a significant step forward on our progress towards reforming our elections, and we will set out details on these further measures to widen participation in due course. 

    Notes to editors:

    • The Veteran Card provides recognition of service and ensures that when needed, public and charitable sector services and support can be provided to veterans as efficiently as possible.
    • The government has also published ‘Using a veteran card as a service leaver’ guidance page on GOV.UK, detailing how veterans can use the card to access specialist support and services: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/using-a-veteran-card-as-a-service-leaver 
    • We will continue to explore additional uses and benefits of the card.

    Updates to this page

    Published 15 October 2024

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Stay safe this fireworks season

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Follow OPSS guidance to purchase, use and dispose of fireworks safely and responsibly.

    The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) has produced safety tips for this fireworks season on how to use fireworks responsibly and considerately to help protect both people and animals.

    You must only buy from licensed sellers

    Make sure you buy fireworks from licensed or registered in-store and online retailers. Do not buy fireworks from unknown retailers on social media sites. Remember it is illegal for under 18s to buy fireworks.

    Choose traditional dates and keep to the curfew

    People are more likely to plan to protect pets and other animals if fireworks are let off on traditional dates. The firework curfew is midnight on Fireworks Night, 1am on Diwali, New Year’s Eve and Chinese New Year, and 11pm the rest of the year. Firework timings may differ in Scotland. Search ‘fireworks’ on gov.scot for more advice.

    Follow the instructions carefully

    Before letting off fireworks, read all the safety instructions on the box, so you know important things like how far away people need to stand. If you do not understand the instructions and warnings, do not use the firework. Once any debris has cooled down, tidy it up and soak it in water overnight. Then put it in a rubbish bag and in the bin.

    Check what fireworks you can use at home

    Category F1, F2 and F3 fireworks are on sale to the public depending on the safety distance required. Check the labelling to ensure you have enough space to safely use a firework before you buy it.

    Always follow the Firework Code. Search ‘fireworks’ on GOV.UK for more advice.

    Think of local animals before setting off fireworks

    If you plan to let off any fireworks, let your neighbours know in advance so they can plan for pets that might be affected.

    If you live close to horses, let their owners know well in advance that you are letting fireworks off. Site your fireworks well away from them and aim them in the opposite direction. It is important to be considerate to horse owners as they cannot easily move horses away from fireworks.

    Notify nearby farms and stables if you are planning to use fireworks. Do not let off fireworks if they will disturb wildlife habitats, or roosting bats and birds.

    Keep your pet safe

    On nights where fireworks are being let off, keep dogs and cats inside with somewhere to hide and give small outdoor pets extra bedding and nesting material to burrow in.

    Download content from our fireworks campaign page, including a video, poster, leaflet and social media materials.

    Updates to this page

    Published 15 October 2024

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Eating ourselves to death: How the modern diet is destroying our bodies and our planet One of the UK’s leading food reform campaigners has been chosen to deliver the last in a decade-long series of prestigious talks at Aberdeen University.

    Source: University of Aberdeen

    Henry DimblebyOne of the UK’s leading food reform campaigners has been chosen to deliver the last in a decade-long series of prestigious talks at Aberdeen University.
    Henry Dimbleby, the outspoken former government policy tsar and independent national food strategy author, will deliver the 2024 Carnegie Lecture on November 6.
    The occasion marks the 75th anniversary of the Nobel Peace Prize being awarded to the Rowett Institute’s founding director Lord Boyd Orr for his work improving global nutrition.
    Boyd Orr’s pioneering research demonstrating the link between poverty, poor diet and ill health had a major impact, inspiring everything from school milk to war-time rationing.
    After leading the Aberdeen-based Institute for three decades, he became the first director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1949  “for his lifelong effort to conquer hunger and want, thereby helping to remove a major cause of military conflict and war”.
    Today, 75 years on, the food landscape may have dramatically changed but we still find ourselves grappling with stark inequalities when it comes to diet and health.
    And echoes of Boyd Orr’s pleas for action – and of his frustrations at the pace of change and political will to force it – can be heard in the work of Mr Dimbleby.
    The Leon restaurants founder and co-author of the bestselling book Ravenous: How to Get Ourselves and Our Planet into Shape, will use the lecture to further explore his forensic analysis of our malfunctioning food system and how we can fix it.
    The Andrew Carnegie Lecture series, a ten-year programme of public talks at Scotland’s ancient universities (Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and St Andrews) is a project funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York to celebrate its centenary.
    Mr Dimbleby will afterwards join a panel discussion featuring Rowett Institute Director Professor Jules Griffin, Professor Alexandra Johnstone, the institute’s theme lead for Nutrition, Obesity and Disease and leader of the £1.6m Food Insecurity and Obesity (FIO Food) project, and Food Standards Scotland chair Heather Kelman.
    “John Boyd Orr’s contribution to improving British diets – and his clear understanding of the wider importance of nutritional health to our world – was immeasurable,” Mr Dimbleby says.
    “It is hard to know quite what he would make of the way problems with the food system have evolved since he was putting his expertise and drive behind global reform.
    “But it is a great pleasure to be able to go to Aberdeen – where the pioneering work that underpinned his achievements was done at the Rowett – to talk about how scientists, politicians, industry leaders and others can take a leaf out of the Boyd Orr book.”
    University of Aberdeen Principal Professor George Boyne said: “For more than 500 years the University has been at the forefront of driving research which goes beyond the status quo, works across borders and delivers sustainable solutions to the challenges facing society.
    “In Henry we are delighted to have a speaker delivering this special anniversary lecture who so clearly shares these principles and demonstrates the same commitment towards changing lives.”
    Related Content
    More information and tickets for the event are available here:
    The Andrew Carnegie Lecture at Arts Lecture Theatre event tickets from TicketSource

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: New guide lets you plan your Walled City Trail experience at Derry Halloween

    Source: Northern Ireland – City of Derry

    New guide lets you plan your Walled City Trail experience at Derry Halloween

    15 October 2024

    The ultimate guide to all the ghoulish goings on in Derry this Halloween launched today, helping visitors plan ahead for the biggest Halloween celebration in Europe, now just weeks away.

    The Derry Halloween Awakening the Walled City Trail details all the best activities and highlights of the trail which runs this year from Monday October 28th – Thursday October 30th from 6pm – 9pm.

    It is available on the DerryHalloween.com website and printed copies will be available to pick up from Council buildings, Visit Derry and other venues in the week before Halloween.

    This year the trail is packed full of all sorts of spooky spectacles, weaving its magic throughout the city centre at haunted hotspots including the Upper City Walls, the Diamond, Cathedral Quarter, Guildhall Square, Waterloo Place and Ebrington Square.

    Visit the Witchy Wonderland where In Your Space Circus will create an eerie walk-through experience full of mischief and mayhem on Derry’s historic Walls.

    The ramparts will provide the perfect atmospheric backdrop for some dazzling fire performance and ghostly goings on. 

    This year the Guildhall Production Studio will bring the worlds of old and new together with the latest technology to animate the iconic Austins building and Bishop Street Court House, bringing some local ghost stories to life.

    Enter the ethereal Elemental Garden set to take over Ebrington Square, an ambient and mesmerising celebration of darkness and light, as visualised by landscape spectacle specialists LUXE, in a piece supported by The Executive Office.

    A number of exciting new highlights feature in the trail this year, including the debut appearance of the weird and wonderful Rodafonio, created by renowned designer and musician Cesar Alvarez and brought all the way from Barcelona.

    Also adding an international flavour to the festivities are the Stelzen-Art Time Travellers, bringing their enchanting illuminations all the way from Germany to the city’s Cathedral Quarter.

    Take care not to fall under a spell as the bewitching Hocus Pocus bring their spellbinding show to the City of Bones at Waterloo Place, 28th – 30th October, with an interactive, child friendly performance by the Studio 2 Sanderson Sisters, back after 300 years.

    Then step back in time to the 1980s as the New Gate Arts Group take you Back to the Future with a special street performance featuring a DeLorean Car and the renowned Sollus Highland Dancers.

    Add to this the Monster Fun Fair at Ebrington, the sensational Spark Drummers, Uncle Doom and his Organ of Doom, Street Walkabouts, Haunted Houses, Live Music, creepy Arts & Crafts, Kids Halloween Disco, Wailing Nuns, Wicked Windows, City Dance’s Walter on the Dance Floor, Interactive Kids Shows in the Guildhall and a city centre Trick or Treat Trail – and you will find plenty to keep you busy in the home of Halloween.

    Head of Culture with Council, Aeidin McCarter, said now was the time to plan your visit.

    “There is so much going on this year, we would really encourage people to plan ahead and familiarise themselves with the event map and programme information to ensure they get to see everything that’s happening,” she stressed.

    “The great thing is that from Monday – Wednesday we have a full programme of entertainment and activities in the build up to Halloween, so any night is a good time to visit!

    “The Awakening the Walled City Trail offers the chance to explore the city centre by night and experience some of the myth and magic that makes this place so special at this time of year.
    “I am thrilled that we are back on the City Walls this year for part of the trail – it’s the perfect place to capture the real essence and atmosphere of Halloween through the centuries.

    “There will be lots of activities for younger children throughout the day as well, so please check out the programme online or download our app for the latest updates.”

    The Derry Halloween festival is led by Derry City and Strabane District Council, supported by Tourism Northern Ireland and The Executive Office, with additional support from Ulster University and Air Coach.

    Download the Awakening the Walled City Trail at DerryHalloween.com and don’t forget that Derry Halloween is also on WhatsApp.
    Get the latest updates, exclusive sneak peeks, and instant info right on your phone.
    Don’t miss any of the spooky surprises in store at https://bit.ly/halloweenwhatsapp

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Government pledges further action to strengthen patient safety

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Patient safety at heart of government’s plans for healthcare reform as Health and Social Care Secretary orders action to improve regulator performance.

    Patient safety across health and social care is set to be bolstered as the government takes action to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of key patient safety organisations.  

    The move – aimed at ensuring the country has the best system in place to keep patients safe – comes as a major review of the CQC’s operational effectiveness is published in full.

    The report, led by Dr Penny Dash, Chair of the North West London Integrated Care Board, identifies significant internal failings at the regulator which are hampering its ability to identify poor performance at hospitals, care homes and GP practices.   
      
    Its interim conclusions, published in July, prompted the Health and Social Care Secretary to order immediate action to restore public confidence in the effectiveness of health and social care regulation.  

    The full report confirms significant failings at the CQC in regard to its operational effectiveness – including poor performance in relation to inspections and a lack of capacity and capability to deliver improvements.     

    The report provides seven specific recommendations for improvement, which the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care fully supports. This includes recommending that the CQC formally pauses the implementation of its assessments of Integrated Care Systems as it works to restore public confidence in health and care regulation. This will allow the CQC to focus on getting the basics right when assessing the organisations it regulates. 

    The Health and Social Care Secretary has now asked Dr Dash to conduct two further reviews moving her focus from operational effectiveness to patient safety and quality. The first review will examine the roles and remits of six key organisations and make recommendations on whether patient safety could be bolstered through a different approach. These are:    

    • Care Quality Commission (CQC) including the maternity programme (MNSI)    

    • National Guardian’s Office (NGO)       

    • Healthwatch England (HWE) and the Local Healthwatch (LHW) network.    

    • Health Services Safety Investigation Body       

    • Patient Safety Commissioner        

    • NHS Resolution (quality and safety functions only) 

    A further review will focus on quality and its governance. This will guide the government’s next steps as it continues its drive for positive cultural change across health and social care.   
      
    All findings will also inform the government’s 10-Year Health Plan to transform the NHS and social care and make them fit for the future.   

    Wes Streeting, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, said:    

    Patient safety is the bedrock of a healthy NHS and social care system. That’s why we are taking steps to reform the CQC, to root out poor performance and ensure patients can have confidence in its ratings once again.  

    This government will never turn a blind eye to failure. An overly complex system of healthcare regulation and oversight is no good for patients or providers. We will overhaul the system to make it effective and efficient, to protect patient safety.

    The CQC has already taken its crucial first steps to rebuild its approach to regulation, including announcing Sir Julian Hartley, former Chief Executive of NHS Providers, will be appointed as its new chief executive.   

    Following the publication of Dr Dash’s interim report in July, the CQC Board also asked Professor Sir Mike Richards to conduct an internal review of the single assessment framework and its implementation. Sir Mike was Chief Inspector of Hospitals at CQC from 2013 to 2017. That review has also been published today (15 October) by the CQC.     

    However, Dr Dash’s full review makes clear that there is still much work to be done in the CQC and beyond to ensure that that the public can be confident in the quality and safety of the care they are receiving.   

    Commenting on her findings, Dr Penny Dash said: 

    This report reiterates the findings of my interim report while providing further detail and analysis of the CQC’s performance. It builds on insights and perspectives from patients and users, and a wide range of health and social care providers as well as senior leaders from the NHS and local authorities. 

    I am very grateful to the large number of staff within the CQC who have come forward to share their experiences of the last few years and to make recommendations for the future. They have shown exceptional patience and professionalism throughout this difficult period. 

    I am delighted that Sir Julian Hartley will be appointed as the CQC’s new Chief Executive – he is an outstanding leader, and I am confident he will restore the regulator’s ability to inspect and rate the safety and wider quality of health and social care services across England.

    Recent inquiries and reports, including the Infected Blood Inquiry, have highlighted how the patient safety space has developed in a way which means that multiple organisations are involved in related activities, leading to a complicated system without clear leadership.   

    Vic Rayner OBE, Chair of the Care Provider Alliance, said: 

    As both the Penny Dash Report and the review by Sir Mike Richards show, it is clear that urgent action is needed by the CQC to take on board the reality of how assessment and inspection is currently experienced by the tens of thousands of registered adult social care services across England.  

    What is also evident is that a step change is required in regulation going forwards, and care providers’ voices need to be heard in the coproduction of a regulatory framework that is fit for the future.

    Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive of the NHS Confederation said:  

    Our members recognise the importance of regulation in supporting patient safety and care improvement but for far too long CQC’s operating model has not been fit for purpose. Many of our members contributed to the review, and we welcome Dr Penny Dash’s findings, which aim to improve the regulatory model for health and care professionals.  

    Given the stark findings, we believe the decision to pause ICS inspections is the right one and we will continue to work with CQC colleagues to ensure the approach adds value for systems and the public.  

    We will review both Dr Dash’s and Professor Sir Mike Richards’ findings in detail. These, alongside the government’s response, will strengthen patient safety and drive necessary improvements. We also look forward to contributing to the two new reviews announced today.

    Findings of the Safety Landscape Review can be expected in the new year. Meanwhile, the Health and Social Care Secretary will continue to monitor the CQC’s progress and support Sir Julian Hartley on its road to reform.

    Updates to this page

    Published 15 October 2024

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Greens say “no more incineration” of waste

    Source: Green Party of England and Wales

    Responding to the news that putting household rubbish in giant incinerators to make electricity is now the dirtiest way the UK generates power (BBC), Green Party Peer Baroness Jenny Jones said, 

    “I highlighted the issue of incineration stopping councils from recycling back in 2010 when I was on the London Assembly. This became a national issue about 10 years ago when local authorities across the country started to treat waste as a fuel, rather than a valuable source that could be reused or recycled.

    “Unless we have a complete moratorium on new incinerators and start to close down existing ones, we will not meet either of the government’s big targets. You can’t burn oil in the form of plastic and meet the target of Net Zero emissions in 2050; nor can you sign up local authorities to 20 year contracts to burn waste and expect them to recycle 65% of waste by 2030. The last government was finally waking up to the direct contradiction between environment and incineration, I hope this government will say no more incineration and put this big mistake into reverse.”

    by Steve Hynd

    Press Releases

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How dogs were implicated during the Salem witch trials

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Bridget Marshall, Professor of English, UMass Lowell

    An illustration of a court scene during the late-17th century witch trials in Salem, Mass. Christine_Kohler/iStock via Getty Images Plus

    I teach a course on New England witchcraft trials, and students always arrive with varying degrees of knowledge of what happened in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692.

    Nineteen people accused of witchcraft were executed by hanging, another was pressed to death and at least 150 were imprisoned in conditions that caused the death of at least five more innocents.

    Each semester, a few students ask me about stories they have heard about dogs.

    In 17th century Salem, dogs were part of everyday life: People kept dogs to protect themselves, their homes and their livestock, to help with hunting, and to provide companionship.

    However, a variety of folklore traditions also associated dogs with the devil – beliefs that long predated what happened in Salem. Perhaps the most famous example of such belief is the case of a poodle named Boy who belonged to Prince Rupert, an English-German cavalry commander on the Royalist side during the English Civil War. Between 1643 and 1644, stories spread across Europe that Boy the poodle had supernatural powers, including shape-shifting and prophecy, that he used to aid his master on the battlefield.

    There is no mention in the official records of Salem’s trials of any dogs being tried or killed for witchcraft. However, dogs appear several times in the testimony, typically because an accused witch was believed to have had a dog as a “familiar” who would do her bidding, or because the devil appeared in the form of a dog.

    Numerous testimonies in the Salem trial records claim that dogs were in league with the devil, adding to the paranoia of this community that was spinning out of control.

    Associating the devil with the dog

    On May 16, 1692, a 45-year-old Amesbury, Massachusetts, man named John Kimball testified against Susanna Martin, a 71-year-old widow, saying, among other things, that she had caused a “black puppy” to appear before him when he was alone in the woods. Kimball testified that he was terrified by the dog, which he thought would tear out his throat. The dog disappeared when he began to pray.

    This, among other testimony, would contribute to Martin’s conviction for witchcraft in June 1692; she was hanged on July 19, 1692.

    In several instances recorded by the courts, accused witches confessed that the devil had appeared to them in the form of a dog. In September 1692, 19-year-old Mercy Wardwell testified that she had been conversing with the devil, and that he had appeared to her in the shape of a dog. Her confession caused her to be jailed, although she was later released when the hysteria died down.

    During the same proceedings that September, 14-year-old William Barker Jr. testified that the “shape of a black dog” appeared to him and provoked anxiety; soon after this, the devil appeared. It’s hard to know if he was suggesting that the dog was the devil himself or his companion.

    Barker confessed that he had “signed the devil’s book,” meaning that he had made a covenant with the devil and was a witch. Barker was jailed, though he would later be acquitted.

    Tituba, a woman of color enslaved in the Rev. Samuel Parris’ household, also testified about a dog. When she was examined by magistrates on March 1, 1692, Tituba recounted how the devil had appeared to her at least four times, “like a great dog” and as “a black dog.” She also said she saw cats, hogs and birds, an entire menagerie of animals working for the devil.

    An accused witch was believed to have a dog or another animal as a ‘familiar’ who would do her bidding,
    © The Trustees of the British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA

    Kimball’s, Wardwell’s, Barker’s and Tituba’s testimonies certainly may have contributed to the ongoing alarm that the residents of Salem were being led astray by a devil who might appear to them in the shape of a dog.

    Sketchy evidence

    Some popular accounts of the trials also suggest that at least two dogs were killed during the trials, but there is no evidence supporting this in the official legal testimony of the time. There is certainly some local legend that supports the claim, and many accounts of Salem have included these two dog deaths as a part of the story.

    According to local historical researcher Marilynne K. Roach’s 2002 book, “The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege,” some of the afflicted girls claimed that a man named John Bradstreet had bewitched a dog. Although the dog was a victim, it was killed. Roach’s history also notes that another dog was shot to death when a girl claimed that the dog’s specter had afflicted her.

    Witchcraft belief at the time held that witches could send their “spectres,” or spirits, out to do their bidding.

    While these are compelling stories, neither of these events can be verified in any existing official trial documents. The source that Roach cites for the Bradstreet case is Robert Calef’s book “More Wonders of the Invisible World,” which was published in 1700. Calef, who was a Boston merchant, objected to how the trials were conducted. However, he was not present at the trials, and it is not clear what his source was for the dog stories. Such stories – and Calef’s uncited retelling of it – do not have the same authority as the legal documents in the case.

    The earliest account of a dog being shot for being a witch appears in a commentary on the Salem trials, “Cases of Conscience Concerning Evil Spirits,” published in 1693, in which the clergyman Increase Mather claims that “I am told by credible persons” that a dog was shot for bewitching a person.

    But significantly, Mather did not name the human victim or the person who told him the story. Surprisingly, Mather actually defended the dog, saying that the fact that they had successfully killed it meant that “this dog was no Devil.”

    Nearly every history of Salem recounts how when Samuel Parris’ daughters were having terrible fits that led people to believe they were bewitched, Tituba, the enslaved woman who lived in the household, baked a “witch cake” using urine from the afflicted girls and fed it to the family’s dog.

    Somehow, this was supposed to cause the dog to reveal the identity of the witch. Indeed, Reverend Parris condemned the ritual, which itself seemed to be its own kind of witchcraft.

    Fear and distrust

    All around, Salem’s witch trials seem to have been bad for dogs. Although there is no official legal evidence that dogs were killed for being witches, it’s clear that there were strong associations between dogs and the devil, and that dogs were sometimes treated poorly because of superstition.

    The Salem trials are a horrifying example of what happens when people use terrible logic and leap to indefensible conclusions with shoddy evidence. In an environment of fear and distrust, even man’s best friend could be suspected of dealings with the devil.

    Bridget Marshall does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. How dogs were implicated during the Salem witch trials – https://theconversation.com/how-dogs-were-implicated-during-the-salem-witch-trials-239802

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Religious hate crimes in England and Wales are at a record high – but many still go unreported

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Peter Hopkins, Professor of Social Geography, Newcastle University

    Shutterstock

    Religious hate crimes in England and Wales are at record levels. New Home Office statistics reveal that although hate crime overall saw an annual decrease of 5% in the year to March 2024, there was a 25% increase in religious hate crimes.

    Hate crimes against Jewish people more than doubled from the previous year, making up 33% of religion-based hate crime in the new figures. Those against Muslims rose by 13%, making up 38% of the total.

    There was a sharp increase in reported incidents against both Jewish and Muslim people after the Israel-Hamas conflict began in October 2023. While the total number of offences has since declined, it is still higher than before the conflict began.

    These figures reflect police-recorded hate crime, but other organisations also track these incidents. The organisation Tell Mama, which tracks anti-Muslim hate, recorded a 335% increase in cases in the months after October 7 2023 compared to the year before. And the Community Security Trust tracked a 147% rise in anti-Jewish hate in 2023 compared to 2022. Of these incidents, 66% were on or after October 7.

    The October 7 attacks are an example of a trigger event that usually precedes a spike in hate crime. These events can “galvanise tensions and sentiments against the suspected perpetrators and groups associated with them”.

    Trigger events can be one-off events or last only a short period of time, but the continuing high levels of hate crime that the UK has seen over the past year is still likely due to the ongoing situation in the Middle East.

    These trends had been increasing worldwide, and not only since the latest conflict. A UN report in 2021 found that Islamophobia had reached “epidemic proportions”. Additionally, as my colleagues and I have found in our research, such racism is also experienced by a diverse range of ethnic groups and not only Muslims. A rise in antisemitism has been recorded around the world too.

    Unreported hate

    Not only are the latest statistics in the UK alarming, they are only the tip of the iceberg. As my work on the inquiry into Islamophobia in Scotland found, many incidents go unreported.

    We found that many did not report incidents due to concerns about institutional racism in the police and a lack of confidence in policing and in the criminal justice system. Added to this were worries about not having enough evidence, the incident not being “serious enough”, and fear of reprisal. Some even felt that it happened so often that there was “no point” in reporting it.

    Anti-Jewish hatred has risen in the UK since October 7 2023.
    Shutterstock

    The long-term impacts of hate crime are deeply concerning. Victims who experience constant discrimination are likely to experience poor health outcomes and premature ageing.

    The rising numbers also promote a culture of fear that can discourage members of ethnic or religious minority groups from participating fully in society.
    My colleagues and I have found in our research that Islamophobia and prejudice has stopped some Muslims from participating in politics and going out to socialise.

    Encouragingly, however, others chose to become more active in their communities in order to challenge stereotypes about Muslims.

    Making prejudice mainstream

    In addition to the trigger event of the Israel-Hamas war, there are a number of factors that contribute to rising hate crime, particularly against Muslims.

    First is the prevalence of organisations and individuals, including media outlets, online influencers, far-right think-tanks and political figures who promote anti-Muslim messaging and hatred.

    The rise of far-right politics around the world plays a role. The election of Donald Trump, as well as
    recent electoral gains by Marine Le Pen in France, the Freedom Party in Austria and Reform UK show how such politics are seeping into the mainstream.

    But even supposedly centrist politicians spread narratives that contribute to Islamophobia and racism. For example, former prime minister David Cameron decried the failure of multiculturalism and this message was repeated by Suella Braverman when she was home secretary.

    This perpetuates the idea that it is not possible for different ethnic and religious groups to live in harmony. I would argue this provides an ideal platform for the promotion of Islamophobia.

    Mainstream media outlets and social media also shape the narratives that contribute to a culture of fear around Muslims. High profile acts of religious hatred, such as the atrocities committed by Anders Breivik in Oslo in 2011 or by Brenton Tarrant in Christchurch in 2019, tend to be put down to a “lone wolf” or to be regarded as “fringe incidents”, rather than part of a wider problem to be addressed. Both Breivik and Tarrant promoted white supremacy and were explicitly anti-Muslim.

    The spread of inaccurate information on social media has stirred up Islamophobia, antisemitism and racism, and led to violence against migrants. This was seen in the far-right riots in summer 2024 following the fatal stabbing of three young girls in Southport, near Liverpool.

    According to a report by the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a false name and disinformation suggesting the attacker was Muslim reached around 1.7 billion people across several platforms.

    The long history of Islamophobia in Britain can be traced back to the response to the 9/11 terror attacks and the “war on terror”. The UK’s counter-terrorism programme Prevent has made life intolerable for Muslims by promoting the idea that all Muslims are potential terrorists and a threat to security.

    The obsession with this approach persists internationally despite the existence of several alternatives, yet it urgently needs to be replaced alongside the thinking that supports it.

    The result of all this is that Islamophobia has flourished in the UK without being called out by those in power. This must be challenged if we want to see a reduction in racially and religiously motivated hate crime.

    Peter Hopkins receives funding from the Leverhulme Trust.

    – ref. Religious hate crimes in England and Wales are at a record high – but many still go unreported – https://theconversation.com/religious-hate-crimes-in-england-and-wales-are-at-a-record-high-but-many-still-go-unreported-241071

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How profits from big pharma’s use of genetic information could revolutionise nature conservation

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Eleanor Jane Milner-Gulland, Tasso Leventis Professor of Biodiversity, University of Oxford

    The blood of rare horseshoe crabs is sometimes used in the development of vaccines. Sinhyu Photographer/Shutterstock

    The blue blood of threatened horseshoe crabs contains a chemical essential for testing the safety of vaccines. So these ancient creatures are highly sought after by pharmaceutical companies worldwide, contributing to declines in their populations.

    While species are disappearing at alarming rates, with a global biodiversity financing gap of US$600 billion to US$800 billion (£460 billion to £610 billion) annually, the genetic information of rare plants and animals is a commercially valuable resource.

    Advances in technology now allow the rapid sequencing and sharing of genetic data, bringing huge benefits (and profits) for biotechnology and medicine. However, it also opens the door to “biopiracy”: the unethical or unlawful appropriation of biological resources, typically from countries or Indigenous communities in developing countries.

    Even if genetic information is obtained and used appropriately and within the law, important ethical, legal and financial questions still arise: who owns the genetic data derived from nature, and how can we ensure fair sharing of the benefits derived from their use?

    A key debate at Cop16, the upcoming UN biodiversity conference, will be how best to channel funding into protecting valuable biological resources. If done properly, people can benefit from the genetic information that nature contains, while ensuring that those conserving these resources, particularly Indigenous people, are properly compensated financially for their efforts.

    Our recent paper argues that rules of fair allocation, which have been around since the time of Aristotle, offer a potential way forward.

    Genetic information extracted from living organisms can now be easily digitised and shared across borders. This practice, often referred to as digital sequence information (DSI), plays a pivotal role in advancing research in fields such as medicine, agriculture and environmental science.

    For example, the genome of the COVID-19 virus was digitally sequenced and shared globally, enabling researchers worldwide to use that DSI to develop vaccines quickly.

    Yet, this leads to ethical and legal challenges. The genetic codes of plants and animals from all over the world are stored in international databases, often without proper acknowledgement or compensation to the countries or communities where these sequences originated.

    Countries with rich biodiversity, particularly in developing countries, have raised concerns that their genetic resources are being used – and in some cases monetised and commercialised – without approval or fair compensation. Indigenous peoples and local communities have similar concerns.

    So, who owns genetic data? It depends.

    The ownership of genetic data derived from plants and animals has become a grey area. In theory, countries have sovereignty over their biodiversity, as stipulated in an international agreement adopted in 2010 called the Nagoya protocol. This mandates that countries sharing their biological resources should be compensated through access and benefit-sharing agreements.

    Genetic codes of rare plants aren’t currently owned by their country of origin.
    Polonio Video/Shutterstock

    However, the concept of DSI has complicated these agreements. When genetic data is transformed into a digital format and stored in databases, it is not always clear whether the original country still holds any rights over that data.

    Should the digital sequence information of a rare Amazonian plant, for example, belong to the country where it was found, or is it now part of a global commons available to any researcher or commercial entity? Currently, there is no universal agreement on DSI, and with companies and research institutions using genetic data freely, this opens the door to the next wave of biopiracy

    Biopiracy has been a historical problem, long before digital data entered the picture. For decades, pharmaceutical and agricultural companies have sourced plant and animal materials from the Amazon rainforest or African savannas. They patented products based on those materials and profited without compensating source countries or Indigenous peoples and local communities who may have used these species for generations.

    Now this issue extends beyond physical specimens. The real treasure lies in the genetic information itself. When genetic data is digitised and shared globally, it becomes challenging to trace its origins and hold companies accountable for unauthorised use.

    In the absence of benefit-sharing mechanisms (formal ways to share the monetary and non-monetary benefits of using biodiversity with those who bear the costs of conserving it), companies can patent discoveries derived from DSI, with profits flowing to corporations and research institutions in developed countries.

    Meanwhile, low-to-middle-income nations that are home to these resources and the communities that protect them do not benefit. We argue this is unjust and contributes towards the continued undervaluation and therefore degradation of biodiversity.

    A new genetic code

    At Cop16, a potential solution is up for a negotiation: a global system governing the exchange of DSI, including a multilateral fund into which companies which benefit from DSI would contribute.

    This fund would be used to pay for action to conserve biodiversity, with a specific priority given to funding for Indigenous peoples and local communities, women and youth. As well as providing compensation for stewardship of the biodiverse ecosystems that contain these genetic resources, funding can be used for training and capacity-building (such as genetic research), which could start to compensate for longstanding inequalities of opportunity that are built into today’s research and commercialisation systems.

    Many questions remain as to how this fund would work. That will be negotiated at Cop16. One particular challenge is determining how to implement mechanisms to distribute this fund that are fair, enforceable, and do not overburden countries or companies.

    Proposed solutions are grounded in rules of fair allocation. Pharmaceutical companies using DSI could contribute in proportion to their profits or revenues. Beneficiaries could receive payment or other benefits according to criteria such as the levels of biodiversity conserved, threats to biodiversity and financial need.

    This multilateral fund could be a major contributor to conservation finance, and one which is directed at those who actually conserve biodiversity on the ground. It has been described as a potentially “historic breakthrough” by the executive secretary of the convention on biological diversity.

    But there are still major hurdles to overcome. Big pharma companies are resistant due to the potential financial implications. There has been limited engagement from the conservation community, perhaps because fair sharing of the benefits from genetic materials appears much less immediately pressing than the conservation of wild species and their habitats.

    If successful, this could represent a major step towards generating the finance that is desperately needed to support nature conservation. It would set a precedent for similar mechanisms to ensure that those benefiting from using nature pay for the cost of conserving or restoring it – just like bycatch taxes in commercial fisheries or pollution taxes on large agribusinesses.

    We believe that this proposal could be revolutionary if it succeeds in channelling large amounts of biodiversity finance to where it is most needed in a fair and equitable way. Genetic data should not only be seen as a resource that generates new drugs and technologies, but as a shared asset of humanity, with the rights and sovereignty of nature’s stewards properly respected and valued.


    Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?

    Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead. Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 35,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.

    Eleanor Jane Milner-Gulland receives funding from UKRI, Research England Development Fund, Login5 Foundation, IKI, Defra, USFWS, Leverhulme Trust and the Leventis Foundation. She is a member of the UK government’s Defra Biodiversity Evidence Committee, chairs the Darwin Expert Committee, a member of IUCN-SSC, and the Nature Positive Initiative.

    Dale Squires was supported by an Oxford Martin School Visiting Fellowship.

    Hollie Booth receives funding from the UK Darwin Initiative. As well as University of Oxford she is affiliated with The Biodiversity Consultancy and Kebersamaan Untuk Lautan.

    – ref. How profits from big pharma’s use of genetic information could revolutionise nature conservation – https://theconversation.com/how-profits-from-big-pharmas-use-of-genetic-information-could-revolutionise-nature-conservation-240565

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Homes England invests in Schroders Capital’s Real Estate Impact Fund

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Schroders Capital’s Real Estate Impact Fund (SCREIF) has received a £50 million investment from Homes England, the government’s housing and regeneration agency, underlining the key role this market-leading investment strategy has in addressing social inequality in the UK

    The investment was today confirmed as part of a package of key measures announced by the UK’s Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (sponsor of Homes England) and HM Treasury, following a roundtable hosted by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, as part of the UK Government’s programme of activities to support its high-profile International Investment Summit.

    The Summit has been focused on driving investment and growth across the UK, with up to 300 industry leaders attending alongside the UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds.

    SCREIF is a real estate focused strategy with the dual aims of delivering a positive social and environmental impact in addition to securing appropriate risk adjusted returns for investors. Last month, the strategy became only the second real estate fund in the UK to receive approval from the Financial Conduct Authority to use the ‘Sustainability Impact’ label under SDR.

    With a residential-led approach, the fund is predominantly focused on addressing the UK’s housing crisis, specifically, the shortage of social and affordable accommodation and the regeneration of town centres. The fund aims to ensure that its investments are made in accessible and resilient locations, with access to green space, public transport, schools and GPs.

    The investment from Homes England will increase the ability of the fund to grow and invest more widely across the UK and secure further allocations from pension funds, insurers and foundations.

    Chris Santer, Schroders Impact Fund Manager, Schroders Capital’s Real Estate team, said:

    This investment by Homes England is a clear indication of the absolutely vital role this fund is looking to play in the UK by delivering real and tangible change. Our homes, and the built environment around us, impact our daily lives. We believe this allocation from the public sector will be catalytic in unlocking further institutional investments, boosting broader confidence and interest in this key sector meaning the fund can enable more communities to thrive across the UK.

    Peter Denton, Homes England Chief Executive, said:  

    This is a brilliant example of how public and private sector organisations can get behind a clear and common aim – namely supporting social justice and thriving communities. Our commitment aims to help spark deep and diverse market investment from a range of institutions. Fundamentally, this is about coming together to accelerate regeneration and the creation of affordable, high-quality homes within sustainable, thriving places that people, especially those in more deprived areas, want, need and deserve.

    For further information, please contact:

    Andy Pearce, Head of Media Relations +44 20 7658 2203 andy.pearce@Schroders.com
    Rachael Dowers, PR Manager +44 207 658 2086 rachael.dowers@schroders.com
    Justine Crestois, PR Executive +44 20 7658 5186 justine.crestois@schroders.com

    Note to Editors

    To view the latest press releases from Schroders visit: Media Centre | Schroders global

    Schroders Capital

    Schroders Capital provides investors with access to a broad range of private market investment opportunities, portfolio building blocks and customised private market strategies. Its team focuses on delivering best-in-class, risk-adjusted returns and executing investments through a combination of direct investment capabilities and broader solutions in all private market asset classes, through comingled funds and customised private market mandates.

    The team aims to achieve sustainable returns through a rigorous approach and in alignment with a culture characterised by performance, collaboration and integrity.  

    With $97.3 billion (£77.0 billion; €90.8 billion)* assets under management, Schroders Capital offers a diversified range of investment strategies, including real estate, private equity, secondaries, venture capital, infrastructure, securitised products and asset-based finance, private debt, insurance-linked securities and BlueOrchard (Impact Specialists). 

    *Assets under management as at 30 June 2024 (including non-fee earning dry powder and in-house cross holdings)

    Schroders plc

    Schroders is a global investment manager which provides active asset management, wealth management and investment solutions, with £773.7 billion (€912.6 billion; $978.1 billion) of assets under management at 30 June 2024. As a UK listed FTSE100 company, Schroders has a market capitalisation of circa £6 billion and over 6,000 employees across 38 locations. Established in 1804, Schroders remains true to its roots as a family-founded business. The Schroder family continues to be a significant shareholder, holding approximately 44% of the issued share capital.

    Schroders’ success can be attributed to its diversified business model, spanning different asset classes, client types and geographies. The company offers innovative products and solutions through four core business divisions: Public Markets, Solutions, Wealth Management, and Schroders Capital, which focuses on private markets, including private equity, renewable infrastructure investing, private debt & credit alternatives, and real estate.

    Schroders aims to provide excellent investment performance to clients through active management. This means directing capital towards resilient businesses with sustainable business models, consistently with the investment goals of its clients. Schroders serves a diverse client base that includes pension schemes, insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds, endowments, foundations, high net worth individuals, family offices, as well as end clients through partnerships with distributors, financial advisers, and online platforms.

    About Homes England

    Homes England is the government’s homes and regeneration agency.  It drives the creation of more high-quality homes and thriving places so that everyone has a place to live and thrive. The Agency’s team work in partnership with thousands of public and private bodies including local authorities, home builders, developers, affordable housing providers, commercial real estate companies and financial institutions to make this happen. For more information visit: Homes England – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

    Issued by Schroder Investment Management Limited. Registration No 1893220 England. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.  For regular updates by e-mail please register online at http://www.schroders.com for our alerting service.

    Updates to this page

    Published 15 October 2024

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Salem’s Lot: a faithful but shallow adaptation of Stephen King’s classic vampire novel

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Andrew Dix, Senior Lecturer in American Literature and Film, Loughborough University

    The vampire story dwells among the undead of literary and cinematic genres, ever available for reanimation. This year alone has seen the publication of more than 30 vampire novels in the US (from Rachel Harrison’s So Thirsty to K. M. Enright’s Mistress of Lies), alongside the release of several vampire movies, including Abigail (with Nosferatu, rebooting the silent German classic, due at Christmas).

    Now comes Salem’s Lot. Written and directed by Gary Dauberman, it’s the first feature-film adaptation of the 1975 novel in which Stephen King set himself the thought experiment of transposing Bram Stoker’s Dracula to contemporary New England. The book has been adapted twice before, in 1979 and 2004, but each time as a TV miniseries.

    Of these precursors, the more interesting is the first, directed by Tobe Hooper. Made five years after The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, it signified Hooper’s move towards the mainstream, while retaining some gory scenes and choppy editing reminiscent of his old grindhouse aesthetic.

    The new Salem’s Lot begins with a series of maps that trace how the master vampire, concealed in a chest, has reached Maine. The film’s own passage, stalled for years by the calculations of marketers and schedulers, has been equally arduous. It arrives now rather belatedly and without blockbuster flourish. While UK King fans can enjoy it on the big screen, it is consumable in most other locations only via the streaming service Max.

    The trailer for Salem’s Lot.

    Literary and film scholar Robert Stam offers a profusion of terms to describe the work undertaken by screen adaptations. They may, for example, “rewrite”, “transmute” or even “critique” their source-texts. Indicating a gentler kind of process, however, Stam also allows that an adaptation can offer an “incarnation” or “performance” of the material it is adapting. Performing Salem’s Lot in this sense, responding in audio-visual form to King’s prompts and refusing major reinventions, appears to be Dauberman’s goal.

    King is a successor not only to Stoker and other horror writers such as H. P. Lovecraft, but to the late-19th century “local colorists” in New England, who attentively documented the sights and sounds of their region. On the page, Salem’s Lot is visually abundant. The new adaptation attempts to be similarly conscientious.

    Dauberman takes care in matters of colour and lighting. A church’s doors, shut against the vampiric menace, glow a vivid red. Two boys walk through a wood silhouetted at sunset, their bodies ominously already lacking substance against a sky that is turning from pink to black. There are other visual pleasures, too, representing a shift away from Hooper’s version, where the shots are rougher-edged and decidedly non-pictorial.

    The cast of this Salem’s Lot is likeable and struggles gamely, in the face of regular jump scares, to solicit audience engagement. Unlike Hammer’s Dracula adaptations, say, in which the monster has all the charisma, this is something of a democratic vampire film and devolves interest to members of the opposing force.

    A pleasing modification is also made to the overbearing whiteness of King’s narrative world, with two of the pluckiest vampire hunters reimagined as African American.

    Beyond the scare

    But if this latest adaptation of Salem’s Lot is easy enough on the eye, intellectually it is shallow. This matters, because the best vampire fictions prompt us not merely to be terrified, but to start interpreting – they generate meanings as well as scares.

    What, precisely, is signified by their monstrous protagonists? As expert in Victorian literature, Nina Auerbach, wrote in her still valuable book Our Vampires, Ourselves (1995): “No fear is only personal: it must steep itself in its political and ideological ambience, without which our solitary terrors have no contagious resonance.”

    Writing his novel in 1975, as the progressive dreams of the 1960s faded, King found in the vampire an apt image of power and cruelty in America. In his own words, from the afterword to Salem’s Lot: “I saw a metaphor for everything that was wrong with the society around me, where the rich got richer and the poor got welfare … if they were lucky.” When vampires strike in the book, there is therefore the sense of a nation at risk, not merely a few families or a handful of individuals.

    The new adaptation, by contrast, represses rather than invites such interpretive effort on our part. It carries across the novel’s mid-1970s setting, but is interested more in accurate period detailing – the right model of car, the appropriate hairstyle – than in substantive historical exploration. It also doesn’t use the category of the vampire movie to say something insightful about our own time: the post-COVID moment, for example, or the era of Donald Trump (a figure with rich vampiric possibilities).

    Dauberman’s version of Salem’s Lot is certainly respectful of its source-text (unsurprising, perhaps, with King himself listed among its executive producers). And it functions perfectly well as a showcase for the varied skills of props designer, prosthetic artist and special effects engineer. But, as a work of cultural and social inquiry, this latest vampire story is disappointingly de-fanged.


    Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. Sign up here.

    Andrew Dix does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Salem’s Lot: a faithful but shallow adaptation of Stephen King’s classic vampire novel – https://theconversation.com/salems-lot-a-faithful-but-shallow-adaptation-of-stephen-kings-classic-vampire-novel-241278

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Trailblazing fostering hub celebrates its first birthday

    Source: City of Sunderland

    Foster with North East was launched last year with the aim of recruiting more foster carers across the North East by offering dedicated support and a specialised recruitment hub working alongside all 12 local authorities in the region.

    Since then more than 850 people have come forward to enquire about becoming a foster carers, many of whom are in the process of being approved as foster carers.

    A direct response to the call for more foster carers, Foster with North East has also been a trailblazer for the Department for Education’s pathfinder project, leading to a further nine spin off schemes now operating in other parts of the country.

    The hub acts as the first port of call for prospective foster carers offering a warm welcome, directing enquiries to their local authority, and providing support throughout the application process.

    It seeks to recruit foster carers from a range of different backgrounds and circumstances in the region to improve the experience of foster carers and offer the best outcomes for children in care.

    While nationally the average length of time from application to approval for anyone applying to be a foster carer is 6 months, Foster with North East have managed to condense this to 4.8 months. And there are plans to do this even quicker.

    The percentage of initial enquiries to Foster with North East from prospective foster carers which ultimately convert into successful applications (regardless of subsequent outcome), is also much higher at 23.1 per cent than the national rate of 12 per cent.. 

    Newly approved foster carers Vicky and Phil Metcalfe are some of the first to be approved as foster carers since the launch of Foster with North East. 

    Speaking about their experiences at the one year on celebration, Vicky said: “Fostering is something I thought about doing for years. Eventually last year I spoke to my husband and said I wanted to do it. We applied, and now here we are celebrating our approval alongside other new carers from the region.

    “Fostering has always been in my mind. I’ve got a son of my own and I just kept thinking that there are kids out there that need that love and care and if I ever needed someone to look after my son, I’d want to know there was somebody out there that would do this for us. We’ve a lot of love to give and to us it was a no brainier to look at fostering.

    “The whole application process with Foster with North East was really smooth, and our social worker was really lovely, she kept us informed and we felt very comfortable talking to her. 

    “The training also included meeting young people who are care experienced and gave us really good insight. It helped us to better understand their side of things.  A lot of what they said was also very positive and really showed how much difference you can make.  

    “Our was son was on board with our plans to foster from the minute we told him. He’s been absolutely brilliant and has welcomed our first child to our home too recently who is fantastic – we couldn’t have asked for a more loving little boy, he’s got the best smile, and he loves to learn, he’s very creative and it’s lovely to see him getting along so well with our son.

    “For anyone thinking about fostering, I’d say that if it’s in the back of your mind go for it. I’ve only been doing it a short time, but I’m all in, this is me now.”

    In its first year:

    • The collaboration between the 12 local authorities has brought together fostering teams, marketing experts and fostering families to support and drive recruitment of new carers.
    • Information sessions, events and pop-up stalls fostering a strong network of support have been held across the region.
    • Foster with North East has provided extensive training, equipping applicants with the tools they need to thrive as foster carers.
    • As the heart of the work lies in the stories of the children and families, Foster with North East has captured the joys of fostering directly from foster carers through several heartwarming video case studies to showcase the real-life transformative power of fostering.

    Daniel Kenny, Hub (Service) Lead for Foster with North East, said: “Foster with North East was created to tackle the decline in foster carers in the region and it’s been fantastic to see the progress and collaborative work over the last 12 months.

    “This has included building and strengthening connections across the region to reach as many people as possible with our fostering message, and ensure we are offering the best service possible to those looking to become foster carers.

    “We’ve had great support from our local authorities and positive feedback from newly approved carers at our celebration event, with some sharing their experiences on camera to shed light on the impact of our hub. The day highlighted everyone’s commitment to improving the lives of children in care, and it was wonderful to share such an important milestone with all those who have been part of our journey and be able to recognise the new foster carers as they embark on their fostering career.

    “We know there’s still a long way to go, as we need even more people from all walks of life to provide the safe homes for children and young people in care whether that’s for one night, a week, for a few months at a time or long-term.

    “But we’re really excited about continuing our work to grow the number of foster carers in the North East fostering for their local authority and ensure every child has a safe and stable home. As more regional hubs are being launched across England, we’re also looking forward to sharing our stories of hope throughout the country and supporting the other hubs.”

    Anyone interested in fostering in the North East, can visit the Foster with North East website here to find out more and make an enquiry.

    Foster with North East is a collaborative partnership between 12 local authorities from across the North East of England. For the first time every, fostering services all across the region are joining forces to recruit much-needed prospective foster carers for vulnerable children and young people.

    Anyone considering fostering in the region will benefit from a united, single support hub. The hub provides additional support for prospective foster carers and is supported by the Department for Education.

    The 12 local authorities involved in Foster with North East are:

    • Darlington 
    • Durham 
    • Gateshead 
    • Hartlepool 
    • Middlesbrough 
    • Newcastle-upon-Tyne 
    • Northumberland 
    • North Tyneside 
    • Redcar and Cleveland 
    • South Tyneside 
    • Stockton-on-Tees
    • Sunderland (Together for Children)

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Civil Service recruiting new head to oversee regulatory divergence

    Source: Traditional Unionist Voice – Northern Ireland

    Statement by TUV leader and North Antrim MP Jim Allister:

    “Far from the Sea Border being gone, the Civil Service is now recruiting a “Head of Regulatory Divergence Co-ordination” at a cost of up to £59,000 a year to the public purse.

    “Clearly Stormont is perfectly aware that the deal which restored devolution on the pretext that the damage done by the Protocol had been addressed was a sham.

    “No nation with any self-respect would tolerate a situation where such a post is necessary – a senior civil servant whose sole responsibility is to monitor how the internal market of the United Kingdom is being trashed.

    “This post is yet further confirmation of the monumental constitutional damage inflicted by the Protocol on the integrity of the UK and Northern Ireland’s place within it.”

    Note to editors

    You can view the advert for this position here.

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: New leader for ARU’s work-based courses

    Source: Anglia Ruskin University

    Published: 14 October 2024 at 10:30

    Specialist in education and workforce development Carl Dawson joins university

    Carl Dawson, a globally renowned expert in online education and workforce development with over 20 years of experience, has been appointed to lead Anglia Ruskin University’s Online and Degrees at Work teams.

    Relocating to the UK from Texas, Carl has previously worked closely with universities, governments and companies in the United States, Canada, Australia, Bangladesh, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

    Carl has extensive experience across both the public and private sectors and has implemented digital learning programs for institutions and governments, including the UK Cabinet Office. In 2013, he co-founded Construct Education, later recognized by Deloitte as one of the fastest-growing technology companies in the UK and now operating globally.

    He helped build accredited online education programs at institutions such as Howard University, the University of Michigan, and the University of Tennessee.

    In 2021, Carl became an advisor to the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) on new digital learning strategies in a post COVID world. 

    His academic research includes time as a Transformational Leadership Fellow at Oxford University, a Policy Fellow at Cambridge University, and a Senior Research Associate at Jesus College, Cambridge, focusing on new economic models for higher education.

    The Degrees at Work team is at the forefront of driving growth for ARU’s distance learning and apprenticeships. The team collaborates closely with employers and academics to identify future talent needs, generating insights that shape ARU’s innovative, professional work-based programs.

    Carl, who takes the role of Director of Learning Development Services at ARU, said:

    “I’m thrilled to return to the UK to join Anglia Ruskin University and help shape the future of work in the East of England and beyond, ensuring this unique region leads in preparing learners for tomorrow’s industries and societal needs.

    “Being part of the University of the Year is an incredible opportunity, and I’m eager to build on our Gold Award for teaching, pioneering degree apprenticeships, and decade-long distance and online learning success.”

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Speech: PM International Investment Summit Speech: 14 October 2024

    Source: United Kingdom – Prime Minister’s Office 10 Downing Street

    Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivered a speech at the International Investment Summit 2024.

    Delivered on:
    (Transcript of the speech, exactly as it was delivered)

    And thanks to all you for being here…

    It’s fantastic to stand here and look out and see so many of you here…

    And I’m really grateful that you have made the effort, and you are here. It means a huge amount to me and my government…

    And welcome to this Government’s first International Investment summit.

    And some of you I know have come a very long way to be here…

    You have flown in from a great distance, some of you will be going straight back out again afterwards.

    You have made a huge effort to share with us the precious gift of your time…

    And we are really, really grateful for that.

    And welcome to the Guild Hall…

    London’s ancient Town Hall…

    Isn’t it a fantastic building, it’s really breathtaking this Guild Hall.

    Not of course to be confused with the nearby Guildhall school of music…

    Where I once pursued a fleeting ambition to play the flute professionally. I kid you not…

    Complete with then long hair and very, very flared jeans. 

    All photographic evidence has been destroyed.

    But today we are pursuing a different ambition…

    A shared ambition…

    Growth.

    You have to grow your business.

    And I have to grow my country.

    I’ll leave it to you to decide if you think voters or shareholders are the more forgiving audience…

    But without growth – let’s just agree it’s a difficult conversation…

    And that therefore, growth is a cause that binds us together.

    The shared endeavour of prosperity.

    It’s why we’ve made it the number one test of this government…

    I am determined to do everything in my power to galvanise growth…

    Determined for this country to be the highest growing economy in the G7…

    That is our most important national mission.

    Because it’s the only way to deliver the mandate for change that we won.

    Growth is higher wages.

    Growth is more vibrant high streets.

    Growth is public services back on their feet.

    It’s less poverty, more opportunity, more meals out, more holidays, more precious moments with your family, more cash in your pocket.

    And of course, for any business…

    It means a bigger market.

    Higher demand…

    A more secure and prosperous future…

    Your effort and enterprise – rewarded in profit.

    But it’s much more important, even than all that. 

    We live in an age when political fires rage across the world.

    Conflict. Insecurity. A populist mood that rails against the open values so many of us hold dear.

    Values which, as you know…

    Are so crucial for making business easy to do.

    And yet – at the same time…

    Look around the world…

    Look at the investments you and others are making.

    This is an age of great possibility, as well. 

    Huge revolutions in digital technology, clean energy, medicine, life sciences…

    Each – with the potential to fundamentally change the way we live and the way that we work…

    Each – with the possibility to transform the lives of working people for the better.

    And so, in times like this…

    Economic growth is vital – as it always has been…

    If we are to steer our way through a great period of insecurity and change…

    And on to calmer waters. 

    Because when working people benefit from that growth…

    When every community enjoys the fruits of wealth creation…

    It stops a country turning in on itself and against the world.

    And that in turn, helps provides a stable foundation…

    Breathing space… 

    For a country to take advantage of those opportunities for a better future.

    To put it more simply…

    It’s not just that stability leads to growth – though we all recognise that. 

    It’s also that growth leads to stability…

    Growth leads to country that is better equipped to come together…

    And get its future back.

    That’s why it’s always been so critical to my political project.

    The key ingredient of that ‘Great Moderation’ we became accustomed to before the financial crash…

    But which together, in partnership…

    We now have to earn again. 

    Every one of you here today…

    Has been invited for that reason.

    It’s not just that you lead some of the most important businesses in the world.

    It’s also because you are pivotal to this great cause of our times. 

    And the reason we are focusing so much on investment…

    Is because the mission of growth, in this country in particular…

    Demands it.

    Private sector investment is the way we rebuild our country…

    And pay our way in the world.

    And make no mistake – this is a great moment to back Britain…

    This is great moment to back England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. 

    We have an amazing education system that produces some of the best talent in the world.

    The largest tech sector in Europe.

    Leading positions in some of those great industries of the future…

    Artificial Intelligence, Life Sciences, Clean energy, the creative industries.

    We’re a country where businesses thrive – small and large alike…

    With clear regulatory frameworks and protections…

    A legal system that sets high standards around the globe…

    A location which means we can speak to our colleagues in the Americas or Asia in the same day…

    A high ranking in the Global Innovation index, every year…

    Our wonderful global language…

    Our world-renowned sport and culture… 

    This great modern city…

    And all around us…

    A heritage steeped in commerce and trade…

    A set of shared values – centuries-long…

    For being a country that is open for business.

    You can’t put a price on any of this.

    Now we have our problems – of course we do.

    As I’ve said – our public services need urgent care… 

    And our public finances need the tough love of prudence…

    Challenges we cannot ignore. 

    Because, we know – just as every leader here knows…

    That those early weeks and months are precious.

    And, no matter how many people advise you to ignore it…

    That you must run towards the fire to put it out…

    Not let it spread further.

    So we will fix our public services…

    We will stabilise our economy… 

    And we will do it quickly.

    Because we don’t want any of those problems associated with our inheritance…

    Misting up the shop window of Britain…

    Distracting you – from all those assets I just listed.

    Assets that may feel more intangible…

    But are more valuable…

    More enduring…

    Deeper in the bones of this nation.

    And which are ready to be unlocked…

    If we take firm and decisive action on policy – which we can and we will…

    To give you total confidence that this is the moment to back Britain.  

    So let me quickly run through four crucial areas in our pitch for Britain.

    I know – it’s a kind of CEO heresy to have a list of four not three…

    So I apologise!

    But please indulge me.

    First – stability.

    We have a golden opportunity to use our mandate…

    To end the culture of chop and change…

    The policy churn…

    The sticking plaster politics…

    That makes it so hard for investors to assess the value of any proposition.

    Now, you may think – well every government says that…

    But the stability that comes with a large majority in our system…

    That is a unique advantage.

    And we have the determination…

    The focus on clear long-term ends…

    A mission-led mindset that thinks in years…

    Not the days or hours of the news grid…

    Needed to unlock that potential. 

    And don’t doubt that.

    Second – strategy.

    We are building a more strategic architecture for growth. 

    A way for investors to have a much steadier hand on the tiller.

    That’s why we’ve announced a new National Wealth Fund…

    And switched on Great British Energy…

    Which will accelerate investment in clean power and future technologies.

    Like Carbon Capture and Storage, for example…

    Which we just backed – alongside BP, Equinor and Eni

    And which shows the hard-headed approach we will bring to industrial policy.

    A partnership – sharing the risk with the private sector…

    Ambitious – absolutely. 

    But also unsentimental.

    Guided by the market…

    Focused, at all times…

    On the real potential for comparative advantage in this country.

    You know – this is the point I would always make about our Modern Industrial Strategy. 

    In this country, there has been a long rather arcane political debate about “picking winners”.

    Well, we’re not in the business of individual picking winners.

    But we are in the business of building on our strengths.

    Mowing the grass on the pitch…

    Making sure the changing rooms are clean and comfortable…

    That the training ground is good.

    So that when our businesses compete…

    They are match fit…

    That, to put it simply…

    We give the businesses of this country the best conditions to succeed.

    I don’t know why that’s sometimes controversial in this country…

    Industrial policy seems fairly commonplace elsewhere around the world.

    But it is fundamental to the way we see our job on growth…

    And our relationship with a room like this.

    Third – Britain’s global standing.

    We’re determined to improve it.

    Determined – to repair…

    Britain’s brand as an open, outward-looking, confident, trading nation.

    Look – I see this as a diplomatic necessity…

    And I think it’s clear how much priority I have given it in the first 100 days of government.

    All around the world…

    Whether it’s countries, or investors…

    People want to know that Britain can be a stable, trusted, rule-abiding partner.

    As we always have been…

    But that somehow, during the whole circus that followed Brexit… 

    The last Government made a few people less sure about. 

    Needlessly insulting our closest allies…

    And of course a few choice Anglo-Saxon phrases for business. 

    Well – no more.

    We have turned the page on that – decisively…

    And we will use that reset for growth. 

    Finally fourth – regulation

    Now, I don’t see regulation as good or bad.

    That seems simplistic to me.

    Some regulation is life-saving…

    We have seen that in recent weeks here, with the report on the tragedy of Grenfell Tower.

    But across our public sector…

    I would say the previous Government hid behind regulators.

    Deferred decisions to them because it was either too weak or indecisive…

    Or simply not committed enough to growth. 

    Planning is a very real example of that…

    Or – for our friends from across the pond…

    ‘Permitting’ is a really clear example of that… 

    The global language…

    But anyway – the key test for me on regulation…

    Is of course – growth. 

    Is this going to make our economy more dynamic?

    Is this going to inhibit or unlock investment?

    Is it something that enables the builders not the blockers?

    Now – I know some people may be wondering about our labour market policies introduced last week.

    Let me be clear – they are pro-growth.

    Workers with more security at work…

    With higher wages…

    That is a better growth model for this country.

    It will lead to more dynamism in our labour market.

    And seriously – we have to think differently about this…

    A nation’s position in the world is changing all the time…

    As must its growth model. 

    So while I know this is a room full of businesses who take investing in their human capital seriously…

    When I look at the British economy as a whole…

    It does seem as if sometimes, we are more comfortable hiring people to work in low paid, insecure contracts…

    Than we are investing in the new technology that delivers for workers, for productivity and for our country.

    And so we’ve got to break out of that trap.

    But we’ve also got to look at regulation – across the piece. 

    And where it is needlessly holding back the investment we need to take our country forward…

    Where it is stopping us building the homes…

    The data centres, the warehouses, grid connectors, roads,  trainlines, you name it…

    Then mark my words – we will get rid of it.

    Take the East Anglia 2 wind farm.

    A £4 billion investment.

    One Gigawatt of clean energy.

    An important project – absolutely.

    But also the sort of thing a country as committed to clean energy as we are…

    Needs to replicate again and again.

    Now regulators demanded over four thousand planning documents for that project…

    Not 4000 pages – 4000 documents.

    And then six weeks after finally receiving planning consent…

    It was held up for a further two years by judicial review.

    I mean – as an investor…

    When you see this inertia…

    You just don’t bother do you?

    And that – in a nutshell…

    Is the biggest supply-side problem we have in our country.

    So it’s time to upgrade the regulatory regime…

    Make it fit for the modern age..

    Harness every opportunity available to Britain.

    We will rip out the bureaucracy that blocks investment…

    We will march through the institutions…

    And we will make sure that every regulator in this country…

    Especially our economic and competition regulators…

    Takes growth as seriously as this room does.

    And look – tell us about your frustrations on this. 

    Speak to my team…

    Speak to me, to Rachel, to Jonny, to Ed…

    And our new Minister for Investment, Poppy. 

    Any leader knows the importance of a good team – and we’ve got one here.

    We are united behind growth…

    Our door is open…

    And the work of change has already begun.

    We’re reforming the planning system…

    The onshore wind ban has gone… 

    New projects in solar, wind, tidal energy…

    Carbon Capture and Storage…

    Tax relief for the creative industries…

    Investment from the world’s leading companies…

    Blackstone, Amazon…

    A new partnership with Cyrus One to build data centres in Didcot…

    Finally grasping the nettle on airport expansion…

    A new £1 billion commitment from Manchester Airport Group to expand Stansted…

    Opening up new routes to work and holiday destinations…

    The first of tens of billions worth of inward investment deals we will sign today.

    Because we are determined to lead the way on growth. 

    Determined to get Britain building…

    Determined to get our economy moving…

    Through the shock and awe of investment.

    That’s the message to take home today.

    When the big decisions are made…

    When you go back to your board rooms and ask…

    Where does our money go…

    Where do our jobs go…

    Where does our investment in a better future go?

    Let me offer you a new answer…

    It’s time to back Britain.

    Thank you.

    Updates to this page

    Published 14 October 2024

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: £1.1 billion investment to expand Stansted Airport welcomed by ministers

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Funding will expand Stanstead Airport terminal by one-third, helping to support UK businesses and the aviation sector.

    • 5,000 jobs expected from £1.1 billion investment in London Stansted Airport 
    • expansion will double the airport’s annual economic contribution to the UK to £2 billon
    • latest boost for the government’s core mission to grow the British economy and boost opportunities

    More than 5,000 jobs will be created as a result of a 5-year, £1.1 billion investment in London Stansted Airport, welcomed today (14 October 2024) by Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Transport Secretary Louise Haigh. 

    The plans were unveiled by the Prime Minister at the flagship International Investment Summit in London and will see Stansted unlock the potential of its runway through the extension of its existing terminal.

    The funding will expand the existing terminal by a third, securing new air routes to key business and holiday destinations – boosting local supply chains and further cementing the UK’s place on the international stage.

    The investment consists of £600 million for the terminal extension, alongside another £500 million to improve the existing terminal and wider airport estate.

    It will also deliver Stansted’s 14.3 megawatt on-site solar farm, which will support the airport’s current and increasing electricity demands. It follows the recent creation of a new electric vehicle charging forecourt at the airport.

    Manchester Airports Group (MAG), owner of London Stansted, is in the final stages of the procurement process, with construction expected to begin in 2025. The project will take between 2 and 3 years to complete.

    This scheme will significantly improve passengers’ experience at each stage of their journey from check-in to immigration. It will deliver a larger security hall, an airfield taxiway upgrade and an overhaul of gate rooms, boosting capacity and comfort for passengers before boarding.

    The expansion plans already have planning permissions to begin construction and are in line with previously agreed passenger and flight numbers.

    Transport Secretary, Louise Haigh, said:

    We have been steadfast in our commitment to help British businesses grow and in turn boost the UK’s economy. This announcement is a clear signal that Britain is open for business. 

    Transport is central to this government’s core mission of growing the economy. This is about giving companies like Manchester Airports Group the confidence to invest, boosting regional and national economic growth and supporting the aviation sector while also meeting our existing environmental obligations.

    Ken O’Toole, Chief Executive Officer of MAG – which owns London Stansted, Manchester and East Midlands Airports, said:

    By investing more than £1 billion in Stansted over the next 5 years, we will be able to connect people and businesses in London and the east of England to even more global destinations, while welcoming millions more visitors to the UK.

    We are proud to be investing in our infrastructure in a way that will create jobs and stimulate trade, investment and tourism. 

    Aviation is an essential enabler of the success of the UK’s key high-value industries, and we look forward to helping the government achieve the highest sustained growth in the G7 through the sustainable growth of our airports.

    Cath Bowtell, IFM Investors Chair, said: 

    As co-owners of MAG, our commitment to this exciting new Stansted project reflects our confidence in the airport’s future growth story. 

    As one of the world’s largest infrastructure investors, IFM invests over decades to enhance the value to customers of the UK infrastructure we own and operate. 

    MAG goes from strength to strength under the long-term stable co-ownership of IFM alongside Manchester and Greater Manchester local authorities.

    Aviation, Europe and technology media enquiries

    Media enquiries 0300 7777 878

    Switchboard 0300 330 3000

    Updates to this page

    Published 14 October 2024

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: PM International Investment Summit Speech: 14 October 2024

    Source: United Kingdom – Government Statements

    Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivered a speech at the International Investment Summit 2024.

    Delivered on:
    (Transcript of the speech, exactly as it was delivered)

    And thanks to all you for being here…

    It’s fantastic to stand here and look out and see so many of you here…

    And I’m really grateful that you have made the effort, and you are here. It means a huge amount to me and my government…

    And welcome to this Government’s first International Investment summit.

    And some of you I know have come a very long way to be here…

    You have flown in from a great distance, some of you will be going straight back out again afterwards.

    You have made a huge effort to share with us the precious gift of your time…

    And we are really, really grateful for that.

    And welcome to the Guild Hall…

    London’s ancient Town Hall…

    Isn’t it a fantastic building, it’s really breathtaking this Guild Hall.

    Not of course to be confused with the nearby Guildhall school of music…

    Where I once pursued a fleeting ambition to play the flute professionally. I kid you not…

    Complete with then long hair and very, very flared jeans. 

    All photographic evidence has been destroyed.

    But today we are pursuing a different ambition…

    A shared ambition…

    Growth.

    You have to grow your business.

    And I have to grow my country.

    I’ll leave it to you to decide if you think voters or shareholders are the more forgiving audience…

    But without growth – let’s just agree it’s a difficult conversation…

    And that therefore, growth is a cause that binds us together.

    The shared endeavour of prosperity.

    It’s why we’ve made it the number one test of this government…

    I am determined to do everything in my power to galvanise growth…

    Determined for this country to be the highest growing economy in the G7…

    That is our most important national mission.

    Because it’s the only way to deliver the mandate for change that we won.

    Growth is higher wages.

    Growth is more vibrant high streets.

    Growth is public services back on their feet.

    It’s less poverty, more opportunity, more meals out, more holidays, more precious moments with your family, more cash in your pocket.

    And of course, for any business…

    It means a bigger market.

    Higher demand…

    A more secure and prosperous future…

    Your effort and enterprise – rewarded in profit.

    But it’s much more important, even than all that. 

    We live in an age when political fires rage across the world.

    Conflict. Insecurity. A populist mood that rails against the open values so many of us hold dear.

    Values which, as you know…

    Are so crucial for making business easy to do.

    And yet – at the same time…

    Look around the world…

    Look at the investments you and others are making.

    This is an age of great possibility, as well. 

    Huge revolutions in digital technology, clean energy, medicine, life sciences…

    Each – with the potential to fundamentally change the way we live and the way that we work…

    Each – with the possibility to transform the lives of working people for the better.

    And so, in times like this…

    Economic growth is vital – as it always has been…

    If we are to steer our way through a great period of insecurity and change…

    And on to calmer waters. 

    Because when working people benefit from that growth…

    When every community enjoys the fruits of wealth creation…

    It stops a country turning in on itself and against the world.

    And that in turn, helps provides a stable foundation…

    Breathing space… 

    For a country to take advantage of those opportunities for a better future.

    To put it more simply…

    It’s not just that stability leads to growth – though we all recognise that. 

    It’s also that growth leads to stability…

    Growth leads to country that is better equipped to come together…

    And get its future back.

    That’s why it’s always been so critical to my political project.

    The key ingredient of that ‘Great Moderation’ we became accustomed to before the financial crash…

    But which together, in partnership…

    We now have to earn again. 

    Every one of you here today…

    Has been invited for that reason.

    It’s not just that you lead some of the most important businesses in the world.

    It’s also because you are pivotal to this great cause of our times. 

    And the reason we are focusing so much on investment…

    Is because the mission of growth, in this country in particular…

    Demands it.

    Private sector investment is the way we rebuild our country…

    And pay our way in the world.

    And make no mistake – this is a great moment to back Britain…

    This is great moment to back England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. 

    We have an amazing education system that produces some of the best talent in the world.

    The largest tech sector in Europe.

    Leading positions in some of those great industries of the future…

    Artificial Intelligence, Life Sciences, Clean energy, the creative industries.

    We’re a country where businesses thrive – small and large alike…

    With clear regulatory frameworks and protections…

    A legal system that sets high standards around the globe…

    A location which means we can speak to our colleagues in the Americas or Asia in the same day…

    A high ranking in the Global Innovation index, every year…

    Our wonderful global language…

    Our world-renowned sport and culture… 

    This great modern city…

    And all around us…

    A heritage steeped in commerce and trade…

    A set of shared values – centuries-long…

    For being a country that is open for business.

    You can’t put a price on any of this.

    Now we have our problems – of course we do.

    As I’ve said – our public services need urgent care… 

    And our public finances need the tough love of prudence…

    Challenges we cannot ignore. 

    Because, we know – just as every leader here knows…

    That those early weeks and months are precious.

    And, no matter how many people advise you to ignore it…

    That you must run towards the fire to put it out…

    Not let it spread further.

    So we will fix our public services…

    We will stabilise our economy… 

    And we will do it quickly.

    Because we don’t want any of those problems associated with our inheritance…

    Misting up the shop window of Britain…

    Distracting you – from all those assets I just listed.

    Assets that may feel more intangible…

    But are more valuable…

    More enduring…

    Deeper in the bones of this nation.

    And which are ready to be unlocked…

    If we take firm and decisive action on policy – which we can and we will…

    To give you total confidence that this is the moment to back Britain.  

    So let me quickly run through four crucial areas in our pitch for Britain.

    I know – it’s a kind of CEO heresy to have a list of four not three…

    So I apologise!

    But please indulge me.

    First – stability.

    We have a golden opportunity to use our mandate…

    To end the culture of chop and change…

    The policy churn…

    The sticking plaster politics…

    That makes it so hard for investors to assess the value of any proposition.

    Now, you may think – well every government says that…

    But the stability that comes with a large majority in our system…

    That is a unique advantage.

    And we have the determination…

    The focus on clear long-term ends…

    A mission-led mindset that thinks in years…

    Not the days or hours of the news grid…

    Needed to unlock that potential. 

    And don’t doubt that.

    Second – strategy.

    We are building a more strategic architecture for growth. 

    A way for investors to have a much steadier hand on the tiller.

    That’s why we’ve announced a new National Wealth Fund…

    And switched on Great British Energy…

    Which will accelerate investment in clean power and future technologies.

    Like Carbon Capture and Storage, for example…

    Which we just backed – alongside BP, Equinor and Eni

    And which shows the hard-headed approach we will bring to industrial policy.

    A partnership – sharing the risk with the private sector…

    Ambitious – absolutely. 

    But also unsentimental.

    Guided by the market…

    Focused, at all times…

    On the real potential for comparative advantage in this country.

    You know – this is the point I would always make about our Modern Industrial Strategy. 

    In this country, there has been a long rather arcane political debate about “picking winners”.

    Well, we’re not in the business of individual picking winners.

    But we are in the business of building on our strengths.

    Mowing the grass on the pitch…

    Making sure the changing rooms are clean and comfortable…

    That the training ground is good.

    So that when our businesses compete…

    They are match fit…

    That, to put it simply…

    We give the businesses of this country the best conditions to succeed.

    I don’t know why that’s sometimes controversial in this country…

    Industrial policy seems fairly commonplace elsewhere around the world.

    But it is fundamental to the way we see our job on growth…

    And our relationship with a room like this.

    Third – Britain’s global standing.

    We’re determined to improve it.

    Determined – to repair…

    Britain’s brand as an open, outward-looking, confident, trading nation.

    Look – I see this as a diplomatic necessity…

    And I think it’s clear how much priority I have given it in the first 100 days of government.

    All around the world…

    Whether it’s countries, or investors…

    People want to know that Britain can be a stable, trusted, rule-abiding partner.

    As we always have been…

    But that somehow, during the whole circus that followed Brexit… 

    The last Government made a few people less sure about. 

    Needlessly insulting our closest allies…

    And of course a few choice Anglo-Saxon phrases for business. 

    Well – no more.

    We have turned the page on that – decisively…

    And we will use that reset for growth. 

    Finally fourth – regulation

    Now, I don’t see regulation as good or bad.

    That seems simplistic to me.

    Some regulation is life-saving…

    We have seen that in recent weeks here, with the report on the tragedy of Grenfell Tower.

    But across our public sector…

    I would say the previous Government hid behind regulators.

    Deferred decisions to them because it was either too weak or indecisive…

    Or simply not committed enough to growth. 

    Planning is a very real example of that…

    Or – for our friends from across the pond…

    ‘Permitting’ is a really clear example of that… 

    The global language…

    But anyway – the key test for me on regulation…

    Is of course – growth. 

    Is this going to make our economy more dynamic?

    Is this going to inhibit or unlock investment?

    Is it something that enables the builders not the blockers?

    Now – I know some people may be wondering about our labour market policies introduced last week.

    Let me be clear – they are pro-growth.

    Workers with more security at work…

    With higher wages…

    That is a better growth model for this country.

    It will lead to more dynamism in our labour market.

    And seriously – we have to think differently about this…

    A nation’s position in the world is changing all the time…

    As must its growth model. 

    So while I know this is a room full of businesses who take investing in their human capital seriously…

    When I look at the British economy as a whole…

    It does seem as if sometimes, we are more comfortable hiring people to work in low paid, insecure contracts…

    Than we are investing in the new technology that delivers for workers, for productivity and for our country.

    And so we’ve got to break out of that trap.

    But we’ve also got to look at regulation – across the piece. 

    And where it is needlessly holding back the investment we need to take our country forward…

    Where it is stopping us building the homes…

    The data centres, the warehouses, grid connectors, roads,  trainlines, you name it…

    Then mark my words – we will get rid of it.

    Take the East Anglia 2 wind farm.

    A £4 billion investment.

    One Gigawatt of clean energy.

    An important project – absolutely.

    But also the sort of thing a country as committed to clean energy as we are…

    Needs to replicate again and again.

    Now regulators demanded over four thousand planning documents for that project…

    Not 4000 pages – 4000 documents.

    And then six weeks after finally receiving planning consent…

    It was held up for a further two years by judicial review.

    I mean – as an investor…

    When you see this inertia…

    You just don’t bother do you?

    And that – in a nutshell…

    Is the biggest supply-side problem we have in our country.

    So it’s time to upgrade the regulatory regime…

    Make it fit for the modern age..

    Harness every opportunity available to Britain.

    We will rip out the bureaucracy that blocks investment…

    We will march through the institutions…

    And we will make sure that every regulator in this country…

    Especially our economic and competition regulators…

    Takes growth as seriously as this room does.

    And look – tell us about your frustrations on this. 

    Speak to my team…

    Speak to me, to Rachel, to Jonny, to Ed…

    And our new Minister for Investment, Poppy. 

    Any leader knows the importance of a good team – and we’ve got one here.

    We are united behind growth…

    Our door is open…

    And the work of change has already begun.

    We’re reforming the planning system…

    The onshore wind ban has gone… 

    New projects in solar, wind, tidal energy…

    Carbon Capture and Storage…

    Tax relief for the creative industries…

    Investment from the world’s leading companies…

    Blackstone, Amazon…

    A new partnership with Cyrus One to build data centres in Didcot…

    Finally grasping the nettle on airport expansion…

    A new £1 billion commitment from Manchester Airport Group to expand Stansted…

    Opening up new routes to work and holiday destinations…

    The first of tens of billions worth of inward investment deals we will sign today.

    Because we are determined to lead the way on growth. 

    Determined to get Britain building…

    Determined to get our economy moving…

    Through the shock and awe of investment.

    That’s the message to take home today.

    When the big decisions are made…

    When you go back to your board rooms and ask…

    Where does our money go…

    Where do our jobs go…

    Where does our investment in a better future go?

    Let me offer you a new answer…

    It’s time to back Britain.

    Thank you.

    Updates to this page

    Published 14 October 2024

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Tech Secretary welcomes foreign investment in UK data centres which will spur economic growth and AI innovation in Britain

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Four major tech firms based in the US have committed to the UK as the place to invest in data centres, fueling Britain’s economic growth and spurring on AI development.

    £6.3 billion global investment into UK data centres.

    The Technology Secretary Peter Kyle has today (Monday 14 October) welcomed the ‘vote of confidence’ in Britain made by US firms CyrusOne, ServiceNow, Cloud HQ and CoreWeave, who have announced the UK will be the home for their data infrastructure worth a total of £6.3 billion.  

    The investments, announced as part of today’s International Investment Summit, will take the total investment in UK data centres to over £25 billion since this government took office, demonstrating the government’s continuous effort in driving growth by partnering with business.

    These new data centres will provide the UK with more computing power and data storage, so that Britain has the necessary infrastructure to train and deploy the next generation of AI technologies, such as complex machine learning models and algorithms. This in turn will help us roll out AI faster in areas like healthcare, which will help everyone live better and healthier lives.

    Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said:

    Tech leaders from all over the world are seeing Britain as the best place to invest with a thriving and stable market for data centres and AI development. 

    Data centres power our day-to-day lives and boost innovation in growing sectors like AI. This is why only last month, I took steps to class UK data centres as Critical National Infrastructure giving the industry the ultimate reassurance the UK will always be a safe home for their investment. Today’s drumbeat of investment is a vote of confidence in Britain and our approach to work with business to deliver sustained growth for all. 

    It comes as Washington DC-headquartered firm CloudHQ is set to develop a new £1.9 billion data centre campus in Didcot, Oxfordshire. 

    The hyper-scale data centre is currently in development and will help meet the UK’s growing demand for AI and machine learning. It will create 1,500 jobs during construction, and 100 permanent jobs once fully operational.

    Hossein Fateh, CloudHQ’s Founder and Chief Executive Officer, said:

    We are very excited to deliver a hyper-scale campus in the UK that is truly an extension of Slough due to our private diverse fibre optic route.

    Our site enables us to build out our campus environment to provide scale and density to meet our customers’ requirements.

    Global AI platform and software leader ServiceNow also confirmed its commitment to the UK market, with plans to invest £1.15 billion into its UK business over the next 5 years. The investment will not only support the future development of AI in the UK, expanding its data centres with Nvidia GPUs for local processing data, but also support new office space as the company significantly grows into employee base beyond its current headcount of 1,000 employees. 

    ServiceNow Chairman and CEO Bill McDermott said:

    Working together, ServiceNow and HM government are on the brink of a great unlock, putting AI to work for people across the country.

    AI-powered transformation is a generational opportunity to champion citizens, empower employees, and delight customers. ServiceNow’s investment will accelerate the UK’s innovation blueprint, redefining how people live and work.

    CyrusOne, a leading global data centre developer headquartered in the United States, announced plans to expand their investment into the UK to £2.5 billion over the coming years. 

    Subject to planning permission, the projects should be operational by Q4 2028 and are expected to create over 1,000 jobs both directly and within its immediate design and construction value chain.

    Eric Schwartz, President and Chief Executive Officer at CyrusOne, said:

    The UK government’s recent ‘critical national infrastructure’ (CNI) designation was a strong signal that data centres are of strategic importance to the UK economy. 

    It has provided CyrusOne with the confidence to continue its expansion in the UK and support the government’s policy ambition to become a centre of excellence for digital services, technology innovation and AI.

    Announcing its second investment in the UK this year, AI hyperscaler CoreWeave also confirmed £750 million to support the next generation of AI cloud infrastructure.  

    Building on its £1 billion investment announced in May and the opening of its European headquarters in London, CoreWeave will be investing a further £750 million in the UK to support the demand for critical AI infrastructure. The investment in the UK is CoreWeave’s second largest investment in a country following the USA. 

    Mike Intrator, CEO and co-founder of CoreWeave:

    CoreWeave’s multiple investments in 2024 are a mark of our confidence in the government’s commitment to attracting global private investment through the creation of a stable, business-friendly environment.

    We are encouraged by the UK’s strong talent pool, which is reflected in our decision earlier this year to open our European headquarters in London, and priority focus on investing in critical infrastructure, to drive the continued development of the UK’s thriving AI sector.

    Today’s investments follow major deals with investment giant Blackstone, who committed to £10 billion investment in the North East of England last month, and Amazon Web Services, who announced they plan to invest £8 billion in building, maintaining and operating data centres in the UK over the next 5 years. 

    Only last month, the Tech Secretary also classed UK data centres as ‘Critical National Infrastructure’ (CNI), giving the sector can greater government support in recovering from and anticipating critical incidents, ensuring the industry remains secure and stable. 

    In July, he also appointed entrepreneur Matt Clifford to kickstart an AI Opportunities Action Plan, which will set out how to boost take up of AI across all parts of the economy, and consider the necessary AI infrastructure, talent, and data access required to drive adoption by the public and private sectors. 

    This week’s International Investment Summit will see ministers and business leaders discuss how the UK can capitalise on emerging growth sectors including health tech and AI, clean energy and creative industries with confirmed speakers including Ruth Porat President & Chief Investment Officer, Alphabet and Google, David Ricks, CEO of Eli Lilly, Alex Kendall CEO of Wayve and Pushmeet Kohli Principal Scientist at Google DeepMind.

    The Prime Minister will take part in an “in conversation” event with former CEO and chairman of Google Eric Schmidt and CEO of GSK Dame Emma Walmsley to discuss how the UK can seize the opportunities of AI to drive growth and productivity, and it’s potential to improve public services such as health and education’

    Tech Secretary Peter Kyle will take part in a conversation about accelerating innovation as well as sign a memorandum of understanding with Elderberry, the world’s largest pharmaceutical firm, which sets the stage for a world-first trial of obesity medications on the NHS, in Greater Manchester, while the company plans to set up a new biotech hub in the UK.

    Notes to editors

    CloudHQ has already secured planning permission to build a state-of-the-art data centre campus in Didcot.

    DSIT media enquiries

    Email press@dsit.gov.uk

    Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 6pm 020 7215 300

    Updates to this page

    Published 14 October 2024

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Landmark collaboration with largest pharmaceutical company

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Collaboration announced at International Investment Summit, meeting the PM’s ambitions to catalyse investment in the UK, proving the UK is open for business. 

    The UK’s world leading life sciences sector will receive a £279 million boost to tackle significant health challenges, with an intent expressed by Lilly, the world’s largest pharmaceutical company, to invest in the UK, as part of a collaborative partnership with UK Government, announced at the International Investment Summit today (Monday 14 October).

    Plans to form a new collaboration through a memorandum of understanding will see the pharmaceutical giant backing the UK’s brightest and best life sciences talent with the planned launch of the first ‘Lilly Gateway Labs’ innovation accelerator in Europe. This facility will support early-stage life sciences businesses to develop transformative medicines by providing lab space, mentorship, and potential financial backing to rocket future growth in the sector.   

    Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said: 

    For all the challenges facing the health of our nation, we have two huge advantages: some of the world’s leading scientific minds, and a National Health Service with enormous potential. If we can combine the two, patients in this country can reap the rewards of the revolution in medical science unfolding before our eyes.

    This announcement helps the UK take its place as a world leader in life sciences and brings life-changing treatments closer to being a reality for NHS patients. Partnerships like this are key to building a healthier society, healthier economy, and making the NHS fit for the future.  

    Lilly’s Gateway Lab plans build on the 300,000 jobs the life sciences sector already supports nationwide. The facility will be the first announced anywhere in Europe, cementing the UK as a world leader in healthcare.  

    Science and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said:

    The UK’s life sciences sector is at the forefront of pioneering and life-saving research. 

    This ground-breaking collaboration is proof that this sector is held in high esteem internationally and is driving investment into the UK. 

    Investments like this drive forward work that will boost our health and ultimately save lives.

    But they also fire up our economy, creating the jobs, opportunity and growth we need to invest further in health and to push up living standards.

    David A. Ricks, Chair and CEO of Eli Lilly & Company said:

    We welcome this opportunity to partner with the UK Government on tackling and preventing disease, and accelerating innovation to advance care delivery models. Today’s announcement is an important milestone, and we are pleased to reinforce Lilly’s commitment to improving health for people living with obesity and its serious consequences.

    Obesity is the second biggest preventable cause of cancer and a major contributor to ill-health that prevents people from participating fully in work. This collaboration will bring together treatments and technologies developed by the life sciences sector and the health system seeking to demonstrate improved long-term health outcomes for those living with obesity. 

    The collaboration with Lilly aims to set the stage for Government to work with industry to trial innovative approaches to treating obesity as part of a rounded package of care. 

    With obesity costing the UK health service more than £11 billion each year, action to tackle the condition is urgently needed. Backing the UK life sciences sector to understand obesity further, alongside introducing measures to prevent obesity in the first place such as restrictions on junk food advertising, will help ease pressure on the NHS.

    NHS chief executive Amanda Pritchard said: 

    Obesity is one of the biggest public health issues we face, and we know weight loss drugs will be a game-changer, alongside earlier prevention strategies, in supporting many more people to lose weight and reduce their risk of killer conditions like diabetes, heart attack and stroke.

    Today’s momentous agreement shows the NHS is uniquely well-placed globally, not just to bring effective new treatments to those who would benefit most, but also to support science, research, jobs and economic growth across the country. We now have an important chance to gain a better understanding of the benefits of weight management interventions for patients, and how best to deliver them over the next few years.

    Today’s collaboration is a demonstration of the £108 billion life sciences sector’s value to the UK economy, in both improving public health and keeping the UK at the forefront of scientific progress.  

    Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said:

    Greater Manchester is world-renowned as a hub for innovation in health and life sciences. The results of the trial announced today could have a far-reaching impact on how we treat obesity globally, and our city-region is ready to make a significant contribution through our outstanding health data assets, R&D expertise, and the strong partnerships between industry, universities and public sector organisations.

    The International Investment Summit will provide an opportunity to showcase our local strengths in health innovation to an audience of global business leaders and investors. This partnership could be the first of many and give Greater Manchester residents access to other innovative treatments.

    Scotland’s Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, Neil Gray, said:

    I welcome this long term strategic partnership with the world’s largest pharmaceutical company.

    Scotland has a vibrant life science sector, world class universities and an NHS with a long track record of working with both.

    This initiative supports our use of innovation to transform health and social care by building new partnerships between government, our NHS, academic institutions, and industry.

    Mike Nesbitt, Health Minister for Northern Ireland, said:

    It is only by focusing more on prevention and population health, tackling health inequalities and harnessing the power of innovation through the UK’s world-leading life sciences sector that we will be able to deliver better outcomes for patients.

    Driving economic growth to improve the lives of hardworking British people is this Government’s number one mission. The life sciences sector – which drove £800 million in foreign direct investment into the UK in 2023 – sits at the heart of these plans.

    ENDS 

    Notes for editors 

    About the Obesity Healthcare Goals Programme: 

    • The Obesity Healthcare Goals Programme, formerly known as the Obesity Mission, was announced in November 2022, and is being delivered by the Office for Life Sciences (OLS) alongside the Dementia, Mental Health, Cancer and Addiction Healthcare Goals.

    Updates to this page

    Published 14 October 2024

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Award winning Roadsafe Roadshow gives strong message to young people

    Source: Northern Ireland City of Armagh

    Cast of Road Safe Road Show along with Alderman Mark Baxter, Chairperson of PCSP along with PCSP and PSNI staff

    Over 700 pupils from a number of schools across the Craigavon area recently attended the award winning PSNI Roadsafe Roadshow, which was held at Craigavon Civic and Conference Centre.

    Organised by the PSNI and supported by Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Policing and Community Safety Partnership (PCSP), students heard the hard-hitting message that making one mistake whilst driving on the roads can ultimately end in a fatality.

    The event centred around ‘Craig’ – a typical young driver who has just passed his driving test, has bought a new car and is excited to pick up his girlfriend.  He is 17 years old, a show-off, cheeky and over-confident.

    The roadshow then followed the story of Craig’s car crash and all that happened next, including the lives of those affected by the collision.

    Young people heard the real-life stories from a police officer, a paramedic, a fire fighter, a hospital consultant and two others who have had their lives changed forever, due to a car accident.

    “This award-winning road show was a very sobering event that I have no doubt has left a permanent impact on the young people who attended, and will hopefully influence their future driving behaviour,” commented the Lord Mayor of Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon, Councillor Sarah Duffy.

    “To hear from real people who have lived through horrendous experiences was a hard listen – but so important, as they conveyed the reality of life for those who have been affected by a car accident.”

    Alderman Mark Baxter, Chair of the PCSP, agreed. “This event was hugely impactful and very hard hitting and really gave young people an idea of how not concentrating while behind the wheel can have catastrophic repercussions.”

    “It really brought home the reality of road deaths to the young audience and I know it has certainly given them a lot to think about when it is their turn to take to the road.”

    This event was sponsored by AXA.

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Global: What is a communist, and what do communists believe?

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Aminda Smith, Associate Professor of History, Michigan State University

    Seeking social change often requires collective action. champc/iStock / Getty Images Plus

    Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com.

    What is a communist? – Artie, age 10, Astoria, New York

    Simply put, a communist is someone who supports communism. I study the history of communism, which is a political and economic view.

    Communism has long been controversial, and in the U.S. today, reputable sources disagree about it. Some experts argue that communist views are well supported by historical evidence about the way societies have developed over time. Others suggest that history has shown communism not to work.

    Many of those appraisals are based on examples of people who tried to establish communism. Communists have launched revolutions in many places including Russia and China. In five countries – China, North Korea, Laos, Cuba and Vietnam – communist parties control the current governments. The economic and political systems in those countries are not fully communist, but some might be working to transition from capitalism to communism.

    In part because the U.S. has difficult relationships with these countries, many Americans have negative views of communists and communism. To evaluate those countries and to decide your own opinions about communism in general, it is important to first be clear about what the principles of communism are.

    Communists believe that people should share wealth so that no one is too poor, no one is too rich, and everyone has enough to survive and have a good life.

    A communist might be a member of a Communist party, which is a political party, or a member of a group of people who want to play a role in government.

    The opening of the 2014 convention of the Communist Party of the United States of America.

    In communism, people work together to produce and distribute the things they need to live, such as food, clothing and entertainment. That does not mean that everything is shared at all times.

    In a communist society, individuals might still live in their own homes and have their own food, clothing and personal items such as televisions and cellphones. However, the places where these items were produced, such as factories and farms, would be owned by everyone.

    Similarly, a person might still create artistic products such as works of literature or craftsmanship on their own. The goal would not be to make money, though, but instead to share for everyone to enjoy.

    Communists support some form of collective ownership. Ownership by everyone would ensure that all members of society have equal rights to the products from the factories and farms because they would all be part owners of the enterprises.

    In such a society, everyone would also have equal political rights and would participate in governance together. Theoretically, communism should entail some form of democracy.

    What is Marxism?

    German philosopher Karl Marx.
    John Jabez Edwin Mayal via Wikimedia Commons

    Throughout history, there have been many different views on what communism is, how it should be organized and how it might be achieved. The most famous theories about communism are probably the ones that were developed by a German philosopher named Karl Marx. His ideas are often called Marxism.

    Marx studied history and observed that the way people produced goods and services was closely related to who held power. For example, in farming societies, those who owned the land had more power than those who did not.

    Marx also noticed that people with less power had often risen up, usually violently, to overthrow the powerful people. He called this concept class struggle. He believed this process was how societies developed from one system of government and economy to another. He claimed that class struggle led societies through a progression toward greater efficiency in the production of goods and services, higher levels of technology and wider distribution of social and political power.

    When Marx was alive in the 1800s, an economic and political system called capitalism had developed in many countries. In capitalist societies, the economy centered on factories. Factory owners had significant political and economic influence.

    Marx observed that in countries such as Germany, England and the United States, factory owners hired laborers who worked long hours producing goods such as shirts or tables. While the factory owners sold these products at high prices, they paid the workers very little. As a result, the factory owners became richer, while many workers struggled to afford the goods they produced or even to provide food for their families.

    Marx believed that this inequality would eventually lead to a worker uprising. During their revolution, Marx predicted, the workers would seize control of the factories, begin running them more fairly, and this would lead to a new political system, known as socialism.

    Where does socialism fit in?

    A campaign poster from 1976, spotlighting the candidates from the Communist Party of the United States of America.
    Library of Congress

    Of course, if the workers staged a revolution, the factory owners would fight back. Marx thought that, immediately after the revolution, the workers would first need to create a strong government to prevent the owners from reestablishing capitalism. During that phase, which Marx called socialism, the workers would run the government while they continued moving away from capitalism and trying to create a more equal society.

    Marx thought people would eventually see that socialism was much better than capitalism because socialism would end exploitation while still allowing a society to continue moving toward better economic and political practices, but without inequality. Once that happened, a government would no longer be necessary.

    The society would become communist. There would still be governance, but not a government that was separated from the people. Rather, in a communist society, the people would govern together, and everyone would do some of the work and receive what they needed.

    There are Communist parties in many places, and many are currently working to move their countries toward communism. At this time, no country has yet made the transition to full communism, but many people still hope that transition will happen somewhere, sometime. Those people are communists. Communists are optimistic that humans can one day create a more fair and equal society.

    Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.

    And since curiosity has no age limit – adults, let us know what you’re wondering, too. We won’t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.

    Aminda Smith does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. What is a communist, and what do communists believe? – https://theconversation.com/what-is-a-communist-and-what-do-communists-believe-234255

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: ‘Strabane – Blessing a Town into Poetry’ features in Island Voices lecture

    Source: Northern Ireland – City of Derry

    ‘Strabane – Blessing a Town into Poetry’ features in Island Voices lecture

    14 October 2024

    The town of Strabane will be lauded by poet Maureen Boyle during a literary lunchtime lecture in the Tower Museum as part of Derry City and Strabane District Council’s Island Voices programme.

    This year the Island Voices lectures are exploring the theme of ‘home’ in the work of local writers from the English, Irish and Ulster-Scots traditions.

    Island Voices features talks by Belfast-born Réaltán Ní Leannáin, Maureen Boyle from Sion Mills, and Alan Millar from the Laggan Valley in East Donegal, the series explores identity and belonging within the context of our shared languages of English, Irish and Ulster-Scots.

    Irish Language writer Réaltán Ní Leannáin opened the series with a lecture entitled ‘From Burgu to Belfast’.

    The next lecture on Thursday, 24 October will feature Sion writer Maureen Boyle speaking about ‘Writing ‘Strabane’ – Blessing a Town Into Poetry’.

    In 2018 Maureen was commissioned by Radio 4 to write a poem on her family’s hometown for a series called ‘Conversations on a Bench’. 

    Growing up in the village of Sion Mills, it was the nearby town of Strabane which captured Maureen’s imagination. It was where her father had grown up, and her family later moved into the town. Every aspect of Maureen’s childhood memories are recalled in the poem – from the congested lungs of the mill workers to the smoky smell of her father’s bomb damage sale jackets in the family wardrobe.

    In this talk, Maureen will explore the process of the poem’s creation, the motivation to write it, the research involved and the process of translating research into poetry.

    An acclaimed poet Maureen won a UNESCO medal for a book of poems in 1979 at the age of 18. She has also won various awards including the Ireland Chair of Poetry Prize, the Strokestown International Poetry Prize, the Fish Short Memoir Prize, the Inaugural Ireland Chair of Poetry Travel Bursary and Awards from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.  Commissions include one to write a poem on the Crown Bar in Belfast for the BBC in 2008 and for a poem on a painting in the O’Brien Collection in Washington.   Some of her work has been translated into German, Flemish and French.

    Those who attend Maureen’s lecture on Thursday, 24th October will get a unique insight into the enduring impact the poet’s hometown of Strabane has had on her life.

    The final lecture in the series features Alan Millar with his talk ‘Hame an awa – Scots wurds in Irish toonlands’. It will take place on Thursday, 28 November.

    All talks in the series are free but booking is essential. Each one will begin at 1pm and there are light refreshments available from 12.30pm. To book your place please contact the Tower Museum, T: (028) 7137 2411 or email [email protected] 

    Further information: Pól Ó Frighil, Languages Team, Derry City and Strabane District Council, [email protected]

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Foster Portsmouth’s ‘Steve’ the seagull spreads his wings at Southsea seafront

    Source: City of Portsmouth

    The Foster Portsmouth team and ‘Steve’ the seagull completed a first last week with an exciting tuk tuk tour of Southsea seafront.

    The tour, on Thursday 10 October, took in a number of local businesses along Southsea seafront who offered support in raising vital awareness of the need for additional foster carers in the Portsmouth area.

    These included the Coffee Cup, BH Live’s Pyramids and Hover Travel at Clarence Esplanade, and Hotwalls Studios and ‘The Canteen‘ in Broad Street.

    The eye-catching, all-electric and environmentally friendly rickshaw tuk tuk, which was funded by the Arts Council England as part of its Libraries Improvement Fund, usually tours the city with a small collection of books available to browse and borrow.

    Foster Portsmouth was thrilled to be able to utilise the tuk tuk on one of its days off to showcase our mission to find more loving foster homes for the city’s vulnerable children and young people.

    Cllr Suzy Horton, Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Education at Portsmouth City Council, said:

    “This tour is another great way of utilising our libraries’ tuk tuk. It is vital that we continue to draw attention to the need for additional foster carers in the Portsmouth area, and what better way than ‘Steve’ the seagull taking a tour with the Foster Portsmouth team along our city’s seafront.”

    “I’d like to thank the five local businesses who have jumped on board our tuk tuk tour and allowed us to raise the profile of children from our city who find themselves in need of a loving home.”

    The tour provided an opportunity for those in and around Southsea to discover more about the rewards fostering can bring, and to get answers to any questions they may have from our experienced team.

    We need more foster carers from diverse backgrounds. Anyone aged 21+ with a spare bedroom could foster with Foster Portsmouth regardless of their age, gender, faith, ethnicity, sexuality, marital or work status, or whether they rent or own their own home.

    Our foster carers come from Portsmouth itself or the immediate surrounding areas, from Emsworth and Rowlands Castle to Gosport and Fareham, and Waterlooville and Petersfield to Havant and Hayling Island.

    Our foster carers come from all walks of life, and they all share the same commitment and motivation to make a positive difference to a child’s life.  This could be a short or long-term arrangement for a child, young person or siblings until they’re ready to live independently or are able to go home, support for children seeking asylum or children with a disability, supported lodgings to develop their independent living skills, a parent and baby placement, or respite care.

    Foster carers receive excellent, local training and 24/7 support, including through our pioneering Mockingbird Programme support network and mentoring scheme, and competitive fees and allowances.

    To enquire about fostering with Foster Portsmouth, or to arrange a 1:1 with one of our experienced team or existing foster carers, please fill in our contact form at http://www.foster.portsmouth.gov.uk/enquire-now, call 0300 1312797 or email info@lafosteringse.org.uk.

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –