Comments - WHAT THE PAPERS DON'T SAY ••• - Gaia Community2024-03-28T22:48:53Zhttp://letschangetheworld.ning.com/profiles/comment/feed?attachedTo=5313775%3ABlogPost%3A127910&xn_auth=no'I Will Make You Hurt': 2022…tag:letschangetheworld.ning.com,2022-12-29:5313775:Comment:1303682022-12-29T11:00:21.646ZMichael Grovehttp://letschangetheworld.ning.com/profile/MichaelGrove
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/10921576492?profile=original" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img class="align-full" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/10921576492?profile=RESIZE_710x"></img></a></p>
<h1 class="post-title unpublished"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">'<a href="https://www.bylinesupplement.com/p/i-will-make-you-hurt-2022-and-the?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=1162849&post_id=92703981&isFreemail=true&utm_medium=email" rel="noopener" target="_blank">I Will Make You Hurt</a>': 2022 & the…</span></h1>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/10921576492?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/10921576492?profile=RESIZE_710x" class="align-full"/></a></p>
<h1 class="post-title unpublished"><span style="font-size: 24pt;">'<a href="https://www.bylinesupplement.com/p/i-will-make-you-hurt-2022-and-the?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=1162849&post_id=92703981&isFreemail=true&utm_medium=email" target="_blank" rel="noopener">I Will Make You Hurt</a>': 2022 & the Media</span></h1>
<h3 class="subtitle">Mic Wright on a 'safari of psychic' damage as he reviews a year of mental acrobatics and sycophantic antics from Britain's political-media class</h3>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;">The year of the three Prime Ministers and the two monarchs began with Boris Johnson still firmly ensconced in Number 10, following credulous reporting in autumn 2021 of briefings that he intended to remain there for 10 years. It took just 10 days of 2022 for that idea to be made even more ludicrous than it already was.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;">On January 10, Partygate, which had kicked off with reporting by the <em>Daily Mirror</em> in November 2021, was shocked back into life after <em>ITV News</em> acquired an email from 2020 about a gathering held at the height of lockdown. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;">The least credible thing about Partygate was not Boris Johnson’s <em>Withnail & I</em>-style apologies – “I went to a party by mistake… Are you the farmer?” “No, Prime Minister, I’m your Principal Private Secretary.” – but the suggestion that political hacks had no idea what was happening in Downing Street during lockdown. <em>The Sun</em>’s coverage – which initially tried to ignore the revelations entirely – was particularly pitiful; its deputy editor James Slack was employed in Downing Street when the parties took place and attended some of them. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;">As former <em>Sun</em> editor David Yelland tweeted at the time: </span></p>
<blockquote><p><span style="font-size: 18pt;">I can easily name ten, maybe as many as 20 political journalists who must have known or should have known about this Johnson party. Their editors should fire them. Except some of those mates of Boris are editors… </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Partygate was a product of tactical leaking; Pippa Crerar at the <em>Mirror</em> and Paul Brand at <em>ITV News</em> were given a series of smoking guns by people within the Tory machine who had decided that Boris Johnson’s usefulness was at an end. </span></p> Scientists working with one o…tag:letschangetheworld.ning.com,2022-02-25:5313775:Comment:1287252022-02-25T07:55:44.092ZMichael Grovehttp://letschangetheworld.ning.com/profile/MichaelGrove
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/10152048098?profile=original" rel="noopener" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/10152048475?profile=original" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img class="align-full" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/10152048475?profile=RESIZE_710x"></img></a> <a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/10152048098?profile=original" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><br></br></a><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong>Scientists working with one of the world’s largest climate…</strong></span></p>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/10152048098?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"></a><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/10152048475?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/10152048475?profile=RESIZE_710x" class="align-full"/></a><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/10152048098?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><br/></a><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong>Scientists working with one of the world’s largest climate research publishers say they’re increasingly alarmed that the company works with the fossil fuel industry to help increase oil and gas drilling, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/feb/24/elsevier-publishing-climate-science-fossil-fuels" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Guardian can reveal.</a></strong></span></p>
<p class="dcr-1wj398p"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Elsevier, a Dutch company behind many renowned peer-reviewed scientific journals, including the Lancet and Global Environmental Change, is also one of the <strong><a href="https://www.elsevier.com/books-and-journals/gulf-professional-publishing">top</a></strong> <a href="https://www.mining.com/fourteen-new-book-titles-for-the-petroleum-geology-industry-35330//"><strong>publishers</strong></a> of books aimed at expanding fossil fuel production.</span></p>
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<p class="dcr-1wj398p"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">For more than a decade, the company has supported the energy industry’s efforts to optimize oil and gas extraction. It commissions authors, editors and journal advisory board members who are employees at top oil firms. Elsevier also markets some of its <a href="https://uploads.guim.co.uk/2022/02/14/SD_Fact-Sheeet_Oil-and-Gas_WEB.pdf"><strong>research portals</strong></a> and data services directly to the oil and gas industry to help <a href="https://community.whattoexpect.com/forums/hot-topics-1/topic/elsevier-is-fueling-dirty-energy-publications-129977000.html" target="_self">“<strong>increase the odds of exploration success</strong>”</a>.</span></p>
<p class="dcr-1wj398p"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Several former and current employees say that for the past year, dozens of workers have spoken out internally and at company-wide town halls to urge Elsevier to reconsider its relationship with the fossil fuel industry<em>.</em></span></p>
<p></p> The inquiry was told how…tag:letschangetheworld.ning.com,2022-02-24:5313775:Comment:1285322022-02-24T18:18:44.407ZMichael Grovehttp://letschangetheworld.ning.com/profile/MichaelGrove
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/10150890857?profile=original" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img class="align-full" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/10150890857?profile=RESIZE_710x"></img></a></p>
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<div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> The inquiry was told how "lives were ruined” and </span></div>
<div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> “…</span></div>
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<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/10150890857?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/10150890857?profile=RESIZE_710x" class="align-full"/></a></p>
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<div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q"><div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> The inquiry was told how "lives were ruined” and </span></div>
<div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> “<strong><a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=5431279130233627&set=p.5431279130233627" target="_blank" rel="noopener">families were torn apart</a></strong>” after the Post Office</span></div>
<div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> implemented the Horizon system in 1999 and</span></div>
<div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> started pursuing sub-postmasters for alleged</span></div>
<div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> shortfalls in tills. The company ignored phone calls</span></div>
<div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> and messages from sub-postmasters who raised</span></div>
<div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> concerns about the system when it started flagging</span></div>
<div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> unexplained shortfalls, the inquiry was told. The</span></div>
<div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> Post Office pursued 844 individuals during the</span></div>
<div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> period and secured 705 criminal convictions. Many</span></div>
<div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> were offered plea bargains, which meant that they</span></div>
<div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> were not allowed to mention the Horizon system,</span></div>
<div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> the inquiry was told. Others lost their homes and </span></div>
<div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> other assets after the Post Office used proceeds of </span></div>
<div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> crime orders in an attempt to recover the alleged</span></div>
<div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> shortfalls. One sub-postmaster told the inquiry that</span></div>
<div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> the company tried to claim his pension. At least 33</span></div>
<div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> victims of the scandal died while waiting for justice </span></div>
<div dir="auto"><span style="font-size: 18pt;"> and four of them taking their own lives.</span><br/><br/></div>
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<div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q"><div dir="auto"> Gurpreet Narwan, Consumer affairs editor - THE TELEGRAPH<br/></div>
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<tbody><tr><td valign="top"><p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong>NB Looking over the Horizon</strong></span><br/><br/><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><a target="_blank" href="http://t3.emails.telegraph.co.uk/r/?id=hf65398f3-103b-493f-ab13-aba7e5c7d31b,a54b48,c5d0f&e=V1QubWNfaWQ9ZV9ETTI1MzM1JldULnRzcmM9ZW1haWwmZXR5cGU9RWRpX0NpdF9OZXdfdjImdXRtc291cmNlPWVtYWlsJnV0bV9tZWRpdW09RWRpX0NpdF9OZXdfdjIyMDIyMDgyMiZ1dG1fY2FtcGFpZ249RE0yNTMzNQ&s=Gbe6klGOQCP-E5m4jPOYps-X8s6f6s37N7DTH1Lob-A" rel="noopener">Tony Blair was warned about the flawed Post Office Horizon computer system</a><a target="_blank" href="http://t3.emails.telegraph.co.uk/r/?id=hf65398f3-103b-493f-ab13-aba7e5c7d31b,a54b48,c5d10&e=V1QubWNfaWQ9ZV9ETTI1MzM1JldULnRzcmM9ZW1haWwmZXR5cGU9RWRpX0NpdF9OZXdfdjImdXRtc291cmNlPWVtYWlsJnV0bV9tZWRpdW09RWRpX0NpdF9OZXdfdjIyMDIyMDgyMiZ1dG1fY2FtcGFpZ249RE0yNTMzNQ&s=EGRQkxVvowOBXjqG2Qf1k7JM7iFRjK16p7uB0CwYHLg" rel="noopener">,</a> The Telegraph can reveal.</span><br/><br/><span style="font-size: 18pt;">The Labour prime minister was told by officials in 1998 that Horizon was “increasingly flawed”, says a report to Sir Wyn Williams’s statutory inquiry into the scandal.</span> <br/><br/><span style="font-size: 18pt;">During the 2000s and early 2010s Post Office managers wrongly prosecuted <a target="_blank" href="http://t3.emails.telegraph.co.uk/r/?id=hf65398f3-103b-493f-ab13-aba7e5c7d31b,a54b48,c5d11&e=V1QubWNfaWQ9ZV9ETTI1MzM1JldULnRzcmM9ZW1haWwmZXR5cGU9RWRpX0NpdF9OZXdfdjImdXRtc291cmNlPWVtYWlsJnV0bV9tZWRpdW09RWRpX0NpdF9OZXdfdjIyMDIyMDgyMiZ1dG1fY2FtcGFpZ249RE0yNTMzNQ&s=qtjZ1-ONtOBTBggXKQwggf6Hq9rTYTxJ4bEgeEu2x3I" rel="noopener">hundreds of their own staff for theft and fraud.</a> As evidence, they cited flawed accounting records generated by Horizon, which the sub-postmasters used to run their branches.</span><br/><br/><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Despite having the option to <a target="_blank" href="http://t3.emails.telegraph.co.uk/r/?id=hf65398f3-103b-493f-ab13-aba7e5c7d31b,a54b48,c5d12&e=V1QubWNfaWQ9ZV9ETTI1MzM1JldULnRzcmM9ZW1haWwmZXR5cGU9RWRpX0NpdF9OZXdfdjImdXRtc291cmNlPWVtYWlsJnV0bV9tZWRpdW09RWRpX0NpdF9OZXdfdjIyMDIyMDgyMiZ1dG1fY2FtcGFpZ249RE0yNTMzNQ&s=Y5328-4GMZJ-42T4KZL8j_MieNeIJDkqHw-Y1sXoAAY" rel="noopener">renegotiate or cancel the government’s contract to buy Horizon</a>, Mr Blair opted to continue with the project and even suggested giving its makers a bonus.</span></p>
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</div> “Broken Britain” was the ph…tag:letschangetheworld.ning.com,2022-01-11:5313775:Comment:1281452022-01-11T11:29:52.784ZMichael Grovehttp://letschangetheworld.ning.com/profile/MichaelGrove
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/10000355074?profile=original" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img class="align-full" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/10000355074?profile=RESIZE_710x"></img></a></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;">“<strong><a href="https://bylinetimes.com/2022/01/07/a-portrait-of-broken-britain/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Broken Britain</a></strong>” was the phrase deployed by <strong><a href="http://letschangetheworld.ning.com/profiles/blogs/it-is-be-coming-increasingly-apparent" rel="noopener" target="_blank">David…</a></strong></span></p>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/10000355074?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/10000355074?profile=RESIZE_710x" class="align-full"/></a></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;">“<strong><a href="https://bylinetimes.com/2022/01/07/a-portrait-of-broken-britain/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Broken Britain</a></strong>” was the phrase deployed by <strong><a href="http://letschangetheworld.ning.com/profiles/blogs/it-is-be-coming-increasingly-apparent" target="_blank" rel="noopener">David Cameron</a></strong> in the immediate run-up to the 2010 General Election, to describe a perceived social decay that had occurred under Labour’s leadership since 1997.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Focusing in particular on crime and an alleged growth of social disorder, Cameron said <strong><a href="https://conservative-speeches.sayit.mysociety.org/speech/601543" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">in January 2010</a></strong> that, “<strong>we don’t have a strong enough response to crime</strong>… <strong>we tolerate too much criminal behaviour</strong>. <strong>Some would say that we’ve become too selfish</strong>, <strong>too greedy</strong>, <strong>it’s all about me and self gratification</strong> – <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">not about thinking of others and community</span></strong>”.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;">However, over the past 12 years, since Cameron won the election and formed the Coalition Government with the Liberal Democrats, the situation has deteriorated. Britain is now suffering from crises of cronyism, inequality, crime, and the private capture of public goods.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Since July 2021, the <strong><em><a href="https://bylinetimes.com/columns/byline-intelligence-team/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Byline Intelligence Team</a></em></strong> has been cataloguing this social, economic and political breakdown – quantifying the scale of the problems facing the UK. These declining circumstances have been the product of successive governments, led by three Conservative prime ministers. Yet the latest, Boris Johnson, does not seem to command the faith of voters seeking a dividend after years of austerity and restraint.</span></p>
<p></p> “We are nowhere near where…tag:letschangetheworld.ning.com,2021-11-11:5313775:Comment:1278132021-11-11T13:27:06.347ZMichael Grovehttp://letschangetheworld.ning.com/profile/MichaelGrove
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;">“<strong><a href="https://bylinetimes.com/2021/11/09/cop26-soaring-rhetoric-but-few-commitments/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">We are nowhere near where we need to be</a></strong>” in cutting emissions, former US President Barack Obama…</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;">“<strong><a href="https://bylinetimes.com/2021/11/09/cop26-soaring-rhetoric-but-few-commitments/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">We are nowhere near where we need to be</a></strong>” in cutting emissions, former US President Barack Obama <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/08/obama-cop26-climate-crisis-disaster-china-russia">told delegates</a>at the start of this week. Most nations, he said, “have failed to be as ambitious as they need to be”.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Luke Pollard, Labour’s Shadow Environment Secretary, agrees. “The first week of COP showed that the world is willing on a deal, the second week must deliver a deal,” he told <em>Byline Times</em>. “We need to see global carbon emissions halved by 2030 but national pledges are way off achieving this. We need a step change in ambition and action if we are to avert an irreversible climate crisis.”</span></p>