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Foto-© Sebastian Madej
Sophie and the Giants hatten ein aufregendes Jahr 2019! Die Single The Light lief in der diesjährigen Vodafone-Kampagne rauf und runter, gefolgt von Auftritten auf legendären Festivals wie dem Glastonbury oder Reading und Leeds sowie einem umjubelten Auftritt beim Reeperbahn Festival 2019 in Hamburg! Wir trafen die Band aus Sheffield um Frontfrau Sophie Scott in Hamburg und stellen euch die Newcomerband heute ausgiebig im Interview vor! Auf jeden Fall ein großes Versprechen für das nächste Jahr, ergo auf dem Newcomer-Radar behalten!
– Name: Sophie and the Giants
– Band members: Sophie Scott, Chris Hill, Toby Holmes, Antonia Pooles
– Founding year: 2016
– Location: Sheffield
– Single: Break The Silence
What is your first memory of a contact with music? And when did you start to play music?
Sophie: I've always sang, harmonising to Blondie records as a kid in the back of the car and written very naturally, started with poems and then started writing melodies for them A capella till I learnt to play guitar and piano at around 13 years old, then I also started writing music. It's just always something I've done, I don't remember it starting or doing much else as a kid.
Antonia: I always enjoyed singing as a kid but it wasn't till my mum encouraged me to pick up the guitar when I was around 8 years old that I started playing music. I played my first gig at 12 years old and told my parents in the car back home that "I would dedicate my life to music". With a lot of hard work, it seems to have worked out pretty well so far.
Toby: When I was younger my parents would get me to listen to artists and I didn't have a much interest in it. Then my brother introduced me to his favourite rock bands and I couldn't go anywhere without listening to them. Hyper imaginative mind of kid when listening to good rock music makes you feel like you're in a movie scene. Then I remember my dad bringing home an electric guitar and a bass guitar and told me to choose which one I'd like to learn. I picked bass..but eventually I fell in love with electric guitar instead.
Which was the first band that really struck an impression on you, why and what did you think about them at the time?
Sophie: Probably Queen, my parents played them a lot when I was a kid and I was amazed by all the layers of vocals and the way the music would suddenly take a new direction so quickly and being so elaborate, I thought it was mad but super catchy! I thought the same about The Beatles. Really fascinated me. I always thought music was just about what comes out of your head, didn't think it's needed much thought, but these bands put their life and soul into their music and worked days on end making what was in their heads into a masterpiece and it made me wanna do the same thing and work really hard to make amazing music.
Antonia: My parents would play a lot of Madonna and Pink Floyd while I grew up so I had very mixed influences but I remember listening to the Scissor Sisters first album and being totally mesmerised by the vocals and instrumentation. The lyrical content didn't hit me till I was much older.
Toby: Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age and Muse were all of my favourites and I loved being able to learn the guitar parts and play along with it one album at a time.
How did you meet and in which situation did you form the band?
Sophie: We met studying music! I only went to meet likeminded creative musicians and to start a band, non of us were looking to become session musicians. Even though some of us didn't finish college, I think we all got what we went there for! We are very lucky to have found each other!
How did you come up with the band name, what meaning does it have for you and is there a story behind it?
Sophie: People always compared everyone as being Giants compared to me because I am tiny and I thought I'd embrace that. Even though the band members are actually not that tall now, so its quite ironic. But the name stuck and we say it means "Giant sounding".
After college you moved to Sheffield – from the outside not the obvious move for a young British band. For what reasons did you choose the city, how would you describe the music scene of the city?
Sophie: A few reasons. We went up a few times prior to do some writing with Jon McClure the Sheffield legend, who introduced us to the city and the Peak District which is so beautiful. We also had no money at the time and Sheffield is a much cheaper place to live than London. Although London's the obvious place to go, it actually made no sense as we'd have to get full time jobs in some bar and have no time to actually make music and we wanted to put everything into it. It's so hard nowadays to get noticed by anyone we needed to make a big impression on the world which meant putting everything into it. We were really serious about making it happen and we are slowly!
How would you describe your music and which influences do you have?
Sophie: We describe it as Left-pop. Which is basically Pop with Alternative influences. My personal influences are Blondie & Siouxsie and the Banshees, but modern influences come from Lorde, Arctic Monkeys, The Kills, Angel Olsen and Sharon Van Etten.
How did you make the way out of the practice space to sign a major label deal to play festivals and tour the world? Which were the steps and how does the time feel for you looking backwards:
Sophie: We spent about a year or maybe half when we first started just writing and practicing, we wanted to nail a sound we loved and thought was real and fresh before showing the world. I think this was really beneficial for us because we just came out of nowhere and made a huge impression from the get go, with a solid set of really kick ass songs and people were shocked I think. We worked really hard! After that word got round really quickly. Then a year later we signed to Universal Germany!
Toby: It's been very important to keep up the momentum and positivity by looking out for each other. Nothing gets done unless you're productive, happy and enjoying it. We have also been very lucky to have a great team behind us.
You've released an EP and several singles up to now – so how far are you in working on the debut record and what can we expect from it?
Sophie: We have more songs coming very very soon! In regards to an Album I'd say definitely in the next year or less, we have enough material it's just whether it's the right material. We want it to be amazing and we're perfectionists to an extent so we want to get it right! Trust us it'll be worth it, we promise!
In which situations do you usually write the lyrics for the songs and is there a special surrounding / atmosphere that you work best in?
Sophie: Everything that I've written about is from personal experiences or things I've witnessed other people going through. It's all driven from very real, raw emotion and that's how I write best. So when I feel like I'm gunna explode or cry or when I'm dancing, that's when I write.
We love the song The Light – could you tell us a bit what it is about, if there is a story behind it and how it came into life?
Sophie: That song came from being very lonely and young and discovering how to be in charge of my own happiness and not depending on anyone else to create / control if for me. I had just came out of a long term relationship with someone a bit older than me but I'd been living with him since I was only 17 years old and I was 18 going on 19 when I finally left. I didn't realise how sad I was during this time and how bad for my health it was. I wanted to write something to empower myself and anyone else going through similar feelings. After that I was the happiest I'd ever been, felt like I could take on the world. I wrote 'Waste My Air' around the same time.
The song is also part of a Vodafone campaign – what do you think about that, what does it mean for your career and your artistic freedom?
Chris: Honestly it's crazy, we can't believe that we are part of the Vodafone campaign and how well it fits in the advert, couldn't be happier, hopefully this will help push our music out to a wider audience and help create a bigger foundation in Germany!
Toby: The bigger outreach our music has and the more ears listening to us to the better. This encourages us to give a clearer message in our songs and that changes the game when playing live. The reaction our fans give us when we play songs they know live makes everything so fulfilling.
You're one of the hottest newcomer bands from UK at the moment – which other newcomer bands/artists would you suggest to give a listen to?
Chris: Definitely Childcare and Orchards they are both amazing and such a fresh sound from both the bands!
Antonia: Have a listen to China Bears or Blossom Caldarone if your heart needs some musical therapy. Great artists, beautiful songs!
Toby: Childcare, China Bears and Orchards!!!
Sophie: All of the above!!!
Whats next on your schedule?
Sophie: We haven't announced anything yet, but we have a lot coming! Can't wait for people to hear and see what we've been working on…
What should we know and what shouldn't we know about Sophie And The Giants?
Sophie: Sometimes bands really don't get along or actually dislike each other, but we seriously have so much fun as a band, we love being together and we bring out the best in each other. We're like a family. One thing you shouldn't know…Chris becomes a monster when he's sleeping, he makes demonic noises and terrifies us all, we've compared he's sleepy state to Gollum. Also the boys hold in their farts and the girls don't.
Toby: What you should know is we are not very tall at all. What you shouldn't know is that we are actually slowly shrinking.
What are you doing when you're not doing music?
Chris: Skateboarding, going to gigs, and maybe a lazy one down at the pub.
Sophie: Watching Thriller films, spending quality time with my loved ones, solo dancing in my bedroom, drawing sometimes and meeting Chris at the pub.
Antonia: I daydream a lot so I've started to write out basic storylines which I later try to develop when I have down time. I'm not an aspiring writer but I find it very therapeutic. I also love to do yoga and I try to go on walks to find cute doggos.
Toby: Serving drinks in a bar and drinking far too much coffee. I love video games and films with a good story too.
What was the last record you brought?
Antonia: I bought the latest Kanye West album Ye on vinyl a few months ago. It's a very short record but it hold a special place in my heart.
Toby: China Bears – I've Never Met Anyone Like You E.P.
What did you learn in 2019?
Sophie: I turned 21 and have struggled with a lot of anxiety but I've calmed down a lot, trying to teach myself that life doesn't have to be as scary as we perceive it to be, life's short and we need to have fun with it and take every experience as it comes as long as we look after ourselves and each other. Not to mention we need to take care of our planet a lot more!! It's actually mad how it's taken this long for people to seriously start doing something about it.
Toby: I actually like Olives.
Antonia: I learnt that everything happens for a reason and to never stop working towards your dreams, even if it seems futile. If you believe in yourself and those around you and love what you're doing, it's hard not to be ultimately happy. The phrase 'no pain no gain' sums up my year pretty well.
Which song makes you dance every time?
Sophie: The Kills, "Getting down".
Antonia: September by Earth, Wind and Fire.
Toby: Daffodils- Mark Ronson
How would your Bedroomdisco look like?
Sophie: Lots Of tequila and Blondie. Everyone has to dress up like an icon, as over the top as they like, if you're underdressed, you can't come in (this is not determined by how many items of clothing you're wearing, just how impressive they are!). No bullshit! Only positive vibes.
Antonia: It would probably involve a lot of coloured lights, dress code would be dress to impress elaborate glam and the music would mainly be from the 60's, 80's and 90's. Of course there would be a dance floor, singstar and no killjoys. I'd get every wallflower to dance or sing just enjoy being human.
Toby: Lots of Arcade Fire, craft beer, smoke machines and lasers. | eng_splitted_0.jsonl/1973459 | {
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Now, this is a strange church. It is very small, and from the outside looks completely Victorian, more like a fashionable Gothick estate church than anything else.
Every edge bristles with narrow crenellations - the tower, the porch, the aisles, the clerestory, the chancel and even the vestry. Even more bizarre are the skylights in the south aisle - big rectangular gables poking above the battlements.
In fact, St Peter is an old building. The main body of the nave is 12th century, and the south aisle is 14th century. The age is much more evident on the inside. The 14th century arcades are interesting and unusual - four octagonal shafts pressed together to form lozenge-shaped piers. The rest, though, feels very 12th century, despite the Victorian windows and tower arch.
The roof is broad and flat, and the whole thing is very dark - even the skylights don't manage to bring in much light. Many small Norman churches retain the feel of a tunnel even if later additions add to the space, and St Peter definitely has a subterranean air.
This partially because the windows are filled with murky Victorian glass. Most of it was a bit grim, but I liked the easternmost window in the aisle, which depicted the Presentation of the Magi. The magi themselves are dressed sumptuously - Melchior in particular has a magnificent bejewelled collar - and attendants carry great billowing banners depicting stars and moons. Slightly on the camp side of magnificence, but still good.
Elsewhere in the nave, there are various wall-memorials. One on the north wall caught our attention: it seemed to be a typical Jacobean alabaster wall-plate, complete with ionic columns, strapwork and obelisks. The inscription in the middle, though, commemorates Arnold Kirke-Smith, who was rector from 1889 to 1927. It is possible, I suppose, that the whole thing could be 20th century - in which case, it's a very good imitation of 17th century work. Otherwise, the surround must have been reused from an older monument. The RCHM doesn't mention it, which adds to the mystery.
At the east end of the nave is a fine tulip-stem pulpit: the top is 17th century (fine carving around the top includes the date 1682) but it sits on a medieval stem. Mark clambered up into it, and commented on how lofty it is.
Beside it, the chancel arch looms wide and dark. It is unusually wide, and I presume that this is so because the chancel had to be rebuilt in the 17th century after a dreadful storm in November 1636. The chancel itself has a plain plastered vault, and is even darker than the rest of the church: the tunnel of the nave plunging down towards the dim sanctuary.
I've visited French churches that feel like this, but rarely anywhere in England: in place of light and space, this is a dark, austere, earthy place.
St Peter is usually kept open | eng_splitted_0.jsonl/1973463 | {
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Bombardier's CSeries Faces Increased Skepticism
[Jens Flottau](/author/jens-flottau)September 08, 2014
A version of this article appears in the September 8 Issue of Aviation Week & Space Technology. Bombardier's answer to when CSeries flight tests will resume is: In the coming weeks. That has remained constant since the test fleet was grounded more than three months ago. But there are clear signs...
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Did you know? Aviation Week has won top honors multiple times in the Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Awards, the business-to-business media equivalent of the Pulitzer Prizes. | eng_splitted_0.jsonl/1973474 | {
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The plot of this complex family saga spans 150 years, from 1816 to 1966, with a glimpse forward to 2016. The protagonist is Arne Bjørneboe, a Norwegian sailor severely disfigured in a battle at sea. As a result of the tragic accident, the despairing man isolates himself from others and stops talking. He finds new courage and his vocation as a lighthouse keeper on an inhospitable little island, which is named the "Island of the Mute" in his honour. Some of his descendants decide to leave the island, some stay and take over his job, until the lighthouse becomes fully automated. Detailed description brings the variety of remarkable personalities among this group of men, women, and children to life. Every character has a distinct role to play in the novel. Technological modernisation and social progress are just as masterfully portrayed as the island's unwavering conditions. Author Guido Sgardoli artfully combines adventure and historical fiction in his novel. | eng_splitted_0.jsonl/1973476 | {
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We all love a good cult movie- as is proof from the hundreds of midnight screenings for films such as Trolls 2 and Rocky Horror Picture Show over the decades. Taking to the stage are two new adaptations of some of the world's most loved cult films- Shock Treatment, Richard O' Brien's "parallel reality" film based on characters from Rocky Horror, and "the Citizen Kane of bad movies", The Room by Tommy Wiseau. Theatrefullstop talked to the adapters behind these smash cult successes, Tom Crowley and Edward Greenwood.
A lot of people will recognise Shock Treatment as the official follow-up to Rocky Horror, a not quite sequel of sorts. Could you tell me how it picks up from where RH left off?
At the start of Rocky Horror, we see Brad propose to Janet after attending Ralph and Betty Hapschatt's wedding. In Shock Treatment, Ralph and Betty are going through a messy divorce but are still having to maintain a happily wedded image to perpetuate their Richard-and-Judy-esque husband-and-wife telly presenting act, and Brad and Janet are facing marital difficulties of their own. One of our aims in adapting the show for the stage was to make it feel like these were the same characters we remember from Rocky, but at a very different time in their lives. We settled on a different take on the 'equal' (ie., not a sequel, not a prequel) by deciding that these events did in fact take place in the same universe, but that the story of Rocky is just sort of something that happened once upon a time, like the long, blitzed nights out at college which become dim, distant, misty-eyed memories within a matter of months. Brad and Janet's rip-roaring engagement party is a long way behind them when we meet them at the start of Shock Treatment.
A major objective for me personally was to make Brad and Janet feel like Brad and Janet in a way which they sort of didn't in the film. Cliff de Young and Jessica Harper delivered ace interpretations of the characters all their own, but I couldn't quite connect them to Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick. Many people like that vibe, though, as it suggests that Brad and Janet are the eternal everypeople rather than two specific characters. However, we wanted to bring back Rocky's heroes and pay off their story in our adaptation. I have used the phrase 'Brad and Janet' a thousand and six times in this answer.
What drew you to the project?
Adam Spreadbury-Maher, the King's Head's Artistic Director, was familiar with my writing and suggested me to Benji Sperring, the director. I wasn't certain that I'd be the right person for the job, knowing that there are much more dedicated Rocky Horror fans than myself. However, when I met Benji, I could tell that he was not only hugely passionate about the source material, but that he also had an incredibly clear vision about what he wanted to tweak and twist from the original screenplay, so I knew I'd never want for guidance with the script. We also got on like a house on fire and made each other laugh a lot, which is always a good sign. I also liked his hat. On top of which, there's a brilliant satirical bite to the film and the songs are incredible, which made it a hugely appealing prospect.
When adapting it for stage, did you aim to imitate Richard O' Brien and Jim Sharman, or were you going for a completely new style?
There's a beautifully mysterious tone to the humour of Rocky and Shocky which I was desperate to capture in some capacity. On re-watching Rocky for research, it was encapsulated in one line in particular. Near the end of the film, after committing an impressive number of sins, Frank N Furter turns to camera and purrs, 'it's not easy having a good time', which I find to be a hugely funny stroke of writing. A lot of the humour from O'Brien and Sharman's work comes from naiveté crashing up against corruption. People don't so much make jokes as inadvertently reveal their subconscious thoughts through innuendo and misunderstanding, which is much harder to write than gags. While there are wise-cracks and one-liners in the stage Shock Treatment, I hope we've captured some of that esoteric quality as well.
Have you been involved with any of the rehearsal/audition process, and has that moulded the script?
Benji, his team and the cast have been tremendously welcoming to me and I've been able to clarify script questions, approve line changes and even fling in some blocking ideas from time to time. However, most of the time in rehearsal I've just sat watching with a big stupid grin on my face as Benji, the cast and Lucie Pankhurst, the choreographer, improve my writing with witty and imaginative verbal and physical delivery. The show's absolutely a living creature, mutating and maturing as we go, and I'm thrilled to be a part of that process.
Why have fans had to wait 30 years for a stage adaptation?
Unfortunately, the original film never quite found its audience in the same way that Rocky did. After an infamously torturous production cycle (just look up its IMDb page), it got buried in the cult movie midnight slot in a very limited release on its first appearance. The distributors were not very kind to it. Both the VHS and DVD releases were delayed for years and years, even though that ought to have been where it would flourish. I know several other people have tried to get a stage adaptation off the ground, but Benji was the first one with the sheer manic persistence to snag the rights. I, for one, don't think there could be a better guy for the job.
Interview by Louise Jones.
Shock Treatment is running at the King's Head Theatre, Islington, until 6th June. For more information on the production,
[ visit here…](https://kingsheadtheatre.ticketsolve.com/shows/873524931/events?TSLVq=0e33dd8d-b232-403d-a9b8-715cfa5b607e&TSLVp=c3b94289-929a-4947-8993-109ff6947714&TSLVts=1430758708&TSLVc=ticketsolve&TSLVe=kingsheadtheatre&TSLVrt=Safetynet&TSLVh=ad51201adb8eb54cd133e822e3850389) | eng_splitted_0.jsonl/1973478 | {
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When you create a new domain name, you are asked to supply both a
Master Password and a DNS Password. They protect different kinds
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The authoritative nameservers for .TO (tonic.to) are updated with information
from our customer database every six hours.
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Does Tonic offer a whois service ?
Tonic does not maintain a whois database that provides registrant information, as many of our customers consider the public display of this information invasive of their privacy. In fact, we will never sell a mailing list of our customers.
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DNS and other domain name info, without revealing the customer name.
Try for instance:
There is also a whois server on port 43 of whois.tonic.to.
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a tool like nslookup or dig.
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How can I contact them ?
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the web page that is returned has a link that sends your
contact email address to the registrant.
Whether they choose to reply to your email or not is up to them.
I'm a spammer. Is a .TO domain something I should use ?
Tonic feels very strongly that the sending of unsolicited bulk email or excessive Usenet posting ("spamming") constitutes theft of service, and we do not condone the use of .TO domain names for this purpose.
If we receive complaints that
a .TO domain name has been used for this purpose, we will advise the
domain registrant of the complaint and request that they desist from this
activity. Tonic reserves the right to remove any .TO name registration
if a name is used as a source of
spam, or an address to which to reply to such bulk mail solicitations.
We will also publish the names and contact information for any accounts
terminated for such a reason.
What happens to expired names ?
Registrants of names are sent email warning them that their
name registration is about to expire, and detailing how to renew the name.
Due to abuse of our servers by domain drop catchers, all names that have
been registered and subsequently expired are reserved by Tonic and
not immediately available for registration.
Does .TO allow the registration and use of Internationalized Domain
Names ("IDN") ?
What character sets are supported in an IDN registration under .TO ?
At present, .TO allows the registration of domain names
containing any unicode code point.
What is not allowed in .TO IDN registrations ?
.TO does not allow intentional homonym registrations.
.TO has zero tolerance of malicious use of our ccTLD domain namespace.
Registrations that are reported to be a "homonym" type registration
used to perpetrate spam, phishing, fraud, or any activities deemed by Tonic to be inappropriate or illegal may be removed from the .TO zonefile without notice to the registrant. | eng_splitted_0.jsonl/1973483 | {
"title": ".to",
"last_revision": "2023-11-13T03:01:36",
"url": "http://www.tonic.to/faq.htm?B6G53667;;;",
"lid": "eng_Latn",
"file_path": "/brtx/archive/orionw/process_megawika_citations/megawika_v3_with_lid_resorted/en_only/eng_splitted_0.jsonl",
"language": "en",
"language_score": 0.906198263168335,
"token_count": 2472
} |
JoJo On New Album 'Mad Love.,' Details Alessia Cara & Remy Ma Collabs
By Nicole Mastrogiannis
October 14, 2016
After ten years,
[JoJo](http://www.iheart.com/artist/jojo-42139/) is FINALLY back with brand new music. The 25-year-old singer/songwriter released her first album in a decade called Mad Love., which follows 2006's The High Road (that hit #3 on the Billboard Hot 100), and includes her new single "F*** Apologies." featuring Wiz Khalifa, and previously released promotional singles "Music.," "FAB." featuring Remy Ma, and the title track "Mad Love." The album showcases 15 new songs in total, and in addition to her [Wiz Khalifa](http://www.iheart.com/artist/wiz-khalifa-47508/) and [Remy Ma](http://www.iheart.com/artist/remy-ma-27302/) collabs, JoJo also teamed up with [Alessia Cara](http://www.iheart.com/artist/alessia-cara-30832098/) on a song called "I Can Only."
We recently caught up with JoJo for an exclusive interview, during which she opened up about her new album, including what it was like to put together and the songwriting process, how her lyrics reflect what she's learned over the last 10 years, what it was like collaborating with Alessia Cara, Remy Ma, and Wiz Khalifa, and so much more.
After 10 years of not releasing a new record, JoJo has had a lot to write about. But she tells us she also had a lot of fun while in the studio. She explains that she began creating most of the album back in February of this year, and wanted to be sure that it would not only be something that she could be proud of, but something her fans would relate to as well. In JoJo's own words, "But to sum it up, I had a freaking blast. I really did."
On the writing process for Mad Love.
"The experience was therapeutic, and a lot of fun. I had such a great time in the studio, writing these songs with the people I collaborated with, and making sure that there was a cohesive sound and feel to this album. And, it came together really quickly. Ninety percent of this album is from the beginning of 2016, so from February on. [It was] just lots of conversations, lots of opening up and talking about life, and what I was going through. And, I definitely had some anxiety and pressure that I had put on myself about making sure that this was something that not only I loved and could stand behind, but that my fans would love and incorporate into their lives."
So why, Mad Love.? JoJo tells us that her album title takes on many different meanings, which is what she loves the most about the name. Not only was "Mad Love." the first song she wrote for her new record, but it's also derived from a phrase that she and her family say often.
On the meaning behind her album title Mad Love.
"Mad Love. means so many different things, and I loved that about the title. It was one of the first songs that I wrote for this album, and I felt like it kind of shaped the intention of it, of this work. And, a phrase that I use in my family a lot, we say, 'I love you madly.' That's that 'I love you through it all, I love you as you are, I love you in a crazy way, in a deep way, in a way that other people might not understand.' And that's how I feel about music, and that's what my relationship is with my fans, and it's an intense, passionate love. That's also the love that I like to have in my romantic life. So, all of that is represented on this album."
Fans may notice, there is a period not only after the album's title, but also at the end of each song title, and it's stylized that way to hold meaning. JoJo tells us "I'm sure about this, and Mad Love., it's definitive. It's just where I'm at. I have a tattoo on my right hand that says 'Truth.' and I got it when I was 18, I think. I've just always been self-assured. Ending each title with a period just supports that."
[[RELATED - INTERVIEW: Tattoo Stories With JoJo]](http://www.iheart.com/news/interview-tattoo-stories-with-jojo-14997382/)
One of the most personal songs to JoJo on her new album is the very first song on the track list: "Music." The song is not only reflective of how music has made an impact on her life, but of her family as well. The last verse specifically is about her father, who passed away last year at the age of 60.
What the most personal song to her was on Mad Love.
"The most personal song, and the most difficult to write and record, was 'Music,' which is the first song on the album in sequence, but actually the last song that was written for the album. It's about how music has impacted and shaped my life, and also how my upbringing and just my childhood, my relationship with my parents ... It's just a very personal song and I felt like we covered a lot of ground with the subject matter on 'Mad Love.,' but it was important that I touched on family and music almost feeling like my third parent, just being such a consistent force in my life and influence. And, singing about my dad on the last verse, I just really lost it, and got very emotional, and cried through it, but I didn't want to chase perfection on that. I wanted to be honest."
On what it was like collaborating with Alessia Cara, Wiz Khalifa, and Remy Ma
There are three features on this album, including Alessia Cara ("I Can Only."), Remy Ma ("FAB."), and Wiz Khalifa ("F*** Apologies"). Check out what it was like for JoJo working with all three artists below:
Alessia Cara: "I just feel like she's so refreshing. I love her music and her point of view. As a young woman, I think it's so important for girls to have real role models to look up to, and I think that she's one of them. I love her voice, and she was the first artist that I played my album to. I invited her to the studio and played her the album. It was done and she loved it, gave me some amazing feedback, and I said, 'Well, is there any song that you particularly relate to?' And she said, 'I Can Only.' So I asked her if she would be down to get on the second verse. So while she was on tour, she did it and sent it back, and I just thought it was perfect. I loved it."
Remy Ma: "Remy Ma is one of my favorite rappers of all time. I just think she's such a badass. I think she's beautiful and has such a signature, so after I wrote 'Fab,' I just dreamed it up and I was like, 'Do you think we can get Remy on this?' So we asked. She loved the song and got on it."
Wiz Khalifa: "I've been a fan of his since his mix tapes, and now that we're label mates, when I was thinking about who would make sense and really support the feeling of 'F*** Apologies,' I thought that he would be a perfect fit for it, and I love what he did. He's such a sweetheart, and he's totally an individual, and really just lives his life the way he wants to. I love it."
On how her lyrics show what she's learned over the last 10 years
"One of my favorite lyrics from this album, Mad Love., is 'I learned the hard way on how to let go, so here we go. Feel the adrenaline taking control. Get high, no low.' And I have definitely learned how to let go, how to live in the moment, and how to take only what you need with you, and to celebrate where you are, and let go of the past. I think that that's one of the most important things that I'm learning."
Photos: Katherine Tyler for iHeartRadio | eng_splitted_0.jsonl/1973487 | {
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How did you get to where you are today?
I ended up where I am today somewhat haphazardly, but I can trace my interests back to a love of science in school and a childhood filled with outdoor adventure. These two interests finally merged in university, where I was introduced to the field of glaciology and I realized that the physics courses I so enjoyed could be applied to snow and ice. I was fortunate to work with an outstanding advisor in graduate school, where pursuing my interest in ice led unexpectedly to my current career. I had never considered "glaciologist" a viable occupation, but our field went mainstream just around the time I started looking for work. Good fortune has played a much bigger role than strategy in shaping my path to the present. | eng_splitted_0.jsonl/1973489 | {
"title": "Gwenn Flowers",
"last_revision": "2023-03-19T11:39:27",
"url": "https://www.sfu.ca/wwest/WWEST_blog/cc5-0-women-in-stem-spotlight--sfu-faculty-of-science.html",
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In the District Court at Auckland Native Forest Action campaigner Neil Able has been awarded $8500 in damages against National MP Gerry Brownlee for being manhandled out of a National Party meeting.
RNZ has reported that after the decision of the court was delivered, Mr Brownlee said it had been a "humbling experience" sitting in court for the past two days. He also told reporters he accepted the damages award as "fair".
The judge - also according to RNZ - said that the failure of the police to act on a complaint was an irrelevant consideration.
The judge said Mr Brownlee's assault did not warrant "exemplary" damages of $60,000 sought by Able.
$8500 was sufficient to condemn the defendant, he said, remarking also that Mr Brownlee had already been published through the public embarrassment of the prosecution. | eng_splitted_0.jsonl/1973495 | {
"title": "Браунли, Джерри",
"last_revision": "2023-11-30T18:57:20",
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| As the US Air Force must focus more on
anti-personnel munitions, it needs to consider bringing the CBU-24 back into its
inventory. The CBU-24 was one of the first of the antipersonnel area weapons, so
far as I know. I believe it was developed after the human-wave
attacks in the Korean War. It uses a standard canister - an 845# fat cylinder
with a rounded nose and stubby fins that are slightly canted to develop a spin
during freefall. The CBU mean cluster bomb unit - the number denotes its
contents. The '24' has 665 spherical bomblets each with arced flutes to cause
it to spin during freefall. The spin arms the bomblet, and in the '24' ground
contact detonates it. The bomblet is about the same size and looks much like a
mini-frag minus the spoon and ring.
A variant, the CBU-29, has a mix of instantaneous and delayed detonation bomblets. The delay is random, up to 30 minutes after impact. Its more for area denial. Neither is worth much as an anti-materiel weapon - not enough blast power. The CBU-52 has grapefruit sized bomblets, about 335 of them, and is also an anti-materiel weapon. AFAIK they all leave duds - bad news if you have to go into the area later.
When you employ the CBUs you have to take into account how big a pattern you want - due to the spin of the canister and the flutes on the bomblets they migrate sideways after release. Drop one too high and it functions early and the pattern on the ground has a hole in the donut. Thus an accurate drop could lead to missing the target. Dropped too close the pattern can be over-concentrated. This last isn't of much concern to the dropper.
The CBU has both a safe-arm time and a function time. Safe arm time is normally set to 4 seconds, to let the thing drop away from the plane before the fuze arms. Functioning (opening the canister) is by one of two methods, depending as to whether one has a time fuze or radar fuze. One checks the mission, then refers to precomped data from the weapons manual to pick the function time or altitude. 3000 AGL was a pretty common functioning altitude for troops in the open, SEAD, or general dive bomb delivery. However, we were once fragged for SEAD, covering a helo evac up by Dong Hoi (or Hue - I forget which now). the problem was NVN with 51 cal across a river shooting at the helos.
We had 4 F4s with 6 CBU 24 each. I briefed and led the flight. I briefed a low angle delivery, 20 degree dive at 500K, releasing one CBU per pass, on call from the ground. We dropped at around 2300 feet AGL with a 2 second arm time with the radar fuzes set at 800 AGL. This gave us a concentrated pattern comprising an elongated ellipse on the ground. In effect, rather like an instant strafing pass. (Our F4Ds did not have a gun). Every time we dropped a CBU the MG fire stopped for quite awhile. I suppose they had to get a new crew or maybe even a new MG after each pass. The helo evac was successful with no helo losses. The same result might have been attained by conventional dive bombing with the same radar altitude set, but by coming in low-angle we could pin-point the target without a mark from the GFAC. As it was, the delivery method was very similar to a combat strafing pass only much more effective due to the 665 bomblets released each time.
The Rhodesians had something similar, called an alpha bomb, but I'm
guessing that it was smaller since they dropped them from Lynxes -aka Cessna
337s or O-2s. Their wrinkle was to paint the bomblets bright orange so the
advancing ground troops had a better chance of spotting the duds. Possibly under
certain conditions this allowed the pilot to see the pattern in flight and
assess his coverage? | eng_splitted_0.jsonl/1973503 | {
"title": "CBU-24",
"last_revision": "2023-12-11T17:55:18",
"url": "http://www.g2mil.com/CBU-24.htm",
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A chance to leap from fifth place to second in the tightly packed East Division greeted the
[Hershey Bears](http://www.pennlive.com/hersheybears/) Sunday at Giant Center.
However, a second straight game of one-goal production led to a
[3-1 loss](http://theahl.com/stats/official-game-report.php?game_id=1010041) to the Portland Pirates that left Hershey at the bottom of the East.
The Bears struggled to get the puck out of their own zone and through the neutral zone. Thus, they were outshot 34-23, marking the 11th time in 12 games this season they've been outshot.
"There's got to be a level of execution," Bears co-coach Mark French said. "You've got to put two passes together to be able to get out of your zone and effectively through the neutral zone to attack the offensive zone with any type of speed. There were very few times when we were able to do that."
Tomas Kundratek scored Hershey's lone goal on the power play in the first period for a 1-0 lead. That was matched by Andy Miele's 4-on-4 goal later in the period, and Portland took a 2-1 lead on Michael Stone's second-period tally.
Thanks to Braden Holtby's 31-save goaltending, the Bears remained in a position to tie in the third and got a power-play opportunity from an ill-advised slash of Hershey's Kevin Marshall by Portland captain Alexandre Bolduc.
The Pirates killed the power play, and Bolduc came out of the penalty box to score a deflating goal.
Holtby, given a choice of facing a Bolduc breakaway or trying to win a race to the puck in the right circle, opted for the latter. Bolduc won the race and deposited the puck into a vacated net at 10:05.
"Hesitated a bit and just had a bad read on his speed," Holtby said. "It's just one I'd like to have back.
"It would have still been a breakaway, but I like my chances of stopping that more than the play I decided to do."
French applauded Holtby's mindset.
"I don't mind it," he said. "He's trying to be assertive. I wish some of the other guys would be as assertive as he is. When you make aggressive decisions, sometimes they go wrong. But most of the time when you make an aggressive decision it's decisive and works out in your favor. It didn't work.
"But the mistake was made prior to that. Our awareness that a penalty was expiring was the main thing. He came out and tried to make an aggressive decision. That's certainly not on him."
The Bears had similar struggles generating offensive momentum in Saturday's 2-1 loss to St. John's.
"There's some problems," Kundratek said. "We have to get better. We just have to get better passes tape to tape and get out of the zone."
A win Friday at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton set up Hershey with an opportunity for a strong weekend. That evaporated with two home losses.
"We just seemed to look dead the last couple games," Holtby said. "We'd look fine for a bit and then we'd have a lot of in-zone time all of a sudden.
"Just consistency throughout the game that we need to get better at. I don't think any of us in here will be happy with the efforts the last two days, especially."
The Portland game marked a return to Giant Center for popular former Bears winger Joel Rechlicz, who signed as a free agent with the Phoenix Coyotes organization after last season.
Rechlicz was in the startling lineup and received an ovation. He only played two shifts in the game.
"It was exciting for me to get the start," Rechlicz said. "All the guys were joking about it and everything. I didn't know really what to do out there because I've never started in a game.
"It's like, 'What do I do here guys? Do I line up or what?' It was awesome."
Dmitry Orlov returned to the lineup after missing four games with an upper body injury.
A second-period scoring bid by Stan Galiev, who returned to the Hershey lineup after being scratched in three straight games, was ruled no goal after video review.
Former Portland forward Matt Beaudoin hit a post late in the first. Barry Almeida had an open chance in the third but the puck went over the net.
Ron Hextall's son, Brett, plays for Portland.
ON TWITTER: @timleone | eng_splitted_0.jsonl/1973504 | {
"title": "2012–13 Hershey Bears season",
"last_revision": "2024-03-17T05:25:59",
"url": "http://www.pennlive.com/sports/index.ssf/2012/11/offensive_struggles_continue_f.html",
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"file_path": "/brtx/archive/orionw/process_megawika_citations/megawika_v3_with_lid_resorted/en_only/eng_splitted_0.jsonl",
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Roberta Smith with Jarrett Earnest
Roberta Smith is co-chief art critic at the New York Times. She joined the newspaper's staff in 1991 after writing for Artforum, Art in America, and the Village Voice. Smith spoke with Jarrett Earnest about Donald Judd, opinionated criticism, and dealing with your own ideas.
Jarrett Earnest (Rail): I'm interested in the longer articles you wrote for Art in America in the 1970s, when you were splitting an editorial job with Scott Burton—
Roberta Smith: —In theory.
Rail: What does that mean?
Smith: It means I couldn't edit—I didn't know a thing about editing. Betsy Baker basically hired me so I would write for her. She gave me a job, which meant I could leave Artforum, which I was really happy to do—
Smith: I had just been savaged in the magazine by Jeff Perrone. He reviewed a big Donald Judd show at the National Gallery of Canada in 1975. I'd contributed an essay that was a rewrite of my college thesis, which traced Judd's transition from two to three dimensions, basically from 1952 to 1962. When Jeff reviewed the show he called me, in effect, "a groupie, a flatterer and a stooge." I've come to really like Jeff and by now I tend to view that Judd piece as juvenilia. But as might be expected, you don't forget that kind of thing, especially one as rhythmic as that. Jeff came into the art world writing nervy, negative pieces about big names. He was very smart, some take-downs were probably in order, but it was also a very efficient way to achieve power and visibility. The Artforum article came out just as Betsy offered me that job, so I had no problem leaving. Another thing was that I had been hired by Robert Pincus-Witten, who was easy to work with. Then he left and I was being edited by Max Kozloff, who one day accused me of "being a formalist." Or at least informed me that I was one. At that point I didn't know quite what it meant, but he didn't seem to be on my side!
Rail: When you moved from Artforum to Art in America in 1976, were you able to write differently?
Smith: Art in America was very different, easier, looser. I had written only one little article for Artforum, on Jared Bark, otherwise I'd done nothing but reviews. I was terrified of going from the reviews section to the front. At Art in America, I was getting much more support—and all of a sudden was writing long pieces that Betsy put on the cover. I guess Betsy saw a potential in me that hadn't been recognized at Artforum. In addition, she was a great, sympathetic editor with no agenda who taught me a lot, as many editors do.
Obviously it helped tremendously that she was a woman, which, unbelievably, I wasn't quite conscious of at the time. In many ways I'm a late bloomer. It probably took the arrival of the first woman to head the Culture department at the Times for me to gain absolute clarity about it. I've worked under about a dozen Culture chiefs, all men, several of whom were wonderful. But having Danielle (Mattoon) in that job changed everything. It transformed the atmosphere and enabled me to relax at the Times in a way that I never quite had. When I was first there and for a long time, it felt like being on a football team where they hadn't given you the playbook.
Rail: In 1978 you wrote an article about Scott Burton, "Designs on Minimalism," for Art in America; I thought this line was lovely: "It is safe to say that Burton wants his objects to have charisma, a physical quasi-erotic magnetism that is both fascinating and a little repellent, due to the extent to which it is abstracted and purified (and withheld) by being presented in such formal, material terms."
Smith: I don't remember what I've written. You could have written that yourself and I'd take your word for it. So what is your question?
Rail: It's a lovely description, but it also seems like something that might come out of a personal relationship, from knowing the artist as a person. I wanted to know about your transition from being embedded with the artist and writing from their perspective, to your present position, in which you have to stay critically aloof from personal involvement with artists.
Smith: What changed that was going to the Village Voice and realizing that I wasn't writing for the artist or the artist's approval, that artists don't control the meaning of their work. I remember being tormented writing a feature for Art in America on Philip Guston, wondering, what is Philip Guston going to think about this? And realizing in the end that he probably didn't think much of it. The Voice gave me—this important thing that is hard to have writing in the art world: a readership. Or it was then, before everything could be instantly put online. Around this time, a writer friend said to me, If you really want to be a critic for life you have to get out of the art world and get a readership. And that is when I went to the Voice and asked for a job, which I eventually got. When you have a broader—and a weekly—readership everything becomes more immediate, pressured and also pleasurable. Your sense of responsibility and loyalty instantly switches to the readers, at least it did for me. It's hard to describe, but suddenly you're in conversation with a much larger, more varied audience. The weekly appearance makes it feel like you never stop talking. And you get the idea, delusional or not, that the readers want to hear from you. It encourages a condition that I think is basic to writing criticism: "disinterestedness." You have to be disinterested in your own responses, no matter what they are. You can't have either an agenda or fear of what some artist or friend will think. You learn to shut all that out more; you learn to go deeper into yourself. Mainly you're faced with the task of simply being honest. So you want to edit things like the artist out.
Rail: Does that mean you don't do studio visits?
Smith: During my first decade in New York, while writing for art magazines, I had gone to artists' studios all the time; they were part of my DIY graduate school. At the Voice I felt that if I went to one artist's studio I'd have to go to all artists' studios—it wouldn't be fair. These days I have studio visits with close friends who I don't write about, or do little more than mention in passing. Carroll Dunham is a friend and a couple of years back we filmed a short studio visit with Michael Blackwood as a kind of substitute. I'm kind of camera phobic and still haven't watched it.
Rail: But you've reviewed Carroll Dunham.
Smith: My, my you have been deep in the archives! Obviously I'd suppressed that for the moment. I reviewed a show of his at Sonnabend in the late 1980s, when I was relatively new to the Times and still a stringer. I think I was naïvely testing the waters of writing for a much larger publication. I got some backlash from friends and others, which quickly and rather painfully clarified the ethical situation.
Rail: What was interesting to me about that particular Times piece on Carroll Dunham is that it's one of the most Judd-like of your reviews, in tone as well as approach. It starts:
Each work features one shape rendered in one bright color on a rectangular surface composed of one or more 40-by-60-inch sheets of paper mounted on panels. As this eight-painting series progresses, the surfaces enlarge. […] The first three paintings—respectively red, green and brown—are on one panel each. In other works, the ground doubles, then triples and so forth, culminating in the largest work, Purple Shape, which occupies a 9-by-12-foot surface of five panels.
Do you think you wrote it like that because you were so personally close?
Smith: I don't know. It could have been that. It may also have been an attempt to emphasize the formal progression, the systemic nature of such seemingly spontaneous, superficially child-like work. Also I was still finding my voice at the Times, which felt so different from the Voice. And in addition I was still at the stage where every deadline was a kind of trauma.
You write these things and file and edit them, and then you sort of want to kill yourself. I don't think that is unusual. Especially for weekly writers, there's often this incredible regret—you think of all the stuff that is not in it, and that it's badly written. You can't see it. Then all the things you've shut out in order to write—like this is going to hurt some feelings—rush back in. I still can have a mini breakdown on Thursday nights before the paper comes out, but it's become more comedic. Jerry usually ridicules me out of it, basically saying, If you're down about your writing, it must be Thursday night.
Rail: Something I love about art criticism: ethical agreements that are actually articulated and hashed out in real journalism are completely amorphous and opaque in art writing—there is no set standard for what constitutes the ethical boundaries between artists and critics socially and professionally. It sounds like when you moved to the Times you had to work that out for yourself.
Smith: I had to work that out a bit, partly because I was a stringer for five years and wasn't given the same time and attention as staff writers, so I was a bit more on my own. It's not that hard, in a way. You don't go to gallery dinners; you don't pursue new friendships with artists; also, you ask dealers to stop talking if they are giving you a spiel about an artist. You try to keep the situation as uncontaminated as possible. And let's face it, the main person you want to hear from is yourself. But seriously, as an art critic you have to remember: all you really have is a certain kind of integrity and credibility based both on what you write and how you behave. Not that it's limited to art critics or the art world. I guess reputation is all, everywhere. But it always seemed kind of stark to me, like the thing that kept the wolf from the door almost. Of course that's rather laughable these days, when critics can earn thousands of dollars writing catalogue essays for art galleries. I tried that twice when I was between the Voice and the Times—and the wolf was approaching the door—and wasn't comfortable with it.
Rail: So it was a kind of progression from publication to publication.
Smith: Definitely. The thing I'm just realizing right now, which was implied in your earlier question, is: I wrote an article about Scott Burton, a colleague of mine at the magazine that published it. Jesus! I'll bet you were waiting for me to realize that, and I just did. [Laughter.] I wouldn't say that Scott was a friend of mine—but still, thinking about it today it's a total conflict of interest. But that is the way those things were back then.
Rail: I'm into that, and I don't think its quality or usefulness should be undermined by calling it a "conflict of interest." Art and criticism is born from those conflicting interests. How has that changed for you?
Smith: Absolutely, but that doesn't necessarily involve contact—or conflict—with the artist. There's enough going on inside yourself! Art is the best art criticism I think Jasper Johns said. Every reaction to it, consciously or not, is also some form of criticism no matter how rudimentary. My particular job is to write about my reactions. I hopefully develop maybe sharper skills of looking at art and listening to myself in an attempt to produce something that is readable, that has some style and a point of view. It's not that I don't like artists. I love them, but they can get in the way.
Rail: I went through the Times archive from when you started publishing there in 1986 to today, and it's interesting to watch names enter into the stream and stay in the stream for thirty years as they change and the art world changes around and with them. It's even more interesting to see who disappears.
Smith: Totally fascinating. I was in the Whitney Independent Study Program when I wrote my Judd paper. My first experience of living in New York and I moved five times in four months. At one point I was living with four guys who were all in the program on the top floor of a brownstone on East 10th Street. I was the last person to move in, so I didn't get a room, and built one out of orange crates in the dining room. You can imagine I often felt like I had no place to go, so I'd spend a lot of time in the library after hours, until ten or eleven at night, reading the reviews in the backs of bound volumes of art magazines. This was 1968; the '50s are only just over, but they felt like a century ago to me because I was so young, and because there was so much change in the early '60s.
Reading through those reviews was very educational. There were all kinds of artists who were emerging but weren't in the art world as I got to know it. Artists like Lester Johnson or George Ortman, whom Mitchell Algus resurrected. I remember Ronald Bladen being reviewed as a painter, then as a sculptor and then later when he was embraced by younger artists like Bill Jensen. It was very sobering. It gave me an archive of neglected names and a daunting sense of how fluid everything is. The way attention comes and goes. Artists rise to the surface and sink again. How an artist endures that, how they keep making a living and developing during all that, when the art world isn't looking, is a major psychological effort.
Rail: Given the fact that your first serious engagement with art criticism was compiling all of Donald Judd's reviews for publication as a book, it's interesting that you've never collected your writing—is that not interesting to you, or do you believe that the review has a life in the daily paper that is not served by being in a book?
Smith: Yes in both cases. Nobody has thrown themselves at my feet and said, I want to do this more than anything. I'm certainly not going to do it. With a weekly deadline, you're always going forward anyway. The idea of rereading everything gives me the willies. I write for a newspaper. Until digitalization, I saw reviews as very ephemeral, written to be read quickly and tossed. You try to make your words as durable as possible, but newspaper criticism is fleeting. And I'm not crazy about collections of critics' writings, which may say more about me than them. I've read Jerry's two books, Peter Schjeldahl's 7 Days and quite a bit of Greenberg, from the four-volume complete writings. Otherwise a lot of those books just sit on my shelf. I don't want to put this thing out into the world that is just going to sit on people's shelves.
Rail: When you said Max Kozloff called you a "formalist"—that is something I'm really interested in. What makes Judd such a terrific critic is that he's extraordinarily opinionated and yet it's grounded in form—there is this thing out there you are talking about specifically; it isn't "just an opinion." I think you've adopted that strategy—your reviews are driven by opinion, which is one of the reasons they are so important to the public, but they are grounded in form, which gives them weight and stability.
Smith: I'm not so sure of that. Form is grounded in specificity, but people still have different opinions about it. Michael Fried certainly did when it came to Minimalism. Nonetheless I do think form is the ultimate, it is what is really speaking to us in art. And form can be achieved in absolutely any way, in any medium, social practice included, but now it's neglected and people look down on it. I always wanted to write an article on "content" and how it has been completely confused with "subject matter." I've heard people say, "Judd has no content." You can't say that! Everything has content, certainly all art. Also, to a great degree, content is beyond the artist's control, mostly it's what they can't keep out of their art. It's the non-verbal part of it, even art that is completely made of words has to have it. Obviously novels and poetry have it. To me form and content are together, not opposed to each other. Subject matter is outside them, it may contribute to them in some way but it's really different. I think Dorothea Rockburne said that subject matter is what an artwork is about, content is what it does i.e., what it does to you. And form is how it does it.
Rail: What was your first awareness of "form"?
Smith: We were visiting my aunt in Hastings-on-Hudson in New York; she was a real estate agent and had a Mercedes-Benz. When I got in that car it was intense. Oh my god, some things really are a lot better than others of their kind. I just knew that it was "quality," incredibly made and thought through. I guess you could say it was rigorous, which is probably the least you can expect from luxury goods.
Rail: I wrote down something in a review you wrote in the Times in 1988:
"If an artist says it's art, it's art" is an attitude prevalent since at least the '60s (the actual words, if I remember correctly, are Donald Judd's). I cut my art-critical eyeteeth on this concept, and it has always seemed to clarify, focus and dignify the critic's task. It implies that the critic's job is not so much to dither around with the definition of art but rather to pass judgment on the quality of a body of work as precisely and convincingly as possible.
I thought it was interesting the way "quality" functions in light of this conversation, and wanted to see how you feel about that as a definition for what a critic does, over thirty years later.
Smith: I still agree with that. Quality—however you define it—is what we're looking for, on all fronts, not just art. You have to be open to it occurring in anything an artist calls art. I'm not interested in saying something is not art. One way I get around it in my head, which is completely chicken, is that sometimes I think people just aren't really artists.
Rail: I think that a lot.
Smith: I think a lot of people who've misplaced their talent or interests, for whatever reason—are attracted to the glamour of the art world, or find a kind of safety there. With a lot of social practice I think, This is great—now go out in the world and actually do something with it. Actually change something—and how about not calling it art? Just kidding! But if you make a pronouncement like "this is not art," you will eventually have an experience that will assert itself as art and prove you wrong. Tino Sehgal did that for me; it was this feeling of control and precision, of form.
Rail: It seems like you took the tools for addressing perception that we called "formal analysis," that were really honed, visually and bodily, in Judd, and that you then directed them away from the Judd program and applied them to everything.
Smith: Art made me do it. I emerged from my time with Judd as a total Juddite: Painting was dead; illusion on a two-dimensional surface was anathema. Then I encountered Philip Guston's late paintings and Conceptual Art. Art teaches you and changes you. With luck it broadens your perspectives. Another part of my DIY graduate school is that after working for Judd, I worked at Paula Cooper Gallery for two-and-a-half years in the early 1970s. It was full of artists looking for ways through Minimalism that involved objects and weren't overtly conceptual. These included Alan Shields, Elizabeth Murray, Joel Shapiro, Jennifer Bartlett, Robert Grosvenor, Jackie Winsor, Joel Fisher and Jonathan Borofsky. Being around them and their work was definitely broadening.
Rail: The articles you wrote in the '70s on Scott Burton and Richard Artschwager showed that evolution: you're bringing Judd's formal intelligence to bear on somewhat opposed work, so that the illusion of the Formica, and the reality of the chair, bring you to different ends.
Smith: That's very flattering, but I think you have to remember the diversity and physicality of the work he wrote about enthusiastically: Oldenburg, John Wesley, Samaras, which all had subject matter and was figurative in a way that his own work wasn't.
But I do think art is more engaged these days in subject matter and it's a post-Conceptual phenomenon. Conceptual Art was a shock to the whole system, a lot like Cubism. Everything got re-arranged. It made artists more interested in subject matter and many then and since have been trying to figure out how to find form within it. I think most of the artists at Paula's were doing that. A lot of figurative paintings throughout history had already figured out form plus subject matter pretty well, and after Conceptual Art, artists have been figuring it out again, in a new way. This also applies to so-called abstract art.
Rail: This might sound like a tangent, but I heard that you grew up Quaker.
Smith: I am from a Quaker family, a birthright Quaker. My parents called each other "thee" and "thou." They were actually third cousins, from a few generations of related Smiths who all started out in a hamlet in Loudon County, Virginia that renamed itself Lincoln after the Civil War. Then just after I was born, we moved to Lawrence, Kansas, and we didn't go to Meeting there. My mother went once and never went back. Basically I think she had never been to a Meeting where she wasn't related more or less to nearly everyone there: they were all mostly Browns, Smiths, Janneys, Taylors and probably one or two other names. Gorky painted on one of the Taylors' farm right around there. I later learned they had some Gorky watercolors. That's Lincoln's little tie to art history. We went back there every summer until I was about eight, but then close relatives started dying and farms were sold, it all changed.
Still, even in Kansas, my mother maintained some kind of Quaker ethos or mythology. I loved the fact that, as a religion, it is egalitarian, there were no ministers or preachers, the education of women was valued. I also had some sense of plainness, although a complicated one. I remember my mother telling me about gray Quaker bonnets lined with silk and fitted with lots of tiny, perfect tucks.
Rail: This might sound hokey, but my experience of Quaker meeting houses, like the beautiful building over on Stuyvesant Square, puts you in a different relation to perception or contemplation that seems like good preparation for Judd and Minimalism—the "testimony of simplicity." Do you think you were predisposed to respond to those kinds of aesthetics because of this Quaker background?
Smith: I might have been. When I met Judd and encountered his environment, I understood that everything in it was carefully selected and that everything in it attracted me. It brought up something already present in me and very important to me. To the best of my financial ability I tried to buy things he and his wife Julie Finch had—Arabia ware from Design Research on 57th Street; those Wearever cooking pots, with their wonderful straight sides. I went to Tiffany's to see the black basalt Wedgwood coffee cups, but decided I couldn't afford them. It was like being inside the Mercedes Benz, but it was a life. And it was a life that I could, in small ways, aspire to. Of course it then turned out that I'm a bit of a pack rat and that I live with someone who likes to arrange or "curate" all kinds of stuff all over the house.
Rail: You emphasize integrity as a critic. In another interview you said, "I think sincerity and integrity are the primary value in art, and these result from making something as good as you can make it so that it reflects your ideas, interests, and your passions as clearly as possible." Something about your work as a critic relates to a strong ethic, so it didn't surprise me when I found out that you grew up Quaker.
Smith: That's interesting. I know it's definitely in there. Probably the thing I love most is that Quakers, or at least Hicksite or nonorthodox Quakers, which I sort of am, don't think Jesus was holy. He was a wise teacher, but a human one. I learned that when someone informed my mother that because of that little loophole, she wasn't Christian. She was a little taken aback, but it was fine with me.
Rail: Even so, what I find attractive about Quakerism, taken as an extreme form of Protestantism, is that it puts all the onus on you—you've got to follow your light. I feel that is potentially also our relation to form: form has to communicate to you directly, and there really shouldn't be an authority that overrides that. But people are so often disempowered from believing that feeling.
Smith: That feeling is really all you have when looking at art. Disempowerment comes from being instructed to look in only one way. The art world is in an interesting place right now, because it's wide open. I'm leery of what art students learn in graduate school; I think their ideas often get narrowed down. I'm just not interested in anything that verges on the ideological. I think it always trips things up. Even Hicksite and orthodox Quakers weren't exactly tolerant of each other.
Rail: But as a working critic you don't have that luxury, the luxury of being "fair" in that way.
Smith: I don't quite know what you mean. Fair is exactly what I'm interested in. One thing we've learned in postwar art history is that pretty much every kind of art is going on all the time, at the same time, but usually only a strand or two gets attention at any one time. You have to be open to everything. Quality doesn't come from the carefully proscribed places or kinds of people that it used to. Everybody has aesthetic inclinations and a certain percentage of them are visual and acted upon. Some people are at Creative Growth, some are in graduate school in Yale, some majored in English in undergrad, can't afford grad school and out on their own, working day jobs to have studios that might be in Bushwick or Detroit. And others are just out there doing it on their own in their backyards, garages or living rooms, making things that might be discovered in the attic after they're gone. There is so much more art than we know about, whether past or present.
Rail: Clement Greenberg, too, if you look at his personal collection. His early writing was obviously much more open and eccentric than what was collected in Art and Culture. His career is almost a lesson in learning to un-see.
Smith: I know. I loved his early short reviews, when he was open. I think the intoxication of discovering Jackson Pollock—or thinking he had—made him kind of power-mad. Everything he did after a certain point seems to be just about power.
Rail: Power wants to consolidate more and more power.
Smith: And one form it takes is making other people wrong. Art should be this, not that. Critics should do this not that. It's interesting to try at least to not tell other people what to do—which is hard. I'm not interested in reprimanding other critics in my writing—although I love arguing with them on panels. I just want to make whatever case for the art I'm writing about. I'm humbled by art, by its persistence and its unpredictability, and I'm always learning from it. It is just amazing to me how hard it is to see, and how little you see. As you grow older you do see more and more but you're still missing things.
Rail: How do you understand what it means to have an opinion, as a critic?
Smith: Opinion is what you do, your process and your product, the thing that makes criticism exciting to read. I realized this from Judd of course, but perhaps more from reading the reviews of lifelong critics like Pauline Kael and Edmund Wilson. Criticism is an evaluation more of pros and cons, not so often raves. I like to write negative reviews but sometimes they're hard to justify when you've got as little space for galleries as we do at the Times. But sometimes not. Lately I've been trying to do capsule reviews on Instagram because space is so tight at the Times. I don't think these can be negative. It just doesn't feel right. But we'll see. Truth be told, I'd like to review just about everything I see.
Rail: There is a lot that is buoyant and optimistic about this conversation but I heard you once say that you don't think Judd would be writing if he were starting out now. Why is that? What does that say about the climate of writing now that would not be amenable to him?
Smith: There is so much against what he believed in. His position was if you discover electricity you don't go back to candles. Judd would think a lot of painting now was going back to candles. But there are whole different groups of people making art. There are more women painting than ever before. Artists of color are in an interesting position. They've got a subject—African-American experience in America—and some are finding forms for it. It reminds me of the German artists who arrived in the early '80s; you're looking at their work and thinking Wow, they've got the weight of German history sitting on top of them—that is really something to work with. Art is not just pure form and space, there is more to it than that now.
Rail: I don't think it ever was pure form or space. That is why people think they hate "formalism." A lot of abstraction is predicated on the illusion of that purity.
Smith: You're totally right. I was being simplistic. As for abstraction, the most recent kind seems predicated on showing up that illusion as a fallacy. I wrote recently about the lack of a Philip Taaffe painting from the 1980s in the Whitney's collection and its show Fast Forward: Paintings from the 1980s. He made a kind of conceptual yet sensuous painting that he perfectly poised between the two main factions of the '80s, Neo-Expressionism and the Pictures Generation. I think most people don't even know those paintings, the Op Art ones.
Rail: I don't.
Smith: Someone should do a show of them. He invented this great collaged surface, by covering the entire canvas with prints on thin paper that added up to, for example, the waves of one of Bridget Riley's well-known Op Art motifs, but a strangely disembodied and semi-translucent version. Then he would stain these new Rileys so that the waves softened or shimmered, becoming visually more complex, more naturalistic or decorative. He took a tall Vasarely painting that had three squares with lines intersecting at the center of each, tinted them red, yellow and blue and renamed it Trinity. Basically Taaffe was probably the first around then to show that abstract painting could appropriate—which many painters do today—while also demonstrating once more that most painters physically reinvent their medium in some way. So did Julian Schnabel, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Elizabeth Murray.
Rail: Is that what you meant earlier when you said you were looking for "personal form"?
Smith: Yes. I don't think pure abstraction ever existed, but it hasn't got a chance now, because you can't do a monochrome without it being a comment on, or development from, a century of monochromes. Also a lot of the figurative painting now is interesting because it incorporates abstraction in complicated ways. Going back to why I brought up Taaffe, he once said in an interview about the Op Art paintings he used, that he didn't think they were finished. It could be taken as a criticism of Riley—which is fine with me because I don't like much of her work. But it is also positive: there is more still to be done with this and I'm going to do it. There is a lot of that going on right now. There is more to be done with the entire 20th century—it's open to being expanded upon. A lot of people will call that "retro" but I think that is not the case. I guess the question is, what amount of difference is enough difference so it feels like our time?
Rail: As opposed to Judd looking for "new form."
Smith: Or a more subtle form of it.
Rail: What ways have you found to disentangle yourself from writing about art; how are you aware of what you're bringing into the experience?
Smith: Again, you learn to listen to yourself, deal with your ideas, your musings and whatever your unconscious churns up and interrogate them all. That could be a definition of writing criticism. It's a process of criticism of trying to be honest, and I'm not sure you can ever achieve it absolutely. Saying exactly what you think is really hard. There is a way you just let your eye be, and you follow it. I agree with Greenberg in a way, that you could walk into a gallery and do a 360-turn in the middle, and pick the best painting in the room. I think you would pick the best painting for you. When I say what the best painting is for me, some people will agree with me, some don't.
Rail: Is it like a representative democracy of taste: you've been elected because you have opinions other people can agree with?
Smith: That's one way to put it. I prefer to think that you establish a point of view and voice that people come to trust. Critics get positions because one or two specific people (e.g. editors) believe in their work enough to give it a try. Then it's up to you to prove yourself. You establish this credibility, this integrity, and, then you get another thing, which comes from where you write but also from your own work: power. Power is given to you by your readers, you earn it, and you can lose it or have it taken away. All they have to do is stop reading you.
The thing that I'm interested in is "use value." If people read you repeatedly, it is a measure of usefulness. When Jerry was first writing he'd write a few paragraphs and get stuck. I would ask, What does the reader need to know next? The main thing I'm trying to do is get people out of the house to look at art, to open themselves to it, so they can learn things about themselves and about the world. Art is a mirror and a sustenance of food—very essential. It would be a tragedy if the NEA gets cut, not just for the money, but the symbolism: you don't have to bother with art, when you should bother with it like you bother with learning to read.
Rail: You wrote a little piece about the effects of Minimalism, in 1989:
Similarly, it is not the nihilism of Minimalism that comes across but a kind of innocence and a complete faith in the eye's ability to see, and in seeing, to provoke critical thought. Needless to say, these are important lessons for a nation as visually illiterate as our own.
I loved that way of framing it.
Smith: Basically I think opinionated art criticism helps the reader find pleasure and also develop a criticality that can be applied elsewhere. It spills over into other aspects of a person's life, like thinking critically about architecture or society and what it means to be a citizen.
I'm humbled by art, and I'm always learning from it. It is just amazing to me how hard it is to see, and how little you see. As you grow older you do see more and more but you're still missing things. | eng_splitted_0.jsonl/1973505 | {
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Rhoda Karpatkin, who helped millions of buyers shop for quality and value — whether the purchase was a car or a toaster oven — during nearly three decades as president of the nonprofit organization that publishes the magazine Consumer Reports, died Aug. 4 at her home in Manhattan. She was 93.
The cause was brain cancer, according to her family.
For generations, ever since it was first published in 1936, Consumer Reports has been a go-to source for shoppers seeking an impartial guide to the hurly-burly of the marketplace.
Some consult its pages only for major expenditures — the replacement of a refrigerator or a lawn mower, for example, or the acquisition of a new car. The annual automobile issue, published in April, is consistently one of the magazine's most popular editions of the year.
Other readers, the die-hards, consult Consumer Reports for the more everyday purchases of such items as electric toothbrushes and bathroom scales, backpacks and cookie sheets, lightbulbs and batteries. Consumer Reports conducts rigorous product evaluations before bestowing the coveted imprimatur of "CR Best Buy."
Ms. Karpatkin, a lawyer by training, spent 16 years as outside counsel to Consumer Reports and its publisher, then known as Consumers Union, before she was named president in 1974.
"You just got the feeling they couldn't be bought, couldn't be seduced," she
[told the New York Times ](https://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/05/nyregion/public-lives-still-top-dog-consumers-pit-bull-to-retire.html)shortly before her retirement in 2001, describing the group as "one of the quintessential do-good organizations."
Along with activists including Ralph Nader and Joan Claybrook, Ms. Karpatkin became a central figure in the consumer movement of the 1970s and beyond.
During her time as president, Consumer Reports nearly doubled its circulation to 4.2 million. Its website, by the time she left, was one of the largest paid subscription sites on the internet, with approximately 475,000 subscribers, according to the magazine.
Ms. Karpatkin guided the magazine through periods of recession and debt, ultimately growing its operating budget by a factor of 10, to $157 million. She oversaw the construction of an auto-test track and new research laboratories. To gauge the durability of samples, Consumer Reports subjected suitcases to a spinning machine and pounded mattresses with bowling balls severed in half to resemble buttocks.
Nader, who wished to see greater public advocacy in addition to product testing, left the board of Consumers Union during Ms. Karpatkin's tenure but said he continued working with her in the consumer movement for years.
During the debate over a health-care overhaul in the 1990s, Ms. Karpatkin, from her position at Consumers Union, pushed for a single-payer health-care system as an alternative to managed competition. Medical services, she noted, are one area in which consumers often do not have the luxury of comparison shopping.
"They cannot shop for doctors," she told the Columbus Dispatch in 1993. "They cannot shop for hospitals, and they certainly cannot do that when they're calling 911."
Having grown up during the Depression, she insisted that Consumer Reports not evolve into an upscale buying guide for the upper-middle class. She was deeply attuned to issues of poverty and, outside her work with the magazine, was a longtime volunteer and board member at the West Side Campaign Against Hunger in New York.
In her vision, Consumer Reports was duty bound to represent the interests of buyers who lacked the money even for the most economical car and who washed their clothes at laundromats rather than in household machines that product testers might evaluate for their spin cycles.
"Consumers would be in trouble if they couldn't get sound, independent information, and that's our prime responsibility," she told the magazine when she stepped down. "We've dedicated ourselves to testing and journalism of the highest quality, and we have an impact on the marketplace."
"But that's not enough," she continued. "Where would protections against unsafe products, fraud, misleading advertising, and other things we take for granted come from if consumer advocates hadn't fought for them? We're not and never have been solely about which products to buy. We're also about helping to build the kind of society we want to be consumers in."
Rhoda Alayne Hendrick was born in Brooklyn on June 7, 1930. Her mother, a homemaker and bookkeeper, and her father, a salesman, were both Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe.
Ms. Karpatkin was a 1951 graduate of Brooklyn College, where she worked on the school newspaper before discarding her plans for a career in journalism. She wanted "to do important things, not report on them," she told the Times.
After graduating from Yale Law School in 1953, she entered private practice, specializing in civil rights, civil liberties and education cases. Besides Consumers Union, her clients included the American Civil Liberties Union and conscientious objectors to the Vietnam War.
She served two terms as president of Consumers International, a membership organization for consumer activist groups.
Ms. Karpatkin's husband, Marvin M. Karpatkin, died in 1975 after 23 years of marriage. Her longtime partner Bruno Aron died in 2009.
Survivors include three children, Deborah Karpatkin of Manhattan, Herbert Karpatkin of Brooklyn and Jeremy Karpatkin of Philadelphia; 10 grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
Ms. Karpatkin cautioned against the pitfalls of consumerism.
"More and more the advertisements and commercial messages we see equate a happy and satisfied life with owning particular kinds of products or particular products," she told the Austin American-Statesman in 1999. "And that, to a very large extent, will turn out to be a false message."
But if one had to shop, it was best to do so in an educated fashion, and in her own outings to stores, Ms. Karpatkin often carried with her the relevant issue of Consumer Reports.
Without knowing who she was, "people will follow me around, asking to borrow it or watching what I buy," she said. "It's a wonderful feeling." | eng_splitted_0.jsonl/1973507 | {
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Montana's Pioneer Botanists: Exploring the Mountains and Prairies
Montana Native Plant Society, 2017 -
Montana is a large state with diverse vegetation from Great Plains prairie and deciduous forest in the east to northern coniferous forest and alpine tundra in the west. Discovering the botanical secrets of this spectacular landscape began with indigenous peoples and continued through the 20th Century with early explorers, geographers and entrepreneurs followed by teachers, scientists and curious and dedicated lay persons. Montana's multitude of rugged mountains and wide open spaces means that botanical discoveries which started with the Lewis and Clark Expedition continue to this day. Montana's Pioneer Botanists brings together more than thirty biographies of these diverse people and traces the growth of botanical knowledge in this wild and beautiful state. Includes over 200 photos and illustrations and seventeen different authors, all botanists themselves. | eng_splitted_0.jsonl/1973509 | {
"title": "Frank Tweedy",
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Stranger Things is the gift that keeps on giving. Hot on the heels of the British actress who plays Eleven [Millie Bobby Brown] posting a host of
[YouTube karaoke cover versions](https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/stranger-things-eleven-has-a-karaoke-covers-youtube-channel) comes the revelation that the dude who plays Steve – aka a young Jean Ralphio from Parks and Recreation– is in a psych band.
His name's Joe Keery and his band are called
[Post Animal](https://www.facebook.com/postanimal), and they're based in Chicago. Intrigued? Well, you should be, as they're actually rather good. Their last album, the wonderfully titled 'Post Animal Perform The Most Curious Water Activities' came out in October 2015. You can listen to all seven tracks over at [Bandcamp](https://postanimal.bandcamp.com/) – where you can also buy it for the bargain price of $5.
If you want a more recent peek into the musicial minds of Steve and co, then check out their most recent single, 'Caught In The Trap'/ 'Violet' only came out in June of this year. It's fair to say that
[Tame Impala](/artists/tame-impala) are a pretty big influence on Post Animal's swirling sounds, which can be big and beefy when they want to and all weird and twee, like something Syd Barrett's found at the bottom of the garden, the next.
Listen to last year's album here:
And there are more singles from this year too! Find them below: | eng_splitted_0.jsonl/1973513 | {
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is currently busy promoting his upcoming film 'Bharat' and is leaving no stone unturned. During one of the interviews, Salman was quizzed about
exit from the film, taking a dig at her Salman responded saying that she had left the project, due to her wedding with
Well, this didn't seem to go down well with singer
, who took to social media to take a jibe at the superstar.She wrote, "Cus @priyankachopra has better things to do in life, real men to hang out with & more importantly, girls to inspire with her journey. ð¤ð¾ð´"
Not only this but Sona also commented on Salman's bad behaviour while he was at the interview with co-star
. She wrote, "A showcase & poster child of toxic masculinity. Low brow dig at not only a woman who was not in the room but a disgusting disregard & contempt for the woman & colleague sitting next to him in the same room. Unless we call out such serial bad behaviour, nothing changes, #India .ð´"
The matter seems to get more and more ugly as a Salman fan has sent death threats to the singer which she shared on social media and wrote, "Such & such mails come my way regularly , from the followers of this âheroâ of bad behaviour. ðð¾This beacon of âhumanâ values who inspires such serial toxic behaviour is actually claiming the title of #Bharat , drawing parallels with our great nation, nothing lesser. @NCWIndia"
Well, Sona has never shoed away from taking a stand and voicing her opinions in the issues that mattered. Not only Salman but the singer has also been seen taking digs at various celebrities in the past. | eng_splitted_0.jsonl/1973514 | {
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The challenges for young Swiss Muslims after 9/11
Twenty years on from 9/11, young Swiss Muslims are facing rising levels of anti-Islam sentiment, stirred up by political debates and media narratives that create divides between Switzerland's Muslims and the wider community.
While there have been Muslims living in Switzerland for hundreds of years, the majority of today's Swiss Muslim communities arrived as guest workers from Turkey, Bosnia, and Kosovo in the 1960s. The liberalisation of immigration policies in 1991 allowed those workers to bring their families, many of which fled from conflicts in the Balkans.
Between 1960 and 2000, the number of
[Muslims in SwitzerlandExternal link](https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/de/home/statistiken/kataloge-datenbanken/tabellen.assetdetail.134971.html) increased from 2,703 to 310,807, making it the third largest religious community in the country. Today, there are roughly 391,000 Muslims over the age of 15 that make up about 5.4% of [Switzerland's populationExternal link](https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/de/home/statistiken/bevoelkerung/sprachen-religionen/religionen.html).
The viewpoints of two Muslim women that appeared in the original version of this article have been removed because – unknown to the editors of SWI swissinfo.ch at the time of publication – the women are or have been affiliated with the Islamic Central Council of Switzerland (IZRS) and are not representative of Swiss Muslims. The IZRS is considered a radical Islamic organisation. Several of its members have been on trial for jihadist propaganda. Other Swiss Muslim organisations have distanced themselves from the Council.
The rise of violent Islamist groups targeting the West spurred a hardening of attitudes towards Switzerland's Muslim minority. "Before 9/11 it was the nationality that people focused on, after it became religion," says Önder Güneş, spokesperson of the
[Swiss Federation of Islamic Umbrella OrganisationsExternal link](https://www.fids.ch/) (FIDS). In the eyes of the wider Swiss population, the attacks turned migrants into Muslims, and Muslims into radicals, he explains.
The 9/11 attacks were followed by further attacks in Europe, including the Madrid train bombings in 2004 and the 2005 London Underground bombings, which killed 191 and 56 people respectively.
How anti-Muslim sentiment has gone mainstream
These attacks heralded the arrival of Islamic terrorism in Europe and brought the threat to Switzerland's doorstep. They politicised Islam and led to the construction of a media narrative in which Muslims were presented as the cause of societal problems.
[studyExternal link](https://www.ekr.admin.ch/dokumentation/d107/1331.html) by the Federal Commission Against Racism (EKR) demonstrated that Swiss print media disproportionately focused on themes that do not represent the everyday experiences of Muslims. Of newspaper articles that dealt with the topic of Islam, 54% focused on themes of "radicalisation" or "terrorism". Narratives of "successful integration" and "everyday life", were each mentioned in only 2% of articles.
The problematisation of Muslims also seeped onto the political stage. In 2009, Switzerland voted in a referendum to ban the building of minarets. This was followed by a vote to ban women from wearing both the burqa and niqab, two forms of Islamic dress that conceal a woman's face, in public. Despite estimations that only a few dozen Muslim women in Switzerland wore such clothes, the ban was approved by a slim majority of 51.2% in March 2021. Both votes were triggered by members of the conservative, right-wing Swiss People's Party.
This follows a trend of other European countries that have similarly banned full face coverings. In 2011 France became the first country in the world to ban the wearing of face veils in public, with the Netherlands enacting similar legislation in 2012, and Austria following suit in 2017.
Swiss 'burka ban' accepted by slim majority
While these referendums have little direct impact on the lives of most Swiss Muslims, feelings of "suspicion and aggressivity towards Muslims peak" when controversial referenda and political debates on Islam abound, says Dr Mallory Schneuwly Purdie, senior researcher at the
[Swiss Centre for Islam and SocietyExternal link](https://www.unifr.ch/szig/de/). This ensures that since 9/11, Swiss Muslims have "perceived an increased feeling of discrimination and racism", explains Dr Schneuwly Purdie.
In fact, a study published by the
[Swiss National Office of StatisticsExternal link](https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/de/home/statistiken/kataloge-datenbanken/grafiken.assetdetail.14856799.html) in 2019 showed that Muslims experienced discrimination on the grounds of religion more than any other religious group in Switzerland. The [Support Network for Victims of RacismExternal link](https://network-racism.ch/de/rassismusberichte/index.html), meanwhile, registered an increase from 23 reported cases of Islam-related discrimination in 2010, to 55 in 2020, with unreported cases likely being much higher.
Political discourse painting Islam as a problem has pushed some Muslims to explore their faith more deeply. Since others saw and treated them as "just Muslims", they decided to make Islam a stronger part of their identities, says Dr Schneuwly Purdie. This has made integrating even harder for some, for instance when entering the job market.
While both male and female Muslims can experience difficulties looking for jobs, it is especially difficult for veiled Muslim women, according to spokesman Güneş.
Swiss press paints Muslims in negative light
[reportExternal link](https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/12/7/500) by Anaïd Lindemann of the University of Lausanne lays out the interconnected reasons for this. A hijab is seen as a clear marker of the religion and makes the woman's connection to Islam explicit. This intersects with the discrimination that a woman would already face on account of her gender, as well as the (incorrect) perception that hijab wearing women must be foreigners.
Therefore, while visibly Muslim women are often criticised for failing to integrate properly, they are simultaneously barred from doing so by discriminatory workplace practices. "Where should these women integrate, how should these be a part of the society, part of the workforce, if they aren't allowed to practice their religion how they see fit?" asks Güneş.
Although these challenges are not new or unique to Switzerland, a young generation of Swiss Muslims is pushing back. While the first generation of Muslim immigrants that arrived in Switzerland saw this discrimination as being part and parcel of living in a foreign land, their children who identify as Swiss are far less accepting.
In compliance with the JTI standards
SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative ](https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swi-swissinfo-ch-certified-by-the-journalism-trust-initiative/47111480)
You can find an overview of ongoing
[debates with our journalists here](https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/debates/) . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at | eng_splitted_0.jsonl/1973519 | {
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HELSINKI, Finland (CNN) -- An 18-year-old authorities say shot eight people inside his high school in southern Finland, before turning the gun on himself, has died, police said.
An image from a video posted on YouTube by "Sturmgeist89."
The shooting appeared to have been planned out in graphic videos posted on Internet file-sharing site YouTube.
At a news conference this afternoon, police confirmed the dead numbered two girls, five boys and the school's headmistress at Jokela High in Tuusula, a quiet town around 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Helsinki.
Ten other people were taken to a hospital with minor injuries.
The shooter, whom police identified as Pekka Eric Auvinen, died at Toolo Hospital, authorities said. Police said he took his own life.
It was the first school shooting in Finland since 1989, when a 14-year-old student shot and killed two others in the coastal town of Rauma, the Finnish news agency STT reported.
Police said Auvinen is from Tuusula and who acted alone. He had no previous criminal record and had never threatened anyone from the school before, they added.
Auvinen published a manifesto online demanding war on the "weak-minded masses" and pledged to die for his cause. Watch Auvinen fire weapons in video from his Web page »
YouTube appeared to have removed 89 videos linked to his account, many of them featuring Nazi imagery, shortly after the incident.
Finnish media reported someone posted a message two weeks ago on the Web site, warning of a bloodbath at the school.
A video posted earlier Wednesday, by "Sturmgeist89," was titled "Jokela High School Massacre - 11/7/2007." "Sturmgeist89" identified himself as Auvinen, and said he chose the name "Sturmgeist" because it means "storm spirit" in German.
The video showed a picture of the school, which then disintegrated to reveal two images of Auvinen against a red background, pointing a gun at the screen.
The clip is accompanied by the song "Stray Bullet" from rock band KMFDM. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the students behind the 1999 Columbine High School massacre, also cited that group's lyrics.
Another short video clip, called "Just Testing My Gun," showed Auvinen loading and cocking a handgun. He fired and hit several pieces of fruit in a wooded area; the camera then showed a close-up of the destroyed fruit, and then a full-screen shot of him again. He waved at the camera and then walked out of view.
The site indicated that the youth appeared to be fascinated with killing. As well as video footage of the Columbine school shootings, it also included clips of the 1993 Waco siege in the United States, the 1995 sarin gas attack in Tokyo, and bombs falling on Baghdad during the 2003 invasion.
Many showed victims being wheeled away or people running for their lives. Throughout all of this, the single word "DIE" constantly flashed across the screen. Other video clips included Nazi-war-criminal footage.
In the rambling text posted on the site, Auvinen said that he is "a cynical existentialist, anti-human humanist, anti-social social-Darwinist, realistic idealist and god-like atheist.
"I am prepared to fight and die for my cause," he wrote. "I, as a natural selector, will eliminate all who I see unfit, disgraces of human race and failures of natural selection."
The police said at this afternoon's press conference that they had been fired at when they arrived at the school at 11.45 p.m. local time (9.45 a.m. GMT).
They described the scene as chaotic, with some of the 460 students, ranging in age from 12 to 18, breaking windows in an attempt to escape.
When the police's special SWAT unit entered the high school they found the gunman unconscious and in critical condition in the lower lobby of the building with a gunshot wound to his head. Police assume he tried to take his own life as no officers fired at him.
Several bodies were also found in the same location, where the shooting is believed to have begun, they added.
They could not confirm comments by some students that Auvinen was firing through doors.
Police also said that the gun Auvinen used, which was fully licensed, had been purchased less than a month ago on October 19. The legal age limit to own a gun in Finland is 18, which Auvinen passed in June of this year.
He had a recommendation from a shooting club when he obtained the gun, police added, and practised sharp-shooting as a hobby at a shooting range.
Finland, which enjoys a strong tradition of hunting, has a high proportion of gun ownership, with two million firearms owned in a nation of only five million.
The Associated Press reported comments from Kim Kiuru, one of the school's teachers, on radio station YLE.
Kiuru described how the headmistress used the public address system around noon to tell pupils to stay in classrooms.
He said he locked his classroom door, then waited in the corridor for more news.
"After that I saw the gunman running with what appeared to be a small-caliber handgun in his hand through the doors towards me, after which I escaped to the corridor downstairs and ran in the opposite direction, " Kiuru said.
The agency reported Kiuru as saying that he saw a woman's body as he fled the school, before telling his pupils to leave the building through the windows. E-mail to a friend
Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. [Associated Press](/interactive_legal.html#AP) contributed to this report. | eng_splitted_0.jsonl/1973522 | {
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Harry Redknapp has revealed Nicolai Brock-Madsen's inclusion on the Birmingham City bench was all the more unlikely because the striker was all set to leave Blues.
The 24-year-old was named in Birmingham's match-day squad for the first time since December 2015 after an injury to Lukas Jutkiewicz left Redknapp with only two fit, senior strikers.
Redknapp even hinted Brock-Madsen, a £400,000 signing from Randers two years ago, might take part in Tuesday night's Carabao Cup tie against Crawley Town.
Which would be even more strange given he seemed set to return to the Netherlands a few days ago.
"The only forward I have got on the bench is a lad who we had given a free transfer to a week ago and the deal fell through and he is still with us," Redknapp said.
"He was going last week - and the boy hasn't played a pre-season game. He hasn't kicked a ball all pre-season, hasn't played a full game.
"I brought him today because I had no-one else. I thought if I get an injury I will have to stick him on.
"He knows the situation, he is not going to play here, he needs to move on, and he's a good lad.
"Could he play Tuesday? If this is all I have got again this week I can't risk injuries at the moment.
"But I need options, strikers on the bench who can come on and change things, wide-men, midfield players." | eng_splitted_0.jsonl/1973525 | {
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[§] [The Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade (Mr. Henry Strauss)]
I beg to move,That the Draft Wool Textile Industry (Scientific Research Levy) (Amendment) Order, 1952, a copy of which was laid before this House on 14th July, be approved.This Order amends in one particular the 1950 Order which provided for a levy under Section 9 of the
[Industrial Organisation and Development Act, 1947], to furnish funds for the Wool Textile Research Council. The original Order was approved by this House on 24th October, 1950, after a speech of admirable brevity by my predecessor, the hon. Member for Ashton-under-Lyne (Mr. Rhodes). He was supported by some of my hon. Friends and the House was of one mind in approving that Order. I think I shall be doing what the House desires if I use the same brevity.
The levy is collected by the Board of Trade and paid to the Wool Textile Research Council. That Council is composed of representatives of the Wool Industry Research Association, Leeds University, the Association of Principals of Technical Institutions and organisations representing employers and employed in the industry, and the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research sends an observer to its meetings.
The Wool Textile Research Council in turn reimburses the expenses incurred by the various bodies, in particular the Wool Industry Research Association, the universities and technical colleges. The present Order simply increases the levy. It has been asked for by both sides of the industry, by the Wool Textile Delegation and by the National Association of Unions in the Textile Trade. The reason is the increased cost of the excellent research work that is being carried out.
As required by the Act, the Board of Trade have consulted other representative organisations. Apart from those who asked for this Order, 14 were consulted and there was only one dissentient. That was the Federation of British Carpet Manufacturers, but I would remind the House that the only members of the car-
pet manufacturing industry who are required to pay the levy are those who spin the yarn which they use. The remainder of the processes are expressly excluded from the definition of the wool textile industry in the Order and, as a result, carpet manufacturers are not liable to pay in respect of operatives employed in subsequent processes.
A great part of the money goes to the Wool Industries Research Association, which also receives a grant from the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, who regard an expanding programme of work as essential. The levy as first introduced was estimated to produce between £100,000 and £120,000 a year. It in fact produced £114,000 in the first year. In the first six months of this year about £48,000 has been collected and, if the amended rate had been in operation, the figure would have been about £70,000. I think that places the House in possession of the essential information.
[§] [Mr. H. Rhodes] [(Ashton-under-Lyne)]
There are a few comments I wish to make on this Order. I am of opinion that the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade will be very thankful that the Labour Government passed the
[Industrial Organisation Development Act]when they did in 1947, because otherwise they would be unable to get the funds to support the research going on in the wool industry today.
The Research Association is in great difficulty, and I think a new formula will have to be found before very long to meet the needs of collection. At the moment it is on the basis of the raw material used and the number of employees engaged in the trade. The real reason for the Parliamentary Secretary coming to the House tonight is because of the difficulties that the wool industry is experiencing at the present time. It is not using as much raw material, and its revenue has fallen because of that decrease. There are not as many people employed in the industry as formerly, and so they are also losing revenue on that account.
I suggest to the Parliamentary Secretary that some thinking should be done about whether a new method can be evolved to produce a steady income,
irrespective of whether times are lean or prosperous. It seems ridiculous that an industry which, according to the figures I have in my possession, showed net profits during the year 1949–50 amounting to £20 million, cannot subscribe more than £75,000 in a year towards its own research. When we consider that £75,000 against the amount of profits of £20 million, it represents only .375 per cent. It is really not good enough, and what I should like to see is something done to stabilise the position so that in either lean times or good there is a steady income.
I wish to ask the Parliamentary Secretary why it is that he has assessed the new increase on operatives? Why not on the raw material as well? I hope he will be able to tell us that. In the Working Party's recommendations it was suggested that 75 per cent. of the moneys raised and put to the use of research through the Wool Textile Research Council should go to the Research Association. I am not sure whether the figures which the Parliamentary Secretary has given will cover the exigencies of the position.
For instance, 75 per cent. of the £100,000 would not put them in the position of being able to get a grant from the D.S.I.R. this year. As I understand it, for the first two years, 1951 to 1953, the industry must voluntarily subscribe something like £80,000 before it is able to get the £30,000 grant from the D.S.I.R. If it subscribes more than £80,000, for every £100 raised it gets £100 from the D.S.I.R. to a maximum of £60,000; which means a minimum of £30,000 and a maximm of £60,000. After 1953, to 1956, it rises to £100,000.
Therefore, if the same formula is applied that the Wool Research Association gets something in the region of 75 per cent. of the gross revenue of the Research Council, it would mean that instead of approximately £114,000, which the Parliamentary Secretary has suggested would be raised under the scheme, something in the region of £133,000 would be needed to give the Wool Research Association £100,000.
It is necessary for the Research Association to have this money. I hope that some means will be found so that a regu-
lar income can be provided for research in this industry. The Association are doing a first-class job, and I wish them well. I have no objections other than those which I have mentioned.
[§] [Mr. Edward Shackleton] [(Preston, South)]
Like my hon. Friend the Member for Ashton-under-Lyne (Mr. Rhodes), I welcome the faithful way in which the Government are carrying out the provisions of the
[Industrial Organisation and Development Act], which they opposed so bitterly when the Labour Government introduced it. It is satisfactory to find that they see the need for this degree of organisation in industry. I do not wish to go too wide of the subject, which I know is narrow, but a number of points arise on this amending Order which are of great importance. The Parliamentary Secretary should "come clean" and tell the House why exactly it is necessary to increase the rate of levy on the wool textile industry.
He has given certain figures about the amount of money which has been received and which was anticipated in connection with this levy. He told us that the original figure hoped for was something in the neighbourhood of £100,000 and £120,000. I am specially interested in in these figures, and I hope that the Parliamentary Secretary will help me. The matter is difficult. I should like to know whether these figures are correct.
I understand that last year £114,000 was obtained through the 2d. levy. This year, in the first six months, the total is only £48,000, which would pre-suppose that the levy would yield on the same basis, if unemployment does not increase, no more than £96,000. Surely we should have some explanation in the House for the fall in the amount of the levy. The hon. and learned Gentleman has not given any explanation.
The former Parliamentary Secretary stated straightforwardly that it is obviously due to the decline in trade in the wool textile industry. It is due to the fact that less wool is consumed. Because this levy is, to some extent, based on the amount of wool consumed, the amount which comes in under it is reduced. It is also based on the numbers employed in the textile industry.
Here we come once again to the consequences of the policies of this Government. As a result of their failure to deal with the growing unemployment in the textile industry, we are confronted here in a small way by a short-fall of funds which are essential for the development of this vital industry. This is a misfortune which is besetting the whole of the textile industry.
The matter is further complicated because of the decision of the Government not to increase at a suitable rate the funds made available to the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. It is a bit thick for the Parliamentary Secretary to come to the House and to tell us that the money is not enough and that therefore the levy must be increased. I should like to hear what the figures are on which this calculation is based. What are the employment figures accepted in the industry? What are the figures for the consumption of wool? We should like to know the Government's estimates of the prospects of the industry.
It may well be that if we are to hope to recover our position in the world and to improve employment in the textile industry a great deal more money ought to be spent on research to give us the technological advances which will be necessary to enable us to compete in the highly competitive world market. I do not think we ought to leave this subject until we have had a much fuller explanation. This is something which affects very deeply the lives of large numbers of people in Yorkshire, and yet we have had, from the opening speech of the Parliamentary Secretary, no real reference to the cause of the decline of these funds. I hope the debate will be carried on until we have had a satisfactory explanation.
[§] [Mr. David J. Pryde](Midlothian and Peebles)
I only wish to ask the Parliamentary Secretary two questions, because it is too late to develop anything else. Will he explain to the House how the Scottish section of the industry stands in regard to this Order? Secondly, is it true that the centre of the organisation in the wool industry of this country is based upon Bradford; and, if it is true, whether the Scottish section has only one representative on that organisation for all the interests in Scotland?
[§] [Mr. I. Mikardo] [(Reading, South)]
I cannot, of course, speak on the Scottish aspects of this question with the authority of my hon. Friend the Member for Midlothian and Peebles (Mr. Pryde), nor have I the authority of my hon. Friend the Member for Preston, South (Mr. Shackle-ton) for speaking on the subject of research generally, because he has made a very deep study of it. Certainly, neither I nor, I think, any other Member of the House, can speak with the authority of my hon. Friend the Member for Ashton-under-Lyne (Mr. Rhodes), who began as a weaver and is now a manufacturer of fine cloth, and has been through all the gamut of the practical problems in the industry.
However, if I may say so with due modesty, I have had experience in all the four main branches of the textile industry—cotton, synthetic fibres, jute and wool—as a consultant, and I have been able to compare the different practices in research and in the development of technique in these different sectors of the textile industry, which, though they have many differences between them, have, especially in the field of research and development, very many similarities as well. I am sorry to say that, of those four runners in the race, wool cannot be placed higher than in the third place, so far as its expenditure on and the care and efficacy of its work in research are concerned.
We shall, of course, support this Order because the effect of it is to make more money available for research in an industry which, goodness knows, needs much more research than it has ever had in the past, and much more even than it is likely to get under the provisions of the Order we are now discussing. Everybody in the House, and almost everybody in the country, has in the last few years come round to understanding, as few people have understood for very many years, that we need a much greater expenditure on research, and a much greater devotion of skill, manpower, thought and imagination to research, if we are to improve, let alone maintain, the efficiency of British industry and its power to compete in world markets.
Every one, or almost every one, is now seized of that fact, largely because of the educative effect of measures taken in this
direction by the Labour Government between 1945 and 1951, and not least by the inspiration of my right hon. Friend the Member for Lewisham, South (Mr. H. Morrison). We on this side are delighted to see the most welcome, if a little belated, conversion of hon. Gentlemen opposite to the understanding of the fact that we need a greater application of research to our industry.
While welcoming this Order, and speaking in support of it, and, if need be, voting in support of it, though I hope that will not be necessary, I would, nevertheless, like to ask the Parliamentary Secretary one or two questions and put one or two points to him, and I am sure that the House will gladly give him leave to speak again.
On paper, this Order looks as though it is making a very sharp increase in expenditure in research in the wool textile industry from 2d. per unit to 3.4 pence per unit. On paper that looks like a 70 per cent. increase. In fact, it is not, because, as we all know to our cost—and my hon. Friend the Member for Preston, South, referred to this—one of the reasons for that increase is the fact that unhappily this year the number of employment units—and unfortunately that is what they are called in this legislation; and the Parliamentary Secretary, who is a stickler for good English, must feel a knife turn in his soul every time he uses the term; it is a pity he is not listening—
[§] [Mr. H. Strauss]
I resent hon. Members opposite saying that I am not listening when I am making a note of the points they have raised in the hope of being helpful in reply. The fact that I am taking a note of the speech does not mean that I am not listening.
[§] [Mr. Mikardo]
I immediately and sincerely apologise to the hon. and learned Gentleman. It looked as though he were busying himself with other matters.
[§] [Mr. Leslie Hale] [(Oldham, West)]
[§] [Mr. Mikardo]
We know that his great talents allow him to do two things at once, although there are not many of us who, when we do two things at once, are capable of doing either of them really
well. If I did him an injustice, I immediately apologise.
What I was saying before I was led astray—and perhaps that was my own fault—was that one of the reasons for the increased rate of the levy per employment unit was unhappily that the number of employment units in the industry would be smaller this year. If the Parliamentary Secretary wants to blame anybody for that he might look across the square in the direction of the Treasury. That is one of the reasons for the increase in the rate of levy per employment unit, and the increase in the amount of money raised will not be anything like so great as is suggested by the 70 per cent. increase in the rate of levy per employment unit. The increase is not, indeed, as sharp as appears on the surface.
One of the questions which I want to ask the Parliamentary Secretary is this. Under the new Order, and with the new amount which will be spent by the industry, how does the expenditure on research of the British woollen industry compare with the expenditure on research by woollen industries in other countries with whose product our woollen textile industry has to compete? I want to put to the Parliamentary Secretary what is my impression of the answer to that question—and I do not for one second pretend that it is authoritative, but I put to him my impression in the hope, indeed in the expectation, that to whatever extent I am wrong, he will correct me.
As my hon. Friend the Member for Ashton-under-Lyne said, this sum will represent an expenditure on research of about three-eighths of 1 per cent. of what has been roughly calculated to be the last full year's profits of the industry. I have an idea—not merely an impression, because it is based on some study—that in the United States of America the wool textile industry, which is younger than ours, much less skilled than ours and with nothing like the design or the craft or the work traditions of our industry, spends on research something approaching 1 per cent., not of its profits but of its turnover. There is a very wide gap between 1 per cent. of turnover and three-eighths of 1 per cent. of profits.
Of course, this situation is not confined to wool. I should quickly run myself out of order and be reproved by
you, Mr. Deputy-Speaker, if I quoted any other examples, but perhaps you will allow me to say in half a sentence that the disproportion which I have quoted for wool is paralleled by a large number of other major industries in the country. There again the expenditure on research in other countries is a much greater proportion of turnover, or of profit, or of numbers of people employed, or of yardage, or of lbs. weight of wool spun, or whatever calculation you like, than in this country. I should like to ask the Parliamentary Secretary whether I am not right in saying that, even under this new Order the amount of money the British wool textile industry will be spending on research per whatever you like—per worker, per yard, per loom, what you will—will still be very very much less than is spent by those countries with whose products our woollen manufacturers have to compete.
There are two other points that I wish to put to the Parliamentary Secretary about the money which will be raised under this Order, and they both concern the allocation of this money, one as between the different institutions that will receive it and the other as between the different types of research work to which it will be devoted.
The Parliamentary Secretary said that amongst the institutions which will be assisted under this scheme are the establishments of the Wool Research Association, the universities and technical colleges, and he said the great part—I think those were his words—of the money goes to the establishments of the Wool Research Association. I think I am accurate in saying that the overwhelmingly greater part goes to the establishments of the Wool Research Association, and only a much smaller part to the universities and the technical colleges.
Of course, there is a certain pressure, an incentive, to get adequate finance for the Wool Research Association's establishments because, I think I am right in saying, it is not until they get £80,000 a year of their own that they qualify for the £30,000 a year D.S.I.R. grant. The Department of Scientific and Industrial Research is quite right in insisting that its own monetary help to industrial research shall be conditional upon each industry helping itself, and it is quite
right to give the industry an incentive properly to give resources to its own research establishments before the D.S.I.R. come along and, so to speak, tops the thing up with an additional grant.
Unfortunately, there is one bad effect arising out of this situation. The fact that there is rather an arbitrary figure which the Wool Research Association has got to reach for its establishments before it qualifies for the D.S.I.R. grant means that the allocation of the money between, on the one hand, the Association's establishments and, on the other hand, the universities and technical colleges is not made on an assessment of which of these institutions can usefully use that money, is not made on an assessment of the forward research programmes of the institutions and an assessment of what money those programmes will require, but it is made frightfully arbitrary by saying, "We have got to give this to the Wool Research Association whether they are in a position to use it well or not so that we get the D.S.I.R. money, and after that the University of Leeds and the technical colleges of the West Riding and elsewhere can have what is left over, after we have given the Research Association enough money to qualify for the D.S.I.R. grant, whether it needs that much money, or wants it or not."
That really is a very great pity because, although I pay very great tribute to the research establishments of the Wool Research Association, which are doing very good work, I do not think anybody with first-hand experience of the work—and I am sure I carry with me in this my hon. Friend the Member for Ashton-under-Lyne, who knows a very great deal about it—will dispute that the most forward looking and the most imaginative research work in the industry is not done in the Research Association establishments but in industry. The most useful work in the industry, the most practical immediate work in the industry, the base work of application of research to working methods—that is done most of all in the technical colleges.
I am afraid that what the Wool Research Association does is to fall between two stools. It is neither fundamental, long term, basic, general research; nor is it research on immediate application of known knowledge, the
known corpus of knowledge, to the actual work in the factory. Both those two things are very necessary, but as the immediate, short term problem in industry the second is more necessary than the first.
We have almost got to the stage in wool—with the hundreds of years this country has been a great producer of fine woollen cloths—when what we want in the industry is not to get more knowledge by research, but to find out ways of applying more widely the knowledge we have got. That is work being done preeminently in the technical colleges, and the real, fundamental research into the things which condition what the industry will be likely to be doing in 10 or 15 years' time is being done at the universities, and what the Wool Research Association is doing for the most part is some nebulous thing in between those two things.
It is spending too much of its time and money on the unprogrammed, non schematic finding of the answers to ad hoc questions put up to it by manufacturers who are members of the Research Association. The Research Association cannot refuse to give assistance in this direction and to attempt to answer questions that are put un to it by people who are actually subscribers to its funds, and if some manufacturer who finds a snag in his finishing process, or that one of his machines starts to finish a bit squiffy one week and to turn out finishing work that is not standard, and the finishing shop foreman cannot find the answer to it, there is a great temptation to ring up the Research Association and say, "What's wrong with this machine? It is turning out stuff with spots the size of a halfpenny along the selvedge." The Association immediately devotes its mind to it, and to answering such requests for help from its subscribers. I am not saying at all that this is not useful. It is very useful; it has considerable practical effect; but it really does not supply the answer to what are the fundamental problems of the woollen industry.
Therefore, I invite the Parliamentary Secretary to consider the allocation of the money under this Order—and I know that, as a former worker in this House for the universities, and one with knowledge of education and research, I shall
strike a chord in him when I invite him to consider the way he is to allocate it under this Order, and how it is going to be spent—whether, in his judgment, starting from a blank sheet of paper, the allocation of this money as between the universities and technical colleges, on the one hand, and the research establishments on the other, is the best way to enable the industry to make the best progress and to enable us to get the best out of it.
The second point I ant to make—and I apologise for talking so long—about allocation I have already touched on, and that is the allocation as between different types of work. We all realise, of course, that the maintenance of quality in the products of this industry is at least as important for the welfare of the industry as it is in the case of any other industry, but, of course, there are other factors which need to be considered as well as the purely qualitative factors—to an increasing extent when the products of our wool mills are meeting price competition in overseas markets; and we have, therefore, got to get, not so much better quality for the same money, so to speak, but the same quality at a lower price.
Therefore, we have to consider operative savings. We cannot do much unilaterally about the price of raw material, and the fundamental difference between the woollen textiles, on the one hand, and other textiles like jute, cotton or synthetic fibres, on the other. In wool a much higher proportion of the cost of the end product consists of raw material costs than it does in the case of any other textile. Therefore, wool is much more than any textile industry at the mercy of the wool fluctuations of world markets, over which at best we have only marginal control.
We have got to help ourselves where it lies within our power to do so, and that is in the field of labour costs. In that field undoubtedly the place where most saving is to be made is in weaving. In the past we have, I believe, concentrated too much on the design and operation of the machine, that is to say, the loom, and far too little to a study of whether we are using the right raw materials in each case for the cloth we want to produce.
One reason why the woollen textile industries are much less efficient than the metal industries, speaking generally, is
that in the metal industries raw materials are bought to specification. A manufacturer says, "I want a one inch steel bar of a certain kind," and he figures how much compression strength and hardness that is wanted, the material is specified on that basis. Then it is tested in the store to see if it has those characteristics, and the manufacturer does not pay for it if it has not the characteristics which he ordered. If it has, he can put it in his shop knowing it is going to behave in the way he planned. He knows the degree of skill that is going to be required to handle that article, because he knows the material—if I may use a factory phrase—will not get up on its hind legs and behave awkwardly.
It is much more difficult to do that with a natural raw material or vegetable material, like wool or cotton, than it is with a mineral material like steel, but within certain limits it is possible to certify materials. A manufacturer knows that if a given cloth is to be woven on a loom which is exerting a given tension, he wants a yarn of this much strength and certainly no less because it will break and mending the breaks will cost money, and certainly no more, because if it is too high a quality he is paying more for the raw materials than that particular cloth happens to need.
I believe that here there is an enormous field of research for the research establishments. In a very humble way I have been doing a little myself, and I have tried to apply to this standardisation and specification of yarn some of the statistical techniques of quality control that are used in industries like engineering and the manufacture of electric lamps. This is a large-scale job, and I should like to think that something like one-third of the money we are here asked for in this Order was going to be devoted over the next year or two to study along those lines, because I am quite satisfied that if the Parliamentary Secretary asks he will find that many people agree that it is in this direction that the next significant advance will have to be made in increasing efficiency in the operation of weaving woollen cloth.
That is the sort of thing that is scarcely being done at all. Either there are people doing large-scale, long-term fundamental research, or those concerned on how para-
sites in a sheep's back will affect one's fifth process in finishing for dyeing a year later. That is all very pretty, and interesting in an academic way, but it is not of immediate concern. Or, there are people answering ad hoc questions on matters popping up in one factory, or on one particular machine, which are not duplicated anywhere else for a long time, if at all.
We need a better programme of woollen industry research through the Wool Research Association's establishments, but I believe that it lies particularly in the universities; to a lesser extent in the technical colleges, where we shall find a capacity for doing a programme of that sort in the shape of a really schematic piece of research in wool textiles.
I know that the Parliamentary Secretary would be dealing with autonomous bodies, jealous of their own independence, and jealous of what he might suggest but he is a persuasive, as well as an honourable Gentleman, and if he devoted his mind to these matters he could, without interfering with the plans of anybody, persuade these authorities to have a look at this matter. I beg of him to make a first-hand study of the subject and see if he does not, as a result, reach something like the conclusions which, in all humility, I have endeavoured to put before him.
[§] [Mr. Leslie Hale] [(Oldham, West)]
I am sure the House is grateful for the remarks of my hon. Friend the Member for Reading, South (Mr. Mikardo), with which I agree, and to which I would add that the matter becomes the concern of Oldham. With unemployment existing there in the one textile industry, and while the only alternative industry within practical reach has large-scale unemployment, one point on which I find myself in some agreement with him is when he says that this Order is born in tragedy and less money is being spent on research than before. The widespread unemployment means that there is less revenue for research in times of increasing difficulties.
[§] [Sir William Darling] [(Edinburgh, South)]
The revenue is not based on employment or unemployment, but on the units in the industry.
[§] [Mr. Hale]
The levy has been increased because of the unemployment, as I understand it; the levy per person has been increased to give the same revenue. But we are glad to hear the view of the hon. Member, although I must point out to him that the figures seem to be different from last year.
It is a major disaster that, in the north of England, where prosperity has been built largely on textiles, but which has also endured long periods of unemployment, that there should be an affliction spreading over both industries concurrently, with the sufferings of each added to by the lack of alternatives. After all, this is of immediate concern to Oldham; for, from its main street, one can see the beginning of the area represented by my hon. Friend the Member for Nelson and Colne (Mr. S. Silverman); although perhaps the Colne Valley area is a little nearer; and it is the home of the woollen industry.
My hon. Friend the Member for Reading, South made the point that the cost of the raw material in the woollen textile industry is relatively the highest of any industry in comparison with final production costs. That is the major disaster of both textile industries, for in both the cost of the raw material is abnormally high compared with the price of the finished product. Therefore, when we look at the history of the last five or six years, it is surprising that every time we have talked about bilateral treaties or the planning of purchases to get a stable price, we have had sneers from hon. Members opposite, who have managed to introduce widespread unemployment in the industry within the course of a few months.
It is a great tragedy that the restriction of credit policy of the Chancellor has helped to aggravate this serious question in both industries at the same time. That, couplied with the change of economic policy, has brought tragic results to Lancashire and Yorkshire and is causing widespread difficulties.
As I understand the Order, this levy is purely for scientific research and does not cover market research. But market research is fundamental, especially in view of the abolition of the British Export Trade Research Organisation, which was trying to do something—perhaps not as
much as was hoped—in that connection. The Cotton Board has done a great deal for the cotton textile industry, but so far as I know there is now no one looking after this vitally important subject of research in the woollen industry.
That becomes vital when we read that textile organisers in Lancashire and Yorkshire are now, in desperation, advising workers to seek employment in some other industry. It is a great tragedy, but none who has seen what has happened over the last few months can fail to see that such advice can be given honestly and seriously. The first duty of the Board of Trade at this time is to look into the question of market research.
My hon. Friend gave figures that surprised me. He suggested that in U.S.A. something like 1 per cent. of turnover is being invested in general research; in this country it is, I believe, three-eighths of 1 per cent. of the profits. Certainly none can question that we are very far behind competing countries in this respect, and indeed far behind countries that can compete on relatively favourable terms because they have the raw materials more readily available and more control over purchasing price. These are very grave matters to which the Parliamentary Secretary, I hope, will give attention tonight.
The grave question that confronts Lancashire and Yorkshire today is. Are these people to stay at their work and hope conditions will change for the better, when most people are prophesying they will change for the worse; or are they to start that miserable trek from north to south, looking for work, which occurred in years gone by?
When the magnitude of the problem is considered, it is amazing that tonight we should be discussing so small a palliative as a modest variation of the amount to be invested in purely scientific research in the wool industry. Since we are within a few days of the termination of the Sittings of this House—and I am sorry we are rising for August, September, and part of October at a time when many people out of work feel we ought to be studying their problems and trying to find remedies for the disastrous situation—I hope the Parliamentary Secretary will take the opportunity of telling us something of what the Government's plans are for the woollen and cotton textile indus-
tries, what is their policy, and what are their expectation. Let him at least give some advice to those people who are waiting for it.
My hon. Friend has fairly said that very much work in pure scientific research, both in wool and cotton, is being done at the universities. The Woollen Research Organisation, which gets, after all, only a modest grant out of this levy, is pursuing a more limited field of research. The question of market research is perhaps the most important of all. I ask the hon. and learned Gentleman to say whether anyone is conducting widespread market research on behalf of the industry; whether there is anyone trying to anticipate the needs of the world today and, indeed, trying, I hope—
Mr. Deputy-Speaker (Mr. Hopkin Morris)
The hon. Member has touched upon this before. I cannot see how it arises on this Order, though the question of scientific research does.
[§] [Mr. Hale]
It arises in this way. We are being asked to pass an Order which provides for a levy for woollen industry research. I am asking the Parliamentary Secretary to tell us how that money will be apportioned; how much will be spent on scientific research; how much on market research; how much on export research; how much on the production of raw materials, and so on. Clearly such a levy can cover every aspect of the trade. I express a slight apprehension that it does not cover every aspect, and that we ought to know how much is being allocated to each.
There is a final point. The Orders made on this matter by the previous Government were mandatory. They provided penalties for breach and penalties for people who did not co-operate to the full. So far as I am aware, no proceedings have ever been taken by this Government or the last in respect of a breach of any of these Orders. I ask the hon. and learned Gentleman to say what is the amount of co-operation that he is getting; how many times investigations have taken place, whether by his Department or by the Director of Public Prosecutions, into breaches; and how many times proceedings have been taken.
It would help the House to say whether the industry is co-operating fully in this provision of research and whether the
levies are being paid without difficulty. It would also assist if we knew whether the hon. and learned Gentleman was getting from the industry that co-operation which, in its present state, is absolutely vital if we are to maintain any hope of prosperity.
[§] [Mr. H. Strauss]
I wish to say a few words in courtesy to the hon. Gentlemen who have spoken. My predecessor in office, who welcomed this Order, suggested that there might be a case for revising the whole basis. I do not think that it would be in order to discuss that now, but what he said will be noted. I promise that that will be considered.
The hon. Member for Preston, South (Mr. Shackleton) asked for details of the figures. The figures he quoted were right, as far as they went. For the last half year, the figure is the amount which has so far been collected. I have no doubt that that represents the bulk.
While I am on the question of figures, I might mention a point made by the hon. Member for Oldham, West (Mr. Hale). He was under a slight misapprehension when he said that as a result of this Order less money would be spent on research than before. More money for research is contemplated as a result of this Order though, of course, if the basis of computation had remained exactly the same, an even greater improvement might have been effected by the alteration of the rate.
The hon. Member for Midlothian and Peebles (Mr. Pryde) asked about Scotland. Scotland is within the Order. The Order applies to Great Britain, and the representative body on the Council is the National Association of Scottish Woollen Manufacturers. The hon. Member for Reading, South (Mr. Mikardo), to whose interesting speech I listened carefully, asked me various questions with only some of which I can deal. He attacked me for the expression "employment unit", being apparently under the impression that what that meant was an employee. But, of course, it does not mean that. The hon. Gentleman will find the definition in sub-paragraph 3 of article 4 of the original Order, and when he studies that he will see that there is good reason for the use of that expression.
The hon. Member also asked me if I could give a comparison of the amounts
spent in research in other countries. I cannot give that comparison tonight, but I can tell him that the £100,000 that the Research Association gets to attract a grant from the Department of Industrial and Scientific Research, together with that grant, is calculated by these bodies to suffice for the excellent programme they have in mind. He made suggestions about the allocation between institutions and between forms of research, but as he will understand the determination of that matter is not for the Board of Trade, but for the organisation to whom the money is handed over. There are a great variety of researches being made, from the breeding of sheep to machinery, but they are all scientific research.
Another matter on which I was asked a direct question was why the revision made in this amending Order was wholly on the employment unit and not on the other part of the calculation. I think it was the hon. Gentleman the Member for Preston, South who asked the question, but the answer is simple. It was the request of both sides of the industry, the employers and the trade unions. I think that has answered the main questions, and I hope that the House will now give approval to an Order which has been proposed, and is desired, by both sides of this industry, and to which my predecessor in office—the hon. Gentleman the Member for Ashton-under-Lyne—who has great knowledge of this industry, has given his approval.
[§] [Mr. Hale]
The hon. and learned Gentleman did not reply to my question whether there is any market research going on.
[§] [Mr. Pryde]
I wonder if the hon. and learned Gentleman would answer the second part of my question, which was to inquire whether it was true that the Scottish section of this industry had only one representative on the Wool Board.
[§] [Mr. Strauss]
I gave the name of the Scottish representative on the Council.
[§] [Mr. Shackleton]
Would the hon. and learned Gentleman clarify one point about the employment unit? He will recall that there was an interruption by the hon. Gentleman the Member for Edinburgh, South (Sir William Darling), who said that this had nothing to do
with the numbers employed in the industry, but the Parliamentary Secretary has still not answered the question whether the decline in money is caused by a decline in employment and a consequent decline in the amount of wool used.
[§] [Mr. Strauss]
If the hon. Gentleman will examine the principal Order he will find that the amount of the levy depends on two things, the employment unit and the materials. No doubt there has been some decline in each, explained by the decline in trade. To give one set of figures, that part of the levy which came last year from what I might call the employment unit was £70,000, and that from the supply and consumption of fibre was £44,000. The amount so far collected in the first six months of this year is £31,000, under the heading of employment unit, and £17,000 under the heading of supply and consumption of fibre.
Question put, and agreed to.
That the Draft Wool Textile Industry (Scientific Research Levy) (Amendment) Order, 1952, a copy of which was laid before this House on 14th July, be approved. | eng_splitted_0.jsonl/1973528 | {
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[§] [LORD MANCROFT]
My Lords, this Order, the Jewellery and Silverware Council (Dissolution) Order, is brought before your Lordships' House with a certain measure of regret. The purpose of this Order is to dissolve the Jewellery and Silverware Council which was set up some three or four years ago under the
[Industrial Organisation and Development Act, 1947]. Your Lordships will remember that the general purpose of Councils set up under this Act is to help the industry concerned to increase its efficiency and productivity and to improve the service rendered to the community. The request to your Lordships' House to dissolve such a Council obviously requires a little explanation.
It has been my unfortunate lot to ask your Lordships once before to approve of such a dissolution—namely, that of the Clothing and Development Council, and perhaps I can save your Lordships' time by saying straight away that the form of the present Order follows precisely the form of the previous Order, and therefore no point on the technical side of it arises. The reason for the proposed abolition of this Council is all too simple. The Council, quite frankly, has not worked, and it shows no signs whatever of working in the future. It may be that the Council, in its original form, should not have been set up, in that to marry together jewellery and silverware—two trades which have never been particularly closely allied—was in itself asking for trouble. There has been really nothing but trouble all along. The trade associations have now completely failed to agree on the form of any continuing body or whether, indeed, such a body, or any body, should continue at all. This failure has occurred despite the most painstaking efforts by my right honourable friend the President of the Board of Trade to achieve some unanimity. In the course of the past year, my right honourable friend and my honourable friend the Parliamentary Secretary, have had no fewer than fifteen consultations with the various constituent bodies—that is to say, the two trade associations and the two trade unions—and with the
Council itself. There have also been frequent consultations between officials at the Board of Trade.
Here, I should like to pay my tribute to the work which the Council has been able to achieve. The work has been quite useful. Unfortunately, I can put it no higher than that. It has been quite useful even though, of course, owing to the lack of wholehearted support from the industry, the potentialities of the Council never had time to develop fully. In particular, the Government regret the cessation of the grant paid through the Council to the Design and Research Centre. There may be some danger that the work of the Centre may be prejudiced by this, but that is not really within the scope of the Order. I should also like to pay my tribute to the individual members of the Council for the immense time and effort they have put into their work and for the efforts they have made, in the face of great opposition, to try to make their Council work satisfactorily. Especially should I like to thank them for the very invidious and thankless task they have had during the past year, because the Council's life runs normally for three years, after which the President of the Board of Trade is statutorily compelled by the Act to examine and reconsider the working of the Council. My right honourable friend asked the Council to carry on its work for another year in the hope of finding some means of getting the various parties together and some agreement as to the future of the Council. There has, I am sorry to say, been complete failure. There has been complete failure to find any common ground by which the work of this Council can be continued.
Here I wish to make the position of Her Majesty's Government perfectly clear. Her Majesty's Government deeply regret the failure that has occurred and would be only too willing to see any further Council, or other body, in any form, continued if there were the slightest chance of its working. I should like to impress upon your Lordships the insistence which Her Majesty's Government place upon the voluntary nature of that body and the need for it to command a major measure of support throughout all sections of the industry. It is essential that the body, if it is brought into action, should be supported by a substantial
majority of the industry. The trade associations, however, most definitely do not want the present body to continue. The trade unions are more willing but they are not unanimous, and, of course, many of the craftsmen are not themselves in the trade unions. But even if the trade unions were completely unanimous and the associations not, there would still be nothing but trouble for a Council based upon lack of good will And lack of harmony, the very antithesis of everything that was ever intended in the working of these Councils.
Therefore, my Lords, Her Majesty's Government see no alternative at the moment but to ask your Lordships to approve the Order dissolving this Council. That does not mean, of course, that the Government will net continue to try to find some means of getting it on its feet once again; it does not mean that the Government will not offer every encouragement to the industry itself to work out its own plans for a new Council in some form. I would certainly not for one moment ask your Lordships to think that we propose to shut the door now. Nothing could be further from the truth. But while it is possible to bring jarring and discontented members of an industry to a conference table, it is not, of necessity, possible to get them to agree once they have been brought there. That is the situation in which the industry now finds itself. Nobody regrets it more than Her Majesty's Government.
Your Lordships will have seen recently in The Times newspaper correspondence on this subject, notably a letter from the Assay Master at Birmingham pointing out the gloomy future of this industry. Indeed, if I cast my mind back to the original Working Party's Report under which this Council was set up, there were the most gloomy forebodings recorded that the industry would definitely find itself in Queer Street unless some major reorganisation took place. That rather gloomy statement reinforces the need for a Council if it could be found possible to set it up, but with the best will in the world no solution at the moment presents itself. Therefore, we are asking that this Order should be approved. Although, of course, the Order goes, the powers of the industrial Organisation and Development Act remain. Her Majesty's Government's views upon development
councils generally remain unchanged, and of course it remains open to the industry to come back at any time with some new agreed proposals, and nobody will welcome them more than Her Majesty's Government. I hope that, with those few words of explanation, the House will be prepared to approve this Order. I move, [§](#S5LV0180P0_19530225_HOL_67)
Moved, That the Jewellery and Silverware Council (Dissolution) Order, 1953, reported from the Special Orders Committee on Wednesday the 11th instant, be approved.—(Lord Mancroft.)
[§] [LORD LUCAS OF CHILWORTH]
My Lords, I am deeply grateful to the noble Lord for the full and fair way in which he has performed what must have been a most distasteful task. I suppose the noble Lord would agree with me that the silverware industry covered by this Development Council is one of the last of the great craft industries of this country. Yet it is an industry which is typical of many other British industries comprising a few large concerns, a few medium-sized concerns and a whole host of small concerns. There is a whole host of silverware and jewellery craftsmen working in the backrooms of their own establishments—none the worse, my Lords, for that. Nevertheless, it is a totally un-organised industry in the sense that we know industrial organisation in this country. That is all the more reason why it requires a foster mother or a Government Department to attempt, at least, to do something upon its behalf, in spite of all the circumstances.
I am given to understand—the noble Lord will know the facts perhaps better than I do—that only 48 per cent. of the employers are in any kind of organisation whatsoever. There is only one point over which I would differ from anything the noble Lord has said, and perhaps this is the real reason why this industrial council did not work—I must be careful that I do not give offence—that the top-hatted silverware merchants of Sheffield could not agree—and I deeply regret it—with the not quite so top-hatted jewellery manufacturers of Birmingham. The two organisations of employers in Sheffield represent only a minority of the employers, for Sheffield is not the power in this particular world that they would like people to believe. In point of fact, the amount of British silverware hall-marked
in Birmingham, I am given to understand, is far higher than the amount of British silverware hall-marked in Sheffield. I think the amount in London is slightly less than it is in Birmingham.
Something must be done for this industry if we are going to preserve this great craft. I believe that the Government have here a very heavy responsibility. The noble Lord, Lord Mancroft, has said that they are willing to do anything, but I rather think he discounted that statement somewhat in his final words by saying that they will do anything if this industry will come forward with a unified and acceptable plan. Now that has proved to be impossible, so the Government will have to think of something else. Perhaps the answer will be to separate silverware from jewellery. There are still many small manufacturers—craftsmen—who are really anxious to avail themselves of the best services that a Development Council or like organisation can render in regard to research, design and education.
I managed to obtain a copy of the last report of this Development Council. If I may digress for one moment, I should like to ask the noble Lord whether in future he could make arrangements for documents of this description to be laid in the Library of your Lordships' House. It was only by accident that I found that this document was to be laid in the Library of another place, and it is only through the courtesy of the librarian there that I have been allowed to borrow it and acquaint myself with the facts. That has prevented my saying many things that I might have said if I had not been so well-informed. While noble Lords opposite me may sometimes quarrel with my opinions or my deductions, they can hardly ever question my facts, as that is what I am always particularly careful about. I think it is a duty of any noble Lord who speaks in this House to acquaint himself with the facts. Therefore I hope the noble Lord will arrange for the reports of Development Councils, which under Statute have to be made every year, to be laid in the Library, so that noble Lords who wish to discuss these matters can do so with a reasonable amount of knowledge. This Report bears out everything the noble Lord has said, and there is in it one thing
for which I am very grateful: that is, the tribute it pays to the efforts of his right honourable friend to find a modus vivendi for the future. There is another point that I should like to bring to the noble Lord's notice.
Before the noble Lord leaves that point, may I remind him that his Party was represented on the Special Orders Committee and knew about this Order? Presumably, they could have distributed it, if they thought fit. The noble Lord does not complain about being kept in ignorance of the Order, does he?
[§] [LORD LUCAS OF CHILWORTH]
I was fully acquainted with the Order. The noble Lord has misunderstood me. I am not referring to the Order, but to the Annual Report and Accounts of the Development Council, which was laid in the Library of another place at the instigation of Lord Mancroft's right honourable friend. But the Report was not laid in the Library of your Lordships' House, which is just as much a House of Parliament as is another place, and I am only asking the noble Lord, Lord Mancroft, whether, in future, he will see that documents of this description are laid in the Library of this House. I do not think that is an unreasonable request.
What is said in paragraph 12 of the Report only illustrates the tragic story told by the noble Lord, Lord Mancroft. I think I am in possession of about the only available copy of this document. Paragraph 12 says this:… and despite an ever-increasing volume of technical inquiries and requests for assistance from members of the trade, critics of the Centre as an 'expensive luxury' again became vocal.That statement shows a promising demand for information. I would ask the noble Lord to redouble his efforts in this matter, because the amount of hallmarked silverware in the silverware industry of this country has declined from 1947 to 1952 by 65 per cent. In Birmingham, hallmarked silverware in 1947 amounted to 1,522,431 oz., and in 1952 it had fallen to 530,509 oz., a drop of 65 per cent. The same thing happened in Sheffield, and in London.
May I interrupt the noble Lord for a moment? Is that not largely due to the difference between the purchase tax on silverware and on tableware?
[§] [LORD LUCAS OF CHILWORTH]
I think the noble Lord has made a good point. I believe he is right. The 100 per cent. purchase tax on silverware prevents any of us from buying silverware that we should like, the real craft silverware. Moreover, the import restrictions of other countries, and the export restrictions that we have imposed, have put this industry in this hopeless plight. That is all the more reason—the noble Lord will agree with me, I feel sure—why this industry should be brought together to try to remedy these defects because, unless it is, it will go out of existence.
I was greatly struck by a leading article in The Times of February 18. The article said this quite pertinently, and I think it hit the nail on the head:There is, moreover, the problem of how best to deal with a craft whose product ranges all the way from the work of art of high originality and merit to articles mass-produced and entirely derivative.There is a problem—a very great problem. But, after all, that is what Governments are for, to solve problems. That is what the Board of Trade are there for, to help to solve industry's problems. If all these problems were easy, the great brains that are possessed by the Ministers who go to the Board of Trade would not be necessary. After mentioning some of the difficulties which the noble Lord, Lord Mancroft, has so fairly put before us, The Times article finished up by saying, referring to the abandoning of this Council:That, however, would be only a negative step, leaving the revival of a great craft still to be secured.Surely we cannot leave this matter there. I am told that it takes ten years to train a craftsmen in the silverware industry, and that the average age in many of these factories is now sixty years.
I make an appeal to the noble Lord. I do not intend to ask your Lordships to divide upon this Order: that would be asking your Lordships to go to an extreme that I do not intend. I do not even ask the noble Lord to take this Order back and have another look at it, because I agree with him that no progress will be made by pursuing the idea of a Development Council. Under Section 9 of the principal Act, however, the Board of Trade have all the powers they require to help this industry in
research—both technical research and design research—and in education. They have powers to provide the money without there being a Development Council. I ask the noble Lord whether he will give your Lordships an assurance that he will do what he can. When the noble Lord brought before your Lordships' House an Order to dissolve the Clothing Industry Development Council we agreed to it because a voluntary organisation was to come into force. That voluntary organisation, I think the noble Lord will agree with me, in spite of its having been in existence for only a month or two, will be a success. It shows every sign of being a success. I shall be delighted if it is. Will not the noble Lord try with his right honourable friend to see whether something can be done in the present case?
[§] [LORD BURDEN]
My Lords, I should like to reinforce with a few words the appeal which has been male by the noble Lord, Lord Lucas. With him, I pay tribute to the kindly, informative and understanding manner in which the noble Lord, Lord Mancroft, has presented this matter to the House. I accept fully what the noble Lord has said in regard to the efforts of the right honourable gentleman, the President of the Board of Trade, and his Parliamentary Secretary. I hope that I shall not be striking too controversial a note if I say that this unfortunate story of the Development Council is one of the unhappy Tory chickens coming home to roost. The Tory Party cannot in their propaganda talk about "setting the people, free," about "all the evils of governmental interference," the "value of individual enterprise" and so on, without a thoroughly individualistic body of people like the silverware manufacturers taking the Government at their word. The noble Lord, Lord Mancroft, thinks that some of these people do not watch the statements made by politicians, but I can assure him that a thoroughly individualistic body of men like those employers—I know them in Sheffield—do take account of the mental climate which has been engendered by the presence in office of the present Government.
Yesterday, the noble Earl, Lord Selkirk, chided me for going a long way back, a somewhat strange reproach from a Conservative member, because from my
reading of Burke and Disraeli I learned, however imperfectly, to value tradition and respect experience, as against the somewhat doctrinaire views of my Liberal friends. I hope, therefore, I shall not again be chided for going back to the past if I venture to suggest to the House that the working conditions, at least in the silverware industry, are simply a hangover from pre-Industrial Revolution times. I should not be exaggerating if I were to say that some of the working conditions in the industry have not progressed since the days prior to 1760. I have been in some of the workshops in Sheffield which produce exquisite examples of craftsmanship, but where no one having any thought for animals would stable a horse or keep a pig. Such are the conditions in these workshops. I am not exaggerating when I say that the conditions are simply abominable.
The noble Lord, Lord Mancroft, mentioned the Working Party Report on the jewellery and silverware industries. I should like to read a short extract from that Report, emphasising what I have said in regard to the working conditions in the silverware industry. At the top of page 23, the Report says:Working conditions are seldom satisfactory. There is overhead belting in the majority of workrooms, and a great many of them have no ceilings; exposed rafters and belting arrangements alike harbour the dust and dirt. Lighting arrangements are inadequate and ventilation is very poor, since the admission of any fresh air usually causes a draught. Windows are commonly small and often cannot be opened, so that on the upper floors they cannot be cleaned outside. Any effort for cleanliness is bound to be extremely laborious, and yet for many processes in this industry cleanliness is important and has a direct cash value. In sand-buffing shops it is not unusual to find the floors caked with resin and dust, well trodden in by the feet of the workmen. Walls also are uneven and difficult to keep clean. The insufficiency of space usually make it quite impossible to provide reasonable washing and sanitary accommodation, still less adequate cloakrooms and facilities for drying clothes on wet days. Even in the factories which have each a separate and self-contained building—there are forty of these in Sheffield out of a total of 103 buildings—some or all of these faults remain, especially the cramped working conditions and the awkward layouts. They were built when labour was cheap and no one dreamed of objecting to buildings which made necessary a great deal of man-handling of goods.Is the Government going to leave the industry to go along in this way? I agree that there is probably no alternative
to repealing the Order. But, having done that, please do not leave an industry of this kind in such a chaotic state that young men and women, knowing of these conditions, will refuse to go into the industry. They are not going to submit to the conditions which workmen in the past have tolerated. When one looks at the pictures in this Report one can see that the majority of workers represented are men and women well past middle age. It is a craft which is dying out, simply and solely because of the crass individualism of the masters in the industry. I am sure the Government do not want entirely to lose this industry which has been a credit to us. Those of us who look at the silverware of the early days will know what great credit should be given, and what great joy comes from looking at some of the craftsmanship involved. If there is anything of beauty in our modern life, please try to solve this problem and get some sense into the heads of these people. Otherwise the industry will for all time disappear from this country.
My Lords, the night is getting on and I am going to say only one or two words in support of my noble friend. Lord Burden's facts are probably perfectly correct, but I think his diagnosis is utterly and entirely wrong. The reason why this trade is declining at a rapid rate is that the way of life which was exemplified by beautiful silver workings and so on is disappearing through heavy taxation in this country, and indeed in some others. Coupled with that, of course, there is the gigantic purchase tax on these articles. To say that the industry is declining through individualism is something with which I do not agree. Such trades as this flourish and thrive on individualism. Whether my noble friend will be able to achieve the creation of any form of research organisation on the lines asked for by the noble Lord, Lord Lucas, I do not know: it might be quite a good idea. But it is taxation of the individual and on the article which is killing this trade, coupled with the fact that some of the best export markets are no longer open. As your Lordships know, very heavy shipments used to be sent to Brazil, but for this and other things Brazil has run up all over the world a very tidy bill which cannot
be paid. The noble Lord, Lord Lucas, appealed to the Government to act as foster-mother to this industry. The Government is the only foster-mother that I know of which takes the milk from the young, rather than provides it.
[§] [LORD MANCROFT]
My Lords, I am grateful to your Lordships for the sympathetic way in which you have received this Order. I will resist the temptation to follow certain noble Lords down most attractive by-ways that have been opened up, and will content myself by trying to answer the two questions which the noble Lord, Lord Lucas, has put to me. The first concerned the Annual Reports of the Development Council. Under Section 7 (4) of the
[Industrial Organisation and Development Act, 1947], an Annual Report is required to be laid simultaneously in both Houses of Parliament. I must confess that I was under the impression that it had been done. If it has not, then a technical error has occurred, and I will find out why. Certainly it should have been done, and, I am sorry that the error was not discovered before the noble Lord conducted his search. The noble Lord asked me for an assurance that the Board of Trade would do everything in their power to see that an attempt was made to get this Council on its feet again. I will give him the assurance most readily, without any reservation, that the Government will do everything in their power to assist this great industry on the right path again. [§](#S5LV0180P0_19530225_HOL_79)
On Question, Motion agreed to. | eng_splitted_0.jsonl/1973530 | {
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4 Generations 12 International Cricketers 1 Coach: Tarak Sinha, the hero of domestic cricket
He coached Delhi to a Ranji Trophy title 27 years ago, got Rajasthan its first in 2010-11, and now aims to get Jharkhand to the top. Tarak Sinha is the unsung hero of domestic cricket.
Listen to Story
Archer Deepika Kumari is the biggest star in Tatanagar. But she is by no means the only one taking aim at greatness. The Jharkhand cricket team, which made it to the Ranji Trophy knockout stage this year from being nowhere in the reckoning earlier, has a group of players with the same fire in the belly.
A large white hoarding featuring Deepika stands in the backdrop of the dilapidated Keenan Stadium. This is where the motley group of players had assembled at the start of the 2012-13 season to change the fortunes of the state team and put the stadium back on the map of venues that matter. An India-England ODI in 2006 was the last international fixture it hosted. Ranchi, of Mahendra Singh Dhoni fame, is Jharkhand's new cricket address and the town can now boast of the Rs 180-crore HEC International Stadium, set to host 35,000 roaring spectators at another India-England tie on January 19.
The Ranchi venue has deservedly stolen the limelight but credit for altering the course of the state team's destiny goes to the boys who do the hard yards at Keenan Stadium every day of the week. And to a certain Tarak Sinha, the man who lit the fire in the belly required for the purpose.
His name had travelled before the burly 63-year-old arrived to take charge as director, Jharkhand State Cricket Association, and the additional responsibility of chief coach at the start of the season. The players had heard fairytale stories about the man, and witnessed how under him Rajasthan-a team that had been languishing in the Plate division along with them-became overnight Ranji Trophy champions. They dared to dream of something similar and were successful at qualifying for the knockout stage.
It was not just about the team; it was personal for Sinha. He had a point to prove all over again, despite the accolades earned over the years. For the record, he's produced 12 international cricketers, spanning four different generations of Indian cricket-higher than even Dronacharya award winners D.P. Azad, Gurcharan Singh, Ramakant Achrekar and Sunita Sharma. He's produced 100-plus First Class players and has two Ranji titles as well as a historic overseas victory with the Indian women's team. Besides, he's been running one of the most prestigious clubs in Indian cricket, Sonnet, since 1969. At a time when the chorus is rising for a change of coach in Team India, Sinha is a good case study of what an Indian coach can achieve.
When the Jharkhand offer came, he was still smarting from the ignominy of being dumped unceremoniously due to official factionalism despite his achievements with Rajasthan and Delhi. "I was hurt that Rajasthan didn't recognise my efforts; they just thought I was an appointee of Sanjay Dixit (former state cricket association secretary) and removed me along with him. Jharkhand allowed this old man the anger and the hunger to prove his credentials again," he says.
'Ustaadji', as he's fondly referred to, is not unfamiliar with rejection. It was a rejection, at Delhi's under-16 school games trials, that led him to take up coaching. "Salman Khurshid was captain of the Under-16 Delhi schools team. Despite being one of the best wicketkeeper batsmen, I was not considered as there was a huge turf war between Delhi Public School (DPS) and Xavier's on who would get more players into the team. I belonged to Birla school and was rejected. That day, I decided I won't let another talented poor boy to suffer my fate," he says, suddenly overcome by emotion.
"I came from a poor family, and used to walk to practice to save money. My parents often scolded me for playing cricket all the time. But I felt I would play for India one day. That was not to be," he says.
In 1969, Sinha formed Sonnet club with a few players at Ajmal Khan park in Delhi. Gradually, he got more players and thus began his coaching career. An opportunity to coach dav College, Delhi, came but with a rider-his designation would be of a peon, as that was the only situation vacant. "My first salary there was Rs 110. On the field, I was coach of the college team but on paper I was a peon. I was determined to break the stronghold of Hindu and St Stephen's in Delhi college cricket. I proved a point when dav remained champions for ten years," he says.
The Jharkhand proposition was difficult as there were severe budget constraints in hiring professionals as Rajasthan did. Building the stadium had consumed a lot of money and the best players were not available-Dhoni refused an opportunity to play and Varun Aaron remained sidelined the entire season with a back injury.
"When I came, I sensed anticipation within the team, which made me feel good. But I was aghast to see everyone wanted to be seen as an individual. IPL players would come to practise wearing franchise kits, intimidating others with their glamour," recalls Sinha. He got Jharkhand caps made and ordered for team tracksuits. "I told them to value the cap... to play for the cap. Only when you respect your state can you do justice to the India cap," he says, pointing proudly at the white Jharkhand floppy hat he's wearing.
Sinha is known for instinctive, often contentious, decisions. He had included Ashok Meneria, just back from a year-long hernia injury, and dropped the previous match's centurion Puneet Yadav ahead of Rajasthan's quarterfinal against Mumbai in the 2010-11 season. The decision was criticised but Sinha felt Menaria was the big-match player the team needed. The 22-year-old left-hander went on to score centuries in the quarterfinal, semifinal as well as final. "You need guts to back your instinct," says the coach.
In Jharkhand, he dropped fast bowler Rahul Shukla, a big name having represented the Mumbai Indians in IPL, for Ajay Yadav, a buffalo grazer-turned-fast bowling hero. "You have to see if a player needs coaching or just motivation. Someone like Yadav merely needs motivation. I told him I'd gift him Oakley sunglasses if he picked five wickets. And he did the very next day."
Sinha says sometimes one has to play friend, sometimes teacher and sometimes even parent because in domestic cricket there are players from all backgrounds. "Someone like Saurabh Tiwary, who had seen the riches of IPL, needed to be convinced about my credentials to take me seriously. I got some technical changes done in his game, which benefited him."
Financial hardship, however, doesn't necessarily end where success begins. Having invested every single penny in his club, Sinha even faced eviction from his rented house in Delhi. That was when old student Ashish Nehra, the India fast bowler, helped. "I didn't know what to do. I called up Ashish and he said, 'Sir, mere hote aap ko kabhi sadak pe nahi aane doonga (Sir, I won't let you become homeless)'. He got me a new place, saying he was repaying the faith I had in him. I was touched," he says.
Sinha is a self-taught coach, from reading books on the game, talking to players about their experiences and putting his own mind to work. He rubbishes the concept of 'desktop' coaching and the so-called qualified coaches the cricket board insists on. "You can't be good just because you studied coaching for two weeks. I can take on any big NCA (National Cricket Academy, Bangalore) coach on technique and other stuff. In the end, you have to deliver results," he says.
Players recall that he would wake up at 3 a.m. to start planning for a match. There has not been a day in his life when he hasn't been at the ground. "I just think about cricket; politics or films don't excite me. I miss my lunch if I get to watch two good boys in action. I don't remember boys by name, just by face and playing style," he says.
He will continue in the same selfless vein, because cricket is his life. He does not crave for appreciation, but it might be time to give Tarak Sinha his due. | eng_splitted_0.jsonl/1973533 | {
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