NewzIntel.com

Category: Great Britain

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Greens react to plans for new nuclear plant at Sizewell

    Source: Green Party of England and Wales

    / by Green Party

    Responding to news that EDF will build a new nuclear power plant at Sizewell at an estimated cost of over £14bn, co-leader of the Green Party, Adrian Ramsay MP, said: 

     “Nuclear power is hugely expensive and far too slow to come on line. The only thing delivered by EDF so far at Hinkley Point in Somerset is overspend and delay. Electricity was promised by 2017 with a price tag of £22bn but this has mushroomed to 40bn and Hinkley is still producing no power.  

    “The money being spent on this nuclear gamble would be far better spent on insulating and retrofitting millions of homes, bringing down energy bills and keeping people warmer and more comfortable. We should also be investing in genuinely green power such as fitting millions of solar panels to roofs and in innovative technologies like tidal power. All this would create many more jobs than nuclear ever will.”   

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Thousands of jobs to be created as government announces multi-billion-pound investment to build Sizewell C

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Press release

    Thousands of jobs to be created as government announces multi-billion-pound investment to build Sizewell C

    10,000 jobs, including 1,500 apprenticeships, to be created as the government announces multi-billion investment to build Sizewell C.

    • Chancellor to confirm funding at the GMB Congress ahead of Spending Review, as Energy Secretary vows ‘golden age’ of nuclear.
    • Investment to deliver clean power to millions of homes, cut energy bills and boost energy security.
    • Government commits over £6 billion of investment to nuclear submarine industrial base to deliver on Strategic Defence Review.

    Ten thousand jobs will be created as the government announces a £14.2 billion investment to build Sizewell C nuclear plant as part of the Spending Review, ending years of delay and uncertainty. 

    The Chancellor is set to confirm the funding at the GMB Congress later today ahead of the government’s Spending Review, as the Energy Secretary vows a ‘golden age’ of nuclear to boost the UK’s energy security. 

    The government’s investment will go towards creating 10,000 jobs, including 1,500 apprenticeships, and support thousands more jobs across the UK. 

    The company has already signed £330 million in contracts with local companies and will boost supply chains across the UK with 70% of contracts predicted to go to 3,500 British suppliers – supporting new jobs in construction, welding, and hospitality.   

    The equivalent of around six million of today’s homes will be powered with clean homegrown energy from Sizewell C. The investment in clean, homegrown power brings to an end decades of dithering and delay, with the government backing the builders in the drive for energy security and kick-starting economic growth.  

    The announcement comes as the government is set to confirm one of Europe’s first Small Modular Reactor programmes. This comes alongside record investment in R&D for fusion energy, worth over £2.5 billion over five years. Taken together with Sizewell C, this delivers the biggest nuclear building programme in a generation.

    Clean, home-grown power at Sizewell C will help drive the UK’s energy security, as part of the government’s mission to protect family finances by replacing the UK’s dependency on fossil fuel markets controlled by dictators with homegrown power that we control.

    Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, said:

    Today we are once again investing in Britian’s renewal, with the biggest nuclear building programme in a generation. This landmark decision is our Plan for Change in action.  

    We are creating thousands of jobs, kickstarting economic growth and putting more money people’s pockets.

    Energy Secretary, Ed Miliband said:

    We will not accept the status quo of failing to invest in the future and energy insecurity for our country.  

    We need new nuclear to deliver a golden age of clean energy abundance, because that is the only way to protect family finances, take back control of our energy, and tackle the climate crisis. 

    This is the government’s clean energy mission in action- investing in lower bills and good jobs for energy security.

    Sizewell C

    Sizewell C will provide 10,000 people with employment at peak construction and support thousands more jobs across the UK, including 1,500 apprenticeships. The company has already signed £330 million in contracts with local companies and will boost supply chains across the UK with 70% of contracts predicted to go to 3,500 British suppliers – supporting new jobs in construction, welding, and hospitality. Jobs in the nuclear industry pay well above national averages and the government is committed to working with nuclear trade unions such as the GMB, Unite, and Prospect, who will continue to play a pivotal role in building the industry.   

    Despite the UK’s strong nuclear legacy, opening the world’s first commercial nuclear power station in the 1950s, no new nuclear plant has opened in the UK since 1995, with all of the existing fleet except Sizewell B likely to be phased out by the early 2030s.  

    Sizewell C was one of eight sites identified in 2009 by then-Energy Secretary Ed Miliband as a potential site for new nuclear. However, the project was not fully funded in the 14 years that followed under subsequent governments.  

    The government’s nuclear programme is now the most ambitious for a generation – once small modular reactors and Sizewell C come online in the 2030s, combined with Hinkley Point C, this will deliver more new nuclear to grid than over the previous half century combined.

    Small Modular Reactors

    Great British Nuclear is expected to announce the outcome of its small modular reactor competition imminently, the first step towards the goal of driving down costs and unlocking private finance with a long-term ambition to bring forward one of the first SMR fleets in Europe.  

    The government’s nuclear resurgence will support the UK’s long-term energy security, with small modular reactors expected to power millions of homes with clean energy and help fuel power-hungry industries like AI data centres.   

    This follows reforms to planning rules announced by the Prime Minister in February 2025 to make it easier to build nuclear across the country – changing the rules to back the builders of this nation, and saying no to the blockers who have strangled our chances of cheaper energy, growth and jobs for far too long.   

    The government is also looking to provide a route for private sector-led advanced nuclear projects to be deployed in the UK, alongside investing £300m in developing the world’s first non-Russian supply of the advanced fuels needed to run them.   

    Companies will be able to work with the government to continue their development with potential investment from the National Wealth Fund.

    Fusion Energy

    The government is also making a record investment in R&D for fusion energy, investing over £2.5 billion over 5 years. This includes progressing the STEP programme (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production), the world-leading fusion plant in Nottinghamshire, creating thousands of new jobs and with the potential to unlock limitless clean power.  

    This builds on the UK’s global leadership to turbocharge economic growth in the Oxford-Cambridge corridor, while helping deliver the UK’s flagship programme to design and build a prototype fusion power station on the site of a former coal-fired plant.

    Defence

    To secure the UK as a leader in both civil and defence nuclear, the government will also be investing £4 billion over the next decade in the Plymouth naval base as well as continued long-term investment in our Defence Nuclear Enterprise and its industrial base, as this is critical for our national security while also being a significant generator of economic opportunities, jobs and growth across the entire country. Further investments in the defence nuclear sector include over £6 billion over the Spending Review period to enable a transformation in the capacity, capability and productivity of the UK’s submarine industrial base, including at BAE Systems in Barrow and Rolls-Royce Submarines in Derby – to deliver the increase in the submarine production rate announced in the Strategic Defence Review. 

    In addition, we will embark on a multi-decade, multi-billion redevelopment of HMNB Clyde, with an initial £250 million of funding over 3 years, supporting jobs, skills and growth across the West of Scotland. 

    The government will also invest over £420 million of additional funding in Sheffield Forgemasters, securing 700 existing skilled jobs and creating over 900 new construction roles.

    Julia Pyke and Nigel Cann, Joint-Managing Directors of Sizewell C said:

    Today marks the start of an exciting new chapter for Sizewell C, the UK’s first British-owned nuclear power plant in over 30 years. It’s a privilege to be leading a project that will create over 10,000 jobs, secure Britain’s energy future and revitalise the UK’s nuclear industry.

    We aim to showcase British infrastructure at its best – delivering a cleaner, more secure energy future for generations to come.

    Warren Kenny, GMB Regional Secretary, said:

    Sizewell C is absolutely vital if the UK is to hit net zero.

    Nuclear power is essential for clean, affordable, and reliable energy – without new nuclear there can be no net zero.

    Sizewell C will provide thousands of good, skilled, unionised jobs and we look forward to working closely with the government and Sizewell C to help secure a greener future for this country’s energy sector.

    Mike Clancy, General Secretary of Prospect, said:

    Delivering this funding for Sizewell C is a vital step forward, this project is critical to securing the future of the nuclear industry in the UK.

    New nuclear is essential to achieving net zero, providing a baseload of clean and secure energy, as well as supporting good, unionised jobs.

    Further investment in SMRs and fusion research shows we are finally serious about developing a 21st century nuclear industry. All funding must be backed up by a whole-industry plan to ensure we have the workforce and skills we need for these plans to succeed.

    Tom Greatrex, Chief Executive of the Nuclear Industry Association, said:

    This new nuclear programme will give the country the jobs, the economic growth and the energy security we need to ensure a secure and reliable power supply for the future. This announcement shows the government is serious about new nuclear, and realising the economic benefits that come with it, and will be welcomed in communities the length and breadth of Britain.

    Updates to this page

    Published 10 June 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Statement on Disorder in Ballymena

    Source: Traditional Unionist Voice – Northern Ireland

    Statement by TUV leader and North Antrim MP Jim Allister:

    “The scenes of disorder in Ballymena are deeply concerning. Violence on our streets is not only wrong—it undermines the legitimate anger felt over the horrific sexual assault of a young girl and the growing local concern about unchecked immigration into the town.

    “The reported racial dimension of Saturday night’s attack has acted as a catalyst for public outrage, drawing attention to long-standing frustrations. The large turnout this evening demonstrates the strength of feeling in the local community—feelings which were, in the main, expressed peacefully. Sadly, the actions of a small number have cast a shadow over what was, for most, a lawful protest. Evidence suggests that individuals from outside the area came with the express purpose of causing disruption.

    “The influx of Roma, in particular, into Ballymena in recent years—often arriving freely from the Republic under EU movement rules, while the UK’s internal border remains neglected—has driven rapid demographic change. The failure of successive authorities to manage integration or address local concerns has left many residents feeling ignored and disrespected.

    “Nevertheless, violence serves no cause. It does not help the young girl or her family, and it distracts from the very real grievances being voiced. It must stop — and be condemned by all.”

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • Frederick Forsyth, ‘Day of the Jackal’ author, dies at 86

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (4)

    British novelist Frederick Forsyth, who authored best-selling thrillers such as “The Day of the Jackal” and “The Dogs of War,” has died aged 86, his publisher said.

    A former correspondent for Reuters and the BBC, and an informant for Britain’s MI6 foreign spy agency, Forsyth made his name by using his experiences as a reporter in Paris to pen the story of a failed assassination plot on Charles de Gaulle.

    “The Day of the Jackal”, in which an English assassin, played in the film by Edward Fox, is hired by French paramilitaries angry at de Gaulle’s withdrawal from Algeria, was published in 1971 after Forsyth found himself penniless in London.

    Written in just 35 days, the book was rejected by a host of publishers who worried that the story was flawed and would not sell as de Gaulle had not been assassinated. De Gaulle died in 1970 from a ruptured aorta while playing Solitaire.

    But Forsyth’s hurricane-paced thriller complete with journalistic-style detail and brutal sub-plots of lust, betrayal and murder was an instant hit. The once poor journalist became a wealthy writer of fiction.

    “I never intended to be a writer at all,” Forsyth later wrote in his memoire, “The Outsider – My Life in Intrigue”. “After all, writers are odd creatures, and if they try to make a living at it, even more so.”

    So influential was the novel that Venezuelan militant revolutionary Illich Ramirez Sanchez, was dubbed “Carlos the Jackal”.

    Forsyth presented himself as a cross between Ernest Hemingway and John le Carre – both action man and Cold War spy – but delighted in turning around the insult that he was a literary lightweight.

    “I am lightweight but popular. My books sell,” he once said.

    His books, fantastical plots that almost rejoiced in the cynicism of an underworld of spies, criminals, hackers and killers, sold more than 75 million copies.

    Behind the swashbuckling bravado, though, there were hints of sadness. He later spoke of turning inwards to his imagination as a lonely only child during and after World War Two.

    The isolated Forsyth discovered a talent for languages: he claimed to be a native French speaker by the age of 12 and a native German speaker by the age of 16, largely due to exchanges.

    He went to Tonbridge School, one of England’s ancient fee-paying schools, and learned Russian from two emigre Georgian princesses in Paris. He added Spanish by the age of 18.

    He also learned to fly and did his national service in the Royal Air Force where he flew fighters such as a single seater version of the de Havilland Vampire.

    THE REPORTER

    Impressing Reuters’ editors with his languages and knowledge that Bujumbura was a city in Burundi, he was offered a job at the news agency in 1961 and sent to Paris and then East Berlin where the Stasi secret police kept close tabs on him.

    He left Reuters for the BBC but soon became disillusioned by its bureaucracy and what he saw as the corporation’s failure to cover Nigeria properly due to the government’s incompetent post-colonial views on Africa.

    It was in 1968 that Forsyth was approached by the Secret Intelligence Service, known as MI6, and asked by an officer named “Ronnie” to inform on what was really going on in Biafra.

    By his own account, he would keep contacts with the MI6, which he called “the Firm”, for many years. His novels showed extensive knowledge of the world of spies and he even edited out bits of The Fourth Protocol (1984), he said, so that militants would not know how to detonate an atomic bomb.

    His writing was sometimes cruel, such as when the Jackal kills his lover after she discovers he is an assassin.

    “He looked down at her, and for the first time she noticed that the grey flecks in his eyes had spread and clouded over the whole expression, which had become dead and lifeless like a machine staring down at her.”

    THE WRITER

    After finally finding a publisher for “The Day of the Jackal,” he was offered a three-novel contract by Harold Harris of Hutchinson.

    Next came “The Odessa File” in 1972, the story of a young German freelance journalist who tries to track down SS man Eduard Roschmann, or “The Butcher of Riga”.

    After that, “The Dogs of War” in 1974 is about a group of white mercenaries hired by a British mining magnate to kill the mad dictator of an African republic – based on Equatorial Guinea’s Francisco Macias Nguema – and replace him with a puppet.

    The New York Times said at the time that the novel was “pitched at the level of a suburban Saturday night movie audience” and that it was “informed with a kind of post‐imperial condescension toward the black man”.

    Divorced from Carole Cunningham in 1988, he married Sandy Molloy in 1994. But he lost a fortune in an investment scam and had to write more novels to support himself. He had two sons – Stuart and Shane – with his first wife.

    His later novels variously cast hackers, Russians, al Qaeda militants and cocaine smugglers against the forces of good – broadly Britain and the West. But the novels never quite reached the level of the Jackal.

    A supporter of the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union, Forsyth scolded Britain’s elites for what he cast as their treachery and naivety.

    In columns for The Daily Express, he gave a host of withering assessments of the modern world from an intellectual right-wing perspective.

    The world, he said, worried too much about “the oriental pandemic” (known to most as COVID-19), Donald Trump was “deranged”, Vladimir Putin “a tyrant” and “liberal luvvies of the West” were wrong on most things.

    He was, to the end, a reporter who wrote novels.

    “In a world that increasingly obsesses over the gods of power, money and fame, a journalist and a writer must remain detached,” he wrote. “It is our job to hold power to account.”

    (Reuters)

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Search for Victorian man at Cradle Mountain

    Source: New South Wales Community and Justice

    Search for Victorian man at Cradle Mountain

    Tuesday, 10 June 2025 – 4:23 pm.

    Parks and Wildlife Service rangers, with the support of a Tasmania Police drone, are continuing to search at Cradle Mountain for a 52-year-old Victorian man.
    There are concerns for the welfare of Christopher Michael Inwood, whose white Toyota HiAce van (VIC Rego 1TZ8PQ) was located in the car park of a ranger station on Cradle Mountain Road about 7.30am on Tuesday.
    A backpack, believed to belong to Mr Inwood, was located about 500m along the Cradle Mountain Road leading from the car park, in the direction of Dove Lake.
    Initial inquiries established Mr Inwood’s last confirmed location as Kelso, in the state’s north, on Sunday night.
    However, further investigation has identified a possible sighting of Mr Inwood and his vehicle in the Kindred area, about 8:30pm on Monday. It is believed he may have travelled to Cradle Mountain later that night.
    Police have released a CCTV image of Mr Inwood, captured over the weekend, to assist in identifying him.
    The search operation is being coordinated by Tasmania Police Search and Rescue however, specialist search officers have not yet been deployed.
    As of 3pm today, weather conditions in the area remain relatively clear, with a temperature of about 3°C.
    Anyone who has seen Mr Inwood, knows of his movements, or has any information that may assist the search, is urged to contact Tasmania Police on 131 444.

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Greens denounce Labour’s Spending Review as ‘spreadsheet Britain’ and call for a ‘hopeful vision for a better future’  

    Source: Green Party of England and Wales

    Ahead of Wednesday’s Spending Review, Adrian Ramsay MP, co-leader of the Green Party, accused the government of lacking a vision for a better future. He said: “This Spending Review shows that the government knows the cost of everything but the value of nothing.” 

    He went on to say: 

    “This looks like a spreadsheet Britain approach, leading the country into deliberate decline, when we need a hopeful vision for a better future.  

    “Austerity has meant our hospitals, schools and transport services have sustained real terms budget cuts, and long-term capital investment will not deliver fast enough to impact people’s lives. Millions of people are facing financial, health and housing insecurity right now. The Spending Review will fail those children stuck in poverty today – children who need warm homes and enough to eat.” 

    “We need to invest in a more secure future for everyone. Real security comes from people feeling warm and comfortable in their homes, valued in their communities and secure in the knowledge that climate action will safeguard the future for their children and grandchildren.” 

    Ramsay said there should be a much stronger focus on building, providing and retrofitting social homes. He said: 

    “Rather than turning the screw further on councils which are already on their knees, the Chancellor must commit the billions that councils need to buy, build and design social housing instead of offering a blank cheque to developers to build executive homes that few can afford.  

    “We know this is what people want. A new YouGov survey commissioned by the Greens has found that people are three times more likely to want the Government to build more social housing than encouraging developers to build more private homes.” 

    Ramsay also repeated calls for a fairer tax system to raise money and reverse chronic underspending in public services.    

    “A wealth tax of 1% on assets over £10 million and 2% on assets above £1 billion could raise £24 billion a year. Cutting support to disabled people while billionaires are gaining £35 million a day in wealth is indefensible. We are one of the wealthiest countries in the world – it’s time the super-rich paid up and for Labour to start taxing wealth fairly. 

    Adrian Ramsay MP concluded: 

    “From child poverty to climate breakdown, the challenges we face are not small – and neither should be our response. People want a government that invests in them, in their homes, in their services, in building a resilient future. Cuts don’t create hope. Investment does. We need public services that are fit for purpose, homes that are warm and affordable, and a tax system that serves the many, not the wealthy few.”

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • Nicholas Pooran bows out of international cricket at 28

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (4)

    West Indies wicketkeeper-batsman Nicholas Pooran sent shockwaves through the cricketing world on Monday by announcing his retirement from international cricket across all formats. The unexpected move comes just days after South Africa’s Heinrich Klaasen, another prominent figure in limited-overs cricket, also called time on his international career.

    Pooran hit 13 half-centuries in 106 Twenty20 Internationals and amassed 2,275 runs to become West Indies’ leading scorer in the shortest format.

    One of the world’s most explosive batters, the 29-year-old smashed 149 sixes in T20 Internationals to stand fifth overall.

    He served as West Indies’ limited overs skipper but gave up the captaincy after their first-round exit from the 2022 T20 World Cup.

    “This game we love has given and will continue to give so much – joy, purpose, unforgettable memories, and a chance to represent the people of the West Indies,” the Trinidadian said in a social media post on Monday.

    “Wearing that maroon, standing for the anthem, and giving everything I had each time I stepped on the field… it’s hard to put into words what that truly means to me.

    “To have led the team as captain is a privilege I will always hold close to my heart.”

    Pooran last played for West Indies in their 3-0 T20 series defeat by Bangladesh in December last year, while his most recent ODI appearance came in July 2023 against Sri Lanka.

    “Nicholas officially informed the leadership of his decision to retire from international cricket, bringing to a close a significant chapter in his career,” Cricket West Indies said in a statement.

    “His performances on the field and influence within the team have made a lasting impact on West Indies cricket.”

    Pooran opted to skip West Indies’ ongoing T20 series against England, requesting to be rested after playing for the Lucknow Super Giants in the Indian Premier League.

    He is likely to remain active on the lucrative global T20 league circuit.

    (With agency input)

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Increase in COVID, flu and RSV in Victoria

    Source: FairTrading New South Wales

    Key messages

    • There is an increased risk of respiratory illnesses heading into the winter months.
    • Immunisations are available for many respiratory illnesses such as influenza (flu), COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). It is never too late to get vaccinated.
    • Early antiviral treatments for influenza and COVID-19 can help to reduce severe disease for high-risk individuals.
    • Simple hygiene and preventive measures like covering coughs and sneezes, regular hand washing and staying home when unwell can help reduce the spread of respiratory illnesses.

    What is the issue?

    There is an increased risk of respiratory illnesses heading into the winter months. In Victoria, the increase in COVID-19 cases between April and May this year was 2.5 times higher than the same time last year, and hospitalisations have been increasing. Flu and RSV cases are also increasing.

    Young children and older adults are particularly vulnerable to respiratory illnesses and may experience more severe illness requiring hospitalisation.

    Who is at risk?

    People most at risk of severe illness with respiratory conditions include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, children under the age of 5 years old, elderly people, pregnant women, those who are immunocompromised, and those with certain medical conditions including diabetes, cardiac disease and chronic respiratory conditions.

    While some people may be at a higher risk of severe illness, it is possible for anyone to be infected and become unwell.

    Symptoms and transmission

    Symptoms of respiratory illnesses such as flu, COVID-19 and RSV can be quite similar and include fever, coughing, sneezing, sore throat, runny nose, body aches and fatigue.

    These illnesses are very infectious and spread via droplets produced through coughing and sneezing, or by coming in close contact with infected people.

    Recommendations

    For the public

    There are some simple steps you can do to help protect yourself and others from severe illness.

    Immunisations are available for many respiratory illnesses including flu, COVID-19 and RSV. These can be accessed through GPs, pharmacies, local councils and Aboriginal Controlled Community Health Organisations.

    Some Victorians may be eligible for free immunisations. For further information, talk to your doctor or visit:

    Other things you can do to keep yourself and others healthy include:

    • Wash or sanitise your hands thoroughly and regularly, particularly before and after touching your face
    • Cough or sneeze into your elbow
    • Stay home if you are unwell
    • Wear a face mask if you have symptoms or visiting sensitive settings, such as aged care facilities
    • Talk with your doctor now if you are at higher risk for complications from COVID-19 or the flu. Discuss what to do if you get sick, including testing options and whether you are eligible for antiviral treatment
    • If you experience serious symptoms, seek medical attention.

    For clinicians

    • Offer annual influenza vaccination to everyone aged 6 months and older.
    • Ensure those most at risk of severe illness are up to date with their flu and COVID-19 vaccinations.
    • Offer Abrysvo® RSV vaccine to eligible pregnant women (28 to 36 weeks pregnancy) and nirsevimab (Beyfortus™) RSV monoclonal antibody to eligible infantsExternal Link. RSV vaccines are not approved for use in infants and children.
    • Discuss RSV vaccinationExternal Link options with older adults.
    • Encourage catch up vaccination for patients who are not up to date with routine immunisations.
    • Discuss early use of anti-viral treatment for flu and COVID-19 for high-risk individuals.

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Fatal crash at Randalls Bay, south of Cygnet

    Source: New South Wales Community and Justice

    Fatal crash at Randalls Bay, south of Cygnet

    Tuesday, 10 June 2025 – 1:10 pm.

    Sadly, a 59-year-old man has died following a crash at Randalls Bay on Sunday afternoon.
    Initial inquiries indicate the man was travelling on the Channel Highway between Randalls Bay Road and Lowes Road in a silver Ford Falcon about 4pm, when he lost control of the vehicle and struck a power pole.
    Two passengers in the vehicle received minor injuries, and sadly the driver has since died in hospital.
    It is not believed that any other vehicle was involved in the collision.
    Our thoughts are with the man’s family and loved ones and a report will be prepared for the coroner.
    Anyone with information, or relevant dash cam footage, is asked to contact police on 131 444 or Crime Stoppers Tasmania on 1800 333 000 or at crimestopperstas.com.au.
    Information can be provided anonymously.

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Motorists urged to be safe on the roads following several traffic operations across North West Tasmania

    Source: New South Wales Community and Justice

    Motorists urged to be safe on the roads following several traffic operations across North West Tasmania

    Tuesday, 10 June 2025 – 1:24 pm.

    Police in North West Tasmania are reminding all motorists of the dangers of engaging in risky behaviours on the roads, following several traffic operations conducted across the region over the long weekend.
    “Western Road Policing Services conducting seven traffic operations in North West Tasmania over the King’s Birthday long weekend, from Latrobe to Arthur River/West Coast areas, and while no drink drivers were detected, it’s concerning some motorists continue to engage in dangerous behaviours on our roads,” said Acting Inspector Martin Parker.
    During the operations police detected:

    2x drivers who returned a positive result on an oral fluid test
    3x motorists failing to wear seatbelt
    3x motorists driving while using a mobile phone
    32x drivers exceeding the speed limit
    4x defect vehicles
    2x unaccompanied learners
    1x unregistered motor vehicle
    2x unlicensed driver
    1x disqualified driver
    1x inattentive driver.
    An 18-year-old man from Upper Burnie who allegedly evaded police on Old Bass Highway at Wynyard on Saturday morning. He was charged with evading police and driving whilst not the holder of a driver licence and will appear in court.

    “While it was pleasing no drink drivers were detected during the traffic operations, it is concerning that some drivers are engaging in risky driving behaviours including driving under the influence of illicit drugs, speeding, failing to wear seatbelts and using mobile phones while driving,” said Acting Inspector Martin Parker.
    “It is also disappointing that people are driving while disqualified, driving without a driver licence or disobeying the conditions of their licence.”
    “Risky driving behaviours increase the likelihood of serious and fatal crashed occurring on our roads.”
    “There are very real consequences for breaking the road rules, which could be a fine or loss of licence, or worse, serious injury or death from a crash.”
    “I urge every motorist to do the right thing every time they travel on the roads, to help keep everyone safe.”

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-Evening Report: ER Report: A Roundup of Significant Articles on EveningReport.nz for June 10, 2025

    ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on June 10, 2025.

    Why won’t my cough go away?
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David King, Senior Lecturer in General Practice, The University of Queensland Mladen Zivkovic/Shutterstock A persistent cough can be embarrassing, especially if people think you have COVID. Coughing frequently can also make you physically tired, interfere with sleep and trigger urinary incontinence. As a GP, I have even

    Bangarra Dance Theatre’s Illume is spectacle with heart and spirit, a thrilling manifestation of Country
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Erin Brannigan, Associate Professor, Theatre and Performance, UNSW Sydney Bangarra/Daniel Boud The stage is covered in stars that fill the depth of the space. When the 18 dancers slowly gather, they move through a night sky. This sky, and the scenes that unfold in Bangarra’s Illume are

    Starlink is transforming Pacific internet access – but in some countries it’s still illegal
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amanda H.A. Watson, Fellow, Department of Pacific Affairs, Australian National University Solomon aligning the Starlink dish on the roof of his friend’s home in Vanuatu. Paul Basant In the past few years, Starlink’s satellite internet service has become available across much of the Pacific. This has created

    9 myths about electric vehicles have taken hold. A new study shows how many people fall for them
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christian Bretter, Senior Research Fellow in Environmental Psychology, The University of Queensland More people believe misinformation about electric vehicles than disagree with it and even EV owners tend to believe the myths, our new research shows. We investigated the prevalence of misinformation about EVs in four countries

    Keith Rankin Analysis – Remembering New Zealand’s Missing Tragedy
    Analysis by Keith Rankin. Every country has its tragedies. A few are highly remembered. Most are semi-remembered. Others are almost entirely forgotten. Sometimes the loss of memory is due to these tragedies being to a degree international, seemingly making it somebody else’s ‘duty’ to remember them. This could have been the case with the Air

    A 10-fold increase in rocket launches would start harming the ozone layer – new research
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Revell, Associate Professor in Atmospheric Chemistry, University of Canterbury Han Jiajun/VCG via Getty Images The international space industry is on a growth trajectory, but new research shows a rapid increase in rocket launches would damage the ozone layer. Several hundred rockets are launched globally each year

    For the first time, fossil stomach contents of a sauropod dinosaur reveal what they really ate
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Poropat, Research Associate, School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Curtin University Artist’s reconstruction of Judy. Travis Tischler Since the late 19th century, sauropod dinosaurs (long-necks like Brontosaurus and Brachiosaurus) have been almost universally regarded as herbivores, or plant eaters. However, until recently, no direct evidence –

    The Racial Discrimination Act at 50: the bumpy, years-long journey to Australia’s first human rights laws
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Azadeh Dastyari, Director, Research and Policy, Whitlam Institute, Western Sydney University On June 11, Australia marks 50 years since the Racial Discrimination Act became law. This important legislation helps make sure people are treated equally no matter their race, skin colour, background, or where they come from.

    Fake news and real cannibalism: a cautionary tale from the Dutch Golden Age
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Garritt C. Van Dyk, Senior Lecturer in History, University of Waikato The Corpses of the De Witt Brothers, attributed to Jan de Baen, c. 1672-1675. Rijksmuseum The Dutch Golden Age, beginning in 1588, is known for the art of Rembrandt, the invention of the microscope, and the

    Some economists have called for a radical ‘global wealth tax’ on billionaires. How would that work?
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Venkat Narayanan, Senior Lecturer – Accounting and Tax, RMIT University Rudy Balasko/Shutterstock Earlier this year, I attended a housing conference in Sydney. The event’s opening address centred on the way Australia seems to be becoming like 18th-century England – a country where inheritance largely determines one’s opportunities

    Australia’s whooping cough surge is not over – and it doesn’t just affect babies
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Niall Johnston, Conjoint Associate Lecturer, Faculty of Medicine, UNSW Sydney Tomsickova Tatyana/Shutterstock Whooping cough (pertussis) is always circulating in Australia, and epidemics are expected every three to four years. However, the numbers we’re seeing with the current surge – which started in 2024 – are higher than

    As livestock numbers grow, wild animal populations plummet. Giving all creatures a better future will take a major rethink
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clive Phillips, Adjunct Professor in Animal Welfare, Curtin University Toa55/Shutterstock As a teenager in the 1970s, I worked on a typical dairy farm in England. Fifty cows grazed on lush pastures for most of their long lives, each producing about 12 litres of milk daily. They were

    Johannesburg’s problems can be solved – but it’s a long journey to fix South Africa’s economic powerhouse
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Philip Harrison, Professor School of Architecture and Planning, University of the Witwatersrand South African president Cyril Ramaphosa met senior leaders of Johannesburg and Gauteng, the province it’s located in, in March 2025 to discuss ways to arrest the steep decline in South Africa’s largest city. Ramaphosa announced

    Albanese says the government’s focus on delivering commitments is essential to reinforce faith in democracy
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says his second term government is “focused on delivery” of its commitments, declaring this is important not only for the economy but also for Australians’ faith in our democracy. In a speech to the National Press

    Why Israel’s ‘humane’ propaganda is such a sinister facade
    COMMENTARY: By Cole Martin in Occupied Bethlehem Many people have been closely following the journey this week of the Madleen, a small humanitarian yacht seeking to break Israel’s illegal blockade of Gaza with a crew of 12 on board, including humanitarian activists and journalists. This morning we woke to the harrowing, yet not unexpected, news

    Trump has long speculated about using force against his own people. Now he has the pretext to do so
    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Shortis, Adjunct Senior Fellow, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University “You just [expletive] shot the reporter!” Australian journalist Lauren Tomasi was in the middle of a live cross, covering the protests against the Trump administration’s mass deportation policy in Los Angeles, California. As

    Palestinian supporters in NZ accuse Israel of ‘state piracy’ and condemn silence
    Asia Pacific Report Israel’s military attack and boarding of the humanitarian boat Madleen attempting to deliver food and medical aid to the besieged people of Gaza has been condemned by New Zealand Palestinian advocacy groups as a “staggering act of state piracy”. The vessel was in international waters, carrying aid workers, doctors, journalists, and supplies

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: What is the World Test Championship and how did Australia qualify for the final?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vaughan Cruickshank, Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education, University of Tasmania

    HENRY NICHOLLS/AFP via Getty Images

    Cricket’s third World Test Championship final will begin on Wednesday night in London. Reigning champions Australia will compete with South Africa to be crowned the world’s best men’s Test cricket team.

    This new tournament has faced controversy because of the points system used to determine the two finalists, with South Africa also criticised in recent years for allowing many key players to compete in T20 tournaments instead of Test matches.

    Despite this, South Africa has earned its right to take on the Australians at Lord’s Cricket Ground.

    What is the World Test Championship?

    The World Test Championship is a tournament played between nine full members of the International Cricket Council (ICC): Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the West Indies.

    The previous winners were New Zealand (2021) and Australia (2023).

    The ICC introduced this tournament as a way to increase the relevance and importance of Test cricket in a world dominated by popular Twenty 20 tournaments such as the Big Bash and Indian Premier League.

    Each country plays three series of between two and five Test matches at home, and three away.

    The tournament takes two years to complete because each Test match can take five days and there are no dedicated times for Test match cricket throughout the year. This is because many cricketers also play in T20 and one-day tournaments.

    Teams are awarded points for wins (12 points), ties (six) and draws (four) – there are zero points for a loss. Teams lose points if they bowl their overs too slowly.

    While this point system is simple enough, ranking teams in the results table is more confusing, because some teams play more Tests than others.

    Bigger, wealthier countries such as England, India and Australia commonly play four or five Tests in a series, whereas less affluent countries often play series with only two or three Tests.

    Because of this difference, the results table is based on the percentage of points teams have won (how many points they won divided by how many points they could have won).

    For example, if a team played ten tests, the maximum points they could earn would be 120 (10 x 12 points for each win). If they earned 60 points, then they would be ranked on the results table as winning 50% (60 divided by 120).

    How did Australia and South Africa reach the final?

    South Africa finished on top of the table by winning series against the West Indies, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. They also drew with India and lost to New Zealand.

    Australia beat Pakistan and India at home and New Zealand and Sri Lanka away. They also drew series with England (away) and the West Indies (home).

    The final will be played at the “home of cricket”: Lord’s in London.

    Neutral territory

    Test matches are rarely played at neutral venues but the World Test Championship final is played in England for a variety of reasons.

    The current two-year World Test Championship cycle ends in June, which is early summer in England and winter or monsoon season in most other major cricket nations.

    England also offers good infrastructure, strong crowds, a time zone that aligns favourably with prime time viewing hours in India, and pitches that offer a fair contest between bat and ball, allowing for exciting and competitive cricket.

    Despite these reasons, the repeated scheduling of finals in England has been criticised, predominantly by India.

    Criticisms of the championship

    South Africa’s qualification for the final has been criticised because they have played the least number of Tests and avoided playing some stronger teams.

    While these criticisms are not unfounded, they are also not South Africa’s fault: the ICC is responsible for ensuring scheduling is fair.

    Richer countries such as Australia, England and India face a dilemma in that five-Test series between them are generally high quality, exciting and profitable but are also difficult to win.

    Smaller nations playing two-Test series receive less interest and money but also easier opponents and less fixture fatigue. This situation can make it easier for smaller, less affluent teams to have a higher winning percentage.

    Other criticisms have focused on the points deductions for slow overs and the exclusion of Test playing nations Afghanistan, Ireland and Zimbabwe. When the World Test Championship was launched in 2019, only the nine full members were included. No specific reasons were given for the exclusion of Zimbabwe, Afghanistan and Ireland.

    Including these countries and having two six-team divisions – with teams being relegated and promoted each year – has been suggested as way to make the Test championship more fair and more competitive.

    However, this idea has also been criticised as focusing on profits instead of protecting and nurturing the game around the world.

    These deductions and divisions, and other potential changes, were considered at a recent ICC meeting but no changes were made.

    Final preparations

    Australian players have prepared for the final in a variety of ways, such as playing in the IPL, county cricket in the United Kingdom and practice sessions at home.

    They are favourites for the final and have a strong squad to choose from.

    South Africa also has a strong team with several key players returning from injuries and a drugs ban.

    A win for Australia would solidify its standing as the premier Test cricket team in the world. For South Africa, a victory would showcase a remarkable turnaround after being criticised for picking a weak squad for a tour of New Zealand, with most of its better players instead competing in T20 tournaments.

    There is also record prize money at stake.

    If the match is a draw, tie or washed out, Australia and South Africa will share the trophy. But there is a reserve day available in case of wet weather.

    Vaughan Cruickshank 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. What is the World Test Championship and how did Australia qualify for the final? – https://theconversation.com/what-is-the-world-test-championship-and-how-did-australia-qualify-for-the-final-256999

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: What is cricket’s World Test Championship and how did Australia qualify for the final?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vaughan Cruickshank, Senior Lecturer in Health and Physical Education, University of Tasmania

    HENRY NICHOLLS/AFP via Getty Images

    Cricket’s third World Test Championship final will begin on Wednesday night in London. Reigning champions Australia will compete with South Africa to be crowned the world’s best men’s Test cricket team.

    This new tournament has faced controversy because of the points system used to determine the two finalists, with South Africa also criticised in recent years for allowing many key players to compete in T20 tournaments instead of Test matches.

    Despite this, South Africa has earned its right to take on the Australians at Lord’s Cricket Ground.

    What is the World Test Championship?

    The World Test Championship is a tournament played between nine full members of the International Cricket Council (ICC): Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the West Indies.

    The previous winners were New Zealand (2021) and Australia (2023).

    The ICC introduced this tournament as a way to increase the relevance and importance of Test cricket in a world dominated by popular Twenty 20 tournaments such as the Big Bash and Indian Premier League.

    Each country plays three series of between two and five Test matches at home, and three away.

    The tournament takes two years to complete because each Test match can take five days and there are no dedicated times for Test match cricket throughout the year. This is because many cricketers also play in T20 and one-day tournaments.

    Teams are awarded points for wins (12 points), ties (six) and draws (four) – there are zero points for a loss. Teams lose points if they bowl their overs too slowly.

    While this point system is simple enough, ranking teams in the results table is more confusing, because some teams play more Tests than others.

    Bigger, wealthier countries such as England, India and Australia commonly play four or five Tests in a series, whereas less affluent countries often play series with only two or three Tests.

    Because of this difference, the results table is based on the percentage of points teams have won (how many points they won divided by how many points they could have won).

    For example, if a team played ten tests, the maximum points they could earn would be 120 (10 x 12 points for each win). If they earned 60 points, then they would be ranked on the results table as winning 50% (60 divided by 120).

    How did Australia and South Africa reach the final?

    South Africa finished on top of the table by winning series against the West Indies, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. They also drew with India and lost to New Zealand.

    Australia beat Pakistan and India at home and New Zealand and Sri Lanka away. They also drew series with England (away) and the West Indies (home).

    The final will be played at the “home of cricket”: Lord’s in London.

    Neutral territory

    Test matches are rarely played at neutral venues but the World Test Championship final is played in England for a variety of reasons.

    The current two-year World Test Championship cycle ends in June, which is early summer in England and winter or monsoon season in most other major cricket nations.

    England also offers good infrastructure, strong crowds, a time zone that aligns favourably with prime time viewing hours in India, and pitches that offer a fair contest between bat and ball, allowing for exciting and competitive cricket.

    Despite these reasons, the repeated scheduling of finals in England has been criticised, predominantly by India.

    Criticisms of the championship

    South Africa’s qualification for the final has been criticised because they have played the least number of Tests and avoided playing some stronger teams.

    While these criticisms are not unfounded, they are also not South Africa’s fault: the ICC is responsible for ensuring scheduling is fair.

    Richer countries such as Australia, England and India face a dilemma in that five-Test series between them are generally high quality, exciting and profitable but are also difficult to win.

    Smaller nations playing two-Test series receive less interest and money but also easier opponents and less fixture fatigue. This situation can make it easier for smaller, less affluent teams to have a higher winning percentage.

    Other criticisms have focused on the points deductions for slow overs and the exclusion of Test playing nations Afghanistan, Ireland and Zimbabwe. When the World Test Championship was launched in 2019, only the nine full members were included. No specific reasons were given for the exclusion of Zimbabwe, Afghanistan and Ireland.

    Including these countries and having two six-team divisions – with teams being relegated and promoted each year – has been suggested as way to make the Test championship more fair and more competitive.

    However, this idea has also been criticised as focusing on profits instead of protecting and nurturing the game around the world.

    These deductions and divisions, and other potential changes, were considered at a recent ICC meeting but no changes were made.

    Final preparations

    Australian players have prepared for the final in a variety of ways, such as playing in the IPL, county cricket in the United Kingdom and practice sessions at home.

    They are favourites for the final and have a strong squad to choose from.

    South Africa also has a strong team with several key players returning from injuries and a drugs ban.

    A win for Australia would solidify its standing as the premier Test cricket team in the world. For South Africa, a victory would showcase a remarkable turnaround after being criticised for picking a weak squad for a tour of New Zealand, with most of its better players instead competing in T20 tournaments.

    There is also record prize money at stake.

    If the match is a draw, tie or washed out, Australia and South Africa will share the trophy. But there is a reserve day available in case of wet weather.

    Vaughan Cruickshank 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. What is cricket’s World Test Championship and how did Australia qualify for the final? – https://theconversation.com/what-is-crickets-world-test-championship-and-how-did-australia-qualify-for-the-final-256999

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Australia: Local community leader urges residents to complete Active Living Census

    Source: New South Wales Ministerial News

    Local community leader, Kerry Parry from Long Gully Neighbourhood Centre, has called on members of the community to take the time to complete the 2025 Active Living Census online.

    Mrs Parry said the online census can take around 15 minutes or a little longer to complete, but the benefits that the data can provide are long lasting in our community.

    “In Long Gully, local projects like walking path upgrades and outdoor fitness equipment received significant funding support because the data was available from the previous Active Living Census to demonstrate the need for the project,” Mrs Parry said.

    “Data from the Active Living Census gave us a clear picture of what people in Long Gully needed to live healthier, more active lives.

    “From the upgrades at Long Gully Recreation Reserve, to distance markers, wayfinding signs, and a bike repair station along the Long Gully Trail, to tai chi classes, multicultural cooking programs and school garden projects, we’ve been able to deliver real, on-the-ground improvements that reflect our community’s priorities.

    “The Active Living Census is a really simple way to contribute to the data needed in the future so we can continue to provide new facilities for our community, and I urge everyone to take the time to complete the census and help shape a healthier Greater Bendigo.”

    Participants who complete the census online still have the chance to win their share of $10,000 in prizes through the weekly prize draws. Completing the census is easy, anonymous and takes around 15 minutes.

    For more information, or to participate in the Active Living Census, visit:

    MIL OSI News –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Strengthening Gaelic and Scots education

    Source: Scottish Government

    Legislation to strengthen language support.

    Parents across Scotland will be able to ask for a Gaelic school to be established in their area as part of legislation being taken forward by the Scottish Government.

    Under the plans, local authorities would be required to assess if the request was practical and affordable. After taking advice, ministers may direct local authorities to proceed with the establishment a new Gaelic school if the authority’s assessment considers it to be viable. 

    Other provisions of the Scottish Languages Bill include:

    • introducing educational standards for Gaelic and Scots
    • establishing Gaelic and Scots as official languages
    • supporting the creation of areas of linguistic significance in Gaelic communities so that ministers can better target policies to support the language’s growth
    • enabling parents in every part of Scotland to apply for Gaelic nursery and early years places for their children

    Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Gaelic Kate Forbes set out the measures on a visit to Bun-Sgoil Ghàidhlig Inbhir Nis (Inverness Gaelic Primary School). She was joined by Scotland’s first Gaelic speaking national poet, Dr Peter Mackay, who is also known as the Makar. The visit coincides with the 40th anniversary year of Gaelic medium education in Scotland.

    Ms Forbes said:

    “This Bill aims to build a strong foundation to support Gaelic’s continued growth following an encouraging increase in Gaelic speakers and learners across Scotland. It would boost Gaelic education provision throughout Scotland and better establish Gaelic and Scots as national languages.

    “Gaelic medium education enriches communities and offers good value for money. Gaelic medium schools frequently demonstrate above average performance with some local authorities showing better grades across all qualification levels despite costs being no greater than English medium schools.

    “To support the growth of Scotland’s indigenous languages, we are also providing an additional £5.7 million to promote Scots and Gaelic this year.”

    Dr Mackay said:

    “It’s fantastic to have seen the growth of Gaelic medium education over the last 40 years: it’s something we should be very proud of.

    “It’s vital that there’s ongoing support to maintain and develop Gaelic as a community language in the Highlands and Islands and to give people all over the country every chance to learn and speak it – and also to encourage Scots speakers and communities across Scotland.” 

    Background

    Stage 3 of the Scottish Languages Bill is expected to be considered by MSPs on Tuesday 17 June.

    Census statistics show that 130,161 people in Scotland had some Gaelic skills in 2022, an increase of 43,105 people from 2011. The census shows that 2,444,659 people in Scotland had some Scots skills in 2022, an increase of 515,215 from 2011.

    The latest version of the Scottish Languages Bill is available online.

    A’ neartachadh foghlam Gàidhlig agus Albais

    Reachdas gus taic-chànain a neartachadh.

    Faodaidh pàrantan air feadh Alba iarraidh gun tèid sgoil Ghàidhlig a stèidheachadh anns na sgìrean aca, mar phàirt de reachdas a tha ga thoirt air adhart le Riaghaltas na h-Alba.

    Fo na planaichean, dh’fheumadh ùghdarrasan ionadail measadh a dhèanamh air so-dhèantachd agus reusantachd cosgaisean an iarrtais. Às dèidh dhaibh comhairle a ghabhail, faodaidh ministearan iarraidh air ùghdarrasan ionadail a dhol air adhart le stèidheachadh sgoil Ghàidhlig ùr, ma cho-dhùineas measadh an ùghdarrais gun gabh a dhèanamh.

    Am measg chumhachan eile ann am Bile nan Cànan Albannach:

    • thèid bun-tomhasan foghlaim a thoirt a-steach do Ghàidhlig agus do dh’Albais
    • thèid Gàidhlig agus Albais a stèidheachadh mar chànain oifigeil
    • thèid taic a chumail ri cruthachadh sgìrean cànain sònraichte ann an coimhearsnachdan Gàidhlig, airson ’s gum faod ministearan poileasaidhean a thaghadh nas fheàrr leis an gabh an cànan a leasachadh
    • faodaidh pàrantan ann an gach ceàrn de dh’Alba tagradh a chur airson àitichean sgoil àraich agus tràth-ìre Gàidhlig fhaighinn dhan cuid chloinne

    Chaidh na ceumannan a mhìneachadh leis an Leas-Phrìomh Mhinistear agus Rùnaire a’ Chaibineit airson na h-Eaconamaidh agus na Gàidhlig, Ceit Fhoirbeis, ’s i a’ tadhal air Bun-Sgoil Ghàidhlig Inbhir Nis. Còmhla rithe bha a’ chiad bhàrd nàiseanta Gàidhlig ann an Alba, an Dotair Pàdraig MacAoidh, ris an canar cuideachd am Makar. Bha iad a’ tadhal aig an aon àm ris a’ 40mh ceann-bliadhna de dh’fhoghlam tro mheadhan na Gàidhlig ann an Alba.

    Thuirt a’ Bh-uas. Fhoirbeis:

    “Tha a’ Bhile seo ag amas air bun-stèidh dhaingeann a thogail gus taic a chumail ri fàs leantainneach na Gàidhlig, às dèidh àrdachadh brosnachail ann an luchd-labhairt agus luchd-ionnsachaidh na Gàidhlig air feadh Alba. Chuireadh i gu mòr ri solar foghlam tro mheadhan na Gàidhlig air feadh Alba, ’s i a’ daingneachadh na Gàidhlig agus na h-Albais mar chànain nàiseanta.

    “Tha foghlam tro mheadhan na Gàidhlig a’ cur beairteas ri coimhearsnachdan agus tha deagh luach an airgid na lùib. Is tric a bhios coileanadh sgoiltean Gàidhlig nas fheàrr na chìthear sa chumantas, ’s cuid a dh’ùghdarrasan ionadail a’ sealltainn chomharran nas fheàrr thar gach ìre teisteanais ged nach eil cosgaisean nas àirde na cosgaisean sgoiltean tro mheadhan na Beurla.

    “Gus taic a chumail ri fàs nan cànan a tha dùthchasach do dh’Alba, tha sinn cuideachd a’ toirt seachad £5.7 millean a bharrachd gus Albais agus Gàidhlig a bhrosnachadh am-bliadhna.”

    Thuirt an Dotair MacAoidh:

    “Tha e air leth math gum facas mar a dh’fhàs foghlam tro mheadhan na Gàidhlig thairis air na 40 bliadhna a dh’fhalbh: bu chòir dhuinn a bhith gu math moiteil à rud mar seo. Tha e riatanach gum bi taic leantainneach ann airson a’ Ghàidhlig a chumail suas agus a leasachadh mar chànan coimhearsnachd air a’ Ghàidhealtachd agus anns na h-Eileanan, agus airson gach cothrom a thoirt do dhaoine air feadh na dùthcha an cànan ionnsachadh agus a bhruidhinn – agus cuideachd airson luchd-labhairt agus coimhearsnachdan na h-Albais a bhrosnachadh thar Alba.”

    Cùl-fhiosrachadh

    Thathar an dùil gum beachdaich BPA air Ìre 3 Bile nan Cànan Albannach Dimàirt, an 17mh latha dhen Ògmhios.

    Tha àireamhan a’ chunntais-shluaigh a’ sealltainn gun robh beagan sgilean Gàidhlig aig 130,161 neach ann an Alba ann an 2022, àrdachadh de 43,105 neach bho 2011. Tha an cunntas-sluaigh a’ sealltainn gun robh beagan sgilean Albais aig 2,444,659 neach ann an Alba ann an 2022, àrdachadh de 515,215 neach bho 2011.

    Tha an dreachd as ùire de Bhile nan Cànan Albannach ri fhaotainn air loidhne.

    Forderin Gaelic and Scots education

    Legislation tae uphaud the leids

    Parents aw ower Scotland will be able tae speir for a Gaelic schuil tae be set up whaur they bide as pairt o legislation bein taen forrit by the Scots Government.

    Unner the plans, it wad be necessar for local authorities tae luik intae gin the speirin wis practical and affordable. Efter takkin advice, ministers micht caw upon local authorities tae gang forrit wi the settin up o a new Gaelic schuil if the authority’s ettles shaw it tae be daeable. 

    Ither provisions o the Scottish Languages Bill include:

    • settin oot educational staunards for Gaelic and Scots
    • settin forrit Gaelic and Scots as official leids
    • uphaudin the settin oot o areas o muckle linguistic mense in Gaelic communities sae that ministers can better ettle at policies tae uphaud the growin o the leid
    • allouin parents in ilka pairt o Scotland tae speir efter Gaelic nursery and early years places for their bairns

    Depute First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Gaelic Kate Forbes set oot the meisures on a visit tae Bun-Sgoil Ghàidhlig Inbhir Nis (Inverness Gaelic Primary School). She wis jyned by Scotland’s first Gaelic spikkin national poet, Dr Peter Mackay, wha is kent forby as the Makar. The visit gangs alang wi the 40th anniversary year o Gaelic medium education in Scotland.

    Ms Forbes said:

    “This Bill ettles tae big strang foonds tae uphaud Gaelic’s ongawin growth follaein a hertenin increase in Gaelic spikkers and lairners aw ower Scotland. It wad forder Gaelic education provision throughoot Scotland and set forrit mair siccarly Gaelic and Scots as national leids.

    “Gaelic medium education maks communities mair strang and gies guid value for siller. Gaelic medium schuils aft kythe better-than-average ootcomes, wi some local authorities reportin better grades athort aw qualification levels, for aw that costs are nae mair muckle than English medium schuils.

    “Tae forder the growin o Scotland’s hamelt leids, we’re forby pittin forrit an extra £5.7 million tae uphaud Scots and Gaelic this year.”

    Dr Mackay said:

    “It’s braw tae hae seen the growin o Gaelic medium education ower the last 40 years: thon’s a thing we should be gey prood o. It’s vital that there’s ongawin uphaudin tae heeze up and forder forrit Gaelic as a community leid in the Hielans and Islands and tae gie fowk aw ower the country ilka chance tae lairn and spik it – and forby tae herten Scots spikkers and communities aw ower Scotland.” 

    Backgrund

    Stage 3 o the Scottish Languages Bill is expectit tae be taen tent o by MSPs on Tuesday 17 June.

    Census statistics report that 130,161 fowk in Scotland had some Gaelic skills in 2022, an increase o 43,105 fowk syne 2011. The census reports that 2,444,659 fowk in Scotland had some Scots skills in 2022, an increase o 515,215 syne 2011.

    The latest version o the Scottish Languages Bill is set furth online.

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: £13.6 million to help families and charities reap benefits of surplus farm produce

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Press release

    £13.6 million to help families and charities reap benefits of surplus farm produce

    Grants to ensure more than 19,000 tonnes of surplus food will be redistributed to homeless shelters, food banks and charities across the country

    A handful of potatoes

    Thousands of tonnes of nutritious food that would otherwise go to waste will help families facing food insecurity, thanks to new grants offered today (Tuesday 10 June 2025).

    Grants totalling £13.6 million have been offered to 12 food charities across England – including City Harvest, Food in Community and FareShare – to redistribute an estimated 19,000 tonnes of food directly from farms to help families and fight food poverty in communities.

    Under the Government’s Plan for Change, the Tackling Food Surplus at the Farm Gate scheme was set up to help charities in England boost their relationships with farmers. This will see more farm gates opened to organisations who will ensure edible food that might have been left in fields instead ends up on the nation’s plates.

    Community kitchens, food banks, shelters and cookery projects across the country are all set to receive food through these organisations thanks to the grant scheme.

    Successful redistribution organisations who applied for funding through the grants include:

    • City Harvest, a food charity which rescues surplus food and delivers it to more than 130,000 people a week, which will benefit from more than £303,000.  
    • A consortium bid led by FareShare UK and its network partners, including Felix Project, which will receive more than £9.2 million.
    • Food in Community, based in Devon, which has secured more than £1.5 million to partner with local farmers and food producers to redistribute surplus food.

    Waste Minister Mary Creagh said:

    This Government’s Plan for Change is acting on food poverty and tackling Britain’s throwaway culture, ensuring more good food ends up on plates and not in bins. 

    I am delighted to see this support go to 12 outstanding redistribution charities to form closer relationships with our hard-working farmers, and ensure their good food goes to those in need.

    Sarah Calcutt, CEO of City Harvest, said:

    We grow a frankly amazing range of fruits and veg in this country, from berries to spuds and brassicas to salads; but the truth is, as any farmer will testify, that a significant percentage of the food we grow will go to waste; and the reasons for this waste are often around shape and size not meeting retailer specifications rather than anything to do with health or nutrition.

    This new funding will allow us to increase the amount of food we pick-up directly from farms, reduce farm costs and increase further the amount of fresh food we can offer our customers.

    Catherine David, CEO of WRAP, said:

    Food waste happens wherever food is grown, made, sold and consumed – from farm to fork.

    Redistributing surplus food from retail and manufacture is a real success story, stopping thousands of tonnes of good food from going to waste every year. In 2023, 191,000 tonnes was redistributed worth £764 million – enough to make 456 million meals. Redistributing from farms isn’t so advanced.

    These Government grants will go a long way to supercharge more charitable networks to capture some of the estimated 330,000 tonnes of food that could be redistributed from UK farms every year – and use it for good – in communities around the country.

    To tackle the nation’s throwaway approach further, an independent Circular Economy Taskforce has been established to bring together the brightest minds from industry, academia and civil society to tackle this challenge.

    The Taskforce will focus on five priority sectors to begin with – including agri-food – to create a series of specific roadmaps to improve and reform the approach to using materials, underpinned by a Circular Economy Strategy which will be published in Autumn.

    This is alongside continued support for the UK Food and Drink Pact, managed by environmental NGO WRAP, which looks to deliver a more sustainable supply chain and reduce food waste in the home – tackling food waste and reducing greenhouse gas emissions and water usage.

    Updates to this page

    Published 10 June 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Some economists have called for a radical ‘global wealth tax’ on billionaires. How would that work?

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Venkat Narayanan, Senior Lecturer – Accounting and Tax, RMIT University

    Rudy Balasko/Shutterstock

    Earlier this year, I attended a housing conference in Sydney. The event’s opening address centred on the way Australia seems to be becoming like 18th-century England – a country where inheritance largely determines one’s opportunities in life.

    There has been a lot of media coverage of economic inequities in Australian society. Our tax system has been partly blamed for this problem. The case for long-term, visionary tax reform has never been stronger. And one area of tax reform could be a wealth tax.

    First, let’s be clear about one thing. Unlike the superannuation tax reforms currently being debated for those with more than A$3 million in superannuation, the wealth tax we’re talking about would apply to a very different cohort: billionaires.

    A recent article in the Financial Times re-examined a proposal to impose such a tax on the world’s highest-net-worth individuals. It also pointed out these efforts would need to be globally coordinated.

    Such taxes could collect significant sums of money for governments. It’s previously been estimated a billionaire tax could raise US$250 billion (more than A$380 billion) globally if just 2% of the net worth of the world’s billionaires was taxed each year.

    The case for a wealth tax

    Inequality is on the rise and the argument for a wealth tax can’t be ignored – not least here at home. According to the Australia Institute, the wealth of Australia’s richest 200 people has soared as a percentage of our national gross domestic product (GDP) – from 8.4% in 2004 to 23.7% in 2024.

    If that sounds dramatic, the picture is far worse in the United States. So, what would a wealth tax look like in Australia (noting that in reality a globally coordinated effort would be needed)?

    The starting point for this is understanding of why high-net-worth individuals seemingly pay very low taxes.

    High net worth, low tax rate

    Income taxes only take into account any amounts that are received in the hands of the taxpayer – whether that is a company, a person or a trust.

    Most high-net-worth individuals do not receive much income directly but “store” their wealth in companies and other corporate structures.

    In Australia, the maximum applicable tax rate for companies is 30%. Note that the highest tax rate in Australia for individuals is 45% plus the 2% medicare levy, effectively 47%.

    Assets such as real estate may also be held by companies or trusts, and the increase in value of these assets is not taxed until they are sold (through capital gains tax).

    Even then, those gains may not be paid out directly to the high-net-worth individual who owns these entities.

    Unrealised gains

    So, how do we tax wealth that is sitting in various businesses (company structures) or other entities, but isn’t taxed at present because the “income” or “gains” from these are not taxable in the hands of the wealthy individuals who own them?

    This goes into the murky area of taxation of unrealised gains. Here, we need to tread very carefully. But we also need to recognise that we already do this, albeit rather subtly, and most of us are not billionaires.

    In your rates notice from your local council, for example, the increase in value of your residence or investment property is used to calculate your rates.

    The real difficulty, to carry on with this example, is that your residence or investment property is typically held in your name and so the tax can be directly levied on you.

    A luxury residence in Miami Beach, Florida, owned by Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon. The US is home to the most billionaires of any country in the world.
    Felix Mizioznikov/Shutterstock

    Making tax unavoidable

    As we’ve already explained, the bulk of the assets or net worth of wealthy individuals is not directly attributable to them. Does this mean we should give up altogether?

    Not quite. UNSW professor Chris Evans has pointed out that while we may not be able to effectively tax all the net worth of the wealthy, there are some things we can tax and they can’t avoid it.

    An obvious example is real estate. You can pack your bags and bank accounts and move to a low-tax country, but you can’t move your mansion overlooking Sydney Harbour.

    Real estate, both residential and commercial, provides one clear way in which we could implement a partial wealth tax. This method (which also has fewer valuation issues than value stored in a company in the form of retained profits) also counters the argument that the wealthy will simply move to other jurisdictions that won’t tax them.

    There is plenty of academic research looking at various wealth tax initiatives in other countries. We should learn from these, including the experience in Switzerland and Sweden.

    In Sweden, for instance, research found the behavioural effects of wealth taxation were less pronounced than those of income taxation, but the system had so many loopholes that evasion was an option for some people.

    Change faces headwinds

    In a very uncertain world that features ongoing wars and an unpredictable US president, any change that seeks to address issues of inequity is going to be met with resistance by those who hold power.

    Some billionaires in the US, however, have expressed their support for being taxed more in a letter signed by heirs to the Disney and Rockefeller fortunes. That offers some hope, and suggests the discussion about wealth taxes should not be relegated to the “too hard” basket.

    Some steps towards taxing the uber-rich would be better than the status quo.

    Venkat Narayanan 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. Some economists have called for a radical ‘global wealth tax’ on billionaires. How would that work? – https://theconversation.com/some-economists-have-called-for-a-radical-global-wealth-tax-on-billionaires-how-would-that-work-257632

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Fake news and real cannibalism: a cautionary tale from the Dutch Golden Age

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Garritt C. Van Dyk, Senior Lecturer in History, University of Waikato

    The Corpses of the De Witt Brothers, attributed to Jan de Baen, c. 1672-1675. Rijksmuseum

    The Dutch Golden Age, beginning in 1588, is known for the art of Rembrandt, the invention of the microscope, and the spice trade of the Dutch East India Company. It ended a little under a century later in a frenzy of body parts and mob justice.

    In 1672, enraged by a fake news campaign, rioters killed the recently ousted head of state Johan de Witt and his brother Cornelis. The mob hung them upside down, removed their organs, ate parts of the corpses, and sold fingers and tongues as souvenirs.

    Even in a period characterised by torture and assassination, this grisly act stands out as extreme. But it also stands as a warning from history about what can happen when disinformation is allowed to run rampant.

    The attack on Johan and Cornelis de Witt was fuelled by a relentless flood of malicious propaganda and forgeries claiming the brothers were corrupt, immoral elitists who had conspired with enemies of the Dutch Republic.

    The anonymous authors of the smear campaigns blamed Johan for war with England and “all the bloodshed, killing and injuring, the crippled and mutilated people, including widows and orphans” that allegedly kept him in power.

    According to one pamphlet, the violence was legitimate because the ends justified the means: “Beating to death is not a sin in case it is practised against a tyrant.” The sentiment echoes a quote frequently attributed to Napoleon, recently shared by US President Donald Trump on social media: “He who saves his country does not violate any law.”

    ‘Fight like hell’

    These days, of course, we’ve become accustomed to the dangers fake news (and deepfakes) pose in the promotion of political violence, hate speech, extremism and extrajudicial killings.

    In March, for example, historical footage of war crimes in Syria was manipulated by generative AI to appear as current events. Combined with disinformation in chat rooms and on social media, it incited panic and violence.

    The effects were magnified in a country with no reliable independent media, where informal news is often the only source of information.

    But even in a superpower with an established media culture, similar things happen.
    Before the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol in 2021, Trump called on thousands of supporters at a “Save America” rally to “fight like hell” or they were “not going to have a country anymore”.

    This was shortly before Congress verified the presidential election result, which Trump alleged was invalid because of voter fraud. Addressing the same crowd, Trump advisor Rudolph Giuliani called for “trial by combat”.

    What happened might not have been as extreme as the events in the Netherlands 350 years earlier, but a violent mob fired up on disinformation still shook the foundations of US democracy.

    Historical echoes: supporters of Donald Trump march through Washington DC to the Capitol Building on January 6, 2021.
    Getty Images

    The ‘disaster year’

    The deeper forces at work in the US were and still are complex – just as they were in the 17th-century Dutch Republic. What brought it down was a volatile mix of power struggles, geopolitical rivalries and oligarchy.

    William of Orange had been excluded from the office of stadtholder, the hereditary head of state, by a secret treaty with England under Oliver Cromwell to end the First Anglo-Dutch War.

    When the English monarchy was restored, however, the treaty became invalid and the Orangists attempted to reinstate William. Johan De Witt represented the States Party, made up of wealthy oligarchs, whereas William was seen as a man of the people.

    The republic had built an impressive navy and merchant fleet but neglected its army. A land invasion by France and allies was supported by the English navy. To prevent the invasion from advancing, land was flooded by opening gates and canals.

    The combination of floods and an occupying army threw the economy into chaos. The Orangists wouldn’t cooperate with the States Party, and the republic was on the brink of collapse. The Dutch referred to 1672 as the Rampjaar, the “disaster year”.

    Historical rhymes

    Satirists, pamphleteers and activists seized on the crises as an opportunity to ramp up their campaign against the de Witt brothers. Political opposition turned into personal attacks, false accusations and calls for violence.

    Johan was assaulted and stabbed in an attempted assassination in June 1672, resigning from his role as head of state two months later. Cornelis was then arrested for treason. When Johan went to visit him in prison, the guards and soldiers disappeared, and a conveniently positioned mob dragged the brothers into the street.

    The rest, as they say, is history. William III was strongly suspected of orchestrating the brothers’ gruesome murder, but this was never confirmed.

    Is there is a moral to the story? Perhaps it is simply that, in a time of crisis, a campaign of disinformation can transform political opposition and rebellion into assassination – and worse.

    Pamphlets – the social media of their day – manipulated public perception and amplified popular anxiety into murderous rage. A golden age of prosperity under a republic headed by oligarchs ended with ritualised political violence and the return of a monarch who promised to keep the people safe.

    They say history doesn’t repeat, but it does rhyme. As ever, the need to separate fact from fiction remains an urgent task.

    Garritt C. Van Dyk has been a recipient of Getty Research Institute funding.

    – ref. Fake news and real cannibalism: a cautionary tale from the Dutch Golden Age – https://theconversation.com/fake-news-and-real-cannibalism-a-cautionary-tale-from-the-dutch-golden-age-257104

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: As livestock numbers grow, wild animal populations plummet. Giving all creatures a better future will take a major rethink

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clive Phillips, Adjunct Professor in Animal Welfare, Curtin University

    Toa55/Shutterstock

    As a teenager in the 1970s, I worked on a typical dairy farm in England. Fifty cows grazed on lush pastures for most of their long lives, each producing about 12 litres of milk daily. They were loved and cared for by two herdsmen.

    About 50 years later, I visited a dairy farm in China. There, 30,000 cows lived indoors. Most of these selectively bred animals wore out after two or three years of producing 30–40 litres of milk every day, after which they were unceremoniously killed. The workers rarely had contact with the cows. Instead, they sat in offices, programming machines which managed them.

    This speaks to a huge and very recent shift in how we treat animals. Over the last half century, the human population has soared – and so too our demand for meat, milk and many other animal products. As a result livestock populations have ballooned while living conditions for animals permanently kept inside have drastically worsened.

    Even as farmed animals have multiplied, populations of wild animals have crashed. The two trends are deeply connected. Humans convert wildlife habitat into pastures and farms, expanding living space for farm animals at the expense of many other animals.

    This cannot continue. Humans must reckon with how we treat the myriad other species on the planet, whether we rely on them or not. As I argue in my new open access book, the growing scarcity of animal species should make us grasp our responsibility towards the welfare of all animal species on the planet, not just those in farms.

    Efforts to enshrine rights for animals is not enough. The focus has to be on our responsibilities to them, ensuring they lead good lives if in our care – or are left well alone if they are not.

    Should we care?

    In the last 50 years, two-thirds of all wild animal populations have been lost.

    The main cause is habitat loss, as native forest is felled to grow grass for cattle or corn and soya for livestock.

    By weight, the world’s farm animals and humans now dwarf the remaining wild animals. Farm animals weigh 630 million tonnes and humans 390 million tonnes, while wild land mammals now weigh just 20 million tonnes and marine mammals 40 million tonnes.

    Wildlife numbers have fallen off a cliff across many kingdoms of life. Three quarters of flying insects are gone from monitored areas of Western Europe. One in eight bird species is threatened with extinction worldwide.

    Insect populations are plunging, endangering the many animal species who rely on them.
    David Pineda Svenske/Shutterstock

    On animal welfare, philosophers have long argued one of two positions. The first is known as “utilitarianism”. This approach argues for minimising the bad things in the world and maximising the good things, regardless of who benefits from them, humans or other animals. This theory-heavy approach does little to restore our relationship with wild animals because of the difficulties in deciding what is good and bad for animals.

    The second has more to recommend it. This is the view that animals have the right to be looked after well. This approach has also been used to give rights to rivers, nature and even the atmosphere.

    But this doesn’t recognise the fact that only humans can attribute such rights to animals, who themselves do not have any concept of “rights”. It also doesn’t tackle the issue that most humans would not accord the same rights to a blue whale and an insect.

    A better approach might be to recognise our responsibilities to animals, rather than attribute rights to them.

    This would acknowledge the increasing rarity of animal species on Earth and the fact that – as far as we know – they’re unique in the universe. So far, no reliable signs have been found indicating life evolved on any other planets.

    Earth formed just over 4.5 billion years ago. Some evidence suggests simple animal life began just 400 million years later.

    The evolution of complex multicellular life on earth probably only happened once when a single celled organism – one of the ancient archaea, perhaps – engulfed a bacterium without digesting it. Instead, it found something better: putting it to work as an internal energy factory as the first mitochondrion. After that came life’s great flowering.

    But now we’re currently losing between 0.01–0.1% of all species each year. If we use an average species loss rate of 0.05% and assuming human pressures remain similar, life on Earth could have only 2,000 years left.

    Do we have responsibility to care for something just because it’s rare? Not always. But life is beautiful. We marvel when we are able to connect with wildlife. Other social animals also appear to derive pleasure from such relationships.

    If we destroy wild animal life, we could undermine the natural systems humans depend on. Pollinators are essential for orchards, forests protect topsoil and produce clean drinking water and predators prevent herbivore populations from soaring out of control and destroying crops. As wilder areas shrink, the chance of another animal virus spillover into humans increases.

    The habitat available for many wild animals has shrunk rapidly in recent decades.
    MohdFadhli_83/Shutterstock

    From small scale to industrial

    For almost all of human history, livestock herds were small enough that people could build relationships with the animals they depended on.

    But in only a couple of human generations, we’ve turned farm animal production into a factory process with billions of animals.

    For centuries, farm animals were walked to market. That, too, has changed. In 2005, I was undertaking research on a livestock ship alongside 80,000 sheep being transported from Australia to the Middle East. Hundreds of sheep die from the stress of these journeys, while many survivors arrive exhausted and terrified.

    These changes have made it possible for humans all around the globe to eat meat or dairy products at every meal. But it has come at a real cost to livestock and wild animals.

    Correcting this will not be easy. We have to learn to eat fewer animals or preferably none at all, restore habitat for wildlife and curb our consumption of the world’s natural resources.

    It’s not too late to restore animal habitat. Rewilding efforts are drawing back long-missing wild animals. There are hopeful signs for farm animal welfare too. The live export of Australian sheep will end in 2028. Battery cage production of eggs is dying out.

    These are big issues. But to paraphrase a quote reputedly by Confucius:

    The man who asks big questions is a fool for a minute. The man who does not ask, is a fool for life.

    Clive Phillips has received funding from several not-for-profit groups, including Voiceless and AnimalKind, to help make this book open access. He has previously had funding from several government and livestock industry organisations, as well as the World Organisation for Animal Health and Open Philanthropy. He was, until recently, a director of Humane Society International and chair of the Queensland and Western Australia government animal welfare boards. He is editor of the animal welfare book series of Springer Nature and another book series, Letters in Animal Welfare and Ethics for CABI, as well as editor-in-chief of the journals Animals, and Animal Behaviour and Welfare Cases.

    – ref. As livestock numbers grow, wild animal populations plummet. Giving all creatures a better future will take a major rethink – https://theconversation.com/as-livestock-numbers-grow-wild-animal-populations-plummet-giving-all-creatures-a-better-future-will-take-a-major-rethink-256891

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Australia’s whooping cough surge is not over – and it doesn’t just affect babies

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Niall Johnston, Conjoint Associate Lecturer, Faculty of Medicine, UNSW Sydney

    Tomsickova Tatyana/Shutterstock

    Whooping cough (pertussis) is always circulating in Australia, and epidemics are expected every three to four years. However, the numbers we’re seeing with the current surge – which started in 2024 – are higher than usual epidemics.

    Vaccines for this highly infectious respiratory infection have been available in Australia for many decades. Yet it remains a challenging infection to control because immunity (due to prior infection, or vaccination) wanes with time.

    In 2025, more than 14,000 cases have been recorded already. Some regions, including Queensland and Western Australia’s Kimberley region, are seeing a marked rise in cases.

    In 2024, more than 57,000 cases of whooping cough were reported in Australia – the highest yearly total since 1991 – including 25,900 in New South Wales alone.

    What is causing the current surge?

    A few factors are driving numbers higher than we’d expect for an anticipated epidemic.

    COVID lockdowns in 2020 and 2021 reduced natural immunity to many diseases, disrupted routine childhood vaccination services, and resulted in rising distrust in vaccines. This has meant higher-than-usual numbers for many infectious diseases.

    And it’s not only Australia witnessing this surge.

    In the United States, whooping cough cases are at their highest since 1948, with deaths reported in several states, including two infants.

    In Australia, vaccine coverage remains relatively high but it is slipping and is below the national target of 95% .

    Even small declines may have a significant impact on infection rates.

    Who is at risk of whooping cough?

    Young babies, especially those under six weeks of age, are extremely vulnerable to whooping cough because they’re too young to be vaccinated.

    Infants under six months of age are also more likely to require hospitalisation for breathing support or have severe outcomes such as pneumonia, seizures or brain inflammation . Some do not survive.

    However, the greatest number of cases occur in older children and adults. In fact, in 2024, more than 70% of cases occurred in children 10 years and older, and adults.

    Babies who are too young to be vaccinated are most vulnerable.
    Halfpoint/Shutterstock

    Can you get whooping cough even if you’re vaccinated?

    The whooping cough vaccine works well, but its protection fades with time. Babies are immunised at six weeks, four months and six months, which gives good protection against severe illness.

    But without extra (booster) doses, that protection drops, falling to less than 50% by four years of age. That’s why booster doses at 18 months and four years are essential for maintaining protection against the disease.

    A whooping cough vaccine is also recommended for any adult who wishes to reduce the likelihood of becoming ill with pertussis. Carers of young infants, in particular, should have a booster dose if they’ve not received one in the past ten years.

    A booster dose is also recommended every ten years for health-care workers and early childhood educators.

    One of the best ways we can protect babies from the life-threatening illness of whooping cough is vaccination during pregnancy, which transfers protective antibodies to the unborn baby.

    If a woman hasn’t received a vaccine during pregnancy, they can be vaccinated as soon as possible after delivery (preferably before hospital discharge). This won’t pass protective immunity to the baby, but reduces the likelihood of the mother getting whooping cough, providing some indirect protection to the infant.

    How contagious is whooping cough?

    Whooping cough is extremely contagious – in fact, it is up to ten times more contagious than the flu.

    If you’re immunised against whooping cough, you’re likely to have milder symptoms. But you can still catch and spread it, including to babies who have not yet been immunised.

    Data shows siblings (and not parents) are one of the most common sources of whooping cough infection in babies.

    This highlights the importance of on-time vaccination not just during pregnancy, but also in siblings and other close contacts.

    How do I know it’s whooping cough, and not just a cold?

    Early symptoms of whooping cough can look just like a cold: a runny nose, mild fever, and a persistent cough.

    After about a week, the cough often worsens, coming in long fits that may end with a sharp “whoop” as the person gasps for breath.

    In very young babies, there may be no whoop at all. They might briefly stop breathing (called an “apnoea”) or turn blue.

    In teens and adults, the only sign may be a stubborn cough (the so-called “100-day” cough) that won’t go away.

    If you have whooping cough, you may be infectious for up to three weeks after symptoms begin, unless treated with antibiotics (which can shorten this to five days).

    You’ll need to stay home from work, school or childcare during this time to help protect others.

    What should I do to reduce my risk?

    Start by checking your vaccination record. This can be done through the myGov website, the Express Plus Medicare app or by asking your GP.

    If you’re pregnant, get a whooping cough booster in your second trimester. A booster is also important if you’re planning to care for young infants or meet a newborn.

    Got a cough that lasts more than a week or comes in fits? Ask your GP about testing.

    One quick booster could help stop the next outbreak from reaching you or your loved ones.

    Phoebe Williams receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council, the Gates Foundation, and the Medical Research Future Fund.

    Helen Quinn and Niall Johnston do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Australia’s whooping cough surge is not over – and it doesn’t just affect babies – https://theconversation.com/australias-whooping-cough-surge-is-not-over-and-it-doesnt-just-affect-babies-257808

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI: PFM CRYPTO Launches 2-Day XRP Mining Contract, Short-Term XRP Investment Users Surge 300%

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Farington, England, June 09, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Global cloud mining leader PFM CRYPTO today announced the launch of a 2-day XRP cloud mining contract, offering investors a flexible and efficient opportunity to grow their XRP holdings. The product received an overwhelmingly positive response from the market. In just one week, the number of short-term XRP investors on the platform surged by 300%, reflecting strong demand for low-barrier, high-liquidity crypto investment products.

    The 2-day XRP mining contract is the latest short-term crypto mining product from PFM CRYPTO, following the success of its Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin cloud mining contracts. With ultra-low entry thresholds, flexible durations, and stable returns, this XRP-focused solution has quickly become a favorite among XRP holders and short-term investors alike.

    In the rapidly evolving world of crypto, simplicity and sustainable profitability are essential. For beginners seeking a reliable source of passive income, PFMCrypto’s cloud mining service stands out as an attractive option.

    What Is PFMCrypto Cloud Mining?

    PFMCrypto cloud mining is a remote cryptocurrency mining solution that supports a wide range of digital assets, including XRP. Users tap into PFMCrypto’s robust computing power to earn profits—without needing to buy mining hardware or manage technical maintenance. By leveraging powerful mining farms, PFMCrypto allows users to benefit from real-time mining rewards as complex blockchain problems are solved continuously.

    Key Benefits of PFMCrypto Cloud Mining

    No Hardware Required: No need to purchase costly equipment—users mine using the platform’s powerful resources.

    Zero Maintenance Costs: Electricity, repairs, and operations are handled entirely by PFMCrypto.

    Green Energy Efficiency: All mining operations are powered by solar and wind energy—sustainable and cost-effective.

    Beginner-Friendly: No technical skills needed. New users receive a $10 sign-up bonus instantly.

    Stable Daily Returns: Daily payouts with full principal refunds upon contract maturity to ensure capital safety.

    Flexible Contract Options: Investment plans range from $100 to $100,000, with contract durations spanning from 1 to 50 days.

    Cloud Mining Contract Strategy: Powered by Real Results

    With the launch of the 2-day XRP contract, PFMCrypto is opening its high-performance cloud mining infrastructure to the public—free to access. Since its founding in 2018, the platform has expanded to over 9.2 million active users across 192 countries and regions, delivering exceptional results:

    2-Day Strategy: +6.6% return

    5-Day Strategy: +6.15% return

    15-Day Strategy: +20.7% return

    30-Day Strategy: +55.6% return

    These performance figures are not forecasts—they reflect real-world results from millions of users. This is made possible by PFMCrypto’s AI-powered profit optimization and results-focused mining model.

    How to Get Started with PFMCrypto Cloud Mining

    1.Register: Sign up today and receive a $10 welcome bonus, plus $0.60 daily check-in rewards.

    2.Choose a Contract: Select a mining plan that aligns with your budget and financial goals. PFMCrypto offers solutions for both beginners and advanced investors.

    3.Start Earning: Once your contract is activated, PFMCrypto’s intelligent platform does the rest—ensuring a seamless, high-efficiency mining operation that maximizes your earnings.

    About PFMCrypto

    Founded in 2018, PFMCrypto represents a new generation of AI-driven cloud mining, built on data, performance, and trust. With a rapidly growing global user base, PFMCrypto stands out as one of the most promising crypto investment opportunities of the year—especially for investors seeking sustainable, long-term returns over speculation.

    Full details and participation: https://pfmcrypto.net 

    Disclaimer: The information provided in this press release does not constitute an investment solicitation, nor does it constitute investment advice, financial advice, or trading recommendations. Cryptocurrency mining and staking involve risks and the possibility of losing funds. It is strongly recommended that you perform due diligence before investing or trading in cryptocurrencies and securities, including consulting a professional financial advisor.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: National enterprise honours for Highland school

    Source: Scotland – Highland Council

    Budding entrepreneurs from a Highland school are celebrating following triumphs at two top enterprise events.

    In the last two weeks team Solasta, from Fortrose Academy, won the Scottish Company of the Year at the Young Enterprise Scotland Awards in Glasgow and went on to triumph in Manchester at the UK Company of the Year finals event last Wednesday (4 June).

    At both events Solasta were recognised for their expertise in designing, producing and selling their intergenerational journals which encourage families to connect and record their memories.

    The team will now go on to represent the UK at the Junior Achievement European awards in Athens, Greece on 1-3 July, known as the European “Oscars” of Youth Entrepreneurship.

    Councillor John Finlayson, chair of Highland Council’s education committee, said: “I was delighted to hear about Solasta, the team from Fortrose Academy who won the UK Young Enterprise final in Manchester on the 4th of June.

    “As someone who has always promoted the importance of including enterprise in the work of all our schools, I congratulate Fortrose staff and pupils on their success and I wish them well in the European final in Greece on 4th July.”

    The Young Enterprise Scotland Company Programme for Highland and Moray runs in partnership with local schools to encourage young people to experience the challenges of running a business.

    Over the course of a year teams from individual schools learn how to run a successful business by designing and making products, marketing them and managing the financial side.

    The scheme is aimed at 15- to 19-year-olds and teams are supported by teachers, a volunteer business adviser from the local community, and a Young Enterprise Scotland area team.

    The Solasta team involved S6 pupils Amy MacRae, Natasha Browne, Imogen Geddes, Imogen Maclarty, Roisin Beattie, Abbie Harper, Freya Campbell and Keira Chisholm.

    Their idea for producing a journal was sparked through the school’s own well established inter-generational links with community charity Black Isle Cares and the Eilean Dubh Care Home.

    Keira Lyall, Head of Business Studies at Fortrose Academy, added: “The team are still on a high after their great achievement and the tremendous experience of taking part in both finals.

     “We’d like to thank everyone who generously stepped in quickly to provide sponsorship to help us travel to Manchester and represent the Highlands on a national stage.

    “We are now making plans to get to Athens for the European finals in July and if any local business would like to get involved, please email us on keira.lyall@highland.gov.uk.” 

    Linda Thomas, Chair of Young Enterprise Highland and Moray, said: “We are absolutely delighted but not at all surprised at Solasta’s success.

    “Their hard work, tenacity and creativity have been a joy to watch and they are a true credit to the Highlands.

     “Their win at the national finals in Glasgow brings the tally of teams from the Highlands and Moray who have won the top Young Enterprise Scotland award to ten over the last 18 years – a clear demonstration that young people from this area absolutely have all it takes to succeed in the world of work.”

    Fortrose has a long tradition of supporting young enterprise in the school, having been previous UK winners in 2008.

    Press release issued by Young Enterprise Highland and Moray and The Highland Council

    Caption: Solasta at the Young Enterprise UK final with Graham Farhall, Finance Director at sponsor Delta Airline and Sarah Poretta, CEO of YE UK

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI USA: ICE Boston arrests Salvadoran gang member in Massachusetts

    Source: US Immigration and Customs Enforcement

    BROCKTON, Mass. — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in partnership with the Federal Bureau of Investigation apprehended a 24-year-old, illegally present Salvadoran national and documented member of the notorious MS-13 criminal gang. Officers with ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston working with agents from ICE Homeland Security Investigations New England and FBI Boston arrested William Alberto Villalobos-Melendez May 14 in Brockton.

    “William Alberto Villalobos-Melendez has been illegally residing in the United States for almost nine years,” said ICE ERO Boston acting Field Office Director Patricia H. Hyde. “He is a validated member of a violent transnational street gang and poses a threat to our Massachusetts residents. ICE Boston will not tolerate any threat that a member of a nefarious gang poses to our neighbors. We will continue to prioritize public safety by arresting criminal alien threats to our New England communities.”

    U.S. Border Patrol arrested Villalobos Oct. 11, 2016, after he illegally entered the United States near Hidalgo, Texas. USBP determined that Villalobos had entered the U.S. without admission or inspection by an immigration official. USBP issued Villalobos a notice to appear before a Justice Department immigration judge.

    On June 12, 2019, a DOJ immigration judge issued ordered Villalobos removed from the United States to El Salvador.

    The State Police of Middleboro, Massachusetts, charged Villalobos with unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle and using an electronic device while driving March 13, 2025.

    Officers with ICE ERO Boston and agents with ICE HSI New England and FBI Boston arrested Villalobos May 14, 2025, and took him into ICE custody. Villalobos will remain in ICE custody pending his removal from the United States.

    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 at @EROBoston.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Hedgehog poo could hold important secrets about local biodiversity

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Sophie Lund Rasmussen, Research fellow in Ecology and Conservation, University of Oxford

    Jayne Morgan

    Biodiversity, the rich variety of life found on Earth, is vanishing. I’m a conservation scientist keen to monitor this loss to better understand where efforts to reverse it will be most effective. And I might have hit on a novel solution.

    I study European hedgehogs, the popular spiky mammals that inhabit our gardens. Hedgehog populations are declining massively, with an estimated loss of up to 75% in the rural areas of the UK during the past 25 years.

    Thanks to insights gained in my research, I, Dr Hedgehog, believe that this species could be helpful for mapping wider biodiversity. More specifically, its poo.

    One probable cause of the decline in hedgehogs is a decline in insects, which form a major part of their diet. During my many nights of radio-tracking hedgehogs, I came up with the idea of analysing environmental DNA (eDNA) contained in samples of hedgehog poo to discover what the hedgehogs are eating and through that, what’s living locally.

    The eDNA method could reveal genetic traces of all organisms present in the samples in a single analysis. And, as we’ll see, these prickly mammals have a surprisingly liberal diet.

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    Due to the loss of natural habitats, hedgehogs are increasingly living in gardens, and this is where the battle to save the hedgehog will take place. My research showed that European hedgehogs in residential areas normally visit ten to 14 gardens a night.

    Here, they eat a wide selection of prey, primarily insects, snails, slugs and worms, but also birds’ eggs (from ground-nesting birds – they don’t climb trees). They are scavengers too, and will munch on all sorts of dead animals.

    What most people don’t realise is that these adorable little creatures are also ferocious predators. If they can get their paws (or perhaps more correctly, their jaws) on live prey, they will eat chicks that have fallen out of nests or amphibians such as salamanders, newts and frogs. They are excellent swimmers and sometimes catch fish in garden ponds.

    I have seen hedgehogs taking on adult pigeons or full-sized chickens, and winning. Hedgehogs also sometimes chew on the faeces of foxes and lick the saliva onto their spines, probably with the purpose of masking their scent against predators.

    Prickly, but not picky.
    Nojafoto/Shutterstock

    We are not sure whether hedgehogs eat fruit and plants intentionally, or if they are actually after the worms or insects living on them – hedgehogs are officially categorised as “insectivores” – but vegetation shows up in the stomachs of dead hedgehogs too. The DNA from plants ingested by the insects, worms and snails eaten by hedgehogs, will also show up in an analysis of hedgehog poo.

    In terms of a guide to local biodiversity, hedgehogs are the full package.

    Hedgehogs live and forage in a small area. They poop a lot, and their faeces are easy to recognise and collect. If we keep the hedgehog population going, we won’t run out of sample material any time soon.

    Before DNA analysis was invented, it was very difficult to determine the diet of a hedgehog, because a slug is reduced to nothing after a trip through its digestive tract, and it’s hard to identify a species from a chewed-off beetle leg. In contrast, it only takes a tiny fragment of a species to show up in an eDNA analysis of hedgehog faeces, so imagine what we could discover.

    In these times of drastic biodiversity loss, we need to establish good and reliable methods for monitoring biodiversity. An analysis of a hedgehog poo could even reveal elusive species which may have been categorised as extinct in the area.

    My idea of biodiversity monitoring through hedgehog poo has spawned ridicule and numerous rejection letters for funding applications. I refused to let it stop me. So I have created a crowdfunding campaign where you can support the research by purchasing a hedgehog poo and getting a certificate. I have 800 hedgehog faecal samples collected from all over Denmark, England and Scotland, stored in a freezer ready to be analysed.

    The work has begun, and my colleagues and I have found some very interesting results already. One is the remarkable scarcity of bird DNA in hedgehog faecal samples collected from islands, where hedgehogs are accused of posing a threat to ground-nesting birds by eating their eggs. We are confident that our method works as we tested it beforehand by feeding quail eggs to hedgehogs, and found lots of bird DNA in the samples.

    When I have managed to raise the remaining funds, we will continue the investigation.

    This is the story of how I discovered that hedgehog droppings are gold. If you would like to know more, watch my talk on the subject here.

    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 45,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.

    Sophie Lund Rasmussen 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. Hedgehog poo could hold important secrets about local biodiversity – https://theconversation.com/hedgehog-poo-could-hold-important-secrets-about-local-biodiversity-256644

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Shoemaker Clarks is turning 200. Its Quaker roots made it a pioneer of ethical business

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Nicholas Burton, Professor, Department of Leadership and Human Resource Management, Northumbria University, Newcastle

    DELBO ANDREA/Shutterstock

    For many, the Clarks brand is a byword for sturdy school shoes and functional footwear for those of more mature years. The manufacturing and retailing company was set up two centuries ago in Somerset, England, in the shadows of Glastonbury Tor, by brothers Cyrus and James Clark. In 2025, it is celebrating its 200th anniversary and remains a formidable force both on the high street and online.

    Less well known is that the Clark brothers, like chocolatier families Cadbury and Rowntree, were Quakers. This small religious community has produced a remarkable and disproportionate number of scientists, thinkers and campaigners for justice, peace and human rights. In addition, its contribution of ethical businesses has dominated many industries in the UK.

    The Lloyds and Barclays of the banking dynasties were Quakers. The Jacobs (of biscuits and crackers fame) were Quakers. So were the Rathbones (fund management), the Penroses (founders of Waterford Crystal) and the Waterhouse family (accountancy), to name just a few.

    The Quakers – more formally known as the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) – have a history of nearly 400 years in Britain and the US. While Quakerism has Christian foundations, Quakers also emphasise moral commitments to peace, truth, integrity, simplicity and equality – the five testimonies in Quaker theology. These came to define how Quakers approach the world, and their businesses.

    Get your news from actual experts, straight to your inbox. Sign up to our daily newsletter to receive all The Conversation UK’s latest coverage of news and research, from politics and business to the arts and sciences.

    As early Quakers were deemed radical and challenged the established church, they became persecuted by the state during the 17th century. They were excluded from political and public life, as well as from universities. Perhaps as a direct consequence, Quakers became highly active entrepreneurs and came to dominate many industries through a combination of their testimonies and outward entrepreneurial action.

    This led to the reputation that Quaker firms had for trustworthiness and integrity. Their impact was perhaps so acute as to represent a distinctive form of ethical entrepreneurship.

    While not all Quakers were engaged in commerce, and not all those who were succeeded, a disproportionate number did. Such commercial success is all the more intriguing, as the Quakers were a very small (and, from the mid-18th century, declining) minority of the UK population (about 20,000 in total today).

    Zero-waste beginnings

    Quaker values and the entrepreneurial spirit are woven through the history of Clarks. For example, the original business idea by James in 1825 to produce sheepskin slippers was born of a desire to eliminate waste, with slippers produced from off-cuts of sheepskin rugs.

    Like many Quaker businesses, Clarks has always supported social and environmental causes. Family members took a central role in the anti-abolitionist movement and in women’s suffrage.

    It also invested a proportion of its profits in local community amenities, such as building homes, constructing classrooms, funding a theatre, a library, an open-air swimming pool, a town hall and playing fields near the company’s base in Street, Somerset.

    Today, Clarks continues to play an active community role. It champions corporate responsibility and high sustainability criteria in its business operations and supply chains. This focus draws interesting parallels with the modern social enterprise sector, and ethical, purpose-driven business accreditation schemes such as B Corporation status, which assesses profit-making firms on their environmental, social and governance credentials.

    The moral commitments of the members of the Clarks family in these formative years of the firm have left their mark and shaped its later development. The 200-year history of the firm represents a close affinity between the values of the company and the values of Quakers.

    A classic – the Clarks Wallabee shoe.
    Rushay/Shutterstock

    However, all firms from time to time face challenges to the way they do business. The balance between economics and ethics can be a fine line to tread. It’s no different for Clarks. Struggling to survive the impact of the COVID pandemic in 2020, and with losses mounting, the Clark family sold its stake to a private equity firm.

    Within 12 months, Clarks workers accused the new owners of betraying the company’s philanthropic roots by threatening them with dismissal if they did not accept significant pay cuts. Clarks said at the time that renegotiating workers’ terms would be a “very last resort” and that almost half of the workers in the distribution centre in question would receive a pay rise.

    The dispute involved strike action and mediation, eventually leading to a resolution. Afterwards, Clarks said in a joint statement with the Community union that the resolution had protected workers’ livelihoods and recognised their loyalty to the firm.

    This demonstrated how firms can face repeated cycles of crises, including competitive, financial and economic shocks that bring debates about ethics into focus. These crisis events are typically more acute when a founder, CEO or family departs, and especially when those involved with the company honour its tradition and legacy. Rathbones, the fund management company with Quaker origins, was faced with similar challenges when the family was no longer actively involved.

    Yet despite the economic and financial pressures that Clarks faced in this exceptional period, the firm is also attempting to protect the core of its moral backbone. It echoes an affinity – albeit a more distant one – with the Quakerism of the founding family.

    This stance can potentially be fragile, however. Businesses must remain viable as businesses – and only last year Clarks was facing up to a difficult trading environment by cutting 150 office staff. Indeed, the previous conversation within the firm and the community about betrayal clearly expresses a strong moral view, shaped by the links to Quaker values. It is also a conversation about the future strength of those ties, and one that places values at the heart of its future.

    Nicholas Burton 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. Shoemaker Clarks is turning 200. Its Quaker roots made it a pioneer of ethical business – https://theconversation.com/shoemaker-clarks-is-turning-200-its-quaker-roots-made-it-a-pioneer-of-ethical-business-258323

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Keir Starmer says migrants should learn English to integrate. Is he being fair?

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Huw Lewis, Senior Lecturer in Politics, Aberystwyth University

    Pressmaster/Shutterstock

    The UK government’s proposed immigration reforms emphasise the need for migrants to learn English in order to integrate successfully.

    Some of the new measures announced include raising the level of English language skills required from migrants that wish to work in the UK.

    Those who wish to settle permanently will also need to demonstrate a stronger grasp of English. In the future they may also be asked to demonstrate how their command of the language has improved since they arrived.

    Since the New Labour years, successive UK governments have justified the link between learning English and integration by appealing to British values, social mobility or even national security and anti-extremism.

    Get your news from actual experts, straight to your inbox. Sign up to our daily newsletter to receive all The Conversation UK’s latest coverage of news and research, from politics and business to the arts and sciences.

    Yet in a press conference to launch the reforms, Keir Starmer adopted a different line. He argued that linguistic integration should be viewed as a matter of “fairness”.

    “When people come to our country, they should also commit to integration, to learning our language, and our system should actively distinguish between those that do and those that don’t,” Starmer said. “I think that’s fair.”

    In linking learning English with fairness, Starmer seems to be making a claim about the ethics of linguistic integration. However, his remarks frame this as a one-sided deal. Migrants must meet English language requirements to earn the right to stay in the UK.

    No mention is made of the possibility that fairness in this context may also entail an obligation on government, or society more broadly, to take steps to ensure that learning English is a practical option for all migrants.

    The government’s proposed reforms related to learning English adopt a similar approach. They include a series of steps that will be taken to increase the level of English competence expected from those settling in the UK.

    But aside from a vague commitment to improve access to English language classes, the government has not proposed detailed measures to help migrants to meet these language demands.

    This is despite the fact that researchers and practitioners working in the field of language education for migrants have long argued that access to learning English for speakers of other languages is highly uneven and chronically underfunded.

    It is not unreasonable for a society to set out certain broad obligations for migrants as part of the integration process, such as learning a common public language. This is now relatively common across many European democracies.

    What’s more, for those who settle in the UK from countries where English is not spoken, acquiring the language will support efforts to enter the labour market and simplify the challenge of navigating new health, social security, housing and education systems.

    Access to language learning can help people enter the job market.
    Antonio Guillem/Shutterstock

    However, if Keir Starmer is concerned with fairness, then he should arguably consider how integration can be understood as a two-way process. This would mean acknowledging that there are roles and responsibilities for the government and citizens of the host society, as well as for migrants.

    This is particularly relevant when considering the role of language in integration because applied linguistic research shows that second-language acquisition can be a difficult task. Success varies according to factors that are not necessarily within the control of individual learners, such as age, level of education and wealth.

    Inclusive integration

    More nuanced understandings of linguistic integration also stress that the process should not be viewed as one where the aim is for migrants simply to not stand out linguistically.

    Rather, the aim should be to help migrants – many of whom may already be multilingual – to adjust their linguistic repertoires in a way that allows them to settle in their new communities.

    Alongside opportunities to acquire languages deemed essential for employment and engagement with public bodies, this may also entail opportunities to access other languages that play a role in the social life of the host society.

    For example, including the Welsh language as part of provision for speakers of other languages in Wales has been seen as a way to develop a distinct sense of belonging.

    Furthermore, the process of linguistic integration should acknowledge the languages that migrants bring with them. As they build a new life, they should be afforded space to reflect on what role these languages will play in their social interactions.

    This type of approach potentially offers a more inclusive route to linguistic integration. It affirms newcomers as valued members of society, not just as learners but also as contributors to the social and cultural life of their new communities.

    Huw Lewis is currently contributing to a Leverhulme-funded research project entitled The Ethics of Linguistic Integration

    Gwennan Higham is currently contributing to a Leverhulme-funded research project entitled The Ethics of Linguistic Integration

    Leigh Oakes is currently the Principal Investigator on a Leverhulme-funded research project entitled the Ethics of Linguistic Integration

    – ref. Keir Starmer says migrants should learn English to integrate. Is he being fair? – https://theconversation.com/keir-starmer-says-migrants-should-learn-english-to-integrate-is-he-being-fair-256743

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: St Leonard’s Place void reveals new archaeological discovery

    Source: City of York

    Published Monday, 9 June 2025

    Remnants of what is believed to be one of the largest medieval hospitals in the north of England have been found inside the void which recently opened on St Leonard’s Place in central York.

    The void, which is in the middle of the road outside York Theatre Royal, was made safe before contractors and archaeology teams began investigation works. These also necessitated a lane closure to keep workers, traffic and the public safe.

    Once the void had been accessed, archaeologists uncovered what is believed to be part of the 12th-13th century St Leonard’s Hospital which stretched from the modern day Museum Gardens to the Theatre Royal. This was an area that post Reformation was used as the Royal Mint, giving it its post medieval name of Mint Yard, which were demolished several hundred years ago and a road made on top of it.  The archaeological find was discovered as work was taking place to repair the sinkhole on St Leonard’s Place.

    The findings have been recorded in line with CIFA standards, images have been taken and recorded with further analysis to take place.

    It is anticipated that the remains are likely the buildings of Mint Yard, which by the 1800’s were a warren of residencies, yards and stables and were demolished to make way from the new Georgian streetscape in 1836, as it became one of the most fashionable parts of the city at the time. The demolished parts of the city walls were then used to create a base for their new road, which we now know as St Leonard’s Place.

    Following the archaeological recording, it has now been deemed that works can resume to repair the void. It is expected that work in the current area will take until Tuesday morning, before moving the site closer to the Theatre Royal, to ensure the road surface is fully repaired. During this period the traffic management arrangements will stay the same and it is hoped that the road will reopen to two-way traffic on Friday 13 June.

    Councillor Kate Ravilious, Executive Member for Transport said:

    We thank people for their patience and we know these emergency works have caused disruption to residents, visitors and bus operators.

    “We knew that there is a lot of complex archaeology in the area dating back to the Roman legionary fortress. Throughout the works we have been live to this while doing all we can to get off site as quickly as possible. However these finds, while fascinating, have set our timescales back a bit.

    “We will continue to share updates as the work progresses. At peak times the inner ring road is very busy so we’re asking people to plan ahead, use the outer ring road to traverse the city where possible and consider other ways to travel to the city centre. That includes getting the bus, walking or cycling. While some buses are being diverted they will continue to serve communities across the city. Dedicated travel information is available at www.york.gov.uk/StLeonardsPlace.”

    ENDS

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Fairer system for debt collection to boost protections for financially vulnerable

    Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments

    Press release

    Fairer system for debt collection to boost protections for financially vulnerable

    Government to consult on regulation of enforcement sector as well as increase protections for those facing debt enforcement action and raise fees recoverable by bailiff firms

    • Three-pronged package of measures to deliver a fairer system of debt enforcement
    • Plans to improve independent regulation of the enforcement industry to boost oversight
    • Number of doorstep visits by bailiffs to be reduced to limit unfair build-up of fees

    New reforms to the enforcement sector will protect the financially vulnerable and give those facing debt greater opportunity to settle at the earliest and cheapest stage possible.

    Setting out plans to overhaul to the way sector operates, the Government today (Monday 9 June) outlined it will:

    • Consult on plans for greater regulation of bailiff firms, including oversight from an independent body accountable to Parliament.
    • Encourage earlier and cheaper settlement of debt, reducing the number of “doorstep visits” and avoiding the accumulation of enforcement fees.
    • Increase fees bailiff firms can collect for the first time since 2014 to ensure a sustainable sector while better supporting people in debt. The threshold which bailiff firms can charge an additional fee will also be raised to reduce the number of people in debt paying this additional fee.

    Minister of State for Courts and Legal Services Minister Sackman, said: 

    Debt recovery must be fair to everyone. If you’re an organisation or individual who is owed money you should be able to get it back. And if you fall into debt you should be treated fairly and supported to get back on your feet.

    That is why we are reforming the enforcement sector – to safeguard debtors and creditors alike whilst building a more sustainable system.

    The consultation launched today also seeks views on the role an independent statutory regulator should play in enforcement. This includes how the regulator could work with other regulatory bodies, and how it would be held to account by the Government. 

    While most bailiff firms have already signed up to the Enforcement Conduct Board’s voluntary accreditation scheme, the government proposals would see all bailiff firms regulated to the same standards and overseen by the same independent body, ensuring greater protections for vulnerable people.  

    To reduce the number of doorstep visits and help prevent people from falling into more debt through accrued enforcement fees, reforms will increase the minimum notice period which must be given before enforcement officers can visit those in debt to 14 days (from seven) – and to 28 days if requested by a debt advisor.

    This will give people more time to access debt advice, and/or set up a payment agreement.  

    To support a fair, viable, and effective enforcement system, the fees bailiff firms can collect from those facing action will be uplifted by 5%. This is the first fee increase since 2014 and reflects the impact of rising costs on bailiff firms. To protect the interests of financially vulnerable individual, it will be made clear that creditors should not share the profits made from the use of bailiff firms and the charging of fees.

    Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution, Jim McMahon OBE said:

    These reforms will help make sure those facing the enforcement system are properly protected and supported in dealing with their debts – and we won’t just stop here.

    We will shortly be consulting on improvements to council tax administration including the way council tax is collected and enforced, so people can have their say in delivering a fairer system to support both vulnerable households and local councils.

    Background information

    • The Enforcement Conduct Board (ECB) was established in 2022, tasked with providing voluntary, independent oversight of the sector to ensure fair treatment for every party facing enforcement action
    • The Government is consulting on how to ensure that there is independent oversight of firms that employ enforcement agents and High Court Enforcement Officers to enforce debts using the Taking Control of Goods procedure in England and Wales. The consultation will run for six weeks. Responses will inform legislation to be brought forward as soon as parliamentary time allows
    • As set out in the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Regulation Action Plan, when regulation is designed well it can be an essential tool to promote growth and investment and protect the public. We will introduce independent statutory regulation of the sector in line with the objectives in the Action Plan, and our work across Government to cut the administrative costs of regulation by 25% by the end of parliament
    • The threshold above which bailiff firms can charge an additional percentage fee will be raised by 24%. Currently, an additional one-off fee of 7.5% of any debt over a set threshold can be recovered by bailiff firms if the debt reaches the enforcement (visit) stage. The 24% rise to this threshold will rebalance these fees in line with inflation and reduce the number of people in debt paying the additional fee
    • The reforms to the regulations about when fees can be recovered and uplifts to the fees and thresholds will be implemented when parliamentary time allows

    Updates to this page

    Published 9 June 2025

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Attracting more investment for housing

    Source: Scottish Government

    Boosting growth potential

    Proposals to build investor confidence in the housing market have been published by an independent group of experts. 

    The Housing Investment Taskforce report makes a number of recommendations to increase investment across the social, affordable and private housing sectors including:

    • Attracting other funds, in addition to public money, for affordable housing.
    • Creating conditions to support more shared home ownership
    • Supporting a more entrepreneurial approach from public bodies.

    Welcoming the taskforce report Housing Minister Paul McLennan said:

    “It is my ambition, shared by the members of the Housing Investment Taskforce, to make Scotland the best place for housing investment. The report has identified a range of actions to support more investment across all tenures of the housing system to meet Scotland’s growth potential.

    “We’re taking forward these recommendations in the Programme for Government and will work in partnership with taskforce members and other organisations to grow investor confidence to support the delivery of more homes across Scotland.”

    MODA Planning Director James Blakey said:

    “Addressing the housing emergency needs bold, imaginative and concrete actions, and we are proud to have collaborated with the Housing Minister and the taskforce over the last year to shape these. Working in partnership to create market certainty and viability is key to attracting crucial investment into Scotland so we can build the new homes people want and need.”

    Communications Director of Springfield Karen Campbell said:

    “The taskforce’s report is clear on the value in building confidence, supporting new partnerships and creating the economic opportunity to unlock new and existing investment in Scotland. Working together we can now take those actions forward to deliver more homes across all tenures.”

    HIT report

    Ken Gibb report

    MIL OSI United Kingdom –

  • MIL-OSI Security: NHS Foundation Trust found guilty of health and safety offences

    Source: United Kingdom London Metropolitan Police

    The North East London NHS Foundation Trust has been found guilty of a health and safety offence, following an investigation by the Metropolitan Police into the death of 22-year old Alice Figueredo at Goodmayes Hospital in 2015.

    The ward manager of the hospital, Benjamin Aninakwa, 53 (25.06.1971) of St Francis Way, Grays was also found guilty of a health and safety offence.

    Alice was being treated on the Hepworth Ward at the hospital after being sectioned under the Mental Health Act in February 2015.

    During a trial lasting seven months, the court heard that the Trust and Aninakwa failed in their duty of care to protect Alice from harm across the six months she was on the ward, before she took her own life on 7 July 2015.

    Alice’s parents, Jane and Max Figueredo, said: “We would like to thank all those involved in the Metropolitan Police, the Crown Prosecution Service and their barristers for their diligent dedication to investigating and prosecuting Alice’s death.

    “Thank you for believing that her life mattered and that the way she was so heartbreakingly, abysmally failed by the staff at this hospital, should not just be ignored and kicked into the long grass – which is what we believe NELFT set about doing after Alice died.

    “We also want to thank the Judge and the jury in this case for their very evident hard work and conscientious commitment in what has been a much lengthier trial than any of us expected.”

    Detective Inspector Jonathan Potter, who led the investigation, said: “My thoughts remain with Alice’s family. They have had to endure years of heartbreak before sitting through a long and difficult trial where they heard time and time again about the tragic series of inactions that led to their daughter’s death.

    “This was a complex investigation led by the Metropolitan Police Service, into a unique case that has led to the conviction of the Trust and Benjamin Aninakwa for health and safety offences.

    “There is nothing I can say that will bring back Alice, but I hope that today’s verdict offers some comfort to her family.

    “While there are thousands of NHS workers that do a commendable job every day, today’s result must also ensure that lessons are learnt to stop the same mistakes happening again.”

    Nine months after Alice’s death, following a report by her parents, the Met’s Specialist Crime Command launched an investigation into the Trust and Aninakwa.

    To build evidence of the offences committed, officers developed a careful understanding of the ward itself, painstakingly combing through more than 2,600 medical documents, many of them hundreds of pages long, as well as dozens of witness statements from staff, family and friends of Alice. Officers also interviewed Aninakwa and took statements from various members of the trust.

    Despite the rarity of a case like this and amid investigative difficulties presented by Covid, officers gathered a range of experts to consult about their experience of being on similar wards. This included nursing staff and psychiatric practitioners, as well as senior colleagues in other NHS trusts and groups including the Care Quality Commission and NHS England.

    Their investigation revealed the extent of negligence by the Trust and Aninakwa, who as ward manager, had failed in his responsibility to make sure that Alice was safe.

    Although Aninakwa knew that Alice had a history of self-harm – dating back to 2013 when she had previously been admitted, and again in 2015 – officers discovered that he repeatedly failed to report such instances and ensure other staff were aware. This was even though Alice had been, according to Aninakwa himself, his only patient who was actively trying to harm themselves.

    In records seen by investigating officers, a mere 13 instances of self-harm were reported, out of a possible 81. Only three of these, out of a possible 19, related to specific items that Alice had used to self-harm on the ward. Even during a scoping exercise by the Trust about the use of possible items, Aninakwa failed to highlight Alice’s history of self-harming behaviour.

    As part of a wide range of failings, officers also found that Aninakwa had failed to direct staff to remove specific items from the communal areas of Hepworth Ward. Nor did he ensure that patients were properly observed by staff and that sufficient steps were taken to lock communal areas that were of concern.

    Consequently, Alice was able to access one of the communal areas on the ward where she took her own life on 7 July 2015.

    Following a complex investigation in partnership with the CPS, the CPS authorised the Met to charge North East London NHS Foundation Trust and Benjamin Aninakwa with health and safety offences corporate manslaughter in September 2023. They were cleared of corporate manslaughter offences at the Old Bailey on Monday, 9 June.

    Sentencing will take place at a court and on a date that is yet to be arranged.

    Aninakwa was found guilty of an offence under section 7 of the Health and Safety at Work Act, having failed to take reasonable care for the health and safety of others.

    The Trust was found guilty of an offence under section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work Act, by failing to ensure that others are not exposed to risks to their health or safety.

    MIL Security OSI –