Sick leave in UK hits 15-year high: study

AFP
September 26, 2023

MASKS NEED TO COVER YOUR NOSE

Employees in the UK took an average 7.8 sick days over the past year, according to a study -

Sick leave in the UK has hit its highest rate in 15 years and is well above pre-pandemic levels, a study showed Tuesday.

Employees took an average 7.8 sick days over the past year, according to the study published by human resources association CIPD and medical services company Simplyhealth.

That was two days more than before the pandemic and marked the highest level since 2008, a CIPD spokesperson told AFP.

“Despite our research showing that most organisations are focusing on employee wellbeing, the considerable rise in absences across all sectors is a worry,” said Rachel Suff, senior employee wellbeing adviser at the CIPD.

The jump in sick leave is contributing to a tight labour market, with employers struggling to recruit or retain existing employees due to worker shortages accentuated by the pandemic and Brexit.

The study also finds that stress is one of the prevalent factors for both short- and long-term sick leave, with over 76 percent of managers reporting absences for this reason over the last year.

Short-term absences are dominated by minor illnesses (94 percent) and injuries (45 percent), with 39 percent due to mental health disorders, according to the survey of 6.5 million employees in 918 organisations.

Mental health issues topped the list for long-term absences (63 percent), followed by acute health conditions such as strokes and cancer.

Over a third of organisations reported that Covid-19 remained a major cause of short-term absence.

At the beginning of 2023, 2.6 million Britons of working age (6.1 percent of the total) were out of the workforce for health reasons, becoming the largest cohort among the economically inactive for the first time, state budget body OBR reported this summer.

Claudia Nicholls, chief customer officer at Simplyhealth, urged employers to take action to improve the health of their staff.

“Employers have a vital role to play in supporting them through workplace health and wellbeing services,” she said.

“Companies need to implement preventative health and wellbeing strategies that are supported by the most senior levels of leadership,” she added.

Read more: https://www.digitaljournal.com/business/sick-leave-in-uk-hits-15-year-high-study/article#ixzz8ERYnI4pz

Op-Ed: Rejoin EU march ignored by BBC in violation of its charter? Maybe.

Paul Wallis

OPINION

DIGITAL JOURNAL
September 25, 2023

Britain left the EU after voting in favour of Brexit in a 2016 referendum - Copyright AFP/File FRED TANNEAU

The large march to rejoin the EU in London over the weekend was belittled by Murdoch press outlets and not covered by the BBC. The BBC is obliged by sections 5 though 10 of its foundation charter to cover matters of public interest. It’s hard to define anything that could be more relevant to the public interest than rejoining the EU.

After years of the humiliating national disaster known as Brexit, there’s a strong groundswell in support of rejoining. The utter incompetence and regressive insularity of this lunatic move are beyond belief. Brexit has cost the UK billions and delivered precisely nothing in return.

A swathe of conservative PR platforms sometimes optimistically referred to as prime ministers have done nothing useful. This is the UK’s version of MAGA, a lot of noise with no positive features whatsoever.

This highly selective process of covering issues is hardly new. It’s fully in line with the Murdoch press process of simply burying issues by not covering contrary views. The Murdoch press has also been promoting the American conservative idea of the EU as an enemy for decades.

It’s a particularly bad move on the part of the BBC. The same people and mindsets who gave you Jimmy Saville and generations of stiff, not to say fossilized, upper craniums are apparently still around.

You could say it’s part of the appalling British class system where you vote Tory to pretend to be a higher class than you are. In other countries, it’s called groveling. The Tories are a sort of sub-nation of Uriah Heeps, actually.

But… The people who lost the Empire, single-handedly nearly lost two world wars, and destroyed UK industry under Thatcher, can’t be all wrong, surely?

The nation of shopkeepers is famous for finding ways of sending itself broke. Brexit is perhaps the most enthusiastic attempt in the last 2000 years.

Bogus figures, and mismanagement on a Biblical scale, like buying useless PPE equipment during the pandemic are symptoms. Lost EU subsidies, barriers to UK citizens getting jobs in Europe, and other attractions are cases in point. The UK has in fact penalized UK scientists for trying to rejoin the lucrative and very important Horizon scientific scheme after being isolated by Brexit.

Ridiculous queues of lorries and obscene truck parks in Kent are further outbreaks of Brexit brilliance. Dumping thousands of tons of untreated raw sewage in the rivers and seas was an added bonus.

Brexit has been an abject failure. It has been presided over by absurd little office boys who may have gone to Eton and Oxford but obviously learned nothing.

The BBC seems to have the same problem. Maybe they can’t read their own charter. Section 3 of the Charter says “The BBC must be independent in all matters concerning the fulfilment of its Mission…”

Well, it isn’t, is it? The march to rejoin was huge. The streets were packed with people. If rejoining the EU isn’t a matter of public interest, what is?

___________________________________________________________

Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions 

Ford pauses work on $3.5 bn battery plant

By AFP
September 25, 2023

A Ford F-150 Lightning electric truck - Copyright AFP/File Olivier DOULIERY

Ford is halting work on a major battery plant in the northern US state of Michigan, the automaker said Monday, just seven months after launching the project with a Chinese partner.

The stoppage, which a Ford a representative confirmed to AFP, comes as the company faces a major strike along with both of the other “Big Three” US automakers, Stellantis and General Motors.

The Ford spokesperson insisted the decision about the $3.5 billion battery plant had not been related to the ongoing strike,, but rather the site’s future economic viability.

“We’re pausing work and limiting spending on construction on the Marshall project until we’re confident about our ability to competitively operate the plant,” the spokesperson said.

“We haven’t made any final decision about the planned investment there,” he added.

In February, Ford announced the project in Marshall, Michigan as a way to diversify its battery profile away from its current exclusive use of nickel cobalt manganese (NCM), which are costly to produce because of raw material scarcity.

Ford said it would work with the Chinese company Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. to manufacture lithium iron phosphate batteries beginning in 2026 at the Marshall plant.

Several Republican officials had voiced opposition to the plant due to the partnership with a Chinese company.

The technology involves less expensive raw materials and can tolerate more frequent and faster charging than NCM batteries, the company said at the time.

The auto giant said it is targeting annual global output of 600,000 electric vehicles by end-2023 and two million by the end of 2026.

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, touted the announcement in February as “another win for Michigan,” citing the addition of 2,500 new manufacturing jobs.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

JP Morgan makes huge payment to settle Jeffrey Epstein lawsuit

Sky Palma

RAW STORY
September 26, 2023 

(Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)

JPMorgan Chase has reached a settlement with the U.S. Virgin Islands and a former executive in regards to lawsuits involving disgraced billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein, The New York Times reported.

The company said the $75 million payment includes $30 million to support charitable organizations, $25 million to strengthen law enforcement to combat human trafficking, and $20 million for attorney's fees, according to Reuters.

"While the settlement does not involve admissions of liability, the firm deeply regrets any association with this man, and would never have continued doing business with him if it believed he was using the bank in any way to commit his heinous crimes," JPMorgan said.

Read the full report over at The New York Times.

JPMorgan Chase to pay $75 mn to settle Epstein-linked sex trafficking suit 

AFP
September 26, 2023

JPMorgan Chase has been criticized for not acting more quickly to end its relationship with the sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein -

JPMorgan Chase announced Tuesday that it will pay $75 million to settle a US Virgin Islands’ (USVI) lawsuit that accused the bank of facilitating Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking ring.

The big US bank, which previously reached a $290 million settlement with Epstein’s victims, also announced an agreement with former JPMorgan executive Jes Staley for an undisclosed sum.

These cases together resolve the bank’s remaining litigation over its embarrassing long-running association with the late Epstein.

The agreement with the Virgin Islands came a few weeks ahead of a scheduled trial in New York.

The settlement includes $30 million to support USVI charitable organizations, $25 million to enhance USVI law enforcement to combat human trafficking and $20 million in attorneys fees.

The Virgin Islands had originally sought $190 million in damages for the bank’s role in enabling Epstein’s sex crimes, including in the Virgin Islands, where he had a residence.

The ongoing litigation has yielded myriad disclosures that have raised questions over why JPMorgan did not act more quickly to cut off Epstein after bank officials became aware of his conduct.

JPMorgan began its banking services with Epstein as early as 1998, but did not cut him off until 2013.

Plaintiffs had alleged that JPMorgan either knew or should have known from 2006 that it was supporting a sexual predator, but that the bank kept the billionaire Epstein as a client well beyond that period.

Right-wing outlets circle 'wounded animal' Fox News: report

Matthew Chapman
September 26, 2023 

(AFP)

A growing network of well-funded right-wing news outlets is circling Fox News as they smell blood in the water, according to a column in Salon Tuesday.

Rupert Murdoch's retirement is unlikely to significantly alter the editorial trajectory of Fox News as his son Lachlan, scheduled to take the reins, has very similar ideological beliefs. But Fox News has long been declining as the key player in the right-wing sphere, wrote Amanda Marcotte.

"For years now, there's been a growing network of well-funded GOP propaganda outlets that, using social media to expand their reach, have positioned themselves well to cannibalize the Fox News audience," wrote Marcotte.

"Murdoch's departure may provide the opening they've needed to get even more money and influence." And the problem is that "as god-awful as Fox News is, the competitors are worse: They lie more often and more boldly. They're more explicitly racist, homophobic, and sexist. And they worship Donald Trump like a god."

These alternative right-wing sources take many forms – from fellow cable news outlets like One America News and Newsmax, to huge podcasters like Joe Rogan — and they are doing an even more effective job at radicalizing voters, said Marcotte.

According to a recent New Hampshire poll, just 43 percent of Republicans who watch Fox News and 45 percent who listen to conservative talk radio are voting for Trump — but 65 percent who listen to Joe Rogan and 76 percent who watch Newsmax intend to.

And these aren't small groups – 11 million people listen to Rogan's show, many times more than any show on Fox.

What this means, warned Marcotte, is that Fox News is being replaced with a new generation of far-right outlets that are even more aggressively rallying people to the MAGA cause.

Indeed, she noted, many of these upstarts view Fox News as a sellout that is disloyal to the former president — a view Trump himself increasingly seems to share. Steve Bannon, who also hosts a MAGA talk show, proclaimed that Fox News is "TV for stupid people," and Newsmax has claimed Fox is in league with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), increasingly a villain for Trumpworld.

None of this is an accident, Marcotte wrote. "Right now, as historian Nicole Hemmer told Slate, these contenders see Fox News as a wounded animal that will be much easier to take out than it was a few years ago," and they are jockeying to "cannibalize the Fox News audience."

"Whether Fox News survives or not, one thing is certain: Right-wing media will get worse. As long as there's a huge audience ready to pay for so much ugliness, there will be shameless people eager to create it."

Trump shares conspiracy theory that Antifa-Deep State planned Jan. 6

Travis Gettys
September 26, 2023 

Trump supporters rioting at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. (Shutterstock.com)

Donald Trump shared a post made by one of his fans that pinned blame for the Jan. 6 insurrection on left-wing Antifa activists.

Right-wing influencer Rogan O’Handley, an entertainment lawyer who posts under the name "DC Drano," made a post on Truth Social claiming that the absence of Antifa activists in videos from the U.S. Capitol riot actually served as proof they had coordinated the insurrection with government agents.

The former president then amplified the post to his own followers.

"Watched a J6 doc last night & something stuck out to me," O'Handley said. "Almost every MAGA event in DC during Trump’s tenure would be intercepted by violent hordes of Antifa. Remember how they destroyed DC during Trump’s inauguration? Well we have millions of hours of footage of J6, and yet not 1 clip shows a mass demonstration of Antifa in black bloc that day."

Police arrested more than 200 anti-Trump demonstrators after the inauguration on Jan. 20, 2017, but two group trials ended in acquittals on nearly all charges and a hung jury on the rest, and prosecutors eventually dropped charges against most of the others.

More than 1,000 people have been arrested in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the Capitol – resulting in 629 guilty pleas and 87 convictions in 129 trials, as of July 2023 – but none of those defendants so far have been identified as left-wing provocateurs, and many of those who were arrested have disputed claims of Antifa involvement.

"Do people really think they took the day off?" O'Handley said. "No, they were at J6 and it’s very easy to spot them - they dressed like 'MAGA' but wore masks. True MAGA Patriots didn’t wear masks but when you rewatch J6 footage you see hundreds of face-masked violent agitators on the front lines. And the thing is, if Antifa is this 'decentralized' Leftist foot soldier gang with no leadership then how were they all on the same page that day with the plan?"

"I believe we will one day expose how the Deep State coordinated their actions through proxies," O'Handley added. "Antifa was in on the Fedsurrection."

RIP

OUR FAVORITE RUSSIAN SPY

David McCallum, spy in 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' dies at 90

Agence France-Presse
September 26, 2023

US actor David McCallum is seen in June 2009 during a photocall for the TV series 'Navy NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service'

 (VALERY HACHE/AFP)

David McCallum, the British-born actor who broke hearts in 1960s cult show "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." has died at age 90, US media reported Monday.

McCallum, who was known to modern-day audiences for his role as a medical examiner in "NCIS," was surrounded by family at a New York hospital, CBS said.

"He was the kindest, coolest, most patient and loving father. He always put family before self," son Peter McCallum said, according to the network.

"He was a true renaissance man -- he was fascinated by science and culture and would turn those passions into knowledge.

"For example, he was capable of conducting a symphony orchestra and (if needed) could actually perform an autopsy, based on his decades-long studies for his role on NCIS."

After training at the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, McCallum appeared alongside an all-star cast in the epic 1963 war flick "The Great Escape," with luminaries who included Steve McQueen, James Garner, Charles Bronson and Donald Pleasence.

But it was his casting the following year as enigmatic Russian agent Illya Kuryakin in "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." opposite Robert Vaughn as Napoleon Solo that cemented his fame.

With a luxuriant mop of blond hair and turtleneck sweaters, McCallum was a Beatles-era heartthrob who, the New York Times reported, was mobbed by students in Louisiana in 1965.

The show lasted only four years, but the character followed McCallum for life.

"It's been 30 years, but I can't escape him," he told The New York Times in 1998. "Illya Kuryakin is there 24 hours a day."

 

     

SHOWS THAT FAILED

 

 

AND OF COURSE MY FAVORITE

 

New research sheds light on racial attitudes and their impact on perceptions of crime

2023/09/22



The Journal of Applied Social Psychology published a study in which researchers found that individual racial attitudes significantly influence perceptions of Black and White individuals accused of a crime. The evidence reveals that those with pronounced racial biases tend to align their evaluations of Black offenders more closely with criminality stereotypes.

Historically, numerous studies have emphasized the racial biases present in the American criminal justice system. Racial attitudes, both explicit (conscious) and implicit (unconscious), have been examined as possible drivers of these biases. While explicit racial attitudes are obvious and clear, implicit racial attitudes are often unrecognized and unintentional — yet they can be equally impactful. Previous studies have established the existence of biases, but how these biases influence perceptions of individuals in legal scenarios remains an area of significant interest.

Researchers at the College of William and Mary aimed to better understand the relationship between racial attitudes and the perceptions of Black and white individuals in hypothetical crime scenarios. Amid the prevailing socio-political climate, especially during the Black Lives Matter movement’s resurgence, there’s a pressing need to delve deeper into how these attitudes play out in experimental settings.

In their methodology, the researchers collected data from undergraduate college students at a mid-size, predominantly white public university in the mid-Atlantic US, recruited through an online Qualtrics survey. A total of 157 white participants (43 cisgender males, 110 cisgender females, 1 transgender participant, and 2 nonbinary participants) were recruited, with an average age of 19.

Data was also collected from a group of 224 White participants (106 cisgender men, 104 cisgender women, 1 transgender female, 13 undisclosed), with an average age of 48. 106 participants stated that they had a family member or close friend who had been arrested, while 70 stated that they had family members or close friends who had been convicted and served their sentences.

Participants were asked to evaluate both Black and white targets involved in hypothetical criminal situations. The evaluations were then linked to individual racial attitudes, both implicit and explicit, gauged through a series of validated measures.

The study identified a clear link between racial attitudes and perceptions. Specifically, individuals with stronger explicit and implicit racial biases tended to view Black individuals as more closely aligned with criminality stereotypes. This association was particularly prominent when participants were assessing the fairness of legal penalties for Black individuals.

Approach these findings with limitation considerations in mind is crucial. The study’s data collection took place between February 2020 and March 2021, a period marked by significant socio-political unrest in the U.S. Events such as the murder of George Floyd and the consequent rise in the Black Lives Matter movement may have influenced participants’ responses. On one hand, xenophobic attitudes were on the rise, and on the other, there was heightened awareness and potential change in attitudes towards racial biases. Furthermore, while online data collection allowed for a more diverse sample, it might not be as reliable as in-person data collection.

Every day, countless decisions are made by various individuals in the legal system — from police officers deciding on the use of force, to judges determining sentences. If these decisions are influenced by racial biases, the implications are vast and far-reaching. As we move forward, this study underscores the importance of further research — especially on the effectiveness of racial bias training in various sectors of the criminal justice system.

The study, “Perceptions of Black and White individuals sentenced for violent and nonviolent crimes“, was authored by Annabelle Bass, Jihye Choi, and Cheryl Dickter.

© PsyPost

THE PATRIARCHIAL EYE

The 'tyranny of thinness' still dominates fashion

Agence France-Presse
September 25, 2023 

Thin Fashion Model (AFP)

While a handful of plus-size models such as Paloma Elsesser have grabbed media attention in recent years, the figures shows they remain a vanishingly small minority

Vogue Business looked at 9,137 outfits unveiled during 219 shows in New York, London, Milan and Paris last season and found that 0.6 percent were plus-size -- defined as US size 14 or above, which is actually the average size for a woman in the United States -- and only 3.8 percent were size 6-12.

This means 95.6 percent of outfits presented were in US size 0-4.

Paolo Volonte, who teaches sociology of fashion in Milan, says brands use a few curvy models to deflect criticism.

"It's 'fat-washing'," he told AFP, comparing it to criticisms of cynical "green-washing" by which the industry is accused of making empty climate pledges.

Paloma Elsesser is one of the few plus-size models who regularly appears on catwalks 

© JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP

"They use curvy models in their shows to show inclusivity but in fact this is to preserve and maintain a system based on the tyranny of the thin ideal," Volonte said.

Ekaterina Ozhiganova, a 20-year-old model and law student, says luxury brands simply "refuse to represent normal people".

Medium-sized women "are often told either to lose weight... or to push themselves up to XL," she told AFP. "Neither is healthy."

'Darling, that's the job'

Ozhiganova's advocacy group, Model Law, carried out a survey that found nine out of 10 models felt pressure to change their bodies, more than half on a regular basis.

"It's very hard for them to talk about," she said. "If you complain, everyone will just say: 'Darling, that's the job.'"

How it became "the job" is a question of history.

Volonte says the obsession with thinness dates back to the birth of industrial production techniques.

Previously, designers made clothes specific to individuals. In the mass production era, they use small templates which they scale up for larger sizes.

Mohammad Ashi makes bespoke pieces and says he is constrained by the needs of his clients

 © Geoffroy VAN DER HASSELT / AFP/File

This only works up to a certain size, however, after which fat and muscle can change the shape of bodies in more complex ways.

"It is much more expensive to produce and sell clothing on higher sizes and requires more expertise," said Volonte.

At the same time, thinness became firmly associated with wealth -- having the time and money to work on your body -- an aspiration that has been deeply entrenched by advertising and the day-to-day practices of the fashion industry.

'A fantasy world'

There have been efforts to change things since the early 2000s when fears spread that size-zero models were encouraging anorexia in young people.

Since 2017, France requires models to pass medical examinations, while the country's two biggest luxury conglomerates, LVMH and Kering, signed charters vowing to stop using size-zero models.

But with sizes varying from one brand to the next, this is hard to enforce.

Designers are as trapped in the status quo as everyone else.

Elite couturier Mohammad Ashi says discrimination based on race and gender has been fairly well tackled in fashion, but shape is tricky.

"We're not trying to avoid it, but from an industrial point of view, we can't produce a plus-size dress. We sell what we show and I know our clients personally. It's just business," he told AFP.

Michaela Tomanova is considered one of the larger haute couture models

 © JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP

Couturier Julien Fournie has used pregnant models and his favorite model, Michaela Tomanova, has "six centimetres everywhere more than the others".

But he says, "fashion remains fashion... It's a fantasy world and that will never change fundamentally."

© 2023 AFP

Red Sea corals threatened by mystery sea urchin deaths

Agence France-Presse
September 24, 2023


The Red Sea's spectacular coral reefs face a new threat, marine biologists warn -- the mass death of sea urchins that may be caused by a mystery disease.

Because the long-spined creatures feed on algae that can suffocate corals, their die-off could "destroy our entire coral reef ecosystem", warned scientist Lisa-Maria Schmidt.

In Israel's Red Sea resort of Eilat, which borders Jordan and Egypt, Schmidt recalled the moment she and her colleagues first witnessed the population collapse.

"When we jumped into the water, all of a sudden all those specimens we used to see before were gone, and what we saw was skeletons and piles of spines," she told AFP.

The team had first heard reports in January that a sea urchin species off Eilat was dying rapidly, so they went to a site known for an abundance of the species Diadema setosum.

They first thought that local pollution could be to blame.

But, within two weeks, the spiny invertebrates also started dying down the coast, including in a seawater-fed facility of the Inter-University Institute for Marine Sciences.

Scrambling to find the cause, the scientists watched with growing alarm as the mass mortality spread south through the Red Sea.

The team found that it affected two kinds of sea urchin, Diadema setosum and Echinothrix calamaris, while other species in the same environment remained unharmed.

In the marine reserve off Eilat, colourful fish and some other sea urchin species could be seen by a visiting AFP journalist -- although the impact of humans was never far away.

While snorkelling, Schmidt grabbed floating plastic rubbish and pushed it up the sleeve of her wetsuit, to discard later.

Walking along the beach, she also picked up handfuls of algae, to feed to the sea urchins still alive in tanks.

- 'Absolutely devastating' -


A similar mass mortality earlier hit sea urchins in the Caribbean, raising speculation that a disease may have arrived in the Red Sea by ships, whose ballast water can carry pathogens and exotic species.

"I think it's especially scary for that region, especially in the Red Sea," said Mya Breitbart, a biologist from the University of South Florida in the United States.

She pointed out that, while coral reefs are dying off in many other areas, "those corals are known to be quite resilient, and I think people have placed a lot of hope in those reefs".

Early last year, Breitbart started hearing that the Diadema antillarum species -- similar to those affected in the Red Sea -- was rapidly changing behaviour and then dying in droves in the Caribbean.

The area has still not recovered from a similar event in the 1980s, whose cause was never discovered, and Breitbart described this second die-off there as "absolutely devastating".

Within months she and scientists working across the Caribbean had pinpointed a pathogen, giving hope that the cause of the Red Sea die-off could be discovered.

- Next disease 'on the way' -

Omri Bronstein, from the University of Tel Aviv, has been working with the team in Eilat and elsewhere to try and identify the source.

"Are we talking about the same pathogen, for example, as the one that hit the Caribbean" in the 1980s, asked Bronstein, who runs a laboratory at the university where sea urchins lie in glass jars.

"Or are we looking at a completely different scenario?"

Stopping the die-off in the seas is impossible, lamented Bronstein.

Instead, the scientific community is working towards establishing a broodstock population of the affected species which can be released into the Red Sea once the current threat has passed.

Once the cause has been identified, Bronstein and his colleagues will also seek to determine how it reached the Red Sea.

If it was transported by a vessel, for example, steps could be taken to clean up ships and minimise the risk of spreading the next deadly pathogen.

"This is something that we can fix, because the next disease is on the way," he said.

"It is probably in one harbour and in one of the ships that is currently sailing our oceans."