INFLATION IS PRICE GOUGING 

Wolfgang Puck: Food inflation has 'gotten out of control'

Brooke DiPalma

·Reporter, Booking Producer

Sun, October 30, 2022 

Wolfgang Puck says the luxury dining industry is feeling the pinch of inflation.

In a recent interview with Yahoo Finance, the world-renowned Chef and restaurateur, broke it down point-blank saying, "some of this thing has gotten out of control."

"The average cost now in our restaurants for food is up 15%, which is a lot," adding that some other costs like equipment to prepare the food are also on the rise.

"I bought the other day cutting boards, for example, for one restaurant I bought 12 cutting boards, I spent $1,500, and then a week later, it went up to $2,000," Puck explained.

In general, Americans are feeling the pinch. The overall cost of food cost is up 11.2% compared to last year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS) September Consumer Price Index (CPI) while the food-at-home category, groceries, was up 13.0% year-over-year, and food away from home increased by 8.5%.

(Courtesy: Wolfgang Puck Corporate Melrose)

For restaurateurs though, the cost of food is only the tip of the iceberg. Wolfgang Puck says the cost to upkeep the dozens of restaurants, bars, and lounges under the Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group umbrella costs more now.

"Forget about if there's something to repair in a restaurant, just to get somebody out to come and fix your stove or your refrigerator, it costs a fortune, so everything has gotten up,"Puck said.

Then, add the cost of staff's salary to the restaurants' bottom line with employees having the upper hand.

"It's really a buyer's market in a way," Puck explained. "The employee said, I want that much money, and I will work that many hours and that many days, so it has gotten more difficult for us," confident in the talent in his restaurants, he adds, "but we have to navigate all these problems and go through them."

In the month of September, the total number of jobs in the leisure and hospitality sector was still below pre-pandemic levels by 1.1 million, or 6.7 percent, but employment in food services and bars did increase by 60,000 last month.

With restaurant locations across the globe including in New York City, London, Singapore, Budapest, among many others, he says the problem is not centralized to one city or country.

"It is really difficult, but it's a worldwide phenomenon," Puck said. "We have Spago in Budapest, for example...It's as difficult in Budapest as it is in New York or in LA to recruit people, and I think, thank God, we have a good name and we pay well, so we still can get people, but it has gotten more expensive."

At one restaurant, Puck says a sommelier who used to be paid a $100,000 plus commission salary confronted him with a competing offer for $130,000 per year, asking if it could be matched.

Wolfgang Puck responded, "you know what? I will match it because I like you and you are good to the customers." Weighing the options he had at that moment, Puck added "but also, for me to train somebody new would cost me more than $30,000."

Despite inflation up 8.2% last month, the chef believes "the luxury segment is still there."

"People still have money to spend," he said. "Maybe they go out less maybe, but not that much really. I know in Las Vegas, we have restaurants in Las Vegas, it's booming, it's better than ever and I'm sure the hotels, the gaming is doing better than ever, because we get the customers if they lose enough money," jokingly, he added, "they have to eat and to drink."

SAME AS IT EVER WAS

SINCE 1932

Halloween at the movies: How horror films have helped boost post-pandemic box office

Alexandra Canal

·Senior Reporter

Sun, October 30, 2022 

Horror films have jolted the post-pandemic box office, thanks to the success of movies like Paramount (PARA)'s surprise blockbuster "Smile" and Jamie Lee Curtis's final bout as Laurie Strode in "Halloween Ends."

The genre, which has made a comeback over the past decade thanks to production studios like Blumhouse and A24, has helped theaters recover after COVID-19 forced the industry to a screeching halt.

"Horror movies tend to be driven by a middle-adult to young-adult audience, who were the first to come back to theaters over the past year and a half," Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at Box Office Pro, told Yahoo Finance, emphasizing that younger viewers are the ones who will drive the theatrical business in the long term.

When analyzing the theatrical returns of the 13 horror films that debuted post-pandemic, 53% of the audience was under the age of 35 with audiences skewing mostly male (52% male versus 48% female), according box office analytics platform Enttelligence.

Robbins added that originality has played a huge factor as well, explaining: "So many of these original films have clicked with fans of the genre. 'Smile,' 'Barbarian,' 'The Black Phone.' That's a terrific set of movies just within the last few months that have done really well."

"Smile," which had a production budget of just $17 million, went on to secure a higher-than-expected domestic debut of $22 million. To date, the film has surpassed a worldwide gross of $168.5 million.

Similarly, "Barbarian" and "The Black Phone" quickly surpassed their respective production budgets with the former securing more than $10 million in its domestic opener (versus a $2 million budget) while the latter nabbed $23.6 million (versus a $16 million budget.)

Film Independent Nominations Manager Jennifer Wilson and director Scott Derrickson attend a screening of "The Black Phone" at Harmony Gold on June 22, 2022 in Los Angeles. (Photo by Amanda Edwards/Getty Images)

"Horror films maintain a low risk," Robbins said. "They aren't expensive to make and they have a very low threshold to success. And when a film like 'Smile' can just break out, it's just the cherry on top for a studio like Paramount to spend as little as they did, relatively speaking, and for that film to become such a massive hit."

One of the first major tests for the industry in a post-pandemic world was "A Quiet Place Part II," which helped to underscore the genre's resilience.

"'A Quiet Place' was that test of, 'How does a high-profile movie that doesn't rely on action and explosions start to bring back audiences as vaccines are just rolling out?'" Robbins said. "Because it didn't appeal to just young audiences — it also appealed to adults."

The film, which debuted exclusively in theaters on May 28, 2021, passed that test with flying colors, delivering a three-day domestic opener of $48 million before securing nearly $341 million globally.

Its budget? A mere $17 million.

Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe in post-apocalyptic horror film “A Quiet Place Part II” (Courtesy: Paramount Pictures)

"'A Quiet Place Part II' cemented its place in the history of the theatrical industry forever with how well it performed when it came out — its performance proved that this was going to be a genre that would be among the quickest to resurrect attendance at theaters," Robbins said.

The analyst also credited the psychological component of horror films to luring in viewers.

"There's a psychological element to it because it comes down to fear," he said. "Everybody feels fear, but everybody reacts to fear and relates to fear in a different way. That's why we have so many different kinds of horror movies and why so many of them can be successful."

The Perseverance rover is collecting rock samples from Mars to bring back to Earth

Concept illustration for research robots that could bring samples of Mars rocks to Earth-based labs. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

THE CONVERSATION
Published: October 30, 2022 

Hidden in the minerals and textures that make up rocks are clues about how and when they formed and were later altered. These changes can occur due to the presence of water-rich fluids and may also be influenced by biological processes.

We are planetary petrologists (rock scientists) and participating scientists on the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission. Our research involves exploring and interpreting the data sent back by the Perseverance rover from its landing site in Jezero Crater.
A mysterious lake

Orbital images show that Jezero Crater was once the site of a standing body of water. It held a lake that was fed by water from an ~170 km-long river channel, and images show a delta — a fan-shaped platform of sediment — at the mouth of the channel. This delta is made up of layers of finer sediments mixed with boulder-rich layers that suggest that the river flow fluctuated from relatively calm conditions to large floods.

More of a mystery, however, were rock units exposed in Jezero Crater’s floor, where Perseverance landed on Feb. 18, 2021. Of particular interest was an enigmatic unit, identified by the presence of olivine its spectral signatures (measurements of the amount of radiation it reflects).


A panorama of Brac, captured by the Mastcam-Z camera system aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover between Nov. 6 and 17, 2021. The panorama is made up of a total of 64 images stitched together after being sent back to Earth. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS)

Evidence of history

Olivine is a vitreous, green mineral (its gem variety is peridot) that usually crystallizes in high-temperature magmas. In contrast, carbonate minerals can form from high to low temperatures, usually from melts or fluids that may have been favourable for life.

The olivine-rich unit is widespread in the region beyond Jezero, covering approximately 70,000 square kilometres, and exposed within the crater just to the north and west of Perseverance’s landing site, in a region dubbed Séítah.

Séítah (meaning “amidst the sand” in Navajo) is covered by a network of sand dunes, making it difficult for the rover to navigate. However, it was considered a compelling target for understanding the history of this region of Mars and because its carbonate minerals could preserve evidence of ancient life.

Perseverance entered Séítah in September 2021 and readily confirmed the occurrence of olivine by its remote-sensing instruments. The microscopic cameras saw two- to three-millimeter olivine grains, but their origin was unknown.

On Earth, olivine grains of this size and shape may be concentrated by various geologic ways, including as wind- or water-borne sands sourced from olivine-rich regions, explosive volcanic eruptions, material ejected by meteorite impact, or they can form as crystals in cooling magma.

Additional information was needed to interpret the history of the olivine, but engineering challenges initially impeded the mission’s ability to use its X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometer on Séítah rocks

.
A close-up of a rock named Dourbes, taken by the WATSON (Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering) camera on the end of the robotic arm aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)

Sophisticated equipment

XRF spectrometers have been important instruments for determining the elemental compositions (sodium to iron, and some trace elements) of rock surfaces on Mars.

Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometers (APXS) onboard Pathfinder, the two Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity, and the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity provided bulk chemistries of ~1.5 cm circular spots that helped geologic interpretations.

But for some Martian rocks, uncertainties have lingered about small-scale features and fine rock textures that are critical for interpreting what minerals are present, whether they are igneous or sedimentary, or their alteration histories.

The PIXL onboard Perseverance is a big improvement in this regard: PIXL generates ~120 micron grid maps that not only provide rock and mineral chemistries, but textures that can be used to infer the origin, processes and relative timing of the various minerals and other components present.

The first PIXL scan of a rock surface at a Séítah outcrop called Brac finally nailed the unit’s origin as igneous. The olivine grains are well-formed crystals with straight edges. Other high-temperature minerals, including feldspar, and larger minerals enclose or occur in the spaces between the olivine crystals, indicating slow cooling of a magma.

Brac is a type of rock called an olivine cumulate that formed when olivine crystallized near the top of a magma, and settled and accumulated downward due to its higher density. Olivine cumulates are well known to form on Mars because they are found among the Martian meteorites, comprising a group known as chassignites, that was ejected from Mars by an impact event and eventually fell to Earth.

On Earth, olivine cumulates occur in large layered intrusions, such as the Skaergaard Intrusion in East Greenland, and in thick lava flows, such as found in the Abitibi, Ont. area.

Recorded video of Mars by the Perseverance rover.

Anticipating core samples

As remarkable as the PIXL scans are, Perseverance is equipped with a very sophisticated sampling tool, which it used to collect cores of Brac. At least one of these core samples will likely be brought to Earth in the early 2030s as part of the Mars Sample Return effort.

Mars Sample Return would enable researchers at Earth-based labs to examine features down to the nanoscale, which could yield information about crystallization history, water activity in the rock and how long the rock was exposed. This could provide clues about the history of life on Mars.

Radiometric isotopic analyses would help pinpoint the timing of crystallization. Stable isotopes (H, C, N, O) would tell us about the history of fluids on Mars. The list goes on and on!

Returned samples would enable us to answer the questions that are hinted at by the the recent PIXL results. We could then provide a fuller history of the olivine and carbonate-rich rocks in Jezero, and what they tell us about Mars’ history and potential for life.

Authors

Mariek Schmidt
Associate Professor, Earth Sciences, Brock University

Mariek Schmidt receives funding from Canadian Space Agency Mars 2020 Participating Scientist Grant and from the National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada

Chris Herd
Professor, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta
Chris Herd receives funding from the Canadian Space Agency Mars 2020 Returned Sample Science Participating Scientist Program, and from the National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

'This is what we call "coming full circle"': Canadians, world react to Rishi Sunak as the new UK prime minister

Abhya Adlakha

·Editor, Yahoo News Canada

Wed, October 26, 2022 

Rishi Sunak was installed as Britain's third prime minister of the year by King Charles on Tuesday, and will next appoint a cabinet that will have to wrestle with the U.K.'s economic and political crises.

Sunak emerged over former leader Boris Johnson and Penny Mordaunt in the truncated process to replace Liz Truss as leader. He was the only candidate with confirmed support from more than 100 lawmakers, the number needed to run in the election, with his backers claiming he has been endorsed by more than half of the 357 Conservative lawmakers in Parliament.

However, the elevation of the 42-year-old Indian-origin Tory leader - his parents migrated from East Africa to the UK - as the third British prime minister this year appears to have gladdened the hearts of many Indians. Even the sceptics cannot help but feel a tad triumphant.

Many Canadians, too, pointed out that the UK had come "full circle" with the first South Asian holding office in the UK.

Yet, at the same time, people couldn't help but notice Rishi Sunak's wealth.

This year, The Times of London estimated that Mr. Sunak and his wife, Akshata Murty, were worth more than $800 million, placing them among the 250 wealthiest British people or families. According to the report, the source of his wealth comes from a technology and hedge fund. Due to this, questions have swirled about whether, given his wealth, the multimillionaire and prime minister could relate to ordinary Britons grappling with a cost-of-living crisis.

Here is how many Canadians reacted to the news.

Man….after the British ruled India, who would ever have imagined a Hindu Prime Minister there named on Diwali of all days!

Gandhiji would be really proud today! Congrats @RishiSunak pic.twitter.com/OpP2uabAo2

— Dr. Crypto ® (@askthedr) October 24, 2022

More reactions from around the world:

Sunak will now be moving into a Downing Street besieged by a colossal horde of problems. Britain’s rampant inflation and rocketing energy and food prices have thrown the economy into chaos, a menace made worse by Truss’ disastrous handling of public finances, which has left the nation’s fiscal reputation in urgent need of repair. Sunak will also likely be forced to preside over unpopular spending cuts at a time when workers in key sectors including transport and health are already striking over pay.

UK

YouGov polling shows Labour gaining ground in south Essex

By Lewis Berrill@LewisBerrill

Senior Reporter
29th October

Election predictions - Could south Essex's Tories be in trouble? 

THE POLITICAL battle lines have been drawn in south Essex amid talk of a potential general election which could see a number of sitting MPs lose their jobs in Westminster.

The area, long a Tory stronghold, may be set for big changes according to a recent YouGov Pol.


South Essex’s seven constituencies have all been held by Conservative MPs since the 2010 Boundary Commission changes and the abolishment of the constituency of Basildon.

But the area may be set for its first Labour MP in more than a decade if a general election is called.

YouGov interviewed over 12,000 voters across the country asking who would make a better PM, Rishi Sunak or Keir Starmer.

The results are shocking, with the model showing voters preferred Keir Starmer in 389 constituencies, Rishi Sunak in 127, and voters saying they were “not sure” in 116.

Just Rayleigh and Wickford and Castle Point remain blue, with Southend West in favour of Keir Starmer (Image: YouGov)

In one of the major shocks, the model predicts Southend West could elect a Labour MP for the first time since the constituency’s creation in 1950.

Southend Labour councillor Matt Dent reckons his party has been presented with its “greatest opportunity in 70 years” to turn the seat red.

“It’s not surprising with what we have seen from the Conservative government from the last few years and especially months,” he said.

“The party and in-fighting have overshadowed the national interest, the economy and living standards are in the toilet, and people have quite simply had enough.”

Mark Francois’s seat in Rayleigh and Wickford and Rebecca Harris’ in Castle Point are the only south Essex seats the model is confident will stay blue.

The rest returned a majority answer of “not sure” with just a couple of percentage points separating Labour and the Tories in Thurrock and Rochford and Southend East.

“If I were one of these Tory MPs, I would be thinking about lining myself up a new job,” Basildon councillor and former UKIP parliamentary candidate Kerry Smith said.

“The constituencies along the Thames Estuary have been Tory for so long, but it looks like they may be losing their grip.”

Charlie Sansom, former chairman of South Basildon Conservatives, says he is sceptical of the results, adding that for many people in Essex “voting blue overrides anything else”.

“However, the problem the Tories may have is that many people are annoyed that MPs have coronated a new leader, rather than the electorate voting for one,” he said.

Mr Sansom, who quit the party last year, added: “I can see Thurrock going red in the next election, considering the socio-economic background of the area and the drop-off of the Brexit effect.”

LABOUR IS RED 

Just Rayleigh and Wickford and Castle Point remain blue, with Southend West in favour of Keir Starmer (Image: YouGov)

The poll results come as new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak vowed to fix the “mistakes” of Liz Truss’s leadership.

The freshly appointed Conservative leader warned the UK is facing a “profound economic crisis” in his first speech after being asked to form a Government by the King.

Addressing the nation on Tuesday morning, Mr Sunak, 42, was critical of his predecessor, whose 49 days in office made her the shortest-lasting PM in history.

“Some mistakes were made. Not born of ill will or bad intentions – quite the opposite in fact. But mistakes nonetheless,” he said.

“I’ve been elected as leader of my party and your Prime Minister in part to fix them – and that work begins immediately.”

UK

Food bank charity launches first-ever emergency appeal after using up all ‘reserve stock’

The Trussell Trust is warning of its "hardest winter yet" as it says its food banks are "struggling to meet a tsunami of demand".

 Emily Sergeant - 20th October 2022

The UK’s leading food bank charity has launched an emergency appeal for the first time in its history to meet a “devastating rise in need”.

With the rising cost of living crisis sadly continuing to make its impact felt nationwide, and inflation currently at a 40-year UK high, The Trussell Trust is warning of its “hardest winter yet” as it says its food banks up and down the country are “struggling to meet a tsunami of demand” – which was now outstripping donations.

The charity says it has already used up the “reserve stock” that would normally help maintain supplies across the winter months at its 1,300 food bank centres.

Food banks are having to purchase three times as much food as they did last year, according to the charity, and on top of that, the trust has distributed 46% more emergency food parcels in August and September than at the same time in 2021.

The Trussell Trust is now calling on the government to “do what’s right” by providing a package of support that’s “directly targeted at people on the lowest incomes”.

Launching the emergency appeal and urging the government to lend a hand, Emma Revie – CEO of The Trussell Trust – said: “We never wanted to run an appeal like this, we would rather there was no need for food banks at all, but right now, they are on the frontline of this cost of living emergency and we have no other option.

“Faced with the perfect storm of rising energy prices, inflation and a potential recession that is pushing people deeper into poverty, the soaring cost of living is driving a tsunami of need to food banks.

“Through this emergency appeal, we hope to raise the vital funds required to ensure that food banks can meet this devastating rise in need”.

The Trussell Trust has launched an emergency appeal to meet a “devastating rise in need” / Credit: The Trussell Trust

Ms Revie says the trust’s main aim is to “continue to support people experiencing hardship.”

Read more:

• Cost of living crisis meant one million UK adults went an ‘entire day without food’ last month
• Some UK hospitals have had to set up foodbanks for NHS staff in need
• 2,600 emergency food parcels were provided for children every day during pandemic

The Trussell Trust’s first-ever emergency appeal comes after recent research by consumer group Which? has revealed that millions of families are having to change their shopping and eating habits as they struggle with rising cost

Among those struggling the most, 50% even admitted their household was skipping meals.

Featured Image – The Trussell Trust

WALES IS SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC

‘New era of austerity threat to Wales due to UK Government’ says Finance Minister

25 Oct 2022 

PA video grab image of Chancellor Jeremy Hunt speaking to the nation from the Treasury in London, during an emergency statement as he confirmed he is ditching many of the measures in the mini-budget, including the planned cut to income tax. Picture date: Monday October 17, 2022.

Wales is facing a new era of damaging austerity cuts because of the UK Government’s mismanagement of the economy, Finance Minister Rebecca Evans has said.

The combination of soaring inflation which is eroding the Welsh Government’s budget, and spending cuts threatened by the latest Chancellor of the Exchequer, could starve public services of funding, stifle economic growth and lead to job losses, she said.

The Welsh Government’s budget is now worth up to £4bn less in real terms than it was when the three-year funding settlement was set last year, their own figures show.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, has said that all UK Government departments must redouble efforts to find savings and warned some areas of spending will be cut to fill the hole created in UK public finances by the fallout from the mini-budget a month ago.

This could mean more cuts in funding for the Welsh Government, as it prepares its draft Budget, which is set to be published on 13 December.

The Chancellor is due to produce his medium-term fiscal plan on 31 October.

Speaking at a Welsh Government press conference later today, the Finance Minister will warn against another round of destructive austerity and outline alternative options the Chancellor could take to boost growth and support public services.

Rebecca Evans, Minister for Finance and Local Government, is expected to say: “By announcing reckless uncosted tax cuts for the rich, the UK Government lost control of the economy. Now the new Chancellor wants us all to pay for its failures with deep spending cuts.

“We are facing a new damaging era of austerity, which would threaten jobs, businesses and public services.

“The Chancellor could protect public services by using his tax levers more fairly and increase investment to get the economy moving in the right direction. He could help people pay their bills by increasing benefits in line with inflation.

“As we look ahead to our Budget, we need the UK Government to take action to avoid the type of destructive austerity that will further damage our economy and the public services so many of us rely on.”

‘Difficult’

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, who was brought in to steady Ms Truss’s ailing Government and has been working towards a highly-anticipated Halloween fiscal statement, is widely expected to keep the keys to No 11 under Rishi Sunak to try to stabilise the jittery markets.

He has warned of “eye-wateringly difficult” decisions on tax and spending signalled a shift away from Boris Johnson’s 2019 promise of an end of austerity.

Yesterday he tweeted: “This is a time for honesty about the huge economic challenges we face, and courage in addressing them. We have a PM who can be trusted to do just that”.

Last week, Jeremy Hunt said universal energy support for households, which has capped bills for a typical household to £2,500 a year, will end after six months and then be replaced by more targeted support.

Mr Hunt also scrapped a number of policy announcements from predecessor Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget, such as plans to reverse a proposed corporation tax rise, after it had resulted in a sell-off of Government bonds, called gilts.