Our generations NHS: support grows for universal basic income. It was when he set up a pro bono advice clinic for people facing homelessness that Jonathan Williams, a trainee solicitor, really became committed to the idea of trialling universal basic income (UBI). âThere was someone who had been on the street for over 12 months and he was exhausted. I just thought it would be a great foundation for him to get himself back on his feet,â he said. âSo many people fall through the cracks and thereâs a lot of people now that donât even apply for universal credit because theyâve just given up on it.â Soon afterwards, and faced with an economic crisis triggered by coronavirus, he co-founded the Cardiff UBI Lab in May, one of a growing number of grassroots groups set up to examine the ideaâs potential impact within a certain area and explore the launching of pilot schemes. Since the pandemic struck Britain, the number of UBI Labs has more than doubled, to 24 within the UBI Lab Network. UBI proposes that every citizen, regardless of their means, receives a sum of money â £1,000, for example â regularly and for life to cover the basic cost of living. Its proponents argue it will alleviate poverty and give people time to retrain and adapt to changing workplaces, be more creative and become more active and engaged. âItâs a 21st-century solution to 21st-century problems â it could be our generationâs NHS,â said Williams. âOur generation need a policy that is going to help people and I think this could really invigorate entrepreneurialism and help local economies.â
Up To Two Years In Prison For Vehicle Dwellers? Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees Bid to Ethnically Cleanse St Werburghs - Bristols Labour Mayor Marvin Rees has employed an expensive London barrister, one of the UKs top public law and injunction lawyers, to try and ban travellers from the central Bristol parish of St Werburghs. This means scores of individuals who have managed to get an affordable vehicle or caravan roof over their heads may now be criminalised for living in this part of the city. Though businesses and a small number of residents have been complaining on and off for a decade or so about vehicle dwellers in the area, in February 2020 articles written by the Bristol Post chief reporter Conor Gogarty appeared in the local paper and the national Daily Mirror accusing, with only circumstantial photographic evidence, van-dwellers collectively of a host of crimes including drug use, graffiti, defecating in the street, crimes which are, in fact endemic right across the poorer quarters of the city. Not mentioned by Mr Gogarty in his articles is Bristol mayor Marvin Rees closure of the citys public toilets and refusal of Marvin Rees administration to provide even simple sanitary or rubbish facilities for van-dwellers in the form of portaloos or communal bins. If the plaintiffs, Bristol City Council Legal Services Department represented by Mr Daniel Stilitz QC, are successful, it will mean signs going up on lampposts in the parish injuncting all van and caravan dwellers out of the area. Anyone discovered by Bristol City Council security, civil enforcement officers or police to be sleeping in a vehicle or caravan in St Werburghs will be liable to be summonsed for contempt of court, facing a maximum sentence of two years in prison. This quarter of the city is presently undergoing gentrification and some travellers believe that the councils move may be driven by property speculators who believe new flats will not sell for top prices if the area is seen to be teeming with travellers. But Bristol is one of the most important traveller cities in the UK with many working on the South West annual festival circuit and spending the winter in the city. The 2020 pandemic however has decimated cultural and creative industries and meant many travellers are spending summer in the city for the first time in decades raising the question that Marvin Rees and the city establishment see this one-off pandemic-induced traveller overload as a rare opportunity to target itinerants. Indeed travellers have been staying in Bristol for centuries and as such are a protected ethnic group under European, British and Bristol City Councils own human rights legislation/ethical standards. Many have pointed out that whereas the previous independent mayor George Ferguson took a more tolerant view, trying to balance the needs of van-dwellers with the concerns of local residents wherever possible in the city, the present unelected Labour mayor Marvin Rees, who, due to SARS-CoV-2, did not stand for re-election as he was due to do in May 2020, has been working much more closely with local businesses, firmly taking their side in the long-running dispute. In an apparently contradictory twist mayor Rees is this week also calling for compassion toward minorities in his City of Sanctuary, updated in 2020 to a City of Hope asking Bristol residents to take vulnerable homeless people into their own homes. On 11 August he was quoted by the BBC: "We have a great opportunity to make sure that no-one has to return to the streets following the Covid-19 crisis, and that includes people seeking asylum in our city." In a previous case two years ago in June 2018 Mr Rees successfully injuncted scores of van-dwellers in the Easton area of Bristol out of Greenbank Road next to Greenbank cemetery, with the mayor who also lives adjacent to the cemetery presumably being one of those calling for the travellers to be removed from just one road rather than a whole parish. Many are now wondering, if Marvin Rees obtains this injunction, from Greenbank displacing travellers to St Werburghs to....? Where will the scores of van-dwellers be herded to next? Or will Marvin Rees decide that with large council-owned sites around the city centre fenced off and empty, he may now have a duty to open them up for travellers. The case is due to conclude at Bristols Civil Justice Centre in November.
Our Cultural Joys Are Being Destroyed, Cromwell/Puritan Style! SHOWING SUPPORT FOR THE EMBATTLED EVENTS INDUSTRY - Venues across Bristol were illuminated red in support of the events industry, with dozens of events professionals also standing in silence on College Green. Tuesday eveningâs events were part of two campaigns, #WeMakeEvents and #LightInRed, which have the message that without immediate and meaningful support from the government, the UKâs live events sector supply chain is at risk of collapse. The socially distanced art installation on College Green saw those taking part wearing all black with red masks to reinforce that they stand âon guardâ of their industry, which many fear will cease to exist if help is not given. While many people can return to work, talented and experienced event professionals cannot. The #WeMakeEvents campaign highlight the need for an extension of furlough, extension of the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme and making grants available to businesses in the event supply chain...Â
Financial situations due to Covid 19 and government intervention. Universal Basic Income âÂ
BBC report. Censorship. Bank collapse. Covid 19 as biological warfare.
Piers Corbyn runs an anti Lockdown protest in central Bristol:
Piers Corbyn Prof. Jo House Climate change debate: Is Climate Change Really Man Made?
The Post STORY LINK**; Piers Corbynâs speech with interruption by a Sayanim.
More at risk from masks STORY LINK**.
Pandemic and psychological warfare. 5000 recorded Covid deaths extra - Coronavirus: England death count review reduces UK toll by 5,000 - A review of how deaths from coronavirus are counted in England has reduced the UK death toll by more than 5,000, to 41,329, the government has announced. The recalculation is based on a new definition of who has died from Covid. Previously, people in England who died at any point following a positive test, regardless of cause, were counted in the figures. But there will now be a cut-off of 28 days, providing a more accurate picture of the epidemic. This brings Englands measure in line with the other UK nations. New counting method The new methodology for counting deaths means the total number of people in the UK who have died from Covid-19 comes down from 46,706 to 41,329 - a reduction of 12%. And figures for deaths in England for the most recent week of data - 18 to 24 July - will drop by 75%, from 442 to 111. Prof John Newton, director of health improvement at Public Health England (PHE), said: "The way we count deaths in people with Covid-19 in England was originally chosen to avoid underestimating deaths caused by the virus in the early stages of the pandemic." But he said the new methods of calculating deaths from the virus would give "crucial information about both recent trends and the overall mortality burden due to Covid-19"....
Covid antibody study - Up to 6% of Englands population may have had Covid, study shows Imperial College home testing programme suggests 13% of Londoners have antibodies. About 3.4 million people in England â 6% of the population â have had Covid-19, with infections more common among members of black, Asian and minority ethnic communities, according to the results of a large home antibody testing study. The results from the study, known as React-2, are based on home finger-prick antibody test results from 100,000 participants across the 314 local authorities in England. âIt gives us the most robust, cross-sectional estimate of the number of people who have been infected during the first wave of the pandemic,â said Prof Graham Cooke, a co-author of the research from Imperial College London. âBecause we have done it in scale we can have more confidence about the differences between different groups,â he added. Cooke said the study, which has not yet been peer reviewed, provides important insights, both for easing lockdown and preparing for a second wave. âThere is no evidence of anything near high-enough levels of herd immunity for this to be helpful at a population level and that it is likely there is a high proportion of susceptible people out there still that need to be protected,â he said. The 3.4 million people that it represents is many times higher than the tally of known cases for the UK as posted by Johns Hopkins University in the US â whose aggregated numbers have become the main reference for monitoring the disease â and which listed the countryâs case numbers at 315,546 as of Thursday morning...
Sweden â herd immunity. Swedenâs Chief Epidemiologist: Our Capital Should Soon Reach Herd Immunity From Virus. Swedenâs chief epidemiologist has doubled down on his optimism regarding the coronavirus in his country, asserting that in a matter of weeks herd immunity could be reached in Swedenâs capital, Stockholm. Dr. Anders Tegnell, chief epidemiologist at Swedenâs Public Health Agency, told CNBC, âIn major parts of Sweden, around Stockholm, we have reached a plateau (in new cases) and weâre already seeing the effect of herd immunity and in a few weeksâ time weâll see even more of the effects of that. And in the rest of the country, the situation is stable.â He added that sampling and modeling data showed 20% of Stockholmâs population is already immune to the coronavirus, and that âin a few weeksâ time we might reach herd immunity and we believe that is why weâre seeing a slow decline in cases, in spite of sampling (testing for the coronavirus) more and more.â...
Peter Hitchins - King Canuteâs struggle against the tide like us fighting Covid 19.Â
Was Easton-born Bristol Post editor for the last fifteen years Mike Norton sacked over damning national coverage of Bristol mayor Marvin Rees bullying local journalist Adam Postans? Bristol Post editor slams mayors petty and childish ridicule of local democracy reporter - That the people who run our city would behave in this way towards another human being, in plain sight, is reprehensible. It is an abuse of the public platform which their roles bestow upon them. And thatâs the point here. Adam is not just a journalist. He represents the public, who pay his wages - and the wages of the people mocking him. When Mr Rees and his cronies ridiculed Adam, they were ridiculing all of us and our right to scrutinise council business. Adam, who has been a qualified journalist for 24 years, was the only reporter at the meeting. These people would clearly prefer his seat to remain unoccupied. They want to control the narrative of how the councilâs business is reported, laced with their own nuances and no mentions of overspends or attribution.
Reach PLC controls Express, Mirror and Bristol Post, editor for 15 years Mike Norton has left The Post - Bristol Post newspaper job cuts a threat to democracy - The National Union of Journalists has warned about the "threat to democracy" over the planned cuts. Redundancies at two local newspapers pose "a grave threat" to Bristols democracy, a union has warned. All nine news reporters at the Bristol Post are at risk along with all staff at the Western Daily Press. "Fewer journalists means fewer people to question those in power," a spokesperson for the National Union of Journalists said. The owner of the two titles, Reach, said it was "proud" of its Bristol papers and the "vital role" they play. "Reach continues to consult with colleagues and trade unions over the proposed changes which are subject to a minimum-45 day statutory consultation period," the statement added. "The pandemic has seen significant declines in local advertising, so these changes are required and are about us operating more efficiently to protect local journalism and our news brands for the long-term." Reach, which was created in March 2018 when Trinity Mirror bought the Daily Express and other titles, saw a 13% drop in revenue last year amid a continued decline in print newspaper sales. Grave threat: The firm, which also runs the Bristol Live website, announced the cuts earlier in July. In a meeting with staff on Wednesday, bosses told employees that 22 of 58 at-risk posts would be going across titles in the South West. Nationally, Reach is cutting 550 jobs. It comes after the editor of the Post, Mike Norton, left his job after 15 years in the role.Â
Rockefeller Foundation Lock Step Paper Published in 2010 Predicted How a Pandemic Could be Used as an Excuse to Establish Global Authoritarian Power - Need to Knowâ news site â Lockstep. China. Depopulation and Covid 19 - The report in question has the bland title, âScenarios for the Future of Technology and International Development.â It was published in May 2010 in cooperation with the Global Business Network of futurologist Peter Schwartz. The report contains various futurist scenarios developed by Schwartz and company. One scenario carries the intriguing title, âLOCK STEP: A world of tighter top-down government control and more authoritarian leadership, with limited innovation and growing citizen pushback.â Here it gets interesting as in what some term predictive programming. The Schwartz scenario states, âIn 2012, the pandemic that the world had been anticipating for years finally hit. Unlike 2009âs H1N1, this new influenza strain â originating from wild geese â was extremely virulent and deadly. Even the most pandemic-prepared nations were quickly overwhelmed when the virus streaked around the world, infecting nearly 20 percent of the global population and killing 8 million in just seven monthsâ¦â He continues, âThe pandemic also had a deadly effect on economies: international mobility of both people and goods screeched to a halt, debilitating industries like tourism and breaking global supply chains. Even locally, normally bustling shops and office buildings sat empty for months, devoid of both employees and customers.â This sounds eerily familiar. Then the scenario gets very interesting: âDuring the pandemic, national leaders around the world flexed their authority and imposed airtight rules and restrictions, from the mandatory wearing of face masks to body-temperature checks at the entries to communal spaces like train stations and supermarkets. Even after the pandemic faded, this more authoritarian control and oversight of citizens and their activities stuck and even intensified. In order to protect themselves from the spread of increasingly global problems â from pandemics and transnational terrorism to environmental crises and rising poverty â leaders around the world took a firmer grip on power.â
CRITICISM OF HOW SECRET NATIONALISED BRISTOL ENERGY SALE HAS BEEN HANDLED - Opposition councillors have responded to the sale of the business side of Bristol Energy, with criticism of the way the whole saga has been handled. On Monday it was announced that Yü Energy has acquired 4,000 accounts from the troubled company for £1.34m, a sum branded âpaltryâ by Green mayoral candidate Sandy Hore-Ruthven, who has blamed the Labour administration for being âtoo secretiveâ. The deputy leader of Bristolâs Tory councillor group Claire Hiscott called the sale a necessary step to ending the councilâs involvement with the loss-making firm but said taxpayersâ will be left saddled with huge financial losses. The Lib Dems have warned the full extent of these losses are yet to be realised. Bristol Energy has received £36.5m in public money since its launch in 2015 and has posted official losses of £32.5m. The sale of its business customer base to Yü Energy was confirmed the day before the Nottingham-based firm made headlines again with reports it was reprimanded on the London Stock Exchange over an accounting scandal...
Lloyds Bank Castle Park branch accused by hundreds of business support unit customers of fraud and profiteering - Fresh row threatens to spoil Antonios swansong: Lloyds boss admits he knew of an alleged fraud at HBOS Bristol By LUCY WHITE FOR THE DAILY MAIL - Another scandal is threatening to engulf Lloyds Bank boss Antonio Horta-Osorio before he signs off next year.The Portuguese chief executive has admitted he knew of an alleged fraud in the HBOS Bristol branch which may have affected hundreds of small business customers. Lloyds may now face a criminal inquiry over the events in Bristol, which could drag in figures including Horta-Osorio.Â
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