text:
BEYOND THE BRIEF: LEVERAGING THE VALUE OF LANDSCAPE – A REVIEW
Insight, News, Reviews
As we reached the end of March, saw a glimmer of spring and I think all started to 'unfurl' a little, it seemed only fitting that our first AFH community event focused on landscape design.
Often squeezed from the brief on grounds of budget or commissioned almost as an afterthought, landscape has actually played a significant role within the design of healthcare environments throughout history. For many years, it's been easy to challenge, hard to evaluate and put fear in the heart of infection control!
But times are changing. As we grow ever conscious of the need to address climate change; learn more about the importance of biodiversity and the benefits of biophilia in our homes and workspaces, why wouldn't we extend this to our healthcare settings?
Add a pandemic to the mix where raised stress levels reduced our ability to connect with people; we reignited our national interest in the outdoors – whether it was gardening and growing your own, or walking, running and cycling – increasingly, we all recognised access to external space as critical to our mental and physical wellbeing.
This session was conceived as a chance to explore not only the history of healthcare landscapes, but also the evidence and the outcomes of projects where landscape has been at the very heart of the design solution.
Joining us for the session were:
Jane Findlay, Director, Fira and President, Landscape Institute.
Dr Olivia Chapple, GP + Founder, Horatio's Garden
Kwesi Marles, Head of Cancer Environments, Macmillan Cancer Support.
Rolf Roscher, Landscape Architect and Director, erz limited.
"The airing courts, pleasure grounds, gardens and field annexed to an asylum, should be of an extent as to afford the patients ample means of exercise and recreation as well as healthful employment out of doors."
Commissioners in Lunacy
From the ancient greeks with spas and sanatoriums, through roman military hospitals to mediaeval apothecary gardens – engaging with nature has been a key component of health and recovery. The 19th century industrial revolution saw the growth of urban populations and with them, a plethora of public health problems. The solution: pavillion hospitals such as Guys and St. Thomas's, created with gardens at the heart of the layout and built on the principles of access to light, fresh air and green space.
Open air therapies for diseases such as TB took this one step further, bringing patients outside to aid recovery, but post-war Britain demanded something different. Almost overnight these open, airy pavilion hospitals became the victims of infill – driven by the pressure to provide more diagnostics, car parking and in-patient care.
Thankfully, Roger Ulrich's research put the focus firmly back on the patient, and the benefits that restorative healthcare environments can bring. The future is brighter – we're developing a more holistic and biophilic approach that connects the built environment with our shared love and appreciation of nature. Combatting the combined climate and biodiversity crises is pulling us all together, and there are clear financial benefits too:
"By making space for nature in our towns and cities, spending on healthcare could be reduced. Retrofitting urban areas addresses climate emergencies as well as – prevent ill health before it has the chance to occur- creates a saving of circa. £2.1bn every year."
Jane Findlay, Director Fira + President, Landscape Institute.
Nature is a key tool in our armoury: prevention is better than cure.
RESEARCH, EVIDENCE AND OUTCOMES
Horatio's Garden and Macmillan Cancer Support are two charities where landscape plays a critical role in patient care. For patients recovering from a spinal injury, the in-patient experience can be anything from 5-months to a year, and the impact of injury ripples across immediate family, work and social groups.
"Bringing nature into the heart of the NHS and building gardens for patients families and hospital staff, allows them to get away from the clinical environment and experience the benefits of all types of nature – flora, fauna, the sound of water, birds, insects – all of which help to improve mental and physical health."
Dr Olivia Chapple, Founder, Horatio's Garden
Horatio's Garden, Duke of Cornwall Spinal Treatment Centre, Salisbury
Three key factors play a part in the design solution:
Gardens are completely flat. Often patients are on beds or newly using wheelchairs, so surfaces are formed with a resin bound aggregate with a tolerance 1 in a 100 – to ensure easy access to all areas of the garden.
All year round beauty. Gardens are intentionally high maintenance gardens – creating year-round interest: something to lift the soul, colour, (mood boosting) smells and scents. Successional apples blossom in the spring and then later in the year, patients can enjoy the taste sensation of picking and eating apples.
Evidence based design. The Horatio's Garden team used meta analysis from the King's Fund (2015) to understand how gardens improve healthcare. Key factors include: * Length of stay * Medication use * Blood pressure * Blood glucose *Cortisol levels
* staff sickness *Relatives' anxiety *Loneliness *Mood *Wellbeing *Sense of control *Vitamin D *Staff job utilisation *Sleep quality *Fitness levels *Weight loss.
The charity retrofits gardens into underutilised spaces adjacent to spinal injury units within acute hospital settings. Typically between 1,000 and 2,000 square metres in size and developed very much in collaboration with the hospital team (ensuring engagement from the outset), they are jewel spaces – often quirky and colourful but always calm. The impact is palpable.
2020 PATIENT AND STAFF FEEDBACK (Gathered by the University of Oxford)
90% of patients feel wellbeing improved by being in the garden
87% feel mental health was improved (for people with life changing injuries and
potentially suffering from PTSD.
89% of visitors say they feel they benefit – friends and family are vital and need to feel
comfortable.
89% of NHS staff feel wellbeing is enhanced. Especially with COVID – getting outside
in a break makes an enormous difference.
Covid – affirms determination to bring more gardens into spinal injury centres.
In much the same way, Macmillan Cancer Support, has always invested in landscape as a core part of their response to helping patients living with cancer.
"People living with cancer spend long periods of time in clinical environments – each patient spends 25 days on average in hospital during the first year of diagnosis. Environments need to affect the all round needs of patients not just medical needs."
The cancer journey is filled with periods of anxiety; the shock and relief associated with diagnosis, and the demands of dealing with the physical effects of the disease and its treatment. Setting standards for the design of patient environments to support these needs has involved extensive end-user consultation and resulted in the development of a Macmillan Quality Environment Mark (MQEM), with five core principles of quality:
To deliver a place that is:
Welcoming and accessible to all
Respects privacy and dignity
Supports comfort and wellbeing
Gives choice and person control
Listens to users' voices.
Macmillan Renton Unit, Hereford
The study generated a number of key themes, with peace, privacy, natural light (and shade) all featuring. Calm, therapeutic spaces with seasonal planting , protected from the elements yet connected to the world form the essence of the brief.
"Lots of greenery and nice places to sit and enjoy the surroundings: no noise, no hustle and bustle; quiet but safe. Sometimes it's nice to have a moment/ tears away from everyone."
These core principles are echoed in the brief for the Prince and Princess of Wales Hospital in Glasgow. Designed by Glasgow-based erz limited Director, Rolf Roscher, the concept is driven by the need to create a human scale to all aspects of the building and landscape design. From arriving in the car park, to entering the front door, planting is used to reduce the scale and strip away anxiety before you get to the building.
The design features garden terraces adjacent to bedrooms, accessible courtyards for family and friends to gather and a Lower Garden organised around a central green events space and pond, leading you to 4 seasonal gardens – each their own destination offering patients and families a sensory experience irrespective of the time or duration of their stay.
Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice, Glasgow
A hill garden provides a wilder, natural space – perfect for discovery and play – and particularly important for children processing challenging situations. A shelter, situated at the highest point creates a room for reflection and an expansive view of the Glasgow skyline.
Key to the design is the reduction of scale (small, human, almost domestic); the concept of destinations (journeys through the landscape) and the proliferation of spaces to sit – alone, as a family, or with friends – both formally and informally which give visitors choice.
A collaborative approach, from the outset, is critical to success. As Rolf notes:
"In Scotland in the NHS over the last 5-10 years there has been a big improvement in terms of the briefing and the outcomes. It makes a huge difference. We're taking steps towards a more structured, measurable way of looking at [landscape]. Where it's happened it's tended to be driven by a well informed project champion."
Getting your client on board early with the design, is key to the success of a project. Creating the opportunity for engagement – at all levels – from clinical to executive, ensures engagement from the wider team, allows concerns to be addressed (infection control) and ultimately, helps ensure the vision is delivered.
A Jane says,
"My mission is to make landscape like engineering so you can't do without it.
You can't do without landscape design otherwise the building won't function properly and because health and wellbeing and the issues of climate change, biodiversity – are becoming much more measurable."
It's an aspiration I think we can all get behind.
Author, Sarah Birkby
With thanks to our panellists:
Alice Green, AFH Executive Committee + P+HS Architects
Paul Gilligan, AFH Executive Committee + Oberlanders Architects
Helen Young, Executive Coordinator
Sarah Birkby, Programme and Communications Director
PrevPreviousNHSE/I Future Standards Working Group
NextRyder Architecture Crowned with Prestigious AwardNext
AfH at IHEEM 2021
Architects for Health was delighted to attend the hybrid IHEEM conference this year, with a stand in the main hall and a series of online
Scandinavian Patient Environments
In April, we were delighted to 'virtually' gather over 150 guests from 21 countries for a session focused on Scandinavian patient environments, comparing and contrasting
2018 Study Tour to Northern Ireland
Architects for Health Study Tour – Northern Ireland 4-6 July, 2018 Health Infrastructure for the NHS in Northern Ireland has followed a distinctive path from
Phil Gusack Talk at AGM 2018
Henry Marsh "Why are Hospitals so often Horrible?" Our speaker this evening is Henry Marsh one of the UK's most eminent neurosurgeons. After graduating with


text:
Atlanticism
Security and conflicts
Classics of geopolitics
Home » THE MODERN SERBIAN ARMY AND THE ART OF WAR
THE MODERN SERBIAN ARMY AND THE ART OF WAR
Luis Lázaro Tijerina
The greatness of the Serbian Army's roots is one of guile and stealth in combat operations. To understand the organic methodology and experience of the Serbian Army is to know the Serbian people in their long history of struggles for self-determination and Independence going back to ancient Rome. During the epic period of wars between the Ottoman and Habsburg Empires, the Serbian people, by which I also mean its irregular armed forces, were always forced to defend their rights, their culture, and their religion against those who desired to oppress them, those who would force them to submit to a foreign culture or governmental forces that could only lead to the demise of the Serbian people.
By allowing such an oppression, the Serbian people would have been reduced to slavery and thereby destroyed their ever energetic Serbian armed forces. It was and is the Serbian land forces whose tireless and thankless task then and now is to defend their people in a landlocked country covered with fields which can be harvested and mountains which can offer protection during times of war.
And indeed, this is a country at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, a gateway nation. As we know, those soldiers and officers of Serbian origins have given their lives in the thousands during the First and Second Balkan Wars, the disastrous World War I, and then through the world famous struggle of the Communist Partisans war against the Axis, fascist forces that invaded the former Yugoslavia in 1941. With the Third Balkan War and the perfidious attack by NATO air strikes against Serbia, the country then known as Yugoslavia, from March 24, 1999 to June 10, 1999 during the so-called Kosovo War.
Since that period of inter-strife - civil war in the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia -- the Yugoslav armed forces, now the Serbian Army of the Republic of Serbia, have had the creative challenge of rebuilding an army that could be the most versatile in the Balkans, perhaps in some ways even be equal to those land forces of Germany and France if correct measures are taken to insure the Serbian Army's moderation and staunch independence from political corruption or external political manipulation from outside the army itself. The Serbian Army's historical mission is to serve the Serbian people.
For a military theorist or military historian to give a critique of the Serbian Army, s/he must have a general understanding of the life of the great Field Marshal Baron Mihajlo Mikasinovic, who had so much influence on the lives of Serbian soldiers and Serbian civilians along the Military Frontier known as "Vojna Krajina" which was part of the former Austro-Hungary Empire.
The reader should understand Field Marshal Mikasinovic was not only from a different epoch than Josip Broz Tito who guided to the best of his ability the Partisans against the military Axis forces in Yugoslavia during World War II, but unlike Marshal Tito, Mikasinovic was not a revolutionary but a professional soldier and therefore pragmatic in utilizing the Serbian soldiers under his command.
Therefore we see the dialectical transition from colonized Serbian soldiers to those troops and officers who lived through the partisan war era up to the partisan forces who helped forged the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia are of different military hues, although both chronicles of such Serbian military history should be understood and analyzed in order to see a clearer vision of a modern Serbian Army.
In his monograph on Mihajlo Mikasinovic, the author Djuro Zatezalo wrote of the Field Marshal:
As an officer he meted out the strictest justice. He despised sycophants and respected only true merit. His sharp gaze frightened every rogue, but towards a soldier who conscientiously executed his duties, his facial expression would soften and his gaze became warm. He was extremely hardworking and committed to his job, executing his duty accurately and in a timely fashion. He was a real father to his soldiers; the strictness of their tasks kept them content and challenged. His adjutant ate lunch at the same table as Mikasinovic, indicating that he worked closely with his officers. He talked with the soldiers and aided and encouraged them in situations when they truly needed it.
Such a description of the Serbian Field Marshall of the 18th century is important, because although that era's methods of warfare no longer exist, it is the military character, the culture essence of a Serbian officer in past military history that should not only be studied but implemented with the overall character of the modern Serbian officer in the Serbian Army. Although the Serbian Army was
codified in 1838 as an army of the Serbian people, it has gone from being a irregular type of army dating back to the 18th century to being a more advanced modern military force in practice and theory during the Partisan Resistance Movement in World War II, only to deteriorate as an effective fighting army after the end of the Third Balkan War.
With the implementation of the Serbian Army currently composed entirely of professionals and volunteer troops after the end of mandatory military service in 2011, I would suggest much is lacking in terms of professional and cultural élan within the troop echelons and in some sectors of the Serbian officer corps. My reasoning: class antagonism between those who 'volunteer' and those who enter the Serbian Army because of dire economic necessity and not because of a genuine interest in the defense of the Serbian Motherland.
There are also those among the Serbian populace who because of their middle- class status or economic ties to oligarchies in Western Europe and beyond, have no desire to pursue the disciplined life and dedication that should be a part of the Serbian Army.
Such serious contradictions are to be expected and viewed as a determinant of the professionalism of the Serbian Army in both peacetime and time of war.
I would advocate that the Serbian General Staff and its officers work diligently to restore the mandatory military service obligation of Serbian men and women who come of age at 18 years, and that they serve in the Serbian Army, the Serbian Navy or Serbian Air Force for at least two years.
I would also encourage giving Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs) within the current Serbian Army more opportunities to enroll in officer training schools. Historically, it has been the ordinary Serbian worker, as well as the rural Serbian male and female, that have shown themselves to be stalwarts in time of war.
It would behoove the leadership of the Serbian Army to review the works of Von Clausewitz for an ongoing deep analysis of the progress of the Serbian Army, as well as a further understanding of profound professional self-criticism.
I would say that Von Clausewitz explains in high military theory what I have advocated on a practical level, when he writes: "To be imbued with the spirit and essence of this profession, to train, to rouse, to assimilate into our system the powers which should be active in it, to apply our intelligence to every detail of it…- that is the military virtue of an army in the individual".
Detailed to a specific degree in the Belgrade, October 2009 paper "DEFENSE STRATEGY OF THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA," defense of the internal integrity of Serbia lay with its continuation of both peaceful and violent agitation against the opportunistic behavior of those in Kosovo wishing to foment terroristic violence or to manipulate Western European powers, as well as the erratic military impulsiveness of the United States, to wage a conflict with Serbia over the so-called "separatist aspirations". Although the defense strategy paper is now dated, it still relevant to some degree concerning how the Serbian Army Chief of Staff may view the mission of the Serbian Army vis-a-vis the nation-state, to which I refer as Serbia's domestic and foreign policy agendas in the 21st century.
At the present juncture of world history, we live among thriving and dangerous oligarchies not seen since the time of the Peloponnesian War. Many of the nation-states in Europe including the nation-state rivals of Russia and the United States are imbued with the deadly combustion of organized crime and religious fanaticism, multiplied by incendiary national extremism. The October 2009 paper on Serbian defense strategy published in Belgrade articulates this key statement: "From the standpoint of security risks and threats the Republic of Serbia is facing, what is particularly important is the link between terrorism and all forms of organized, transnational and cross-border crime."
However, I would submit there is an underlying adversary outside the "forms of organized, transnational and cross-border crime", which are the mercurial and predatory interests of the United States. Furthermore, should NATO -- which would include a vast number of American troops, American armored units and American air force units -- eventually attack the territory of Russia, it would insure that Serbia be neutralized in order that the Serbian Army could not cut through the underbelly of Western Europe, that is, through the corridor of Southeastern Europe.
In other words, the forces of NATO would strategically want to protect its southeastern flank if it decides to enter into an act of war with Russia or give a dramatic rationale for coming to the military aid of the Ukraine should a friction of war between Russia and the Ukraine become a fait accompli and not merely a propaganda threat.
Underlying the sincere desire of the Serbian Army leadership to preserve the way of life of Serbian culture and its heritage within its armed forces, there was a naïve liberal initiative in 2010 of a Serbian military delegation that met with American military officers of The multi-service U.S. Army War College (USAWC) Traveling Contact Team (TCT) in Belgrade.
What was discussed was the transformation of the Yugoslavian National Army (JNA) to a bourgeois and democratic Serbian Army, although such a term as "bourgeois and democratic" would not be in the lexicon of modern Serbian Army codex, although the reality is that military class issues were on the agenda in terms of a coded language such as "The major challenges the SAF face are the abolition of general conscript duty, the rebalancing of the force to reflect the desired officer/NCO/enlisted/civilian ratios, development of a modern professional military education system, and the achievement of social status improvement for SAF personnel".
In an attempt to be strategically creative, the then-leadership of the Serbian Army attempted to reach out to the United State military leadership that ironically had helped NATO in punishing the Serbian Army during its conflicts during the Third Balkan War. In its weakness - from my perspective - the Serbian military leadership signaled to the U. S. military leadership to help Serbia to find a modern way to create a more formidable and democratic army, instead of looking critically at its own cultural history of warfare. This kind of liberalization can only lead to further disruption and lack of military continuity, like bringing in a Trojan horse to placate the Serbian people for mistakes made in the Third Balkan War.
Furthermore, there have been mixed signals consciously or otherwise concerning the Serbian State leadership in joining the European Union which would be a de facto membership in NATO. According to Serbian geopolitics expert Dragana Trifkovio, "[...More than] 80% of Serbian citizens are opposed to any cooperation with NATO, especially in the light of the Alliance's air strikes on civilian and military targets in the country back in 1999".
Thus, from a conscientious military perspective in terms of a lucid and technical strategy based on theory and practice congruent with the Serbian Army's history, one could question the wisdom of the Serbian military leadership to enter into such a reaching-out to a former adversary such as the United States whose history is entrenched in endless wars. In such a conscientious matter as the study and application of military theory, it should be understood that one should play the game of neutrality in a strict form and not attempt to play off competing adversaries for one's benefit.
In the year 2017 there seems to be a more realistic and pragmatic approach to its historical ally Russia that harkens back to the days of Serbian Field Marshal Mihajlo Mikasinovic and the Seven Years War - when Austria with its precarious situation in the Seven Years War gave rooms for the Serbs to move closer to their natural ties with Russia. As the world enters regional conflicts in the Middle East and mounting terrorism on the continent of Europe including Great Britain and the United States, the Serbian State and the Russian State are beginning to again have a realistic approach to a strategic alliance, although it needs to be strengthened deeper and with more delicacy in terms of combat maneuvers between the two countries and with Serbian officers going as observers or as advisors in support of the Donetsk People's Republic in the Donbass region.
Recently, the Russian State has shown a more serious desire to help in the rejuvenation of the Serbian Army.
The Serbian Defense Minister Djordjevic stated, according the Associated Press, that the "jets, tanks and fighting vehicles — donated from Russian arms reserves for free — will be 'fully modernized and refurbished' in Serbia by Russian technicians for an undisclosed sum. It is estimated that the overhaul of the MiGs alone would cost Serbia some 200 million euros ($216 million.)". The Serbian military leadership -- I am sure -- welcomes the "free" Russian arms reserves, but at the same time, the Serbian military leadership and the Serbian government should continue to demand an upgrade in tanks, artillery and air force jet capabilities.
I would like to conclude with a cultural/philosophical-military view of the Serbian soldier as an embodiment of the national character in a time of war. I would hope this is a more subtle, resonant, and eloquent account of the Serbian Army and its history of being at war. In Zatezolo's monograph on Mihajlo Mikasinovic, from which I will now quote, two different observers give an account of Serbian soldiers in action during the War of the Austrian Succession:
In one report from 1747, an Austrian officer said of the Serbs: "… They make brave heroes in battle. They just need discipline. In addition, Prince Joseph of Saxe - Hildburghausen characterized the border soldiers like this: "Everywhere I saw people who were brave warriors, of a crude and uncertain nature, the children of poor homespun food. With effort and passion they can be made into strong men, tough and hard as an oak forest, carefree and wild, with good hearts. They are nature's children and because of this are superstitious. They are full of feeling and enthusiasm for military honor… Their nature is fearless, and they are capable of fidelity and loyalty…"
Although such observations of the Serbian soldier in time of war may now seem outdated, nonetheless certain truths and validity of the character of the Serbian soldier remain, particularly during World War I, when the Serbian people lost thousands of men. In the words of Serbian military historian Dusan M. Babac, "Serbia paid for her great victory in the First World War in a disproportionately exorbitant manner: it is estimated she lost close to one million inhabitants, of whom about 400, 000 were conscripts and the rest civilians which accounted for nearly a third of the total population or close to 60% of the male population. No other country that participated in the Great War paid so dearly for its freedom"
Never has there been a full accounting of the thousands of deaths of Yugoslav Partisans, both men and women, who gave their lives in the First to Seventh Nazi Offensives that ranged from the attack on the "Republic of Uzice" in Western Serbia in the autumn of 1941 to the final attack in western Bosnia in the second quarter of 1944 by the Germans which failed, but which cost the Partisans under Tito great loss of life. Such is the profound tragic history of the Serbian soldiers from regular warfare to irregular warfare.
Clearly, the Serbian Army is unique in modern military history because it has the wherewithal to fight asymmetrical and symmetrical warfare that goes back to the period of the Ottoman and Austrian Empires in which the army was further developed in the modern era, including those Serbs who fought in the Spanish Civil War and whose leadership would play a vital military leadership role in the Partisan war against Nazi Germany in their own country of Yugoslavia. The Serbian Army is forged in the iron vice of war and soldered in the steel of commitment in the history of general warfare.
The creativity of the Serbian Army's overall mission should always take into account its historical past and not allow itself to be fooled by contemporary alliances that can change like the temperament of a wind in springtime. Serbian military leadership should continue to find its place in the modern military era by concentrating on its historical roots, when formulating creative tactics and strategy that correspond to the Serbian national character regarding the nuances of preparation for war while always desiring to maintain the peace within the natural territory of Serbia.
NATO, Military Spending, and Grand Strategy
Russia should support Serbian patriots
Pakistan-Russia Joint Military Exercise: A New Window of Opportunities
U.S. Exceptionalism and Strategies
Russia's Geopolitical Interests in the Balkans
The USA's Imposition of Asymmetric Warfare against the EU
Siege Warfare, the West and Russia
Non-State Warfare in Battlefield Operations
The Art of New Generation Russian Warfare
In Memory of Vitaly Churkin
Netwars
Dragan Stanojevic
As you know, we recently had elections. Afterwards, there was the long process of forming the new government. Prime...
Pakistan-Russia Joint Military Exercise: A New...
Sabah Aslam
Diplomatic and bilateral relations between Pakistan and the Russian Federation were first developed on May 1st, 1948....
Russia now finds itself in a historical position: it must either contain the bellicose Messianic vision of the United...
Because of many speculations about Russian role in Balkan region there is necessity to provide clear picture of the...
The USA's Imposition of Asymmetric Warfare...
Emilija Geleva
During the mid-July EU summit on the Greek debt crisis, the Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has urged Europe to...
"Peu de sièges et de nombreux combats" ("Few sieges and many combats") ~ Marshal Turenne Not since the Peloponnesian...
A Strategic Concept to "Countering Gray Zone Hybrid Threats"
The lessons to be learned from Russian military history is that their theory and practice of war has been understood...
10 Countries with Strongest Armies in the World
Oendrila De
Armies are considered an important part of a country and its security. Every year, a large fortune is allocated out of the budget for fighting...
Qasem Soleimani, Martyr of the Multipolar World, and the...
The Assassination of General Soleimani in the Context of the Apocalypse The assassination of General Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Al-Quds...
One Hero less
Costantino Ceoldo
The death of General Qassem Soleimani at the American hand was a cowardly political murder for the sole purpose of blowing up the table and plunging...
Worthy and unworthy victims, 70 years of US destabilisation...
Shane Quinn
China's exit in October 1949, from the sphere of US control, was perhaps the heaviest blow to strike American post-World War II global hegemony....
The Collapse of America
Walt Garlington
The nations of the world have nothing to fear in the long run: The Holy Republican Empire of America will eventually collapse, for it has cultivated...
Trump from the Swamp
Bobana M. Andjelkovic
"The United States of America is also one-party state, but with typical American extravagance, they have two of them". Julius Nyerere, President of...
US-India 2+2 Dialogue: The US expectations and potential of...
Zamir Ahmed Awan
The second US-India 2+2 dialogue was held on 18 December 2019 in Washington, the USA. Indian Minister of Defense Rajnath Singh and Minister of...
The postmodern face of war in Hong Kong protests: how does...
Lucas Leiroz
Introduction Work and War have accompanied humankind since its beginning. In ancient wars the main goal of both belligerent groups was to...
George Soros helps Nazis during Holocaust
geopolitica.ru
Once again new facts about George Soros, a Hungarian-American business magnate were revealed. This information is concerning his childhood, when...
Theories of Globalization
The liberal paradigm of IR is extremely popular and, along with realism, it is one of the two main models of interpretation, analysis and forecasting...
Is Israel Preparing for a New War?
Germán Gorráiz López
The term dystopia was coined in the late nineteenth century by John Stuart Mill as opposed to the term eutopia or utopia used by Tomas Moro to...
Washington's support for terrorist groups and Beijing...
Over preceding weeks and months, the Western media have reported that Beijing is detaining anywhere from one million to 1.5 million Uyghur people,...
rape crime
rape count

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Polyosma borneensis är en tvåhjärtbladig växtart som beskrevs av Schlechter. Polyosma borneensis ingår i släktet Polyosma och familjen Escalloniaceae. Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

Källor

Tvåhjärtbladiga blomväxter
borneensis

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
L'aretin, né en 1492

Liste d'écrivains italiens par ordre chronologique

Nés au
 ?   - ?    — Erchempert ou Herempert (Erchempertus en latin; Erchemperto en italien), moine de l'abbaye du Mont-Cassin, historien et chroniqueur

Nés au
 v. 1114 -  v. 1187 — Gérard de Crémone
 v. 1130 - 1202 — Joachim de Flore
 v. 1190 - 1243 — Guido Fava
 (fin du  - ap. 1253) — Albertano da Brescia

Nés au
 Andrea da Grosseto
 v. 1230-1306 — Jacopone da Todi
 1235-1294 — Guittone d'Arezzo
 v. 1250-1300 — Guido Cavalcanti
 1254-1324 — Marco Polo
 v. 1258- v. 1312 — Cecco Angiolieri
 1265-1321 — Dante Alighieri
 1261-1329 — Albertino Mussato
 v. 1276-1348 — Giovanni Villani
 v. 1281-1367 — Paul del Abbaco (Paolo dell'Abbaco)

Nés au
 1304-1374 — François Pétrarque
 v. 1305 - v. 1366 — Guglielmo da Pastrengo
 1313-1375 — Boccace
 v. 1335 -  v. 1400 — Franco Sacchetti
 v. 1350 -  1399 — Bianco da Siena
 1370-1444 — Leonardo Bruni, humaniste, écrivain, historien et homme politique florentin.
 1372-1462 — Palla Strozzi (Palla di Onorio Strozzi) (1372-1462)

Nés au
 1404-1449 — Domenico di Giovanni
 1407 - 1457 — Laurent Valla
 v. 1410-1484 — Feo Belcari
 1420-1478 — Agostino Dati
 1427-1503 — Antonio Bonfini
 v. 1436-1516 — Baptiste Spagnoli
 1448-1514 — Bernardo Rucellai
 1453-1505 — Filippo Beroaldo
 v. 1455-1530 — Jacopo Sannazaro
 1465-1536 — Bernardo Accolti
 1469-1527 — Nicolas Machiavel
 1470-1547 — Pietro Bembo
 1474-1533 — L'Arioste
 1477-1547 — Jacopo Sadoleto
 1478-1529 — Baldassare Castiglione
 1478-1535 — Bernardino Arluno
 1478-1554 — Bernardino Scardeone
 1485-1561 — Mathieu Bandello
 1485-1566 — Marco Girolamo Vida (Marcus Hieronymus Vida)
 1491-1544 — Teofilo Folengo
 v. 1496-1542 — Angelo Beolco, dit Ruzzante ou Ruzante.

Nés au
 ? - ? — Simeone Zuccolo
 v. 1501-1558 — Basilio Zanchi
 1503-1556 — Giovanni Della Casa
 1515-1575 — Giuseppe Betussi
 1515-1564 — Lodovico Domenichi
 1515 ou 1520-1579 — Giovan Antonio Rusconi
 1518-1581 — Uberto Foglietta
 vers 1521-1581 — Remigio Nannini ou Rémi de Florence
 1529-1606 — Bernardo Davanzati
 1530-1599 — Curzio Gonzaga
 1531-1609 — Celio Malespini
 1537-1588 — Raffaello Borghini, dramaturge, poète et critique d'art
 1544-1595 — Torquato Tasso (Le Tasse)
 actif de 1552 à 1579 — Ascanio Centorio Degli Ortensi
 vers 1552-1625 — Paolo Beni
 1555-1592 — Moderata Fonte
 1556-1613 — Trajano Boccalini
 1566 ou 1575-1632 — Giambattista Basile, connu pour ses recueils de contes, adaptés ensuite par Charles Perrault et les frères Grimm.
 1568-1639 — Tommaso Campanella
 1594-1650 — Luigi Novarini

Nés au
 1607-1699 — Paul Abriani
 1610-1675 — Giuseppe Battista
 v. 1630-1698 — Nicolò Minato
 1634-1684 — Ercole Zani
 1650-1718 — Michelangelo Fardella
 1653-1729 — Antonio Maria Salvini
 1668-1750 — Apostolo Zeno
 1668-1735 — Giacinto Gimma
 1672-1750 — Ludovico Antonio Muratori
 1675-1755 — Girolamo Baruffaldi
 1676-1742 — Niccolò Gaburri
 1689-1775 — Giovanni Gaetano Bottari

Nés au
 1703-1747 — Tommaso Crudeli
 1707-1793 — Carlo Goldoni
 1708-1754 — Laurent Guazzesi
 1712-1785 — Pietro Chiari
 1716-1793 — Appiano Buonafede
 1719-1789 — Giuseppe Baretti
 1725-1798 — Giacomo Casanova di Seingalt
 1729-1799 — Giuseppe Parini
 1731-1794 — Girolamo Tiraboschi
 1737-1791 — Giustiniana Wynne di Rosenberg-Orsini
 1740-1792 — Giovanni Cristofano Amaduzzi
 1742-1821 — Clemente Bondi
 1749-1803 — Vittorio Alfieri
 1766-1837 — Carlo Giuseppe Guglielmo Botta
 1778-1827 — Niccolò Ugo Foscolo
 1781-1860 — Bartolomeo Borghesi (Comte)
 1784-1858 — Emanuele Bidèra
 1785-1873 — Alessandro Manzoni
 1791-1863 — Giuseppe Gioachino Belli
 1798-1836 — Giovanni Zuccala
 1798-1837 — Giacomo Leopardi

Nés au
 1806-1888 — Antonio Ranieri
 1801-1852 — Salvatore Cammarano
 1820-1888 — Giacomo Zanella
 1826-1890 — Carlo Collodi
 1831-1890 — Antonio Buccellati
 1831-1861 — Ippolito Nievo
 1836-1914 — Camillo Boito
 1838-1898 — Angelo Lo Jacono
 1839-1869 — Iginio Ugo Tarchétti
 1840-1922 — Giovanni Verga
 1842 - 1911 — Antonio Fogazzaro
 1842-1918 — Arrigo Boito
 1849-1921 — Ottone Bacaredda
 1855-1910 — Vittoria Aganoor
 1857-1941 - Luigi Natoli alias William Galt
 1861-1927 — Federico De Roberto
 1861-1928 — Italo Svevo
 1862-1911 — Emilio Salgari
 1863-1938 — Gabriele D'Annunzio
 1867-1936 — Luigi Pirandello
 1868-1937 — Zino Zini
 1876-1944 — Filippo Tommaso Marinetti
 1876-1956 — Agostino John Sinadino
 1881-1955 — Luigi Motta
 1883-1916 — Guido Gozzano
 1883-1920 —
 1883-1957 — Umberto Saba
 1884-1965 — Corrado Govoni
 1885-1932 — Dino Campana
 1885-1974 — Aldo Palazzeschi
 1886-1956 — Giovanni Papini
 1888-1970 — Giuseppe Ungaretti
 1891-1985 — Riccardo Bacchelli
 1891-1937 — Antonio Gramsci
 1891-1952 — Alberto Savinio
 1892-1953 — Ugo Betti
 1893-1960 — Alberto Maria De Agostini
 1893-1973 — Carlo Emilio Gadda
 1895-1956 — Corrado Alvaro
 1896-1981 — Eugenio Montale
 1896-1957 — Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
 1896-1982 — Mario Praz
 1898-1992 — Valentino Bompiani
 1898-1957 — Curzio Malaparte
 1899-1960 — Orio Vergani
 1900-1978 — Ignazio Silone

Nés au
 1901-1968 — Salvatore Quasimodo
 1902-1975 — Carlo Levi
 1903-2000 — Vincenzo Bianchini
 1905-1944 — Enzo Sereni
 1906-1972 — Dino Buzzati
 1906-1999 — Mario Soldati
 1906-2001 — Lalla Romano (Graziella Romano)
 1907-1954 — Vitaliano Brancati
 1907-1990 — Alberto Moravia
 1908-1979 — Tommaso Landolfi
 1908-1950 — Cesare Pavese
 1908-1966 — Elio Vittorini
 1909-1977 — Giuseppe Dessì
 1910-1991 — Mario Tobino
 1911-1969 — Giorgio Scerbanenco
 1911-2000 — Attilio Bertolucci
 1912-1990 — Giorgio Caproni
 1912-1985 — Elsa Morante
 1913-1993 — Aladena Fratianno
 1913-1991 — Vasco Pratolini
 1913-1983 — Vittorio Sereni
 1914-1978 — Giuseppe Berto
 1914-1998 — Anna Maria Ortese
 1915-1974 — Silvano Ceccherini
 1916-1991 — Natalia Ginzburg
 1916-2000 — Giorgio Bassani
 1917-1987 — Carlo_Cassola
 1919-1987 — Primo Levi
 1919-2004 — Benvenuto Revelli
 1920-1996 — Gesualdo Bufalino
 1920-2012 — Tonino Guerra
 1921-1964 — Raniero Panzieri
 1921-1989 — Leonardo Sciascia
 1921-1990 — Mario Pomilio
 1921-2008 — Mario Rigoni Stern
 1921-2014 — Eugenio Corti
 1922-1992 — Ernesto Balducci
 1922-1990 — Giorgio Manganelli
 1922-1975 — Pier Paolo Pasolini
 1922-2007 — Dante Isella
 1922-2007 — Luigi Meneghello
 1922-1971 — Luciano Bianciardi
 1923-1985 — Italo Calvino
 1924-1996 — Goliarda Sapienza
 1924-1997 — Danilo Dolci
 1924- ... — Manlio Sgalambro
 1924-2001 — Renzo Vespignani
 1925-2019 — Andrea Camilleri
 1925 - 2008 — Marcello Venturi
 1927-1995 — Hugo Pratt
 1927- ... — Carla Cerati
 1930- ... — Alberto Arbasino
 1930- ... — Edoardo Sanguineti
 1932- 2016 — Umberto Eco
 1933- ... — Aldo Zargani
 1934- ... — Lionello Grifo
 1937- ... — Gianni Celati
 1937- ... - Carmelo Bene
 1938- ... — Ernesto Ferrero
 1938- ... — Carlo Bordini
 1939- ... — Giulio Angioni
 1942- ... — Massimo Barone
 1942- ... — Franco Mimmi
 1943-.... — Valerio Massimo Manfredi
 1943-2012 — Antonio Tabucchi
 1943- ... — Giuseppe Pallavicini Caffarelli
 1944-2012 — Nicola Pugliese
 1944- ... — Gianfranco de Turris
 1946- ... — Carlo Bordoni
 1947- ... — Ermanno Cavazzoni
 1950- ... — Erri De Luca
 1950- ... — Mario Farneti
 1953- ... — Silvana De Mari
 1953- ... — Dalila Di Lazzaro
 1955-1991 — Pier Vittorio Tondelli
 1957- ... — Gilda Piersanti
 1957- ... — Grażyna Miller
 1958- ... — Alessandro Baricco
 1959- ... — Roberto Alajmo
 1959- ... — Mauro Fabi
 1959- ... — Alessandro Barbero
 1959- ... — Pietro Boccia
 1959- ... — Diego Marani
 1959- ... — Sandro Veronesi
 1960- ... — Marcello Fois
 1960- ..  - Claudio Morandini
 1960- ... — Andrea G. Pinketts
 1961- ... — Marina Di Guardo
 1962- ... — Roberto Quaglia
 1966- ... — Melania Mazzucco
 1967- ... — Mario Campanino
 1970- ... — Fabiano Alborghetti
 1970- ... — Andrea Cacciavillani
 1970- ... — Alessandro De Roma
 1970- ... — Isabella Santacroce
 1970- ... — Paolo Sorrentino
 1971- ... — Massimiliano Nuzzolo
 1975- ... — Andrea Bajani
 1977- ... — Fabiano Massimi
 1978- ... — Umberto Pasqui
 1979- ... — Roberto Saviano
 1980- ... — Menotti Lerro
 1981- ... — Davide Carnevali

Études de la littérature italienne

Bibliographie
 Christian Bec, Précis de littérature italienne, Editions PUF, Paris, 1982

Voir aussi

Articles connexes
 Littérature italienne
 Liste de poètes de langue italienne
 Liste alphabétique d'écrivains italiens

Ecrivains italiens
Italiens 02, écrivains
Ecrivains italiens 02


As Hurricane Harvey raged, the president tried to use the disaster as cover. It may have worked.
The attorney general's testimony before the Senate intelligence committee was more smoke and mirrors.
A lawyer helps to break down the different ways of arguing what constitutes obstruction of justice.
Donald Trump and Alan Dershowitz share a penchant for praising their own indispensability.
A tech-savvy measure introduced by members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus would protect against cyber meddling.
We have to get to the bottom of the Russian scandal and the cover-up, but keep an eye on transgressions throughout the government.


text:
Negocio da China
Why is Fosun so keen on investing in Portugal?
Dec 2, 2016 (WiC 348)
Portuguese or Putonghua?
When the Portuguese want to describe a money-spinning business deal they call it a "negocio da China". It is a term which harks back to the sixteenth century shortly after Pope Alexander VI divided the world between the empires of Portugal and Spain. China was 'allocated' to the Portuguese who landed in Guangzhou in 1514, salivating at the prospect of the riches on offer.
Relations between the two countries did not get off to a good start. The first Portuguese representative described the Chinese as a heathen race, a "weak people of small account". The Chinese were equally scathing about the Folanji (Frankish pirates) who reputedly ate small children after steaming them to death over pots of boiling water.
Come the current century and it is China's turn to flex its global ambitions. Portugal is one of its favoured destinations. According to research by business school ESADE, Europe's 16th largest country by GDP ranked sixth for Chinese investment in 2015 behind the UK, Italy, France, Ireland and Germany.
The biggest investor by some margin is Fosun. The acquisitive Shanghai-based investment conglomerate has just finalised the €175 million ($185 million) purchase of a 16.67% stake in Portugal's second largest lender by assets, Banco Comercial Portugues (BCP).
This will make it the bank's largest shareholder, slightly above Angolan state oil firm Sonangol. Fosun says it hopes to increase its stake to 30% following a board meeting in mid-December, which will decide whether to scrap an existing 20% shareholding limit.
BCP may also give Fosun a springboard to acquire Novo Banco, the 'good bank' carved out of the wreckage of Banco Espirito Santo following its 2014 collapse. Haitong, a Chinese broker, purchased the investment banking arm, while Fosun offered to buy the rest of Portugal's third largest bank for €1.5 billion. Its bid was rejected by the Portuguese government, alarmed at the gap between Fosun's valuation and a €4.9 billion bailout two years ago. However, BCP is one of five bidders for Novo Banco alongside China Minsheng Bank and a handful of private equity investors.
BCP adds to Fosun's burgeoning portfolio in Portugal, which also encompasses insurance company Fidelidade; Espirto Santo's healthcare business, Luz Saude (which includes Lisbon's largest private sector hospital); and a 5.3% stake in power utility Redes Energeticas Nacionals.
In local social media it is darkly joked that Portugal will soon be renamed 'Fosunugal', while one anxious Portuguese commentator has even suggested Mandarin will soon become compulsory in local schools. Indeed, many Portuguese are wary of Chinese investment in their country. Typical of the comments is one blogger who says, "What's at stake here is the sale of Portugal and that is what makes me very worried. When there is nothing left to sell, we'll start to be sold as slaves."
China's Star newspaper has a somewhat different take. It believes Fosun has picked a good time to hunt for bargains as Portugal emerges from its €78 billion EU-IMF bailout in 2011. It also concludes that, "Portugal welcomes Chinese money unlike Germany." (See WiC345 for details on Berlin's more cautious attitude to Chinese M&A.)
Fosun itself has said it wants to use its Portuguese investments to expand into the rest of Europe and to former Portuguese-speaking colonies. For example, BCP has majority stakes in various lenders in Poland, Mozambique and Angola.
Fosun is not immune to debt concerns itself. Chairman Guo Guangchang says the group will shed Rmb40 billion ($5.8 billion) in assets in the next few years to reduce leverage and achieve a coveted investment grade rating that will underpin its growing insurance business. Guo says all new acquisitions will fall into three buckets: health, wealth and happiness. The recent purchase of India's Gland Pharma covers health; BCP will hopefully equal wealth; while the acquisition of Wolverhampton Wanderers this July was supposed to convey happiness. The British football club's fans may beg to differ. One of Fosun's first actions was to draft in three star players from Portugal. Four months and nine lost matches later, Wolves are struggling in the division below the English Premier League.
EconomyWhat is China's deadliest industry?
CartoonsPatently ahead?
AgricultureWH Group sees synergies with Farmer John
EntertainmentWhy is Feng Xiaogang's latest film underperforming at the box office?
China and the WorldKerry Brown talks about how Trump's win might shape Sino-US ties
More on Fosun
Seeking immunity
Chinese firms head the Covid-19 vaccine race with three Phase III candidates
Pill pushing
Drugmaker Hengrui's hospital kickbacks in the spotlight
Get with the programme
More of China's business bosses jump on the livestreaming bandwagon


text:
CAB, Cabinet - Tuesday, 24th January, 2023 10.00 am
Printed draft minutes PDF 103 KB
Venue: Council Chamber - Civic Centre. View directions
Contact: Kevin Ingledew Email: keviningledew@gateshead.gov.uk Tel no: 0191 4332142
Minutes PDF 99 KB
Cabinet is asked to approve as a correct record the minutes of the last meetings held on 20 December 2022 and 17 January 2023.
Minutes - 2023.01.17 , item C95 PDF 57 KB
The minutes of the meetings held on 20 December 2022 and 17 January 2023 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.
Leisure Review - Future Service Delivery Options PDF 390 KB
View the background to item C96
Report of the Director of Public Health
Appendix 2 FINAL Leisure Review consultation report , item C96 PDF 2 MB
Appendix 3 Gateshead Council Leisure Services Report , item C96 PDF 492 KB
Appendix 4 , item C96 PDF 129 KB
Appendix 5 Matrix , item C96 PDF 2 MB
Appendix 6i Birtley SC closure IIA Jan 23 , item C96 PDF 739 KB
There are a further 4 documents.View the full list of documents for item C96
Consideration has been given to an update of the work carried out to review Leisure Services and to an overview of the outcomes of the comprehensive consultation process that was conducted between 2 November and 20 December.
Representations were heard and questions responded to from campaigners against the Review proposals.
RESOLVED -
That public consultation to inform the review be re-opened for a period of at least three months, during which any new representations will be invited, particularly from the Birtley and Lamesley community and users of Birtley Swimming Centre.
That over this period the viability of the potential to transfer the management of any of Dunston Leisure Centre, Gateshead Leisure Centre, Birtley Sports Hall and Birtley Swimming Centre on a Community Asset Transfer basis will be explored.
That a further report be submitted to Cabinet following this further period of consultation with the final outcome of the Review, including any proposals for Community Asset Transfer of one or more of the facilities referred to at (ii) above.
The above decisions have been made for the following reasons:
To enable additional views of residents/stakeholders, particularly in the Birtley and Lamesley area, to be considered in light of the proposal for Birtley Swimming Centre, which emerged from the consultation and further evaluation and assessment process undertaken between November and January.
To enable time for discussions on Community Asset Transfers to progress and viability to be determined.
Gateshead International Stadium - Options Appraisal PDF 125 KB
View the decision for item C97
Report of the Director of Public Health and Strategic Director, Resources and Digital
Consideration has been given to the proposal to commence an options appraisal on the Gateshead International Stadium.
That the commencement of an options appraisal on the Gateshead International Stadium be approved.
That a further report be submitted to Cabinet in July 2023 following the options appraisal.
The above decisions have been made to provide Cabinet with options to consider.
Council Tax Base and Business Rates Forecast 2023/24 PDF 223 KB
Report of the Strategic Director, Resources and Digital
Consideration has been given to the council tax base for 2023/24 for the Parish of Lamesley and the whole of the Borough of Gateshead and to the Business Rate forecast for 2023/24.
That pursuant to the report and in accordance with the Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax Base) Regulations 1992, as amended by Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax Base) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2012, the amount calculated by Gateshead Council as its council tax base for the year 2023/24 shall be 53,354.9.
That pursuant to the report and in accordance with the Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax Base) Regulations 1992, as amended by Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax Base) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2012 the amount calculated as being the Parish Council of Lamesley's council tax base for the year 2023/24 shall be 1,197.4.
That the business rates forecast for 2023/24 is £38.651 million.
To assist the Council in its financial planning and budget setting.
To set a council tax base and a business rates forecast for 2023/24 in accordance with statutory requirements.
Performance Management and Improvement Framework - Six Month Performance Report 2022/23 PDF 136 KB
Appendix 2 - PMIF 6 month report , item C99 PDF 4 MB
Appendix 3 OSC Minutes , item C99 PDF 112 KB
Consideration has been given to the six month 2022/23 assessment of performance against the Council's Performance Management and Improvement Framework (PMIF) along with the recommendations made by Overview and Scrutiny Committees for improvement.
That the 2022/23 six-month performance report as set out in appendix 2 to the report be approved.
That the key discussions from the Council's Overview and Scrutiny Committees as set out in paragraph 8 of appendix 1 and in the minutes at appendix 3 to the report be noted.
That the proposed changes to the agreed measures as set out in paragraph 9 of appendix 1 to the report be approved.
The above decisions have been made to ensure performance supports the delivery and achievements of Making Gateshead a Place Where Everyone Thrives.
Market Sustainability and Cost of Care PDF 110 KB
View the background to item C100
Report of the Strategic Directors, Integrated Adults & Social Care Services and Resources & Digital
Annex A Grant Template , item C100 PDF 123 KB
Annexe B Gateshead Domiciliary Care report , item C100 PDF 138 KB
Annexe B Gateshead Residential Care report , item C100 PDF 221 KB
Consideration has been given to the publication of the Annex A and Annex B reports, which were required for the Market Sustainability and Fair Cost of Care submission to the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC).
That the publication of Annex A (appendix 2 to the report) and Annex B reports for Domiciliary Care (appendix 3 to the report) and Care Homes (appendix 4 to the report) on the Council's website be approved.
The above decision has been made to ensure the Council complies with the DHSC Market Sustainability and Fair Cost of Care grant conditions.
Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund bid PDF 95 KB
Report of the Strategic Director, Housing, Environment and Healthy Communities
Consideration has been given to a decision taken under delegated powers, to submit a bid to the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, on the grounds of urgency, due to bid submission timescales.
That the action taken by the Strategic Directors, Resources & Digital and Housing, Environment & Healthy Communities in submitting the bid to the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, as set out in the report, on the grounds of urgency, in accordance with Schedule 5, Part 2 General Delegations to Managers, Paragraph (4) (e) of the Council's Constitution be noted.
The above decision has been made to support Gateshead's commitment to work towards a Net Zero Carbon future and to maintain the social housing stock in line with the Decent Homes Standard.
Highway Asset Management Plan Update PDF 121 KB
Report of the Strategic Director, Economy Innovation and Growth
Consideration has been given to the annual update of the highway asset management plan (HAMP) 2018-30, which provides the latest performance information and details of progress with key targets in the plan.
That the updated HAMP targets 2018 to 2030 as set out in appendix 3 to the report be approved.
The above decision has been made for the following reasons:
To optimise investment in the local transport network.
To provide the basis for improved management and maintenance of Gateshead's highway network and to ensure the effective use of resources.
To maximise external funding streams awarded to highway authorities who carry out effective highway management.
To introduce measures to reduce carbon production in highway maintenance materials and operational maintenance procedures.
Gateshead Local Heritage List Review PDF 366 KB
Report of the Strategic Director, Economy, Innovation and Growth
Consideration has been given to the updated Local List of Heritage Assets for Gateshead.
That the updated Local List of Heritage Assets for Gateshead be approved.
That the Strategic Director, Economy, Innovation and Growth in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport be authorised to update the Local List when necessary.
To ensure that the Local List is updated in accordance with the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), Local Plan and best practice guidance.
So that the Local List can continue to be kept as up to date as possible in the public interest.
Nomination of a Local Authority School Governor PDF 89 KB
Report of the Strategic Director, Children's Social Care and Lifelong Learning
Consideration has been given to the nomination of a Local Authority School Governor to Furrowfield School.
That Councillor Kathleen McCartney be nominated as a Local Authority Governor to Furrowfield School for a period of four years with effect from 29 March 2023, as stipulated by the School's Instrument of Government.
The above decision has been made to ensure the School Governing Body has full membership.
Local Boundary Commission for England - Electoral Review of Gateshead Council, Part One (Council Size) PDF 1 MB
Report of the Strategic Director, Corporate Services and Governance
Consideration has been given to the Council's draft submission to the Commission on Part One of its review of Gateshead Council (Council Size).
That the Council be recommended to:
Agree the recommendation of the draft Submission in terms of Council size remaining the same at 66 Councillors, across 22 wards.
Note the content of the Submission and the accompanying appendices.
Agree that the Chief Executive, following consultation with the Leader of the Council, may make any amendments to the draft Submission deemed appropriate prior to it being filed with the Commission on 17 February 2023.
The above decision has been made because it is a periodic review undertaken by the Commission that the Council must partake in with a requirement for the Submission to be filed on 17 February 2023.
Calendar of Meetings 2023/24 PDF 95 KB
Calendar of Meeting 2023-24 Appendix 2 , item C106 PDF 186 KB
Consideration has been given to the proposed calendar of meetings for 2023/24.
approve the calendar of meetings for 2023/24;
agree that, as far as possible, meetings should not be held during school holidays; and
authorise the Strategic Director, Corporate Services and Governance, following consultation with the appropriate Chairs, to make any necessary amendments to the calendar of meetings.
The above decisions have been made to assist in the preparation of the Cabinet's schedule of decisions and to allow councillors and officers to plan commitments in their diaries.
Revenue Budget - Third Quarter Review 2022/23 PDF 127 KB
Consideration has been given to the latest monitoring position on the 2022/23 revenue budget at the end of the third quarter.
That the Council's revenue expenditure position at the end of the third quarter, as set out in appendices 1 and 2 to the report be noted.
That the Council be recommended to approve a budget virement into contingency as set out in the report.
The above decisions have been made to contribute to sound financial management and the long-term financial sustainability of the Council.
Capital Programme and Prudential Indicators 2022/23 – Third Quarter Review PDF 90 KB
Q3 Apendices , item C108 PDF 215 KB
Q3 2022-23 Appendix 5 , item C108 PDF 104 KB
Consideration has been given to the latest position on the 2022/23 Capital Programme and Prudential Indicators at the end of the third quarter to 31 December 2022.
That the Council be recommended to approve the revision to the Capital Programme as set out in the report.
That the Council be recommended to approve the financing of the revised programme as set out in the report.
That it be confirmed to the Council that the capital expenditure and capital financing requirement indicators have been revised in line with the revised budget and that none of the approved Prudential Indicators set for 2022/23 have been breached.
To ensure the optimum use of the Council's capital resources in 2022/23.
To accommodate changes to the Council's in-year capital expenditure plans.
To ensure performance has been assessed against approved Prudential Limits.
Exclusion of the Press and Public
The Cabinet may wish to exclude the press and public from the meeting during consideration of the following item(s) on the grounds indicated:
Item Paragraph of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972
That the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the remaining business in accordance with paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972.
Development of New Homes on the Freight Depot Site - Reduction of Homes England Grant
View the reasons why item C110 is restricted
Consideration has been given to the urgent decision taken on the 20 December 2022 to change the terms of the Freight Site Business Plan to allow the freehold transfer of the former Freight Depot to Gateshead Regeneration LLP (GRP) as agreed by Cabinet on the 14 September 2021.
That the urgent decision taken on the 20 December 2022 by the Strategic Director, Resources and Digital to change the terms of the Freight Site Business Plan to allow the freehold transfer of the former Freight Depot to Gateshead Regeneration LLP (GRP) in accordance with Schedule 5, Part 2 General Delegations to Managers, Paragraph (4) (e) of the Council's Constitution; and as previously agreed by Cabinet be noted.
That the transfer of the freehold interest in the Freight Depot site in accordance with the Agreement for Sale to the GRP for the provision of new homes be noted.
That the changes in the Homes England Local Authority Accelerated ConstructionGrant allocation, and the impact on the Capital Injection Agreements, now totalling the amount set out in the report, of which the Council contribution remains at the amount set out in the report be noted.
That the changes to the distribution of profit and the terms of the distribution of super-profit to the Council as set out in the report be noted.
To support the delivery of 270 homes on the Freight Depot site.
It secures delivery of the site, overcoming significant viability and delivery challenges.
The Council is not putting funds in to close the additional viability gap.
The Council is still receiving an equal share of the profit after priority return, up to the profit required to meet the hurdle rates.
It will allow the site transfer to proceed, which will secure the private rented sector provider Sigma, via a contract with GRP.
Gateshead Council Trading Companies Annual Update
Consideration has been given to an update on the current trading activity undertaken through subsidiaries wholly owned by the Council for the period 2021/22 and where available activity in 2022/23.
That the report outlining company activity to date including the contribution to Council Thrive priorities as set out in appendix 1 and financial performance at appendices 2-4 to the report be noted.
That a review of each of the Council's wholly owned trading companies to determine their future operations and requirements be approved.
That a further annual report be submitted to Cabinet covering the 2022-23 performance of the Council's wholly owned trading companies.
To contribute to the sound governance, operational and financial management of the Council's wholly owned subsidiary companies.
To support achievement of Thrive priorities through the Council's trading companies.
To assist effective financial and performance oversight and awareness of all Council activity, regardless of delivery model.


MIAMI, March 22, 2016 – Azamara Club Cruises®, the boutique cruise line known for its premier destination-immersive voyages, unveils its new Cruise Global, Customize Local shore excursions program enabling guests to customize land tours while on voyages in all corners of the globe. Sailing to 70 countries visiting 204 ports of call during 64 voyages this year, Azamara provides guests with award-winning itineraries, and never repeats the same voyage within a calendar year. The introduction of the Cruise Global, Customize Local shore excursions program enhances the diversity of Azamara' s voyages by enabling guests to develop one-of-a-kind experiences – seeing and doing what they want, when and how they want.
Prior to or once on the ship, guests on Azamara have access to a dedicated team of Destination Insiders who bring years of international travel, global expertise and invaluable insights into planning unforgettable days – and nights – in ports around the world. These seasoned world travelers use their deep knowledge to create land tours that are customized to guests' desires and dreams. From exclusive experiences to simply touring popular sights with a private guide, the options are limitless. This concierge-style service tailors Private Journeys to guests' interests, travel style and budget.
As travelers today seek more personalized experiences, guests taking advantage of Cruise Global, Customize Local shore excursions with Azamara become empowered to dream up their own adventures. From a personal guided tour in Wadi Rum and Petra, Jordan to obtaining excellent seats to a popular opera in Rome followed by a private dinner, access is one of the programs benefits. Others may want to develop a private tour with car and driver to get immersed into a city like Singapore – perhaps a visit to the Singapore zoo to see the pandas, then lunch in a restaurant spearheaded by a Michelin-starred chef, afterwards a walk around Chinatown and then off to Arab Street for some eclectic shopping capped off by toasting Singapore Slings at Raffles Hotel. It's up to the guests; their Cruise Global, Customize Local shore excursions wish is Azamara's demand.
For more information, travelers can call their travel professional, dial 1-877-999-9553, or visit https://www.azamaraclubcruises.com/ReimagineAzamara. Connect with Azamara Club Cruises on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AzamaraClubCruises, on Twitter @AzamaraVoyages or follow President and CEO @LarryPimentel. Travel agent professionals can access more information and make reservations at www.CruisingPower.com.


MAPILab Rules is a winner!
You are here: Home / About us / Company News / MAPILab Rules is a winner!
We are glad to inform our users, that MAPILab Rules for Microsoft® Exchange Server is a winner of "THE FOURTH ANNUAL EXCHANGE PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARDS" according to MSD2D.Com!
The Fourth Annual People's Choice Awards recognizes the best products and companies in the industry.
We do our best to create really high-quality and reliable solutions. We sincerely appreciate your votes. Thank you!


6 plus optimized games. How to find?
Discussion in 'iPhone' started by stevo8, Sep 17, 2014.
Haven't done much mobel gaming, but looking to sample what the new 6+ will have to offer. Will anything be optimized for the new larger screen this Friday? And for a guy who's not active in the community much, what would be my best resource to keep up with what games are going to be best suited for the 6+?
toucharcade.com might have a thread about it.
I remember they had a thread for iPhone 5 4-inch games. They might have one for iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.


We are loving the new beanbags by Crashmat that have arrived in store. Crashmat's are designed and constructed using high quality cotton canvas, featuring a waterproof coating, an inner liner to hold the beans and child safe zips to meet Australian Standards. Their versatile design allows for seated or lying positions, which means they are perfect for the lounge room, theatre room, playroom and bedroom. They can even be used outdoors!!! Available in two sizes - 180cm x 140cm (large) and 130cm x 100cm (small). There are plenty of designs to choose from - picking your favourite colour will be hard! (Beans are not included).


Dutch children at Christmas show in Tilburg, Holland.
Various shots of PM's wife Mary Wilson at home in Downing Street.
A woman dances in the waves on Blackpool beach - some slow motion footage.
Double comedy act - Ronald Frankau and Monte Crick.
Cyril Fletcher tells us some jokes and recites a poem about Hilda Hose.
Marriott Edgar recites entertaining poem "Albert and the Lion".
Harry Hemsley does his usual child impersonations.
Various shots of the Cowes regatta and yacht races in 1932.
Exhibition dance by the Premiere Ballerina Vera Savina.
Lots of lovely tea pots at the London Tea Centre.
Unusual flower arrangements incorporating fruit and vegetables are shown.


This was my first experience with 4-HO-McPT, and the first I've ever heard about anyone having with it. I have decided to publish this trip report due to that fact, but I probably would not have otherwise, because there honestly isn't too much to say about it. Nonetheless, I will include the information that I can so that others may make more informed decisions when they attempt to use this substance in the future.
My previous experience with psychedelics includes DMT, MET, MiPT, DiPT, DALT, Psilocybe cubensis, 4-HO-MET, 4-HO-DET, 4-HO-MPT, 4-HO-EPT, 4-HO-DPT, 4-HO-MiPT, 4-HO-DiPT, 4-AcO-DMT, 4-AcO-MET, 4-AcO-DET, 4-AcO-DALT, 5-HO-DMT, 5-MeO-MiPT, 5-MeO-DALT, Ipomoea tricolor, Argyreia nervosa, LSD, ETH-LAD, 2C-B, 2C-I, DOC, and MDMA. My most recent trip was four days before this, smoking MET, which I have to imagine probably didn't create too much tolerance.
T+0:00 - I ingested 25 mg 4-HO-McPT orally with water and a snack. I tried to get it down as quickly as possible so maybe I just succeeded in that way, but I recall it actually not having very much of a bitter taste compared to other tryptamines I've used, though one was definitely still present.
T+0:15 - Around this time I was already starting to notice some telltale tryptamine come up signs, such as a suddenly more dreamy head feeling and some slightly tingly legs, but it was pretty weak compared to the intensity I often get from them, especially the ones with methyl tails. I honestly wasn't even totally sure whether or not it was placebo, but whether I tricked myself into it or not I was definitely feeling at least a little bit of something.
T+0:30 - Tired of pacing around and still not feeling much, I got in the shower to pass the time and feel cleaner.
T+0:45 - I got out of the shower, still pretty much no significant effects noticed. I still do have the slightly tingly legs though.
T+1:00 - With still no real effects having developed any further, I decided to start smoking cannabis and listening to music. Over the next forty-five minutes I could tell that adding the cannabis in definitely did bring it out just slightly more, but pretty much only to the level that I was now sure I really was feeling something from the 4-HO-McPT, but what that feeling was still wasn't particularly noticeable or distinct. At this point it felt pretty much like a low dose of most tryptamines on the peak, a heavy relaxation, slight music enhancement, and a good bit of yawning and stretching.
At this point it felt pretty much like a low dose of most tryptamines on the peak, a heavy relaxation, slight music enhancement, and a good bit of yawning and stretching.
T+1:45 - Around this point I suddenly started getting a boost of excited energy, at the same time the heavy feeling was starting to pass. This is actually quite common with tryptamines for me, and by far the most with those with methyl tails, so I took this as another pretty strong sign that I was indeed feeling something real from the 4-HO-McPT. I would say that this was probably the most enjoyable part of the experience, I got up danced to music for about half an hour before it started to pass as well.
T+2:20 - Wanting to relax again, I decided to run a hot bath for myself and get in.
T+3:50 - The bath was very nice, I honestly felt mostly normal by the end but at the beginning there was some decent euphoria, and I could tell that my sense of my own body was actually altered somewhat in a LSD-like way, such that I had more confidence about my own appearance. The same kind of thing also happens to me commonly on 4-HO-MPT, 4-HO-MiPT, and MiPT much more than any other tryptamines, so I guess it's just something about this particular kind of structure that really kicks it off. There was a very slight sense of colorful LSD-like imagination enhancement here as well, but it didn't really amount to much before fading away along with the rest of the effects.
T+4:05 - I feel that I'm almost totally down, though there is sort of a wave-like pattern to this trip that picks back up again slightly after this, but not in any particularly significant way, mostly just in the tingly feelings again.
T+5:00 - I ate lunch and started cleaning, and I don't remember anything else developing from the drug beyond this point, aside from a delayed headache a bit later in the day that serotonergic drugs often give me.
Normally at this point in the trip report I would reflect on things and try to make some comparisons, but this experience was honestly too mild for me to want to do that, I'd rather wait until I've really gotten to see just what 4-HO-McPT can do before I start making those kinds of judgements. In the meantime though, I hope this was informative to anyone who is desperately looking for any information on this molecule.
Stay safe, my fellow experimenters!


Could West Alabama See SNOW This Weekend?
It may be too early to toss around the S-word, but there is a chance West Alabama could see SNOW this weekend.
There is still plenty of time for the forecast to change between now and Saturday; however, the latest forecast from the National Weather Service currently calls for a high of 48 degrees and a 20% chance of precipitation including SNOW.
We'll continue to monitor the forecast for the latest developments... and keep our fingers crossed that it snows this weekend.