Daily Archives: November 29, 2020

The attempt to censor Jordan Peterson shows the intolerance of the social justice generation – Telegraph.co.uk

Posted: November 29, 2020 at 6:20 am

Its easy to forget what a recent phenomenon freedom of expression is, even in this country. Until 1959, British publishers could be sent to jail for producing books deemed to have a tendency to deprave and corrupt those whose minds are open to such immoral influences.

Back then, the things that couldnt be said were largely sexual. James Joyces masterpiece, Ulysses, was banned indeed burned on the grounds of obscenity. A single line in Radclyffe Halls The Well of Loneliness (And that night they were not divided) convinced a magistrate that all copies must be destroyed, because it could induce thoughts of a most impure character and would glorify the horrible tendency of lesbianism.

The bravery of successive generations of publishers, their mischievous insistence on thumbing their nose at the censors, helped bring about the sexual revolution, enabling us all to live and love and read more freely. The obscenity trial, 60 years ago, of Lady Chatterleys Lover (or more accurately, of its publisher, Penguin Books), is widely recognised as the moment when the gates of artistic and sexual freedom were finally blown open.

Now, though, there are those who wish to drag them shut again. This time it isnt the grey elderly ones, as Lawrence described his censors, having apoplexies over the written word. Today, the blue pencil hovers in the hand of young progressives some of them, astonishingly, publishers themselves.

Staff at Penguin Random House tried this week to block the publication of a new book by Jordan Peterson, the Canadian academic whose contempt for identity politics has earned him a huge following on the Right. At a town hall meeting at Penguins Canada office, employees argued that the publisher should not give a platform to an icon of hate speech. According to one of those present, people were crying in the meeting about how Mr Peterson has affected their lives, with one employee fretting that the publication of the book would negatively affect their non-binary friend.

To Penguins great credit, it is pressing ahead with publication. But as the social justice generation moves up the media hierarchy, this bizarre sight publishers protesting against their own publishing house for publishing a book will only become more common.

Earlier this year, the US firm Hachette dropped its plans to publish Woody Allens memoirs after staff staged a walkout. The American journalist Abigail Shrier has described how her latest book, an investigation into the rise in transgender identification among adolescent girls, was dropped by her first publishers following protests by staff. When another publisher picked it up, newspapers refused to review it. When the podcaster Joe Rogan interviewed Shrier about her book, staff at Spotify, the podcast platform, threatened to walk out. Censorship is once more in the ascendant.

They are so easily rattled, these new inspectors of literary hygiene. No sensible critic of Peterson would claim that his books constitute hate speech. (Unlike Mein Kampf, which Penguin, quite rightly, continues to publish on the grounds of public interest.) The argument against Peterson seems to be that, even if he isnt a neo-Nazi, some of his fans are. But since when did we judge a book by its readers?

If reading has any moral purpose, it is that it broadens our understanding of the world by exposing us to different ideas. This is what makes publishing an exalted profession: its whole purpose is to find ideas and set them free. A publisher should be a liberator, not a jailer.

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PlayStation Reportedly Censoring PS5 Users on Twitter – ComicBook.com

Posted: at 6:20 am

PlayStation is reportedly censoring PS5 users on Twitter. Over the course of the PS4 generation, Sony came under fire from some PlayStation gamers for censoring sexual content in a few different games. Continuing this streak of censorship, it's now censoring PS5 users on Twitter, or at least that's what new reports claim. More specifically, users are reporting that the PS5's share functionality comes equipped with a built-in profanity filter that prohibits users from using certain words when tweeting from their PS5 by blocking the publication of the tweet until the word is removed. Adding to this, apparently, the filter is broken, with one user providing a concrete example of a tweet being flagged for containing problematic language, except it doesn't contain any profanity whatsoever.

Reports of the filter can be found from Twitter to Reddit, but the best example comes way of Patrick Beja. Taking to the former social media platform, Beja revealed that when trying to share a post about Astro's Playroom, full of PG praise for the game and Sony, the PS5 blocked its publication, citing issues with the text.

As you can see below, the tweet has zero profanity, though it's possible "torrent" is triggering the filter, though, for now, this is just a theory.

Oddly enough, there's no mention of this feature within the parental controls, which suggests it can not be removed.

At the moment of publishing, Sony has not commented on this feature or the backlash and speculation it has created. If this changes -- or if more information on the filter itself is provided -- we will be sure to update the story. Until then, for more coverage on the PS5 -- including all of the latest news, rumors, leaks, guides, and deals -- click here or check out the links below:

H/T, The Gamer.

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In hybrid online-offline format, theatre fest explores the Unexpressed, censorship of womens bodies and artistic collaborations – The Indian Express

Posted: at 6:20 am

Written by Ruchika Goswamy | Pune | November 28, 2020 10:59:50 pm

A constant element of human life is thoughts. Construction of thoughts, ideas, concepts and convictions has been a never-ending process and humans have often expressed their thoughts in a wide variety of ways. In simple words, just like the need for food, clothes and water, expressing ones thoughts and feelings becomes a primal need.

We often talk about freedom of expression, ways of expression but what crossed my mind is what if thoughts dont get expressed? What happens when one cant express? What happens when one is not allowed to fully express themselves the challenges that one might face. And lastly, with no visible consequence, how does one comprehend this basic human need, said performer and collaborator Ashish Vaze.

Avyakta (Unexpressed), is a performance and a work in progress by Vaze and Stephanie Castrejon from the US, which makes an attempt to take stock of what could happen if one stops expressing their thoughts. The project is one of the creative crossovers of the fifth edition of the IAPAR International Theatre Festival (IITF), which will be held from December 4 to December 10.

Unlike the previous years, however, the official event of the Indian Centre of International Theatre Institute has adopted a hybrid format to face the uncertainty head on and keep theatres alive. The pandemic is surely something that one can imagine being screened on a film but now, it is something that we are all facing together. Although all sectors are still dwindling, given the circumstances, the worst hit is the sector of arts. We began by carefully assessing how to host the festival completely online but now, with spaces slowly opening up, we are hopeful for theatre to gain momentum in the new normal as well, said Vidyanidhee Varanase, director of the festival and alumnus of the National School of Drama.

While the hybrid format will mean the annual plethora of workshops and masterclasses will be conducted online, the on-ground performances will be held at The Box, Pune, on the first three days of the festival, amid all precautionary measures and safety guidelines.

Another performance project at IITF, Constant Acts of Disobeying, has been designed and directed by Aditi Venkateshwaran. It is an attempt to reflect on the censorship of a womans body, her thoughts and her voice. With the help of a collaboration between Margot Bareyt from France and Sayli Kulkarni and Tanvi Hegde from India, the performance tries to comprehend the mandate of masculinity as defined by famous Argentinian anthropologist Rita Segato, and how it can be taken down.

A unique segment of IITF 2020 will be the Emerging Artist Laboratory, an online interaction between young theatre-makers and mentors in the field of theatre, which will help mentors and youngsters to create work together.

Initiated in October, 20 students were selected for it, and the work thus created will premiere between December 6 and December 10 on the festivals social media channels. John Britton, Aniruddha Khutwad, Yuki Ellias, Dr Jimmy Noreiga and Abhiram Bhadkamkar each exploring a different tangent within theatre right from realistic acting, playwriting, physical theatre, inter-disciplinary practises and theatre for social change were a part of the Lab.

This year, in order to acknowledge artists driving change within and outside communities through artistic practises that benefit the art form or the society, IITF has announced singer and composer Shruthi Veena Vishwanath as their change maker, for her path-breaking work in the Indian artistic scene.

The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay updated with the latest headlines

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In hybrid online-offline format, theatre fest explores the Unexpressed, censorship of womens bodies and artistic collaborations - The Indian Express

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Donald Trump says Twitter censorship is a national security issue – Washington Times

Posted: at 6:20 am

President Trump took aim at Twitter late Thursday, saying it was putting out false trends, censoring Republican lawmakers and creating a matter of national security.

He called for Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which provides a legal shield for publishers on third-party content, to be terminated.

Twitter is sending out totally false Trends that have absolutely nothing to do with what is really trending in the world. They make it up, and only negative stuff. Same thing will happen to Twitter as is happening to @FoxNews daytime. Also, big Conservative discrimination! the president tweeted.

For purposes of National Security, Section 230 must be immediately terminated!!! he added.

Mr. Trump also defended Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano, who pushed for an informal hearing earlier this week by GOP lawmakers in the keystone state over potential election fraud.

The Republicans had Mr. Trumps legal team present evidence of election irregularities that they say led to presumptive President-elect Joseph R. Biden being named the winner of Pennsylvanias 20 electoral votes.

Wow! Twitter bans highly respected Pennsylvania State Senator Doug Mastriano after he did a great job of leading a hearing on the 2020 Election fraud. They and the Fake News, working together, want to SILENCE THE TRUTH. Cant let that happen. This is what Communist countries do! the president tweeted on Friday morning.

Twitter later issued a statement saying Mr. Mastrianos account was suspended by mistake.

This account was mistakenly suspended for perceived violations of our impersonation policy. This was an error. We have immediately reversed the decision and the account has been reinstated, a spokesperson for the company said.

Andrew Blake contributed to this report.

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Tata Lit Fest cancels a discussion between Noam Chomsky and Vijay Prashad, raising concerns of censorship – Frontline

Posted: at 6:20 am

A discussion between Noam Chomsky, a political activist and celebrated linguist, and Vijay Prashad, writer and Frontline columnist, organised by the Tata Literature Festival, was abruptly cancelled a few hours before the event. Chomsky and Prashad were scheduled to speak on November 20 on an online platform about Chomskys latest book Internationalism or Extinction. The organisers said they cancelled the event to protect the integrity of the festival.

Both Chomsky and Prashad accused the organisers of censorship and said they will find another platform to have the discussion, which they said was important and relevant.

Over 50 well-known activists had urged Chomsky and Prashad to bow out of the event, organised by the Tatas, who, they alleged, were involved in widespread human rights violations. It is believed that Chomsky and Prashad were planning to read out a statement during the discussion against corporations such as the Tatas, and the Tatas in particular. The organisers reportedly learned of the plan to open the discussion with the statement and cancelled the event.

In a statement published on Peoples Dispatch (an international media organisation highlighting voices from peoples movements) and released to the media,Vijay Prashad says: Both of us agreed to hold this dialogue because we believe that the themes in the bookthe dangers of nuclear war, climate catastrophe, erosion of democracyrequire the widest circulation and debate. We were pleased to join even though we had reservations about the sponsor of the event.

Vijay Prashads statement says: Noams book is based on a lecture that he delivered in Boston in 2016, in which he warns that human beings must act to end various calamities. Of nuclearism, Noam writes specifically, Either we will bring it to an end, or its likely to bring us to an end. The urgency of these matters cannot be dismissed. In conversation with the actor Wallace Shawn, which followed the lecture, Noam speaks about the perils of public discourse. Objectivity has a meaning, he notes. It means reporting accurately and fairly whats going on inside the Beltway, White House, and Congress. In other words, what is being said by the elites is notable and must be given judicious care by the media owned by large corporations, but what is said outside those circles must be ignored or disparaged. Since we do not know why Tata and Mr. Dharker decided to cancel our session, we can only speculate and ask simply: was this a question of censorship?

Regarding India, the issue of the erosion of democracy is a serious matter, with the passage of bills such as the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the vast sums of money that have now suffocated the voices of the hundreds of millions of impoverished Indian voters as examples of the problem; the issue of warfare is significant, with the Indian government participating in the highly destabilising Quadrilateral Security Dialogue with Australia, Japan, and the United States. We wanted to talk about how governments such as those led by the Bharatiya Janata Party and corporations such as the Tatas are hastening humanity towards a deeper and deeper crisis.

Anil Dharkar, Tata Mumbai Literature Festival director, issued a statement saying: The festival which I founded and run with a dedicated team, owes its success to a free expression of ideas, not a free expression of someones specific agenda. The expression of such an agendawhether against a specific organisation, a corporation or an individualis therefore misplaced in the discussions at our festival.

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Tata Lit Fest cancels a discussion between Noam Chomsky and Vijay Prashad, raising concerns of censorship - Frontline

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Global Cloned Competent Cells Market Projections, SWOT Analysis, Risk Analysis And Forecast By 2020- – PharmiWeb.com

Posted: at 6:19 am

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PRIA WARS: Attack of the DeFi Clones – hackernoon.com

Posted: at 6:19 am

@h1ddenzer0h1ddenZer0

A long-time crypto nerd working as part of the team for the new DeFi machine, PRIA.

A few weeks ago PRIA was released.

PRIA exploded out of the gates, immediately pumping to ~$8 before making a much needed correction, with price dropping down to ~$1.50.

For a few days there was a lull.

Price consolidated in the $23 range, and after some substantial marketing efforts from the team, the project was picked up by Crypto Twitter and Telegram influencers. PRIA became the talk of the town and started to pump AGAIN.

It was #1 on Dextools continually, and over the course of a few days the price pumped from $2 to $82.

Each time we woke in the morning, the PRIA price had risen by $1520!

It was exciting. It was euphoric. Lambo dealerships smashed pre-order records. Some investors went to the moon. Some to mars. Some tore a hole in the fabric of spacetime and hopped thru a wormhole. The money making machine showed no signs of stopping.

But then, something happened. The inevitable happened. Hell emptied itself of evil and PRIA suffered from The Attack of the Clones.

PRIAs trading volume was juicy and the clones came to feast.

As mentioned, this was inevitable and expected. The DeFi space is filled with clones. Many of these clones come without any innovation whatsoever. These low quality clones seek to vampirically leach on the success of the project theyre cloning by capitalising in on the hype of the moment.

For obvious reasons, DeFi clones without innovation often die a rapidly painful death, or, become rug pulls. And though some early clone investors make big gains, many people lose everything. It is NOT worth the risk.

The following is what happened to the PRIA clones.

Though clones are expected in DeFi, the first clone is always the most painful. And this was no exception, the first PRIA clone, ARIA, stung a lot.

The ARIA team cloned absolutely everything, including the layout of the website AND the logo! Everything. The only changes they made were:

To add to the irritation, one of the main orchestrators of the ARIA clone attack was a fairly vocal and trusted member of the community Kevin C, who is an Admin for a legit project some of us really like: Contribute.

I wonderwhy!?!?

Prior to the clone, we were a little suspicious of Kevin C as he mentioned that he missed out on investing early in PRIA, yet he still hung around in our Telegram channel, always with comments that resembled gentle FUD.

As he was the Admin of Contribute we gave him a free pass (trustworthy), which was a mistake.

Beware of fudders, folks. They are resentful people, often jealous because they didnt make the money they wished, and they will harm your project. Best case scenario is that they annoy people in your channel. Worst case scenario is that they clone your whole project.

And so it happened with ARIA.

Naturally, we were pissed and took a number of actions to discredit their project and protect our own. PRIA WARS: Attack of the Clones began, and the PRIA Jedi gathered together and headed to the frontline for war.

As a first counter attack, Jedi Master Dr Mantis (PRIA creator) triggered the manager killswitch function on their project.

Since they copied the code verbatim and didnt change dates nor contract addresses, Jedi Master Mantis was able to immediately stop their code from being editable (full Defi, baby!) by interacting with their smart contract and triggering the manager killswitch. This resulted in a liquidity leak, and ARIA was burned every time trades were made with Uniswap.

Next step was rather bold, and some might say, brash. But, as the saying goes: all is fair in love and war and this was war!

We, the PRIA Jedi, banned everyone from our PRIA Telegram channel who had joined the ARIA Telegram channel, and Jedi Master Mantis blacklisted any ethereum addresses that had interacted with the ARIA smart contract.

This caused quite the stir.

People did NOT like being removed from the PRIA Telegram channel, but an example needed to be set. People soon realised that the PRIA Jedi do NOT play games.

Classic degens, unaware of why we might bepissed.

Next, the PRIA Jedi took to Twitter and Telegram and, pardon my language, fudded the fuck out of them. They had unforgivably taken a significant portion of our trade volume and we were determined to disrupt their initial success and get it back.

Every single Twitter post they made was immediately hit with a plethora of negative comments from the PRIA Jedi, and similarly in their Telegram.

It worked.

Regular people who werent the PRIA Jedi organically started asking whether ARIA was a scam in their Telegram. We were winning.

ARIA did attempt to fight back a couple of times on Twitter

Some minor, yet futile, resistance.

but it was futile. The PRIA Jedi were simply too strong and spammed the above post with factual and brutally honest FUD concerning the ARIA project.

As one would expect, this rather quickly led to the demoralising of ARIA Telegram channel members

And ARIA started to die a painful death with volume dropping sharply.

The PRIA Jedi conquered, and ARIA is no more.

A price chart fromHell.

After ARIA, the Attack of the Clones continued, and war intensified. Multiple clones every single day were created.

ORIA, KRIA, VRIA, ZRIA, TRIA, RRIA, BRIA, yPRIA, pizzeRIA, DRIA, nDRIA, etc, etc I mean, WTF!!

Many of them followed the same model as ARIA, by cloning everything and changing very little. Most are too boringly similar to call out individually.

Though DRIA did have an interesting logo

Hahahaha! With a logo like that, DRIA wasnt a cause forconcern.

Initially our strategy remained the same: Attack them head on. Ban them, blacklist them, FUD them, trigger the killswitch.

But it quickly became apparent that, although we are PRIA Jedi Knights, we didnt have the bandwidth to fight them all. We adapted our strategy, moving towards automation and turning the clones on themselves.

In addition to the bandwidth issues, we also realised that since the clones were also competing with each other, and each clone community has essentially the same degenerate ethos, it wouldnt be too long before they started cannibalising themselves, leaving PRIA to reign supreme.

For automation, Jedi Master Mantis wrote an alert system that analysed all smart contract diffs. If the contract was similar to PRIA, it would immediately execute the killswitch to ensure a liquidity leak and an eventual death.

For our FUD efforts, instead of generically fudding, we started to directly FUD the clones by promoting other clone projects! We did this in the Twitter and Telegram channels of the separate clone projects.

This catalysed the clone cannibalism we hoped.

Soon members from each of the clone projects started fudding each other, leading the eventual destruction of them all.

First it started with regular old sweary FUD

Then the discourse became a little more colourful

"Goats", yousay?

Even Admins started berating each other. Heres our good friend Kevin C again arguing with another Admin, KDOT, but this time with a different clone project: nDRIA!

Gotta give it to Kevin C, he knows how to pick a shitty project!

And finally, our favourite: A beautiful crescendo of porn spamming

The PRIA Jedi won the first wave of war.

After the 710 day Attack of the Clones, things slowed down a little bit and the clones were attacking with less frequency.

Witnessing the total clone destruction from the PRIA Jedi, some clones regrouped, ready to launch another attack.

This attack came in the form of a clone 2.0 named Oscillate. They had put in some effort beyond a straight copy and paste of the code. They seemingly meant business.

Oscillate actually launched their OWN uniquely designed website and significantly changed the name. And as all the other clones did, they made some rudimentary modifications to some of the math regarding the burn rate and maximum supply.

This clone 2.0 was going places. Lol.

Their OWN website.Wow!

If any clone had a chance of becoming successful it felt like it would be this one.

In addition their website and name, they had a ton of degens shilling in their Telegram. They reached an impressive ~1000 members within a day! And they also fixed the contract code to stop us from triggering the killswitch.

However, rather hilariously, after a few hours any concerns we had about Oscillate were alleviated upon noticing that one of the Admins of their Telegram group was a braindead fudder from our own PRIA Telegram channel a week earlier!

When we were pumping hard in the previous week, with price going from $2 to $82, an imbecilic degen named Lord Fes came into the PRIA Telegram and started calling everyone cunts and spamming masturbating-Pepe and Nazi-Pepe memes. According to him, he did this because we mooned without him.

Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce the singular brain-celled, Lord Fes

Lord Fes isnt the sharpest tool in theshed.

As I mentioned. Be careful with fudders and deal with them swiftly. Lord Fes lasted about 60 seconds in our channel.

As expected, any project that would appoint Lord Fes as an Admin would not last for long, and this was no exception. Oscillate died a horrible death, just like all the rest.

See?

Another price chart fromHell.

After countless battles and a week or so of intense combat, it felt that PRIA WARS: Attack of the Clones had reached its conclusion

The good guys (us) had won.

But, no.

There was a last hurrah. We came up against a new clone, PRIAx.

PRIAx was created by another of our previous community members, Dominik. For a few weeks Dominik had been a member of the PRIA Telegram channel, and he frequently complained and fudded. We were too tolerant, however, and we warned him numerous times and continued to keep him around. Every so often he would intersperse his FUD with positivity and optimism, and that was enough to forgive him for a few hours.

And, to be honest, it really seemed like he was just a very emotional (perhaps bipolar) guy whose mood was exponentially correlated with the price of PRIA. If the PRIA price went down slightly, Dominiks mood crashed worse than the Wall St Crash of 1929. If PRIA price went up slightly, his mood elevated like hed just triple dropped whilst clubbing in Ibiza.

His mood swings resulted in him insinuating that the project was a scam and other such FUD. And eventually, after a few days of negative PRIA price action, he couldnt contain himself. His mood crashed and he repeatedly fudded.

He didnt heed our warnings, and continued

The community didnt like it, we received multiple requests to ban him. We felt wed been lenient enough, and so we muted him to give us all a break for a couple of days.

That break didnt come, however

As the next day, PRIAx emerged. Dominik was the Admin and he claimed that PRIAx was actually created by us! Check it out

Well, this was hilarious! Loyalty rarely exists in the DeFi world.

So, I repeat: Be very wary of fudders, folks. They lack emotional restraint and are prone to destructive behaviour. They will hurt your project.

We knew PRIAx wouldnt be successful. This may sound like arrogance, but it was obvious. The PRIAx website was also selling COVID testing kits!

A few days later, Dominik sent one of the PRIA Jedi a direct message to apologise, but the damage had already been done.

Regardless, we wish Dominik the best in life.

Thats all, folks! (For now!)

But just wait for the next time PRIA pumps! A second wave of clones will come, this time stronger than before, again in an attempt to dethrone the king.

They forget that there is only one PRIA.

PRIA WARS: Attack of the Clones taught us a lot and showed us just how robust PRIA actually is. The 1 million test simulations prior to launching the PRIA project certainly paid off, because, PRIA Jedi aside, the minor modifications the clones made to the math would NOT have worked anyway.

To compete with PRIA, the clone must reinforce and weaponise itself with purposeful and meticulous innovation. Perhaps such a clone will emerge in the future...

Stay tuned for the sequel: PRIA WARS 2: Return of the Clones.

If youd like to explore the PRIA protocol you can visit the website and join our thriving Telegram community.

Create your free account to unlock your custom reading experience.

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Ed Miliband: ‘If the Conservatives want a climate election in the next election, I say bring it on’ – PoliticsHome.com

Posted: at 6:19 am

10 min read3 hr

Ed Miliband is back on the Labour frontbench, and pursuing his passion of tackling the climate crisis. He talks to Georgina Bailey about why the governments green jobs plans fall short, why COP-26 is the most important international summit yet, and whether XR is helping or hurting

Its the same me. Youre going to have to explain what you mean by that question. People have discovered Ive got a personality, you mean? he says over Zoom from his office in Westminster, where he is being periodically distracted by somebody dressed as Mickey Mouse walking up and down the bridge leading to Parliament.

People have a different perception of him now, I suggest. Hes been more removed from the limelight, and launched a successful podcast. There are fewer people taking photos of him eating.

Which is a good thing, given the past record, the former Labour leader quips. I dont think I am different Its kind of hard to self-commentate on these things. I dont know. Im just the same person I was, but maybe feeling less constrained.

Now back in Labours top team as shadow business, energy and industrial strategy (BEIS) secretary, Miliband seems to be unleashing his self-proclaimed nerdy side when it comes to tackling the climate crisis. As the secretary of state who introduced the Climate Change Act in 2008, and a long-time campaigner for more radical action on the climate crisis, his promotion by Keir Starmer in April was seen as a unity appointment, strongly supported by proponents of Labours ambitious Green New Deal Policy in 2019.

Theres a shortfall of something like 30bn a year when it comes to getting on track for net zero. The government is way off target

What have I learned in the decade or more that Ive been thinking about this issue? he asks himself. I think that we probably havent done enough to make climate change not simply an environmental issue, but an economic and social justice issue, which it is.

Just over a fortnight ago, Miliband and Anneliese Dodds, the shadow chancellor, released Labours Build It In Britain report, which called for 30bn of government investment in green industries and infrastructure over 18 months. Designed to aid the UKs recovery from the Covid crisis, which has seen the economy contract by 11% and nearly 800,000 jobs lost so far, Labour estimated their plan would create 400,000 jobs.

A week later, the prime minister announced his 12bn 10-point plan for a Green Industrial Revolution. While claiming it would support 250,000 jobs, the government later admitted that only 3bn of the money was new. Unsurprisingly, Miliband brands it incredibly disappointing.

I dont think that comes up to the scale of the jobs emergency... and I dont think it comes up the scale of the climate emergency either, says Miliband. What independent estimates have said is that in Parliament, theres a shortfall of something like 30bn a year when it comes to getting on track for net zero. The government is way off target, even after what Boris Johnson has unveiled...

I do welcome the fact that [Johnsons] talking about it, because I think thats good for the country, good for the world. In a sense, now lets see who can really deliver at the scale that is required on jobs, on ambition, on fairness as well.

Miliband describes tackling the climate emergency as something that requires work across a wide set of areas, with public and private investment working together. Green jobs, he explains, are about so much more than wind turbines, pointing to the need for low carbon engines in aerospace, manufacturing electric buses, investment in hydrogen technologies, the retrofitting of homes, and carbon capture and storage.

Wind turbines are a key example of one of the problems facing politicians though: where are green jobs being created? As reported in The Times last week, in the governments flagship policy to get all UK homes powered by offshore wind by 2030, only 20bn of the 50bn investment is expected to manifest in the UK, with most turbine parts currently made abroad. The UK share of capital expenditure was expected to reach only 50% by 2030.

It makes the case harder to make if you dont create the jobs in Britain, says Miliband. I represent the coal mining industry, we know what an unplanned transition looks like. Thats what happened in the 1980s, and we are still feeling the effects of it... this is why I say that advancing this stimulus money is the right thing to do for now.

Another part of Labours plan was to boost investment in flood protection. Milibands own Doncaster North constituency was one of those under water in last winters devastating floods, causing at least 11 deaths and 150m worth of damage across affected areas.

I think people dont fully get the sense of loss and devastation of what flood means until it happens to people you know. I mean, honestly, Im still were just over a year on, and Im still trying to help the poor people, some of whom are not back in their homes, he says.

Thats a really important point about this, because it takes you to the justice or fairness question. You know, who is it that is worst affected? Its often people who have the least. Its not always, but it is often.

The issue of fairness is part of Milibands wider criticism of the governments approach. He points to the money set out for retrofitting housing to make it more energy efficient in July this year. 50m of the 3bn was for social housing. Well, actually thats not fair. That isnt meeting the justice test, he says. Housing currently is responsible for around 30% of the countrys carbon emissions; rather than pots of money for people to apply for to retrofit their homes, Miliband would like to see an organised street-by-street approach to make homes greener, with the government working with private companies.

And what does the social justice approach mean for another flagship announcement, the widespread roll out of electric vehicles? Although the Committee on Climate Change estimates that their lifetime cost will be the same as that of petrol or diesel engines within the next few years, electric vehicles currently cost an average of 10,000 more in upfront costs.

While insisting he doesnt want to make policy up on the hoof, Miliband does float the idea of giving people zero-interest loans to buy electric vehicles, paid back over a number of years, to equalise the cost upfront, so that they arent only accessible to the middle classes: Youve got to make it make economic sense for people.

While tackling the climate crisis repeatedly polls as a priority for people in the UK across demographic and political divides, Miliband believes that the green movement needs to work on its messaging about the positive impact of a just transition to net zero for society today, such as more jobs and green spaces, walkable towns and cities, and improved air quality.

I sometimes say, you know, Martin Luther King didnt say I have a nightmare. He said, I have a dream, Miliband says, And disaster avoidance, of course, its important But this is ultimately I think about better lives for people.

For all this bold talk, there are rumours that the Leader of the Oppositions Office has been stopping Milibands team from being as ambitious in their aims as they might like.

Definitely not, he says.

Theres a rhythm to opposition. Six months or so since Keir became leader, thats a different moment from six months before the election. But I think what were, what Im trying to do in this area, is set out a clear direction of travel. What is that about? That is about ambition.

When it comes to messaging, does he believe groups like Extinction Rebellion are helping or harming the cause? In particular, what of their recent protest at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday?

Miliband looks out the window and sighs.

Well, something like that of course is not right, he says quickly. I think that the thing I would say is, I think what people think about Extinction Rebellion, is we are sympathetic to their motivation and we didnt like the disruption, right? And then there are the extreme ends, like when they tried to stop the train in the first phase.

And obviously, look, I think people should obey the law. I think whats interesting is when the first polls were taken about Extinction Rebellion, three to one people said well we support their aim, but were much more divided about their tactics.

He continues: Look protests cause disruption, but I think what protesters need to be incredibly careful about is not alienating people... Im not, you know, Im not obviously in Extinction Rebellion.

He contrasts their behaviour with the unalloyed positive impact of the school strikers. I think it has shown the younger generation really cares about this, and is sort of pricking the conscience of the older, the older generations.

Looking ahead to the rescheduled COP26 in Glasgow next year, Miliband is emphatic about its importance which he thinks is not fully appreciated among all his parliamentary colleagues.

People will think all these summits come and go. But Glasgow is the moment where were supposed to be updating the Paris commitment. Weve got to close the gap between the ambitions of Paris, which was no more than 1.5 degrees of warming, and the commitments that people actually made in Paris, which add up to about three degrees of warming. That is a massive gap.

And weve got 10 years to turn it around. And we only come back to these things every five years... Thats why I think there is a sense its more important than Paris actually.

He believes the government should have three key priorities as the hosts of COP26: setting an international example for an ambitious green recovery; international finance for developing countries net zero efforts; and hammering home the importance of the 2030 targets.

This is like 193-dimensional chess, this COP thing. Youve got 190 or some odd countries who have got to be part of this agreement

China has said it will get to be carbon neutral by 2060, which is a really important move forward. But, its the next 10 years that are absolutely crucial, he says. This is like 193-dimensional chess, this COP thing. Youve got 190 or some odd countries who have got to be part of this agreement. Now, the major emitters are a smaller number, 20 or so. But this is a massive job getting this right.

Were meeting the day before the Spending Review, but Miliband says he is very anxious about the impact of the trailed cuts to international development budgets. That does have climate implications.

He apologises to his staff: hes about to break a promise not to talk about Gigatonnes, a unit of mass equal to 1,000,000,000 metric tons. This is my nerdy side coming out again, but this is a really important thing, he starts.

We are currently on track as the world for 55 Gigatonnes of emissions in 2030... To have 2 degrees of warming, you need to be at something like 41 Gigatonnes in 2030 over the world. And this is the sort of scary bit: to be at 1.5 degrees of warming, you need to be somewhere around 24 Gigatonnes. These are massive changes, he warns. The only time emissions in any country have fallen anywhere near the 7.6% a year needed in recent times was the collapse of the Soviet Union.

From his side, Miliband is clear that he is committed to push the government to be as ambitious as possible in the next four years. He says doesnt resile one iota from Labours 2019 commitment for the country to be most of the way to net-zero by 2030.

If the Conservatives want a climate election in the next election, I say bring it on. We do need a climate election. We absolutely need a climate election... If the next climate election isnt a climate election, well be failing, he says.

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Competent Cells Market size, share, trends and industry analysis investigated in the latest research – WhaTech

Posted: at 6:18 am

According to research report the competent cells market is projected to reach $2.22 billion by 2022, at a CAGR of 10.2%.

According to research report the global competent cells market is projected to reach USD 2.22 billion by 2022 from USD 1.37 billion in 2017, at a CAGR of 10.2%.

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Advancements in molecular cloning research due to the emergence of new technologies and increasing commercial demand for molecular cloned products and recombinant proteins are the major factors driving the growth of the competent cells market.

North America to dominate the competent cells market in 2017

By region, the global competent cells market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Rest of the World (RoW). In 2017, North America is expected to account for the largest share of the market.

This can be attributed to the increasing intensity of research due to technological advancement and increasing commercial needs for genomic and protein expressed products, in North American countries.

By application, the cloning segment is expected to dominate the market in 2017

Based on application, the competent cells market is broadly segmented into cloning, protein expression, and other applications. Cloning is expected to command the largest share of this market in 2017.

Increasing research on cloning, driven by government support and funding is among the major factors driving market growth in this segment.

The cloning application is further segmented into subcloning & routine cloning, phage display library construction, toxic/unstable DNA cloning, and high-throughput cloning. Similarly, other applications of competent cells include mutagenesis, single-stranded DNA production, lentiviral vector production, and large plasmid transformation.

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By type, the chemically competent cells segment is expected to dominate the market in 2017

Based on the type of competent cells, the market is segmented into chemically competent cells and electrocompetent cells. The growth of the chemically competent cells segment can be attributed to the rising intensity of research (due to technological advancement) and availability of government support, along with the growing market demand for molecular cloned products.

By end user, the academic research institutes segment is expected to dominate the market in 2017

On the basis of end user, the competent cells market is segmented into academic research institutes, contract research organizations (CROs), and pharmaceutical & biotechnology companies. In 2017, the academic research institutes segment is expected to account for the largest share of the market.

The growth of this end-user segment is driven by the increase in research funding for life science projects worldwide.

Key players operating in the competent cells market include Merck KGaA (Germany), Promega Corporation (U.S.), Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. (U.S), New England Biolabs (U.S.), Takara Bio (Japan), Agilent Technologies (U.S.), Lucigen (Epicenter) (Illumina) (U.S.), QIAGEN N.V.

(Germany), OriGene Technologies (U.S.), Bioline (U.K.), Zymo Research (U.S.), Beijing TransGen Biotech Co., Ltd. (China), Source BioScience (U.K.), IBA GmBH (Germany), Genewiz (U.S.), BioDynamics Laboratory, Inc.

(Japan), GCC Biotech (India), SMOBIO Technology (Taiwan), GeneScript Corporation (U.S.), Bio-Rad Laboratories (U.S.), Life Technologies (India) Pvt. Ltd., Cell Applications, Inc. (U.S.), Delphi Genetics (Belgium), Scarab Genomics, LLC (U.S.), and Yeastern Biotech Co., Ltd.

(Taiwan).

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Basic income for all: Has the Covid crisis given us a new economic model? – The Irish Times

Posted: at 6:18 am

The concept of a universal basic income has already been suggested for arts workers hit by the pandemic, but what if there was a constant security and safety net for all, a payment always delivered to all citizens with no strings attached?

The idea was first floated by Thomas More in Utopia in 1516, is now being advocated by Pope Francis and President Michael D Higgins and is being considered by governments across the world. The basic income guarantee is frequently referred to as universal basic income (UBI).

UBI is a periodic payment paid at regular intervals as a cash payment without conditions, allowing those who receive it to decide what to spend it on. It is paid individually without a means test and is unconditional without a requirement to work or demonstrate a willingness to work.

In Ireland, the Green Party fought for a trial run for UBI to be included in the Programme for Government, and there is to be one at some stage over the next five years.

Among its most ardent supporters is Green Party Dublin Central TD Neasa Hourigan, co-author of the partys policy. The Green Party proposes a system of UBI in Ireland for all citizens in 2024, pending a successful trial. She envisages that the trial in Ireland will take between 18 and 20 months to plan and that the trial itself would run for two to three years.

A basic provision of economic resources would address poverty and economic inequality even though it doesnt promise to eradicate either, Hourigan says. She says that in Ireland we already recognise payments like these child benefit and state pension but UBI would close the gap between the two.

I am particularly wedded to UBI because it would have the greatest uplift for people on the margins of existing social welfare bands. The lowest income families should already be within the support network but those in part-time employment often find themselves just outside State help. UBI would address that and be particularly important for women and those who care.

The Greens are not alone in supporting UBI. It also has advocates in Fianna Fil such as Willie ODea, while outside government the Social Democrats have also expressed interest. The Department of Social Protection has said that the Low Pay Commission will examine UBI in due course.

It has been tested elsewhere. The longest trial run for UBI in the world is in Alaska. Since 1982, the state has been giving every woman, man, and child between $1,000 to $2,000 per year. A 2016 study by the University of Alaska found it reduced poverty up to 20 per cent.

In Finland, a two-year UBI study in 2017 and 2018 saw 2,000 unemployed Finns receive the payments of 560, with no obligation to seek a job and no reduction in payment if they accepted one. Participants reported greater feelings of autonomy, financial security, and confidence in the future, although it did not make them any more likely to find work.

[UBI is] a big idea but a transformative idea, in the way bringing in an old-age pension would have been seen as radical more than 100 years ago, says Bobby Lambert, joint co-ordinator of Basic Income Ireland, a campaign group for UBI in Ireland.

Lambert would rather the Irish trial did not focus on a group like the unemployed and rather a more general group of people, preferably a geographical area. To pay every resident in Ireland the basic income would cost an estimated 6.5 billion per annum.

Some taxes suggested to raise for money for UBI in the Green Party policy include pension funds, site value tax, speculative transaction tax and stamp duty for property trades that are not the principal private residence.

UBI would be given to each recipient from birth or point of residency, from cradle to grave, with the amount given to those under 26 years of age varied depending on wages in a similar way to how social welfare exists today with a set rate given to all adults over 26. Children under 18-years-old would receive 32.31 per week, according to the Green Party plan, with 112.70 for 18 to 21-year-olds, 157.80 for 21 to 25-year-olds and 203 for adults over 26 years old.

UBI is not without its critics. Laura Bambrick, the head of social policy and employment affairs at the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, finds the idea of replacing existing welfare safety nets concerning. The money needed to pay adequate UBI, she says, would be better spent on reforming social protection systems and building better quality public services.

Our welfare system is complex precisely because the root causes of poverty are complex, Bambrick says. A one-size-fits-all payment will hurt those with the greatest risk of poverty.

She believes that no UBI payment would work as well as an average European welfare system for the most vulnerable people. And she contends that providing welfare top-ups on top of UBI, as advocated by some proponents of this system, would end up being far too costly. [It] would make for a uniquely Irish UBI, and I look forward to seeing their maths. Hourigan says that the difference between the current welfare rates and UBI will be made up by further State payments.

Welfare and efficient use of resources also concerns Ian Goldin, Professor of Globalisation and Development at Oxford University, who has spoken against UBI in the past.

He says that if you gave everyone half the minimum wage in Ireland, it would be bigger than the budget of all social welfare. He points out that UBI is favoured by tech billionaires and right-wing libertarians as well as left-wing progressives, and it may be used by the rich to normalise the automation of employment and abolish existing welfare supports.

Its giving everyone a low amount of money and we will give unemployed people less than they need and unnecessarily so. That is not the answer to either poverty inequality or the future of work.

Goldin also takes issue at the universality of UBI, saying it is a waste of needed funds to give the income to the wealthy. He says that societal safety nets and raising the wage of low-paid and vulnerable workers through the current system would be a more worthy use of resources.

The other issue frequently brought up by critics of UBI is the danger that an unconditional payment would disincentivise work, even though the trials done so far suggest that payments have little effect on employment.

Danny McCoy,chief executive of the Irish Business and Employers Confederation (Ibec), says UBI would undermine our current active labour market policies which would result in labour supply challenges and could diminish overall labour cost competitiveness in the economy.

He says that Ibec remains open to debate on the merits of UBI and research that indicates it could be positive for entrepreneurship. On that point, Lambert highlights a UBI project in Namibia, which found it helped local business as they had the financial security to work on business ideas.

Hourigan says that Covid-19 has changed the discussion and been valuable to the UBI debate. There has always been a real resistance to the idea that our current tax system and economic models could support such a payment. The Covid-19 crisis has refocused the minds of many towards the well-being of communities.

UBI is not going to solve the housing crisis, says Lambert. But it is part of a general investment for a better and fairer society.

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