UK

‘Valuable’ culture budgets slashed as financial pressures grow

A DECADE OF TORY AUSTERITY

Jonathan Bunn, PA Political Reporter
Thu, 1 February 2024


Councils remain the biggest funders of arts and culture in England despite dedicated budgets reducing by nearly £500 million since the onset of austerity, according to a report.

Analysis by the County Councils Network (CCN) found it was “extremely hard” for councils to avoid slashing budgets for cultural services including libraries, tourism and support for the arts due to the rising costs of social care in particular. This is despite a widespread acknowledgement of their social and economic value.

Government figures show councils overall budgeted £1.6 billion in 2010/11, but accounts for 2023/24 reveal dedicated spending has plummeted by nearly a third in the last 14 years to just over £1.1 billion.


The biggest area of cultural spending is on libraries but councils have cut their overall expenditure on these services by a quarter (£232.5 million) since 2010/11.

Financial support for museums, galleries and theatres has been reduced by £166.8 million over the period, a reduction of 30%.

Meanwhile, the analysis shows spending specifically on tourism, a key driver of economic growth, has seen the largest fall of all cultural services, with a reduction of 63% since 2010/11.

London councils have reduced this spending on tourism by 80% over the period, while other metropolitan boroughs have cut budgets by two-thirds.

Due to ongoing demand pressures and forecasts of huge budget overspends this year, some of the 20 county councils and 17 county unitary authorities represented by CCN have proposed a further round of reductions in funding for cultural services in 2024/25.

Suffolk County Council recently announced plans to cut its core arts funding by 100%, but later reversed the decision and approved a £500,000 fund for local arts and heritage organisations.

CCN said the Government’s recent revision to the local government financial settlement in 2024/25, which included an additional £500 million for social care, could potentially reduce the scale of reductions to cultural services in some areas.

However, the organisation called for a “clear discussion” with the next Government after the general election on what library and cultural services local government can deliver when budgets are largely spent on adult and children’s social care.

Sam Corcoran, CCN vice chair and Labour leader of Cheshire East Council, said councils had “thought outside the box” to save library services, but added this was “only half the story”.

He added: “Councils are the biggest funders of arts and culture in England, and we recognise the value of investing in libraries, arts and heritage attractions for both our communities and our economies.

“But councils have found it extremely hard to avoid significantly reducing their spend on libraries, culture, and tourism since 2010 with funding being prioritised towards statutory and life-critical care services.

“We know how much residents value cultural services, but the reality is that we have been unable to avoid reducing support for them.”

Cllr Corcoran said the extra Government funding in 2024/25 may “stave off the most severe reductions” in spending but called for long-term clarity on the provision of libraries and cultural services.

The CCN also called for the current cultural development fund to continue under the next government.

However, it argued the competitive bidding process for funding should be removed and money distributed “fairly” across the country.

A report this week by the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee warned that the “out of control” crisis in local government driven by long-term funding constraints and a “broken” financial system can only be ended by the Government providing billions of pounds more to councils.

A Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities spokesperson said: “We recognise councils are facing challenges and that is why we recently announced an additional £600 million support package for councils across England, increasing their overall proposed funding for next year to £64.7 billion – a 7.5% increase in cash terms.

“This additional funding has been welcomed by leading local government organisations, but we remain ready to talk to any concerned council about its financial position.”

'Abandon Biden': Democrats turn on president over support for Israel


Sky News
Thu, 1 February 2024 

In this article

There was a time when he'd have jumped at the chance - not today, not with this president.

Alabas Farhat, Democratic representative for the state of Michigan, declined the invitation for a "meet and greet" with Joe Biden and he wasn't alone.

Arab Muslim community leaders in the greater Detroit area snubbed the campaign visit to their neighbourhood. The problem they have is Mr Biden's support for Israel in the war with Hamas and his opposition to a ceasefire.

"We feel absolutely betrayed," said Representative Farhat. "He literally was elected because he wasn't Trump. Many people actually believed that this is somebody who was the more humane option, potentially.

"I have people from this community that campaigned so much, to the extent that when he won, they wrote his name on their birthday cake."

Now the campaigning is against the president they fought to elect, Democrat against Democrat.

Across the street from where we met Rep Farhat, he pointed out the electronic signage urging locals to vote "uncommitted" - as opposed to Biden - in the upcoming Democratic primaries, hashtag "#genocidejoe".

It runs parallel to an "Abandon Biden" initiative - don't vote for his opponent, necessarily, but don't vote for him.

It presents a serious threat to the sitting president's prospect of re-election. The November poll will likely be decided by small margins in a small number of swing states like Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

A survey for Bloomberg News and Morning Consult the day before Mr Biden travelled to Michigan, showed Donald Trump ahead in seven key swing states by 48% to 42%. In Michigan, it was 47% to 42% in Trump's favour.

Any fall in support for Joe Biden in these critical places is an opportunity for his likely contender for the White House, Donald Trump - this, a former president who has pledged to tighten immigration further and expand a travel ban on people from Muslim countries.

The prospect of enabling a second Trump presidency isn't lost on Democrats lining up against Biden.

Rep Farhat said: "They're saying in the community (that) we've held out for years under Trump and we can hold out for another four, if that means we'll stop the killing of our cousins and our loved ones overseas.

"And so, if the president doesn't heed these words, if he doesn't take it seriously, he's at risk of losing the swing state of Michigan."

A look at the figures shows Joe Biden's vulnerability to a Muslim backlash. Michigan has one of the largest Arab American and Muslim populations in the US, numbering around 300,000. At the last election, Joe Biden won the state by 154,000 votes.

Anti-Biden sentiment is echoed in the Islamic Center of Detroit, Imam Imran Salha offered a withering criticism.

"The ink that we would use to sign that ballot (for Biden) would be through the blood of our relatives in Palestine," he said.

"We want it to be recorded in history that President Biden was a one-term president because of the genocide against the Palestinians that he bankrolled."

The question for Biden is how he responds. On the day he came to Michigan, he announced an executive order that will widen sanctions against Israeli settlers inflicting violence on Palestinians in the West Bank.

However, much that resonates with the Muslim community in Michigan, it doesn't go nearly far enough.

According to Rep Alabas Farhat, the conversation needs to start with a ceasefire.

"You don't want a president who's going to enable the genocide that we're seeing overseas. We don't want our president to enable the bombing of innocent women and children and of hospitals. Now President Biden has the power to end this."

The politics of industrial dispute are on a different level. They offered easier engagement for the president in Michigan as he came to acknowledge the endorsement for his re-election from the United Auto Workers Union.

It was photocall stuff - blue-collar backing that he will exploit for all it's worth. There are votes in an auto industry that threads through Michigan - a place where Joe Biden needs all the friends he can find, more than ever.

Three years after decriminalization, Oregon frets over drug use

Romain FONSEGRIVES
Thu, 1 February 2024

The use of hard drugs has been decriminalised in Oregon for three years (Patrick T. Fallon)

When police officer Eli Arnold stops a homeless man smoking methamphetamine on the street in Portland, he simply writes him a ticket with a $100 fine.

Since hard drugs were decriminalized in Oregon three years ago, there are no arrests, just the fine and a card with a telephone number where the user can get help.

"Give them the ticket number and they'll just ask you if you want treatment," he tells the man.

"Just call the number, the ticket goes away."

In February 2021, possession and use of all drugs -- including cocaine, heroin, ecstasy and fentanyl -- was decriminalized in the western state. Sale and production remain punishable.

Like in Portugal, where drugs were decriminalized two decades ago, the idea is to instead treat users as people who need help.

But unlike in Portugal, there is no robust public health system in the United States.

The country is also in the grips of an epidemic of fentanyl -- an opioid up to 50 times more powerful than heroin, which is laying waste to communities everywhere.

In Oregon alone there were 956 fatal overdoses in 2022, a number that has trebled in three years.

2023 looks on track to smash that grim record, with over 600 deaths in the first six months.

- 'Terrible' -

His newly issued fine in hand, addict James Loe can attest to the devastation. At age 39, he says he has lost several acquaintances to fentanyl.

He has also saved more than 50 people from overdoses by giving them naloxone, a nasal spray antidote now considered essential in Portland.

"It’s terrible," says Loe, whose promising college basketball career was cut short by an injury that left him dependent on the opioid oxycodone, and on a downward spiral to ever-more powerful drugs.

Before too long he was on the streets, feeding a drug habit he now says he is sick of.

"I just need to get my act together and change. And I guess this, this will be a time to reflect," he says, promising to call the helpline.

Arnold is not so sure. He arrested Loe for shoplifting a few weeks earlier.

"Will James do something now?" he sighs. "Statistically, the odds are not great."

The toll-free number Arnold and his colleagues give out gets around 10 calls a month, according to a recent audit, which also found police handed out a low number of fines.

- Failure -

Many Portland residents that AFP met said decriminalization has been a failure, describing their city as an open-air drug market.

Arnold sees it all on his rounds.

"I don't think people realized that these groups would begin to use so brazenly, you know, that they'll be out in front of a preschool, smoking fentanyl," he says.

The discontent is such that Democrats, who control the state, are considering reversing course with a bill that would levy a $1,250 fine, or up to 30 days' jail, on people caught with hard drugs.

But health professionals insist it's not possible to say decriminalization has been a failure, because -- they argue -- it was smothered at birth.

"The spirit of Measure 110 was to stop using the criminal justice system to treat addiction. Instead, treat it as a medical issue and provide treatment. However, we haven't done that yet," says Solara Salazar, director of the Cielo Treatment Center, which helps addicts wanting to get clean.

The 2021 law was supposed to improve Oregon's abysmal drug treatment record by strengthening the health care system through taxes levied on cannabis sales.

But the Covid-19 pandemic overwhelmed the administration and funds were not released until almost 18 months after drugs were decriminalized.

"You put the cart before the horse," says Salazar. "You decriminalized, but you don't build any infrastructure and you don't have any services for folks that need it."

More than $260 million has now been spent, but the lack of residential treatment capacity remains stark.

One criticism of decriminalization -- that it would increase harmful drug use -- does not stand up to scrutiny.

In the 12 months after decriminalization, Oregon's overdose rate increased in line with that of 13 similar states that did not change their law, according to a recent New York University study.

- Culture change -

For Salazar, the system needs teeth to be effective.

"In Portugal, (addicts) have to go talk to a panel and they utilize skills to basically do an intervention and get folks to really buy into the treatment process," she says.

It is a model Oregon is slowly beginning to copy.

In Portland, police are starting to patrol with social workers, and reformers say they want law enforcement to be compelled to send users to see a professional.

It's a change that some addicts welcome.

One young woman who did not wish to give her name told AFP she has found herself stuck in a cycle of numbing her emotional pain with drugs.

When she was last arrested, she says, a police officer shouted at her and lectured her.

"How does that make me want to reach out or feel like I want help?" she said.

"That's gonna make me feel like I want to run and go use. "An addict really needs support."

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Iran's long-lasting love for gemstones

Menna Zaki and Ramin Khanizadeh
Thu, 1 February 2024 at 7:51 pm GMT-7·3-min read

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is a fan of gemstone rings (-)

At a prominent Shiite shrine in southern Tehran, Qasem Ashgari was buying yet another gemstone ring in the hope it would help his prayers to be answered promptly.

Asghari, in his 30s, who was already wearing several bands on each hand, had a specific ring in mind: a silver one, adorned with yellow agate and engraved with religious scripts.

"The reward of one prayer is multiplied... if done with an agate ring," he told AFP while strolling through the meandering alleys of the market near the shrine of Shah Abdolazim.


Asghari's appreciation for gemstones is shared by many Shiite Muslims in Iran, where prominent male scholars and senior officials are often seen publicly sporting similar rings.

Many in the Shiite-majority country attribute high religious significance to gemstones, which they view as a way to ensure divine protection, ward off evil, and prevent poverty.

Common beliefs associated with gemstones are largely what motivates people to buy them, said Hassan Samimi, a lapidary at the market.

"It is very rare to find someone who wears a ring just for its beauty," said Samimi, 52, in his workshop where he carves large uncut gemstones for rings, necklaces, prayer beads and other items.

- Agate and turquoise -

Inside, one customer, Maryam, browsed through a collection of rings bearing agate, turquoise, topaz, lapis lazuli, emeralds and other stones.

"I get a good feeling from these stones," said the 50-year-old teacher after picking a turquoise set comprising a ring, earrings, and a bracelet.

Samimi says his sales were mostly from agate and turquoise, the most revered stones, especially among Iran's religious community.

Turquoise has been mined in the country since the times of ancient Persia, with Iran home to one of the oldest such mines in the world.

Its bluish-green colour has inspired artists over the years and features prominently in Persian monuments and artefacts as well as Islamic architecture.

The turquoise from the eastern city of Neyshabur "is the most expensive", said Samimi. "The smoother and bluer the turquoise is, the higher its price is."

Hamid Rashidi, another craftsman, says the stone is generally affordable but depending on the quality a piece could sell for as much as four billion rials ($6,000-7,000).

Many Iranians believe it attracts wealth to the bearer and sometimes cite the religious saying "the hand that wears turquoise... will never see poverty".

It is also believed "to enhance eyesight and calm the nerves", said Samimi.

Agate, especially from Yemen, is also popular "because it is recommended by imams" who often claim it can boost livelihoods, said Rashidi.

- 'Cultural heritage' -

Iran's senior officials including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei have often been spotted wearing rings with agate or turquoise stones and the supreme leader has been known to gift them as tokens of his appreciation.

The body of the revered Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in a 2020 US strike in Baghdad, was in part identified by the agate ring he wore.

Iran subsequently declared the ring "cultural heritage" and a "national asset".

Samimi says demand for gemstones has remained relatively steady despite Iran's severe economic challenges.

Inflation in the country has in recent years hovered near 50 percent while the rial has sharply declined against the dollar.

"The stones market has become much better" over the years, he said, adding that there had been a significant increase in the number of craftsmen in the market compared with nearly three decades ago.

Its continued success, however, may hang on evolving tastes. Samimi admitted that agate and turquoise are not popular among younger generations.

"Young people mostly buy rubies and emeralds and birthstones," he said.

"For them, they are more fashionable."

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Joni Mitchell to top Grammy performances with history-making set

Ellie Iorizzo, PA Los Angeles Correspondent
Thu, 1 February 2024 

Joni Mitchell is set to make history by performing live at the 2024 Grammy Awards for the first time at the age of 80.

The nine-time Grammy winner, who is nominated in the best folk category for her 2023 live album, will top the bill alongside a host of music stars including Billie Eilish, Travis Scott, Dua Lipa and SZA – who leads nominations this year.

Luke Combs, Olivia Rodrigo, Billy Joel and Burna Boy will also perform, alongside Irish rock band U2 who will make history as the first broadcasted Grammy performance, delivering their set from the Sphere in Las Vegas.

U2 will also perform a history-making set at the 66th Grammy awards (Nick Ansell/PA)


The music stars will be performing on a stage reminiscent of the gold-plated statuette, with a 20-foot mirrored monumental gramophone taking centre stage and curved stairs cascading from the main stage into the pink-coloured nominee area.

Mitchell, who picked up a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy in 2002, will grace the stage on Sunday on the heels of a gradual return to live appearances after suffering a brain aneurysm in March 2015.

Her Grammy-nominated live album Joni Mitchell At Newport was recorded during a surprise appearance at the 2022 Newport Folk Festival, her first public performance in 20 years.

Since then she made two public concert appearances billed as “Joni Jam” in Washington state last summer, followed by a Brandi Carlile and Friends show at the Hollywood Bowl last autumn.

Mitchell is widely regarded as one of the greatest singer-songwriters of her time with hit tracks including Chelsea Morning, Big Yellow Taxi and Free Man In Paris.

Joni Mitchell is widely regarded as one of the greatest singer-songwriters of her time (PA)

Her previous Grammy wins span from 1970, when she won best folk performance for Clouds, to 2022 where she was honoured with best historical album for the boxed set Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 1: The Early Years (1963–1967).

During her decades-long career, Mitchell has been nominated for 18 Grammy awards.

In an interview with Sir Elton John in 2022, Mitchell said she felt her music did not get the recognition it deserved in the 1970s due to sexism in the music industry.

The 66th annual Grammy awards will take place at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles and will be hosted by comedian Trevor Noah.

Latin artists marginalized at Grammys... again

Maggy DONALDSON
Thu, 1 February 2024 

Peso Pluma and Yng Lvcas -- seen onstage at the 2023 Billboard Latin Music Awards in 2023 -- did not get much Grammys love (Jason Koerner)

Each time the nominations for a showbiz awards show are rolled out, there are accusations of "snubs" -- but the Recording Academy's history of sidelining Latin music artists seems more pattern than fluke.

This year, not one Latin musician earned a Grammy nod in the Big Four categories, which celebrate the year's top album, record, song and new artist.

Some critics voiced surprise at the slight, one year after reggaeton megastar Bad Bunny made history with the first Spanish-language work nominated for Album of the Year, which lent hope that the Academy was waking up to Latin music's broad audience.

But those hopes were dashed: in particular, many industry watchers expressed shock that Peso Pluma -- the fast-rising Mexican superstar who broke into the global mainstream with a string of hits this past year -- was left out of the Best New Artist category.

The 24-year-old received his only nomination in the category for -- wait for it -- Best Musica Mexicana.

"By leaving him out of the general-field awards, they aren't just snubbing a lone artist here," wrote one Rolling Stone critic. "They're brushing off an entire new wave of talent that's been changing the musical landscape."

Reggaeton hitmaker Karol G was recognized only in musica urbana, while superstar Shakira and her collaboration with Argentine producer Bizarrap was completely shut out, as was rising artist Eladio Carrion.

"I felt that we didn't have as many Latin artists and creators as I would have liked to have seen," Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr told Billboard following the nominations reveal in November.

"We have to do more outreach in Latin communities, making sure that we're representing the music accurately. We're hearing from them things that we can do; making sure we have the right amount of membership and representation."

- 'Recalibration' -

Latin artists spanning genre have posted strong numbers across the board, but regional Mexican music -- which includes many styles like banda, sierreno, norteno and mariachi -- has grown particularly buzzy, making the Academy's neglect of it all the more conspicuous.

Its rise has seen a new generation of artists fuse traditional corridos -- ballads that became popular more than a century ago during the Mexican revolution -- with rap or reggaeton influences that has translated to chart-topping success.

Peso Pluma has faced some anger for embracing the "narcocorrido" subgenre, which some critics say glorifies drug culture, though many others say narcocorridos are a means of social critique.

But either way, his work and other regional Mexican styles have a fervent fan base that is transnational, appeals to the young and digitally savvy, and has staying power both on streaming platforms and social media.

"What's happening now is a recalibration, not only of Mexican regional music, but a recalibration of Mexican and Mexican identity in the United States," said Juan Carlos Ramirez-Pimienta, a professor at San Diego State University who specializes in corridos and narcoculture.

Many fans of artists like Peso Pluma are young immigrants to the United States or first-generation Americans, along with plenty of non-Latinos worldwide, many of whom don't speak Spanish.

"It really has to do with the erosion of English, and American music, as the 'music of the world,'" Ramirez-Pimienta told AFP.

"Pop music is pop music," no matter what language it is sung in, he added.

- 'Process of disenfranchising' -

Just like with pop, rock, hip-hop, country, classical and a number of other genres, Latin music does have its own section of categories among the more than 90 Grammy awards on offer.

And since 2000, the Latin Recording Academy -- which was established as a separate branch of the Academy in 1997 -- holds a ceremony specifically dedicated to primarily Spanish- and Portuguese-language music, the Latin Grammys.

That gala and the dedicated categories are important for ensuring representation, but they also make it easier to avoid honoring Latin music for its mainstream popularity, said Ed Morales, a writer and professor at Columbia University.

"The creation of the Latin Grammys can be used as an excuse to silo, and reduce the need for representation in the mainstream Grammys," he told AFP.

That said, it is "a major marketing promotional opportunity for the Latin music industry... I think it's been established as an important service," Morales added.

Both scholars said that the marginalization of Latin music in the granting of industry awards is not dissimilar to the struggles hip-hop artists have faced for decades -- barriers that have only begun breaking in recent years.

"It's the same process of disenfranchising," said Ramirez-Pimienta.

Morales noted the longstanding contributions of Latin music in the United States, with influences including rock, country and hip-hop.

At the end of the day, for Morales, it's a question of being recognized not just for identity, but for artistry.

"Latinos should not be these perpetual outsiders or foreigners," he said.

mdo/sst

THE PRIVATIZATION OF THE STATE
Argentine police battle protesters opposed to sweeping reform bill

AFP
Thu, 1 February 2024

Argentine police clash with protestors outside Congress while lawmakers debate the government's economic reforms (JUAN MABROMATA)

Argentine police fired rubber bullets on Thursday to disperse protesters gathered outside Congress as lawmakers debated the new president's sweeping economic, social and political reform package.

Opposition legislators stormed out of the building at one point to observe and denounce the police action, but later went back inside to take their seats and the debate resumed until past midnight.

The drama unfolded on the second day of what is expected to be a marathon debate on libertarian and self-described anarcho-capitalist President Javier Milei's reform plans.


The 53-year-old political outsider won a resounding election victory last October on a wave of fury over decades of economic crises marked by debt, rampant money printing, inflation and fiscal deficit.

Milei began his term by devaluing the peso by more than 50 percent, cutting state subsidies for fuel and transport, reducing the number of ministries by half, and scrapping hundreds of rules so as to deregulate the economy.

His massive reform package touches on all areas of public and private life, from privatizations to cultural issues, the penal code, divorce and the status of football clubs.

Argentines who elected him are already up in arms and staged a strike less than two months into his term.

Opposition lawmakers walked out of the chamber as police fought the protests outside.

TV footage showed police firing rubber bullets and water cannons at hundreds of demonstrators opposed to the reform package.

Local media reported three people injured and two arrests. The Buenos Aires press union reported at least a dozen journalists were hit by rubber bullets, including one in the face.

"We cannot hold a session under these circumstances," leftist lawmaker Mariano Del Cano said as he and others left the building.

Myriam Bregman, a leftist lawmaker and former presidential hopeful, told reporters that a group of around 40 legislators urged police to stop the violence.

"They hurled gas at us, they hit us, they pushed us," Bregman said.

Alejandro Finocchiaro, a lawmaker who supports Milei, accused lawmakers who walked out of trying to delay the debate and said the demonstrators outside "were determined to be repressed so this session will come to a halt."

It was the second day of protests outside Congress as the bill is debated.

Milei has his work cut out for him as his party holds just 38 of the 257 seats in the lower chamber.

Moderate opposition lawmakers have warned they will seek further changes to the bill, in particular on the touchy issue of the delegation of special powers to the executive in an economic emergency, and on the scope and extent of privatizations.

Plans to privatize state-owned oil giant YPF have already been scrapped, but another 40 companies are still on the list.

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Sikh turbans can be as good as cycle helmets in a crash, scientists discover

Sarah Knapton
Thu, 1 February 2024 

SIkhs are exempt from wearing motorcycle helmets or hard hats in some countries, including UK 

- Raquel Maria Carbonell Pagola/LightRocket via Getty Images

Turbans can be as effective or better than cycling helmets at protecting against some head injuries, experts have found.

Sikhs are often exempt from wearing helmets because they are incompatible with their religious headdress, but it was unknown whether the layers of fabric offered any protection.

Some turbans are folded from almost 32 feet of fabric, which can form a substantial barrier against knocks to the head.

To test their effectiveness, Imperial College London and the Sikh Scientists Network wrapped turbans on to the heads of crash test dummies and subjected them to cycling style crashes.

They found that turbans greatly reduced the risk of skull fractures in areas covered with a thick layer of fabric, compared to bare heads – in some cases appearing more protective than helmets.

Writing in the journal Annals of Biomedical Engineering, the team concluded: “Overall, while helmets generally offer better performance than turbans, certain turbans displayed comparable or even superior performance in one or more injury metrics.”

The team found the style of turban affected the risk of injury. For impacts to the front of the head, the 10ft long Dastaar turban style reduced impact force by 23 per cent compared to the worst performing turban style.

For impacts to the side of the head, the 32-foot (9.7 metres) Dumalla turban style performed the best, with a 59 per cent reduction in the force.
Force-absorbing turban

The researchers now plan to use their findings to develop a force-absorbing turban material to offer Sikhs who wear turbans better head protection.

Dr Gurpreet Singh, from the Sikh Scientists Network and Imperial’s Department of Materials, said: “Our findings show that simple Sikh turbans have the potential to mitigate head impacts.

“This provides important evidence that we hope will point the wider scientific community to invest in the best headgear fabrics to absorb shock, which indeed will open commercial markets to people from all walks of life that deal with concussions and head impacts.

“Due to a lack of research into advanced fabrics, Sikhs currently face varying degrees of risk,” Dr Singh added.

Sikhs who wear turbans are exempt from wearing hard hats and motorcycle helmets in countries, including the UK, India, some Canadian states, Denmark, New Zealand, Sweden and Thailand.

The team found that risk to cyclists could be lessened by placing energy absorbing materials between the layers of fabric and covering a larger area of the head with more fabric.

Ruth Purdie, chief executive of the Road Safety Trust, which funded the research, said: “Cyclists are classed as vulnerable road users, and therefore it is important to think about different ways to improve their safety.

“The findings of this study could really support Sikh cyclists and help reduce their risks of head injury.”

Turban style and thickness affects head injury risk in Sikh cyclists

Peer-Reviewed Publication

IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON

Sudden impacts or jolts to the head can cause skull fractures and traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). TBIs can cause bleeding, unconsciousness, and potential changes to the brain leading to memory loss, mood and personality changes and lack of concentration - sometimes many years after the initial injury. 

 

However, very little research has been done to ascertain the extent and mechanism by which turbans might mitigate impacts to the head during cycling incidents. 

 

Now, researchers from Imperial and the Sikh Scientists Network have studied the performance of turban styles worn by male and female Sikhs under the types of impacts common to cycling incidents. The findings allowed them to make evidence-based recommendations so that Sikhs who wear turbans might benefit from the best head protection possible. 

 

The research is published today in Annals of Biomedical Engineering. 

 

Using crash test dummy heads, the researchers tested five different turbans, distinguished by two wrapping styles and two different fabrics with size variations. They then compared their findings of injury risk with conventional cycle helmets and with bare heads.  

They found that turbans greatly reduced the risk of skull fractures in areas covered with a thick layer of fabric, compared to bare heads. Also, the style of the turban greatly affected the risk of head injury. 

For impacts to the front of the head, the Dastaar turban style with 3 metre long and 2m wide Rubia Voile fabric performed the best, with a 23 per cent reduction in the force applied to the head compared to the worst performing turban style.  

For impacts to the side of the head, the Dumalla turban style with 10m long and 1m wide Full Voile fabric performed the best, with a 59 per cent reduction in the force applied to the head compared to the worst performing turban style. 

They also found that although the risk of skull fractures and brain injuries was higher with all turbans than conventional bicycle helmets, the risk might be reduced using the following recommendations: 

 

• Covering a larger area of the head with a thick layer of fabric. 

• Placing energy absorbing materials between the layers of the fabric to increase impact duration and reduce force, reducing the risk of skull fractures. 

• Reducing the friction between the layers of fabric to reduce the rotational force transmitted to the head, thus the risk of brain injuries. 

 

Lead author Dr Mazdak Ghajari, from Imperial’s Dyson School of Design Engineering, said: “From our previous work, we have a good understanding of which types of impacts are common in cyclists and how we should assess the efficacy of head protection equipment in the lab. This project was a great opportunity for us to apply this expertise to empower Sikhs to protect themselves from head injury.” 

 

Co-author Dr Gurpreet Singh, from the Sikh Scientists Network and Imperial’s Department of Materials, said: “Sikhs have earned the right to wear the sacred turban with pride for centuries now. However, being just 0.5% of the world population, very little has been done to scientifically empower Sikhs to continue practicing their faith with advanced, protective materials that are in-line with their religious requirements. Due to a lack of research into advanced fabrics, Sikhs currently face varying degrees of risk. 

 

“Our findings show that simple Sikh turbans have the potential to mitigate head impacts. This provides important evidence that we hope will point the wider scientific community to invest in the best headgear fabrics to absorb shock, which indeed will open commercial markets to people from all walks of life that deal with concussions and head impacts.” 

 

The researchers now plan to use their findings to develop a force-absorbing turban material to offer Sikhs who wear turbans better head protection in situations where helmets might otherwise be worn. 

The findings could also be used to benefit Sikhs in other areas where head protection is worn. For example, due to religious tenets, Sikhs who wear turbans are exempt from wearing hard hats and motorcycle helmets in several countries where it is a legal requirement, including the UK, India, some Canadian states, Denmark, New Zealand, Sweden and Thailand. 

Ruth Purdie OBE, chief executive of The Road Safety Trust, which funded the research, said: “Cyclists are classed as vulnerable road users, and therefore it is important to think about different ways to improve their safety. 

 

“The findings of this study could really support Sikh cyclists and help reduce their risks of head injury.” 

 

This work was funded by The Road Safety Trust and supported by the Sikh Scientists Network. The research was undertaken with Rehat Maryada – the Code of Sikh Conduct and Conventions – in mind. 

 

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JOURNAL

Annals of Biomedical Engineering

From Frida Kahlo to Billie Holiday – why we have got artistic female addicts all wrong


Professor Sally Marlow
Fri, 2 February 2024 


Frida Kahlo in bed at her home, La Casa Azul, Mexico City - Gisele Freund/Photo Researchers History/Getty Images

The work of Frida Kahlo, Billie Holiday, Anna Kavan, Andrea Dunbar and Nan Goldin represents more than a century of creativity. All five women struggled with drugs and alcohol, and there has been much speculation about how their art was affected by their addictions. As an addiction scientist, I wanted to take the opposite approach, and, in Radio 3’s The Essay, see what I could learn about these women’s dependencies by looking at their work.

Of course, all five are brilliant, ground-breaking. Kahlo was the first Mexican artist to have works in the Louvre and New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Holiday had more than 200 hit records and regularly sold-out Carnegie Hall. Kavan was a writer described by Brian Aldiss as “De Quincey’s heir and Kafka’s sister”, while Andrea Dunbar’s play Rita, Sue and Bob Too not only spawned a hugely successful film, but was also a phenomenal piece of social commentary which predicted the #MeToo movement and grooming scandals by more than three decades.

As for the only living artist included in this select group of five, Nan Goldin, her work is considered so valuable by the world’s leading art institutions that when she threatened to remove it if they did not sever ties with the family she saw as her tormentors, they one by one acquiesced.


What struck me while researching the programme was just how often all five women have been characterised as “addicted” artists, which is at best reductive and at worst offensive. I came across various patronising and lazy stereotypes. Whether it’s Andrea Dunbar referred to as “genius from the slums” or headlines about Anna Kavan’s house containing “enough heroin to kill the whole street”, these women are defined time and time again by their problems and the circumstances which led them to use drugs and alcohol, rather than their talent.

It’s not even as if they all explicitly reference alcohol and drugs in their work. For example, there are no pills, syringes or cocktail glasses in Frida Kahlo’s paintings. Andrea Dunbar didn’t write plays about alcohol, it’s simply part of the backdrop.

Playwright Andrea Dunbar in Bradford - Peter Lomas/ANL/Shutterstock

There are, of course, double standards. We read male authors like Jean Cocteau and Edgar Allen Poe and look at work by Jackson Pollock and Picasso without giving their addictions a second thought. However, when it comes to women, the idea of the neurotic artist whose talent is really not a talent has been constantly re-enforced. It’s only relatively recently that a critical mass of women artists have achieved acclaim, and we don’t seem to be fully comfortable yet with a narrative that a woman artist can simply be an artist. This may change as the work of artists like Rachel Whiteread, Cornelia Parker and Hilary Mantel becomes the norm, using architecture, physics and history for inspiration rather than autobiography and trauma.

It is clear that the art of the women I looked at for the series is great in its own right, but also instructive in teaching us about the nature of addiction. Kavan used heroin for decades as well as wrote about it, most famously in Julia and the Bazooka, a short story collection about what she calls “injected tranquillity”, published in 1970 shortly after her death. She details the devastating inevitability of relapse in The Old Address, following a stay in some sort of medical facility; and in High in the Mountains describes how a particular drug (perhaps cocaine) makes the protagonist feel.

But it is from Julia and the Bazooka that I learnt most about addiction. Julia has a kindly doctor who prescribes her heroin, and Anna had just such a doctor in her own life. The context is important here. The Departmental Committee on Morphine and Heroin Addiction of 1926 recommended that medical professionals could legally prescribe heroin or morphine to those addicted to it if it would enable patients “to lead useful lives”, and doctors prescribed right up until 1968.

British novelist Anna Kavan

There were just a few hundred people receiving heroin prescriptions from their doctor at any one time and Anna Kavan was one of them. She is arguing in the story for a medical approach to heroin addiction, not a criminal one. It is likely that this medical approach meant that she lived until she was almost 70, and was spared some of the dangers of unknown purity of produce and organised criminal distribution.

In the work of the five women I chose for the series, the drug references are most explicit in the photography of Nan Goldin. Goldin took candid pictures of her life beginning in the 1970s, well before everyone else started doing it on social media. She became addicted to heroin, but in the 1980s got clean. Then in 2014 she had surgery on her wrist and was prescribed painkillers in the shape of an opioid cousin of the morphine and pethidine Kahlo had been prescribed 90 years previously.

This was Oxycontin, the prescription opioid which underlies much of the current opioid epidemic in the United States. Goldin was addicted immediately and lost three years of her life until a second detox and rehab. During those three years, she kept on taking photographs, which she brought together in a 2019 slide show, Memory Lost, a startling, bleak pictorial record of her addiction the second time round.

US Photographer Nan Goldin - JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP via Getty Images

She used this to raise awareness and start a campaign against the Sackler family, one branch of which owned Purdue Pharma, manufacturers and marketers of Oxycontin. Goldin’s experience and art shows that addiction never really goes away. Many people who have managed to quit drugs or alcohol describe themselves as “in recovery”, not “recovered”, acknowledging that relapse in addiction is common even after a long period of not using.

In Goldin’s photo Dope on my rug, taken in 2016 during the height of her addiction to oxycontin, four bottles of prescription opioids and eight blister packs of pills are scattered amongst packets of cigarettes, a hard drive, a note pad and a camera – an enormous amount of drugs and an enormous part of her life.

In making this series I discovered just how little those around these women understood or acknowledged that they needed help and support with their addictions. Frida Kahlo attending her own art opening in her bed was not a charming eccentricity, but a strong sign that she was struggling. It was as if art was the only way these women could make themselves heard, whether about their addictions, or about the circumstances which exacerbated them.

Billie Holiday: 'Dope never helped anybody sing better or play music better or do anything better.' - Bill Spilka/Getty Images

It is extraordinary to me that these women produced the art they did while drugs and/or alcohol were so much a part of their lives. Drugs and alcohol rarely make anyone more creative or more productive, although they often make people think they are more creative. As Billie Holiday recognised in her autobiography, “Dope never helped anybody sing better or play music better or do anything better.” In fact, drugs almost always have quite the opposite effect, they dull the senses and blunt the edges.

Therefore we should recognise these five remarkable talents despite their addictions, not because of them. Let’s not stigmatise them or fetishise them, let’s celebrate them.

Professor Sally Marlow is Professor of Practice in Public Understanding of Mental Health Research at King’s College London. The Essay: Women of Substance is on Radio 3 from Monday 5-Friday 9 Feb at 10pm

Public transport walkout hits strike-battered Germany


AFP
Fri, 2 February 2024 

The Verdi services trade union called on more than 90,000 workers at over 130 local companies operating buses, trams and underground services to join the walkout in an escalating dispute over pay and working conditions (Adam BERRY)

Public transport workers across Germany walked off the job on Friday in the latest industrial action to buffet Europe's top economy.

The Verdi services trade union called on more than 90,000 workers at over 130 local companies operating buses, trams and underground services to join the walkout in an escalating dispute over pay and working conditions.

The strike impacted 81 cities and 42 rural districts.


In most areas it was scheduled to stop public transport for the whole day, with the exception of Berlin where service resumed mid-morning, and Bavaria where Verdi did not strike while pay negotiations continued.

Long-distance and regional trains operated by Deutsche Bahn, where drivers went on strike last week, were unaffected.

Verdi's deputy chair Christine Behle said the union was seeking a 35-hour work week with no losses in wages, in a bid to make jobs more attractive to workers.

Many operators are reporting up to 20 to 30 percent unfilled posts, with the staff shortages contributing to a vicious circle of overworked employees who are then falling ill, exacerbating the situation.

Climate activists had earlier in the week given their support to Verdi despite the impact on public transportation, saying it was time for the sector's workers to receive better compensation.

The strike came one day after security staff at 11 German airports walked off the job, leading to the cancellation of 1,100 flights amid a spate of industrial action and protests to hit commuters in the last weeks.

Meanwhile farmers have repeatedly used tractors to block access to roads and key ports in Germany, intensifying demonstrations against government plans to cut agriculture subsidies.

The next strike appeared to be on the horizon, at German airline Lufthansa.

Verdi chief negotiator in wage talks for ground staff, Marvin Reschinsky, said the negotiations with the flag carrier had hit an impasse.

"A strike is highly likely," Reschinsky said. "The only question is whether it will be before or after February 12 when the third round of negotiations are set to take place."

dlc/hmn/lth

NO WMD

UK to test fire nuclear missile from submarine in the Atlantic


Danielle Sheridan
Thu, 1 February 2024 

An unarmed Trident II (D5) ballistic missile being fired from HMS Vigilant in 2021 - LOCKHEED MARTIN/PA

Britain will test fire a nuclear missile for the first time in eight years.

A warning was issued to shipping that a test would be carried out as HMS Vanguard, a 16,000-tonne Trident submarine, arrived in the Atlantic.

The test, which will involve a dummy warhead, will be carried out by Feb 4 around 90km off Florida’s east coast, with a range of 5,900km.


The last time the UK fired a nuclear weapon was in 2016, when a Trident II D5 missile veered off course while being tested off the coast of Florida.

As first reported by The Sun, the missile firing will be the last test before the £4 billion submarine re-enters service as part of the UK’s nuclear deterrent fleet, having been in refit in Plymouth for seven years.

During its refit last year, it was discovered that a nuclear engineer glued broken submarine bolts back together in an “unforgivable” error.

The unsatisfactory repairs to HMS Vanguard’s cooling pipes were discovered after a bolt fell off whilst being tightened during checks inside the reactor chamber.

It led to Ben Wallace, the then defence secretary, holding a phone call with the chief executive of Babcock, the defence contractor which had glued the bolt back on, demanding greater transparency.

HMS Vigilant, one of the four Vanguard-class submarines which form the UK's strategic nuclear deterrent force - THOMAS McDONALD/CROWN COPYRIGHT

Although such tests are planned in advance and are not a direct response to geopolitical activities, it comes as the crisis in the Red Sea has intensified.

Earlier this week, Grant Shapps, the Defence Secretary, met with his US defence and national security counterparts to discuss events in the region and how to tackle shared threats.

Since November, more than 30 attacks have been made on ships in the region which are there as part of Operation Prosperity Guardian, a multinational maritime task force made up of the UK, US and others, to protect international shipping in the Red Sea.

In a statement released on Thursday, Mr Shapps said: “It is completely unacceptable that Houthi activity in the Red Sea is threatening freedom of navigation, damaging the global economy and risking lives.

“We have worked in lockstep with our US allies to deliver Operation Prosperity Guardian, as well as conducting proportionate and targeted strikes against the Houthis.

“As two nations who champion freedom of movement, we will not cower in the face of these attacks and we would not hesitate to take further action if required.”