THE GUARDIAN LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Tackling the problem of rugby and brain injuries
Sun, 29 January 2023 

Photograph: Eddie Keogh/Getty Images

I think the Ireland rugby union captain and head coach, Johnny Sexton and Andy Farrell, have a valid point about lowering the tackle height to the waist, a variable anatomical landmark (Johnny Sexton criticises RFU for lowering tackle height for amateurs, 23 January).

My experience includes playing amateur schools rugby at a high level in Ireland and being the doctor for Launceston Rugby Club and Cornwall RFU. (This included time when Launceston were at a high level, playing professional teams.) I have seen the game get faster, more physical, and sometimes indisciplined. As a doctor, I am most concerned about the risks of long-term neurological damage. As a spectator, I love to see good, open rugby.

Having studied and taught anatomy, could I suggest a better option: all rugby shirts should have a clear horizontal line at the level of the junction between the upper, backward angled section of the breastbone (the sternum) and the lower, long part. Then every player, from child to veteran, could see that line and tackle below it. This would give more clarity to match officials. I believe this would reduce head and neck injuries.
Dr Danny Lang
Deal, Kent

• I have followed the debate about rugby tackling height rules with interest (RFU’s Bill Sweeney facing calls to resign over tackle height rule-change debacle, 27 January).

At my boys’ secondary school in 1960s Middlesbrough, our one hour per week PE lesson used to alternate between football and rugby. The first 15 minutes of the latter was tackling practice, and involved one of us – selected randomly – standing side-on at the end of the gym while, one at a time, the other 30 would charge from the other end and launch themselves horizontally to hit you in the middle of the thigh with their shoulder.

Any tackle higher or lower was called as a foul. It was easy to spot who had been the tackle “target” the next day, as they always had an angry bruise visible under their shorts. Not surprisingly, we all preferred football weeks.
Andrew Keeley
Warrington, Cheshire

• With reference to the RFU’s decision to lower the legal tackle height at amateur level, in the 1930s, when WH Auden wrote the school song for Raynes Park county grammar, he recognised in verse three that tackling high was unmanly, which remained the case for many years: “Man has mind but body also; / So we learn to tackle low / Bowl the off-breaks, hit the sixes, / Bend the diver’s brilliant bow.” When did it become unfashionable to be taught otherwise?
Michael Burns
New Malden, London

• Thank you for your reporting on the growing concern about brain injuries affecting rugby players (Amateur players launch lawsuit against rugby authorities over brain injuries, 19 January). As a spectator of international and club rugby, I feel increasingly conflicted that the entertainment that I have enjoyed watching in the stands and on TV may have contributed to players developing neurodegenerative diseases.

Injuries are part of a contact sport like rugby, but brain injuries that lead to young men and women not being able to live normal lives after retirement from the sport are not acceptable. Short of boycotting the game altogether, what should supporters do to put pressure on rugby authorities to make it safer?
Ian Coltart
Thoiry, France

‘Debilitating’ effects of pandemic linger on for Britain’s young


Amelia Hill

The Guardian
Sun, 29 January 2023

Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

Young people have been “disastrously” affected by the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, according to two pieces of research that show happiness and confidence has plunged to an all-time low.

Both studies detail the wide-ranging ways in which young people continue to suffer. The hardships include poorer mental and physical health, as well as extensive learning loss that experts say will undoubtedly affect their futures.

“While many see the pandemic as being over, the after-effects are far from over for our country’s youngsters, particularly those from less well-off households,” said Sir Peter Lampl, the founder and chair of the Sutton Trust, which co-led one of the research projects with University College London that involved 13,000 respondents.

“It’s abundantly clear that the pandemic is continuing to deeply affect the lives of young people,” he added.

The findings echo the concerns expressed in the second part of the Guardian’s the Covid generation series, published on Sunday, in which young people analyse how the pandemic is still affecting their lives and their plans for the future 18 months on from the end of the third national lockdown.

Jonathan Townsend, the UK chief executive of the Prince’s Trust, which spoke to 2,025 young people aged 16 to 25, said: “The pandemic is still having a debilitating impact on young people’s plans, confidence and hopes for a positive future.

“The significant disruption to their education during this period has left these young people worried about their skills and qualifications, and lacking confidence in their ability to secure a job or achieve their future career goals.”

Its research found that almost half of the young people questioned felt hopeless about the future. It was the lowest outcome in the 14 years the trust has been running its NatWest youth index, including in its launch during the global financial crisis.

Half of the young people questioned said they were worried they had been left with permanent knowledge and skill gaps that would prevent them from getting jobs in the future.

The trust’s research echoes data from the Covid Social Mobility and Opportunities (Cosmo) study by the Sutton Trust and UCL.

The Cosmo study found that almost half of young people said they had not caught up with learning they had missed during the pandemic, ranging from 43% of those who had not had Covid to 59% who had long Covid.

Almost one in five young people, including those who had not been infected, said their GCSE grades were worse than they expected, rising to one-third of those who had long Covid.

The pandemic sapped young people of their motivation to study, the research found, with half of those who had not had Covid saying they felt less motivated, rising to 57% of those with long Covid.

Concern for the future was acute, with 40% of those questioned saying the pandemic had left them unprepared to take their next steps in education and training. This figure was higher for those who had had severe long Covid, with half saying they felt unprepared.

As a result of the learning and confidence they had lost because of the pandemic, two-thirds of those questioned in the Cosmo survey said they had changed their education and career plans for the future.

This finding was echoed by the Prince’s Trust research, which found that more than a quarter of respondents from poorer backgrounds were planning to finish their education early so they could start earning money, compared with 15% of young people overall.

Olly Parker, the head of external affairs at the charity YoungMinds, said the research was a “shocking yet sadly familiar snapshot of how the pandemic has fundamentally altered the lives of so many young people and questioned their hopes and confidence in the future”.

Ndidi Okezie, the chief executive of the charity UK Youth, agreed. “Today’s young people are facing a series of immense challenges that cannot be underestimated,” she said. “The lingering effects of the pandemic and the cost of living crisis are having a profound impact on young people’s education, mental wellbeing, their financial security and indeed their confidence in the future.”

Dutch flood memories unleash new climate fears

Julie CAPELLE and Charlotte STEENACKERS with Charlotte VAN OUWERKERK in The Hague
Sun, 29 January 2023 


Seventy years after the worst natural disaster to strike the Netherlands, Chiem de Vos, seven at the time, still hears his neighbour's desperate cries of "My children are drowning!" ringing in his ears.

And as the Dutch this week commemorate the great flood of 1953, thoughts are inevitably turning to current-day climate change and how the low-lying country remains vulnerable to rising ocean levels.

Horrific images of men, women, children and cattle trying to stay afloat in icy waters that swamped villages and thousands of acres of farmland remain etched in the collective memory of those living in a country of which one-third lies below sea level.

A violent storm blowing up from the North Sea coupled with a tide sent surging waters smashing through dikes in southwestern Netherlands on the night of January 31 to February 1, 1953.

More than 2,500 people were killed in the Netherlands, Belgium and Britain, with 1,836 Dutch among the victims.

Still in shock, the Dutch the following year launched the ambitious Delta Works plan, the world's largest project to stave off flood waters through a series of concrete storm surge barriers, locks and heightened dikes, completed in the mid-1980s.

But seven decades later, rising temperatures and sea levels globally have once again stirred an ancient fear and the topic of climate change is at the centre of the commemorations.

- 'Nothing you can do' -

"Even if the dikes are now so high and so wide, when the water wants to come in there's nothing you can do to stop it," De Vos, now 77, told AFP.

"And that's what I'm afraid of."

On the fateful night in 1953, the dike supposed to protect De Vos and his family broke at the scenic small village of Heijningen, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of Rotterdam.

From his bed he could hear "the roar of the storm and the trees creaking", the desperate cries of his neighbour, pounding on the kitchen window, De Vos recalled.

Total devastation followed.

"We had a vegetable garden, chickens, pigs, cows and an orchard. This big, four-metre (13-foot) tidal wave came and washed it all away," said an emotional De Vos, who was evacuated in time with his family.

More than 10 percent of the village's inhabitants died in the tragedy. Today a monument in the middle of Heijningen remembers their loss of life.

"Due to climate change the flood survivors in recent years have become increasingly worried, asking 'will the water return?'," said Johan van Doorn, 59, a historian living in Heijningen.

When the Delta Works were completed in the 1980s, the message to the maritime province of Zeeland was that it "was safe", Van Doorn said.

"But we see the climate changing at full speed over the last 10 to 15 years," he said.

- 'Never sleep peacefully' -

Rising sea levels in the Netherlands is one of the most important consequences of global warming, the Royal Dutch Meteorological Institute (KNMI) said.

It said water levels rose by as much 25 centimetres (10 inches) off the Dutch coast between 1900 and 2020, and by the year 2100 they will rise between 34 centimetres and 1.25 metres, depending on emissions cuts.

The Netherlands has increasingly sought to adapt to the problem, leaving areas that can be flooded instead of simply trying to keep out the sea as they did with the Delta Works seven decades ago.

A Dutch government study on reorganising land use is set to produce its first results at the end of 2023.

But Van Doorn wondered whether measures would be enough, pointing at massive flood damage in 2021, when rivers burst their banks in southern Netherlands and elsewhere in western Europe.

Any survivor of the 1953 flood "will never again sleep peacefully" in the event of a storm or a flood, Van Doorn said.

De Vos had a strategy to avoid a similar nightmare.

He told his 14-year-old grandson to make a future home in the Veluwe, an elevated region in central Netherlands -- far away from the coast and the raging waters of the North Sea.

https://libcom.org/article/murdering-dead-amadeo-bordiga-capitalism-and-other-disasters-antagonism

Murdering the dead: Amadeo Bordiga on capitalism and other 

Jul 6, 2009 ... Murdering the dead: Amadeo Bordiga on capitalism and other disasters - Antagonism ... Antagonism's introduction to a collection of articles by ...

ZIMBABWE

‘I knew my baby was safe’: The surprising link between solar power and vaccines

Farai Shawn Matiashe

EURONEWS
Sun, 29 January 2023 

Primrose Saungweme still recalls the great sense of relief she felt when her baby was vaccinated at Chikanga Polyclinic in Zimbabwe last year.

“I felt so happy after he was vaccinated against polio,” says the 30-year-old mother of two who lives in Mountain Rise, a high-density suburb in the city of Mutare.

“I was worried because I heard stories of other children dying from polio and measles. After vaccination, I knew my baby was safe.”

Today she has returned with her bouncing baby boy Akundwe Mutiche, now 18 months old, for a routine check-up at the clinic.

Antalya goes solar: How this Turkish city is transforming its energy supply

Inside the refugee camp using solar power and ‘hydroponics’ to grow thousands of fruit and veg

Vaccines require continual power for storage

A solar station powering Chikanga Polyclinic in Mutare. - Farai Shawn Matiashe

Chikanga Polyclinic uses power from solar energy stored in lithium batteries as a backup when there is load shedding or a power outage from the national grid.

With Zimbabwe and neighbouring countries in the grip of an energy crisis, these scheduled blackouts - where the power supply can’t keep up with demand - have become regular and prolonged.

But the batteries are helping to keep vaccines cool in the clinic’s cold storage.

Late last year, southern African nations had an outbreak of wild polio, threatening the lives of millions of children.

In late October, Zimbabwe embarked on a programme to vaccinate more than 2.5 million children under five years of age across the country to mitigate the deadly disease.

The country was already struggling to contain a measles outbreak since the first case reported in April 2022 in Manicaland Province. The disease went on to claim the lives of more than 750 people by early October 2022 and the government stopped publishing death figures so as not to “cause panic” among the citizens.

It rolled out a vaccination programme, and by October last year, around 85 percent of all children under five were fully vaccinated against measles nationwide.

Keeping vaccines at the required cold temperatures at some of Zimbabwe’s clinics can be a menace for health workers.

The vast majority of vaccines should be stored at between 2°C to 8°C while the ideal temperature for a vaccine fridge is 5°C, according to the UK’s NHS.

With load shedding being experienced in Zimbabwe, keeping vaccines at the required cold temperatures at some of Zimbabwe’s clinics can be a menace for health workers.

Big tobacco is sending Zimbabwe’s forests up in smoke - what can small-scale farmers do?

How are solar stations helping?

Chikanga Polyclinic is one of the health facilities where solar stations were installed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in partnership with the Health Ministry.

Statistics from UNDP show that the ‘Solar for Health’ initiative has seen 1,044 health facilities powered by solar energy since its launch in 2016.

The ‘Solar for Health’ initiative has seen 1,044 health facilities powered by solar energy.

“The solar systems are 5 kilowatts (kW), 7kW, 10kW or 40kW, depending on the size of the facility and energy requirements to power specific functions like general lighting, laboratory, pharmaceutical cold chain, and pharmacy,” says UNDP spokesperson Anesu Freddy.

An official from the City of Mutare, the local authority in charge of Chikanga Polyclinic, tells Euronews Green that the solar system at the health facility is critical in providing uninterrupted power during load shedding.

“The system helps in vaccine storage and maintaining the cold chain,” he says, which covers everything from cold rooms to fridges and carrier boxes.

“It is also vital in Electronic Patient Management Systems and Electronic Health Records. Electronic data capturing is made easier and there is continued lighting even during load shedding, especially during the rainy season.”

‘I would have been India’s Elon Musk’: The maths teacher who built a solar car from scratch

Zimbabwe has been hit by a power crisis

Children study by candle light at their home in Harare, Zimbabwe, 20 December 2022. The country is still coping with widespread power outages. - AP

In November, authorities in Zimbabwe were ordered to shut down Kariba, the country’s main power generation plant, until January. This was due to low water levels at the Kariba Dam, driven by climate change.

As a result, Zimbabwe imposed a more than 18-hour load-shedding schedule while in Zambia, people are going for 15 hours without electricity.

Zimbabwe needs an average power demand of about 1,735 megawatts (MW), according to the state-owned Zimbabwe Electricity Distribution Company (ZETDC).

As of 12 January, Zimbabwe’s available total electricity was at 695MW with the Kariba power plant generating 259MW below its installed capacity of 1,050MW. Hwange coal-fired power plant is producing 436MW.

To fill the power deficit, the country imports between 200MW and 450MW from its neighbours. These include South Africa’s state-owned electricity company Eskom Holdings, Mozambique’s Hidroeléctrica de Cahora Bassa (HCB) and Zambia-owned power company Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation Limited.

Eskom, which usually bails Zimbabwe out, is also struggling to contain rolling blackouts at home. South Africa, the continent’s largest economy, is implementing a more than six-hour load shedding.

Debt-for-nature: Portugal is trading Cape Verde’s national debt for climate investments

All hospitals in Zimbabwe could be boosted by solar power

“The government of Zimbabwe should urgently invest more in solar energy in our clinics, as solar energy is more reliable and sustainable especially given the current power crisis affecting the country,” says Itai Rusike, an executive director at Community Working Group on Health. The community-led organisation champions people’s right to equitable health services in the country.

“Solar energy is more efficient for the rural health centres and the hard-to-reach communities where power cuts are more frequent, as solar energy assists with the vaccine cold chain management and cold storage facilities in order to maintain vaccine integrity and avoid vaccine wastage.”

He says that the government should team up with development partners, non-governmental organisations and the private sector to strengthen health delivery services and improve the quality of health care by investing in solar energy in clinics.

The nurses have never told us that they cannot treat my baby because of power shortages.

“Community participation and community ownership in the health sector is also important as communities can assist in providing security and protecting the solar installations to avoid thefts and disruptions to health care services,” he explains.

Freddy points out that the solar installation project is being expanded to 19 additional health facilities in Zimbabwe from 2022 to 2023.

He says the UNDP is supporting the Health Ministry to mobilise resources to install solar systems at all public clinics and hospitals in the country.

Saungweme adds she is glad that she does not face any delays when she comes for a routine check-up with her baby at Chikanga Polyclinic.

“Back home we spend the whole day without electricity but here the nurses have never told us that they cannot treat my baby because of power shortages,” she says smiling while holding her baby.

“Electricity is always available here.”

UK Dealership wins first BMW Sustainability Award after installing solar panels

Abigail Beaney
Sun, 29 January 2023 a

(L-R) Alan Carr, Bowker Motor Group director Chris Eccles, Michelle Roberts, BMW UK Marketing Director and Edith Bowman (Image: Bowker Group BMW)

A motor group has won the first-ever BMW UK Sustainability Award after being the first dealership in the county to install solar panels.

BMW UK presented the award to Bowker Motor Group, with BMW and MINI centres in Blackburn and Preston, at a ceremony in Liverpool.

The award was one of the national BMW UK Retailer Awards and recognises the family-owned group's commitment to sustainability. The award also acknowledges Bowker’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint.

The BMW UK Awards were presented at the ACC Liverpool by comedian Alan Carr and TV presenter Edith Bowman.

Director Chris Eccles said: "Thank you to BMW UK for this prestigious award.

“We are proud that BMW has recognised us for our commitment to sustainability, especially in the first year it has been presented.

“At Bowker, we take our responsibility to minimise our impact on the environment seriously. And we want to lead by example.

"This award is credit to the hard work and dedication of our staff. Now, more than ever, we'll continue to find more ways to reduce our impact on the environment. It’s up to us all to reduce our carbon footprint and make a difference."

In 2007, the Bowker centres adopted the 'Bowker SOS' (Switch Off Something) initiative inspired by the energy crisis of 1973.

Since then, the centres have recycled materials such as glass, cardboard, oil, and even rubber tyres to help the environment.

Recyclers reconstitute the tyres to reuse in flooring for children's playgrounds.

In 2012, Bowker BMW in Blackburn became the first car dealership in Lancashire to install solar panels on the roof of its Blackburn Centre.

At the time, the investment in 210 panels offered a projected saving of £420,000 over the next 25 years. With the spiralling increase in energy costs, this saving is likely to be even more.

An emissions saving of almost 500 tonnes of CO2 was also predicted.

The sustainability award also acknowledged Bowker for creating wide-ranging social value. The business demonstrated a focus on improving working conditions for employees and supporting the local community.

At work, the company is investing in new showers and changing facilities for staff. From wealth management workshops to professional development for managers, Bowker employees can count on support. And they have sourced uniforms from sustainable suppliers.

UK

Waste company launches campaign to combat abuse

Andrew Gardner
Sun, 29 January 2023 

Veolia met with East Sussex County Council, and Police and Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne in Newhaven (Image: Veolia)

A waste management company has launched a campaign to support its staff experiencing a rise in abuse.

SiteKind is a collaboration between Veolia, Brighton and Hove City council and East Sussex County council to combat abuse towards frontline workers.

According to Veolia, over half of public-facing staff have reported a rise in abuse, marking a 118 per cent increase compared to previous years.

The SiteKind campaign has set out to take stronger action to people who abuse or endanger their staff.

Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne attended the launch in Newhaven, and said: "Abuse of any frontline worker is simply not acceptable, especially when they are just trying to do their jobs, earn a living and make life easier for all of us.

“SiteKind is a simple message and a reminder to everyone to show frontline workers kindness and the respect they deserve.

"We’ve heard real-life examples across many industries where abuse has been detrimental to workers’ health and this then affects the services we all desperately rely upon.

“I look forward to supporting this important campaign and sharing it nationally with my PCC colleagues as it spreads a much-needed message both here in Sussex and across the country.”

SiteKind focuses on building a safe workplace and includes a training programme to support staff in defusing situations, handle instances effectively and know how and when to involve the police.

A spokeswoman for Veolia said: "Frustration at being stuck behind a collection vehicle or at queues at recycling sites are not reasons to abuse key workers and the company is reaffirming its support to staff who are victims of abuse."

The campaign is launching nationally, and is focused on the 12 household waste and recycling sites in the South Downs area.

1.5 million more Spaniards have switched to private healthcare since the Covid-19 pandemic

Jaime Velazquez
Mon, 30 January 2023 

1.5 million more Spaniards have switched to private healthcare since the Covid-19 pandemic

Noelia has gone to a private dermatology clinic in Madrid for a check-up. Through Spain's public health system, she would have waited an average of 70 days to get the same appointment.

"In the public health system, it is true that waiting times to get an appointment are much longer and when it comes to a health issue you can't wait or postpone an appointment with the doctor," Noelia says.

She is one of the 12 million people who already have private health insurance in Spain. Since the beginning of the pandemic, one and a half million more Spaniards have switched to the private sector.

Jesús Fernández Lobo, the CEO of Dermatoclinic, says the public system is struggling to cope with demand.

"The public health system has been subjected to unbearable pressure, and the private health system had to take on a burden of patients who could not be treated in the public health system," he explains.

Three years on, the health system is still trying to recover from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. More than 700,000 people are still waiting for surgery and on average will wait 113 days for an operation.

The delay for a consultation in private centres was on average less than two weeks. But the deterioration of the public health system has also increased waiting times in some specialist and private health centres.

Watch: Hundreds of thousands rally to defend Madrid public healthcare

Spaniards spent a record high amount on health insurance last year – up by 7 per cent to a total of €10.5 billion.

"We don’t have to be afraid of the fact that the private health sector is growing, what we should be worried about is that people don’t want to go to the public sector," says Dr Juan Abarca, President of IDIS (Institute for Health Development and Integration).

Abarca continues: "We in the private health sector are also interested in ensuring that the public health sector works as well as possible because the model we have is not designed to make private health an alternative, but rather a complement to the public health system."

It's a sentiment shared by nearly all Spaniards – to save a healthcare model that continues to be a fundamental pillar of the welfare state.

Australian Catholic groups push for progressive church reforms in wake of George Pell’s death

Christopher Knaus

Guardian Australia
Sun, 29 January 2023

Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP

A coalition of 20 Catholic groups will this week push for significant reform of the church in Australia to make it more inclusive, saying the conservative stance of the late Cardinal George Pell “may have galvanised the mood” for change.

The Australasian Catholic Coalition for Church Reform will gather on Thursday – the same day as the funeral planned for Pell at Sydney’s St Mary’s Cathedral – in support of Pope Francis’s commitment to a more inclusive church and less autocratic and patriarchal leadership.

Related: George Pell’s death symbolises the demise of a church out of touch and out of time | Francis Sullivan

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The ACCCR’s convocation will be opened by the archbishop of Perth, Timothy Costelloe, and will feature Francis Sullivan, the former head of the church’s response to child abuse royal commission, among its panellists.

Kevin Triston, an ACCCR project officer, said the timing of the gathering was coincidental as the event had been organised well in advance of Pell’s death.

But he said Pell’s strident opposition to reform and the timing of the two events set up an “interesting contrast … between celebrating the life of a man who was very determined to take the church back to where it was 100 years ago, [and] a gathering of people who want to see the church moving in a way that’s proving productive for its members”.

The event, titled the Synod on Synodality, will question the Catholic church’s centralised and patriarchal control.

“Synodality means a listening leadership, a form of leadership that has not been the norm in the Catholic church. The church’s leadership remains essentially patriarchal and autocratic,” the ACCCR said in a statement.

The ACCCR, an umbrella group for 20 pro-reform Catholic groups in Australia and New Zealand, supports a much greater role for women and laypeople in shaping the church, among other things.

The convocation is being held in response to Francis’s two-year canvassing of the Catholic laity on issues such as the church’s teaching on sexuality and the role of women. This is expected to come to a head at a meeting of bishops in October.

Pell, in a letter revealed after his death, described Francis’ approach as a “toxic nightmare”.

Triston said Pell, through his ultraconservatism and his posthumously revealed letter, had galvanised support for reform. He said Pell’s alternative was “rushing back to a very autocratic system” – “one where someone like George Pell would exercise authority without any accountability,” he said.

Triston said the consequences of failing to reform were clear.

“It’s already happened,” he said. “About 10% of nominal Catholics actually engage in any way with church activities. If that was happening in any business, heads would be rolling pretty fast, but church people seem to be quite laid-back about it.

“You have to ask yourself: is the organisation, the way it’s structured, fit for purpose?”

Preparations are continuing for Pell’s requiem mass at St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney on Thursday.

Abuse survivors travelled from Ballarat, where Pell spent much of his career, to tie ribbons to the fence around St Mary’s. The act is designed to give voice to clergy victims and survivors, emulating an approach taken at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Ballarat.

“To me it’s unfinished business,” Ballarat abuse survivor Paul Auchettl told the Guardian last week. “So I’m going to tie ribbons on the fence for the people who are too sick to be there, who have died and can’t be there, and for families who are too angry to be there.

“ I’d like to tie ribbons for them.”

Church staff have been regularly removing ribbons from the fence in the lead up to Pell’s funeral. They have already removed Auchettl’s ribbons, which were placed over the weekend.

The Sydney archdiocese has repeatedly declined to comment on why it is removing the ribbons. Loud Fence founder Maureen Hatcher, who led the practice of ribbon-tying in Ballarat, said earlier this month that removing them was damaging to survivors.

“Once you tie a ribbon to the fence, that’s what it becomes,” Hatcher said. “It becomes a symbol of a survivor or a victim, and it’s their voice, whether they’ve been able to speak out or not, it’s there.”

FEB  1, 2003

Columbia disaster that scuttled the space shuttle

Laurence COUSTAL and Janet MCEVOY
Sun, 29 January 2023 


America may now be aiming to put astronauts back on the Moon, but for years the United States turned its back on manned missions after the Columbia space shuttle disaster.

Its space programme suffered a catastrophic setback when all seven astronauts were killed when the shuttle broke up on re-entering the Earth's atmosphere 20 years ago on February 1, 2003.

It was the second shuttle disaster after the Challenger explosion of 1986 which also killed the crew and led to sharp criticism of the safety culture at NASA.

The shuttle fleet was grounded for two and a half years and it sparked a major shift in American space flights.

In 2004, president George W. Bush announced that the eye-wateringly expensive programme would be retired.

For years after the last shuttle flight in 2011, NASA found itself dependent on Russia for transport to the International Space Station (ISS) until Elon Musk's Space X began flying passengers there in 2020.

As well as the Moon, Washington is now preparing for a manned mission to Mars, scheduled tentatively for the late 2030s or early 2040s.

- 'Trails of smoke' -

Columbia broke up at 203,000 feet (61,900 metres) over eastern Texas just as the mission controller in Houston was talking to Columbia commander Rick Husband.

"To Columbia, here is Houston... we did not copy your last" message.

After a moment, Husband replied: "Roger but..."

After a brief crackling noise, contact was lost.

Columbia disappeared from radar screens at 9:00 am (1400 GMT), 16 minutes before it was due to land.

The flaming debris from the 80-tonne craft was caught streaking across the sky over the southern US by local TV stations, with parts scattered over Texas and Louisiana.

Bob Molter from Palestine, Texas, told National Public Radio how he saw the shuttle break up in the sky.

"There was a big boom that shook the house for more than a minute, and I went outside because I thought there had been a train accident on the nearby line.

"But there was nothing, and then I looked up and saw the trails of smoke zig-zagging, going across the sky."

- Heroes -

Columbia was the oldest shuttle to fly in orbit.

When it took off on its 28th flight on January 16, 2003 for a 16-day mission to carry out experiments it had been in operation for over 20 years.

Flight STS-107 was launched under extremely tight security in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks and due to the presence on board of Israel's first astronaut, Ilan Ramon.

Bush cut short a stay at the Camp David presidential retreat and raced back to Washington following the tragedy. In a televised address he hailed the crew, two of whom were women, as heroes.

A probe revealed that the shuttle disintegrated due to damage caused by a piece of foam from the external fuel tank that took a chunk out of the orbiter's left wing during liftoff.

This left it unable to withstand the extreme temperatures generated by re-entry.

- End of shuttle programme -

The shuttle programme was born in 1972 under president Richard Nixon and went on to become the major focus of US human spaceflight ambitions over the next four decades.

The fleet also acted like space trucks, carrying more than 1,500 tonnes of equipment to help build the first space telescope, Hubble, and the International Space Station.

After the Columbia disaster, NASA underwent sweeping changes aimed at improving its culture and safety.

The agency resumed shuttle flights in July 2005, with Discovery, then Endeavour and finally Atlantis continuing to fly missions to the ISS until 2011.

lc/jmy-cb/fg

LET  TEENAGE GENIUS FREE

Girl inspired by asthmatic mother to create air filter backpack wins competition

Imy Brighty-Potts, PA
Sun, 29 January 2023 

A schoolgirl, inspired by her asthmatic mother, has won a national innovation competition by designing a backpack that filters air to protect people from airborne hazards.

Eleanor Woods, from High Burton, Huddersfield, entered the Backpack To The Future competition after her mother, who suffers from asthma, put the application form in her room where she drew up her winning design.

“I have an air filter at home because my mum has mild asthma,” Eleanor told the PA news agency.

Powered by green energy from solar power and a dynamo, a machine that converts mechanical energy into electrical energy, the backpack’s built-in filter and fans clean polluted air nearby.

Eleanor Woods is from High Burton, Huddersfield (Matt Alexander/PA)

“My Breathe Better Backpack is all about keeping my friends, family and classmates safe using an air filter.

“It looks cool, will help get kids outside and fights off colds,” she said while holding her original design.

“The first thing that came to mind when it came to the design is that blue is one of my favourite colours and blue feels clean and the bubbles on the outside have a clean theme for breathing.”

Getting much closer to her mum during lockdown and the ongoing pandemic gave the 12-year-old food for thought.

“We have just had a pandemic and this backpack could help prevent another one from happening with the air filters,” Eleanor said.

The young designer is acutely aware of pollution as she lives on a main road (Matt Alexander/PA)

“My generation is really aware of pollution and we have lessons on it at school along with diseases spreading, and this is another reason I designed this, because it is getting much worse.”

Similarly, the young designer is acutely aware of pollution, as she lives on a main road.

“I walk to school, next to the road, and can taste the petrol when buses come through,” she said.

Meanwhile, she hopes the impact of her backpack will be far-reaching, saying: “If just a few people start using it, it could be really good for the planet.

“Greta Thunberg is a really big role model for me.”

Eleanor said climate activist Greta Thunberg is a big role model for her (Matt Alexander/PA)

The Backpack To the Future competition is a partnership between the Institution of Engineering and Technology and fashion brand Hype, aiming to challenge children to invent a backpack that helps them do incredible things.

It was launched to change perceptions, encourage more diversity within engineering and to show children how they could combine an interest in fashion with a career in science, technology, engineering or maths.

In the future, Eleanor hopes to enter the world of creative design, while she is also eager to get into teaching.

When they found out she had won, Eleanor’s mother, Annabel Hobbs, 58, said she was “squealing” adding “I can’t believe she drew something and now we actually get to see it.”

Eleanor was presented with her winning design in London this weekend and has had to keep her news a secret.

“I’m most excited to tell my grandparents, I think they will be really excited and would love to see it,” Eleanor said.