Firms reaping profits from Covid crisis should be taxed UK government told

Businesses that made fortunes selling PPE during the Covid-19 crisis should be taxed to fund a £500 bonus for frontline workers who are facing burnout, a thinktank has said.

“Pandemic profiteers”, including the online retailer Amazon which saw sales soar in lockdown, should pay a 0.5% sales levy, according to the RSA, which is warning that 49% of frontline staff think they will soon burn out, including 63% of NHS staff.

The thinktank’s suggestion of a “new deal” for key workers, including a £500 thank you bonus, extended sick pay and paying the real living wage, follows the lead of the US president-elect, Joe Biden, who has promised to give workers – from hospitals to supermarkets – an emergency pay boost. Last week, the Scottish first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, announced £500 a head bonuses for Scotland’s 300,000 health and social care workers.

© Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA

 Almost a quarter of NHS staff surveyed for the RSA report said burnout was ‘very likely’.

“It’s only right that those who’ve profited from the pandemic – including online sales giants like Amazon, and those selling PPE – should help support the heroes who’ve kept us safe and fed,” said Anthony Painter, chief research officer at the RSA.

“Our survey shows key workers feel deeply let down by the government, with its approval rating falling to just three points among key workers who voted Conservative in 2019. But they feel let down by the public too, with supermarket workers especially feeling unsupported.”

Some businesses have made substantial profits selling masks, gowns and other equipment to the government as prices rose, in some cases more than tenfold. Between February and July 2020, the government spent £12.5bn on 32bn items of PPE which, if bought at pre-pandemic prices would have cost just £2.5bn.

The owner of one Gloucestershire company, Platform-14, was reportedly able to buy a £1.5m house in the Cotswolds and two other properties with the profits from contracts worth £276m.

Alex Bourne, a former neighbour of Matt Hancock was awarded about £30m-worth of work making tubes for NHS Covid-19 tests despite having had no previous experience of producing medical supplies.

Amazon’s profits globally tripled to $6.3bn(£4.7bn) in the third quarter of this year compared with the same period in 2019, thanks to the boom in online shopping during the pandemic.

Meanwhile, Rishi Sunak, UK the chancellor, last month announced a public sector pay freeze, albeit with exceptions for NHS workers. The measure will hit council workers and some care workers.

A YouGov poll of key workers carried out early last month for the RSA report found 58% of social carers thought it was “likely” or “very likely” they would burn out this winter. Almost a quarter of NHS staff said burnout was “very likely”. Women were feeling the worst effects in terms of mental health: 67% said the pandemic had made maintaining their mental health more difficult, versus 47% of men.

“It is not right that our health and security during the pandemic is built on the backs of low-paid workers who themselves lack the same protection,” said Manny Hothi, director of policy at Trust for London, an anti-poverty charity which helped fund the research.

The RSA wants the government to commit to enforcing the real living wage for all key workers – currently £9.50 outside London and £10.85 in the capital. The thinktank said 37% of social carers earn less than the real living wage.

The RSA’s chief executive, Matthew Taylor, is the government’s acting director of labour market enforcement and advised Theresa May’s administration on reforming working practices for gig workers and millions of others in precarious jobs. He was not involved in writing the report.

Amazon and the British Chamber of Commerce declined to comment.

Family of children's author Roald Dahl apologise for anti-Semitic remarks

WHAT ABOUT HIS ANTI WITCH MISOGYNISTIC STEREOTYPE


LONDON (Reuters) - The family of Roald Dahl, late author of children’s classics such as “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, has apologised for anti-Semitic remarks he made, saying the comments were “incomprehensible to us”.

The British author, who died in 1990 aged 74, remains popular with young readers around the world and several of his books such as “The BFG”, “Matilda”, “Fantastic Mr Fox” and most recently “The Witches”, have been turned into movies and stage shows.

However, controversy has occasionally flared up over anti-Semitic comments, particularly those made in a 1983 interview with Britain’s New Statesman magazine.

“There is a trait in the Jewish character that does provoke animosity, maybe it’s a kind of lack of generosity towards non-Jews,” he said, adding that “even a stinker like Hitler didn’t just pick on them for no reason”.

In a statement on the official website of the organisations that manage his legacy, copyrights and trademarks and a museum dedicated to him, the Dahl family apologised for what they said was the lasting and understandable hurt his remarks had caused.

“Those prejudiced remarks are incomprehensible to us and stand in marked contrast to the man we knew and to the values at the heart of Roald Dahl’s stories, which have positively impacted young people for generations,” they said.

“We hope that, just as he did at his best, at his absolute worst, Roald Dahl can help remind us of the lasting impact of words.”

The director Steven Spielberg was asked about Dahl’s anti-Semitic comments in 2016, when he was at the Cannes film festival promoting his adaptation of The BFG.


Spielberg said he had been unaware of the comments when he took on the project, adding the book was about embracing differences and that was the value he had sought to impart in telling the story.

Other high-profile adaptations of Dahl’s works have included two big-budget movie versions of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, one of Fantastic Mr Fox, and a stage musical version of Matilda that has been a hit in London and on Broadway.

A new movie version of Dahl’s The Witches, directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Anne Hathaway as the Grand High Witch, was recently released on HBO Max by studio Warner Brothers.

Ronald Dahl's family and story company apologizes for the writer's past antisemitic comments

The family of Roald Dahl and the company that manages his copyrights and licenses issued an apology for antisemitic comments Dahl made across his lifetime.

© Ronald Dumont/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

 Dahl's family calls his antisemitic remarks hurtful, saying they "can help remind us of the lasting impact of words."

The famous writer who penned classics like "James and the Giant Peach," "Matilda," and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" died in 1990 at the age of 76, but his family now wants to apologize on his behalf.

"The Dahl family and the Roald Dahl Story Company deeply apologize for the lasting and understandable hurt caused by some of Roald Dahl's statements," they said in a statement on Dahl's website.

"Those prejudiced remarks are incomprehensible to us and stand in marked contrast to the man we knew and to the values at the heart of Roald Dahl's stories, which have positively impacted young people for generations. We hope that, just as he did at his best, at his absolute worst, Roald Dahl can help remind us of the lasting impact of words."

Most of his comments were recorded by interviews including one in 1983, a year after Israel had invaded Lebanon, when he told the New Statesman:

"There is a trait in the Jewish character that does provoke animosity, maybe it's a kind of lack of generosity towards non-Jews. I mean, there's always a reason why anti-anything crops up anywhere; even a stinker like Hitler didn't just pick on them for no reason."

He used the same situation for other antisemitic comments made in 1990 to the Independent.

His views have come back to haunt his legacy several times through the years, especially in the United Kingdom.

In 2018, it was revealed by The Guardian that the Royal Mint rejected creating a commemorative coin for Dahl based on these comments.

A year earlier, Jewish comedian David Baddiel refused to celebrate Roald Dahl day for the same views, tweeting an image of part of Dahl's comments to the New Statesman with the caption: "Though a massive fan of his work, I won't be celebrating #RoaldDahlDay."

They aren't just names': Survivors, activists remember women killed at Polytechnique


MONTREAL — Scaled-back ceremonies and pandemic-muted tributes did little to mask the raw emotion of those who gathered on Sunday to commemorate the 31st anniversary of a misogyny-motivated shooting at Montreal's Ecole Polytechnique

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Survivors and activists held sombre, physically distanced events to mark the occasion and redouble their calls for more urgent action on the long-standing issue of violence against women.

Nathalie Provost remembers holding classmate Nathalie Croteau's hand that day when a gunman motivated by a hatred of feminists opened fire on campus, killing 14 women and injuring a dozen other people.

“When it happened, we were there, side-by-side. Barbara [Klucznik-Widajewicz], too,” said Provost, who was shot four times in the attack on December 6, 1989.

Croteau and Klucznik-Widajewicz were among the day's victims, many of them engineering students, who were killed during the massacre.

“For me, they aren't just names," Provost said on Sunday during a small gathering to remember the women in a Montreal park named in their honour.

Even 31 years after they were killed, Provost said there can be no quiet mourning for the dead while the fight to prevent violence against women takes on increasing urgency.

"As a society, we still have struggles to lead that are too important," she said.

The Polytechnique killings are commemorated annually, but this year's events have been scaled down significantly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The event in the park was streamed online.

Canada has designated Dec. 6 as the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, a chance to mourn and demand concrete policies to protect women across the country.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a statement describing the Polytechnique massacre as "a tragic and senseless act of violence" that cut short the promising lives of "daughters, sisters and friends."

"We still have a lot of work to do to ensure that they can live without injustice, without misogyny, and without fear," he said.

Quebec Premier Francois Legault said all Quebecers remembered the tragedy.

"We have a duty to remember, but also a duty to act," he tweeted.

Sunday's events marked the culmination of 12 days of action organized by Quebec-based activists and community groups bent on combatting violence against women.

At Sunday afternoon's event, Sue Montgomery, the mayor of the Montreal borough where the park is located, said she had to fight to have the Polytechnique attack recognized as an act of femicide.

Last year, the language of a commemorative plaque in the park, known as Place du 6-decembre-1989, was changed to describe the events as an "antifeminist attack."

"These 14 human beings, these 14 women, were killed because they’re women," Montgomery said. "Because they had dreams, because they dared to dream to have careers and to make a difference in this world."

Several speakers also stressed the importance of combatting violence against marginalized women, including those identifying as Indigenous, disabled or as members of the LGBTQ community.

Jessica Quijano of the Native Women's Shelter of Montreal said she could not name all the Indigenous women who have died in the city because the list is so long.

"My heart is so broken," she said.

Quijano called for government action to address the high rates of violence and systemic racism in provincial institutions that she said Indigenous women face as a matter of course.

"What is it going to take for our politicians to actually listen to the voices of Indigenous women and women … who have been talking about these issues for decades?" she said.

Marlihan Lopez, vice-president of the Federation des femmes du Quebec, echoed the sentiment and called for deeper understanding of how systemic racism contributes to gender-based violence.

"If we can't recognize what it is, we can't combat it," she said. "If we can't combat it, we won't be able to move forward in the fight against violence against women."

The sober, early-afternoon ceremony was not the only commemorative event set to honour the anniversary.

Fourteen beams of light, representing each of the Polytechnique victims, were projected into the sky from a lookout on Mount Royal on Sunday evening.

Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante, Polytechnique director Philippe Tanguy, and the sister of one of the victims, Catherine Bergeron, planned to lay a wreath of roses. Plante also encouraged local residents to light a candle in memory of the victims.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 6, 2020.

Jillian Kestler-D'Amours, The Canadian Press

Supreme Court's scientifically illiterate decision will cost lives

Opinion by Jeffrey D. Sachs

Jeffrey D. Sachs is a professor and director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University. 

Fri November 27, 2020

(CNN) Last month, I wrote that Amy Coney Barrett would help to usher in a new post-truth jurisprudence on the Supreme Court. While I had cited her anti-science statements on climate change, her arrival on the court has created a new 5-4 majority against public-health science at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

When it ruled this week against New York state's decision to limit religious gatherings in a few high-incidence parts of New York City, the court proved the dangers of scientifically illiterate judges overturning government decisions that were based on scientific evidence.

Jeffrey D. Sachs

The immediate effect on New York City is moot because the state had already lifted the particular orders under review. The grave, imminent danger lies in the rest of the country, where public health authorities will feel hamstrung to restrict religious gatherings even when the virus is spreading out of control.

The two cases under review were brought by two religious bodies: the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn and Agudath Israel of America, an Orthodox Jewish group. Both objected to stringent limits on religious gatherings in particularly hard-hit neighborhoods in Brooklyn. The court's five conservative justices, a new majority with Barrett now on the bench, argued that the state's limits on religious gatherings violated "the minimum requirement of neutrality" to religion under the First Amendment.

The court majority characterized the violation of neutrality this way:

"In a red zone, while a synagogue or church may not admit more than 10 persons, businesses categorized as 'essential' may admit as many people as they wish. And the list of 'essential' businesses includes things such as acupuncture facilities, camp grounds, garages, as well as many whose services are not limited to those that can be regarded as essential, such as all plants manufacturing chemicals and microelectronics and all transportation facilities."

In his concurring opinion, Justice Neil Gorsuch opines as follows:

"So, at least according to the Governor, it may be unsafe to go to church, but it is always fine to pick up another bottle of wine, shop for a new bike, or spend the afternoon exploring your distal points and meridians. Who knew public health would so perfectly align with secular convenience? ... The only explanation for treating religious places differently seems to be a judgment that what happens there just isn't as 'essential' as what happens in secular spaces. Indeed, the Governor is remarkably frank about this: In his judgment laundry and liquor, travel and tools, are all 'essential' while traditional religious exercises are not. That is exactly the kind of discrimination the First Amendment forbids."


Bishop backs SCOTUS ruling: Spiritual health is important 06:55

Justice Brett Kavanaugh argued similarly:

"The State argues that it has not impermissibly discriminated against religion because some secular businesses such as movie theaters must remain closed and are thus treated less favorably than houses of worship. But under this Court's precedents, it does not suffice for a State to point out that, as compared to houses of worship, some secular businesses are subject to similarly severe or even more severe restrictions ... Rather, once a State creates a favored class of businesses, as New York has done in this case, the State must justify why houses of worship are excluded from that favored class."

The problem is that the apparently scientifically illiterate majority on the court missed the entire point of the restriction on religious services. Gorsuch mistakenly claims that New York state deems laundry and liquor as essential but religious services as not essential. That is false. Kavanaugh mistakenly claims that New York state failed to justify why houses of worship are excluded from the "favored class" of businesses with lesser restrictions. This too is false.


Sen. Dick Durbin: Republicans made this pillar of justice a shell of its former self

Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, writing in the minority, explained the basic scientific facts that were completely overlooked by the majority:

"But JUSTICE GORSUCH does not even try to square his examples with the conditions medical experts tell us facilitate the spread of COVID-19: large groups of people gathering, speaking, and singing in close proximity indoors for extended periods of time ... Unlike religious services, which 'have every one of th(ose) risk factors,' ... bike repair shops and liquor stores generally do not feature customers gathering inside to sing and speak together for an hour or more at a time. ('Epidemiologists and physicians generally agree that religious services are among the riskiest activities'). Justices of this Court play a deadly game in second guessing the expert judgment of health officials about the environments in which a contagious virus, now infecting a million Americans each week, spreads most easily."

In fact, the great risks for transmission are indoor places like religious services, restaurants, concert halls and theaters where large groups are together for a considerable period of time, typically an hour or more. As Justices Sotomayor and Kagan point out, "New York treats houses of worship far more favorably than their secular comparators," by "requiring movie theaters, concert venues, and sporting arenas subject to New York's regulation to close entirely, but allowing houses of worship to open subject to capacity restrictions."

A recent study by Stanford University researchers published in Nature Magazine made the same point regarding the highest risks of viral transmission: "on average across metro areas, full-service restaurants, gyms, hotels, cafes, religious organizations, and limited-service restaurants produced the largest predicted increases in infections when reopened."

What is especially disappointing in the Supreme Court decision is that the lower court had made the correct points very clearly in a decision that was brazenly overlooked by the majority decision. The Federal District Court had noted that: "Among the other problematic features of religious gatherings, congregants arrive and leave at the same time, physically greet one another, sit or stand close together, share or pass objects, and sing or chant in a way that allows for airborne transmission of the virus."

None of this is to argue that New York state's regulations were perfectly drawn. That is not the point. The point is that the Supreme Court should be on the side of saving lives and urging rational, science-based behavior by all, especially at this moment of maximum peril to the population. Even more than the Supreme Court, religious groups should also be siding actively and energetically with public health authorities, both to protect their own congregants and all of society. Pope Francis succored Catholics around the world by shifting to an online Mass in response to the quarantine. His recent New York Times op-ed eloquently makes the point that the common good takes precedence over simplistic appeals to "personal freedom" in protests against justified public health measures.

Our religious faiths are the great teachers of the supreme value of human life, and they can be great healers for those in mental distress during the pandemic. The message to the American people should be a united one, with the nation's faith leaders, public health specialists, the politicians and, yes, Supreme Court justices using scientific knowledge combined with compassion to end the pandemic with the maximum speed and the least further suffering and loss of life.

 

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A portrait of Queen Victoria's ex-slave goddaughter is going on display in historic English mansion


Written by
Eoin McSweeney, CNNLondon

A painting of an African ex-slave who became Queen Victoria's goddaughter has been unveiled at Osborne, the seaside home of the former British monarch.
The work, by Hannah Uzor, is part of a series of portraits detailing the lives of previously overlooked Black figures that will be commissioned by the charity English Heritage.

The painting of Bonetta by artist Hannah Uzor (pictured with painting) is on display at Osborne throughout October during Black History Month. Credit: Christopher Ison/English Heritage

It depicts Sarah Forbes Bonetta in her wedding dress and is based on a photograph in the National Portrait Gallery in London. It will be on display in Osborne throughout October, which is Black History Month in the UK.

Bonetta was the daughter of an African ruler who was orphaned and sold into slavery at the age of five, according to English Heritage, which cares for more than 400 historic buildings, monuments and sites.

Originally named Omoba Aina, she was presented as a "diplomatic gift" to a captain of the British navy, Frederick Forbes, and brought to England.

Some months after her arrival in England, Forbes presented Bonetta to Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle. The UK's second longest-serving monarch wrote in her journal in 1851 that Bonetta was "really an intelligent little thing." Forbes described her in the ship's diary as "a perfect genius" with "a great talent for music."

The Queen paid for her education and became her godmother. Bonetta married a Sierra Leone-born merchant, James Davies, in 1862 and their first daughter was named after the monarch, who became her godmother as well.

They remained close throughout Bonetta's life and Victoria continued to follow the progress of her children, whom she met several times. In an 1873 journal entry, Victoria wrote: "Saw Sally Davis' little girl, Victoria who is now 8, & wonderfully like her mother, very black, & with fine eyes."

The grim truth behind Britain's stately homes

When Bonetta died in 1880, the younger Victoria sought comfort from the Queen in Osborne, English Heritage said in a statement on Wednesday.

"Through my art, I'm interested in exploring those forgotten black people in British history, people such as Sarah," said Uzor. "What I find interesting about Sarah is that she challenges our assumptions about the status of black women in Victorian Britain. I was also drawn to her because of the parallels with my own family and my children, who share Sarah's Nigerian heritage."

English Heritage said it plans to display more portraits next spring of other Black figures with links to some of the historic sites under its care. These include Rome's African-born emperor Septimius Severus, who reinforced Hadrian's Wall, and James Chappell, a servant at Kirby Hall, who saved the owner's life.

"These stories reach far back and we're keen to represent their voices too," Anna Eavis, English Heritage's curatorial director, told CNN on Wednesday. "It's important and possible to have visual images act as a vehicle to the many instances in which this island has welcomed or received different cultures."

'Price of blood': Financial London's grim history revealed in new tour

Black history is "part of English history" she added and English Heritage's portrait series is part of research into links between the slave trade and the sites in the charity's care. From 2021, new interpretation at certain sites will emphasize those links.

The news comes after another charity, National Trust, admitted in an interim report in September that 93 historic places in its care have links with colonialism and slavery. Some 26 of English Heritage's properties have links to the slave trade, a 2007 report commissioned by the charity showed.

"The black history of Britain is by its nature a global history," said British historian David Olusoga in his book "Black and British: A Forgotten History," adding: "Yet too often it is seen as being only the history of migration, settlement and community formation in Britain itself."

In an essay he presented on BBC radio last year, he said Bonetta's story was "so remarkable" that he "found it difficult to believe when he first came across it."

Published 7th October 2020

'We can be the swing vote': Asian Americans are key part in Georgia runoff strategy

By Caroline Kenny, Kyung Lah and Kim Berryman,

(CNN)The homeowner in Duluth, Georgia, opened her screen door and softly said, "I'm not good at English." The two volunteers, clutching clipboards and political fliers, were on the Korean woman's porch to talk about the January 5 Senate runoffs.

Volunteers Grace Pai and Syed Hussain go door to door to inform AAPI voters about Georgia's January runoff election.

"I speak some Korean," said Grace Pai, in Korean. "It's terrible," Pai added in broken Korean. Pai explained how she and her fellow volunteer, Syed Hussain, were canvassing houses for the Asian American Advocacy Fund to talk to Asian American voters for Democratic challengers in the runoffs.

"My mother immigrated to the US from Korea as a girl," explained Pai. The homeowner, delighted to hear her native language, explained to the canvassers how much affordable health care meant to her family.

Pai pressed the woman to send her absentee ballot in by mail for Democrats Jon Ossoff and Reverend Raphael Warnock.

As Pai and Hussain left the woman's porch, the homeowner pumped her fist in the air, promising she would.

Conversations like these are key for volunteers who believe the only chance to flip the two Republican Senate seats in Georgia to the Democrats is through broad based coalitions, which includes Asian Americans. In the state where President-elect Joe Biden defeated President Donald Trump by just 12,284 votes in November, activists say there's little question the surge in Asian American voters helped flip the state in November.

They just have to reach them.

"There are so many people like that woman, Asian American voters who have never been asked about their political beliefs, who have never been asked why voting is important to them," Pai said. "I think this tailored outreach means a lot."

"It's counties like this, at least in my view, that gave Joe Biden that win," said Hussain, 21. The college student grew up in Gwinnett County, which has seen Korean immigrants drive the growth of Asian Americans in the Atlanta suburbs.

Across the entire Atlanta metro area, the Asian American and Pacific Islander electorate has grown significantly in recent years -- mirroring the trend of the increasing and diversifying population across the state -- specifically in and around the capital city of Atlanta. While AAPIs are a small share of the electorate in Georgia, the number of Asian American voters grew seven times as much as other racial and ethnic groups combined.

"I'm so happy to say it made a huge difference," said Stephanie Cho, executive director for Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta. "I'm so proud to say we had over 30,000 new voters, Asian American voters, for the first time," Cho said.

Cho has spent years on the ground in Georgia, organizing the AAPI community on civil rights and voting issues on shoestring budgets, often in noodle shops where volunteers paid for events and fliers with their own money. Often seen as too small a minority group to matter, Cho says demographics and community organizing are beginning to pay off at the ballot box.

"Asian Americans vote. Asians Americans care about the elections here," said Cho, emphatically. "Asian Americans are not a monolith. I think that there was always a myth that Asian Americans care more about what was happening in their home countries than the elections in the US."

Cho boils down beliefs like that to ignorance and assumptions and hopes November's results teach

FRED PERRY, PROUD BOYS, AND THE SEMIOTICS OF FASHION


Society & Culture, Social Movement Studies


By Anya Simonian JULY 2017


[Pictured: Traditional style influenced by Jamaicans, Italians, and Ivy League Americans from the 60s.]


Over the past week the Proud Boys, a self-described "Western chauvinist" organization whose members are tired of apologizing for "creating the modern world", have garnered media attention. Along with the disruption of an Aboriginal ceremony in Halifax by Proud Boy servicemen, the group is gaining notoriety for clashes with anti-fascist (Antifa) activists. Additionally, the Proud Boys have been involved with so-called anti-Sharia rallies . In New York, two Proud Boys and one "Proud Boys Girl" recently parted ways with their employers after their involvement with the alt-right group came to light and a social media campaign demanded the businesses take action. Proud Boys have degrees of membership. To become a "Fourth Degree" Proud Boy, aspiring members take part in "a major fight for the cause." Founder Gavin McInnes explained: "You get beat up, kick the crap out of an antifa [anti-fascist activists]," to rise through the ranks.

Much Proud Boy media coverage has mentioned, in passing, the group's "uniform": a black Fred Perry polo shirt with bright yellow trim. The Washington Post's recent article, "The alt-right's Proud Boys love Fred Perry polo shirts. The feeling is not mutual" went further in its attempts to explain why Proud Boys have adopted a shirt that, at first glance, seems best suited for white middle-class dads out for a round of golf or game of tennis, quoting Zoë Beery's piece in The Outline, " How Fred Perry Came to Symbolize Hate ". While both articles offer an overview of the shirt's popularity among Mod and traditional Skinhead subculturists and its eventual cooptation by racist skinheads and neo-Nazis, neither emphasizes the degree to which the brand has long served as a site of political contest between the radical left and the far-right. Since the early 1980s, attempts to associate the brand with right-wing politics have been met with resistance from two main camps: 1.) anti-racist skinheads and 2.) "traditional" (non-racist) skinheads -- both of whom refuse to cede the meaning of the Fred Perry brand to the far-right in the same way that one might fight for the liberation of an occupied space.

The word skinhead most often conjures up images of white hooligans, or a particular aesthetic adopted by neo-Nazis. Yet, what it means to be a skinhead has changed over time. Periodizing skinhead culture is challenging but, broadly speaking, it can be broken down into three eras: the middle to late 1960s period of apolitical, multi-racial working class youth; the 1980s period of White Nationalist cooptation of the skinhead aesthetic and overtly anti-racist and left-wing skinhead political responses to that cooptation; and the period from the late 1980s to the present, in which the meaning of the skinhead culture and aesthetic is continually contested.


Skinhead Origins




1960s skinheads


In the late 1960s, the first skinhead subculturists were born of multiculturalism: the fusion of Jamaican "rude boy" styles and music brought to England by Jamaican immigrants in the post-war years, and the working class culture of the English Mods (short for Modernists) who decked themselves out in fine Italian suits and shoes, listened to American soul, jazz, and R&B, and rode Vespa scooters. Mod women sported miniskirts, flats, and sometimes men's clothing. Skinhead style emerged in Britain in the late 1960s as a simplified version of the Mod aesthetic that placed greater emphasis on projecting working class masculinity and a love of Jamaican reggae and ska.


Interpretations

Social scientists took note of these subcultures and worked to explain their meaning in relation to a changing post-war Britain. The seminal work on subculture studies to which all later studies pay homage, or attempt to refute, is Resistance Through Rituals: Youth Subcultures in Post-War Britain, edited by Stuart Hall and Tony Jefferson. Published in 1976, Resistance Through Rituals, as well as the Birmingham Center for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) from which the work emerged, understood youth subculture in Marxian terms as a manifestation of social, political, and economic change. The historical context for the CCCS interpretation was the post-war period of the 1950s that saw the rise of commercial television, age specific schools, and extended education that brought youth together for longer, more isolated periods of time. Adding to these challenges were the recent violence of war and more fatherless children as a result of war deaths. These factors contributed to the making of an isolated, and later unique subculture of resistance.

Drawing from Italian Marxist theorist Antionio Gramsci, a driving foundational assumption of Resistance Through Rituals is that one or more dominant groups in society hold "cultural capital" and subordinate groups or classes find ways to express or challenge their subordinate experience in their own culture. This dominant culture, according to the CCCS, exists solely within the framework of capitalism, whereas the struggle for "cultural capital" becomes a struggle between those with capital versus those who labor. The dominant culture acts as a hegemon and attempts to define and contain all other cultures, giving birth to opposition from less dominant cultures against this cultural hegemony. Although the less dominant culture (i.e. the subculture) enters into resistance against the dominant culture, the subculture is in fact derived from the "parent," or hegemonic culture, and will inevitably share many of its attributes. For example, working-class culture is considered by the editors of Resistance Through Rituals to be a "parent culture," yet the youth subcultures that arose from it have their own values, uses of material culture (which are often derived from the parent culture but are re-appropriated and given new meaning), as well as territorial spaces. The Fred Perry represents both an appropriation of the parent culture and a territorial "space" where politics play out.

The editors of Resistance Through Rituals write:


Sub-cultures, then, must first be related to the 'parent cultures' of which they are a sub-set. But, subcultures must also be analysed in terms of their relation to the dominant culture - the overall disposition of cultural power in the society as a whole. Thus, we may distinguish respectable, 'rough', delinquent and the criminal subcultures within working class culture: but we may also say that, though they differ amongst themselves, they all derive in the first instance from a 'working class parent culture': hence, they are all subordinate subcultures, in relation to the dominant middle-class or bourgeois culture. [1]




1960s Mod style from the 1979 film, Quadrophenia


From this angle, Resistance Through Ritual examines the predecessors of the skinheads -- the Mod subculture of the 1960s which, in its most basic terms, consisted of dressing sharp in the latest high fashion (but only wearing particular high fashion brands, often stemming from styles of those involved in organized crime in 1950s and 60s Britain), hairstyles, soul and rock n' roll music, all-night clubs, riding Vespa scooters, and taking amphetamines. The Mod was all about style, and this sharp style, combined with the "uppers" they took, were cast by the CCCS in terms of opposition to the hippie culture of the day that to many Mods seemed to spell a slow, do-nothing death. This seemingly odd combination of interests was explained in terms of working-class resistance by Dick Hebdige in his contribution to Resistance Through Rituals, "The Meaning of Mod":


The importance of style to the mods can never be overstressed - Mod was pure, unadulterated STYLE, the essence of style. In order to project style it became necessary first to appropriate the commodity, then to redefine its use and value and finally to relocate its meaning within a totally different context. This pattern, which amounted to the semantic rearrangement of those components of the objective world which the mod style required, was repeated at every level of the mod experience and served to preserve a part at least of the mod's private dimension against the passive consumer role it seemed in its later phases ready to adopt...

Thus the scooter, a formerly ultra-respectable means of transport was appropriated and converted into a weapon and a symbol of solidarity. Thus pills, medically diagnosed for the treatment of neuroses, were appropriated and used as an end-in-themselves, and the negative evaluations of their capabilities imposed by school and work were substituted by a positive assessment of their personal credentials in the world of play (i.e. the same qualities which were assessed negatively by their daytime controllers - e.g. laziness, arrogance, vanity etc. - were positively defined by themselves and their peers in leisure time). [2]

As mentioned above, the skinheads were born from a combination of Jamaican immigrant "rude boy" culture and Mod subculture. Originating in the middle to late 1960s, the skinheads were of solidly working-class origin and resented authority and social pretensions. The skinhead community developed at a time of worsening conditions for working-class youth, and the CCCS interpreted this subculture as an attempt to recreate a traditional working-class community. Although the skinheads came from the working class, fewer opportunities meant that they almost acted out or performed working-class values rather than lived them. The early skinheads were intensely aware of their self-image and played up their exaggerated working-class style. They wore Doc Marten work boots, suspenders and blue jeans or Levis Sta-Prest jeans as a way to identify with this style and lifestyle in decline. Yet, they coupled this look with Ben Sherman button down dress shirts and Fred Perry tennis shirts -- a scaled down Mod look -- in an appropriation of neat middle-class style that turned middle-class values on their heads. This tennis shirt, worn by working-class skinheads, became a symbol of solidarity and a new kind of "class."




At clubs in the evenings the skinheads would often wear suits like those of the Jamaica "rude boys" and dance alongside Jamaicans to Rock Steady and ska music. Anti-racist and traditional skinheads -- sometimes dubbed Trojan Skinheads for their love of Trojan Records, producers of Jamaican music -- look back on this period as a golden age for their subculture. The phrase "Spirit of 69'" which originated in the 1980s is used by traditional/Trojan skinheads as a reference point for what skinhead culture can and should be about: inclusion, racial harmony, and a multicultural celebration of working class culture. Naturally, the CCCS interpreted skinhead solidarity as an act of resistance to a hegemonic order and its particular characteristics felt by working-class kids coming of age in the post-war years. By the 1970s, however, this variety of the skinhead subculture had largely faded away, but elements of it would be revived, in bastardized form, in the following decade.

Within the early skinhead subculture there had always existed a focus on masculinity, or acting "hard" in order project an "authentic" working-class ethos. This masculinity was expressed in the skinhead interest in soccer and the joining of "firms," or soccer clubs that rooted for their favorite teams and often used violence against opposing firms. The "firm" was also an expression of the desire to protect territory and, most importantly, an expression of collective solidarity. With the introduction and quick commodification of punk rock in the late 1970s, a second wave of skinheads was born. These skinheads, connected to the punk scene rather than the ska, Rock Steady, or reggae scenes of their predecessors, still aped working-class style while sporting the Fred Perry brand, yet their music was Oi -- a more aggressive, simplified version of punk that could never go mainstream. Non-racist bands like Cock Sparrer, The 4-Skins, The Last Resort, Sham69, and The Cockney Rejects led the way.

While this second wave of skinheads was at first largely apolitical, their penchant for soccer hooliganism made them prime recruits for England's far-right National Front. The Young National Front (YNF) began to recruit second wave skinheads at soccer matches, appealing to skinhead working-class sensibilities by scapegoating immigrants for the decline of the white working class. By 1979, the YNF had established Rock Against Communism, a music festival featuring white nationalist bands. In subsequent years neo-Nazi bands like Skrewdriver would bring hundreds of disaffected youth into the National Front. Along with this came the adoption of a new skinhead aesthetic that included the traditional Fred Perry or Ben Sherman shirt and Doc Marten boots, but added to it a paramilitary edge that included flight jackets, larger boots, more closely cropped hair, and symbols of white nationalism. This bastardization of the aesthetic and its coupling with far-right politics made its way to the United States in the 1980s.

Anti-racist and traditionalist responses to the aesthetic and political hijacking of the original "Spirit of 69'" skinhead subculture were swift. As historian Timothy S. Brown put it:


Reacting against this trend-which they considered a bastardization of the original skinhead style-numbers of skins began to stress the cultivation of the "original" look, making fashion, like music, a litmus test for authenticity. Violators of the proper codes were not skinheads, but "bald punks," a category to which racists-who, in the eyes of purists, failed completely to understand what the subculture was about-were likely to belong. The connection between right-wing politics and "inauthentic" modes of dress was personified in the figure of the "bone head," a glue-sniffing, bald-headed supporter of the extreme right, sporting facial tattoos, a union-jack T-shirt, and "the highest boots possible." Although the emphasis on correct style was not explicitly political, it grew-like insistence on the subculture's black musical roots-out of a concern with the authentic sources of skinhead identity. As such, it was heavily associated with the attempts of left-wing and so-called "unpolitical" skins to "take back" the subculture from the radical right in the early 1980s. [3]






In an effort to "take back" the subculture and its symbols from the radical right, Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice (SHARP) was founded in New York City in 1987. Although anti-racist skinheads and left-wing anti-racist skinhead bands like England's The Oppressed had challenged the far right through song and protest, SHARP represented the first attempt to organize skinheads as a multiracial movement against racist, right-wing "boneheads." SHARP's logo was, in part, the logo for Trojan Records, producers of the Rock Steady and ska music so beloved by those first wave British skinheads. In fashion, SHARP emphasized a return to the early styles of skinhead dress, and sought to reclaim the Fred Perry brand (among others) as a symbol of multiculturalism, working-class pride, and the early skinhead subculture in general. As SHARP spread throughout Europe its growth, at times, led to violent clashes with white nationalist skinheads. The Oppressed led the charge in Great Britain, performing confrontational Oi music that pitted the group and its followers firmly against their racist opposition. For example, in their simple four chord song "I Don't Wanna," singer Roddy Moreno belts:


I don't need no bigotry

I know where I'm from

I don't need no racial hate

To help me sing my song

I don't wanna make a stand

But what else can I do?

I don't wanna be like you

Don't wanna fight your race war

Don't wanna bang your drum

I don't wanna be like you

Don't wanna live like scum

The Oppressed associated themselves with groups like Anti-Fascist Action (AFA) and wrote anthems like "The AFA Song" meant to inspire the skinhead left in its fight against the right -- a fight that often resulted in street battles between rival skinhead factions in Europe:


We don't carry shotguns

We don't carry chains

We only carry hatchets

To bury in your brains

So come on

Let's go

So come on

Let's go

A.F.A.

In addition to overtly anti-racist organizations like SHARP, "traditional" or "Trojan" skinheads in the 1980s and 1990s avoided the political question altogether and instead simply decided to live the inclusive values found in the first wave skinhead movement while celebrating working-class pride coupled, at times, with an occasional soft patriotism. Other smaller groups like Red and Anarchist Skinheads (RASH) formed alongside SHARP that added a heavier dose of left-wing politics to SHARP's anti-racist stance.

Both groups have worn the Fred Perry and both have incorporated the laurel wreath symbol associated with the brand into album covers and traditional and anti-racist skinhead tattoos. The Fred Perry polo then, for them, is an object reclaimed, re-sanctified, and restored to its original meaning.

Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, echoes of these conflicts between left, traditional, and right-wing skinheads continued, though never quite reached the fever pitch the conflict had reached in the 1980s.




The Templars (1996), an Oi band from Long Island, NY


As we move further into this period of political and ideological polarization, brought on by capitalist crisis, we are seeing old partisan battles reignite. It is no surprise then that the Proud Boys have adopted such a politically-charged piece of clothing for their unofficial uniform. For those with an insiders' view of this decades-old culture war, the Proud Boys' adoption of the Fred Perry polo makes an unequivocal statement: we identify with the far-right uses of this brand. The adoption of the Fred Perry is not lost on Antifa, the Proud Boys' primary political opponents. Fashion, as one variety of symbol system, projects a clear political orientation for those able to "read" the language of what is signified by the brand. As anthropologist Edward Sapir pointed out: "The chief difficulty of understanding fashion in its apparent vagaries is the lack of exact knowledge of the … symbolisms attaching to forms, colors, textures, postures, and other expressive elements of a given cultures. The difficulty is appreciably increased by the fact that some of the expressive elements tend to have quite different symbolic references in different areas."

For those who have adopted or who understand the skinhead subculture in all its variegated forms, the Fred Perry, viewed in certain contexts, sends one of three messages: that one espouses white nationalist politics, far-left politics, or that one is a traditional skinhead who celebrates multiculturalism. For those in the latter two camps there has been a long-standing contest to wrest the symbols of the "Spirit of 69'" from the hands of those who would corrupt them. While "ownership" of a brand may seem trivial or ill conceived, this "ownership" embodies a struggle for agency, space, and the dominance of an ideology through appropriation of contested material culture.


Notes

[1] John Clarke, Stuart Hall, Tony Jefferson and Brian Roberts, "Subcultures, Class and Culture," inResistance Through Rituals: Youth Subcultures in Post-War Britain, ed. Stuart Hall and Tony Jefferson (London: Routledge, 1993), 7.

[2] Ibid, 76.

[3] Timothy S. Brown, "Subcultures, Pop Music and Politics: Skinheads and "Nazi Rock" in England and Germany." Journal of Social History 38, no. 1 (2004): 157-78.

 

Finally, An Answer To Why So Many People Voted For Trump

But, you’re not going to like it. [Editor's Note: We don't agree with all of this, but it makes a point or two worth considering] By Jeff Valdivia Medium.com Nov 25·2020 - Joe Biden may have won the election, but what many of us can’t seem to wrap our heads around is how Donald Trump received over 73 million votes. That means one out of every five Americans voted for him. Isn’t that incredible? I mean, I trust nothing that comes out of his mouth. Well, that’s not quite true. I believe he’s being honest when he calls himself “great” or “the best”. Sadly, as far as I can tell, everything and everyone play second fiddle to his self-interest. He is perhaps the greatest narcissist the world has ever seen. I’ll give him that one. So, what is it about Trump that’s so appealing? What mobilizes 73 million people to vote for someone whose actions seem to be tearing the country apart? If your answer is “they’re all racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic bigots”, well, you might be part of the reason they voted for him. It’s all in the juxtaposition In one of Sam Harris’ most recent podcasts (#224 — The Key to Trump’s Appeal), he discusses a reason he thinks so many people voted for Trump. For me, it paints the clearest image yet of what’s going on here. Harris begins by talking about how Trump really has none of the qualities we would typically call “virtuous”. Trump whines and complains, in particular about being asked tough questions. He’s brazenly hypocritical. He’s bragged about how his stardom allows him to do anything he wants to women, including grabbing them “by the pussy”. He’s not physically fit and only one pound away from being considered obese. He frequently eats fast food. He uses Twitter to spread lies, as well as to direct petty insults at anyone getting in his way. Finally, Trump demands mob-boss style loyalty but gives none in return. Where in all of this mess do we find even a sliver of virtue? Nowhere, which might actually work in his favor. According to Harris, Trump’s saving grace could be that he never claims to be morally superior to anyone. How could he? He doesn’t pretend or aspire to be anything other than the writhing mass of malice and narcissism that he is. He couldn’t possibly judge anyone and his supporters know this. They watch him wear his flaws with a shamelessness the likes of which they’ve never seen. Harris describes Trump’s shamelessness as a kind of “spiritual balm” that gives comfort to people in a world that’s constantly telling them they’re not good enough. According to Harris: “He offers a truly safe space for human frailty and hypocrisy and self-doubt. He offers what no priest can credibly offer— a total expiation of shame.” A good example of this is our attitude toward fast food. With documentaries like Super Size Me shining a light on the dangers of fast food and the United States’ burgeoning obesity epidemic, everywhere we look people are now telling us what, when, and how to eat. Consciously or not, all of this advice is set against the backdrop of fat-shaming. Who wouldn’t want relief from this shame? Indeed, a nationally representative survey showed that the more media coverage about Trump’s eating habits people viewed, the more likely they were to have a positive perspective toward fast-food. If we consider that any president becomes a de facto role model for the country’s people, we can understand why this would be the case. We might also start to get an inkling of why Trump’s shamelessness is appealing to his supporters— his actions are telling them, you don’t need to feel ashamed. But, according to Harris, Trump’s appeal is even better understood juxtaposed to the perspectives on the far left. What is being demonstrated by the far left today is a level of sanctimony that defies all reason. The left has taken the you’re either with us or against us approach, and God help you if you’re against them. If you don’t smile and nod while they scream in your face, you’re a racist, sexist, homophobic, Islamophobic, transphobic bigot and you deserve nothing more than to be torn down and destroyed. The left is nothing but pure judgement. And if you happen to be a white, cis, straight male, which is Trump’s base, best of luck to you! Not only are you guilty for your own sins, but you’re also guilty for the sins of your forebears, including slavery and colonialism. So, as Harris puts it, “tear down those statues and bend the fucking knee.” The messaging between the left and the right couldn’t be starker. And when you hold both perspectives simultaneously, it’s possible to see Trump’s allure. Crazy begets crazy What I think we’re watching today is crazy on one side driving crazy on the other. Each side is continually upping the ante of crazy and that’s driving the polarization we’re seeing today. It’s a vicious cycle, but how do we end it? I recently listened to an interview with Bill Doherty who is the co-founder of an organization called Braver Angels. Braver Angels offers workshops that bring democratic- and conservative-leaning participants together to learn about each other’s political perspectives. Critically, the workshops are structured in a way that allows people to humanize the other side. According to Doherty, he’s seen people walk into these sessions as enemies and leave as best friends. How does he do it? He gets people to listen to each other. Doherty believes that much of the anger we see in politics comes from people having their perspectives misrepresented by the other side. So, he creates a safe space for people to talk openly and share their stories, and what happens is that everyone gains a better understanding of each other. Through this process, the participants are able to break down stereotypes and discover that they share common values. So, even when they still disagree — Doherty calls this accurate disagreement — participants leave the sessions with the knowledge that they have more in common with the other side than they ever thought possible. Everyone is more optimistic about the future, as a result. I think we need more accurate disagreement in our lives. We need to stop writing people off by calling them stupid or racist or homophobic because those answers are too easy, too simplistic. People are more complicated and less evil than we give them credit for. So the next time you’re talking politics, try to aim for accurate disagreement. You might just stop the next Trump from being elected.  https://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?ca=95b04ef6-f307-49be-b15a-48c12401999c&preview=true&m=1103584185760&id=preview

Reusing face masks: 

Are microwaves the answer?

by Cardiff University

DECEMBER 4, 2020

Credit: Cardiff University

Researchers from Cardiff University have been testing the feasibility of using microwave ovens and dry heat to decontaminate crucial PPE being used to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

Reporting their findings in the Journal of Hospital Infection, the team have shown that certain types of respirators can be effectively decontaminated in just 90 seconds using an industrial-grade microwave oven and a baby bottle sterilizer containing water.

It has been widely reported that access to respirators and surgical face masks has become restricted in many facilities over the course of the pandemic.

"Being unable to access adequate PPE puts frontline workers and patients at risk of contracting coronavirus. Whilst masks are usually considered to be single use items, we wanted to find out whether they could be safely disinfected and used again," said co-author of the study Prof Jean-Yves Maillard, from the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

The researchers believe microwave decontamination could be used in emergency situations to address supply issues and dramatically increase the number of respirators available to frontline staff.

In the study, respirators were exposed to three microwave disinfection cycles and were shown to retain their ability to filter bacteria and viral-sized aerosols. However, the researchers reported that microwaving surgical masks led to a complete loss of their aerosol filtering capacity.

Michael Pascoe, co-author of the study from the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, said: "Surgical masks are known to lose effectiveness once they become moist—we suspected that microwave disinfection would lead to a similar loss in their ability to filter aerosols and this was confirmed by our lab observations."

The team, which also includes academics from the School of Engineering, also investigated using dry heat ovens as an alternative approach. Dry heat sterilization does not involve any water and so is compatible with items which are damaged by moisture.

Exposure to 70°C dry heat for 90 minutes was effective at decontaminating both surgical masks and respirators. After three dry heat cycles, both types of mask retained their aerosol filtering properties.

It is essential that PPE is effectively decontaminated between uses. Whilst microwave-generated steam and dry heat have both been shown to effectively kill coronaviruses, the researchers wanted to ensure that this method was also effective against bacteria encountered in healthcare environments.

In the study, respirators and surgical masks were purposely contaminated with Staphylococcus aureus, a bacterial species highly prevalent in human airways which can cause soft tissue infections and sepsis. Staphylococcus aureus is also the accepted biological indicator to test the integrity of a mask.

Both methods effectively reduced the number of bacteria on masks to a safe level.

As a result of the study, the team have developed a protocol to determine which types of PPE would be suitable for different treatments with dry heat incubators or microwave ovens.

"Mask and respirator models vary considerably and so it is important to ensure the method of decontamination does not compromise their function."

The team warns against members of the public using a similar approach at home. Professor Adrian Porch, from the School of Engineering, said: "Domestic microwave ovens typically have much lower power, around 800 W, and use rotating turntables rather than a rotating antenna. Significantly longer exposure times would be needed to achieve similar results and it is unknown how this would affect the functioning of the mask. Masks which contain thin wires can even catch fire when placed in a microwave."

Explore further

Electric cooker an easy, efficient way to sanitize N95 masks, study finds
More information: M.J. Pascoe et al. Dry heat and microwave-generated steam protocols for the rapid decontamination of respiratory personal protective equipment in response to COVID-19-related shortages, Journal of Hospital Infection (2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.jhin.2020.07.008

Provided by Cardiff University

GREEN CAPITALI$M

Can Porsche’s carbon-neutral 'e-gas' save the planet?

Carmaker launches effort to make "synthetic" fuel that could fuel any car's petrol engine

NAZI SYNGAS***

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Published:  December 06, 2020 16:29Los Angeles Times 

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Porsche says its commitment to electric vehicles remains firm, but the company has no plan to make an electric version of its iconic 911 sportscars.Image Credit: Supplied

Porsche has no plan to make an electric version of its iconic 911 sports cars. So, how to ensure continued sale of its flagship model far into the future, when governments around the world, including California's, are planning to eventually ban sales of new internal combustion cars?

Porsche's answer: carbon-neutral "synthetic" gasoline that could fuel any car's gas engine, not just Porsches.

Through a new pilot project the German maker of high performance automobiles announced on Wednesday, windmills in Chile would provide electricity to turn water into hydrogen fuel and oxygen. As part of the same process, carbon dioxide would be filtered from the air. The hydrogen and carbon dioxide would be combined to form methane, to be reformulated as a gasoline substitute. Because the carbon dioxide was already in the air, the resulting tailpipe emissions would add no greenhouse houses to the atmosphere.

The aim is to "show what's technically possible," said Michael Steiner, head of Porsche research and development, so that so-called e-gas can be sampled by drivers and evaluated by regulators as governments crack down on greenhouse gases to address climate change.

The technologies that underlie the Porsche project are already proven and well understood. Water has been turned into hydrogen and oxygen for decades, through the process of electrolysis. Engineers have decades of experience turning methane into gasoline-like fuel as well. The increasing capacity of solar and wind energy makes a carbon-neutral process possible.

The potential barriers: cost, distribution and acceptance by customers and regulators.

Once the plant is up and running, the company said, the e-gas will be used first in Porsche racing cars and cars at Porsche Experience Centers, including the one located in Carson, where potential customers, for a fee, can drive Porsches at high speeds on a racetrack.

Porsche's partners in the venture include Siemens Energy and Exxon Mobil. Once the fuel goes to market, it would use the same gas station pumps as regular gasoline. It would be more expensive, though Stein said the price would be competitive with regular gasoline if it were untaxed. However, he said, if it catches on, expanded production could lower the cost and price significantly.

That governments would give the fuel a tax break is by no means assured. It's also unclear whether the availability of a zero-emissions fuel compatible with internal combustion engines would cause governments to reconsider their plans to ban sales of new gasoline cars. (California's ban is set to take effect in 2035.) "We don't know" whether regulators will accommodate e-gas, Steiner said.

Porsche said its commitment to electric vehicles remains firm. "By 2025 at least 50% of cars we sell will be fully electric or plug-in hybrid," Steiner said. Earlier this year, Porsche began selling its Taycan all-electric sports car. Next up, the company plans to soon introduce an all-electric version of the Macan compact sport utility vehicle. The company sells a hybrid version of its bestselling car, the Cayenne SUV.

***https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syngas

Japan plans phase-out of new petrol cars by mid-2030s

Economy ministry is targeting "100 per cent electrification" over approximately 15 years

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Published:  December 06, 2020 12:16Washington Post

  

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The Toyota LQ electric vehicle concept. While Toyota Motor Corp. popularised hybrid vehicles with the Prius and the country's automakers are among the world's top producers in the segment, the Japanese domestic market for electrified vehicles has plateaued in recent year.Image Credit: Supplied

All new vehicles sold in Japan by the mid-2030s will be hybrid or electric as the government begins to unveil concrete steps for reaching its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050, broadcaster NHK said.

Japan's economy ministry is targeting "100 per cent electrification" over approximately 15 years, a move that would gradually bump gasoline-engine cars out of the new car market, NHK reported, citing unidentified sources.

A new vehicle market consisting of only hybrid and electric automobiles would be a significant shift, given they only make up about 29 per cent of Japan's 5.2 million new motor vehicle registrations, according to Japan's Automobile Manufacturers Association. While Toyota Motor Corp. popularized hybrid vehicles with the Prius and the country's automakers are among the world's top producers in the segment, the domestic market for electrified vehicles has plateaued in recent years. Last year, both plug-in hybrid and EV registrations fell year-on-year, JAMA data show.

"If this is indeed a Japan-wide decision and it really happens, it will definitely provide a new demand stream for power and it will be good news for utilities," said Daine Loh, a power and renewables analyst at Fitch Solutions. On balance however, it's "unlikely to see electricity consumption rise in the mid-2030s given low real GDP growth rates and an aging population," Loh said.

With its latest plan, Japan joins a slew of other countries seeking to reduce their carbon emissions by moving away from gasoline vehicles over the coming decades. The U.K. said last month it would end the sale of new cars that run only on fossil fuels by 2030. France has also pledged to take new gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles off the market by 2040.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga unveiled an ambitious goal to decarbonize Japan in his first policy speech to parliament in October, but few details were provided on how the country will achieve the target. Japan's carbon emissions have been on a downward trend, but they need to fall faster to meet the 2050 goal, according to an analysis from Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

Hiroki Aoki, director of the economy ministry's automotive strategy planning office, said the ministry has not officially released its target relating to Japan's future new car market. The ministry is still in the planning phase and is aiming to announce an official target by the end of the year.

If the government moves forward with its mid-2030s target, "pure gasoline vehicles will likely disappear from Japanese roads by 2050," said Satoru Yoshida, a commodities analyst at Rakuten Securities Inc. This would lead to further declines in Japan's gasoline demand, though the extent of that decrease depends on how many hybrid cars, which run partially on gasoline, will be allowed under the new ruling, he added.

The government will likely seek to keep hybrid vehicles on the road considering a complete halt in production of gasoline engines would negatively affect small factories and parts-suppliers, Yoshida said. "As long as hybrid vehicles survive, we will have some gasoline demand," he said.

Elsewhere in Asia, China is poised to give fossil-fuel powered cars more time to co-exist with electric vehicles. The head of a panel advising the government on the matter said in September that the country shouldn't set a firm timeline for phasing out of cars that run on fossil fuels. The panel proposed a new-energy vehicle target of 15 per cent to 25 per cent for 2025, with this figure rising to 50 per cent to 60 per cent for 2035.

About 3.8 million electric vehicles were on the road in China at the end of 2019, and that's expected to grow to 80 million by 2030. The number of hydrogen cars, meanwhile, is projected to hit 1 million by 2030 from about 6,000 at the end of last year.

Singapore plans to phase out fossil-fuel powered cars by 2040, following in the footsteps of European countries such as France and Norway.

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