Analysis

Florida is swamped by disease outbreaks as quackery replaces science

The state is in the grip of a measles outbreak, yet Joseph Ladapo, the surgeon general, continues to ignore medical science to stop it

Ladapo, a politically appointed acolyte of DeSantis, wrote to parents telling them it was fine for them to send their kids to school amid a measles outbreak.

 Photograph: Chris O’Meara/AP


Richard Luscombe

in Miami
Sun 3 Mar 2024 

Shortly before Joseph Ladapo was sworn in as Florida’s surgeon general in 2022, the New Yorker ran a short column welcoming the vaccine-skeptic doctor to his new role, and highlighting his advocacy for the use of leeches in public health.

It was satire of course, a teasing of the Harvard-educated physician for his unorthodox medical views, which include a steadfast belief that life-saving Covid shots are the work of the devil, and that opening a window is the preferred treatment for the inhalation of toxic fumes from gas stoves.



‘Not a disease you want to relive’: why is the US seeing outbreaks of measles?

But now, with an entirely preventable outbreak of measles spreading across Florida, medical experts are questioning if quackery really has become official health policy in the nation’s third most-populous state.

As the highly contagious disease raged in a Broward county elementary school, Ladapo, a politically appointed acolyte of Florida’s far-right governor Ron DeSantis, wrote to parents telling them it was perfectly fine for parents to continue to send in their unvaccinated children.

“The surgeon general is Ron DeSantis’s lapdog, and says whatever DeSantis wants him to say,” said Dr Robert Speth, a professor of pharmaceutical sciences at south Florida’s Nova Southeastern University with more than four decades of research experience.

“His statements are more political than medical and that’s a horrible disservice to the citizens of Florida. He’s somebody whose job is to protect public health, and he’s doing the exact opposite.”

Ladapo’s advice deferring to parents or guardians a decision about school attendance directly contradicts the official recommendation of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which calls for a 21-day period of quarantine for anybody without a history of prior infection or immunization.

It is also in keeping with Ladapo’s previous maverick proclamations about vaccines that health professionals say pose an unacceptable danger to the health of Florida residents. They include official guidance to shun mRNA Covid-19 boosters based on easily disprovable conspiracy theories that the shots alter human DNA and can potentially cause cancer – “scientific nonsense” in the view of Dr Ashish Jha, a former White House Covid response coordinator.

Meanwhile, with measles having been eradicated in the US since 2000, the disease’s resurgence, paired with Ladapo’s latest misadventure, have prompted a new round of mocking commentary. Florida: Come for the Sunshine, Leave With the Measles, opined the Orlando Sentinel; “Measles? So On-brand for Florida’s Descent Into the 1950s”, was the take of the Tampa Bay Times.

His statements are more political than medical and that’s a horrible disservice to the citizens of FloridaDr Robert Speth

The backlash prompted the Florida department of health to publish “clarifying information” this week, in which it insisted that the stay-at-home recommendation had in fact been given to parents at Manatee Bay elementary school, and attempted to blame the media for “reporting false information and politicizing this outbreak”.

Department officials repeated the claim in a subsequent statement.

“The media has continued to peddle the narrative that Dr Ladapo has defied science in his recent letter. In reality, he has used available data and immunity rates to drive policy decisions impacting Manatee Bay Elementary,” the deputy press secretary Grant Kemp said.

“97% of students at Manatee Bay Elementary have received at least one dose of the MMR immunization. Outbreaks are occurring in multiple states, and the national immunization rate for measles is less than 92%.”

Reporting false information, incidentally, is something Ladapo is familiar with himself. He was found to have personally manipulated data in a 2022 study of Covid-19 vaccines to wrongly assert they posed an elevated risk of cardiac illness or death in young men.

To Speth, and numerous other medical experts, Ladapo’s risky succession of positions denying even the most obvious benefits of immunization and vaccination is a symptom of a wider political assault by the rightwing, which carries deadly potential.

Its origins, Speth believes, lie in a long-discredited study by the disgraced British former doctor Andrew Wakefield falsely tying the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine to autism, but which was enthusiastically embraced by anti-vaxxers and other extremists in the US.

“The Wakefield study was a gross fraud, yet today up to 25% of our population believes it, and opportunistic politicians seize on the sentiment to tell people what they want to hear about the danger of vaccines,” he said.

“Republicans are at war with medical science, and that’s a horrible tragedy. But I feel like Cassandra, talking about the public health threat. We’re going to start seeing a lot more children die of infectious diseases that could be prevented if they were vaccinated.”

Ladapo has been hailed a “superstar” by DeSantis, who sidelined then dumped his predecessor Scott Rivkees for contradicting the governor’s position on social distancing and face masks during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ladapo became a vocal cheerleader of the governor’s anti-mask, vaccine and lockdown decrees; and was a prominent member of Frontline Doctors of America, a fringe cluster of radical physicians that pushed ineffective medicines such as ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine as a cure for the virus.
To pretend that the vaccine is unnecessary to eradicate measles is completely illogical, because that’s the reason it’s been gone from our countryTina Polsky

The group’s founder, Simone Gold, received a 60-day prison sentence in 2022 for taking part in the 6 January Capitol riot.

Additionally, Ladapo was a signatory to the Great Barrington Declaration, an open letter claimed to have been signed by 15,000 scientists and medical professionals calling for a herd immunity approach to Covid, but which included a multitude of spoof names including Dr Johnny Bananas, Dr Person Fakename and Dr I P Freely.

Democrats in Florida say Ladapo’s handling of the measles outbreak is one more reason why they believe he is unsuited for a job in which he earns in excess of $600,000 a year, paid almost equally by the state and University of Florida, where he was given tenured professorship as an incentive to come.

“What’s so sad about it is it’s completely preventable,” said state senator Tina Polsky, who has been one of Ladapo’s staunchest critics.

“In a moment of crisis we need the best level-headed people to be running that department of health, and now we’re in our next crisis after Covid and we have someone who doesn’t want to follow accepted scientific guidelines in charge.

“To pretend that the vaccine is unnecessary to eradicate measles is completely illogical, because that’s the reason it’s been gone from our country. It will have some devastating outcomes, it’s going to scare a lot of people, and kids are going to be out of school, which has its own negative outcomes.”

Florida GOP senators defend DeSantis’ surgeon general amid measles outbreak

The measles outbreak shows the further polarization of vaccines.


Joseph Ladapo (left) has faced backlash over his resistance to vaccines since Ron DeSantis (right) nominated him to be surgeon general two years ago

 | Wilfredo Lee/AP

By AREK SARKISSIAN
03/04/2024 

TALLAHASSEE, Florida — In Florida, even measles is polarizing.

An outbreak in Broward County has split the state, as Republicans in the Capitol rally around the controversial state surgeon general, Joseph Ladapo, who is taking a hands-off approach while Democrats accuse him of endangering children.

Ladapo, who rejected federal guidelines for Covid-19 vaccinations, sent a recent letter to parents at an elementary school in Broward County where six kids were infected with measles. In his letter, he advised parents that they should decide for themselves whether to vaccinate their kids or remove unvaccinated students from schools.

He did not follow federal recommendations to urge parents to vaccinate their children against measles or quarantine those who may have come in contact with the virus. People who have been vaccinated against measles have a very high protection rate.

Florida is one of 15 states that has had measles cases this year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in January warned health care workers to be on the lookout for infections after cases were reported in Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania and elsewhere. At the time, the CDC said the infections reflected a wider rise in measles cases throughout the world after countries postponed or missed administering the vaccine amid the Covid pandemic.

The measles cases in Florida were first detected about two weeks ago. The Florida Department of Health has fielded a total of 10 reports of measles infections so far, with nine infections involving children in Broward County and one adult case in Polk County. The Polk County case involved an adult who came to Florida from outside the U.S. and has since left the state.

The measles outbreak in Florida shows the further polarization of vaccines, one area that once had overwhelming consensus across political parties and throughout the U.S. The measles vaccine is especially effective in protecting against the virus and, according to the CDC, has led to a 99 percent decrease in the virus compared to the pre-vaccine era.

Ladapo’s comments drew sharp rebukes from the medical community and state Democrats who said he’s putting kids in danger. Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, whose district includes parts of Broward County, called on him to resign.

Florida surgeon general rejects FDA guidance, urges people under 65 not to get Covid booster

BY AREK SARKISSIAN | SEPTEMBER 13, 2023 

But top GOP senators in the GOP-led Legislature who confirmed Ladapo to be Florida’s top medical official are defending him based on his credentials but not engaging the issue at hand, saying lawmakers can’t withdraw confirmations and they approve of the work he’s done

“As far as I can tell, he’s been doing a great job, and we can’t undo confirmations, so we’re not going to go there,” said Republican Senate President Kathleen Passidomo Wednesday.

Five other GOP senators said they trusted that Ladapo — a Harvard-trained medical doctor and researcher who has long been skeptical of vaccines — has the credentials and experience to provide the right medical guidance for the state.

“He’s looking at everything and making his decisions,” GOP Sen. Travis Hutson said. “He’s obviously in the field and I’m not, so whatever decisions he makes, I stand by.”

Some Republican senators supporting Ladapo downplayed the measles cluster in South Florida, with one, Sen. Danny Burgess, telling POLITICO that he hadn’t heard about the cases in Broward County. Another, GOP Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, a close ally of Gov. Ron DeSantis, said “calling a public emergency over six or nine people is very premature.”

Ladapo has faced backlash over his resistance to vaccines since DeSantis nominated him to be surgeon general two years ago. The medical community pushed back after Ladapo in 2022 warned young men against getting the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines, claiming they could increase their chances of cardiac-related deaths. Last year, Ladapo also went against federal health agencies by warning people under 65 not to get the most recent Covid booster.

The CDC, Food and Drug Administration and others have said those vaccines and boosters are safe and effective.

DeSantis shares Ladapo’s skepticism of vaccines. At the governor’s request, the state Supreme Court convened a grand jury to investigate “crimes and wrongdoing” related to Covid vaccines, and DeSantis regularly questions the effectiveness of Covid shots. He’s also very supportive of Ladapo and brought his surgeon general with him on the campaign trail in New Hampshire while DeSantis was running for president.

“There is a highly contagious disease infecting children in my community," Democratic Sen. Lauren Books says. | Francis Chung/POLITICO

Democratic Senate leader Lauren Book, whose district includes the Weston elementary school where at least six children are infected with measles, said that Ladapo has a habit of sidestepping science-based facts, endangering Floridians along the way.

“There is a highly contagious disease infecting children in my community, and for the surgeon general to be spreading disinformation instead of science-backed medical advice is downright dangerous,” Book said on Wednesday. “He is putting kids at risk for serious illness and should be removed from his position immediately before more damage is done.”

The Florida Department of Health, in defending Ladapo and the agency, on Wednesday provided more details into how it handled the outbreak after the surgeon general’s guidance alarmed parents, school officials and local leaders who worried Ladapo was not doing enough to stop the spread.

The department stated it recommends to the elementary school facing infections that people who are not vaccinated or have had measles previously should stay home for up to 21 days. That guidance is generally in line with established medical advice.

“This recommendation has been made at Manatee Bay Elementary,” the DOH statement said. It did not elaborate on why Ladapo initially gave different advice.

Sen. Shevrin Jones, a Miami-area Democrat, criticized the surgeon general’s overall measles response, saying Ladapo’s advice is based on politics and not medicine.

“How he’s moved and how he’s operated, he’s operating on politics,” Jones said. “And that is why he’s dangerous.”


EDITORIALS

Dr. Joseph Ladapo's anti-vaxx stance growing stale. Florida needs a new surgeon general.

Palm Beach Post

Here we go again: Florida facing another dangerous virus, while the state's top health official thumbs his nose at conventional medical wisdom. Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo is drawing warranted criticism for his initial lax response to the state's measles outbreak. Instead of urging parents to vaccinate their children, he waffled, leaving the decision to the parents with a hint at an anti-vax stance that made him infamous during COVID-19.

Ladapo's response is the latest in what has been a three-year string of controversy that has undermined the surgeon general's office and the Florida Department of Health. Whether it's altering a medical study to support fringe thinking or ignoring a request to put on a mask during the height of the pandemic by state Sen. Tina Polsky, D. Boca Raton, whose breast cancer made her susceptible to COVID. The Ladapo era in Florida must end

.
Florida surgeon general defies CDC recommendations as measles cases spread in state

Florida deserves a credible public health leader, not an ongoing embarrassment. Right now, the state is stuck with a political appointee who's taking up space but not taking the job or his craft seriously. The Palm Beach Post editorial board believes it's time for a change. The Governor, and more importantly the state, needs a new surgeon general.

Up until now, Gov. Ron DeSantis seems OK with his appointee's performance. The Governor needed a shill to buttress an anti-COVID mandate schtick that became part of DeSantis' ill-fated presidential campaign. Meanwhile more than 81,000 Floridians died from COVID. Will the Governor make the change? Probably not, unless the spread of measles forces his hand. It shouldn't have to come to that. Ladapo's performance is enough to justify replacement.

Measles spread helped by misinformation

Prior to the 1963 Measles Mumps and Rubella vaccine, nearly every child living in the U.S. had measles by the time they reached 15, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.. CDC data showed between 3 million to 4 million people were affected each year, with 500 dying and 48,000 persons hospitalized.

Why measles is making a comeback isn't a head-scratcher. It only takes two doses of the MMR vaccine, which is 97% effective, to prevent the disease, and there are many more vaccinated against measles in Florida than not. It's the contagion of misinformation undermining proven medical vaccines that has taken a toll on the nation's progress toward eradicating dangerous diseases. In his role, Ladapo has done more than enough to become modern medicine's chief cheerleader of misinformation.

Gov. DeSantis selected Ladapo from the University of California David Geffen School of Medicine in 2021, to replace former Surgeon General Scott Rivkees. The appointment came with $250,000 in pay to head the Florida Department of Health and another $262,000 as a professor of medicine at the University of Florida. It was a controversial pick to say the least.

Ladapo's association with America's Frontline Doctors, a controversial group of physicians known for questionable cures drew criticism, as has his constant criticism of COVID vaccines and masks as effective treatments. His quick appointment to the university, along with an inability to produce grants, ultimately drew the ire of his UF colleagues. As surgeon general, he altered a state study last year to suggest that some COVID-19 doses pose higher health risks for young men than what's been established by the medical community. In January, he called on the federal government to halt using the mRNA vaccine, describing it as the “anti-Christ” of all products.

The surgeon general's initial response to the measles outbreak was a muddled equivocation of a Feb. 20 advisory to Broward County parents that careened from acknowledging what "is normally recommended" to deferring any decision regarding school attendance to the parents. Ambiguity isn't the typical response to a potential public-health crisis. Under normal circumstances, public health officials would follow federal guidelines in urging unvaccinated children to either get a MMR shot or stay at home until any symptoms subside without medication.

Ladapo's pandemic track record and his more recent response regarding measles vaccinations leave us wondering if he will ever shake off the anti-vaccination pandering to do his job as a public health official effectively. We're not convinced he will. For those reasons, we believe Florida would be better off with a new surgeon general.

Books

The man who tricked Nazi Germany: lessons from the past on how to beat disinformation

The story of the British man who took on Hitler’s information machine offers valuable insights into the fight against the rise of authoritarianism


Peter Pomerantsev

THE GUARDIAN
Sat 2 Mar 2024 


Thirty percent of Americans claim, despite all evidence to the ­contrary, that the last presidential elections were “rigged”. Millions are sure that the “deep state” is plotting to import immigrants to vote against “real ­Americans” in the future. Meanwhile in Russia, the majority of people claim that the Kremlin is the innocent party in its brutal invasion of Ukraine. When Ukrainians call their relatives in Russia to tell them about the atrocities, all too often they hear their own kin parrot the Kremlin’s propaganda lines: the atrocities are faked, or false flags, or necessary in order to impose Russia’s greatness.

Across the world we see the growth of propaganda that promotes an alternative reality where black is white and white is black, and where truth is cast away in favour of a sense of superiority and ever more murderous paranoia. How can we defeat it? It’s easy to despair when fact checking is rejected by the millions who don’t want to hear the truth in the first place; when worthy journalism that preaches the virtues of “democracy” crumples in the face of suspicion, seeded purposefully for decades, that the media are actually “enemies of the people”.


We are not, however, the first generation to confront the challenge of authoritarian propaganda. And as I looked for past experiences to inform our own, I discovered a British second world war media operation that managed to engage huge audiences who had been loyal to the Nazis and undermine their faith in Hitler’s regime. If we think reaching people in “echo chambers” today is tough, think about how hard it was to persuade Germans to trust the people who were literally trying to kill them.

A mural of Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

 Photograph: Yuri Kochetkov/EPA

This campaign was led by Sefton Delmer, who as head of special operations for the Political Warfare Executive, created dozens of radio stations, newspapers leaflets and rumours, all intended to break the spell cast by Hitler’s propaganda by fair means or foul. He employed stars from the German cabaret scene, soldiers, surrealist artists, psychiatrists, forgers, spies and dissidents from across occupied Europe. Ian Fleming and Muriel Spark lent their talents to Delmer’s operations. According to declassified UK government files, which have been unearthed and organised by the historian and archivist Lee Richards, around 40% of German soldiers tuned into Delmer’s stations. The SS Obergruppenführer of Munich complained that Delmer’s stations were among the top three in the city and were causing complete havoc. Goebbels was dismayed by how effective they were.


Delmer’s interest, however, went beyond the uniquely nasty realm of nazism. He saw the same patterns at play throughout Germany in the 20th century as well as in Britain during the first world war. And his wartime work has many lessons for us today.
Propaganda is successful when it gives people a satisfying part to play: someone to be, to love and hate

The son of an Australian literature professor at Berlin University, Delmer grew up in Germany and spoke the language fluently. Australia was a dominion of the British Empire at the time, and Delmer was seen, and wanted to see himself, as British. He was 10 years old when the first world war broke out, and was bullied for being an enemy schoolchild. When he came to England in 1917, he was bullied for seeming too German, a consequence of what he described as “our British way of working up to a real crescendo of hate and fury towards the end of the war”. He would learn to play the perfect English schoolboy. But reading his memoirs I felt this bicultural childhood left him with the sense that all social roles are exactly that: roles that are there to be performed. Propaganda is successful when it gives people a satisfying part to play: someone to be, to love and hate. It also left him with an awareness of how deeply we all need to belong to a group – Delmer had found it painful to be an outsider, seen as not properly British. Until the end of his life he would remain an imperial nostalgist, performing an almost caricatured version of the Britishness he longed to be part of as a child.

It was the performative aspect of propaganda, and the simultaneous need to belong, that struck him when he observed Hitler’s success. In the 1920s, Delmer became a star reporter for the Daily Express in Berlin. He gained behind-the-scenes access on Hitler’s election flights around Germany, where adoring crowds saluted the führer. Hitler gave people the sense of being part of a huge mass, a Volk, which appealed to many after the confusing changes of the early 20th century, when the old social order had been upended. He also gave people roles to play when the old ones had vanished: in the confusing cabaret of Weimar Germany, where identities were in flux, you knew who you were when you became a Nazi party member or an SS man. These roles were emotionally satisfying: they allowed people to submit to a strong leader, and feel strong and superior through him; they also allowed them to feel the victim, which in turn legitimised anger and cruelty to others. Some psychoanalysts who observed the rallies believed these grievance narratives gave people the chance to blame external forces for all the things they didn’t like about themselves. Orators like Hitler make us feel we can crush the voice inside of us that tells us we are not good enough, by projecting it on to others.

Sefton Delmer broadcasts to Germany in 1941. 

Photograph: Kurt Hutton/Getty Images

Today’s propagandists play on the same needs. In a time of rapid economic, social and technological change it can be comforting to be part of a large, angry crowd. Online conspiracy theory communities are particularly effective at pulling together a sense of being part of a group with a secret knowledge and mission. Such media also give people a role to play in a confusing world: as a Proud Boy or a “patriot” storming the Capitol. Social media, where you are encouraged to label who you are, only exacerbates this performance. Meanwhile the allure of “strongmen” has never gone away. Whether you buy into the psychoanalytic theories, the grievance narratives work – from Trump’s crusade to Make America Great Again to Putin promising to get Russia back off its knees.

When the second world war was declared, Delmer was dismayed by Britain’s efforts to counter Nazi propaganda. He felt that the BBC German Service was simply preaching to converted anti-Nazis. So was the other German language station the British ran, the Station of the European Revolution, which still held out hope for a democratic uprising in Germany. Much like media across the world today, which see themselves as supporting democracy and liberal values, these stations were trapped in what we sometimes label an echo chamber of like-minded people

.
Delmer wanted to alienate people from Nazi propaganda by pushing Nazi propaganda ‘one step further into the ridiculous’

Delmer wanted to break through and engage audiences that had come under the sway of the Nazis, and find the cracks that split them from the party. His first effort claimed to be a pirate radio station, hosted by a foul-mouthed German officer known simply as Der Chef. This racist patriot spewed stories about the scurrilous activities of Nazi officials, ranting about their sadomasochistic orgies. This pornography helped lure in listeners and broke taboos about insulting Nazi officials. In a more subtle way, it dramatised and mocked how nazism tapped into the psychological allure of submission and domination.

Rather than produce moral and “rational” media, Delmer wanted to undermine the Nazi’s monopoly over people’s strongest, most violent urges. Then he turned the propaganda back on to the Nazis: “Our stories were peopled with Burgomasters, District Leaders, Local group leaders,” he explained. “We spread over them a slime of obloquy as foul as that which they themselves had spread over the Jews.”

Delmer’s aim was not to replace one violent movement with another. Instead, he wanted to alienate people from Nazi propaganda by, as he explained to the king when he presented his work, pushing Nazi propaganda “one step further into the ridiculous”. This wasn’t quite satire – people were meant to believe Der Chef was a genuine soldier hiding somewhere inside German-held territory. And satire doesn’t always do much to undermine the hold a leader has on his followers: satirists who mock Trump or Brexit might make their own audiences feel good but don’t necessarily reach the other side.

Delmer understood the need to engage people around their own interests rather than what you might like them to care about, and this is a lesson Ukrainian info warriors have been learning in their war with Russia. Ukraine is full of advertisers and hackers, activists and journalists all trying to reach Russian audiences.

They buy ads on Russian pornography sites and bootleg movie portals or use cold calling software more familiar from marketing campaigns. Early on they found that “moral” content didn’t take off. When they made mass telephone calls to Russians, they found that some 80% would hang up during the first 20 seconds if the calls were about war crimes, but only 30% hung up when the call focused on their personal interests, such as a special tax they had to pay to support Russia’s newly occupied lands.

But though Delmer’s first station was a success, with some sources in Europe even claiming it was the most listened-to station in Germany, it didn’t take long for the Nazis to work out that it was the British who were behind it. They began calling it out publicly, using it as an example of how dastardly the British propaganda was. Indeed, here is one (of many) negative lessons from Delmer’s work. Then, as now, creating “sock puppet” media – media that pretend to be one thing but are actually another – can backfire.
People are most susceptible to conspiracy theories when they don’t feel they have any agency or influence over their lives

As he expanded his war work, Delmer changed tactics. When he launched his most ambitious station, the Soldatensender Calais, it was still dressed up as if it were a native German military station, combining broadcasts of speeches by Nazi leaders with music and the latest news and gossip from the front that demonstrated all the lies and inequalities soldiers faced. But the aim was no longer to dupe the listener into believing this was a Nazi station – this time the audience was meant to be in on the act. As Peter Wykeham, a colleague of Delmer’s, explained, this station would “(i) afford our German customers an excuse if caught listening, (ii) enable them to justify this dubious activity to themselves”. Yet even though German listeners knew perfectly well the British were behind the station, they listened to it and trusted it. Often today we lament that people only trust the media that represent their social tribe. So how did Delmer pull it off?

Delmer used every research tool at his disposal to understand his audience’s world. Partisan groups in France provided the latest scores from military football matches and information on the cars officers drove. Secret microphones installed in PoW camps picked up on the soldiers’ latest slang and complaints about their higher-ups. A special storage space had to be constructed for the volumes of notes held by Delmer’s archivist, the former leader of the Social Democrats in the Saar region, Max Braun. Delmer’s team had early knowledge of when the RAF would strike a German town so they could warn soldiers if the street their loved ones lived on had been hit and remind them of their right to take leave and help relatives caught under bombardment.

Trump supporters in Washington, following the 2020 US presidential election … ‘Thirty percent of Americans claim, despite all the evidence to the ­contrary, that the last presidential elections were “rigged”.’

 Photograph: Shawn Thew/EPA


Today it is so much easier to understand what people care about, even in closed societies. You can look at open-source research into corrupt procurement by local government, do sentiment analysis of social media, or use secure messaging apps that allow you to talk directly to people even in the most dangerous areas. The key is always to understand people’s conditions, and be useful to them. Delmer never talked down or lectured – instead he understood the gripes of the soldiers and made them feel part of a community that looked after their interests better than the Nazis.

But just as important as what was broadcast was the experience of tuning in. Here was a radio programme pretending to be Nazi, which understood that its listeners knew that it wasn’t, and whose listeners tuned in because they needed the emotional and physical safety of play acting as if they thought it might be Nazi after all. If the principle of Goebbels’ propaganda was to try to entrance you, to dissolve you into the loud, angry crowd, then here was media that required you to make a series of autonomous, conscious steps to engage. Delmer’s other media, such as his leaflets to help you feign illness and defect from the front, were also designed for people to take control and be more active. He encouraged people to invent roles for themselves rather than play the ones forced on them by Nazi propaganda.

How people think and act can be just as important as what they think when undermining the most malign propaganda. People are most susceptible to conspiracy theories, for example, when they don’t feel they have any agency or influence over their lives and rely on conspiracies to explain the world. Many are drawn to “strongmen” when they feel they can’t take back control over their lives. The real antidote to this is not plying them with facts. It’s helping to fix the underlying lack of agency.

So what can we draw from the strange, contradictory experience of Delmer’s deeds and misdeeds? Dictators and propagandists inside democracies use hate-spreading troll farms and conspiracy-spewing cable news; target audiences according to their deepest grievances and encourage cruelty. To compete we need to develop a new generation of democratic media with the same focus, but with different values. This needs to be done at scale.

First, such media has to match the emotional power of authoritarians. Counter-propagandists need their own visceral dramas, YouTubers and the whole spectrum of today’s channels.

They don’t need to hide their provenance like Der Chef, though they may have to give people the necessary “cover” to watch safely if in a dangerous dictatorship. But they do need to delve into the operating theatre of our darkest desires. Think of the difference between the cult leader and the therapist. Both dig into people’s unspoken fears and needs. The cult leader, like the authoritarian propagandist, uses that insight to make people dependent on their power. The therapist helps them to become more empowered and self-aware.


Second, we need to be much more attuned to the needs of audiences – think of media less as dispensing information and more as a social service. We are, by the looks of it, going to be in a long struggle with Russia. Now is the time to start investing in media that engage the parts of society that are critical to their war effort: workers in munitions factories or, most obviously, soldiers. It’s much easier than in Delmer’s time to obtain evidence of what they care about. Last month there was, for example, a large leak of documents from Russia’s military that showed how the leadership lies about losses on the front. The aim is not to make these people, who are often involved in war crimes, “good” – it’s to help win the war by getting them to disobey their orders.

Third, such media need to nurture a sense of community, especially in polarised democracies where there is still a chance of displacing malign propaganda before it reaches total dominance, and where there are audiences up for grabs. Instead of experiencing power through a strongman, this community needs to empower people to act for themselves. There are many small initiatives that already pioneer this. Hearken, for example, is an online platform where users can help media choose which topics they should focus on, taking power away from aloof editors and grounding it in local needs. vTaiwan is another platform whose algorithm helps people find solutions to polarising issues by identifying common ground on which to build policies. Such examples are tiny and experimental, and need to be scaled massively.

Sefton Delmer had as many bad lessons for us as good. But the most fundamental one is related to his sense that all social roles are somehow performed. We have a choice. We can either play the role prescribed by propagandists – which makes us dependent on them. Or we can invent media that welcome people into a relationship where they become active players.

You can’t shove “the truth” down people’s throats if they don’t want to hear it, but you can inspire them to have the motivation to care about facts in the first place.

How to Win an Information War: The Propagandist Who Outwitted Hitler will be published by Faber on 7 March. To support the Guardian and Observer, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.

Scientists reveal secrets of Earth's magnificent desert star dunes

By Will Dunham

March 4, 2024




View of the Lala Lallia star dune of the Sahara Desert, in Erg Chebbi, Morocco, as seen in an undated handout image from 2008 and obtained by Reuters on March 1, 2024. Charlie Bristow/Handout via REUTERS

March 4 (Reuters) - They are among the wonders of our deserts: star dunes, the vaguely pyramid-shaped sand formations up to about 1,000 feet (300 meters) tall with arms stretching out from a central peak to give them a star-like appearance when viewed from above.

Scientists on Monday unveiled the first in-depth study of a star dune, revealing the internal structure of these geological features and showing how long it took for one of them to form - more quickly than expected but still a process unfolding over many centuries.

The study focused upon a star dune in eastern Morocco called Lala Lallia, meaning "highest sacred point" in the local Berber language, situated within the Sahara Desert in a small sand sea called Erg Chebbi about 3 miles (5 km) from the town of Merzouga, close to the border with Algeria.

Lala Lallia rises about 330 feet (100 meters) above the surrounding dunes and is approximately 2,300 feet (700 meters) wide, containing about 5-1/2 million metric tons of sand.

The researchers used ground-penetrating radar to peer inside the dune and employed luminescence dating to determine how long Lala Lallia has taken to form, a method based on the amount of energy trapped inside the grains of sand. The answer: about 900 years, accumulating roughly 6,400 metric tons annually as wind relentlessly blows sand through the desert.

Star dunes make up just under 10% of the dunes in Earth's deserts and are the tallest ones, surpassing other types such as crescent-shaped barchan dunes and straight and lengthy linear dunes. They also have been spotted on Mars and on Saturn's large moon Titan.

"I first encountered star dunes in Namibia 20 years ago, and was instantly amazed at the size of them. I have a vivid memory of the long climb to the top, struggling up very loose sand in the heat of the day," said geographer Geoff Duller of Aberystwyth University in Wales, co-author of the study published in the journal Scientific Reports, opens new tab.

"I find desert dunes very beautiful," Duller added. "The sight of the sinuous curves, and the way that the light and shadow changes with the sun mean that they always look different, whether that is in the cool of the morning, the midday sun or near sunset. The different colours of sand in different deserts are also very striking, with yellow, white, red and even black dunes in different parts of the world."

The ground-penetrating radar revealed the layers within the Lala Lallia dune, showing how it was constructed over time through accumulating sand and how parts of its internal structure resembled other types of dunes.

"Star dunes are formed in areas with complex wind regimes, which means winds blowing from different directions, and net sand accumulation, points within the desert where big piles of sand can be blown around to form giant dunes," said Birkbeck University of London sedimentologist and study co-author Charlie Bristow.

The researchers also determined that Lala Lallia is moving westerly at a speed of about 1.6 feet (0.5 meters) annually.

While many star dunes are known today, only a single ancient one has been found preserved as sandstone in the geological record, dating to about 250 million years ago, in Scotland. By revealing their internal structure, the researchers said their findings provide a guide for geologists to identify more sandstone remnants of ancient star dunes.

Earth's largest star dunes are found in the Badain Jaran desert in western China. Star dunes also are found in places including the Namib Sand Sea in Namibia, large sand seas in Algeria such as the Grand Erg Oriental and Grand Erg Occidental, and Rub' al Khali in Saudi Arabia. In North America, Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado contains a series of them.

"They form extraordinary and awe-inspiring landscapes," Bristow said. "From the ground they can be intimidating, mobile mountains of sand."


Reporting by Will Dunham in Washington, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien

America's dirty divide Arizona

‘We are the guinea pigs’: Arizona mining project sparks concerns for air and water

South32’s project was fast-tracked by the Biden administration, but residents are worried about its impact on a fragile ecosystem


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Leanna First-Arai

Mon 4 Mar 2024 

Growing up on the US-Mexico border, Denise Moreno Ramírez loved to escape the desert heat by hiking the sycamore-speckled mountains near her home in Arizona. These isolated mountains – known as the Sky Islands – provide a crucial habitat for native plants and animals, but also played a special role in Moreno Ramírez’s family history: like many in the area with Indigenous Yaqui or Mayo origins, her ancestors once mined the mountains for precious metals.

Moreno Ramírez’s great-grandfather, Alberto Moreno, dug for copper when he first came to Arizona from Mexico in the early 1900s. He found that the mining industry powered the state economy and put food on his table; eventually his son – Moreno Ramírez’s grandfather – followed suit and worked in the mines, too.

So Moreno Ramírez wasn’t surprised when she heard an Australian mining company, South32, planned to open a manganese, zinc, lead and silver operation in the same area where her family had worked.

“We from the US-Mexico border are used to this,” she said, describing how the region, brimming with biodiversity, attracts the boom and bust of extractive industries.
The Patagonia mountains are the heart of the Sky Islands. If those mountains go, a lot of other things are going to goMoreno Ramírez of the University of Arizona

But this latest proposed mine was alarming, she said, because Biden is fast-tracking it in the name of the energy transition – potentially compromising the mountain’s delicate ecosystems, many of which have begun to be restored as mines have shut down. “The Patagonia mountains are the heart of the Sky Islands. If those mountains go, a lot of other things are going to go, period,” said Moreno Ramírez, an environmental scientist and postdoctoral fellow at the University of Arizona.

A growing network of Arizona residents say that allowing the mine to proceed as planned could introduce a grave new layer of environmental injustices.

The grasslands, woodlands, swamps and prairies of south-east Arizona’s Sky Islands are home to more than 100 species of large mammals: the greatest number north of Mexico. Residents from the borderlands area have long dealt with the health impacts of pollution linked with earlier industrial activity, including mining – from lupus to cancer. And in spite of it all, they have managed to preserve a patch of one of the most biodiverse, and imperiled, ecosystems in the world.

“Biodiversity is the foundation of a lot of our health. The western perspective has made it so that we’re very disconnected from that reality,” said Moreno Ramírez. “But the fact is that we do not have technological tools that will compensate.”
No existing standards

The lithium boom has received the bulk of attention amid calls to electrify everything – but another mineral, manganese, has been earmarked by the US as a critical element to ramp up the production of electric vehicle batteries.

Manganese hasn’t been mined in the US since 1973. Amid an expected surge in new demand, the mine proposed in south-east Arizona appears to be the crown jewel in the Biden administration’s ambitions to introduce domestic supply of the mineral, which is abundant in the US south-west. The project received expedited status under Fast-41, a 2015 program that coordinates the environmental review process for infrastructure investments over $200m, many of them clean energy projects.

But experts say state and federal environmental standards around manganese are lagging. Overexposure to the chemical when airborne can cause Parkinson’s-like symptoms: from tremors and stiffness to depression. Air quality standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) do not include any limit for manganese, though the agency suggests that adverse health effects may begin at .05mg per cubic meter. The state of Arizona has no legal standard either.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) sets the limit at 5mg per cubic meter, recommending that workers not exceed 3mg per cubic meter during any five-minute work period. But a study led by Brad Racette, a leading researcher on clinical manganese exposure, suggests manganese can cause adverse health effects at exponentially lower levels.

We do not know the level at which manganese exposure is safe

Researcher Brad Racette

When Racette’s team studied more than 600 residents living adjacent to a manganese smelter in South Africa, they found Parkinson’s-like motor symptoms in residents living with .00075-.0026mg per cubic meter of ambient manganese.

“Since we do not know the level at which manganese exposure is safe, it is critical that every effort be made to keep occupational and environmental exposures as low as possible,” Racette said, noting that his primary concerns over the south-east Arizona mine is the safety of workers and unexpected aquifer contamination.

There are other risks associated with mining in this region of Arizona, according to experts. Extraction can liberate additional neurotoxic and endocrine-disrupting metals such as lead and zinc, which are both embedded in the deposits South32 is seeking to mine, said C Loren Buck, a biology professor at Northern Arizona University.

Buck’s research shows that manganese and other toxic metal dust can travel in the air for at least a radius of 20km (12.5 miles), affecting people and wildlife in that vicinity.

A northern cardinal and a gila woodpecker in Santa Cruz county, Arizona. 

Photograph: Rick & Nora Bowers/Alamy

A spokesperson for South32 said the company uses “conservative occupational exposure standards and community guidance values for manganese”, though they did not further specify which standard.

South32 is the largest producer of manganese globally, with mines in South Africa and Australia. There is no specific mention of manganese dust limits in the 185-page draft air-quality permit South32 submitted, which has residents worried. A representative of the Arizona department of environmental quality noted that while there is no manganese standard to apply in the permit, any manganese air emissions from the South32 facility “will be entrained in particulate matter for which the draft permit does include requirements”.

Like Racette, Moreno Ramírez worries about workers in her home town. She says the South32 mining and processing jobs are likely to be appealing, especially to working-class people. She characterizes the current opportunities for those without a college education as: produce, police or border patrol. Her research on exposure at Arizona superfund sites suggests that, as with prior environmental injustices, disparities in mining-related exposure in Santa Cruz county is slated to occur disproportionately along race and class lines.

“The workers that are actually doing the hard mining who are more than likely to have impacts to their health are more than likely going to be the people in my community,” she said.

‘Dewatering’ the mountain

Residents like Carolyn Schafer are also worried about the mine further polluting the region’s streams, rivers, lakes and aquifers. Schafer has been working with the Patagonia Area Resource Alliance (Para), an Arizona-based environmental watchdog, for over a decade.

You wonder where all [the water] is gonna go, and what’s going to happen to the mountain

Robert Proctor of Friends of Sonoita Creek

The communities around the proposed manganese mine are already at an elevated risk of exposure to downstream water pollution. According to the EPA’s environmental justice screening tool, census tracts in the surrounding 12 miles (20km) are in the 40th to 89th percentile for wastewater discharge.

Conservationists say they worry that South32 is seeking to use water irresponsibly amid long-term drought. According to a draft permit, the company would discharge up to 6.48m gallons (24.5m liters) a day of “treated mine drainage water, tailings seepage, groundwater, core cutting water, drilling water, and stormwater” into Harshaw Creek, in the Santa Cruz watershed.

Pumping out groundwater to clear the way for extraction, known as “dewatering”, is of concern given Arizona’s overall susceptibility to the impacts of the climate crisis.

While much of Arizona is arid and deals with crippling drought, the Patagonia mountains are lush with vegetation that rely on underground sources. Dewatering is likely to worsen extremities: the dramatic absence of water in some places, and excess in others, said Robert Proctor, director of the local conservation group Friends of Sonoita Creek.

“You wonder where all [the water] is gonna go, and what’s going to happen to the mountain,” Proctor said, noting that the creeks he used to play in here have all dried up since he was a child. “It’s a mess.”

Grassroots groups, including Para, are pursuing legal actions, including appealing two water permits issued by the Arizona department of environmental quality, one of which allows the company to discharge into a stream already found by the agency itself to be impaired with metals, including lead. They’ve also sued the US Forest Service for failing to take into account the cumulative effects of South32’s exploratory drilling at another nearby site, including the impact that proposed 24/7 activity would have on endangered species like jaguars and ocelots.

“If you’re going to force mining on us in what is a global biodiversity hotspot, it must also be mitigated to the highest science possible and monitored on an ongoing basis,” said Schafer.

A moment to restructure?

Alida Cantor is an associate professor of geography at Portland State University who studies emerging conflicts over decarbonization. She said that communities should have the right to reject a project they deem too harmful.

Cantor argues there is much room for energy transition projects to be completed equitably, such as through community ownership and rigorous community benefit agreements. The energy transition is also a moment to restructure, she said, including through policies that expand public transit and decrease dependence on private vehicles, rather than encourage the one-to-one replacement of gas-powered cars with electric ones. Modeling has shown such alternatives to hold great potential to lower the demand for critical minerals.

“We need to rethink this dynamic – we can’t just keep sacrificing local communities in the name of energy security or decarbonization,” Cantor said.

The South32 proposal, as the first mining project to be granted Fast-41 approval, will in many ways set a precedent for energy transition projects. Advocates remain hopeful that such development can occur at the speed and scale needed to address the climate crisis, without creating other outsized social and environmental problems along the way. But much remains to be seen in Arizona; last month, South32 announced an investment of over $2bn into the development of a separate deposit in the Patagonia mountains, signaling the company’s plans to mine zinc are moving forward.

“We are the guinea pigs in the whole country on this,” Schafer said.

WORKERS CAPITAL

Swiss voters reject rising retirement age but approve extra pay for pensioners

Online News EditorMarch 3, 2024

Geneva, Mar 3 (EFE) – In a day of national and local referendums, Swiss voters on Sunday rejected a one-year delay in the retirement age, currently set at 65, but approved a 13th month’s pay a year for pensioners.

With one hundred percent of the votes counted in the 26 cantons, the “no” to retirement at 66 received a clear majority of 74.72%, while the “yes” to a 13th salary for pensioners won with 58.24% support.

The Swiss government and parliament had encouraged a “no” vote in both referendums, arguing that both would affect the Swiss pension system known as AHV (Old Age and Survivors Insurance), which currently benefits 2.5 million people in a nation of nearly 9 million.

With a “yes” vote, the maximum AHV income for a pensioner living on his or her own will rise to US$36,100 a year, and to US$54,100 for a couple of retirement age.

The government estimates that this increase in the retirement pension will cost the public purse almost US$4.6 billion per year and that with the progressive aging of the Swiss population, the additional cost could exceed US$5.6 billion per year in the future.

Proponents of the 13th salary had argued that it was necessary at a time of rising costs for the average Swiss citizen, due to inflation and increases in certain taxes.

The consultation on raising the retirement age to 66 would not only have set this new retirement age from 2033 but would have linked it from then on to average life expectancy.

Thus, if life expectancy in Switzerland increased, as it has in recent decades, the retirement age would also be postponed, albeit by a maximum of two months per year.

The age increase, according to its supporters, would have reduced the cost of the pension system by US$2.3 billion, but the government and parliament advised against the idea of linking pensions to life expectancy, considering it an overly rigid mathematical formula.

In 2022, the Swiss already voted in another referendum to equalize the retirement age for men and women at 65 starting in 2028 (previously it was 64 for women), which should already mean some relief for the Swiss pension fund.

Switzerland introduced the AHV retirement system into its constitution almost a century ago, in 1925, although the first pensions for retirees in the Central European country did not arrive until 1948.

In addition to these two national referenda, several local referendums were held on Sunday, including Geneva’s vote to elevate the French-Provençal song “Cé qu’è lainô” to the cantonal anthem, and the vote in the Alpine canton of Valais not to adopt a new local constitution, keeping the one from 1907. EFE abc/ics

Swiss vote to give themselves a bigger pension

By Imogen Foulkes

BBC News, Geneva
A

Supporters of the extra pension across the country - like in this photo from Bern - celebrated the referendum's results

Swiss voters have given themselves an extra month's pension each year - in a nationwide referendum focusing on living standards for the elderly.

The government had warned that the increased payments would be too expensive to afford.

But almost 60% of voters said 'yes' in Sunday's poll. Separately, 75% rejected raising the pension age from 65 to 66.

The maximum monthly state pension is €2,550 (£2,180; $2,760) - not enough, many say, to live on in Switzerland.

The cost of living in Switzerland, particularly in cities such as Zurich and Geneva, is among the highest in the world.

Health insurance premiums, which are obligatory for everyone, have been rising fast, and older people sometimes struggle to pay them.

Women who may have had work breaks to raise a family, and immigrants recruited decades ago to work in Swiss factories, restaurants, or hospitals, can find it particularly difficult to make ends meet

More and more people are working into their 70s not out of choice, but out of necessity. Meanwhile among the younger generation, work related stress and burnout are increasing.

The proposal to increase pensions came from the trades unions - but was opposed by the Swiss government, parliament, and business leaders, who argued it was unaffordable.

Voters in Switzerland often take their government's advice about money matters: a few years ago they actually rejected an extra week's holiday a year.

This time they said enough was enough, using the power that Switzerland's system of direct democracy gives them to vote themselves an extra month's pension each year.

The initiative also secured the required double-majority: getting the popular vote, and also majorities in most of the country's 26 cantons.

The result was described as a "historic victory for retirees" by Avivo, a Swiss association that defends the rights of current and future pensioners.

The move brings the state pension into line with Switzerland's salary system, which is also paid in 13 instalments, meaning workers get a double payment in November.


The system was originally designed to help people ahead of Christmas, and the annual tax bill. As Swiss retirees pointed out, pensions were taxed too, and Christmas fun did not stop at 65.

In a further sign the Swiss are keen that life should not be all work and no play, they also overwhelmingly rejected raising the retirement age.

These votes would, the government said repeatedly, have to be paid for.

Voters, though, looking at Switzerland booming economy, whose success is in large part thanks to their hard work, clearly believe their country can afford it.

Swedish pension fund Alecta's chairperson resigns after a week

ReutersMarch 3, 2024

Svenska Handels  banken CEO Carina Akerstrom arrives for a news conference to present the company's third quarter res
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STOCKHOLM, March 3 (Reuters) - Alecta's chairperson Carina Akerstrom has resigned only a week after she started in the position, the Swedish pension fund said on Sunday, adding it had reinstated its former interim chair.

Alecta said it would reinstate Jan-Olof Jacke, who was appointed Alecta's interim chairperson in November 2023 when its former chair resigned.

"It is regrettable that Carina Akerstrom has changed her assessment of her ability to fulfill her assignment as Chairman of the Board of Alecta and has chosen to resign," said Kenneth Bengtsson, chair of the nomination committee.

Alecta, which is Sweden's largest pension fund, did not give a reason for Akerstrom's resignation, but said that in its view there had been no conflicts of interest that could not be handled in the usual way.

Akerstrom did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

This is the second proposed chairperson that has not panned out after the nomination committee in January had to withdraw its proposal for former Danish central bank chief Lars Rohde due to a conflict of interest concern.

The committee said it had learned that Rohde was planning to take up another board post at a different firm, and would instead nominate Akerstrom.

Before starting her post as chairperson in Alecta, Akerstrom was the chief executive at Svenska Handelsbanken (SHBa.ST), opens new tab, where she stepped down last year.
Alecta has in the past year been the subject of two ongoing probes by the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA) over risk taking.

The pension fund has been criticised for its large investment into the heavily indebted property group Heimstaden Bostad as well as its investments into failed banks First Republic, Silicon Valley and Signature in the United States.

UK Pensioners set to be hit by Chancellor's stealth tax raid

By PATRICK TOOHER, 3 March 2024

Tax grab: Chancellor Jeremy Hunt

Millions of pensioners will be forced to fill in an annual HMRC return for the first time within three years due to the Chancellor's multi-billion stealth tax raid, according to an analysis by The Mail on Sunday.

Older people are likely to be dragged into the tax net even if they have no income other than a full state pension.

This is due to so-called 'fiscal drag'. Jeremy Hunt has frozen personal allowances and thresholds for several years, pulling more people into the tax net and higher rate bands.

Due to higher-than-expected inflation, this has resulted in a far bigger haul than anticipated.

The number of pensioners who have been caught in the income tax net is already set to hit a record 8.5 million this year – up from 4.5 million in 2010.

The Chancellor is expected in this week's Budget to keep the personal allowance – the point at which people start paying income tax – pegged at £12,570 until 2028.


He is also committed to the 'triple lock', which guarantees that the state pension will rise each April in line with the highest of either the previous September's inflation rate, earnings growth or a rate of 2.5 per cent.

The full pension rises next month in line with inflation of 8.5 per cent to £11,501 a year. Price rises have since slowed to 4 per cent and wage growth to 6 per cent.

But even if earnings growth fell to 5 per cent a year, our analysis shows the state pension would exceed the personal allowance in 2027, triggering a 20 per cent tax charge on the difference.

That would also mean millions of unsuspecting pensioners facing the daunting prospect of filling out an annual tax return – even for a tiny amount owed – or being fined if they miss the deadline.

Jason Hollands of wealth manager Evelyn Partners said while pension rises were welcome, if pensioners' incomes were dragged into the tax system they could end up worse off in real terms.

When the freezes were introduced by Rishi Sunak as Chancellor in 2022 they were expected to raise £8 billion. Now the figure is £43 billion by 2027-28.

The Office for Budget Responsibility says frozen thresholds are the biggest contributor to the rising tax burden on the economy. This will be at a post-war high of 37.7 per cent of output by 2028, it estimates.

The stealth raid is, however, vital to Hunt meeting his goal for debt to fall as a percentage of economic output by that time.

Pushpin Singh at the Centre for Economics and Business Research said unfreezing allowances in the Budget would hit public finances by more than £50 billion but this could be clawed back via efficiency savings.

Jeremy Hunt piles pressure on pension funds to back British firms in fresh City shake-up

BY:CHARLIE CONCHIE
MARCH 3, 2024

Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt has revealed fresh plans to get pension money flowing into the stock market.

Pension funds will be forced to reveal how much of their cash is invested in UK companies and poorly performing schemes will be blocked from taking on new business, in a bid to get retirement money flowing into the economy, Jeremy Hunt has announced,

In an announcement today ahead of the budget next week, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said pension money managers would be made to publicly disclose how much they invest in UK businesses compared to how much of their cash is flowing overseas.

Schemes delivering lacklustre returns for savers will also be blocked from taking on new business from employers as part of a push to consolidate the UK’s sprawling pension market.

The fresh plans follow a package of measures announced by Hunt at Mansion House last summer designed to get retirement money invested into start-ups, triggered by fears that foreign pension funds are investing more in UK firms than domestic funds.

“British pension funds appear to contribute less to the UK economy than international counterparts do as they invest less in our domestic businesses,” Hunt said in a statement today. “These requirements will help focus minds on how to improve overall returns and outcomes for savers.”

Under the plans, defined contributions pension funds will have to disclose their levels of investment in British businesses as well as costs and net investment returns by 2027.

Funds will also be required to publicly compare their performance data against similar schemes, including at least two schemes managing at least £10bn in assets, Hunt said.

The benchmarking of schemes signals a push from the government to consolidate more pension money in bigger funds, akin to Canadian and Australian superannuation funds. Regulators will also be given powers to intervene in those underperforming the market, the government said.

“Schemes performing poorly for savers won’t be allowed to take on new business from employers, with The Pensions Regulator (TPR) and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) having a full range of intervention powers,” the Treasury said in its announcement.

City figures have been leading calls for greater investment from homegrown start-ups amid fears over the health of London’s public markets and a drop-off in domestic equity investment from pension funds in recent years.

Accounting rule changes in 2000 required firms to disclose the deficits of their pension schemes as financial liabilities in their accounts, triggering a major move toward safer bond holdings.

Now just four per cent of the UK stock market is held by pension funds, down from 39 per cent in 2000, according to a new report from think tank New Financial.

Hunt’s fresh reforms were welcomed by City grandees today, with London Stock Exchange chief Julia Hogget saying pension holders “should know how much is being invested in equities in their home market.”

“Investing in UK companies ultimately benefits those companies and the returns they are delivering, which supports the economy and the country in which pension holders live, to everyone’s benefit and in everyone’s interest,” she added.

James Ashton, Quoted Companies Alliance chief executive, said there was “huge upside to aligning the UK’s financial assets with innovative homegrown ventures that could be tomorrow’s world beaters”.

UK

STATIST ISLAMAPHOBIA

Jeremy Hunt clashes with Sky News host as he's asked to name groups behind 'intimidatory' protests

Mr Hunt chose not to provide details regarding the specific groups in question and chastised Mr Phillips for 'not listening'

By  Nicole Wootton-Cane Senior reporter
Sophie Huskisson 

3 MAR 2024

Jeremy Hunt clashed with Trevor Phillips on Sky News (Image: No credit)

Jeremy Hunt clashed with Sky News host Trevor Phillips during a live TV show after being asked to clarify the "very intimidatory protests" he claimed to have recently seen.

Host Trevor Phillips quizzed the Chancellor about Rishi Sunak's talk on extremism last Friday, where he said "our streets have been hijacked by small groups who are hostile to our values and have no respect for our democratic traditions".

In a heated exchange, Mr Hunt chose not to provide details regarding the specific groups in question and chastised Mr Phillips for "not listening", reports The Mirror Online.

When asked if he could identify an group not yet banned that required banning due to their behaviour at pro-Palestine rallies, Mr Hunt responded: "I'm not going to go into those details. That's a matter for the Home Secretary."

He continued, "What I can tell you is that the vast majority of British Muslims want to protest peacefully and within the law, and they have every right to do so. But we have seen examples of very intimidatory protests that have made other people feel unsafe. That is not the British way."

Mr Phillips came back with: "Forgive me Chancellor, this is a very important point. Part of the British way is to be straight. When you say we've seen these protests and these people, which people are we talking about? Who are you talking about?"

Mr Hunt then said he was "talking about the scenes I've seen on television" and talked about emails from Jewish people "who are absolutely terrified to go out of their houses, because of some of the behaviour of a small minority". When asked to name specific groups he saw on TV, the Cabinet Minister admitted: "I don't know the names of people I see on television."

Jeremy Hunt will present his budget next week (Image: PA)

He also stated, "What I'm also saying is the vast majority of people at these protests want to do so peacefully and within the law, and we absolutely respect their right to do so. But when lines are being crossed, we need to call it out and we need to be active in calling out extremism for what it is."

Mr Phillips pushed back, asking again which groups he meant, saying: "When you heard the Prime Minister speak of these anonymous forces, or groups or organisations, it leaves people assuming that you must mean either anyone who's been on one of these marches, or anyone who happens to profess the Muslim faith."

An exasperated Mr Hunt responded: "With the greatest respect and I really enjoy being interviewed with you but it does feel to me like you actually weren't listening to what I just said."

In an interview, a speaker clarified his remark saying, "Because what I just said was that the vast majority of people are protesting peacefully. I did not say these people who aren't doing that are anonymous. I said, I just happened to not know their names because I look at someone on television and I don't know their name. So I think I've answered your question with the greatest respect."

Mr Hunt, in his talk to Sky News' Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips programme, shed light on his plans for Wednesday's Budget: "It is going to be a prudent and responsible budget for long-term growth."

He shared his viewpoint about tax cuts saying, "When it comes to tax cuts, I do believe that if you look around the world, countries with lower tax tend to grow faster - North America, Asia - and so I do think in the long run we need to move back to being a lower taxed, more lightly regulated economy."

He added: "It would be deeply unconservative to cut taxes in a way that increased borrowing, wasn't fully funded. If I think of the great tax-cutting budgets of the past, Nigel Lawson's budget in 1988 - the reason that was so significant is because those tax cuts were permanent. People need to know that these are tax cuts you can really afford, so it will be responsible and everything I do will be affordable."

Cultivated meat producer Eat Just pauses operations in Singapore

Eat Just’s facility in Bedok Food City was shuttered when The Straits Times visited it on Feb 29. 

ST PHOTO: SHABANA BEGUM

Chin Hui Shan and Shabana Begum

UPDATED
MAR 04, 2024

SINGAPORE – The world’s first cultivated meat product was approved for sale in Singapore in 2020 to much fanfare. But production of the cell-based meat by Californian firm Eat Just has been put on pause, The Straits Times understands.

Eat Just’s cultivated chicken products – sold under the label Good Meat – are not available at Huber’s Bistro, which was previously the only restaurant offering the novel food. The Good Meat production facility in Bedok, initially slated to open in the third quarter of 2023, is shuttered, ST checks showed.

When queried, an Eat Just spokeswoman said: “We’re evaluating various processing conditions, the unit economics, and a larger strategic approach to producing in Asia.”

Huber’s Bistro stopped offering the kebab skewers and chicken salads made with Good Meat in December 2023.

Its marketing manager said Huber’s will have the product on the menu again when supply is ready, and expects to resume its offering of the cultivated chicken “very soon”.

It had previously been selling the dishes since January 2023.

Meanwhile, Eat Just’s $61 million cultivated meat manufacturing facility in Bedok appears not to be in operation. The company held a ground-breaking event for the facility in 2022.

When ST visited Bedok Food City – the industrial premises that house the 30,000 sq ft Good Meat facility – on Feb 29, workers from other firms in the building said the US company’s two units on the ground floor are shut and were rarely opened for about six months. Boxes of air-purifying equipment sat outside one of the closed units, and benches were piled outside the other.

ST understands that a separate commercial manufacturing facility which previously produced Eat Just’s cultivated chicken products is also no longer producing for them.

Cultivated meat refers to meat products that are made from growing animal cells in a bioreactor – similar to the vats used in brewing beer – instead of slaughtering actual chickens.

This is considered to be a more sustainable meat production method as large volumes can be produced involving less land and labour.

Huber’s Butchery stopped offering cell-cultured chicken kebab skewers in December 2023. 

PHOTO: GOOD MEAT

Asked about the delay in the opening of the Bedok facility, Eat Just’s spokeswoman said there is “no firm timeline” on when it will be operational.

She added that the firm has “produced and paused and produced and paused” since it started selling the items. “We’re planning to produce at least twice as much in Singapore this year than any year before.”

Apart from cultivated meat, Eat Just’s plant-based egg business here also appears to be at a standstill.

In March 2022, Eat Just announced that it would be building a plant-protein factory in Pioneer to make items such as liquid eggs, made of mung bean protein and turmeric. At a ground-breaking ceremony then in Pioneer View, the company said the factory would be built within two years.

However, when asked about updates on the factory, the firm’s spokeswoman said on March 1: “We are not building a facility in Pioneer.”

Eat Just announced in March 2022 that it would build a plant-protein factory in Pioneer to produce items such as liquid eggs. 

PHOTO: ST FILE

The current pause in production in Singapore comes amid overseas reports of legal and financial woes confronting the US firm.

Eat Just is in a legal dispute with a former partner over alleged unpaid invoices, news outlet Wired reported in early February.

In September 2023, Bloomberg reported that Eat Just is facing a US$100 million (S$134 million) lawsuit from its bioreactor manufacturer and that the firm had dismissed about 40 employees in a cost-cutting move.

Eat Just made international headlines in 2020 when its chicken bites became the world’s first cultivated meat product to receive regulatory approval for sale in Singapore.

Following the approval, Eat Just first sold its cultivated chicken nuggets at a members’ club in Robertson Quay known as 1880 in early 2021. It was then sold on delivery platform foodpanda and at a few hawker stalls on a limited basis.

While a potential alternative to traditionally farmed meat, cultivating meat for consumption is still in its early stages.

According to a 2021 report by management consulting firm McKinsey, the market for cultivated meat could reach US$25 billion by 2030. But the report noted that there are challenges to realising this potential, including getting consumers to trust the product, and making it affordable and on a par with the cost of conventional meat.

The high cost of the culture medium is one obstacle to the scalability of cultivated meat, said Professor William Chen, director of Nanyang Technological University’s food science and technology programme. Culture medium refers to the nutrient broth that the animal cells are immersed in so that they multiply into tissue.

Prof Chen added that it is also costly to invest in the research and development to replace bovine serum – which is conventionally used as a growth supplement – in the medium with kill-free alternatives. Foetal bovine serum comes from the blood of unborn cow foetuses, which makes it ethically controversial and expensive.

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Prof Chen also added that producing cultivated meat is highly energy-consuming, and renewable energy sources such as solar energy should be tapped to ensure it is sustainable in the long run.

Despite these challenges, he believes that the industry is in its infancy and still has potential to provide another viable meat alternative.

“These are new technologies. We should give them space to grow. There are bound to be setbacks here and there, but this is not the end of the story,” said Prof Chen.

ST has contacted the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) for comment.

Timeline

December 2020: SFA approves the sale of a cultured meat product – bite-size chicken from Eat Just – after it is deemed safe for consumption. It is the first regulatory authority in the world to approve sale of such meat.

January 2021: The cell-based chicken bites are first served in a members’ club in Robertson Quay known as 1880. Subsequently, the novel meat is sold on delivery platform foodpanda and at a few hawker stalls.

March 2022: Eat Just announces that it will build a plant-protein factory in Pioneer. Alternative protein products that would be manufactured include bottled yolk made from mung bean protein and turmeric that can be scrambled and tastes like real eggs.

June 2022: Eat Just breaks ground on its upcoming 30,000 sq ft facility – about half the size of a football field – in food industry hub Bedok Food City. It is expected to be operational by the third quarter of 2023.

December 2022: Eat Just announces that dishes made from its cultivated chicken, such as cultivated chicken kebab and fried cultivated chicken skin salad, will be offered at meat products producer and supplier Huber’s Butchery in Dempsey from January 2023. Eat Just said then it is hoping to get approval from SFA for cultivated beef in 2023.

January 2023: ST reports that Eat Just has received approval from SFA to produce serum-free cultivated meat, a move that would see its laboratory-made chicken produced more cheaply and sustainably.

June 2023: The United States approves the sale of cultured meat from Good Meat and Upside Foods to consumers, making it the second country, after Singapore, to allow cultivated meat sales.

December 2023: Huber’s Bistro in Dempsey pauses its offer of Good Meat chicken. In 2024, it told ST it is expecting to resume the offer “very soon”.

 

S Korea’s meat consumption exceeds rice intakes for second year

March 4, 2024

ANN/THE KOREA HERALD – South Koreans’ meat consumption exceeded rice intakes for a second consecutive year, a report showed on Saturday.

According to the report by the state-run Korea Rural Economic Institute, the country’s per-capita meat consumption was estimated at 60.6 kilogrammes (kg) last year, up 1.3 per cent from the previous year’s 59.8kg.

Last year’s meat consumption was higher than per-capita rice intake of 56.4kg, according to the report.

The report said the meat consumption will rise to 61.4kg in 2028 and 65.4kg in 2033.

The increase in meat consumption was attributed mainly to South Koreans’ tendency to eat out more and their Westernised tastes, it said.