TOKYO -- North Korea's reaction to the collapse of its denuclearization talks with the U.S. in Hanoi betrays bewilderment and uncertainty about the way forward. On one hand, representatives of Kim Jong Un's regime have been talking tough. On the other, Kim's media mouthpiece has expressed his commitment to keep working with the Donald Trump administration.
This much is certain: The young dictator has a dicey decision to make.
Both President Trump and Kim showed changes of heart from the outset of their Feb. 27-28 summit. Trump smiled before photographers but otherwise looked sulky. Kim appeared tight, with beads of sweat on his forehead and cheeks. When they met in Singapore eight months earlier, they had been all smiles and full of praise for each other, though Trump did make a foreboding comment in a TV interview, saying, "Maybe in a year ... I'll say I made a mistake."
After the Hanoi summit ended early without a highly anticipated agreement, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho and Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui met reporters in the Vietnamese capital in the wee hours of March 1. Choe said the U.S. "is missing an opportunity" and suggested Kim may have lost interest in striking a deal for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
In an interview with South Korean news outlets that day, Choe issued another veiled warning, referring to Kim's New Year's message in which he said he would have to pursue a "new path" if the U.S. maintained sanctions against his country.
Yet, North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency said the same day that Pyongyang would closely cooperate with the U.S. and continue bilateral dialogue in a constructive manner.
Since then, there have been fresh signs the North is looking to go back on the offensive against the U.S., but Kim's position has also grown more awkward.
Reports that North Korea is now rebuilding a missile testing site it had been dismantling in northwestern Tongchang-ri prompted Trump to say on March 6, "I would be very, very disappointed in Chairman Kim" if the intelligence turned out to be true.
For Trump, who had consistently championed Kim of late, this marked a noticeable change in tone. His use of the word "disappointed" likely rattled Pyongyang.
Choe doubled down on March 15 while addressing foreign correspondents in the North Korean capital. She repeatedly stressed that the North refuses to accept the U.S. demand that it abandon its nuclear arsenal and called for a halt to the negotiations. She went so far as to say that Kim would soon announce whether the moratorium on nuclear and missile tests would continue.
Choe was careful to stress that personal relations between Kim and Trump remain amicable. While the regime has lashed out at U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and national security adviser John Bolton, it has avoided attacking Trump. Pyongyang is clearly eager to maintain its long-sought access to the leader of the world's most powerful country.
But the fact remains -- if the North resumes weapons tests, it would be crossing a line set by the American president. Trump told Kim that the speed of denuclearization was "not important." The important thing was that there is no testing.
Trump, however, is not the only one Kim risks disappointing.
South Korea's National Intelligence Service submitted a report to the National Assembly on March 5, saying the summit outcome had spawned a sense of disappointment in North Korea because expectations had been so high.
Word is reportedly circulating among North Korean citizens that the Trump administration will toughen sanctions due to the breakup of the talks.
The North Korean leadership had promoted the summit with extensive media coverage, starting with Kim's departure from Pyongyang. Rapprochement between North Korea and the U.S. was presented as the young leader's achievement. At the start of the summit, Kim had told reporters he had "a feeling that good results will come out."
In all this, average North Koreans saw a glimmer of hope, however vague, that their lives would improve.
On a visit to Pyongyang in 2016, this writer heard citizens longing for better conditions by any means, even a war with the U.S. In a documentary on the daily lives of North Koreans, shown in Japan in 2018, an official said the wish for reunification of the two Koreas was mainly rooted in the desire to improve livelihoods. These days, many are keeping the faith in the regime based on the promise of rapprochement with the U.S.
This likely explains why, upon Kim's return to Pyongyang on March 5, the KCNA reported that the summit had ended successfully. The North may be hoping to soften the U.S. stance by threatening to end the negotiations, but it also wants to keep up appearances to check domestic discontent.
In North Korea, of course, a diplomatic failure by the "highest dignity" is considered impossible.
There is little doubt that Kim was more disappointed in the result of the summit than anyone. The outcome has shaken North Korea's strategy of seeking the removal of sanctions in exchange for incremental denuclearization proposals, while continuing to hone its warhead and missile technologies.
The North's leadership appears to be seeking to drive a wedge between Trump and his hard-line aides, to reopen the way for deal-making with the president. But the stakes will be high when Pyongyang makes its next move.


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Perfect Responses By Margaret K Johnson @margaretkaj
October 24, 2017 booksfromdusktilldawn
Three women are about the face the biggest challenges of their lives.
On holiday in The Gambia, Africa, Janet decides to back out of an impulsive marriage and is mistaken for a sex tourist after she is abandoned by her financé. Meanwhile, back in sleepy Norfolk, her daughter Debbie is hell-bent on a seemingly hopeless affair with Keith, her married boss, and her pregnant friend Kate has just married the love of her life only for him to mysteriously turn into a distant stranger overnight.
When a stranger turns up and starts to offer them advice, the three are sceptical at first. Who is this Nessa? And why is she so insistent on them following the advice in book called Staying in Neutral, Responses to Change Your Life?
The three don't know it, but the book's author, Corrinne Walker, is depending on them to use her advice to sort themselves out. Corrinne hasn't lived her life according to her own advice, and now it's got her in big trouble. In fact, her whole future depends on Nessa being able to help them to make perfect responses.
But will they be able to do it before it's too late?
From the author of The Goddess Workshop and The Dare Club comes this story of challenge, self-fulfilment and the importance of courage and unshakeable love when everything seems impossible. A perfect beach read.
"Just finished Perfect Responses yesterday evening and it had me in tears. What a beautiful ending. What a heart-warming story, with very real, relatable characters I will actually wonder about for a while."
HERE ARE MY THOUGHTS AND REVIEW
This is such a lovely book to read and makes a perfect fun pick me up as the nights draw in or to whisk away on a far off beach. What a super concept, just one question for you, do you live by what you preach? Well after reading this book you may think twice about giving out advice unless you would follow it yourself.
Connie Walker, was in limbo, well I thought haven't we all been there at some time but it soon became apparent that no, I definitely hadn't been to this limbo. Was she dreaming or was this large duck really talking to her? It was hilarious, very explainable and very funny and no matter the severity of the conversation that was taking place, this duck was firmly imprinted in my mind saying these words. It is pure magic!
Now Connie isn't really in this story much, Connie is an author of a book called Staying in Neutral, Responses to Change Your Life, where as a psychiatrist she gives advice about keeping your cool and making positive choices from any situation. Unfortunately when push came to shove, Connie lost the plot in her own life changing situation and boy it did make me giggle. A definite tissue moment for my laughter tears.
So is Connie's advice any good or has she been misleading people all these years? Enter Nessa, everyone should have a Nessa because she has a natural calmness, she is your best friend, the person you want to be or go to in a crisis kind of lady. Nessa never tells you what to do but she may guide you.
The story follows three woman, all connected to each other and all have their very individual problems and Nessa is about to become a prominent fixture in their lives. Are any of these troubled ladies prepared to take Connie's advice in her book?
This is at times a very touching story as I got to know these characters really quickly and found out about their inner secrets. Nessa was such a wonderful character that she felt natural to be anywhere. What a lovely good feel story this was to read . I really would love to see this made into a little series with Nessa missions. I shall smile for days!
HERE IS A LITTLE ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Margaret K Johnson began writing after finishing at Art College to support her career as an artist. Writing quickly replaced painting as her major passion, and these days her canvasses lay neglected in her studio.
She is the author of both non-fiction and women's fiction published by Omnific Publishing and Earthy Works Publishing. She also writes award-winning original fiction readers in various genres for people learning to speak English, published by Cambridge University Press and Cengage Learning.
An experienced adult education tutor, Margaret founded WriteUP Courses in early 2015, and works with those who want to use writing as therapy as well as those who want to become published authors. Margaret has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia and lives in Norwich, UK with her partner and their bouncy son and dog.
Website: http://margaretkjohnson.com
Twitter: @margaretkaj
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MargaretKJohnsonAuthor/
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2 thoughts on "Perfect Responses By Margaret K Johnson @margaretkaj"
Margaret Johnson says:
Thanks so much for reviewing Perfect Responses, Sue! I really appreciate it. 🙂
A pleasure xx

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Photo Credit: NorthIsle.News staff
How Some Barbed Wire, Fish Guts and Hair Linked Generations of Grizzly Bears and Humans Together
Bear Hair Reveals Ancient Relationship Between People and Grizzlies
Bear families and human families may have overlapped for thousands of years
Jeremy Koreski / Raincoast Conservation Foundation
We don't normally think of grizzly bears as our neighbours. These days, finding a bear in your yard can be pretty scary. But for the people who have lived on BC's northern coast for the past 14,000 years, grizzly bears are the buddy next door who really likes to eat and sleeps a lot in the winter.
At least, that's what researchers discovered when they started looking through DNA samples from bear hair.
I know—it sounds weird. Bear hair. But it turns out that's a good way to get bear DNA without wrestling a grizzly.
Researchers put piles of stinky fish goo in specific spots around the study area. Then, they surrounded the piles with little barbed wire fences. When the bears went to check out the smell, the fence snagged bits of fur without hurting the bear (or the researchers).
The researchers got hair samples from a couple of hundred bears, and when they put those bits of DNA on a map, what they discovered was amazing.
Map of the study area by VanIsle Staff
It turns out the DNA from the bears overlapped with the language families of Indigenous peoples who have lived on the North Coast for thousands of years.
What does this look like in real life?
Well, there are basically three bear "families" in the study area. I don't just mean brothers and sisters. I mean siblings, cousins, great aunties twice removed, the whole shebang.
And each family lives on its own big piece of land. So they are three groups of bears who have been around each other so long that they're all related, and outsiders don't really "marry in," ya know?
When the researchers figured out where those bear families live, the land matched the territory of three Indigenous language families—the Tsimshian, Northern Wakashan, and Salishan Nuxalk.
And what is a language family?
They are groups of languages with a common ancestor. So people in these families might not be blood-related, and they might have different words for some things, but they can generally understand each other.
So for thousands of years, these big bear families and people families grew up together. They shared the same land.
The wildest part of this story is that there are no physical barriers to keep the bear/human families apart. There are no mountain ranges, no big rivers, and no deserts between them. All three overlapping bear/human families are just kind of… separate.
But how?
Jesse Popp, an Indigenous environmental scientist at the University of Guelph, told Science Magazine that the findings are "mind-blowing."
A map of bear families in the study area in blue, green and red. Borders between Indigenous language families are outlined in light grey. Adapted from L. H. Henson et al. Ecology and Society, 26(3): 7, 2021.
But Jenn Walkus, a Wuikinuxv scientist who helped with the study, isn't surprised. She told Science Magazine that she grew up in Rivers Inlet and saw that people and bears need a lot of the same things. We both need lots of space, food, and other resources like salmon.
For now, the researchers figure that the land shaped the people and bears in similar ways. And there may have been enough salmon and space for everyone, so they didn't need to move around.
That situation might be changing. This study happened because grizzlies started moving from the mainland onto islands off the coast, and no one knew why. No one has a real answer to that question. But, here on Vancouver Island, I can tell you we'd like to know.
Lauren Henson is the lead author of this study. She is a researcher at the University of Victoria and the Raincoast Conservation Society. More than a dozen researchers from 10 universities and First Nations helped put the study together.
The researchers thank the more than 100 people who helped collect grizzly bear hair samples. They are especially grateful to the Gitga'at, Haíɫzaqv, Kitasoo/Xai'xais, Wuikinuxv, and Nuxalk leadership and Guardian Watchmen programs that made the study possible.
They dedicated their work to the late Nuaqawa (Evelyn Windsor), who taught them that people learned their language and way of life from the bears.
To read the whole study, visit Ecology and Society.
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Afaha Oku village is one of communities within Uyo capital city which hosts two major institutions, the prestigious Cornelia Conelly College (CCC) and some part of the University of Uyo town campus, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
Same village also provides access into the Uyo City polytechnic, and also links Urua Ekpa and Uyo village roads which serves as gateways to Calabar Itu highway.
As significant as Afaha Oku community is to the existence of Uyo, the capital City of Akwa Ibom State, this community is severely threatened by gully erosion and deep ravine which is threatening the existence of the entire community.
Though the fears expressed by many that the entire community may soon cave into the near bottomless ravine may sound a bit exaggerated for those who may not have gone round the community, the reality that not less than ten buildings cave in every rainy season, gives reason to fear the prediction may come true.
While some may have thought that the badly affected and almost irredeemable side of the community, behind the University of Uyo, round to Uyo village road and Eka street on the right side of Afaha Oku road was the only side to be scared of, and therefore began relocating from the area or avoid further development as existing buildings were fast caving in, the left hand side of the village, accessed through CCC junction, was artificially dragged into the natural landslide by JVL, a construction company engaged by the World Bank in 2005.
JVL as explained by residents of the affected area was engaged by the World Bank in 2005 to construct the Udo Usanga, Ekpene Ntan, Akpan Eton, up-to Urua Ekpa road.
The construction company, according to residents of the area tricked the then village head into accepting that red earth be removed from Akpan Eton, one of the streets earmarked for construction, to fill other areas with a promise to refill, provide drainage and construct the road which was said to be part of the contract awarded.
Unfortunately, JVL not only abandoned some parts of the awarded roads at various stages of completion, but also diverted heavy volume of water into the deeply excavated Akpan Eton street.
However, the roads abandoned by JVL were reawarded by the NDDC in 2016, but the deeply excavated street was once again ignored and abandoned, probably due to the degree of damage caused by the JVL.
As should be expected therefore, the heavy volume of water through the deeply excavated road not only introduced a ravine due to heavy flood along the street which gradually sent residents packing by rapidly swallowing buildings, but also created a link to connect the major ravine on the other side of the road and wrapped the entire Afaha Oku community for possible sinking.
Narrating the ordeals on behalf of residents of the area, one of the landlords, Mr Titus Jerome Udoh confirmed that the road was motorable before the unfortunate excavation by JVL, which later abandoned the road in 2005.
His words "The Company was to construct roads around here, including this road, but they instead came and removed the earth over there and diverted all the water from Urua Ekpa to this road. That was the genesis of this gully. So you can imagine all the volume of water from Urua Ekpa passing through the road".
Udoh said residents of the area had since 2006 forwarded several letters to concerned ministries of government, appealing to them to come to their aid, but to no avail.


The dielectric spectra of mixtures of the polar solute isoamyl bromide in 2-methylpentane have been investigated in the frequency range 1 mHz to 1 MHz and in the temperature range approaching the glass transition temperature. The results obtained from the spectra are compared with those obtained recently [J. Chem. Phys. 111, 10979 (1999)] on pure isoamyl bromide. It is found that on increasing dilution with the nonpolar solvent, the width of the curves of the dielectric spectra increase significantly, and this is reflected in the increase in the nonexponential nature of the relaxation dynamics. This is found to be a consequence of the decrease in the cooperativity of the relaxation dynamics and or an increase in the heterogeneity of the solution. The data are found to fit the Havriliak?Negami equation extremely well. The data at low and high frequencies also fits the "universal law," since the latter is a low and high frequencies limiting case of the Havriliak?Negami equation. The scaling parameters of this law are calculated for the 25 mol % solution of isoamyl bromide in 2-methylpentane, and these are shown to experimentally relate to the H?N parameters. The stretched exponential parameter, , is estimated as a function of the temperature and is shown to follow the equation a(T?T0). Vogel?Fulcher?Tammann equation fits the data of the relaxation peak frequency as a function of the inverse of absolute temperature for the various mixtures quite well, this being possibly a consequence of the temperature dependence of the stretched exponential parameter. The predictions from the mode coupling theory and those by Bertrand and Souletie are verified with the exception that the exponent is found to be much greater than predicted by these theories. The relative predominance of the Johari?Goldstein process in isoamyl bromide increases initially with dilution with 2-methylpentane and then disappears as the number density of the independent relaxors increases with further dilution.


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DALLAS, TX - SEPTEMBER 14: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the American Airlines Center on September 14, 2015 in Dallas, Texas. More than 20,000 tickets have been distributed for the event. (Image: Getty)
For The First Time, Facebook Removes Trump Post, Citing Coronavirus Disinformation
by Polina KuznetsovaAugust 7, 2020, 11:35 amAugust 7, 2020, 11:35 amAugust 7, 2020, 11:35 am2020 Election, Coronavirus, Daily Digest, News, News Feed >
Facebook took down a post from President Donald Trump citing coronavirus disinformation. In the video, Trump claimed children were immune to coronavirus.
Trump posted a video of his Fox News interview on Wednesday in which he pushed for schools opening and falsely claimed that children were "almost immune" to coronavirus.
"They've got much stronger immune systems than we do somehow for this," Trump said. "They don't have a problem. They just don't have a problem."
Researchers, however, do not support the theory. While many children might be asymptomatic or show mild symptoms, an assumption that children are immune to the virus is false. A new study from South Korea also suggests that children from 10 to 19 can spread the virus as much as adults.
"This video includes false claims that a group of people is immune from Covid-19, which is a violation of our policies around harmful Covid misinformation," a Facebook spokesman Andy Stone said.
"The President was stating a fact that children are less susceptible to the coronavirus," said Courtney Parella, a spokesperson for the Trump campaign, addressing to the Facebook post removal. "Another day, another display of Silicon Valley's flagrant bias against this President, where the rules are only enforced in one direction. Social media companies are not the arbiters of truth."
It was the first time that Facebook took down Trump's post due to disinformation on coronavirus. Previously, Facebook applied labels to Trump campaign posts because of a Nazi symbol or misleading information about in-mail voting. Still, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has stood his ground on Facebook policies that refrain from policing politicians' posts. He said such posts could be in public's interest even if they are false and that Facebook does not want to be the "arbiter of truth."
Facebook, however, implemented specific rules on misinformation amid the coronavirus pandemic in April. However, Facebook never blocked Trump's posts, where he controversially suggested people should be injected with bleach to treat coronavirus.
Twitter on Wednesday also blocked the Trump campaign's tweet with the same video, citing coronavirus disinformation. The account was blocked until they removed the video.
coronavirus COVID-19 Donald Trump Facebook
Article by Polina Kuznetsova
Supreme Court Fails To Find Abortion-Ruling Leaker
Treasury Secretary Warns Congress U.S. Will Soon Hit Debt Ceiling


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Welcome to Britain - heres your mansion
The British people deserve all they get for listening to the media and voting for who the media wanted them to vote for.
If you are as stupid as a well trained monkey, then expect to be treated like a monkey.
'Live in a £1m mansion for £130 a week? Only if you throw in a new kitchen...': Whistleblower exposes chancers and cheats who abuse social housing
Last updated at 8:00 AM on 6th July 2010
* Comments (103)
* Add to My Stories
Recently the Mail published a devastating account by a whistleblower who revealed a culture of absenteeism, rampant inefficiency and 'unsackable' staff at the London council where he works as a senior planning officer.
The article struck a chord with another official employed by a housing association in the capital. The system is designed to help the destitute, but he says it is abused by undeserving chancers and cheats.
The Mail knows his identity, but to protect his job, 'Chris' tells his story to EUGENE COSTELLO...
Not long ago, I had to do a field visit to one of our sites to show some properties to a family. The houses are new-builds in a really good, central location - I'd love to live in one myself. Three storeys, with three or four bedrooms, really nice - they were so new that the paint was still wet.
The family had just arrived in London from Somalia. It didn't take long for them to decide they'd seen enough. They didn't speak much English but they made it clear they weren't happy with the bedrooms on the top floor - apparently they didn't like the sloping eaves.
Corrupt: The housing system is designed to help the destitute but is abused by chancers and cheats
But the deal-breaker came with their next questions. First, they wanted to know if the property came with an automatic right-to-buy with a discount, which it didn't.
They are thinking of council-owned properties, but we are a housing association - a not-for-profit organisation that is funded by government grants, bank loans and rental income - so we hold on to our stock and simply let it out.
I thought that question was a bit odd, considering the family supposedly didn't have a penny to their name, which was why they were throwing themselves on the mercy of the good old British taxpayer. Where would they get the funds to buy a townhouse in central London?
This 'penniless' family also wanted to know whether they got a residents' parking space with the property. I had to tell them 'No' to that as well. They shrugged and spread their arms, as if to say: 'How on earth do you expect us to live here? Why are you wasting our time dragging us here?' And off they went.
They could afford to be so sniffy because we have Choice-Based Letting (CBL). Once, there was pressure on applicants to accept properties when they came up or risk dropping back down the list. Now that's gone, so they can just keep saying No till we deliver exactly what they want - they're actually more demanding than tenants in the private sector.
Our problem as a housing association is that we are subcontracted to local authorities and have no say over the lists of people for whom we have to find a house - we are simply given the list and if someone is on it, they have the right to take one of our properties (with their rent heavily subsidised by taxpayers).
Even if it would be overwhelmingly obvious to a five-year-old that the applicants were chancers, we have to smile and say, 'Yes, sir' or 'No, madam'. In fact, we can't even describe them as 'tenants' any more - we've been told we must call them 'customers'.
Even if it's obvious they're chancers, we can't say No
he legal position is that local authorities have a statutory duty to house those in need and will determine whether they need emergency housing (such as immediate B&B accommodation) until a long-term property is found.
That's where I come in. I've been doing this sort of work for 15 years and we see a massively disproportionate number of people arriving from overseas.
The law was changed in 2000 to say that asylum seekers would not be eligible for social housing but it doesn't seem to have hugely affected the types of people that we are seeing. I suppose that's partly because once asylum is granted, they do become eligible - and those who go on to get British citizenship can invite members of their family to come over and join them.
Overall, the system is a joke. It rewards those family members who have just stepped off a plane by giving them a wonderful property in a central location, while Britons who have been here for years or even generations have got no chance of getting to the top of the list.
This is because British applicants tend to be already living with family - parents, etc - so technically qualify as being housed. Recent arrivals with kids in tow do not and are given priority. That said, single mothers as a group are hugely over-represented among social housing tenants; the perception of girls becoming pregnant to get a council flat isn't completely without foundation.
My particular bugbear, odd as it may sound, is satellite dishes. These pose a huge problem for us, especially with our Turkish 'customers' (for some reason a lot of the families we are asked to house are Turkish).
The first thing they want to know - well, after the free parking and the right to buy, of course - is whether they are allowed to put a satellite dish the size of a small helipad on the front of the property. Some of them need to put up two dishes so they can guarantee getting all the channels they want.
As a result, some of our properties end up looking like GCHQ. I'm told the problem is something to do with the signal for Turkish TV not being strong enough.
We always say No. If they think we really mean it - because the house is a new-build or period property - they will turn the place down, no matter how nice it is.
How are they paying for it? Tenants who are supposedly on the breadline often have luxury goods like plasma TVs
Properties with open-plan kitchens can be a problem too, as Somalian or other Muslim 'customers' often don't want a kitchen that opens straight on to a reception room, and these type of houses are always turned down. I was given the reason by one man: If he wanted to invite other men around to play cards or whatever, he didn't want them to see his wife making food in the kitchen.
I really have no idea how some of the people who come to us become eligible for such heavily subsidised properties, although I have my theories.
One of our 'customers' is a musician of west African descent who is doing really well and often appears on TV. Certainly, tributes on his website as well as comments from his agent are effusive about just how successful he is. Yet he and his family recently rang us to arrange some property viewings - they were on the council list and wanted rehousing in a more central location.
He was very fussy: it had to be a period, character property and it had to be in London Underground's Zone 1 - ie, central London.
We showed him a beautiful, four-storey Georgian property in a central London square with a park in the middle. He seemed delighted, as well he should be - this is a house worth well over £1 million and a normal rental would be £1,000 a week. He's getting it subsidised for £130 a week.
My personal view is that this house should be sold and the money invested in new-builds - we could have a dozen flats for the same money, and so help lots of families, not just one.
But no one else in the department seems to agree. I can't understand it: surely we are supposed to provide a safety net for as many people as possible, not the keys to the palace for just one family?
Anyway, this family didn't seem to appreciate their good fortune. As soon as they moved in, they bombarded us with a litany of complaints. Nothing was ever right.
For example, we had just installed a new fitted kitchen, leaving space for white goods - we don't supply those, that's down to the tenants. Sorry, customers!
Anyway, this family had brought with them a 'slim fit' dishwasher. But the space we'd left was for a standard-sized unit. Believe it or not, they wanted us to come back, take the kitchen out and refit it with units that matched their dishwasher.
In any case, I don't know how that family qualified for social housing. If I were being charitable, I would guess that they had got on the list before they had a better income and managed to stay on it.
They bombarded us with a litany of complaints
The truth is that once you're on the list, you seem to be there for life: the system isn't continuously means-tested. What should happen is that tenants - customers - should be retested periodically to ensure that they still qualify for this enormous subsidy from the taxpayer. As I say, it should be a safety net, not a state-sponsored bonanza for a lucky few.
It really rankles that someone who is clearly earning a lot more money than me gets to live in Millionaire's Row at taxpayers' expense, while the rest of us struggle to make ends meet. I commute into work from a small flat outside of London as I can't afford to buy anything more central.
A less charitable explanation for why this musician and his family got the star treatment (and one that a lot of my colleagues believe to be the case) is that there are cliques in local authority departments - be they West African, Indian, Pakistani, whatever - who 'look after their own'.
These cliques bump friends and relatives to the top of the list, even if they don't fulfil any of the criteria for social housing. This is done either as a favour or in return for a backhander.
I know it happens. One area I deal with is in South London. There is a large Portuguese community there and I would often get a call from one local lady, a Portuguese grandmother who seemed to act as an agent for new arrivals. She'd ring me regularly and say: 'Chrees, you have nice flat? I have lovely family who just come from Portugal, need nice three-bed flat.'
The first few times I'd say: 'Luisa, you know I can't do anything unless they're on the list.' She'd reply: 'Don't worry, Chrees, they will be on list tomorrow, please just show them some nice flats.'
And sure enough, the family would be on the next version of the list we'd get.
She clearly knew someone in the housing department who would put her families on the list in exchange for cash - which she could afford to pay as she was charging these families a lot of money in return for her securing a council flat for them. Of course, the family was happy to pay a big one-off fee because once they were in the system they were in for good, and they would get a centrally located flat for a peppercorn rent for life.
I'm speaking out now because I find the whole system corrupt and unfair - and, above all, a monstrous waste of taxpayers' money. Our houses often go to those who have been in the country for less than a month and have no intention of ever contributing anything to Britain through taxes. Meanwhile, those who have been here for years paying tax have got little or no chance of getting a flat.
I went to see a woman recently in her lovely three-bed flat to arrange a follow-up visit. When I got my diary out, she said: 'Can't do July or August - I'm abroad twice this summer.' Then she winked at me and said: 'Not bad for someone on the social, eh, Chris?' and laughed. But I don't find it funny.
Just a few decades ago, if you lived in social housing, people would come and look at your property, and the rules dictated that if you had possessions that were worth anything, the authorities would force you to sell them to contribute towards your rent.
Of course, no one is saying we should return to such harsh attitudes, but the system does seem to have swung far too far the other way.
My colleagues and I go on field visits to see families who are supposedly on the breadline and cannot subsist except by the largesse of the British taxpayer. Yet they have nice cars, top-end plasma TV screens, the latest games consoles for the kids, Sky TV and all the rest of it. How on earth are they paying for it?
I'd love all those luxuries, but I can't afford them - because I work for a living.
* Some names and details have been changed to protect the interviewee's identity.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1292336/Whistleblower-exposes-chancers-cheats-abuse-social-housing.html#ixzz0stPoWeZs
"I'm speaking out now because I find the whole system corrupt and unfair"
How long has this moron and others just like him/her been happy to sit and milk this corrupt system before writing about it (for a fee, and just prior to retirement no doubt)? They are like fat maggots crawling out of the rotten corpse.
lee this story is propaganda, made up bullshit, their may be a hint of truth to it in that some cases may be close to this at times but when the hell did the media give a crap about the country sliding down the tubes on ANY level, crocodile tears are the best you can expect and outright deception the norm.
The aim is simply to cut state funding and here they have found the scape goat, same as their kicking the sick, they think the middleclass will buy into it.
The housing asociations are a NWO mafia trick, the rents are higher than buying and they are a poverty trap, the money destined for projects gets syphoned off by the big boys and it is jobs for the boys - who you know not what you know.
While the staff who do the maintenance etc are `training`(training not worth a shit or recognised by anyone as it happens) in other words - free slaves, expect another expansion of the slave trade under the tories, always keen to get their workhouse mentality out of mothballs, but this time the NWO are asking for it, not conservative ignorance and dogma.
So now the Lib Lab Con have got everyone in their not too well concieved trojan hoarses inside the gates they pull the drawbrige up and get out the billy sticks.
Now we are a destroyed society no more pretence is needed, strait to the robbing and abuse.
Again this piece is a propaganda hitpiece and the intended victim is the poor and needy, they have plans to smash social housing to kick you out if you have been their 40 years and your wife died and they now I presume considering they are the only expanding group in the country that they want some immigrants in your house and you in some squalid squat or care home.
Labour came up with this plan a couple of years ago, it is NWO and a way of spqueezing more people in while kicking the poor and needy brits and british communities, while some of the cases may even be fact let us not believe for one second as they would like you to believe that they give a flying f*ck about the British.
This is simply the sales patter, the grease, the tories are basically pulling the chain and flushing the poor down the toilet just as was planned by Labour, but this time with a right wing spin.
Don't buy into such evil propaganda just because it `appears` to make a case for the cause, it in reality, undermines the cause.
the media is ALL lies - everything, their is NEVER a strait article, which is why they repeats the same pathetically small 5 stories (non stories) all day on all chanels, and fill the rest with sport, they don't have time to turn all the news of the day into pure propaganda and hit pieces.
what scares me most is how people are lapping up this bullshit like Nazi Germany pre war!
The majority will bay for the total destruction of the poor, and then it is their turn!
This was a vile hitpiece on the poor working class, nothing more nothing less.
One step away from slave camps/ gulags/workhouses.
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text:
GOODBYE TO THE CLASS OF 2020 by A.A. Mitra
by A.A. Mitra
On summer afternoons, if you catch the sun at just the right time, the stained-glass windows of Georgetown University's Dahlgren Chapel create a curious effect on the chancel. The way the light falls through the apse, you get the sense that shadowy figures are standing over the altar, swaying gently where ordinarily the choir might sit. This is a fact of COVID-19: ordinarily, the chapel would be buzzing with activity, the shadows fading in the face of the ordinary materia of life. But not since the university closed its campus in March 2020.
I found this out myself on the afternoon of June 29, 2020, when I was sitting alone there, reflecting on my time at Georgetown a few hours before I was to depart the city for the last time on a nighttime flight from Washington DC to New Delhi. I wish I could show you now how frames of my own life in the district seemed to come alive in this dreamlike trick of light, veiled moments and reveries I had thought lost until just then.
On March 14, 2020, Georgetown University shut down its campus as part of an "ongoing response to the novel coronavirus."
On March 18, 2020, I received a notice of eviction from the Office of Residential Living. Weeks before, India had shut down its own borders. I was now stranded alone in a foreign land.
On March 29, 2020, I moved into a new house on the corner of 35th and O Street at tremendous personal cost.
I have practiced this recitation of facts over and over again, till it was committed to fundamental memory, in the weeks since those fateful spring days. They help me separate how it happened — just like that — from the rhythms of disordered thinking that colored my capacity to see and understand things at the time. I felt overcome by a creeping paralysis — a fear that everything I had done and hoped to do had been revealed to be inconsequential in the face of true crisis, and that the life I had imagined for myself was quickly disappearing. I understood then that I had to make sense somehow of this disquietude, which would in a few short months, rearrange my ideas of the community I left behind, of expectation and certainty, of myself.
Looking back now, I can recognize, in the chaos of those early weeks, an anger that still makes the hairs at the back of my neck stand with feeling. On March 20, 2020, I spoke with a counsellor from the university's Counseling and Psychiatric Service, seeking some way out of the rage and resentment I knew I was feeling then. I wrote down, afterwards, this quote from that conversation: "I know it might be difficult for you, not having a place to go to, but you should understand that the university is facing real difficulties."
At night, trying to drift off into sleep, this unthinking cruelty would reverberate most viscerally — I used lay in bed thinking about the money, effort, the joy I had poured into the institution that was ultimately able to evict me without consideration. And I used to obsess over others I had known there coping, by then, with circumstances more challenging than mine — worlds of debt, abuse, bankruptcy, illness.
Did you experience it?
How dare you?
How dare you? This refrain would rise up in my throat, and crackle at my fingertips time and time again in the first few days. It was an extraordinary parting, Georgetown and I, made bitter by burned bridges, and inadequate amends.
I received yesterday an email soliciting donations from recent alums.
I recognize this anger now, and understand it as senseless, unproductive. I can replace the how dare yous of instinct with something borne of more sedate consideration. With reflection, I know this as a familiar part of loss. But I could not even begin to grasp this — the need for mourning — back on those chilly spring evenings when I perhaps needed it the most.
You can expect the weather in Washington to march predictably no matter how experience distorts the time by which you live. By April, the cherry blossoms had fallen away, and I settled into the routines of the new house on 35th and O. Days consumed by classes on zoom and nights passed thinking about how my vision for this year would materialize, I found my anger replaced by a new kind of irrationality — an attempt to rationalize, strategize my way out of a personal crisis I couldn't find any other way to work through.
A kind of deranged optimism gave me the conviction that my objectives this year — going home to Delhi, my summer job at UNHCR, moving to Ireland for graduate school — would somehow work themselves out. There were lists and plans, bullet points, typed, written, and revised incessantly, shared with others, and late at night — lists I would stare at wistfully myself, as though willing them into existence — bring back the plans I had, the version of myself I lost.
I know today — and, in a way, I think I knew even then — that my obsessive micromanagement was absurd. On the surface, you would not have known this inner turmoil as I appeared perfectly capable of recognizing and accepting uncertainty as part of the collective moment. Still, I have believed, I had believed, in my ability to control things. I realize now, of course, that my plans hardly mattered. In the desperate grasping for control, and its inevitable loss, I remember finding a sense that I could still assert some agency over the question of hope — and for a little while, that was enough.
On May 18, 2020, 61 days after I was evicted.
50 days after living in the house on 35th and O.
2 days after I had planned to walk the stage at graduation.
I began to recognize this passed time as a private grief, though I could not bring myself to admit it, not even to myself. I wrote down in my notebook on that date: "there is no grief without death."
A scrap of paper recently fell out of a book I was reading then, C.S. Lewis' A Grief Observed, where I had noted the author's assertion that: "you never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you." But is it a matter of life and death alone? Months have passed, and I recognize that my belief in the community I left behind, in the wonder of expectation and possibility — colored as it was that spring by the infinite romance of graduation — has become irrevocably unsettled.
I have learned, since then, that organizations like the CDC are highlighting the multidimensional griefs of the pandemic era. My anger, the empty rationalizations too, I have learned, can be a part of such grief. Still, I resisted at the time the idea of acknowledging the loss or recognizing the grief. After all, we are called upon to present, for the most part, an unceasingly strong frontier at this time. A familiar refrain from that Georgetown counsellor would echo often — a demand to defer to those facing "real difficulties" — which haunts me as I write this even now.
I began feeling, near the end of May, that the faith I had had — a singularly unwarranted confidence in the capacity of the expectant future to soon arrive — was fading quickly. Each week, my father would call with a plea to come home and I would go through the familiar routine of convincing him that I was safe in America, and that travelling the 7,000 miles from DC to Delhi, with COVID-19 ravaging both places, would be territory wholly uncharted. I could not tell him, of course, that I was starting to doubt that mechanical speech myself, for all the
times I repeated it and repeated it to everyone who cared to ask after me.
Late at night, I would often walk around on Georgetown's abandoned campus. The Potomac used to loom like the river Styx, the paths I had walked hundreds of times before suddenly terra incognita. Then the memories, the anger and its consonant irrationalities would come rushing back. It was impossible, I felt, to trust my own conflicting instincts. Each decision I had made in the preceding months felt like the wrong one, every choice had cost something. For the first time in my time in America, it was starting to feel truly foreign.
One June morning, I called my father and said, on impulse, I think I'm wrong about staying on in the States. Maybe I need to go back to Delhi.
On June 29, 2020, 44 days after I had planned to walk the stage at graduation.
I boarded a flight to New Delhi.
On July 16, 2020, 15 days after navigating a pandemic-induced, bureaucratic nightmare at Delhi's airport.
2 days after completing a mandatory 2-week quarantine at a Central Delhi hotel.
I laughed with my brother for the first time in 6 months. I saw my parents, and waved to my grandmother from my balcony in lieu of bounding into her house, standing opposite to ours, and hugging her so tightly, it would have knocked the air out of her lungs.
And at the back of my mind, a question I hardly wanted to entertain. Why did I lose faith in Georgetown, its promise, the future I had willed it to deliver in those isolated, isolating weeks?
There is a discussion now among friends, colleagues, and strangers about reopening schools and colleges around the world. The nature of new griefs in the coming academic year will vary, and affect people and communities in different ways. I have no wisdom to offer on the politics of it, or the epidemiology, but this is what I have learned. You can be prepared for new ways of doing things, for your material fears, the uncertainty — you can even be prepared for illness — but you cannot prepare for the grief. It feels very much like a fear and anxiety, though it is not quite just that, and can take you over in unforeseen waves. When you seek support, the institutions you trust might fail you, like they failed me. It is emotional and physiological. Multidimensional. It can leave you questioning yourself, your capabilities. Even your reality. I see it all around me now, in the shattering of expectation, in the hopes and promises lost to the moment, the collective (yet differentiated) loss we can't even begin to comprehend yet.
Mid-July, sitting on my old bed, I finally started acknowledging the last 124 days of my life as a kind of mourning. I have known it, inhabited it before. So, why did I lose faith in Georgetown? I think I had been holding on to Washington, the way I once held on to people I have lost, because that's not how it was supposed to end. I had somehow convinced myself that if I stayed there as long as I could — walked the same roads, maintained the same routine — we would have a different ending. I would get a happier farewell to my university, a better goodbye to loved ones that had already scattered. I recall this irrational wishing and hoping with a biting clarity now. We took graduation pictures even though there was no graduation to celebrate. I kept the hotel booking my parents had made to attend the ceremony that never materialized. I extended my student visa, wanting to stay a while longer. I packed away the flimsy graduation regalia I didn't need into my suitcase, expecting to take it home. What for?
I believe I began to understand, by June, that all this was another product of a derangement that had burrowed into my mind without my knowing. After all, what could this be, but grief?
In a flash, I'm back at the chapel. I see my time here in a trick of light and shadows — walking into the university gates for the first time, the places I first met the people I love now, the shortcuts I walked every day. The tears are falling, falling. Someone lit a candle here today, the first I've seen in weeks. I wonder why? I bow my own head down in an almost votive kind of meditation — I try to imagine how it will be, not being here every day.
On June 29, 2020, 102 days after I was evicted.
44 days after I had planned to walk the stage at graduation.
8 hours before I leave the city for the last time.
I think I am ready to say goodbye, I mean really say it, to the Class of 2020.
PreviousMY CRAZY AUNT CELESTE WHO MAKES THE WORST BEAN POTATO TACOS IN ALL OF TAOS by Alejandro Lucero
NextEGO by Emma Berg
A.A. Mitra
A.A. Mitra is a recent graduate of Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. This piece is for the class of COVID-19.


Wondering how to start a garden? Find your confidence with these expert gardening tips.
Never gardened before? No problem. Make your grow-you-own dreams a reality with these 10 easy-to-follow tips.
Starting a garden is just like real estate it's all about location. Place your garden in a part of your yard where you'll see it regularly (out of sight, out of mind definitely applies to gardening). That way, you'll be much more likely to spend time in it.
Misjudging sunlight is a common pitfall when you're first learning to garden. Pay attention to how sunlight plays through your yard before choosing a spot for your garden. Most edible plants, including many vegetables, herbs, and fruits, need at least 6 hours of sun in order to thrive.
3. Stay close to water.
One of the best gardening tips you'll ever get is to plan your new garden near a water source. Make sure you can run a hose to your garden site, so you don't have to lug water to it each time your plants get thirsty. The best way to tell if plants need watering is to push a finger an inch down into the soil (that's about one knuckle deep). If it's dry, it's time to water.
4. Start with great soil.
When starting a garden, one of the top pieces of advice is to invest in soil that is nutrient-rich and well-drained. Achieve this just-right blend by mixing 3 inches of Miracle-Gro® All Purpose Garden Soil into the top 6 to 8 inches of existing soil if you're planning to plant in the ground. If you're planting in a raised bed, use Miracle-Gro® Raised Bed Soil, which is the perfect weight and texture for raised bed growing.
When space is at a premium, look to containers. You can grow many plants in pots, including vegetables, herbs, flowers, fruit trees, berries, and shrubs. When gardening in containers, use a pot that's large enough for the plant it's hosting, and fill it with Miracle-Gro® Moisture Control® Potting Mix. Not only is it specially formulated to help plants in pots thrive, but it also helps protect against over- and under-watering.
6. Choose the right plants.
It's important to select plants that match your growing conditions. This means putting sun-loving plants into a sunny spot, choosing heat-tolerant plants in warm climates, and giving ground-gobbling vines like pumpkins and melons ample elbow room (or a trellis to climb). Do your homework and pick varieties that will grow well where you live and in the space you have. And to get a step up on success when growing veggies and herbs, start with vigorous young plants from Bonnie Plants® instead of trying to grow from seed.
Knowing your "hardiness zone" can help you choose the best plants. Simply put, it describes the coldest place a plant can grow. The higher the zone number, the warmer the climate. So if a plant is "hardy to zone 4" and you garden in zone 5, that plant will survive in your yard. If, however, you're in zone 3, it's too cold to grow that particular plant. Find out your hardiness zone.
8. Learn your frost dates.
Planting too early (or late) in the season can spell disaster for your garden. You need to know the last average spring frost date for your area so you don't accidentally kill plants by putting them out prematurely. It's also good to know your first average fall frost date so that you get your plants harvested or moved indoors before late-season cold damages them. Discover the average first and last frost dates for your area.
Apply a layer of mulch that's 2 to 3 inches deep around each plant. This will help reduce weeds by blocking out the sun, and reduce moisture loss through evaporation, so you have to water less. For a polished look, put down a layer of Scotts® bagged mulch. Or, you can put down straw, shredded leaves, pine straw, or some other locally available material.
We've already talked about the importance of starting with great soil, but that soil works best in concert with regular boosts of high-quality nutrition for your plants. In other words, amazing soil + top-notch plant food = super garden success! So, a month after planting, begin feeding your garden with plant food like Miracle-Gro® Water Soluble All Purpose Plant Food. Be sure to follow label directions.
Miracle-Gro® Garden Soil All Purpose is enriched with continuous release plant food to help get plants off to a great start. It will feed them up to 3 months and improve the existing soil so your plants can build strong roots.
Learn about how plant food can help you get the most from your garden, including a big harvest.
Make growing your favorite outdoor plants easier and more successful with the right tools.
Start greening up your thumb with some of the easiest-to-grow vegetables, herbs, and flowers.


This page displays sold house prices for Gloucester Street in Hull.
Gloucester Street in Hull HU4 consists predominantly of terraced houses. Properties on Gloucester Street typically have values around under £100,000, ranging upwards of £100,000 for larger semi-detached houses.
Map showing Gloucester Street in Hull.


text:
1) 233 Papuans Not Arrested but Protected from Angry Masses: Police
2) Activist calls for NZ rethink on West Papua after mass arrests
3) Solomons PM says his govt want nothing to do with West Papua
4) Lack of judges, Polish's tourist trial postponed
5) Australian among hundreds of Papuan activists arrested in Indonesia
https://en.tempo.co/read/news/2018/12/03/055923943/233-Papuans-Not-Arrested-but-Protected-from-Angry-Masses-Police
Papuan activists march as police keep watch during a rally to commemorate the West Papuan declaration of independence from Dutch colonial rule in Surabaya, December 1, 2018. REUTERS/Sigit Pamungkas
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta- The East Java Police clarified that the Surabaya Police resort has not arrested 233 college Papuan students and civilians in Surabaya on Sunday, December 2.
East Java Police Spokesman Grand Commissioner Frans Barung Mangera said that police personnel was securing the hundreds of students for protection purposes following
a report of a number of mass-organizations provoked by the Papuans that reportedly chanted about Papua's freedom.
"We, in fact, secured them because there were groups outside that were already triggered, groups like KPPI, Pemuda Pancasila (Pancasila Youths), and many more," said Frans on Sunday.
Read also:233 Papua Students Left Surabaya Police Custody
He explained that this was deemed necessary by police since the mass-organizations were already surrounding the area where the students were.
"They chanted slogans that enraged other groups such as the 'free Papua' chant. We secured the 233 people to the police station for the sake of their own safety," Frans explained.
537 people were arrested following the December 1 movement which commemorates Papua`s independence movement. The hundreds were arrested in Kupang, Ternate, Ambon, Manado, Makassar, Jayapura, Asmat, Waropen, and Surabaya. Surabaya was where the movement was concentrated.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/international/programmes/datelinepacific/audio/2018673921/activist-calls-for-nz-rethink-on-west-papua-after-mass-arrests
From Dateline Pacific, 4:03 pm today
A human rights activist says New Zealand needs to rethink its policy towards West Papua in the wake of violent demonstrations and mass arrests over the weekend.
Saturday marked the 57th anniversary since the Papuan Morning Star flag was first flown officially, and rallies took place across Indonesia.
More than 500 people were arrested in the fallout, including hundreds in Surabaya, where Papuans openly clashed with counter-protestors.
Seventeen people were reportedly injured.
In New Zealand, supporters marked the event peacefully, including MPs from the coalition-government Labour and Green parties.
Activist Maire Leadbeater says New Zealand should urgently respond to the weekend's arrests.
She told Mackenzie Smith they marked an escalation of violence towards Papuans.
Listen duration 3′ :04″
https://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/377390/solomons-pm-says-his-govt-want-nothing-to-do-with-west-papua
The Solomon Islands prime minister Rick Hou says his government wants nothing to do with West Papua.
In his most public comments on the subject to date the Solomon Star reported Mr Hou saying West Papua was a domestic one issue for Indonesia to deal with.
This was in response to questions from local journalists asking whether West Papua was discussed during his meeting with Indonesia's president Joko Widodo on the fringes of the recent APEC leaders meeting.
Mr Hou likened the plight of West Papuans to that of the indigenous peoples of New Zealand Australia.
He said Solomon Islands had no policy on West Papua so it is a non-issue for his government and he did not discuss it with Mr Widodo.
The Solomon Islands prime minister's stance is in direct contrast with his predecessor and now deputy prime minister Manasseh Sogavare who championed the cause for self-determination for West Papuans and who regularly urged world leaders not to turn a blind eye to alleged atrocities committed by Indonesia's security forces in the region.
https://tabloidjubi.com/eng/lack-of-judges-polishs-tourist-trial-postponed/
Published 1 hour ago on 3 December 2018
By pr9c6tr3_juben
Wamena, Jubi– the Legal team of a Polish tourist Jakup Skrzypski who detained by Jayawijaya State Attorney Office requested the trial of his client to
A member of Skrzypsky's legal advisors Yance Tenoye said he hoped the trial could be conducted immediately, however, the lacking number of judges in Wamena District Court could not make it happened.
"Regarding the number of judges in the court, we do know it because we had the circular. However, as legal advisors, we hope it can do immediately," Tenoye told Jubi in Wamena on Thursday (29/11/2018).
Moreover, he said this trial is critical because his client has detained at Jayawijaya Regional Police Prison. "Since the beginning, the legal team has objected our client to be detained at the police station, because it's not feasible. Our client should get the same treatment as others who detained in the correctional institution," he said.
"So far, our client is fine. With the addition detention time, it expected that before 21 December 2018 we can have the information," he said.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Wamena District Court Class II Imelda Indah said that currently her institution only has three judges. Therefore it affects the process of every trial.
"It's not only his trial is suspended. There are more than 100 cases that led only by a single judge," he told reporters in Wamena on Monday (26/10/2018).
She also admitted that currently, she is still waiting for the arrival of new judges so that the case involving the Polish need to postpone before taking to the court.
In the meantime, the Head of Jayawijaya District Attorney Office Togar Raflion confirmed the extension of Skrzypski's detention until 21 December 2018 due to a trial delayed.
"Last week we wanted to delegate this case to the court. However, after consulting with the court, they stated they lacked judges," he said in his office.
As a result, the prosecutor's office has extended Skrzypski's detention period for the next 30 days. (*)
Reporter: Islamic Adisubrata
Editor: Pipit Maizier
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/australian-among-hundreds-of-papuan-activists-arrested-in-indonesia-10991792
03 Dec 2018 02:19PM
JAKARTA: An Australian was among hundreds of pro-Papuan independence activists arrested across Indonesia at the weekend, police and rights groups said Monday (Dec 3).
Some 233 activists, including Australian Ronda Amy Harman, were detained late Saturday in Indonesia's second-largest city Surabaya, East Java police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera said.
Local media reported that the arrests were made at a student dormitory.
They were among more than 500 activists swept up in a nationwide police crackdown that coincided with rallies on Dec 1, a date many Papuans consider should be the anniversary of their independence from the Dutch.
Papua declared itself an independent nation on that date in 1961, but neighbouring Indonesia took control of the region by force in 1963. It officially annexed Papua in 1969 with a UN-backed vote, widely seen as a sham.
No one was formally charged in the Surabaya arrests including Harman, Mangera said, adding that the 35-year-old woman was reported to immigration officials.
A spokesperson at the Australian embassy in Jakarta could not immediately be reached for comment. The arrests followed a rally in which counter protestors threw stones at around 300 Papuans, injuring 16 people, Amnesty International said.Rights groups have blasted authorities for the mass detentions, saying it was an assault on Papuans right to freedom of expression and assembly. "These people did nothing but peacefully attend public events," Amnesty International Indonesia's executive director Usman Hamid said in a statement."These arbitrary arrests add to the long list of acts of harassment, intimidation and arrests faced by Papuans." Jakarta keeps a tight grip on resource-rich Papua, which has been the scene of a low-level independence insurgency since the late Sixties. Some of the violence has been centred on protests against a huge gold and copper mine owned by US-based firm Freeport McMoRan - a frequent flashpoint in the local struggle for independence and a bigger share of the region's rich resources
KNPB members arrested: URGENT ADVOCACY NEEDED
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AWPA letter to Australian Foreign Minister
1) Indonesian infrastructure isn't quelling desire...
1) Military to continue crackdown on rebels in Pap...
1) Call for govt to review position on West Papua
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Summary of events in West Papua (11 November-16 D...
1) Villagers flee fighting, hide in forest in Indo...
1) Post Papua Killings; TNI to Open Isolated Access
West Papua liberation movement calls for UN suppor...
1) Indonesia: Papua rebels reject surrender after ...
1) Disheartening Truth of Papuan Children`s Dream ...
1) TNI Uses No Major Explosives in Papua Evacuation
1) Armed Papuan rebels who killed workers should b...
SBS News- Indonesian troops 'kill Papua civilians...
1) West Papua National Liberation Army: It's an at...
1) Massacre a sign of increased trouble in Papua
Media release- Military sweep in Nduga Regency-loc...
1) TNI denies explosive use during rescue after Pa...
Photos March for International Humans Rights Day ...
Massacre of workers rekindle forgotten insurgency ...
1) Papua Rebel Attack Raises Questions about Indon...
1) Papua: How Jokowi is trying – and failing – to ...
1) Papua mass killing: What happened
1) ABC radio Interview with Benny Wenda
West Papua independence leader urges calm after ki...
Media release- Increasing tension in West Papua
1) Editorial Papua, land of violence
1) Separatism violence intensifies in Indonesia's ...
1) Trans-Papua road project suspended amid worseni...
1) Unknown Armed Men Kill Dozens of Workers in Papua
1) Australian caught in west papua crackdown
1) 233 Papuans Not Arrested but Protected from Ang...
West Papua flag raised in Port Vila
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Media Release: West Papua Action Auckland
1) West Papuans rally for independence from Indonesia


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Renumerated Layers
In the second half of the 20th century, Monika Sosnowska's hometown of Warsaw, Poland, was transformed. Born in 1972, the artist witnessed the city's sharp change from its utopian and modernist socialist aesthetic – begun in the aftermath World War Two – to a distinctively neoliberal landscape in the 1990s, dominated by new developments. This had an immeasurable impact: she continues to be fascinated by exposed architecture, a key motif in her work, along with a committed exploration of the poetic potential of urban ruins.
A recently opened exhibition at Hauser & Wirth, London, titled Structural Exercises, examines the underlying layers of buildings, revealing the material fabric of the environment as a palimpsest. Seven sculptures cover the entire North Gallery, offering an immersive experience. Walking amongst the constructions, which are recognisable as architectural forms, yet warped, the viewer is prompted to think of the transience of places. Nostalgia and collective memory have been a key feature of artistic explorations of the former Eastern bloc (in the case of East Berlin, even coining a term, östalgie, to convey the sense of loss felt by some its inhabitants). In many cases these depictions verge on the sentimental.
The pieces on show in this case are, however, unyielding. They convey the ambiguity and confusion of such feelings, many of which are, of course, predicated on very real and relatively recent experiences of trauma. Geometric and monochromatic it may be, but this collection of concrete, steel beams, pipes and rods will spark different responses in every person who sees it; visual and emotional memory are closely interlinked and entirely subjective.
In previous installations, Sosnowska has used notions of familiarity to make audiences question physicality and reality: a twisted, virtually unrecognisable staircase, for example, or a disconcertingly warped, shocking red handrail. Here, however, such externality is stripped away, forcing the foundations of buildings to take centre stage and speak for themselves. Their previous outward forms would have been inescapably quotidian, yet the emotive and exploratory potential of these supportive elements is developed here to astonishing effect.
Anna Feintuck
Structural Exercises is at Hauser & Wirth, London, until 10 February. Find out more here.
1. Installation view, 'Market', Pérez Art Museum Miami, Miami FL, 2013.
Posted on 6 December 2017
Review of Qwaypurlake at Hauser and Wirth Somerset
We explore Hauser & Wirth Somerset's Qwaypurlake, a group exhibition that presents a fictional reimagining of the Somerset landscape, constructing an alternative, dystopian future for the area.
Allusive Identities
The centrepiece of the latest exhibition by Roni Horn is the photographic opus The Selected Gifts, a collection of 67 images documenting presents from 41 years.
The Movement: Bob Adelman and Civil Rights Era Photography, NSU Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale
Marking 50 years since the Civil Rights Act of 1964, The Movement: Bob Adelman and Civil Rights Era Photography showcases 100 iconic Bob Adelman's photos, documenting the struggles of black Americans in the 1960s.


Cheam LTC is run by a management committee to discuss and make decisions in the best interest of the club. In the list below, you will find a role profile of our current committee members.
If you ever have any issues please come and talk to one of the committee members and they will be glad to help. Please click here if you are interested in volunteering at the club.


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Picasso Vase Smiles Brightest For Doyle
NEW YORK CITY – Doyle's auction of Prints & Multiples on April 29 presented a wide range of works spanning the Seventeenth Century to the present day. With competitive bidding, the sale totaled a successful $876,406 against an estimate of $664,700-979,500, sold 85 percent by lot and 93 percent by value.
Highlighting the sale was a Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) monumental ceramic "Vase Azteque aux Quatre Visages" that achieved $78,125 to a buyer in the United States, nearly reaching the high end of its $60/80,000 estimate. The jug was conceived in 1957, 11 years after Picasso first fell in love with creating ceramic works at the Madoura pottery factory in Southern France. Depicting four different faces, the form derives from Moche Peruvian culture and is among the largest of the 663 different editions created by the artist. Price cited includes buyer's premium as reported by the auction house. Watch for a longer review of the sale in a future issue.


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Mixed Tape // Volume One
Events 09/07/2019
St. Margaret's House
Mixed Tape // Volume One is the first of Lemon House Theatre's scratch nights, which support writers in seeing their work staged through script-in-hand performances, with the chance to receive feedback from a live audience.
This first edition of Mixed Tape will feature four short plays by emerging writers who identify as mixed race/ dual heritage. Each play will be responding to the idea of 'Identity' in different ways, whether that's about their own individual identity or their take on the identity of a cactus living on Mars…
This night is about supporting artists to take risks and experiment with their work,with this showcase being a celebration of not only their work, but also of artists who are too often underrepresented on the stage.
Come along to see the work of these writers be brought to life at an informal rehearsed reading, with their pieces exploring what exactly identity means to them.
Tickets are £3 and can be bought here: lemonhousetheatre.com/comingup
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Big Ten ready to tackle student-athlete time demands
Barry Alvarez wants 20-hour rule eliminated.
Big Ten ready to tackle student-athlete time demands Barry Alvarez wants 20-hour rule eliminated. Check out this story on IndyStar.com: https://indy.st/1HjSH8O
Mike Carmin, Journal & Courier Published 8:26 a.m. ET May 21, 2015
Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany.(Photo: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports)
ROSEMONT, Ill. – The idea that a year of readiness (freshman ineligibility) will actually come to fruition is a longshot, but other ideas from the Big Ten are viewed more favorably.
That includes student-athlete time demands.
The 20-hour rule – which Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez is more ready to eliminate – has a better chance gaining traction before the NCAA convention in January.
"Do away with the 20-hour rule," Alvarez aid Wednesday, the final day of the Big Ten spring meetings. "How do you keep track of it? Come on. Don't have rules that can't be enforced."
Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany's base pay skyrockets
According to the NCAA, athletes are limited to 20 hours of countable activity per week and must be given at least one day off. However, travel days can count as a day off if no other activities are planned. The rest of the offseason, athletes are limited to eight hours per week and must be given two days off.
Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany cited studies Wednesday that revealed athletes at all levels of the NCAA are involved in their sports more than 20 hours per week.
"The 20-hour rule is a misnomer," Delany said. "NCAA studies have showed us over time that in Division III, it's in the highs 30's per week, Division II the low 40's. In Division IA, it could be higher, probably in the mid-40's."
Alvarez said abolishing the 20-hour per week rule would be similar to when the NCAA deregulated the amount of food programs could provide.
"When we took the ban off all the food regulations, hallelujah. Feed the kids. If you want to feed them, feed them. Let's not make ridiculous rules that you can't follow," Alvarez said.
The 20-hour rule applies to all sports, but not all sports are created equal. Different sports have different demands, both during the season and the offseason. Recovery time after competition and practice are just as important as the games.
Big Ten's Delany lays out plan for freshmen ineligibility
Delany mentioned establishing different rules for during the season, the school year outside of competition, as well as the offseason.
"I don't think there's a simple answer," Delany said. "There's not a cookie cutter answer. Cross country is a different sport than football and football is different than gymnastics and swimming and diving. There's not a one size fits all."
However, athletes are entering college with a background in specialization. The day of three-sport athletes has dwindled over the last decade as younger athletes focus on one sport. They're accustomed to spending more than 20 hours per week trying to improve their skills.
"Athletes for the most part didn't show up at 18 and begin to train 35 hours a week when they got to college," Delany said. "Kids are making choices shortly after they reach puberty about the singularity of a sport."
Input from coaches, athletes and administrators are needed to create a viable plan, which also has to be enforced and monitored.
"You can't have a cop on every beat," Delany said. "It's got to be something that has some level of ability to self-execute."