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Antibiotic resistant bacteria discovered in Antarctica, should we be worried?

by John Mills 2:53 PM

Given the devastation Covid 19 has caused on a worldwide basis, and the rumblings of yet another possible, if less damaging pandemic of Monkeypox, the news coming out of the scientific community about the discovery of bacteria in Antarctica that have natural antibiotic and antimicrobial resistance is particularly worrying, and, in other, less diseased and warring times, would have been front page news on websites and newspapers.

The emergence of these bacterial strains is tied in to global warming, and the thawing of once permafrost locked soil. Whereas in isolation, these bacteria may (or may not) be innocuous, and not affect the human community at all, but the worry is that the bacteria have evolved to resist the extreme polar conditions, but also, due to the way their DNA is organised, their characteristics can be easily transferred to other, more dangerous, bacteria, with the result that normal, long effective multiple antibiotics and other antimicrobial substances, like copper and chlorine no longer work in their treatment.

Should we be panicking now? Probably not, but, as we’ve seen in the past, the faster we react to threats, the less damaging they are. With Covid 19, world wide actions were delayed until it was too late to stop the global pandemic it became, it was if the West particularly tried to collectively look the other way and hope it would go away.

And as travel between the Antarctic Peninsula and the rest of the world continues to increase with the reduction of the ice sheets and an increasingly warming environment, the threat of the resistant bacteria characteristics escaping in to the rest of the world is a definite threat that needs attention now, not after the damage is irrevocably done. Imagine the nightmare scenario of a disease of the likes of Ebola combining with the resistant DNA and becoming untreatable with any modern antibiotics or antimicrobial agents?

So, what can we do? I would suggest straight away some form of quarantine for Antarctica, even if simply restricting the numbers visiting, and having decontamination protocols in place. And also limit the disturbing of any of the newly revealed soils and lands.

Currently practical difficulties and costs of extraction mean that Antarctica is not under immediate threat from mineral exploitation. There has never been any commercial mining in Antarctica, mining is currently banned by the Antarctic Treaty until 2048, when any changes will need at least a 75% vote from the involved countries. And there are no known plans by any of the Antarctic Treaty nations to reverse this decision. This, however, is not so far away now, and if the Treaty is to be re-ratified, the appearance of this latest discovery should be a concern to all nations, and taken in to additional account.

Antarctica has mineral deposits, though, with the remoteness and weather conditions, they are not economically viable to mine. The covering of snow and ice, usually hundreds or even thousands of feet thick have acted as a strong detriment for mining and extraction, but with a modern world rapidly exhausting natural resources, in 26 years’ time, the needs of modern life may outweigh the current reluctance to disturb one of the last natural environments on the planet
.It may be best for the planet, and for the survival of the human species, that Antarctica is left as pristine and untouched as we possibly can leave it. But, given our seeming need to accelerate our own extinction, personally I can’t see any actions being taken until its just too late. It’s the human way.

2:53 PM 28 views

The Teller Institute was one of more than 350 federally run boarding schools in the U.S. to assimilate Native American children.

Articles

Burial sites found at 53 Native American boarding schools

by John Mills 5:38 PM

The Teller Institute was one of more than 350 federally run boarding schools in the U.S. to assimilate Native American children.

Following on from an article I published on this website, Cultural Genocide, relating to the deadly cost to indigenous populations of colonial growth in Canada, it appears that their close neighbours across the border in the United States are themselves no moral upland, with the discovery of “marked or unmarked burial sites” containing the remains of at least 500 Native American, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian children at some 50 gravesites with more gravesites likely be found at more than 400 former government sponsored Native American boarding schools which operated between 1819 and 1969.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, a former congresswoman from New Mexico and the first Native American to serve as a cabinet secretary, introduced legislation in 2020 calling for a Truth and Healing Commission into conditions at former federal Indian boarding schools. That legislation is still pending. Deb Haaland’s grandparents were both forced to attend such a boarding school, and she said at a recent press conference. “Many children like them never made it back to their homes. Each of those children is a missing family member, a person who was not able to live out their purpose on this Earth because they lost their lives as part of this terrible system,”.

Whereas Canada carried out a full investigation into its schools via a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the United States appeared to be dragging its feet over the same possibilities of revelations about these establishments. Finally, the “Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report” was released by the United States Department of Interior was released this Wednesday.

For over 150 years, Native American children in the United States were forcibly removed from their tribes and sent to such schools in an effort at forced assimilation, suppression of their own cultures and forbidden from speaking their native languages. The provision of care was grossly inadequate with well-documented instances of physical, sexual and emotional abuse, disease, malnourishment, overcrowding; and lack of health care. Manual labour was also a common feature — in 1903 at the Mescalero Boarding School in New Mexico, Mescalero Apache boys sawed over 70,000 feet of lumber and made upward of 120,000 bricks. Many children tried to escape but were found, brought back and punished. The deaths of Indian children while under the care of the United States Government, or associated institutions, led to the breakup of Indian families and the erosion of Indian Tribes, Alaska Native Villages, and the Native Hawaiian Community.

The latest report is the first time that the United States government has attempted to research the degrees to which it inflicted such treatment on Native American children for decades but it still does not show how the children died or who was responsible. An accompanying news release acknowledged the maltreatment of Indigenous children during the period of the school’s existence, but stop short of offering an apology from the United States government, which Native American tribal leaders have been demanding for many years. Conversely, Pope Francis apologised for the Catholic Church’s role in Canada’s boarding school system, and First Nation leaders are now asking him to apologise in person when he visits the United States this summer.

The number of recorded deaths amongst displaced Native American children is expected to increase, with the numbers declared so far significantly less than some estimates, which are in the tens of thousands.
It wasn’t just a cultural genocide, it was ethnic cleansing, removing generations of Native Americans from their homelands, permanently, so satisfy the land greed of an invading race. If this was in any other part of the world, it would be condemned universally, but in today’s USA, it is just a footnote to be ignored by the majority.

5:38 PM 4 views

Articles

The Government’s Elections Bill, and the threat to true democracy

by John Mills 10:39 AM

After last week’s local elections, and the subsequent mass coverage of the telling results, one item that doesn’t seem to have been made apparent to everyone who cares about democracy is that these are the final elections where English voters will be able to turn up at polling stations and not have to show some form of officially sanctioned ID to actually vote. This will not, as yet, apply to the devolved countries of Wales, Scotland and Norther Ireland, but you can almost guarantee that they will fall in line once pressure is applied from Westminster.

Strangely (or not, if you understand that the majority of UK news sources don’t appear to be independent any more), the passing of the Government’s Elections Bill has not received any mass publicity, yet it is the most major change in the unwritten, uncodified democratic constitution in centuries, and instigated by a Conservative Party who continue to build on their isolationist policies. However, more worrying, is that opposition parties have as yet shown no opposition to the changes. There has always been a tradition of openness and trust in the electorate over the centuries, but this has now ended in preference, by Government, of the police state ‘show me your papers’ approach that was once despised by all in the so-called free world. Anyone remember Boris Johnson, when talking of British ID cards stating “I loathe the idea on principle. I never want to be commanded, by any emanation of the British state, to produce evidence of my identity… I will take that card out of my wallet and physically eat it.” Hopefully he will soon be choking on his chosen lunch.

Already, this ill-thought-out process will disenfranchise around two million people do not own the ‘right’ form of ID under the new law and will cost the taxpayer between £65 million and £180 million over the next decade, in a time of exploding costs of living. And, as to what seems the usual victims of such changes, low-income, older voters and some black, Asian and ethnic minority communities will be those hardest hit. And even the now growing young persons voting demographic will possibly find their what has been an accepted right will be hit, with the accepted forms of ID including passports, driving licences, Oyster 60+ cards, Older Person’s Bus Passes and Senior/60+ Smart Passes but not young persons’ railcards. And even with the first two versions of acceptable ID, passports and driving licences, it may not have escaped even the Governments notice that there are currently excessive delays at the DVLA and Passport Office. In fact, Johnson himself has taken both to task in recent weeks, yet he and his government are now expecting these agencies to take on extra work, with no funding, to satisfy the undoubted rush for documentation to ensure a vote. This will also filter down to local councils, who will be required to provide a ‘free’ (someone always pays, and, yes, you guessed it, once more it will be you via heightened local taxes) ID scheme under the new law.

What happens to those who don’t drive or go on holiday? No requirement for either a passport or driving licence, so be prepared for a visit to your local council offices to have your photo taken and then have your application for a ‘free’ ID countersigned by someone responsible, maybe at an additional cost to yourself. All this just to have what you already have for free. It’s almost like ‘they’ don’t want you to vote. In fact, when the House of Lords attempted to expand the list of acceptable forms of ID to forms such as debit/credit and union cards in the Elections Bill, the Conservative government opposed any changes.

Having done my own duty, and visited a polling station to put in my vote (for my local, successful Plaid Cymru candidate) it was noticeable that as opposed to past years, there was a definite dearth of people even attending the polling station in person. Another thought comes to mind surrounding the Bill. The requirement to show ID will only apply to those physically voting in polling stations, which will obviously encourage the use of postal voting. Strangely enough, 67% of those aged 70+ who used postal voting in the 2019 General Election voted Conservative according to YouGov. It’s almost as if the government are trying to influence voting levels by removing access to those who oppose them. Not that I’m suggesting that this is a tactic they would use, of course…..

The Elections Bill appears not to be about stopping people from voting twice – but stopping them from voting even once. Is democracy dying in plain sight?

10:39 AM 4 views

Articles

The Dark Side of Chocolate

by John Mills 10:21 AM

The Dark Side of Chocolate is a 2010 documentary about exploitation and slave trading of African children in the cocoa industry. In the cocoa plantations of Ghana and the Ivory Coast, children aged from 7 to 15 years old, with the promise of paid work, are forced into slave labour.

The documentary was shown to the International Labor Organization in Switzerland, a UN agency working to stop child labor in industry. Nestle and other chocolate producing companies declined an invitation to watch the film and to answer questions.

The documentary producer,Danish journalist Miki Mistrati, set up a large screen next to Nestle’s headquarters in Switzerland, embarrasing Nestle’s executives so much that they rang the police to get it turned off. Obviously, Nestle, and probably many others in the industry, don’t want the wider world to understand what the damage their chocolate supply is causing to such young children.

The Dark Side of Chocolate was directed by Danish journalist Miki Mistrati who investigated the use of child labor and trafficked children in chocolate production.

Much of the footage in this documentary is recorded using a secret camera.

Next time you tuck in to your Mars Bar, think of how it got to you.

10:21 AM 2 views

Articles

Climate Change – a Real Solution?

by John Mills 3:44 PM

Everyone must be aware of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, being held in Glasgow, where countries will set out their carbon reduction plans for 2030. and also, the 15,000 strong ‘march’ of youth protest led by Greta Thunberg, who’s keynote comment was that world leaders have had “26 COPs, they have had decades of blah, blah, blah – and where has that got us?”. However, she has consistently avoided getting into the detail of what action should be taken, saying “it is nothing to do with me”.

And it is statements like that, from both protestors and politicians which really illustrate where the human race stands at this moment in time regarding how to deal with the man-made destruction of the planet we live on. Everyone makes sounds about solving climate change (the average world temperature is now about 1.2C warmer than it was in 1850 and the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere has risen by 50%), which now threatens every aspect of human life, with droughts, sea level rise and mass extinction of species likely to become the norm in the lifetime of anyone reading this, at least 550 species could be lost just this century if actions are not taken.

We are already seeing some devastating effects of this warming, most recently with extreme rainfall causing disastrous flooding in China, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and other countries. And this is just the beginning, with other areas suffering devastating droughts, all of which interrupts the food chain of farming, leading to famine and starvation. This isn’t a movie, or some obscure TV documentary in some far-off land, this is coming to us all, and soon.

We face an enormous challenge, but there are potential solutions, however unpalatable to many, both individuals and countries. Although a large number of countries have pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as much as possible and balancing out remaining emissions by absorbing an equivalent amount from the atmosphere. And as frozen tundra melts in places like Siberia, greenhouse gases trapped for centuries will be released into the atmosphere, accelerating climate change. With the aim to reach net zero by 2050, the steps needed to achieve this target will be by necessity draconian.

But how much are people prepared to tolerate to actually save the planet? For example, would everybody be prepared to give up their cars in favour of mass (electric!) public transport? And those vocal children walking through the streets of Glasgow, would they give up their driving lessons and future cars? Would YOU want to give up your holiday abroad every year to cut down on airflights? Everything we see when we look around ourselves contributes to pollution, phones, TVs, tablets, yet we seem to be blind to this, and still want the latest even though the current models are perfectly serviceable, with no thought about how such items are manufactured, and how the now out of fashion items are disposed of. Imagine a world where you could only upgrade your electronic goods once a decade? Can you?

And therein lies the problem. Modern life is based around the greed of possession, everybody DEMANDS the latest, whatever that may be, but then take to the streets, newspapers, and social media berating governments for not saving them, when in fact, they are the agents of their own destruction. And, as we have seen, the governments seem quite happy to dictate the methods by which they aim to reduce our carbon footprint, but then turn up in around 400 private jets to a climate crisis meeting! And how many of the protestors walked or cycled to Glasgow?

If any of the proposed methods are to be successful, we ALL need to be in it, not just the man in the street, but everyone otherwise the effort will be defeated before it starts, such is human nature. And time is very short, the tip over point is already here.

3:44 PM 4 views

Articles

Electric vehicles, the future or another failed dream?

by John Mills 3:39 PM

The Electric Vehicle era has been gathering (slow) pace for a few years now, with Governments across the world setting dates when the fossil fuel burning vehicle era will supposedly be at an end. And this movement is slowly but surely picking up speed, the latest figures show that there are over 5.6 million electric vehicles worldwide, with China being the market leaders. Electric vehicles currently make up only 3% (1 in 250) of car sales worldwide. By 2025 this will reach 10%, growing to 28% in 2030 and 58% by 2040. Conversely, they will only account for less than 33% of all the vehicles on the road.

These numbers sound fine, and the ethics of reducing pollution are obviously very much a necessity. However, although I can see other countries across the world making a success of such a transition, the physical makeup of the British Isles, and its industrial past, will make it very difficult for it to work within the proposed timescales.

A lot of people are sceptical of the benefits of electric vehicles based initially on being able to charge them. If you have a drive, this is not as much of a concern, as you can trickle charge your electric vehicle overnight. However, if you are both an owner of a house (or flat) with no drive (around 40% of the current housing stock), you are reliant on public charge points, either in garages or other places, such as supermarkets. In fact, public charge points outnumber petrol stations in the UK (there are 8,471 charging sites across the UK as opposed to 8,400 petrol stations, although, obviously, the petrol stations can service many more fossil fuel vehicles compared to electric vehicles).

So how does that massive slice of the population charge their electric vehicles? Currently, the infrastructure for supplying charging to these potential users is just not in place. In some areas, lampposts and other street furniture have been converted to support charging points (Coventry, Buckinghamshire and parts of London), but this has been extremely limited in take up by councils who are basically cash strapped. So, your only option would be either going to a public charging centre, queuing, and spending the time necessary to maintain a working charge, or run a charging cable across pavements to your car, provided obviously that you could actually park your car outside your house. I’ve already seen places where charging cables have been crossing pavements, in some cases covered by, and weighed down with, strips of heavy plastic. There are obvious dangers in this, especially to anyone with a pram or in a wheelchair, and pedestrians, who all may trip and fall over these cables. A possibility for the ambulance chasing community to have yet another outlet for their ‘blame and claim’ market. Or a much more predictable rise in thefts of charging cables, and EBay having its own section for onward sales of such acquired hardware.

However, there may be some (dim) light on the horizon, with the government announcing it is pumping nearly £40m into improving the infrastructure and to develop new technologies such as wireless charging panels and pop-up chargers built into the pavement. This may be once again phantom money promised by a government who have history of such unfollowed through promises, or money awarded to ‘friends’ of the Tory government as seen when PPE contracts were awarded. And even if this money did arrive in its entirety and actually spent on what it was intended for, how far would it go? How much would it cost to put an electric charging point in your home? Some of this money is already available, as the government provides a grant of £500 towards an installation of a charging point. A basic charging unit can cost around £700 currently (faster charging units cost around £1,500) but the price of installation can vary depending on how far the charging point is from the mains supply. Even if you don’t install a charging unit, you can still charge your car from your mains supply using the kit provided by your car manufacturer, but it will charge more slowly.

I think that perhaps a more foresighted government might have taken a long-term view when the project to install fibre cabling to support broadband wasn’t seen as an opportunity to route electrical cable through the same trench, and as well as installing connection points for broadband outside every home, they could also have added charging points for electric vehicles. It’s not a difficult leap in forward planning, but as with most things these days, the ability to look ahead seems to escape those in power.

Finally, a few comments and concerns on the ‘greenness’ and sustainability of electrical vehicles. The main concerns are surrounding producing the extra electricity needed for replacing the current estimated 32 million cars in the UK (31 million of them are still petrol or diesel powered), and also what to do with the vehicle batteries once they become inefficient or scrapped.

Can we produce enough electricity to support everyone having an electric car? In the absence of a current infrastructure to support such a massive deployment, over time I have no doubt that power production can and will be grown. However, even with a significant increase in solar and wind power generation without doubt there will need to be new nuclear plants built to support the massive extra demand of electric vehicles, but also to replace our current ageing nuclear and fossil fuel power stations. Are we simply swapping one form of pollution for another? I guess it’s a straight choice between global warming and nuclear pollution of waste storage areas for thousands of years in the future.

And even if we have the capacity to produce the amount of electricity necessary, will we be able to cope with peak charging times when usage will likely rocket up. Maybe drivers could be incentivised to charge their vehicle at non-peak times or maybe the use of technologies that only draw electricity from the grid at low demand periods. Otherwise, if the technology doesn’t become available soon, we may see power cuts, restrictions and prioritising of supplies to essential services.

Also, the cost of energy is currently rocketing. It may be at present electric vehicles will seem to be a cheap alternative to petrol and diesel, but that can change overnight, and we might see those of a lower income priced out of a competitive market, with, eventually, no alternatives. Will public transport improve to cope? Has it ever gotten any better for years? Maybe the introduction of a subscription for charging your vehicle, where you pay one fee and get access to charging points everywhere, because if there is no agreement between suppliers, you may find it difficult to find a public charging station, and, unlike with petrol or diesel engines, you may not be able to ‘fill up’ in competing charging stations if you are travelling around.

To manage the cost, you could look at models. With these, you’ll pay a monthly or annual fee for access and this can work out cheaper per charge than paying as and when you use the charging point – especially if you’re using the same ones regularly. If the network provides unlimited charging for a set subscription free, this may prove very cost effective in the long run. There may be free charging points at the moment, but do you honestly think these will still exist once money can be made from them?

As for the batteries in the vehicles, there needs to be a plan in place for their disposal or even reuse once they are beyond their useful age. Currently, the battery degrades after around 10 years and must be replaced. Undoubtedly technology will bring along better, longer lasting technologies to extend their lifetimes, but even with an initial swathe of 32 million batteries, in the UK alone, what will happen to them? Under EU regulations it is currently illegal for vehicle batteries to be incinerated or sent to landfill. However, the UK currently has no specialist facilities which can commercially separate the metals in the battery for reuse and any old batteries are exported to a European country which does have specialist recycling facilities. Once there, the batteries are then incinerated (more pollution?) and approximately half of each battery can be recycled, but it still leaves a very large amount of waste that will need disposal.

However, there may be alternatives, such as reusing the batteries for less demanding usages other than to power an electric vehicle. However, they can be still used to store, and supply, electricity, and could be used in places such as stadiums to power back up lighting systems where the demand on the batteries is not as large. Again, because electric vehicle technology is in its infancy, it is difficult to predict what systems could be put in place to create a holistic system. As a further example, old batteries could be used to power the process of producing new ones,

Electric vehicles, pollution reduction, stopping slash and burn deforestation, landfill reduction, recycling, all these and more are things that need addressing now, not later, and I’m sure there are much more intelligent people than I already thinking about such solutions, but they do need to think faster, because time is passing rapidly, and there may be a lack of second chances coming our way.

3:39 PM 4 views

Articles

A World Cup every two years?

by John Mills 1:35 PM

As any followers of football, and many who don’t but understand the impact football has on society, will have been aware that FIFA are proposing is to host a World Cup every two years instead of the four which has been the norm. The tournament was first held in 1930, when FIFA, the world’s football governing body, decided to stage an international men’s football tournament under the direction of FIFA president Jules Rimet who put this idea into place.

Before I go any further in to my thoughts on this, FIFA have issued the results of a survey of 15000 ‘football fans’ that seems to support FIFA’s view that the fans want this change. Strangely, this is a survey commissioned by FIFA without consulting confederations or national leagues, rather than an independent body, which results support FIFA’s view. Yet, on every other online poll I’ve seen on social media and websites, without exception, every one has upwards of 90% of REAL fans against such a move. It would be interesting to see who was actually asked the questions in the poll, were they in countries that have not hosted a World Cup? Were they actually people who attend football matches, or rather watch highlights on TV and social media, the TikTok generation, who may not have any concept of the depth of feeling watching a full football match, live, at the ground of a team you are deeply emotionally connected to?

To anyone coldly watching from the outside, it appears to be a profit driven organisation trying to manipulate public opinion to drive through a deeply unpopular massive change in sport to their own advantage, with no real consideration given to the players, fans, communities and economics of society. FIFA wants the international game to reclaim some of the financial power, commercial impact and status of the club game, but fails to understand that the majority of fans always put club before country when it comes to football. All the attempted changes will do will be to drive a larger wedge between club and country and will have the opposite effect to the one desired, and actually diminish and devalue the importance of the international game.

There is higher placed opposition to these as yet unimplemented plans, with UEFA, the European football governing organisation, regarding the moves as almost a declaration of war by FIFA on UEFA, currently the financial superpower of the world game. European football has the leading domestic leagues, richest clubs and Champions League all giving UEFA huge influence. But the increasing financial reliance of major European football teams on finance from the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Russia, China and the United States has given FIFA the chance to canvas support for their proposals to the international game. It appears 166 of FIFA’s 210 national associations have given their backing to the research, but the vast majority of these are non-European, strangely enough.

The issue ‘on the field’ is manyfold, with the proposed changes apparently being discussed in a vacuum without input from the clubs, players and fans. In the proposals that have appeared so far (mainly in an interview with Arsene Wenger (now FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development) even by itself, the four-week summer international tournament every two years would include possible monthly qualifying ‘international breaks’ in October and March, followed by a 25-day break after tournament, which amounts to around six months in that two-year cycle when players are away from their clubs. In the 18 months left, you will also have the European Championship, the UEFA Champions League, the UEFA Europa League, the Europa Conference League and of course, the domestic leagues, cup competitions and, of course, the lucrative preseason friendly tours which continue to drive the game to the four corners of the world and gave football its popularity in the rest of the world in the first place.

The idea of the October and March breaks would be to run qualification campaigns with reduced numbers in qualifying groups to feed an expanded 48-team participation number in the final World Cup tournament. UEFA has 55 member nations so it would mean 14 qualifying groups. Africa has 54 member nations and only 9 slots in the Finals, and South America, will have 6 qualifiers from 10 member nations, so their qualifying campaign could be over after just a couple of fixtures. It sounds like a recipe for disaster, as opposed to a time-tested current system that has worked well for nearly a century.

As for the fans, the almost forgotten element in all of this, they will undoubtedly still follow their teams, but, as we’ve seen, will pick and choose what they spend their reducing pot of spare cash on, as little by little they continued to get priced out of, and forgotten by, the game they brought to the world in the first place, which has now been stolen by a ruling class of football overlords who see no further than their own self-importance, and the bank balance of organisations that are so out of touch with what they are supposed to be governing and who they are governing it for it’s unreal.

In my opinion, football is continually being devalued by the move towards football being a disposable commodity, where availability and profitability is paramount, more so than achievement and loyalty to the fanbase. The introduction of throwaway competitions such as the Europa Conference League (what IS that all about?), the restructuring of the European Cup to become a competition where a team then can finish 5th in the own league can qualify and now this expansion of the World Cup to 48 teams, and 2-year tournaments in my mind completely remove the excitement of seeing elite teams and players competing against their peers. Instead, we have the football equivalent of magnolia paint, where you’re watch a match on the TV or online, watching players moving around, but caring as much about them or the result as you would about selecting a breakfast cereal.

Is this the future of football? If it is, thank goodness I don’t have too many years left, I would be extremely sad to see a sport that has been as close to a religion as I have, simply feels like a visit to the supermarket. For those that have supported your team, through thick and thin, and understand the passion and emotion that entails, stay true to your club, and keep telling the stories of achievement and sacrifice, the next generations will never experience, nor understand, what you have in your heart and mind.

Finally, FIFA, change for a reason that benefits all, not just the greedy and morally bankrupt, is a good thing. What you are doing is in no way good for football or, more importantly, the players and fans. But then again, you don’t really care, do you?

1:35 PM 4 views

Articles

Wat’s Dyke’s in Wrexham

by John Mills 4:25 PM

Wat’s Dyke is the second longest earthwork known from early medieval Britain, only over-shadowed in scale by its near neighbour Offa’s Dyke. Running almost continuously for 38 milesfrom the Dee estuary at Basingwerk to Maesbury Marsh south of Oswestry.

Both dykes are very close to where I was brought up in Bryn Offa, Wrexham, and, although ignorant of what they were at the time, formed a big part of my childhood exploration of my local area.

I’ve just been reading a fascinatiing blog about Wat’s Dyke and it’s location in Wrexhamand it turns out my Grandparents are actually buried in it where it crosses Wrexham Cemetery by Ruabon Road.

And strangely enough, it’s northern path from there runs along where Croesnewydd railway sidings used to be and up to its position on Crispin Lane right next to the Racecourse. I spent half my young life walking that route to watch Wrexham AFC without realising its historic significence. Talk about connecting the dots? I do recommend reading Howard Williams Blog on Wat’s Dyke, there’s some fascinating detail contained in it;

Where can you visit Wat’s Dyke in Wrexham?

I wonder how many of us walk similar, forgotten paths that our ancestors laid out, but have disappeared in history yet still seem to link our past with our present.

4:25 PM 4 views

Articles

Money laundering in the English Football League?

by John Mills 3:29 PM

Having watched and read about investigations in to money laundering opportunities using ownership of clubs in the English Football League as a medium, and having personal experience of approaches by ‘fronts’ for persons unknown to buy the club over the nearly 10 years I acted as a Director at Wrexham AFC, the existence of this shady world holds no surprise to me.

In a video, The Men Who Sell Football, by Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit, shows middlemen telling undercover reporters how they can hide a criminal’s money and identity behind offshore trusts and submit fraudulent due-diligence reports to English football authorities. It also shows how the same middlemen use “dirty tricks” and can obtain new passports for the criminals, hiding buyers’ money and identities behind offshore accounts to deceive the football authorities and the current owners of vulnerable football clubs.

As an example of the type of characters that have been involved in these practices, Tony Xia, who he helped buy Aston Villa for a reported $105m in 2016, was “a front” for other buyers – but still obtained EFL approval. In October 2019 Chinese authorities issued an arrest warrant for Xia and he was later detained for failing to repay loans by creditors in China worth tens of millions of dollars. He denies the charges and remains in custody pending the results of a police investigation.

Another one was Anton Zingarevich, the son of Russian tycoon Boris Zingarevich, who bought Reading Football Club in 2012 when in fact Anton didn’t actually have any money. Anton became the owner with his father gifting him the money to purchase the club to meet the EFL ownership criteria. History shows that Anton Zingarevich quickly ran out of money, he did not have the funds to sustain the club and Reading were relegated after just one season in the Premiership, and he sold up leaving Reading holding a large deficit that he’d run up with no money left to pay it. The club, now in a perilous state, which, in an ideal world, would have been prevented by an Owners’ and Directors’ Test that actually worked. Indeed, he has subsequently been investigated for allegedly embezzling £17million, for fraudulently using loans meant for his energy company to finance ice hockey club Atlant Moscow Oblast another of his sport club purchases. As a footnote, In 2004 a secretive Russian tycoon tried to buy Premier League club Everton using dubious offshore trusts. However, the deal fell through after the tycoon’s name, Boris Zingarevich, was leaked to the media. Small world, isn’t it?

Following on from the Al Jazeera in-depth exposé, the authorities at the English Football League (EFL) has launched a review of its Owners’ and Directors’ Test which purposely bans anybody with an unspent criminal conviction with a sentence of more than 12 months jail sentence from owning a football club that plays in their competitions. It can also require prospective club owners to produce “evidence of the ultimate source and sufficiency of funds” to buy and sustain a club. There is also a connection to company law regulation because breaches of the EFL regulations are also likely to involve breaches of domestic legislation on ownership of football clubs as a business concern.

There has been growing pressure on the EFL for independent regulation and reform of the football authorities’ financial regulation and governance, including ownership, from sources such as the interim report by the UK Government’s fan-led review of football governance launched after the breakaway fiasco in April 2021, after the announcement of a European Super League for 12 leading clubs, including six English clubs – Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham who had signed up to the breakaway league which was dropped after 48 hours. The fans believed that billionaire owners were treating English football as a money-making scheme and cutting clubs off from their communities.

However, the vulnerability of the English football system to funds from dubious origins and unsuitable owners for their clubs remains. At Wrexham, although obviously not (as yet) initially attractive to the oligarch type of buyer, as mentioned at the beginning of this article, we have seen some activity of this kind, but, luckily, or rather, by doing initial due diligence, we have not been put in such situations. Before the current owners of the club arrived on the scene, we did see approaches from oversea prospective buyers, but in each case, it never reached the stage of the Owners’ and Directors’ Test as close initial examination by the Club Directors either brought up issues, or the prospective buyers disappeared off the scene as soon as they arrived, either as a result of the scrutiny, or their understanding of how the club was structured. However, I am aware of incidences of clubs at our level suddenly receiving inward investment, usually from very creditable and legal sources, but others less so, with payments arriving from off shore sources. Regulation is needed at all levels, and the creation of a transparent investment structure for each club that can be held up to scrutiny is essential.

We have indeed been very lucky to have such famous, publicly available and beneficial new owners, and hopefully the processes and checks we went through before the takeover was approved by the former owners, the club’s fans, could be seen as a model for future such takeovers. Our Football clubs hold a particular place in the heart of us all, whether you are directly involved in your own club, or just understand the place they hold our history, heritage and community and they should be protected.

Once we lose control of them, they are very, very difficult to restore back to that we hold so dear.

3:29 PM 5 views

Articles

Algorithms & Benefits

by John Mills 6:37 PM

Big Brother Watch (@BigBrotherWatch), a group dedicated to defending civil liberties and protecting privacy, has just release a report exposing the algorithms local councils have been using to screen benefit applicants. This is a quite disturbing exposé of how the population of the country are now being reduced to being ‘policed’ by computer algorithms. And don’t think that it is just the poorest elements of society that are being treated this way. You are probably even at this moment the subject of some computer program making decisions that effect your health, wealth and wellbeing. The more its tolerated, the more prevalent it will become to the degree that it becomes irreversible.

The following is an extract from this excellently researched report. The full report is available at the bottom of this introduction. Please take time to read it, awareness means you can make a decision on fighting it,. Never mind the Stockholm Syndrome, the entire British Isles seem to be suffering from a collective Tory Syndrome.

“Our report on Poverty and Digital Suspicion reflects many months of investigative research into the secretive emergence of a digital welfare state that risks perpetuating deeper data collection, processing and algorithmic bias, further disadvantaging some of our country’s most vulnerable people. This digital reshaping of the country’s century-old welfare system has happened behind closed doors, with minimal scrutiny and little public or parliamentary awareness. This report, which focuses on the digitisation of suspicion within local authorities, aims to shine a light on this drastic change and calls for transparency and reform.

In the course of our investigation, we have sent Freedom of Information requests (FOIs) to more than 400 local authorities about their use of algorithms, data analytics and automation in welfare systems; we have used Contracts Finder, Spend Network’s Insights and a data scraper to identify contracts from councils who claimed not to use algorithms in their decision making; and we have questioned both councils and contracted companies. We have been able to advance research of algorithms and data analytics in the welfare system both in breadth, across all local authorities, but also depth, taking deep dives into specific local authorities’ systems. In summary, we have found:

Approximately 1 in 3 local authorities risk-score people who receive housing benefit and council tax support when they apply, using opaque, privately-developed algorithms, covering more than 540,000 people.
Approximately 1 in 3 local authorities and more than 1 in 3 housing associations run predictive analytics to assess whether social housing occupants will keep up with rent payments. , adding up to 1.6 million tenancies.

Some large local authorities use bigger predictive systems that can model who is at risk of homelessness (Newcastle, Maidstone, Cornwall, Croydon, Haringey); others use similar systems to model children at risk of harm (Hillingdon, Bristol); whilst others can model general financial vulnerability (Barking and Dagenham). , with at least 250,000 people’s data being processed by huge predictive tools.

The Department for Work and Pensions conducts risk modelling of housing benefit recipients on a regular basis to predict who poses the highest fraud/error risk due to change of circumstance, and passes this data to local authorities.

Surveillance of the poor and vulnerable is becoming more deeply integrated in Britain’s welfare state. Algorithms decide who to subject to the most intrusive questions over their claim for welfare payments. Vast numbers of people who live in social housing are profiled every month to predict who will miss their rent payments. Complex predictive tools model the risk of homelessness, financial vulnerability and even the chance of harm from the pandemic. All of this happens without the knowledge or consent of the people whose data is secretively entered into these hidden systems.

Years of austerity and increasing pressure on local services have led to private companies advertising their supposedly high-tech solutions as the answer to diminishing council budgets, offering a way to do more with less.

Software firms are pitching technology as the answer to catching out fraudsters, making staff time more efficient and allowing for cost-saving early interventions.

However, automation and algorithms are not all they claim to be when it comes to public services. Whilst the claimed “benefits” are rarely evidenced, these opaque, invasive and often unfair systems rely on masses of personal data, generalised rules and stereotypes. Many of the predictive systems used by councils are, in practice, governed by private sector designers rather than publicly accountable officials. Furthermore, proxification of characteristics and algorithmic bias make discrimination in automated public services a real and threatening prospect.

Uncovering the real impact of AI and algorithmic decision-making in welfare is challenging, owing to low transparency in the welfare system, proprietary systems and the influence of private tech firms. This means that risks to people’s data rights go unchallenged. We are still unaware of a single case where an individual has been informed that they have been subjected to a purely automated decision, as per their legal rights under Article 22 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), indicating that vague legal definitions and a lack of oversight are facilitating a dangerous grey area between automated and human decisions.

Freedom of Information (FOI) requests have formed the basis of this report. Ever more refined queries and a ruthless approach to appeals yielded important disclosures and gave a detailed, if incomplete, insight into the surveillance of society’s most vulnerable.

Nevertheless, the influence of private suppliers in the FOI process is evident. There has been a pattern of identical responses from different authorities on the same issues that suggests coordination, possibly from a third-party supplier. At the same time, one data company even attempted to attend our meeting with FOI officers about a request.

With high-tech systems often needing support from software suppliers, there is a worrying fusion of public and private sector interests that have harmed transparency.

In addition, extensive corporate and desk research, conversations with colleagues in the sector and the wider welfare state have further informed this research and have been vital in shaping some critical avenues of research.

The overall picture is alarming. Algorithms and predictive models that treat the poor with suspicion and prejudice risk automating stigmas. Local authorities using these tools rarely seem to undertake thorough assessments of individuals’ data rights, including the risk of embedding discrimination in the wider welfare state.

Local authorities’ ignorance of the effects of digital surveillance and automation is mute complicity in the harm they can cause, and risks a failure to comply with Data Protection Act 2018, the Public Sector Equality Duty, and even the Human Rights Act. Radical transparency measures and greater clarity of how data protection laws apply to public sector algorithms are needed to stop the United Kingdom from becoming a country where the poor’s existence is conditional on constant surveillance by intrusive and secretive digital tools.

This is the United Kingdom’s digital welfare state. The harm it can cause has risked being unchecked and unchallenged for too long.”

The full report is shown below.

6:37 PM 3 views

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