NFL star Tua Tagovailoa told to retire at 24 due to concussion fears in damning claim

NFL megastar quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has been told to retire despite being just 24 years old, after the Miami Dolphins star suffered a concussion just days after a scary injury in a separate game

Tua Tagovailoa suffered a severe concussion on Thursday

NEWS
By Charlie Wilson

4 Oct 2022

Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has been told that he should retire from the NFL with immediate effect after potentially suffering two concussions in just four days.

Tagovailoa shockingly suffered what looked to be a severe concussion on Thursday night's loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, just days after many believed him to have suffered one in the win over Buffalo Bills. The Dolphins have been highly-criticised for their handling of the situation, with a number of world-renowned neuroscientists warning of the dangers of having two concussions in a short space of time.

And now, Dr Bennet Omalu, the first doctor to discover and publish findings on chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in American Football players has stated that Tagovailoa should retire from the NFL for the good of his health.

Dr Omalu's work was portrayed by Will Smith in the Hollywood film Concussion in 2015, with CTE now being heavily studied worldwide after his findings were published in 2005. He has since continued his work in the field at the University of California.

Speaking to TMZ Sports, Dr Omalu said his message to Tagovailoa would be: "If you love your life, if you love your family, you love your kids -- if you have kids -- it's time to gallantly walk away. Go find something else to do."

In the first incident against the Bills, Tua looked like he suffered a hit to the head, before getting up and running gingerly as he then fell to the ground. Many had stated that this was symptoms of a concussion, and if so, he should be taken out of the game. However, he was allowed to remain.

AMERICAN FOOTBALL: NFL: Reid says open communication key to 'figuring out' concussion protocol

As the NFL and NFLPA discuss new concussion protocol, Chiefs coach Andy Reid says open communication is key

Miami Dolphins star Tua Tagovailoa has been warned he should retire at 24

The doctor who cleared the quarterback to re-enter the game has now been fired by the NFL, with investigations into the incident continuing.


Just days later, Tagovailoa was slammed to the ground, as he would look like he would go into the 'fencing position'. This is defined as when a person experiences an impact that's strong enough to cause traumatic brain injury, such as a concussion, their arms often go into an unnatural position.

Fellow neuroscientist, Chris Nowinski, had tweeted before the game: "If he has a second concussion that destroys his season or career, everyone involved will be sued & should lose their jobs, coaches included. We all saw it, even they must know this isn't right."

And after the concussion sadly happened, he added: "This is a disaster. Pray for Tua. Fire the medical staffs and coaches. I predicted this and I hate that I am right. Two concussions in 5 days can kill someone. This can end careers. How are we so stupid in 2022."



Tua Tagovailoa issued with harrowing warning after scary hit in Miami Dolphins loss


Dolphins star Tua Tagovailoa discharged from hospital after horror head and neck injuries


Tua Tagovailoa to play against Cincinnati Bengals despite concussion fears


Fan sneaks into Miami Dolphins practice and leaks plays including Tua and Tyreek Hill



NFL star Tyreek Hill had brutal reason for turning down New York Jets for Miami Dolphins



Miami Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa looked like 'Mike Tyson KO'd him' in concussion verdict

Stadium tragedy exposes Indonesia’s troubled soccer history

By JOHN DUERDEN

yesterday

1 of 9

Players and officials of the soccer club Arema FC pray outside the Kanjuruhan Stadium where many fans lost their lives in a stampede Saturday night in Malang, Indonesia, Monday, Oct. 3, 2022. Police firing tear gas at Saturday night's match between host Arema FC of East Java's Malang city and Persebaya Surabaya in an attempt to stop violence triggered a disastrous crush of fans making a panicked, chaotic run for the exits, leaving a large number of people dead, most of them trampled upon or suffocated. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)


SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Gaining the right to host next year’s Under-20 World Cup was a major milestone in Indonesia’s soccer development, raising hopes that a successful tournament would turn around long-standing problems that have blighted the sport in this country of 277 million people.

The death of at least 125 people at a league game between host Arema FC of East Java’s Malang city and Persebaya Surabaya on Saturday is a tragic reminder, however, that Indonesia is one of the most dangerous countries in which to attend a game.

“Do remember that the FIFA U-20 World Cup will be the worldwide spotlight since the event will be joined by 24 countries from five continents,” Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo said last month as he pushed for thorough preparations for the tournament.

Since Saturday, the domestic league has been suspended. Widodo has ordered the sports minister, the national police chief and the soccer federation to conduct a thorough investigation into the deadly stadium crush.

Indonesia was the first Asian team ever to play at a World Cup — participating in 1938 as Dutch East Indies — but despite an undoubted national passion for the sport, it has never returned to the global stage because of years of corruption, violence and mismanagement.

Data from Indonesia’s soccer watchdog, Save Our Soccer, showed 78 people have died in game-related incidents over the past 28 years.

Those accused are often associated with supporter groups that attach themselves to clubs, with the biggest boasting hundreds of thousands of members.

Arema’s intense rivalry with Surabaya meant that no visiting fans were allowed in the stadium on the weekend. Yet violence broke out when the home team lost 3-2 and some of the 42,000 Arema fans, known as “Aremania,” threw bottles and other objects at players and soccer officials.

Restrictions on visiting fans also have failed in the past. In 2016, despite Persib Bandung supporters being banned from a game with bitter rival Persija Jakarta, they were blamed for the death of a Jakarta supporter.

A month earlier, a Persib fan had been beaten to death by Jakarta followers.

In 2018, local media reported a seventh death in six years related to Indonesia’s biggest soccer rivalry.

Soccer fans have accused security officials of being heavy-handed in the past and on the weekend, with witnesses describing officers beating them with sticks and shields before shooting tear gas canisters directly into the crowds. In 2016, police were accused of killing 16-year-old supporter Muhammad Fahreza at a game between Persija and Persela Lamongan, resulting in mass demonstrations demanding an end to police brutality.

“The police who were in charge of security violated FIFA stadium safety and security regulations,” soccer analyst Akmal Marhali told Indonesian media on Sunday, referring to the use of tear gas on Malang fans who entered the pitch after their team’s defeat. That sparked a rush for exits in an overcrowded stadium.

“The Indonesia Football Association may have been negligent for not informing the police that security procedures at a football match are not the same as those at a demonstration.”

FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, advises against the use of tear gas at stadiums by on-field security or police who control and have responsibility for safety operations.

Indonesia’s national soccer association, known locally as PSSI, has long struggled to manage the game domestically.

In 2007, Nurdin Halid was imprisoned on corruption charges but was able to continue as the organization’s president until 2011. After Halid was banned from running for another term, a rival league, federation and national team emerged.

But chaotic administration continued until FIFA suspended Indonesia in 2015, a sanction that was lifted the following year.

In 2019, when FIFA awarded Indonesia hosting rights for the Under-20 World Cup, it was seen as a vote of confidence.

In June, a FIFA panel inspected the country’s soccer facilities and planning for the May 20-June 11 tournament and proclaimed its satisfaction.

“We are very pleased to see the preparations in Indonesia,” Roberto Grassi, Head of Youth Tournaments for FIFA said. “A lot of refurbishment work has been done already. We have had an encouraging visit and are confident of support from all stakeholders involved.”

Kanjuruhan Stadium, the site of the disaster on Saturday, is not among the six venues listed for the Under-20 World Cup, although nearby Surabaya Stadium is scheduled to host games.

FIFA has not yet commented on any potential impact on the Under-20 World Cup but the weekend tragedy is likely to damage Indonesia’s bid to host the 2023 Asian Cup. It is vying with South Korea and Qatar to become host of the continental championship after China relinquished its staging rights in May.

Indonesia has already co-hosted the tournament, sharing the event in 2007 with Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam and hosting the final in Jakarta, where Iraq beat Saudi Arabia for the title.

That was the last time Indonesia staged a major international soccer tournament. The Asian Football Confederation is expected to announce its decision on the 2023 tournament on Oct. 17.

There is unlikely to be any soccer played before then as people in Indonesia, and football followers around the globe, come to terms with one of the deadliest disasters ever at a sporting event.

Families and friends of some of the people who died after the match wailed in grief as the bodies of the victims were returned home Monday. Seventeen children were among the dead.

___

Duerden covers soccer in Asia for The Associated Press.

___

More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

KILLER KOPS
Police wrongly used tear gas at fatal Indonesian football match stampede, official says

Officials from FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation are due to visit the country as investigations into the tragedy continue.

By Guy Birchall, news reporter
Tuesday 4 October 2022



Police wrongly used tear gas inside the soccer stadium where at least 125 people died in a stampede in Indonesia over the weekend, an official has revealed.

Chaos erupted at the Kanjuruhan stadium in Malang, East Java, when fans of Arema FC began rioting and invading the pitch after their team lost.

Hundreds of spectators were crushed as they tried to flee the overcrowded stadium after police fired tear gas into the ground, causing a stampede leading to one of the worst stadium disasters in history.

Indonesia's soccer federation (PSSI) said the club's security officer and the head of its organising committee would be banned from the sport for life and fined the club 250 million rupiah (£14,424).

"There were many weaknesses from the organising committee," Erwin Tobing, head of the association's disciplinary committee, said.

The PSSI also confirmed officials from the world football governing body FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation are set to visit the country, while UEFA announced a moment of silence would be held at all European fixtures this week.

There were no orders to use tear gas on the crowd, said Albertus Wahyurudhanto, an official with the National Police Commission, an oversight body that reports to the country's president.

"Tear gas was supposed to be (fired) outside...there are suspicions of a violation of instructions," he told reporters, adding the Commission will share its findings with a fact-finding team set up by the government.

Play Video - At least 125 killed in Indonesia

The use of "crowd control gas" and weapons at matches is banned by FIFA.

Fans of the winning team, Persebaya Surabaya, had been banned from attending the game for fear of clashes, so most of the victims, which included 33 children, were the home club Arema's supporters.

There is still some uncertainty about the death toll with police putting it at 125 died, while the Malang city health department says 131 lost their lives.

Read more:
Indonesian football fans' passion can have 'devastating results'

Thirty-two children among dead as Indonesia football stampede death toll rises

Football fans invaded the pitch following the game at the Kanjuruhan stadium in Malang. Pic:AP

While the stadium in Malang has several exit gates, police have now said the gates could only accommodate two at a time. Spectators have also claimed some were locked, all of which contributed to the fatal crush.

Medics have said victims mainly appear to have died of suffocation and head injuries.

Mr Wahyurudhanto said it was unclear why some exits had been locked.

 Tearful mourners for Indonesia stampede

Hooliganism is not unusual at Indonesian football matches, meaning police are frequently heavy-handed when dealing with supporters.

Choirul Anam from Indonesia's human rights body, Komnas HAM, said that if tear gas hadn't been fired "maybe there wouldn't have been chaos".

Dozens of police officers have been placed under investigation and at least nine have been suspended, a police spokesperson said on Monday.

Physicists from US, France, Austria share Nobel Prize for work on quantum science
Alain Aspect, John F. Clauser, Anton Zeilinger – who previously shared Israel’s Wolf Prize – handed prestigious award for research with implications for secure information transfer

By AP

Today

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences secretary general Hans Ellegren, center announces the winner of the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics, from left to right on the screen, Alain Aspect, John F. Clauser and Anton Zeilinger, in Stockholm, Sweden, Oct. 4, 2022. 

(Jonas Ekstromer /TT News Agency via AP)

STOCKHOLM — Three scientists jointly won this year’s Nobel Prize in physics on Tuesday for their work on quantum information science that has significant applications, for example in the field of encryption.

Alain Aspect, John F. Clauser and Anton Zeilinger were cited by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for “pioneering quantum information science.”

“Quantum information science is a vibrant and rapidly developing field,” said Eva Olsson, a member of the Nobel committee. “It has broad and potential implications in areas such as secure information transfer, quantum computing and sensing technology.”

“Its origin can be traced to that of quantum mechanics,” she said. “Its predictions have opened doors to another world, and it has also shaken the very foundations of how we interpret measurements.”

Speaking by phone to a news conference after the announcement, Zeilinger said he was “still kind of shocked” at hearing he had received the award.

“But it’s a very positive shock,” said Zeilinger, 77, who is based at the University of Vienna.

Clauser, Aspect and Zeilinger have figured in Nobel speculation for more than a decade. In 2010 they won the Wolf Prize in Israel, seen as a possible precursor to the Nobel.

While physicists often tackle problems that appear at first glance to be far removed from everyday concerns — tiny particles and the vast mysteries of space and time — their research provides the foundations for many practical applications of science.

Last year the prize was awarded to three scientists — Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann and Giorgio Parisi — whose work has helped to explain and predict complex forces of nature, thereby expanding our understanding of climate change.

A week of Nobel Prize announcements kicked off Monday with Swedish scientist Svante Paabo receiving the award in medicine Monday for unlocking secrets of Neanderthal DNA that provided key insights into our immune system.

They continue with chemistry on Wednesday and literature on Thursday. The 2022 Nobel Peace Prize will be announced on Friday and the economics award on Oct. 10.

The prizes carry a cash award of 10 million Swedish kronor (nearly $900,000) and will be handed out on Dec. 10. The money comes from a bequest left by the prize’s creator, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel, who died in 1895.

Scientist John Clauser, 79, talks about sharing the Nobel physics prize with Alain Aspect and Anton Zeilinger, for experiments in quantum mechanics that laid groundwork for rapidly developing new applications in computing and cryptography. #NobelPrize #Physics #JohnClauser #Quantum #NobelPhysicsPrize #News #Reuters #newsfeed

Nobel prize: physicists share prize for insights into the spooky world of quantum mechanics

THE CONVERSATION
Published: October 4, 2022 

Members of the Nobel Committee for Physics announce the winners of the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics (L-R on the screen) Alain Aspect, John F. Clauser and Anton Zeiling

er. TT News Agency / Alamy Stock Photo

The 2022 Nobel prize for physics has been awarded to a trio of scientists for pioneering experiments in quantum mechanics, the theory covering the micro-world of atoms and particles.

Alain Aspect from Université Paris-Saclay in France, John Clauser from J.F. Clauser & Associates in the US, and Anton Zeilinger from University of Vienna in Austria, will share the prize sum of 10 million Swedish kronor (US$915,000) “for experiments with entangled photons, establishing the violation of Bell inequalities and pioneering quantum information science”.

The world of quantum mechanics appears very odd indeed. In school, we are taught that we can use equations in physics to predict exactly how things will behave in the future – where a ball will go if we roll it down a hill, for example.

Quantum mechanics is different from this. Rather than predicting individual outcomes, it tells us the probability of finding subatomic particles in particular places. A particle can actually be in several places at the same time, before “picking” one location at random when we measure it.

Written by academics, edited by journalists, backed by evidence.Get newsletter

Even the great Albert Einstein himself was unsettled by this – to the point where he was convinced that it was wrong. Rather than outcomes being random, he thought there must be some “hidden variables” – forces or laws that we can’t see – which predictably influence the results of our measurements.

Some physicists, however, embraced the consequences of quantum mechanics. John Bell, a physicist from Northern Ireland, made an important breakthrough in 1964, devising a theoretical test to show that the hidden variables Einstein had in mind don’t exist.

According to quantum mechanics, particles can be “entangled”, spookily connected so that if you manipulate one then you automatically and immediately also manipulate the other. If this spookiness – particles far apart mysteriously influencing each other instantaneously – were to be explained by the particles communicating with each other through hidden variables, it would require faster-than-light communication between the two, which Einstein’s theories forbid.

Quantum entanglement is a challenging concept to understand, essentially linking the properties of particles no matter how far apart they are. Imagine a light bulb that emits two photons (light particles) that travel in opposite directions away from it.

If these photons are entangled, then they can share a property, such as their polarisation, no matter their distance. Bell imagined doing experiments on these two photons separately and comparing the results of them to prove that they were entangled (truly and mysteriously linked).

Clauser put Bell’s theory into practice at a time when doing experiments on single photons was almost unthinkable. In 1972, just eight years after Bell’s famous thought experiment, Clauser showed that light could indeed be entangled.

While Clauser’s results were groundbreaking, there were a few alternative, more exotic explanations for the results he obtained.

If light didn’t behave quite as the physicists thought, perhaps his results could be explained without entanglement. These explanations are known as loopholes in Bell’s test, and Aspect was the first to challenge this.

Aspect came up with an ingenious experiment to rule out one of the most important potential loopholes in Bell’s test. He showed that the entangled photons in the experiment aren’t actually communicating with each other through hidden variables to decide the outcome of Bell’s test. This means they really are spookily linked.

In science it is incredibly important to test the concepts that we believe to be correct. And few have played a more important role in doing this than Aspect. Quantum mechanics has been tested time and again over the past century and survived unscathed.
Quantum technology

At this point, you may be forgiven for wondering why it matters how the microscopic world behaves, or that photons can be entangled. This is where the vision of Zeilinger really shines.

The Austrian quantum physicist Anton Zeilinger stands in his office at the Institute of Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQI) 

dpa picture alliance / Alamy Stock Photo

We once harnessed our knowledge of classical mechanics to build machines, to make factories, leading to the industrial revolution. Knowledge of the behaviour of electronics and semiconductors has driven the digital revolution.

But understanding quantum mechanics allows us to exploit it, to build devices that are capable of doing new things. Indeed, many believe that it will drive the next revolution, of quantum technology.

Quantum entanglement can be harnessed in computing to process information in ways that were not possible before. Detecting small changes in entanglement can allow sensors to detect things with greater precision than ever before. Communicating with entangled light can also guarantee security, as measurements of quantum systems can reveal the presence of the eavesdropper.

Zeilinger’s work paved the way for the quantum technological revolution by showing how it is possible to link a series of entangled systems together, to build the quantum equivalent of a network.

In 2022, these applications of quantum mechanics are not science fiction. We have the first quantum computers. The Micius satellite uses entanglement to enable secure communications across the world. And quantum sensors are being used in applications from medical imaging to detecting submarines.

Ultimately, the 2022 Nobel panel have recognised the importance of the practical foundations producing, manipulating and testing quantum entanglement and the revolution it is helping to drive.

I am pleased to see this trio receiving the award. In 2002, I started a PhD at the University of Cambridge that was inspired by their work. The aim of my project was to make a simple semiconductor device to generate entangled light.

This was to greatly simplify the equipment needed to do quantum experiments and to allow practical devices for real-world applications to be built. Our work was successful and it amazes and excites me to see the leaps and bounds that have been made in the field since.

Author

Robert Young

Professor of Physics and Director of the Lancaster Quantum Technology Centre, Lancaster University
Disclosure statement

Biden, Trump on Puerto Rico: Darcy cartoon

Jeff Darcy’s Editorial Cartoons

Oct. 04, 2022


Instead of tossing paper towels in Puerto Rico as Trump did, President Biden tossed it an additional $60 million in hurricane relief aide. After tossing paper towels, Trump considered trading Puerto Rico for Greenland.


NEW!
By Jeff Darcy, cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Donald Trump is making headlines for his social media post asking if Sen. Mitch McConnell has a “DEATH WISH” followed by a racist, xenophobic comment about Elaine Chow, McConnell’s wife and former member of Trump’s Cabinet. So it wouldn’t be surprising if Trump next asked if President Biden also has a death wish for traveling to Puerto Rico, which Trump has long disparaged and thought of trying to trade for Greenland in 2018.

In 2017 when President, Trump flew to Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria and tossed a paper towel roll to a room full of hurricane victims. Then privately and on social media, made frequent disparaging remarks about the U.S. Territory. He also trash talked Puerto Rico at the time of Hurricane Dorian.

The most corrupt President of the United States, who was impeached multiple times and instigated an insurrection attack on the U.S. Capitol building, ripped Puerto Rico as corrupt, dirty, poor, not worthy of help because he claimed it owed Wall Street $ billions and its wounds were primarily self-inflicted. Trump, three of his children and his New York City Trump Organization have since been sued by the State of New York for $250 million on fraud charges.

Former Department of Homeland Security Chief of Staff Myles Teller told MSNBC in 2018 that Trump had wanted to try and trade Puerto Rico for Greenland, a territory of Denmark. Trump’s trade pitch is also recounted in the new book “The Divider” by New Yorker writer Susan Glasser and her husband, Peter Baker of The New York Times.

Trump first tried to buy Greenland. When he was turned down by Denmark, he proposed to aides that the United States trade Puerto Rico for it. John Bolton then instructed his staff to explore that.

Biden Admin Aid to Puerto Rico:

Instead of going to Puerto Rico Monday to toss paper towel rolls or scope out its trade value, President Biden went to deliver an additional $60 million relief aid in response to Hurricane Fiona, which struck the island Sunday, Sept 18, as a category 1 storm before strengthening to a category 4.

Wednesday, President Biden will tour the damage in Florida from Hurricane Ian, which so far has left over 100 dead with the number expected to rise.

On Puerto Rico, 137,000 are still without power and 66,000 are still without food from Fiona. The $60 million Biden pledged is drawn from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that just passed and will be devoted to strengthening levees, walls and the flood warning system.

Prior to making his trip, President Biden tweeted that nearly $700 million in infrastructure investments in Puerto Rico have been announced since he signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Before President Biden spoke, Puerto Rico’s Governor asked to have the U.S. Fiona Emergency Declaration for Puerto Rico extended an additional 180 days. Biden assured him he will work to make that happen.

POLITICO reports that since Biden became President, $ billions that had been set aside for Puerto Rico since Hurricane Maria have finally started to move to the island.

Frankie Miranda, President/CEO of the Hispanic Federation, said of the Biden administration response:

“It’s night and day when it comes to previous administration.”

WAIT, WHAT?

Shell CEO Calls For Higher Taxes To Protect Consumers

By Michael Kern - Oct 04, 2022

The current energy crisis cannot be left to the roiled market to sort itself out and will need smart government intervention by taxing the wealthier to shield the most vulnerable consumers, according to Shell’s chief executive Ben van Beurden.

“One way or another there needs to be government intervention,” van Beurden told the Energy Intelligence Forum in London on Tuesday.

 “A government intervention that somehow results in protecting the poorest, that probably may then mean that governments need to tax people in this room to pay for it,” van Beurden said.

Last month, the European Commission, for example, said it would propose a revenue cap for companies producing electricity at a low cost and a “crisis contribution” from the extra profits of fossil fuel companies in a plan to raise $138 billion (140 billion euros) to cushion the energy crisis blow to European citizens and economy.

“These are all emergency and temporary measures we are working on, including our discussions on price caps,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in the middle of September. 

At the London forum today, Shell’s van Beurden expressed doubts that oil and/or natural gas price caps would work and incentivize large LNG traders such as Shell itself to deliver more gas to customers.

“I struggle with understanding how effective an oil price cap on Russian oil will be,” van Beurden said. 

“Intervening in complex energy markets is going to be very difficult. Governments need to consult with market experts on what they can and cannot do in terms of interventions,” he added. 

A price cap on gas would be even more challenging, according to Shell’s outgoing CEO who is stepping down at the end of this year.

Van Beurden sees protecting the most vulnerable consumers as the better approach than a market intervention which will face tremendous challenges in its implementation. 

Moreover, a price cap on gas would make Shell’s and other traders’ efforts to bring more LNG to Europe much more difficult.= 

“We will do our best to bring gas to Europe where it’s needed, but if the market signal is not there it’s going to be really challenging,” said van Beurden.   

By Michael Kern for Oilprice.com

Shell CEO calls for energy taxes to help poorest

By a Daily Business reporter | October 4, 2022

Ben van Beurden: a need to protect the poorest

Shell CEO Ben van Beurden has called for Liz Truss’s government to impose a windfall tax on the energy giants to help the vulnerable in society.

Speaking at an energy intelligence forum in London, he said European governments should tax corporates to help weaker parts of society cope with soaring energy costs.

The EU last week agreed emergency measures to impose a levy on energy firms’ profits.

Mr van Beurden said that European energy prices and the huge volatility in the markets threatened broader social instability.

“There needs to be government intervention… intervention that somehow results in protecting the poorest,” he said.

“You cannot have a market that behaves in such a way … that is going to damage a significant part of society.”

“One way or another there needs to be government intervention that somehow results in protecting the poorest,” Van Beurden said. “That probably may then mean that governments need to tax people in this room to pay for it.”

The company later clarified that he was referring to companies not individuals.

Energy firms such as Shell have made billions from rising wholesale energy prices since Russia invaded Ukraine. Former Chancellor Rishi Sunak was pressured into introducing a windfall tax in May, but Prime Minister Liz Truss has ruled out extending it.

The levy will raise £7 billion in one year, which will help to pay for the £400 subsidy to household energy bills.

However, the UK Government spokesperson said it has been clear that it “wants to see the oil and gas sector reinvest its profits to support the economy, jobs, and the UK’s energy security.”

Susannah Streeter, a market analyst at broker Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Shell’s boss has flung open a door on a windfall tax which the UK government had been trying to close.”

Georgia Whitaker, of Greenpeace UK, said: “When the boss of Shell is backing a windfall tax, it makes you wonder what it’s going to take for the government to make a withdrawal.”

BP boss Bernard Looney, who once described the business as a “cash machine”, admitted in July that a windfall tax would not affect its investments in the North Sea.

Brent Crude oil has fallen from $120 per barrel in May to about $90.

UK ‘at start of new Covid wave that could devastate the NHS’

Josh Milton

Monday 3 Oct 2022

METRO UK
Coronavirus cases increased by 14% last week, with more than 1.1 million people testing positive (Picture: Getty Images)

The UK is already in a ‘devastating’ new Covid-19 wave that could ruin an already browbeaten NHS, experts say.

Coronavirus cases crept up by 14% last week, with more than 1.1 million people testing positive, according to the Office for National Statistics.

What’s causing the new wave is unclear, but experts feel the government’s ‘wrong’ list of Covid symptoms means people may be unknowingly spreading the virus without realising it.

Professor Tim Spector, a co-founder of the Zoe Health Study, a phone app that tracks the spread of Covid, told The Independent: ‘It looks like we’re in the start of the next wave and this time it’s affected older people slightly earlier than the last wave.’

Professor Spector warned that official data may seem high but it underscores the problem, given that testing is not as common.

And crucially, the Covid virus the world is dealing with today isn’t the same as the one that first broke out in 2020.

‘Many people are still using the government guidelines about symptoms which are wrong,’ he added.

‘At the moment, Covid starts in two-thirds of people with a sore throat. Fever and loss of smell are really rare now – so many old people may not think they’ve got Covid.

‘They’d say it’s a cold and not be tested.’

A Covid-fatigued public may have to face up to the new wave, experts say 

Omicron, the 13th named variant of the coronavirus, has a few more tricks compared to earlier versions of the virus.

Some subvariants of Omnicron, such as BA.2.75.2, are extremely rare but have the ability to evade immune systems better than all other forms of Omnicron.

These sneakier variants could pose ‘real problems’ with the NHS ‘already on its knees’, University of Warwick virologist Professor Lawrence Young said.

‘We can only detect variants or know what’s coming by doing sequencing from PCR testing, and that’s not going on anywhere near the extent it was a year ago,’ he said.

‘People are going to get various infections over the winter but won’t know what they are because free tests aren’t available – it’s going to be a problem.’

But public health officials’ woes don’t end there, Professor Young added.

The government shrinking any kind of Covid support, from testing to subsidised wages for those infected, means the country is ‘blind’ to the true scale of Covid.

He said: ‘Another angle is the economic pressure. If people do feel poorly they’re not likely to take time off work.

‘You have a perfect storm here, really, of inadequate surveillance, people not coming forward for vaccination and the economic situation.’

Overall, Covid cases have increased by 65% from the average two weeks ago in the UK, while deaths have risen by 13%.

The nationwide total hasn’t been above one million since late August.

Why UK final-salary pensions may now be unpayable without state support

THE CONVERSATION

Published: October 3, 2022 

Andrew Bailey, the embattled governor of the Bank of England.

  Reuters/Alamy

When long-dated UK government bonds fell sharply following the consistent criticism of the new economic measures laid out by the UK government, it forced the Bank of England to intervene to prevent an “unwarranted tightening of financing conditions and a reduction of the flow of credit to the real economy”.

On September 28, the Bank announced it would buy UK government bonds (also known as gilts) with maturities of 20 years and upwards on “whatever scale is necessary” over a two-week period. This involves “creating” potentially £65 billion of new money using quantitative easing (QE), while the bank has also delayed until the end of October a separate plan to begin selling gilts to reduce £838 billion of existing QE money brought into existence since 2009.

The Bank did not explain why the fall in long-dated gilt prices “has become more significant in the past day”, but experts quickly identified the UK pensions industry as the leading cause. Specifically, the wider UK economy is at risk because most UK retirement savings are managed using an approach known as liability-driven investing (LDI).
The LDI solution

The total UK assets covered by LDI has exploded in a decade, from £400 billion in 2011 to £1.6 trillion in 2021. That equates to over 70% of UK GDP, and more than the UK government’s general debt (after stripping out the gilts held by the Bank of England).

The main reason behind this “success” is LDI’s capacity to cover long-term pension liabilities. Almost exclusively used in final-salary schemes, LDI is supposed to guarantee that there will be enough assets to cover liabilities over the life of the scheme.

Pension funds traditionally hedge against downturns in the stock market by also putting money into the government bonds issued by “safe” countries such as the US, Japan, Germany or the UK. When share prices fall during a downturn, government bond prices would normally rise because they were seen as a place of safety. So while one part of the pension portfolio falls in value, the other rises to help offset losses.

But when interest rates were cut to zero after the global financial crisis and central banks increased the money supply through QE, it drove bond prices to very high levels. This meant that they couldn’t go much higher during a downturn because the rate of return (known as the yield) was so low at such prices. This meant they were a less effective hedge – plus the very low yields meant they weren’t making much money for pension funds anymore.

Keep calm and take much more risk. Oko Laa

To improve the overall expected return of funds, LDI suggests putting less money into bonds and more into shares and other assets with higher expected rates of return. Instead of hedging with bonds, fund managers enter into insurance contracts known as interest-rate swaps. These allow you to achieve the same long-term rate of return as from a traditional hedging strategy – and potentially more if your extra allocation into shares produces higher returns.
Why it has gone wrong

Unfortunately there are three problems with LDI. First, a fund’s overall exposure to a downturn in the stock market can be greater, thus increasing the risk profile of the scheme.

As well as the fact that shares are usually riskier anyway, many pension funds have also moved into more leveraged investing as part of LDI. This is where you borrow to potentially make more money from your investment. So instead of buying share A and, say, seeing its value increase or fall by 5%, you borrow to buy five times as much of the share. If it goes up 5%, you make five times more, but you also lose five times more if it goes down 5% – plus you’re in danger of losing the sum you put up as collateral to borrow the money in the first place.

A 2019 survey covering 137 of the UK’s largest 400 final-salary schemes found that 45% (accounting for 58% of all the money in all the schemes) had increased their use of leverage over the past five years, while 23% (accounting for 34% of scheme assets) had increased it in the past year.

Of all the schemes, 62% had bought interest-rate swaps, and these contracts themselves accounted for 43% of all leveraged investments. The maximum permitted level of leverage was between one and seven times – meaning that in some cases, fund managers have been borrowing to multiply the size of their risk sevenfold.

The second problem with LDI concerns the relationship between the swaps and government bonds. A swap has two components: a part that periodically pays money to holders based on the yields on long-term government bonds, and a part that requires the holder to pay money to the issuer based on the yields on short-term government bonds. Because yields on long-term bonds have recently increased much more than the yields on short-term bonds, the swaps have suddenly lost a lot of value because holders are now receiving much less while their payments haven’t fallen much.
To cover final-salary liabilities, the pensions industry has jeopardised the entire economy. Terry Matthews

The third problem relates to the collateral that has to be put up as part of leveraged investing. The fall in the value of the swaps has prompted a lot of margin calls on them, which is when the lender tells the borrower that they have to increase their collateral on the original trade or lose what they put up in the first place.

To raise the money to avoid this liquidation, pension funds have been forced to sell gilts, corporate bonds and shares. But by selling gilts, it further decreased their value, which further devalued the swaps and would have created a spiral where they had to sell more and more assets to cover further margin calls.

The problem with the value of gilts falling (not to mention shares and corporate bonds) is that it pushes up their yields, which heavily influences the price of lending across the economy – not least tracker mortgages. The Bank of England’s intervention to support long-dated gilt prices was aimed to break this spiral.

Where next?

Now, the critical decision for the managers of pension funds is whether to continue to follow LDI strategies and sell more assets to fund their swaps if bond yields start rising again. The alternative is to terminate the swaps, which will leave their assets exposed to further potential drops in the stock market, potentially preventing them from being able to meet their pension liabilities.

Meanwhile, the Bank of England must decide whether to continue to buy long-term gilts to indirectly finance these pension fund liabilities or terminate and potentially prevent retirees from receiving their pensions. The UK government’s announcement that it will not go ahead with its plan to scrap the 45% rate of tax for high earners may alleviate the pressure, but with inflation running so high, it’s hard to say for sure.

The next crucial date is October 14, when the bank’s intervention is due to end. A strong clash between financial constraints and political goals is taking place here: the feeling is that the BoE is now trapped.

Whether the UK still has a pensions industry that functions without massive QE is unclear in the meantime.

Author

Giuseppe Corvino

Professor of Financial Markets and Institutions, Bocconi University

 Truss faces new challenge over UK welfare payments

Updated / Tuesday, 4 Oct 2022 

Liz Truss had backed down on abolishing the 45% rate for earnings more than £150,000

British Prime Minister Liz Truss has triggered a new row in her party by suggesting she could limit increases in benefit payments by less than rising inflation, as she seeks ways to fund her tax-cutting growth plan.

Britain's new leader has endured a tumultuous time since she came to power early last month, first leading mourning for Queen Elizabeth before releasing an economic package that immediately roiled financial markets.

Seeking to snap Britain out of more than 10 years of economic stagnation, Ms Truss and her finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng set out £45 billion of unfunded tax cuts on 23 September, alongside promises to deregulate the economy to stoke growth.

They bowed to pressure yesterday to scrap the most divisive policy - eliminating the top rate of income tax for the highest earners - and are now working urgently to set out how they can afford the other tax cuts without leaving a huge black hole in the country's public finances.

"We have to look at these issues in the round. We have to be fiscally responsible," Ms Truss told BBC Radio when asked whether benefit payments would rise in line with record-high inflation to prevent the poorest in society from becoming poorer.

Kwasi Kwarteng yesterday said that there would be 'no more distractions'

Immediately Conservative Party MPs - some who helped force the top tax rate reversal - opposed any move to reduce the increases in benefits at a time when millions are struggling with higher costs of food and energy.

Penny Mordaunt, who is in Ms Truss's cabinet of senior ministers, said benefits should rise in line with inflation. Damian Green, part of the party's centrist faction, said he doubted any real-terms cut would pass a parliamentary vote.

"I think there will be many of my colleagues who think that when you're reaching for spending cuts, benefit payments are not the way to do it," Mr Green told BBC Radio. Another MP, Roger Gale, also signalled his opposition.

Victoria Prentis, a minister in the Department for Work and Pensions, told Reuters the government had to go through the numbers before it could take a final decision on benefits

.
British interior minister Suella Braverman said she was 'very disappointed' in some of her colleagues

British interior minister Suella Braverman accused certain sections of the party of staging "a coup effectively" over the top tax rate cut.

"I am very disappointed to say the least about how some of my colleagues have behaved," she said, at the party's annual conference.

Ms Braverman also said when she ran for leader of the party she "was actually quite clear ... that I wanted to cut welfare spending," adding she supported the cut to the top rate of tax.

Mr Kwarteng has set 23 November as the date for his next fiscal statement. A government source said the Treasury was considering bringing that forward but any change would most probably be announced once parliament resumes next week.

Political turbulence

Ms Truss became Britain's fourth leader in six years last month, promising to reignite the economy and bring some political stability after the chaotic leadership of Boris Johnson

.
The Conservatives won the 2019 election with Mr Johnson promising to increase spending on public services

Chosen by her party's members, not the broader electorate, she was not the most popular candidate among the more than 350 Conservative members of parliament and her decision to stake out a tax cut plan and then concede defeat has left MPs and investors questioning her judgement and authority.

At the annual conference in Birmingham, some politicians and commentators have questioned whether she has a mandate to take Britain back to a 1980s-style Reagonomics policy without a national election.

The Conservatives won the 2019 election with Mr Johnson promising to increase spending on public services.

"It is not a great thing to sell the public on one type of package and vision, and then completely flip it and appear not to care," Rachel Wolf, the co-author of the Conservatives 2019 manifesto, said on Sunday.

Investors have also taken fright at the new economic policy direction, hammering the value of British assets so hard that the Bank of England had to intervene last week with a package worth up to £65 billion to shore up the bond market.

Mortgage costs have already risen.

Mohamed El-Erian, an adviser to financial services giant Allianz, said the government needed to get its house in order. "We are not a developing country and we need to stop acting like a developing country," he told Sky News.

The Bank of England action has calmed markets for now, while investors also took some comfort from the tax U-turn and the hoped-for move to bring forward the publishing date for the next fiscal plan from 23 November.

But Boris Glass, senior economist at S&P Global ratings agency, said Britain faced a difficult winter.

"Unless strong medium-term growth can fully fund the extra spending, medium-term fiscal tightening appears inevitable, which may weigh on future growth," he said.