What are the differences between Westminster and Holyrood?

Jamie Stone 

25 October, 2024 
Opinion

They are apples and pears. They really cannot be compared because they are so innately different.

Jamie Stone is the Liberal Democrat MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross and the chair of the House of Commons Petitions Committee.

“You’ve been in both, Jamie, so what’s the difference between the Scottish Parliament and the House of Commons?”

If I had a penny for every time I’d been asked that…

Right, here goes: the first is formality versus informality. In the Scottish Parliament, where I had the pleasure to work for twelve years, the staff all called me Jamie. In fact, sometimes they would comment in a derogatory way on what they had just heard me say in the Chamber.

“We’re all Jock Tamson’s bairns.” They’d say.

In other words, we’re all equal. This was and very much still is the style of the Scottish Parliament. In fact, only the other day when I popped into Holyrood (they still allow me in now and again!) Kirsty behind the bar in the Garden Lobby greeted my appearance with a loud and cheerful, ‘Jamie! What are you doing back here?’.

If one quote was to typify the Scottish Parliament then that’s it. Indeed, having been a Member since its inception in 1999, I happen to know that when they were being trained, the staff were instructed to address the newly elected MSP’s as Mr, Mrs, Ms and so forth… but never by their first name. I also happen to know that this training fell on deaf ears from the very start. I was Jamie on day one, and still am today. I must admit that’s how I’ve always preferred it.

In stark contrast, the members of staff in Westminster will never call me Jamie. Every morning when I’m going to the Chamber the doorkeepers in their white bow ties and tailcoats say, ‘Good morning, Mr Stone’. I’ve tried saying, ‘please call me Jamie’, but it hasn’t stuck.

Don’t get me started on the Chamber… You’d have to pass the smelling salts if anyone dared call me by my name. It’s the Honourable Member for Caithness Sutherland and Easter Ross – and even if somebody did refer to me as Jamie, Hansard would always correct it. It’s a funny old place down here.

I once arrived a minute late for the start of a statement by Theresa May, when she was Prime Minister. I then dared to try and catch the Speaker’s eye (in other words, indicate that I intended to ask a question). Within minutes, one of the aforementioned doorkeepers appeared with a posh envelope for me. On the back, it said ‘Mr Speaker’s Private Secretary’:

“As you attended the Chamber tardily for the commencement of the Prime Minister’s statement, Mr Speaker has no intention of calling you for a question.”

Smacky wristy time…

Another big difference is the access to Government Ministers. In Holyrood, you simply cannot help bumping into Scottish Ministers as you walk about the place. There is no hiding for them, and indeed with the boot on the other foot, there is no hiding for an MSP. A good example of this is the offices themselves. In Holyrood, the walls and doors are transparent glass – you simply cannot have anything to hide. To put it plainly, there’s no easy way to shirk your responsibilities. People notice.

In Westminster, how different. Boris Johnson and Liz Truss never really bothered circulating at all. And on the rare occasion when they did, they didn’t seem to know who anyone was. In fact, on the one occasion that Liz Truss did speak to me, she thought I was a Tory MP! Very different indeed. It’s as if the thick old wooden doors in the palace are designed precisely to keep things hidden.

If you want to buttonhole a Minister or Prime Minister in Westminster, then really your only chance is when it comes to a vote. Only then, you might catch them in one of the two voting lobbies. Apart from that, they’re into their black limousines and away into the night. Indeed, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss would be deeply shocked to think of themselves as being one of ‘Jock Tamson’s bairns’. No no, not them – not alongside the likes of me. Even then, I’m sure the expressions would have to be carefully explained to those untuned to Scottish expressions.

In closing, it does seem to me that I have been a little harsh on my present workplace, the House of Commons. There is one thing, however, that cannot be taken away. To walk this place, to sit in the same room that Winston Churchill may have sat, or to touch the toe on his statue outside the Chamber and make a wish, is to walk alongside history. Every time I step into Westminster Hall I am both privileged and humbled. I imagine the great people who have stood in the very same spot, and I realise that I am a cog in a much greater democratic machine which has preceded, and will succeed, me. I’m immensely proud of that. That much can never be taken away.

So when I answer the question I started with, I always use the same formula. They are apples and pears. They really cannot be compared because they are so innately different. It is quite fascinating to experience their different political cultures and I think it’s wonderful that, like us all, they hold very different personalities. All in all, it is an enormous privilege to be elected to either of them. How lucky I’ve been.

Image credit: Diliff – Creative Commons

Bombshell poll shows more people support Universal Basic Income than oppose it

Chris Jarvis 
Yesterday

Left Foot Forward

46% of Brits back a UBI

New polling has found that a plurality of the British public support the introduction of a Universal Basic Income (UBI). A UBI is a scheme through which every person in the country would receive a payment from the state which is designed to help meet some or all of their basic needs and costs.

Advocates for a UBI argue that it could play a major role in alleviating poverty and addressing income inequality in the country by ensuring that nobody falls below a minimum standard of living.

The new poll found that 46 per cent of people in Britain support the introduction of a UBI, compared to 33 per cent who oppose it. The remaining 20 per cent said they didn’t know whether they support or oppose a UBI.

The poll also found that 50 per cent of people think a UBI would improve quality of life and 52 per cent think it would reduce poverty.

YouGov – who carried out the poll – also found that half (50 per cent) of those who support a UBI think it should cover all a person’s basic living costs, irrespective of other forms of income. Meanwhile, 45 per cent of UBI supporters think it should only cover some basic living costs, with people being expected to supplement the UBI with other forms of income.

Despite the levels of support for a UBI, the YouGov poll also found that more than half (56 per cent) of the public don’t think such a scheme would be affordable for the government.

Support for a UBI is highest among Labour voters – 61 per cent of whom said they support the measure. 54 per cent of Lib Dem voters said they back it, as did 31 per cent of Reform voters, and 21 per cent of Tory voters.

Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward

EU agency finds banned chemicals in some 6% of cosmetics

The ECHA said it often found perfluorononyl dimethicone, a substance readily absorbed by skin that can accumulate over time, in products like eyeliners and lipliners

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) says it identified 285 cosmetic products "from various sellers and at all price ranges" containing chemicals banned in Europe. Its main investigation method was surprisingly simple.

A pilot enforcement project found that around 6% of inspected cosmetic products contained hazardous substances banned under European regulations, the European Chemicals Agency said in a statement on Wednesday.

The ECHA said that national enforcement agencies in the 13 European Economic Area (EEA) member states — including Germany — checked almost 4,500 cosmetic products, and found banned substances in 285 of them.

The investigators were looking for a series of chemicals banned or restricted under a pair of EU regulations, the POPs Regulation banning persistent organic pollutants, and the REACH Regulation on the registration, evaluation, authorization, and restriction of chemicals.
Offending chemicals found 'mainly looking at the ingredients list'

The ECHA said that its pilot project had for the most part used a very simple methodology for tests carried out between November 2023 and April 2024.

"The inspections were mainly done by checking the ingredients list — measures that can be easily used also by consumers," it said.

"Consumers should be aware that the restricted substances were found in different types of cosmetic products, from various sellers and at all price ranges," it said.

Enforcement agencies had taken some first steps to remove the non-compliant products from the market, the ECHA said.

"In most cases, the first step was issuing a written advice guide to suppliers on how to comply with the law. At the time of writing the report, investigations were still ongoing in about half the cases," the ECHA said.

Pencil eyeliners and lipliners, conditioners and hair masks among the items

The Helsinki-based organization was primarily seeking indications of the presence of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), long-chain perfluorocarboxylic acids (PFCAs) and related substances, and cyclic siloxanes D4 and D5.

It said it often found perfluorononyl dimethicone, which degrades into PFOA and PFCAs, in pencil and crayon eyeliners and lipliners — and that D4 and D5 were often present in conditioners and hair masks.

"PFOA and siloxanes, D4 and D5, break down slowly in the environment and build up in humans and other species. PFOA is not only persistent in the environment but also toxic to reproduction and suspected of causing cancer. D4 is also suspected of damaging fertility," the ECHA said.

msh/ab (AFP, dpa)

Brussels hopes to advance Ukraine, Moldova entry talks in 2025


By AFP
October 30, 2024

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell stressed the strategic importance of the bloc's enlargement faced with the 'existential threat' from Russia - Copyright AFP JOHN THYS

The European Commission said Wednesday it hopes to move entry talks with Ukraine and Moldova to the next stage “as soon as possible” in 2025, as part of a renewed enlargement push faced with the “existential threat” from Russia.

In an annual update on the EU enlargement process, the commission also reaffirmed that Georgia’s path to joining remained “de facto” halted without a change of course from its ruling party — accused of steering Tbilisi back into Russia’s orbit.

Ex-Soviet Ukraine and Moldova opened European Union accession negotiations in June, setting them on a long — and yet uncertain — path towards membership that Russia has tried to block.

The commission said the task of screening how far laws in both Ukraine and Moldova comply with EU standards — and how much work lies ahead — was “progressing smoothly”.

Once complete, actual negotiations can begin on 35 subjects, from taxation to environmental policy — grouped under what are known in enlargement jargon as “clusters”.

For both Ukraine and Moldova, the commission said it was “looking forward to the opening of negotiations on clusters… as soon as possible in 2025” — subject to a green light from the EU’s 27 member states.

For Ukraine, the opening of talks in June marked the beginning of a protracted process that will likely take many years — and may never lead to membership.

So far, Ukraine has won plaudits for kickstarting a raft of reforms on curbing graft and political interference, even as it battles the Russian invasion.

“Ukrainians are fighting two battles at the same time,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told a news conference. “One in the battlefield, a real war, and another striving to push the reforms needed to become member of the European Union.”

“We will support Ukraine on both fronts,” he said.

Moldova only narrowly voted in favour of joining the bloc in a referendum this month marked by allegations of interference by Moscow — casting a shadow over the country’s EU aspirations.

But enlargement commissioner Oliver Varhelyi told the press conference “it is very clear that Moldova has come a long way” — citing in particular the recovery from oligarchs of tens of millions in “stolen” funds.

Kyiv and Chisinau lodged their respective EU bids in the aftermath of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, which has reinvigorated a push to take on new members.



– No ‘business as usual’ with Russia –



EU also granted candidate status to ex-Soviet Georgia last December — but negotiations were frozen after it passed a controversial “foreign influence law” targeting civil society, which critics said mirrored Russian legislation.

“Should there be a political will from Georgia’s leadership, we are offering a clear path for re-engagement on the way to the European Union — the repeal of the law on foreign influence,” Borrell said.

But the commission’s enlargement report also warned: “Unless Georgia reverts the current course of action which jeopardises its EU path… the commission will not be in a position to consider recommending opening negotiations with Georgia.”

Borrell said the invasion of Ukraine had made “clear that Russia is posing an existential threat to Europe now more than ever, and that European Union membership becomes a strategic choice.”

“You simply cannot maintain ties with Russia or to try to do business as usual and expect that your country will be part of the European Union,” said Borrell. “It’s one thing or the other.”

Brussels earlier this year approved accession negotiations with Bosnia and has talks ongoing with Serbia, Montenegro, Albania and North Macedonia.

Borrell took a swipe at Serbia, which maintains friendly ties with Moscow and has refused to sanction it for the invasion of Ukraine.

“Serbia, sooner or later, will have to align the foreign policy with European Union foreign policy. Otherwise, membership will be jeopardised,” he warned.

Turkey officially remains a candidate, having launched membership talks in 2005, but the process has gone nowhere since a crackdown on opposition groups following a failed coup in 2016

Russia eats away at territory, and Ukrainian morale

By AFP
October 30, 2024

Russia is still launching attacks on Ukrainian cities like Kharkiv - Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP ALEX WONG

Didier LAURAS

Progress has been slow but it is relentless. Russia’s army has been advancing at several points along the Ukrainian war front for weeks now, gobbling up territory one village at a time.

It has cast doubt over Kyiv’s ability to stem the tide, let alone push back the advancing troops.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s army has taken 478 square kilometres of territory since the start of October — its largest monthly territorial gain since the early weeks of its invasion in February 2022, according to AFP analysis of data from the US Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

“Russia has been on the offensive for an entire year,” said Meduza, a Russian opposition website that has been blocked by Moscow.

“Yet this past week has been one of the toughest — if not the toughest — for Ukraine’s armed forces during that time,” it added.



– Accelerated progression –



The ISW data does not point to Ukrainian military collapse in any way, “but what is the most concerning is that it’s a pattern”, said former French army colonel Michel Goya, a war historian.

“We have seen an acceleration in this progression, with the feeling that it cannot be stopped,” he added, describing a “Russian strategy of pressure everywhere, all the time, while waiting for (the defence) to crack, crumble or collapse.”

Almost every day, Moscow claims a new victory.

“None of the locations, on their own, have any great importance, but together it represents a great success for the Russian army,” said Alexander Khramchikhin, a Moscow-based Russian military analyst.

“The Russian advance, even though not rapid, shows the increasing deterioration (of the situation) in Ukraine.”



– Artillery power –



Since the start of the war, Moscow has maintained artillery superiority.

Despite Western sanctions, Russia has turned its economy into a war machine, with support from allies, headed by Iran and North Korea.

“The Russian war industry produces more weapons than Ukraine receives,” said Khramchikhin, and “more ammunition thanks to its industry and that of North Korea”.

At the start of this year, a US Congress freeze on a multi-billion-dollar aid package significantly slowed the supply of weapons to Ukraine, “while three million North Korean shells arrived in Russian depots”, said Goya.

And Moscow developed a guidance system for bombs, which it uses “by the thousands”, he said, adding that some 1,600 North Korean KN-02 ballistic missiles had pummelled Ukraine.



– New tactical approach –



Rather than capturing towns district by district, the Russian army has gone for a suffocation tactic.

“The principle is to threaten to surround the pockets that are then forced to retreat,” said Goya.

For Alexander Kots, a war journalist for the popular Russian daily Komsomolskaya Pravda and strong supporter of the invasion, “we refused to storm towns and villages head on, where we would have to eat up every square metre of road, every house.”

As such, Ukrainian forces “can be forced to withdraw along a long corridor that is open to fire.”



– Ukraine’s tired morale –



Gradually, the Russian advance has eaten away at Ukrainian morale. Kyiv is struggling to recruit, while the army’s disorganisation and corruption facilitate desertions and refusals to fight.

“Beating an enemy is killing their hope. When the sacrifice of those who die is for nothing, there is no sense in fighting on,” said Goya.

“The (President Volodymyr) Zelensky government, faced with the war weariness of the civilian population, is struggling to mobilise,” said a French military leader on the condition of anonymity.

On Tuesday, Kyiv announced a new mobilisation drive aimed at recruiting 160,000 people, faced with the fear of Russia deploying North Korean troops, in order to boost numbers by 85 percent.



– Western procrastination –



On the flip side, Russia is suffering heavy losses, experts say.

Ivan Klyszcz, from the International Centre for Defence and Security (ICDS) in Estonia, said that at the current rate, Russia “would finish capturing the rest of the Donbas region of Ukraine after several months and at an extremely high cost.”

In the meantime, the West is procrastinating.

Zelensky’s “victory plan”, which was supposed to put him in a position of strength to negotiate, has divided allies, while the US presidential elections in November have created uncertainty.

“It seems that Ukraine will soon realise that it needs a change of course, and that relying on Western partners… will become a counter-productive strategy in the near future,” said Klyszcz.

However, the deployment of North Korean troops could provoke a sense of urgency in the West.

But “whether this urgency will translate into new pledges or enhanced support, is yet to be seen,” added Klyszcz.

Faker: eSports legend and South Korea ‘national treasure’

By AFP
October 31, 2024

South Korea's Lee Sang-hyuk, better known as Faker - Copyright AFP ANTHONY WALLACE
Hieun SHIN

Lee Sang-hyeok wanted only to be a “normal kid”. He was anything but, and is now a multi-millionaire eSports superstar known worldwide simply as Faker.

The 28-year-old has officially been given the title of “national treasure” in his native South Korea, along with the likes of footballer Son Heung-min and K-pop mega-group BTS.

He is said to earn an estimated 10 billion won ($7.2 million) a year and is easily the most recognisable name in professional gaming.

The bespectacled Lee will hope to add to his fame and fortune by winning a fifth League of Legends (LoL) world title on Saturday in London when his T1 team face China’s Bilibili Gaming.

But for all that, it is not the life Lee originally envisioned for himself.

“I just wanted to go to university like any normal kid and make good money,” he once said.

In 2011, as a high-school student, Lee decided to try the hugely popular multi-player online battle video game League of Legends.

It was to change the course of the teenager’s life.

Within months his talent caught the attention of eSports team SK Telecom (now T1).

Lee has gone on to become the first player to hold every international LoL title and helped gaming segue beyond teenage bedrooms and into the mainstream.

“League of Legends, eSports and Faker, they needed each other in a way,” Belgian television presenter and gamer Eefje Depoortere said in a documentary.

“There was a platform given by League of Legends, going professional and having all these leagues, and then there was one person who stood up and said, ‘I will be that icon for you’.”



– Global audience –



Lee’s journey hasn’t been without its disappointments.

After winning the world championship in 2015 and 2016, Lee’s winning streak ended in 2017 at the hands of a rival South Korean team.

Many fans vividly recall the scene of Lee head down and shaking with tears.

“A lot of fans were eagerly waiting and countless people were watching,” he said, reflecting later on the crushing defeat.

“In the beginning I struggled with that pressure, but these days I try to overcome it on my own, regardless of what people might think.”

In 2023 he won the championship on home soil, something he had always wanted to do.

In addition to a global television audience, tens of thousands of fans massed in the capital Seoul.

Among his many accolades, Lee bagged gold at the Asian Games last year, earning him exemption from military service.

Now in his late 20s — making him a comparative veteran in gaming — this year has not been Lee’s best, with his team coming fourth in the South Korean league.

In August videos emerged of a frustrated Lee headbutting a wall several times after his T1 team lost.



– ‘Everyone knows Faker’ –



Lee’s influence has inspired a new generation in South Korea to pursue careers as professional gamers and helped convince parents that it is a serious profession.

In May, a “Faker Temple” — a pop-up installation — was erected in his honour in Seoul.

It attracted thousands of fans who waited hours to see pictures of him and videos of his best plays.

“Lee Sang-hyeok is my religion,” devotee Park Jung-min told AFP.

“He is the legendary GOAT (greatest of all time).”

ESports have become a source of national pride for South Korea and the country was at the forefront of the emergence of gaming as a profession.

In recent years the industry has shifted, however, with Chinese teams recruiting top South Korean players and coaches, and defeating the Koreans in big championships.

Joe Marsh, chief executive of T1, said Chinese teams have repeatedly tried to sign up Lee.

“Every time he’s a free agent the offer from China comes in and it’s $20 million a year to come,” Marsh once said.

Despite the staggering offers Lee chose to remain with T1, saying he merely wanted to play in his home country.

There’s a saying in South Korea that sums up Lee’s legend.

“Not everybody knows the game League of Legends,” it goes.

“But everyone knows Faker.”

SAYING THE UNSPOKEN OUTLOUD

Papua New Guinea to boycott ‘waste of time’ UN climate summit


By AFP
October 30, 2024

The UN's COP29 climate conference in Azerbaijan will not include delegates from Papua New Guinea - Copyright AFP/File TOFIK BABAYEV

Papua New Guinea on Thursday declared a boycott of next month’s UN climate summit, branding the global warming negotiations a “waste of time” full of empty promises from big polluters.

While plenty have criticised the annual COP summit in the past, it is rare for any government to so totally dismiss the UN’s premier climate talks.

“There’s no point going if we are falling asleep because of jet lag because we’re not getting anything done,” Foreign Minister Justin Tkatchenko told AFP ahead of November’s COP29 summit in Azerbaijan.

“All the big polluters of the world promise and commit millions to assist in climate relief and support. And I can tell you now it’s all going to consultants.”

The island of New Guinea is home to the third-largest expanse of rainforest on the planet, according to the World Wildlife Fund, and has long been celebrated as one of the “lungs of the earth”.

Impoverished, flanked by ocean, and already prone to natural disasters, Papua New Guinea is also considered to be highly vulnerable to the unfolding perils of climate change.

“COP is a total waste of time,” Tkatchenko said.

“We are sick of the rhetoric as well as the merry-go-round of getting absolutely nothing done over the last three years.

“We are the third-biggest rainforest nation in the world. We are sucking up the pollutants of these major countries. And they are getting away with it scot-free.”



– ‘Talk fest’ –



The COP summit in 2015 hammered out the landmark Paris Agreement, under which almost every country in the world has agreed to slash emissions to limit soaring global temperatures.

But subsequent gatherings have been dogged by growing criticism, stoked by a perception that big polluters are using their sway to limit further climate action.

Meanwhile, adaptation funds set up through COP to help developing nations have been accused of sluggish bureaucracy that fails to grasp the urgency of the crisis.

Civil society groups banded together last year to urge a boycott of the COP summit hosted by the United Arab Emirates, claiming the meeting would “greenwash” the petrostate’s poor climate credentials.

Underwhelmed by proposed emissions cuts, dozens of African nations led a temporary walkout of developing nations during the 2009 COP talks in Copenhagen.

And Ukraine has pressed its allies to avoid this year’s summit if Russian leader Vladimir Putin shows face.

But Papua New Guinea is among the first nations to have voiced such a full-throated call to boycott the COP summit altogether.

“Why are we spending all this money going to the other side of the world going to these talkfests,” said Tkatchenko.



– ‘No traction’ –



Papua New Guinea is one of five Pacific nations involved in a pivotal International Court of Justice case that will soon test whether polluters can be sued for neglecting their climate obligations.

Low-lying Pacific nations such as Tuvalu could be almost entirely swallowed by rising oceans within the next 30 years.

Tkatchenko said the decision to pull out of COP talks had been applauded by others within the Pacific bloc.

“I’m speaking up on behalf of the smaller island states that are worse off than Papua New Guinea. They were getting no traction and acknowledgement at all.”

Papua New Guinea would instead seek to strike its own climate deals through bilateral channels, said Tkatchenko, flagging that negotiations were already under way with Singapore.

“With like-minded countries like Singapore, we can do 100 times more than COP.

“They have a big carbon footprint, and we would like to think about how they can work with Papua New Guinea to fix that up.”

A key meeting ahead of COP29 ended in frustration earlier this month, with countries making little progress on how to fund a new finance deal for poorer nations.

COP — or conference of parties — is the top United Nations climate change conference, an annual summit in which nations look to determine legally binding climate commitments.

Striking Boeing workers aim to restore old retirement program

By AFP
October 30, 2024

Boeing factory workers remain on strike after rejecting the company's latest contract offer on October 23 - Copyright AFP STR

Elodie MAZEIN

Some 33,000 Boeing workers have been on strike for seven weeks after twice voting down labor contracts, with the latest rejected offer featuring a 35 percent wage hike.

But a sticking point for many workers has been Boeing’s refusal to reestablish a discarded pension plan.

The plan was eliminated after a 2014 contract extension was narrowly approved by the union, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 751.

But Boeing views its refusal to reinstate the pension as a non-negotiable item.

“There is no scenario where the company reactivates a defined-benefit pension for this or any other population,” Boeing said.

“They’re prohibitively expensive and that’s why virtually all private employers have transitioned away from them to defined-contribution plans.”

More than 151 million private sector employees currently have retirement plans, according to the US Department of Labor.

But less than six percent of the 800,000 programs have a defined benefit plan like the old Boeing pension.

In 1975, when the Employee Retirement Income Security Act went into effect, one-third of US retirement plans were defined benefit retirement plans like Boeing’s old pension system.

That share has dropped to about seven percent, with many employers opting for 401K programs that most workers steer into the stock market in the hopes of generating gains for retirement.

Under the pension system, a retired worker will receive the same amount each month for the rest of his life based on a calculation of the employee’s tenure with the company.

Some workers view the pension as more secure because it is not tied to the stock market. But a pension, which does not adjust for inflation, may also be less lucrative than a 401K.



– Guaranteed payment –



Under the 401K plan, which is known as a defined contribution plan, the funds are sourced from a share of the worker’s paycheck along with an employer contribution.

An employer may contribute three percent of the worker’s annual salary under leading retirement systems, according to a report by investment firm Vanguard.

The total possible contribution to the 401K including funds from both employers and employees is capped at $69,000 in 2024, or $76,500 for people older than 50.

Mike Corsetti, a quality inspector in Everett who has worked at Boeing for 13 years, said he voted against the latest contract in part because it didn’t restore the pension.

“A lot of people feel like a guaranteed monthly payment would be great,” said Corsetti, who expressed discomfort with the uncertainty of the stock market.

Corsetti said he was “slightly optimistic” the talks could lead to the pension being restored, but added, “I’m not going to hold my breath.”

Under the current plan, Boeing automatically puts four percent of the employee’s salary into the person’s 401K plan. Boeing will also match a fraction of the payment if the worker also invests funds in the plan.

Under the latest contract offer, which workers rejected on October 23, Boeing included a provision increasing the employer match. The company also agreed to a special one-time contribution of $5,000 to the employee’s 401K.

The rejected contract also raised the monthly payments for more experienced workers who still have a pension covering their tenure prior to the phasing out of the plan in 2016.

The rejected proposal increases the monthly payout for every year of service to $105 from $95.

The IAM has targeted a 40 percent raise as its objective. The union has sought the restoration of the pension, as well as payments from Boeing making up for the period after the program was phased out.

A 40 percent wage hike would lift Boeing’s costs by $1.8 billion through 2028, according to Bank of America.

Reinstating the pension would add some $300 to $400 million in annual costs, plus some $20 billion to make up for lost pension funds since the program was frozen, according to the Bank of America analysis.

ICYMI

4,000-year-old town discovered hidden in Arabian oasis

Pieces of pottery “suggest a relatively egalitarian society”, the study said. 


By AFP
October 30, 2024

Archaeologists have discovered the remains of an ancient town hidden underneath the walled oasis of Khaybar in Saudia Arabia - Copyright AFP I-Hwa CHENG

Pierre Celerier

The discovery of a 4,000-year-old fortified town hidden in an oasis in modern-day Saudi Arabia reveals how life at the time was slowly changing from a nomadic to an urban existence, archaeologists said on Wednesday.

The remains of the town, dubbed al-Natah, were long concealed by the walled oasis of Khaybar, a green and fertile speck surrounded by desert in the northwest of the Arabian Peninsula.

Then an ancient 14.5 kilometre-long wall was discovered at the site, according to research led by French archaeologist Guillaume Charloux published earlier this year.

For a new study published in the journal PLOS One, a French-Saudi team of researchers have provided “proof that these ramparts are organised around a habitat”, Charloux told AFP.

The large town, which was home to up to 500 residents, was built around 2,400 BC during the early Bronze Age, the researchers said.

It was abandoned around a thousand years later. “No one knows why,” Charloux said.

When al-Natah was built, cities were flourishing in the Levant region along the Mediterranean Sea from present-day Syria to Jordan.

Northwest Arabia at the time was thought to have been barren desert, crossed by pastoral nomads and dotted with burial sites.

That was until 15 years ago, when archaeologists discovered ramparts dating back to the Bronze Age in the oasis of Tayma, to Khaybar’s north.

This “first essential discovery” led scientists to look closer at these oases, Charloux said.



– ‘Slow urbanism’ –



Black volcanic rocks called basalt concealed the walls of al-Natah so well that it “protected the site from illegal excavations”, Charloux said.

But observing the site from above revealed potential paths and the foundations of houses, suggesting where the archaeologists needed to dig.

They discovered foundations “strong enough to easily support at least one- or two-storey” homes, Charloux said, emphasising that there was much more work to be done to understand the site.

But their preliminary findings paint a picture of a 2.6-hectare town with around 50 houses perched on a hill, equipped with a wall of its own.

Tombs inside a necropolis there contained metal weapons like axes and daggers as well as stones such as agate, indicating a relatively advanced society for so long ago.

Pieces of pottery “suggest a relatively egalitarian society”, the study said. They are “very pretty but very simple ceramics”, added Charloux.

The size of the ramparts — which could reach around five metres (16 feet) high — suggests that al-Natah was the seat of some kind of powerful local authority.

These discoveries reveal a process of “slow urbanism” during the transition between nomadic and more settled village life, the study said.

For example, fortified oases could have been in contact with each other in an area still largely populated by pastoral nomadic groups. Such exchanges could have even laid the foundations for the “incense route” which saw spices, frankincense and myrrh traded from southern Arabia to the Mediterranean.

Al-Natah was still small compared to cities in Mesopotamia or Egypt during the period.

But in these vast expanses of desert, it appears there was “another path towards urbanisation” than such city-states, one “more modest, much slower, and quite specific to the northwest of Arabia”, Charloux said.

Funding hurdle at world’s biggest nature protection summit


By AFP
October 30, 2024

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warns that nature loss poses an 'existential loss' to humankinds 

- Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File CHIP SOMODEVILLA

Mariëtte le Roux and Benjamin Legendre

With two just days to go to the closure of UN talks in Colombia on ways to halt and reverse nature loss, delegates were at odds Wednesday on how best to finance the endeavor.

The talks that started in Cali on October 21 are meant to assess, and ramp up, progress on national plans and funding to achieve 23 UN targets agreed in 2022 to stop species destruction.

With some 23,000 registered delegates, the 16th Conference of Parties (COP16) to the UN’s Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is the biggest meeting of its kind ever.

It is a followup to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework agreed in Canada two years ago, where it was agreed that $200 billion per year be made available for biodiversity by 2030.

This must include $20 billion per year going from rich to poor nations to reach the targets, which include placing 30 percent of land and sea areas under protection by 2030.

UN chief Antonio Guterres, in Cali seeking to add impetus to the talks, reminded delegates Wednesday that humanity has already altered three-quarters of Earth’s land surface, and two-thirds of its waters.

Urging negotiators to “accelerate” progress, he warned: “The clock is ticking. The survival of our planet’s biodiversity -– and our own survival –- are on the line.”

To achieve the framework’s goals, Guterres said, “we need much more” funding from governments and the private sector.

Yet, behind closed doors, negotiations on finance remain stuck.



– ‘Umpteenth new fund’ –



“So far, since COP15, we have not seen a significant increase” in funding, Nigerian Environment Minister Iziaq Kunle Salako said in Cali.

He issued a call on behalf of 20 developing countries for rich nations “to urgently increase their international finance commitments” and ensure “that the $20 billion commitment… is delivered on time.”

By 2022, the level of annual biodiversity funding from rich to poor nations amounted to just over $15 billion, according to the OECD.

Sierra Leone’s Environment Minister Jiwoh Abdulai told AFP developing nations want an entirely new fund, under the umbrella of the UN’s biodiversity convention, in which all parties — rich and poor — would have representation.

Developing countries charge that existing multilateral funds are too bureaucratic and difficult to access.

“Right now, we don’t have a seat at the table. We have people making decisions that affect our lives,” said Abdulai.

On the other side of the divide, EU negotiator Hugo-Maria Schally told AFP rich nations were “on track to meet the donor commitment for 2025.”

“Many countries say we have to create a new fund here, whereas the donor countries all say: ‘well, we are not convinced that a new fund will actually bring new money because public money is scarce, especially in Europe these days’,” he said.

French Ecology Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher told AFP creating an “umpteenth new fund” would not address the basic question, which is “how the least developed countries have access to funds.”

The idea of a new fund is the biggest stick in the mud of the finance talks.

Another point of disagreement is on how best to share the profits of digitally sequenced genetic data taken from animals and plants with the communities they comes from.

Such data is notably used in medicines and cosmetics that make their developers billions.

Negotiators still need to resolve such basic questions as who pays for using such data, how much, into which fund, and to whom the money should go.

Brazil trial begins over murder of iconic activist Franco


By AFP
October 30, 2024

L'élue Marielle Franco pendant une séance du conseil municipal de Rio de Janeiro en février 2017, moins d'un an avant son assassinat - Copyright Rio de Janeiro Municipal Chamber/AFP/File Renan OLAZ

Louis GENOT

Two ex-police officers went on trial in Brazil on Wednesday over the 2018 assassination of charismatic black LGBT activist Marielle Franco, a Rio de Janeiro councilor who was gunned down in an attack that shocked the country.

Franco, who grew up in a Rio slum and was an outspoken critic of police brutality and of militia actions in poor neighbourhoods, was 38 at the time of her death.

In posterity she has become an icon of the fight against racism and for the welfare of people living in the country’s gritty favelas.

Ronnie Lessa and Elcio Queiroz, both former military police officers, have already admitted to killing her and her driver, Anderson Gomes, in a drive-by shooting in central Rio on March 14, 2018.

The trial is being closely watched for any revelations it may yield over who ordered the hit.

Congressman Chiquinho Brazao and his brother Domingos Brazao, have been charged with masterminding the attack, based on testimony from Lessa, who said they offered him a big reward to kill Franco on behalf of militias.

The pair, who deny the charges, are still under investigation.

“Today is the first step towards justice being served. We must not trivialize the loss of the lives that were taken from us,” her daughter Luyara Santos, 25, told a rally outside the courthouse.

“After all this time I still feel as I did on the day my daughter was taken from me,” Franco’s mother Marinete Silva, told the gathering.

She was joined by her daughter, Marielle’s sister Anielle Franco, who is Brazil’s minister for racial equality.

Lessa has confessed to firing on Franco’s car with a machine gun, while Queiroz has confessed to being the driver during the attack.

The pair appeared in court by video link-up from prison.

Prosecutors are seeking the maximum sentence of 84 years imprisonment for each.

The seven jurors have been sequestered for the duration of the trial to prevent them being exposed to outside influences.

Besides campaigning for the rights of young black Brazilians, women and members of the LGBT community, Franco had frequently denounced the militia squads that sow terror in poor communities, with the complicity of police officers and politicians.

Her former PR manager Fernanda Chaves, who was in the car at the time of the attack, told the court her first thoughts were that they had been caught “in the middle of a shootout between the police and drug dealers”.

When the shooting stopped, she managed to stop the car and get out to call for help, covered in blood and broken glass.


– Seeking answers –


Around 200 people gathered outside the courthouse carrying placards with messages such as “We want justice for Marielle and Anderson.”

“Being here is an act of resistance. As a black woman I must be present to make my voice heard and show important Marielle and Anderson were and still our in our lives,” Geovanna Januario, a 26-year-old geographer told AFP outside the courthouse.

Like many of the demonstrators Januario was holding a sunflower, a flower which Franco had made her personal marker.

“What happened to her was extremely brutal,” Lucas Barbosa, a 27-year-old journalism student said.

“Years have passed without any answers being provided. It is important to get those answers as quickly as possible to put those people in jail,” he said.

Last week, the Brazao brothers were questioned by the Supreme Court, as was former Rio police chief Rivaldo Barbosa, who is accused of obstructing the investigation into Franco’s death.

He denies the allegations.

Amnesty International hailed the trial as “an important step” but said “true justice” would only come about when “all those responsible for the crime, including its masterminds” had been held to account.