The Free Library > Communications > News, opinion and commentary > Daily Post (Liverpool, England) > November 5, 2010
Deaths W A R D L E -J OAN. November 1, 2010. Peacefully at Glan Clwyd Hospital, aged 92 years, of 41, Maes Cantaba, Ruthin (formerly of Liverpool). Darling wife of the late George Henry Wardle, dearly loved mother of Peter, Colin and Pamela and a much loved grandma and great grandma. Funeral on Thursday November 11. Service at St. Peter's Church, Ruthin at 3pm followed by a committal Service at Pentrebychan Crematorium, Wrexham on Friday, November 12 at 10.30 a.m. No flowers please. Donations in memory, if desired, to The Ruthin Hospital League of Friends or The Ruthin Hospital Staff Fund or Compassion In Dying would be appreciated and accepted by Dowell Brothers Funeral Directors, Tyn Y Parc, Ruthin.
WILLIAMS -GWYNFOR. November 2, 2010. Peacefully at St. David's Hospice, Llandudno after a short illness aged 70 years of Llandegfan, Appley Bridge and Malmesbury. Beloved husband of Berenice, dear brother of Eirlys and Nesta and brother in law of Bob, loved nephew of Olwen. Funeral on Tuesday, November 9. Service and committal at Bangor Crematorium at 3pm. Family flowers only, donations in memory if desired to St. David's Hospice would be appreciated and accepted by Dowell Brothers, Funeral Directors of Ruthin.
Weekly Standard reporter John McCormack has unearthed an old video from 2003, when President Barack Obama was running for the U.S. Senate from Illinois, in which he defends his position favoring late-term abortions.
Of course, this political position in itself, makes Barack Obama the most radical president in US history. But, don’t expect the media to report on this.
Canada is an “island of stability” amidst a Western world roiled by political discontent and populism, the country’s trust in democratic institutions steady in the face of upheavals such as Brexit and the election of Donald Trump, according to new polling from the Environics Institute.
Canada is an "island of stability" amidst a Western world roiled by political discontent and populism, the country's trust in democratic institutions steady in the face of upheavals such as Brexit and the election of Donald Trump, according to new polling from the Environics Institute.
The Canadian portion of the latest AmericasBarometer study, carried out every two or three years to gauge attitudes toward democracy and governance in the region, found that Canadians' trust in things such as the judicial system and the national economy has fluctuated little since 2010, even as other Western countries have seen that confidence waver.
Not all Canadians are satisfied with the state of the country, notes Keith Neuman, executive director of Environics, but their level of satisfaction hasn't changed much during a turbulent time in the world.
"In some areas, they're pretty satisfied, in other areas, it's pretty mixed or not great," he said. "But I would say the most important thing is that over the past couple years, there's not much erosion."
The online survey, carried out in late March and early April among slightly more than 1,500 Canadian adults, even indicates a rise in positive attitudes toward the conduct of elections and the role of the prime minister since 2014, when Stephen Harper was in power, along with a decline in political polarization.
Otherwise, the study largely points to "business as usual," Mr. Neuman said – a result that is perhaps as surprising as its opposite would have been, as voters in the United States and Western Europe cast their ballots for anything but business as usual in election after election.
"There is no clear evidence of growth in anti-government or populist sentiment among Canadians over the past three years," Mr. Neuman writes in the report. "As before, Canadians are generally positive about their system of government and democracy."
Notably, the poll shows growing support for Canada and the Canadian political system among young people. A higher proportion of under-30s expressed strong pride in being Canadian than in 2014 (66 per cent to 55 per cent) and a bigger chunk of that cohort said that people who govern the country care what people like them think (35 per cent to 16 per cent). The young are also likelier to think their rights are protected than they were three years ago.
Economic confidence has also been on the rise, slowly but steadily, since 2010, when 32 per cent of Canadians thought the country's economy was good, a figure that has risen to 44 per cent. Oddly, even more people are content with their own financial situation – 52 per cent, up from 38 per cent in 2010.
The numbers give a portrait of a country uncommonly insulated from much of the seething anti-government resentment that has fuelled populism on the left and right in countries across the developed world in recent years. Coupled with low rates of racial antipathy and strong economic mobility, the study shows the broad Canadian centre holding.
The Environics study also contains a few potential storm clouds for those who fear a resurgent Canadian populism. Trust in many key institutions remains feeble, with just 10 per cent of Canadians placing "a lot" of trust in political parties, 19 per cent in Parliament, and 16 per cent in the mass media.
There has also been a drop in the proportion of young adults who believe democracy is preferable to any other form of government: down 16 points from five years ago to 52 per cent, similar to the decline experienced by Canadians in their thirties and early forties.
Michael Adams, president of Environics and author of the forthcoming Could It Happen Here? Canada in the Age of Trump and Brexit, said that while Canada is remarkably stable right now, the possibility of a wild-card event such as the rise of a charismatic radical leader or a major terrorist attack should make us cautious about complacency.
"It doesn't happen until it happens," Mr. Adams said. "So anyone like me who comes up with this rosy analysis of where we are relatively in the world would be wise to say we aren't as smart about the future as we are about the past."
New luxury Wonderland Home at the Lakes at Centerra. Capri Backcountry Ranch model with incredible upgrades and amazing views. Main floor with 2 large bedrooms, study, 2.5 baths, wood floors and luxurious kitchen. Finished walkout basement with 2 bedrooms, rec room, 1.5 baths and access to landscaped yard. Deck with scenic views. Three car garage, oversized laundry room and owner's entry. Energy Star 3.0 certified & HERS rated.
What do book prizes have to do with serious literature? On the long view, the answer is: not much. Even the immensely distinguished Nobel prize, which has just delighted many British readers with its choice of Kazuo Ishiguro, has logged some pretty forgettable selections. Who, for instance, still reads Rudolf Christoph Eucken (1908), Karl Adolph Gjellerup (1917), Frans Eemil Sillanpää (1939) or Nelly Sachs (1966)?
In the arts, prizes will always be a lottery. Posh panels are just as vulnerable as the rest of us to the vagaries of taste. The joy of reading is that it’s free from the thought police. Books live and die in the hearts and minds of readers. Still, for close on 50 years, Man Booker’s quixotic efforts have made surprisingly good sense of a difficult, even impossible enterprise.
Taste and judgment aside, the other intractable dimension of the Booker conundrum is its annual rendezvous with the marketplace. As in farming, or finance, there are good years and bad years. 2015 and 2016 were good years with excellent winners (Marlon James’s A Brief History of Seven Killings; Paul Beatty’s The Sellout).
This year, Booker’s panel is up against it. Before we discuss the shortlist, we have to note that, for whatever good reason, the judges decided to exclude some powerful contenders: Sebastian Barry (Days Without End), Arundhati Roy (The Ministry of Utmost Happiness), Zadie Smith (Swing Time) and, perhaps most surprising of all, Colson Whitehead (The Underground Railroad).
When Lola Young, as chair, summarised the shortlist as “unique and intrepid books that collectively push against the borders of convention”, she articulated a mission statement for a final session that promises to be an excruciating visit to the third circle of a literary critical inferno.
Autumn has everything one would want from a winner: humanity, brilliance and a kind of subversive ecstasy
In practical terms, Young and her team have to choose between three Americans, an English woman, an award-winning Scot and a British-Pakistani. Collectively, their novels have been described by one of the judges as “transcultural”, a word still new to many dictionaries.
First on the shortlist is Paul Auster’s 4321 (Faber), a consciously epic, quasi-cubist portrait of an American boy’s life during the second half of the last century. (Full disclosure: I was Auster’s first publisher and have been an admirer of his work ever since The New York Trilogy.)
4321 offers a hefty punch from an American heavyweight. At more than 1,000 pages, the multi-form versions of the life of Archibald Isaac Ferguson demonstrates a major writer at his best – original, ambitious, pitch-perfect and wholly absorbing. This is a novel tormented by fate, contingency and playful literary experimentation. But it’s also a narrative to get lost in, a Bildungsroman that is, by chance, a poignant elegy to the America that is being trashed by Trump and his vandals. 4321 must be a real contender.
Inevitably, Auster’s book towers over Emily Fridlund’s History of Wolves (Weidenfeld), an enigmatic coming-of-age novel set on the edge of a lake in the American midwest. Some readers may compare Fridlund’s book unfavourably with Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping, which is also set by a lake, but History of Wolves is grounded in a more sinister domestic narrative that grips the reader with a fierce vision of adolescent estrangement. It’s a powerful debut.
From these all-American narratives, we move to Britain with Fiona Mozley’s Elmet (John Murray), another first novel about secrets in the family. As her title suggests, Mozley has drunk deep at the fount of Ted Hughes and has written a dark hymn to the landscape and language of Yorkshire that’s also, like Hughes’s poetry, bleak, lyrical and steeped in blood.
Where Mozley draws on an English tradition, in Exit West (Hamish Hamilton), Mohsin Hamid strikes a global dystopian note that’s fresh, contemporary and audacious, a love story set in a disintegrating society; a novel for the moment.
Which brings us to the big American challenger here, Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders (Bloomsbury), the bookies’ favourite. Saunders has been extravagantly praised in the US for his short fiction, notably CivilWarLand in Bad Decline (1996), and is, unquestionably, a highly original talent who is taking fiction into extraordinary new territory. Lincoln in the Bardo, his first novel, is a strange and haunting reverie on Abraham Lincoln’s grief at the death of his 11-year-old son, Willie, “a small mirror of himself”, in 1862. The “bardo” is the Tibetan Buddhist limbo between death and rebirth in which Lincoln’s dead son meets ghostly voices from the past in a dazzling collage of voices.
You could describe this as a postmodern historical novel, but that would be to underestimate the thrill of Saunders’s intentions. Braiding snatches of prose, both original and archival, he redefines his chosen genre with some outrageous comic touches and many arresting moments of sheer magic. Experimental yet firmly anchored to its readers’ attention, it offers the kind of satisfactions typical of many previous winners. If it had not been so wildly acclaimed, it would seem a shoo-in for this year’s prize. And yet…
There is, from the final book on this list, Ali Smith’s Autumn (Penguin), some serious competition. Smith’s is another highly acclaimed performance, the first of a four-part series about time and the seasons. Autumn is a bittersweet tour de force set in “the worst of times” – Brexit Britain – and interweaving art, death and the mysteries of love. Smith’s portrait of centenarian Daniel Gluck, approaching death, and his passionate protege, Elisabeth, is a stunning exploration of memory and regret, a book that celebrates and entertains as much as it takes us into the twilight world of the dying. On some readings, Autumn has everything one would want from a winner: humanity, brilliance and a kind of subversive ecstasy.
Who knows how the judges will adjudicate this list? Almost any outcome is possible on 17 October. Who knows if what they choose is literature? That’s for posterity. My hunch is that a US writer will take the prize again, no doubt stirring up more anti-Americanism, though Smith will have a lot of home support. You never can tell.
This article was amended on 16 October. Mohsin Hamid is British-Pakistani, not Pakistani as originally stated
He’s great to have around when you want to terrify anyone coming after you, but watch out when he gets hungry
In one episode of much-loved sitcom Father Ted, the young priest Dougal confesses that the spider-baby he saw on TV was actually something he’d dreamed. Ted shows him a diagram of a man’s head. Inside it is the word Dreams. Outside, is the word Reality. “Have you been studying this like I told you?” Ted asks.
For the mouse protagonist of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s bestselling picture book The Gruffalo, no such convenient distinction exists between the outer and inner worlds. To fend off a series of murderous, though beguiling, invitations to dinner from ravenous predators during his stroll through the dark forest, the trickster mouse invents a previous invitation with an imaginary friend.
This friend is the Gruffalo, who has “orange eyes”, a “black tongue”, “purple prickles”, “knobbly knees”, a “poisonous wart”, “turned-out toes”, “terrible tusks”, “terrible claws”, “terrible teeth and terrible jaws”. Naturally, his favourite food is “roasted fox”/“owl ice-cream”/“scrambled snake”, depending on circumstances.
All goes well in the scary psychological forest of childhood as, one by one, the would-be devourers leave in fright. Until it all goes horribly wrong: at midpoint, the fearsome Gruffalo is physically conjured. “Oh help! Oh no! It’s a Gruffalo,” bleats the hitherto cocky smartarse mouse. “You’ll taste good on a slice of bread,” replies the beast – about the only honest statement in the story.
The Gruffalo is comic horror. But while echoing other tales and genres, the story stands alone. It features a unique and unsurpassed monster: what you imagine can kill you. It’s bizarre to think he’s only been around since 1999, so culturally embedded is he now.
Just as he is anatomically constructed by the mouse from disparate elements, like some hellish wishlist for a genetically modified organism, the Gruffalo’s mythic components are similarly eclectic. To start with, he’s not summoned by grave-robber necro-medicine, but by incantation:
We are in magic-land; the mouse is tempting the evil eye. He could be saying Candyman in front of the mirror or dreaming A Nightmare on Elm Street’s Freddy Krueger – the nightmare terrifyingly made flesh.
Yet the Gruffalo differs fundamentally from such monsters. The mouse’s ghastly gothic Lego behemoth is originally purely mental – an act of devious imagining. So, unlike the Candyman and Freddy, bent on vengeance after vigilante lynch-mob deaths, the Gruffalo – zoologically bull, bear, warthog and ogre – is both real and newborn, he has no independent backstory.
His first appearance is as a visually shocking composite of coincidences: he has the identical teeth, tusks, orange eyes, turned-out toes, and so on as the mouse has described in his bully-duping fantasy. He’s more or less the devil, complete with horns. His existence cannot be doubted – as Fox, Owl, Snake and more than a generation of infants can testify – but we are never not aware that he has been invented. A delicious frisson of doubt lives on every page where he appears.
That makes the Gruffalo far more than a children’s book bad guy, or even Old Nick. He’s a universal dilemma at the heart of philosophical questioning: do we construct what we see? What is real?
He enacts, too, in his lurid comedy skin, the infantile fantasy of omnipotence. The mouse dreams a world, and lo, it is so. As the doppelganger-mouse-Gruffalo, the mouse is invulnerable, provided he can survive his own creation. What child, when feeling alone and very little, wouldn’t want some of that invincibility?
All superbeings, from Ninja Turtles to X-Men and Terminators, protect because they can destroy. Happily for the mouse, the Gruffalo, like the conventional superheroes, is flawed.
His first big mistake is to delay gratification. He’s more curious to see whether the mouse really is, as it claims, “the scariest creature in this wood”, than in turning him into fast fingerfood. Opening himself up to the rodent’s ruse gives the Gruffalo likeability. Just as we might have wanted to tell the mouse not to tempt the evil eye by summoning the Gruffalo, now we might wish to tell the Gruffalo not to be taken in by the mouse.
So the Gruffalo becomes a hulking menace, a malevolent Jungian shadow-self, as it follows the mouse through its second encounters with Fox, Owl, and Snake. These killers, unbeknown to the Gruffalo, whose eyes fix hypnotically on the mouse, scarper when they see him. Thus the Gruffalo, once materialised, saves the mouse a second time.
The mouse’s need is immense, it’s life or death. The forest in which he chooses, perhaps perversely, to stroll, while other small creatures keep their camouflaged distances – a woodpecker, squirrel and frog – is an utterly loveless place. There will be no homecoming to a cosy house and still-warm supper (Where the Wild Things Are); no forgiveness for the risks endured (Harry the Dirty Dog); no family restaurant supper after The Tiger Who Came to Tea has scarfed the entire larder. There is only the constant threat of death and the necessity of living on one’s wits.
In the penultimate scene, the mouse says to his astonished alter ego, “You see? Everyone is afraid of me!” - and makes a low sadistic jibe about liking “Gruffalo crumble”. Poor, duped Gruffalo runs “as quick as the wind”, with ears folded back like a frightened dog.
The moral at the end of the quest, as the mouse finally eats a nut in peace? What you imagine can kill you, but, with enough guile in a deceitful world, it can become your unwitting protector Always keep a Gruffalo in your mind’s back pocket and hold on for the ride.
The cost of replacing a dangerous and immoral nuclear missile system could pay for green jobs and university places
On Easter Monday – or April Fools' Day, depending on your preference – I am joining people from all areas of Britain to protest against one of the coalition's greatest potential follies. Thousands of people, including Green party MEP Keith Taylor, members of CND and I, will be at Aldermaston for a protest rally against the Trident nuclear weapons system and its suggested replacement.
We'll be at AWE Aldermaston, where the nuclear bombs are made, to make the case that Trident is not only utterly immoral, militarily outmoded and massively expensive, but to highlight the fact that in a time when the government is making the worst spending cuts in our history, it is also proposing to shell out almost £115bn over the next 30 years for its proposed replacement. That's £115bn on a hideous weapon of mass destruction. Even regardless of the cost, this is something that we simply should not be doing.
That point has to be made first is that I cannot imagine a situation in which a British prime minister would fire one of these weapons – and our ownership of them only helps to support their continued presence elsewhere in the world. Nonetheless, there is the cost factor, which deserves to be strongly highlighted and can win the campaign allies from places many of us would not expect.
Late last week, I appeared on Question Time, where the issue of Trident and its replacement was raised. It's hardly surprising, given that yet another coalition budget of cuts – and incongruous tax cuts – had been announced the day before, and as CND has pointed out, the cost of replacing Trident could pay for fee-free university places for the next 30 years. What was a little more surprising was that the broadcast's "extra guest", Daily Telegraph commentator Dan Hodges, tweeted that Trident's replacement is no more than a "vanity project" for the government. But at the most basic financial level, it's pretty clear: the Ministry of Defence says that it will cost £20bn-£25bn to replace Trident, and then £3bn per year for the next 30 years to maintain the new system.
It will also cost an estimated £25bn to decommission, and that's without factoring in inflation. So even the £115bn figure mentioned above seems a very "conservative" estimate: with a small or a large "c". The Lib Dems and Labour have called for – and offered to lead – a Trident Alternatives Review, but all three major parties have said they are committed to a nuclear weapons system owned by the UK and stationed on our soil.
We disagree. And in disagreeing, we are joined by the CND and many other campaign groups, including Action AWE – which is now almost four months into a year-long grassroots action campaign at AWE Aldermaston – as well as commentators, military experts, economists and journalists like Dan Hodges, from across the political spectrum.
The case for a Trident replacement is that Trident is obsolete, and in need of replacement. We accept that it is obsolete, but believe a replacement is a dangerous, unnecessary toy, which will cost us billions we cannot afford and should not be spending on weapons of mass destruction.
A responsible, mature state would take the chance presented by the obsolescence of its unnecessary and dangerous nuclear missile system to step away from weapons designed to kill tens of thousands of civilians and smash cities to the ground – and encourage others to follow its lead.
It would take the billions of pounds it had earmarked for its latest toy and choose instead to spend it on green job creation, helping to make itself into an international leader and improving the lives of its citizens in the process. Only the captains of a ship of fools would insist on spending up to £140bn on an extraordinarily dangerous and immoral status symbol.
Manchester trumpeter Matthew Halsall's Gondwana Records has been documenting that city's vividly creative jazz scene – here he introduces GoGo Penguin, a young piano trio collecting a cult following in the region this year. The band cite Aphex Twin, Debussy and Massive Attack among their influences, but from a jazz angle EST, the Bad Plus, and maybe a little of the funky drive of Neil Cowley's trio play big roles. Pianist Chris Illingworth makes the EST connection explicit in the anthemic roll of the opening Seven Sons of Björn (written at the time of Esbjörn Svensson's premature death), a stirring theme in the manner of the Swedish superband, unfolded over Rob Turner's intense drumming. Brief melodic motifs enriched by powerful countermelodic bass (from the excellent Grant Russell) suggest both Tord Gustavsen's music and drummer Turner's enthusiasm for Aphex Twin on the atmospheric Last Words. Turner's and Russell's relationship drives all the music and provides much of the variation – and Bad Plus fans will warm to the spacey chords and rattling drum fills of I Am That, the steadily darkening narrative of Akasthesia, and the irresistible hook and rock-finale swell of the exciting HF. It might be a little short on melody-improv or unexpected diversions from the prevailing hooks for some jazzers, but it's obvious why the Manchester clubs are jumping to this band.
Choose the team to help you watch the results trickle in. Plus: the psychological horror concludes, and Oprah stars in the tale of a medical marvel
Get ready for plenty of ‘Why the hell did she do that?’ moments … Denise Gough and Tom Hughes in Paula. Photograph: BBC/Sophie Mutevelian
The short wait is over as David Dimbleby once again takes the helm for BBC’s coverage of the general election, flanked by Andrew Marr and Kirsty Wark, among others, while Tom Bradby, Nina Hossain and Robert Peston head ITV’s team. Might it be a closer call than originally thought? Meanwhile on Channel 4, Jeremy Paxman, David Mitchell and Richard Osman host a merrier take on the night’s political developments. David Stubbs
Utilising a format similar to the Election Autopsy he performed in 2015, this Frankie Boyle vehicle is launching, rather piquantly, on election night. Boyle will be using a combination of comedy, discussion and audience feedback to reckon with the multiple bewilderments of the current cultural and political moment. Tonight, he’ll be joined by guests including Sara Pascoe. Expect insight and probably a dollop or two of righteous offence. Phil Harrison
Few people are left unscathed as the finale begins, but there’s no let-up as they nurse their bruises. Mac is suspended from the investigation into Philip’s death, but finding it hard to let go. And it’s no surprise that Paula (Denise Gough) still hasn’t cracked a smile. As well as the rats in the basement and the arrival of a random dog to deal with, Paula is unravelling as her mind plays tricks on her. Get ready for plenty of “Why the hell did she do that?” moments. Hannah Verdier
This strange pseudo-spinoff (Kat and Alfie hardly do anything) lurches further into horror-thriller territory as wrong ’un Father Dermott careers malevolently around the village. He sizes up potential victims, safe in the knowledge that in dramas like this, honking implausibility will keep the bad guy safe for a while yet. At least he propels us forward; elsewhere it’s all yearning and fuming about events from years ago. Jack Seale
Keeping mum … Oprah as daughter Deborah in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Photograph: Quantrell D Colbert/Home Box Office
In 1951, Henrietta Lacks had cancerous cells taken from her body without her consent. Able to be replicated indefinitely, these cells had a profound effect on modern medicine even as their donor was airbrushed from history. Based on the 2010 bestseller, this highly charged drama follows the attempts of Deborah Lacks (Oprah Winfrey) to reclaim her mother’s legacy, spurred on by writer Rebecca Skloot (Rose Byrne). Graeme Virtue
Head teacher Garry and social-carer Kyle married 10 years ago, and began a heroic journey into foster care, eventually adopting four vulnerable children with serious special needs, Down’s syndrome and cerebral palsy among them. Enter Nick Knowles and his army of tradesfolk to level their dilapidated bungalow on the Isle of Sheppey and build them a brand-new home, the biggest project the series has ever undertaken. Pass the tissues. Ben Arnold
This feature-length documentary about Aussie sporting greats the Pappas brothers is part-tragic biopic, part-elongated 90s skate vid. The self-described “little bogans” moved to the US as unsupervised teens, took loads of acid and soon became the Venus and Serena of vert skateboarding. Then it all started to go wrong. Tas Pappas makes an entertaining and reflective guide, but Tony Hawk fans should look away now; your boy’s about to get slated. Ellen E Jones
Grief, guilt and a very nasty serial killer inhabit chilly out-of-season Venice in Roeg’s masterly supernatural thriller. Based on a Du Maurier story, it has Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie as a couple recuperating in the labyrinthine city after the accidental drowning of their daughter; here they meet a blind medium who foresees danger. Fragmented visual clues – glimpses of red, a funeral procession, breaking glass – meld into an awful sense of impending doom. Paul Howlett
Champions Trophy Cricket: India v Sri Lanka 10am, Sky Sports 2. A Group B encounter at the Oval, with India led by Virat Kohli (pictured, right).
The Titanic leaves Southampton on her maiden voyage on 10 April 1912. Photograph: Frank O. Braynard Collection/AP
14 April, 1912: the night was cold and clear and Violet Jessop, a nurse on board the Titanic, described “little wisps of mist like tiny fairies that wafted gently inboard from the sea”. Up in the crow’s nest the two lookouts, Reginald Lee and Frederick Fleet, also noticed the haze. Ten minutes later the call went out: “Iceberg! Right ahead...” and the fate of the doomed liner was sealed.
For more than a century the haze has remained unexplained, with some assuming it was a mirage and others dismissing it as imaginary. Arthur Rostron, captain of the rescue ship Carpathia, reported that he “never saw a clearer night”. Now a new study, published in the journal Weather, suggests that the haze was probably a localised phenomenon known as “sea smoke”.
The area where the Titanic sank was within the cold-water tongue of the Labrador Current. This shape-shifting current entwines with the warm Gulf Stream, creating rapid changes in sea temperature over short distances. A finger of warm water overlain by colder air can produce a relatively common “steaming” effect, known as sea smoke. That night the conditions were primed. It is cold comfort now, but haze or no haze, the iceberg most likely would not have been spotted any sooner.
There are 12 classic archetypes. These cover the spectrum, from those that convey comfort to others to those that create excitement. Choosing the right archetype for your business is essential. But first, review the classic archetypes and understand their role in creating a deep connection with their target market.
Marketing niche: Help people become more organized, restore order, create more stability and security in a chaotic world
Marketing niche: Help people care for themselves, serve the public through health care, education or aid programs
Study the best examples of brands that apply archetypes well. Do you identify with any of them? Which archetype is your company most like?
Thoughtfully consider your company’s image and how your customers interact with, think of and feel about your company to determine the most suitable and compelling archetype.
These articles provide detailed descriptions of the 12 archetypes. Read them and consider how you might apply one to create a compelling archetype for your brand.
The Hawaii Hochi was established in 1912 by Fred Kinzaburo Makino to serve Hawaii’s Japanese community. Makino was 21 years old when he immigrated to Hawaii from Yokohama, Japan, in 1899. The son of Joseph Higgenbotham, a merchant/trader from England, and Kin Makino, a native of Japan’s Kanagawa Prefecture, Makino worked in sugar on the Big Island before settling in Honolulu where he opened the Makino Drug Store in Nuuanu. In 1903, he opened an office to assist Japanese immigrants experiencing immigration difficulties. It marked the start of Makino’s long commitment to stand up for the Japanese community. His efforts on their behalf resulted in higher wages and improved working conditions for sugar plantation workers.
Fred Kinzaburo Makino began publishing The Hawaii Hochi on December 7, 1912 to serve as the voice of the Japanese workers. Although there were other Japanese-language newspapers, Makino felt that The Hawaii Hochi should reflect the viewpoint of the Japanese people in Hawaii. The paper took editorial positions on behalf of the people. Among the issues it tackled were:
• Helping Japanese soldiers who fought for the United States in World War I obtain U.S. citizenship.
• Appealing through editorials to longshoremen who went on strike because their union leadership accepted 38 Japanese workers as members.
• Defending Japanese language schools from discriminatory rules and regulations. This landmark case was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court and had nationwide implications.
• Reminding authorities and the public that the U.S.-Japan treaty and the U.S. Constitution guaranteed basic human rights and freedoms of the Japanese in Hawaii.
Today, The Hawaii Hochi newspaper is the only daily Japanese language newspaper in Hawaii. With its proud history, the paper covers local, national and international daily events and features stories five days a week. Its English language page features articles from Japan as well as various legal notices at county and state levels.
In an attempt to “Americanize” The Hawaii Hochi’s name to deflect anti-Japanese sentiment during World War II, Makino renamed it The Hawaii Herald. It kept its new moniker for almost 10 years before returning to its original banner of The Hawaii Hochi in January 1952.
In 1962, when Japanese newspaperman Konosuke Oishi of the Shizuoka Shimbun purchased Hawaii Hochi, he decided that Hawaii’s Japanese American community needed a publication of its own for the growing population of Nisei, Sansei and Yonsei who could not read Japanese. Oishi and Hawaii Hochi’s then-president and publisher Paul S. Yempuku created a new Hawaii Herald in March 1969 as a weekly eight-page tabloid.
It’s that time of the year: time to break out your best sprinkles, stock up on butter, and organize the cookie cutter bin. Time to prioritize your cookie recipes, negotiating between the traditional and new. And on that note, may we suggest a cookie that’s caught our eye lately? Meet Christmas in a Cookie.
Melissa Coleman of the beautiful blog, The Faux Martha, created a cookie that has Christmas written all over it. It’s a chocolate sandwich cookie with a white chocolate peppermint ganache sprinkled with crushed candy canes. Of the recipe, Coleman says “I think, if Christmas were a cookie, it would taste something like this.” We can’t wait to see for ourselves.
A snapshot of Curees’ progress from our Kitchen Cure Flickr Pool: Kitchen Cure participant Purple Plum shows us her organized pots and pans. She says: “Love my Ikea drawer-shelves – they make it so much easier to reach all of my trays and pots.” Looks great!
What’s changed for American workers since last year’s tax reform 12 terrible things that could happen if you don’t do your taxes These are the 10 cities in America with the largest middle class New study: Limiting social media use benefits mental health A therapist’s guide to getting unstuck 14 signs you are emotionally intelligent 5 misconceptions about workplace culture (and what you can do to help) What can I do to create a better work-life balance?
What’s changed for American workers since last year’s tax reform What can I do to create a better work-life balance? How will I know? By asking yourself this single question How spending time outdoors will grow your career 5 misconceptions about workplace culture (and what you can do to help) What can I do to create a better work-life balance? A therapist’s guide to getting unstuck 14 signs you are emotionally intelligent
A quarter of tech workers think their current job is a big mistake Why Google’s employees walked out and what it could mean for the future of labor What’s changed for American workers since last year’s tax reform This is why you always get sick after a vacation What can I do to create a better work-life balance? 5 misconceptions about workplace culture (and what you can do to help) 14 signs you are emotionally intelligent The stress-free mindset – Be quick but don’t hurry
These are the 15 cities with the most $100K+ jobs in November 2018 Find out which city is adding the most jobs in your state 13 questions hiring managers ask to test your personality Insights into the remote lifestyle: The digital nomad survey 5 misconceptions about workplace culture (and what you can do to help) A therapist’s guide to getting unstuck 14 signs you are emotionally intelligent What can I do to create a better work-life balance?
How to calm pre-interview jitters Things you should never say in an interview (and what to say instead) When the job hunt feels like the dating game … 13 questions hiring managers ask to test your personality A therapist’s guide to getting unstuck The stress-free mindset – Be quick but don’t hurry What can I do to create a better work-life balance? 5 misconceptions about workplace culture (and what you can do to help)
I had a bad day My single best tip for a job interview When the kid interviewing you says you’re too old Here’s how to supercharge your resume in 38 minutes The stress-free mindset – Be quick but don’t hurry 14 signs you are emotionally intelligent A therapist’s guide to getting unstuck What can I do to create a better work-life balance?
Visiting museums while growing up, Zolzoya Bakthuyag, a 34-year-old lawyer, always wondered why the places that depicted the history of her country always exhibited men’s photos and paintings so prominently.
“Mongolian women played a great role building the country too, but museums only hang men’s photos. It was confusing,” she said, sitting in her office in a high-rise building huddled by snow-peaked green hills in the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar.
Mongolia has the highest levels of gender equality in East Asia. In global rankings, the vast and sparsely populated country sits in the 52nd place. The United States ranks 43 out of 188 surveyed countries, even though Mongolia is 15 times poorer than the United States.
Mongolian women are healthier and wealthier than ever. Yet, pressing issues like widespread domestic violence, the gender pay gap and lack of political participation linger.
The pictures that Bakthuyag saw in the museum as a child were far from the only thing that baffled her about the gender issues she observed in her society. As she grew older, she witnessed her friends being beaten by their partners and suffering from stereotypes at work. She heard police blaming femicide victims and read about the clothes of female politicians in tabloid newspapers. She observed her LGBT friends, especially those from lower social classes, being bullied in every walk of life.
“A lot of women think we have achieved gender equality in Mongolia,” she said, “Yet, 67 percent of the police calls are due to domestic violence.”
“We wanted to communicate the everyday issues women [face] in the simplest, yet most engaging and striking way possible,” Bakthuyag said.
They decided to create a series of comic books to communicate these issues to what Bakthuyag describes as the “average Mongolian woman who might not even know what feminism means.”
Their first issue was related to women’s political participation — or lack thereof — tied to the upcoming elections.
After sessions of brainstorming, three main characters for the comic book emerged: Ms. Candidate, Ms. Curiosity and Ms. Solution.
Bakthuyag and her colleagues collaboratively wrote the stories, often using their own life experiences as a source of inspiration. Narantulga Buriad, their graphic designer, made sure to represent disability, different age groups and genders in her drawings.
When the three characters are visiting the Mongolian National History Museum, Ms. Curiosity ponders, “How come all these leaders were men?”
The book follows the political campaign of Ms. Candidate, as she wrestles negative stereotypes and gets called “too stubborn” when she is determined about an issue.
In the end, the story has a happy ending: Ms. Candidate’s political campaign is successful and she joins the Mongolian Parliament.
In real life, the success of Ms. Candidate would be a rarity. Women hold 16 percent of the seats in the Parliament — an increase from 4 percent in 2009 — but a steep dropoff the 25 percent the country saw under the communist government.
Bakthuyag and her colleagues got a positive response to the first issue, so they decided to work immediately on the second book, focusing on domestic violence — which they say is one of the worst gender-related issues in Mongolia.
“Violence is very stigmatized and even the very word violence itself is a taboo,” said Anudari Ayush, 29, one of the other co-founders of Women For Change Mongolia, who worked on the second comic book.
“In Mongolian culture, family is considered to be sacred,” she explained. “We have a saying, ‘If the head is broken, you should hide it in the hat.’”
“Because of this [when there’s a case of domestic violence] not even the neighbors respond to it. Police often don’t even answer the calls.”
Like in many countries in the world, domestic violence has loose definitions and comes with a tricky law enforcement process in Mongolia.
The comic book about domestic violence opens with Ms. Curiosity and Ms. Solution watching television while a presenter breaks the news about the draft law proposing to criminalize domestic violence.
“Isn’t domestic violence a domestic issue?” Ms. Curiosity, who is cynical about the new law, asks. Throughout the book, she comes to the conclusion that violence is never justified.
Ayush feels that this book, in combination with other civil society efforts, has helped to challenge the way many people perceive domestic violence.
To help change existing perceptions, the group distributed the comic books to police units dealing with domestic violence and were surprised with the results.
“They called us and asked us to train them about these issues. We gave workshops to the police stations about the realities of domestic violence and how to deal with it,” Ayush added. “We were very moved when they said they wanted to learn from us. Hopefully they will get back to more calls now and things will start to change.”
Following the success of the first feminist comic books of Mongolia, Bakthuyag and her colleagues have no plans to slow down. The third book is already on the way and it will be published in February 2018, just in time for the Valentine’s Day.
“If we named it ‘How to have safe and consensual sex and pleasure your partner and yourself while knowing your reproductive rights’ it would be just too long.”
Ten million kroner per year for the next four years will be allocated to Denmark's gastronomical sector in a bid to create jobs.	
A total of 40 million kroner is set to be invested in the country's fine dining industry, the Ministry of Environment and Food wrote in a press statement.
A number of initiatives will benefit from the investment over a four-year period, helping to consolidate Denmark's place as a global leader for gastronomy, according to the press statement.
26 restaurants across the country currently have one or more Michelin stars. Copenhagen's Geranium, the only three-star Michelin restaurant in Denmark, is number 19 on the prestigious World's 50 Best restaurants list.
Maintaining a place on the fine dining map is of long-term benefit for Denmark's economy, Minister for the Environment and Food Jakob Ellemann-Jensen said.
“We have succeeded in building an identity as a country in the gastronomic super league,” Ellemann-Jensen said.
“Gastronomy can help provide jobs in Denmark through both tourism and agriculture. That would be a development that would benefit all Danes,” the minister added.
“Strengthening Danish gastronomy would also be something that would also very much strengthen Denmark as a tourist destination with regard to the ten percent of tourists for whom fine dining is a primary reason for selecting their holiday destination,” Jarlov said.
The Lodge Gallery is pleased to present A Peculiar Nature, a two-person exhibition of works on paper by Sirikul Pattachote and Tawan Wattuya. The show, Tawan Wattuya’s first major exhibition in New York and Sirikul Pattachote’s second featured show with The Lodge Gallery, is on view from August 3 through September 4, 2016
Wattuya explores humankind’s basest behaviors and instincts through his bold depictions of dogs, pigs, and wild animals. Pattachote examines our more intimate moments, feelings, and relationships within her personified portraits of flowers. Shown together, the works offer starkly contrasting reflections of ourselves, the dichotomies of humanness. Raw versus refined, ferocity versus civility, instinct-driven versus meditative, the works traverse our inner divide.
Tawan Wattuya is a Thailand-born, Bangkok-based artist known for his unique approach to watercolor and thought-provoking subject matter. Wattuya’s choice of watercolor as a medium is a deliberate attempt to convey the speed, dynamism, and complex contrasts of contemporary society. His works have been exhibited extensively in Bangkok, Singapore, Beijing, Paris, Tokyo, Brisbane, and Brussels. Wattuya earned his BFA from Silipakorn University of Art and Design (Bangkok).
Sirikul Pattachote is a Thailand-born New York artist and earned her BFA from Silipakorn University of Art and Design (Bangkok). Her artwork is inspired by nature, where she draws upon memories and the experiences of her surroundings in everyday life. The ephemeral quality of life and matter is a central theme in her work. Through her paintings, she attempts to record and preserve certain memories and impressions that highlight the potential good that lies in everyone and everything.
At the time I was ridiculed by some but 9 matches into this sequence and with only 7 remaining, Newcastle United are only 1 point behind schedule.
There were 5 points lost as draws with Wolves and the mackems lost 4 points and the last gasp defeat at The Emirates lost another. However, wins against Blackburn and West Brom produced 4 extra points instead of the predicted draws.
A win at Swansea would see Newcastle actually one point ahead(!) of schedule. Apart from the away match at Stamford Bridge we can’t influence any of the matches involving Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs so the only thing to do for everybody connected with Newcastle United is to aim for this 68 points mark.
If Newcastle United can reach that target it will be an incredible achievement, no matter where that then leaves them in the final league table.
All we can do is keep plugging away and if we did reach 68 points it would be an incredible achievement. It requires either 5 wins or 4 wins and 3 draws from our last 7 games plus a collapse in form by either arsenal or spurs (one of those would have to get no more than 9 points from their last 7 games). Pardew has played it well phsycollogiclly by saying he thinks its beyond us but I doubt if any of the players think that.
A europa place would be a terrific achievement and Pardew, his staff and the squad have done amazing.
Game at a time is the only way. Those draw against Wolves and the Mackems plus the last minute defeat to Arsenal I think are going to cost us unfortunately. But nonetheless this season has been remarkable whatever happens between now and the end of the season. On the other hand there is absolutely no pressure on us and if we got through the next 4 fixtures well placed the others are going to panic and we are going to be well confident. Everton away though could be a sticky fixture out of the lot though. We can only hope towards end of season some rivals are thinking about their new clubs and summer holidays.
I’m really not convinced that European qualification is a good idea. The squad is already threadbare and the extra games could decimate it. That would ruin our domestic campaign, and I for one would rather win the FA Cup next season than qualify for Europe, any day. We certainly aren’t in a position to win a European trophy (though we probably said that in 1968). That said, I want to win every game left of the season! Howay the Lads!
I agree with Lintonlad. For qualification in Europe to even remotely sucessful a few things would have to result from it: We’d have to maintain at least our strongest 11 in the summer transfer window. Attract as good, if not better, players to strengthen our team and keep them competitive. Our league form not to suffer from a longer season, and most likely trips to eastern Europe etc. Then genuinally compete against these teams in the Europa league (or dare we dream, Champions League) getting in to the competition is one thing but winning or even getting through to the latter stages of the Europa League, along side a decent league finish, would truly cap off a rise from the ashes after the relegation season.
Again I’d agree with a below comment saying take it a game at a time though. Maintain form and teams should struggle to compete against a strong and scoring side. We seem to have good team morale on our side which seemed to be part of the downfall of Liverpool on Sunday. The players seem to enjoy playing together and under Pardew and are entertaining as of late, in my life time that’s all expectations have ever been, no matter how much Sky and the media claim we expect sucess. I’ve only wanted to know that if I want to support Newcastle United and pay money to watch them play, that they’ll put in the performance win, lose or draw. This season I could probably count on one hand the games we’ve had where I thought they weren’t bothered. For me, Europe or no Europe, long may this continue.
The National President of Swaraj India Yogendra Yadav was arrested by Tamil Nadu Police today. He alleged the police stopped him on his way to meet farmers and manhandled him. The incident took place at Tiruvannamalai district in Tamil Nadu.
Yogendra Yadav was on his way to meet the farmers to oppose the proposal of Rs. 10,000 crore for the eight lane Salem Chennai expressway project. The Tamil Nadu (TN) police stopped him and detained him at the Chengam Police Station in Tiruvannamalai district.
Mr. Yadav said, “TN police has detained me and team in Chengam PS, Thiru Annamalai district. We came on the invitation of Movement Against 8Lane Way. We were prevented from going to meet farmers, phones snatched, manhandled and pushed into a police van.(sic.)”
According to sources, the Tamil Nadu Police denied all the allegation and said that they arrested Mr. Yadav as he did not seek permission for any programme in the district. Whereas, Yogendra Yadav said that he talked to Collector of Tiruvannamalai Kandasaamy, and complained about the acquisition of land for the expressway project. Mr. Yadav said that Mr. Kandasaamy clearly denied any police interference.
The expressway has been facing issues from the opposition parties. A section of locals including farmers fear that they might lose their land due to the construction of the expressway. Environmentalist have also joined the protest to fight the cutting of trees to make way for this project.
The Industries Minister K. T. Rama Rao gave land allotment letters to 18 women entrepreneurs. This is the first kind of initiative in the Country where an industrial park is dedicated to women entrepreneurs. The Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TSIIC) and the Ficci Ladies Organization (FLO) developed the industrial park.
The park is spread over 50 acres adjacent to the Medical Devices Park in Sultanpur, Hyderabad. The 18 women who received the land allotment letter will set up their separate units at the industrial park.
Different fields of women entrepreneurs were picked from food processing to electronics. Some of the fields include handloom, medical devices, furniture and general engineering.
In the first phase, the companies are expected to bring in investments amounting to Rs. 150 crores. This will also lead to a massive generation of employment.
This is the first time an initiative promoting women leaders has been introduced in India by FLO and the TRS Government. All the companies are owned a 100% by only women.
The Telangana Government has been offering support to a number of organizations with women oriented plans.