Category Archives: Golden Rule

Europes pre-Covid fiscal rules were the product of a cultural climate prevailing in the 1980s and 90s. Back then, the belief in the effectiveness of fiscal policies on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employment was limited, and monetary policy was seen as a universal solution. We have known that this is not the case for some time now. The existing rules also had well-known technical bugs that made them procyclical, whatever the intended contrary effects.

After the disastrous consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, the lesson is that not only do the fiscal rules need to be amended, but the new rules must also be complemented by a system of safeguards designed to protect the integrity of the European Monetary Union (EMU) in the event of systemic shocks. As argued in our recent paper, any reform must take account of four changed circumstances.

First, interest rates are much lower than they were in the 1990s when the existing rules were drawn up. The Eurozone expenditure on interest payments is now a much smaller percentage of its GDP despite debt being significantly higher. Given the persistence of excess savings worldwide, which exerts downward pressure on real interest rates, this means that higher debt to GDP ratios would remain sustainable for some time.

Secondly, post-pandemic debts of all EMU members have grown considerably relative to GDP, making the 60 per cent threshold enshrined in the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) entirely out of the reach for many of them (in Southern Europe but also in France, Belgium, and Austria), except at the cost of a demand squeeze capable of throwing the continent back into recession.

Interest rates have stuck close to zero for almost a decade: a clear sign of the weaknesses of monetary policy in tackling widespread negative shocks.

Third, in a cyclical downturn of GDP, the debt/GDP ratio increases even if debt does not. Expecting the ratio to go down always and for a long period of time is thus entirely illogical. While it is true that the SGP allows the rules to be suspended in the event of exceptional circumstances (such as the 2008 financial crisis or the pandemic), its macroeconomic impact over time can be quite asymmetrical (like in the 2011-14 period) and this makes the application of a uniform rule vulnerable and practically unworkable.

Fourth, interest rates have stuck close to zero for almost a decade: a clear sign of the weaknesses of monetary policy in tackling widespread negative shocks, including those of a symmetrical nature. Increased use of fiscal policy for the purpose of stabilisation and related macroeconomic externalities must be carefully considered. In the wake of the pandemic, it has become clear that the future economic sustainability of EMU members is bound up with an extraordinary (but anything but temporary) budgetary effort.

It should by now be clear that maintaining fiscal policy entirely at the level of individual member countries, constrained by a set of rules which ignore macroeconomic externalities, is no longer possible. The era of do your homework alone is over. As Buti and Messori, among others, have stressed, individual state budgetary policies must not only be controlled but also be co-ordinated and harmonised to maintain a balanced Eurozone fiscal stance. This can serve to minimise negative spill-overs from individual budgetary policies onto other member states via macroeconomic externalities.

Moreover, as existing federal unions such as the US show, a sufficiently large and flexible central budget is a necessary precondition to keep members budgets small and disciplined. If NGEU and, in particular, SURE (the shared funding tool for cyclical unemployment benefits) were to become permanent European Union tools, national budgetary constraints might immediately gain political acceptability and be easier to control. Thats because a significant part of the macroeconomic stabilisation task would be entrusted to the common budget, which would be mainly funded by nations own resources.

Whenever technical evaluation must be translated into political decisions competence should be assigned to politically responsible institutions.

We should resist perpetuating the harmful illusion that in a democratic Europe, an automatic algorithm may, or should, replace the so-called political discretion. Rules are useful to create a framework for technical evaluation of the state of public finances in the various member states and of the EMU as a whole. Whenever technical evaluation must be translated into political decisions, however, competence should be assigned to politically responsible institutions.

In the EMU, political responsibility stays with member state governments. However, national governments must agree to share sovereignty with an institution capable of guaranteeing the EUs collective interests. In our view, this can only be the European Commission. Of course, the Commission must make use of independent technical structures such as the European Fiscal Board (EFB) and the national parliamentary budget offices for technical analysis and the formulation of guidelines for the implementation of standards.

We entirely agree with the suggestion by Blanchard et al. (2021) that the focus should be public debt sustainability. This would eliminate all reference to fixed targets valid for all member states without distinction and, even more importantly, it would break free the sustainability analysis from the weight of non-observable variables, such as potential GDP and the output gap, requiring ongoing (and retrospective) review.

Sustainability analysis should be performed on individual member states periodically and be designed to assess the probability that debt is sustainable, taking account of the specific features of each nation with reference to growth, population dynamics, interest rate trends (and thus overall debt servicing spending) but also current budgetary policies and those planned for the future.

This type of analysis is by no means straightforward and should thus be entrusted to a strengthened European Fiscal Board (EFB) in conjunction with national institutions. If debt sustainability analysis should reveal a high likelihood that debt may become unsustainable, the Commission based on a proposal by the EFB would have to negotiate a deficit reduction trajectory over several years with the country concerned. That would require the debt sustainability risks to be balanced against the costs of adjustment in terms of production, with the explicit goal of averting a debt crisis for the individual country concerned and the EMU as a whole.

Back in 2019 the EFB suggested that, in the event that debt reduction should require it, a primary spending ceiling could be resorted to, also preserving a predetermined investment spending quota (the golden rule). However, the energy transition, for example, requires huge and long-term investment that cannot realistically be done while simultaneously maintaining significant primary surpluses in all European nations. It has been noted that post-pandemic resilience and recovery are based on capital build-up and growth (especially human and social capital), which require increases in spending. Accounting conventions would classify this spending as current expenditures, but it could also be seen as investment expenditure. Think of health and education spending. Reforms of the European fiscal rules and the introduction of the golden rule could, not unreasonably, be accompanied by a (at least experimental) modification of certain key spending classifications.

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Breathing in new life into the European fiscal monster - IPS Journal

Take the rest of the noodles and the pak choi and you can have it for your lunch tomorrow. My dad pushed the takeaway containers and their remaining contents across the table towards me.

Ive got loads of food at mine, why dont you and Mum keep it? I protested. I knew hed insist I take the leftovers with me. This routine would always play out at the end of family dinners once Id left home and, this time around, it felt both familiar and oddly comforting because it had been a while since our last dinner.

Well, more than a while. It was spring, last year, and the pandemic had meant that, for months, like most families, wed only seen one another through our screens. This was the first time in a long while that wed been able to get together for a meal. We were even legally allowed to hug (if we exercised care and common sense!). I had brought champagne to celebrate, and we ordered from the local Chinese takeaway. Id like to say it was a bid to support an Asian business that had been struggling, like many others, during the pandemic, but in truth it was sheer laziness. Wed talked and gorged ourselves on crispy aromatic duck with pancakes, stir-fried king prawns with peppers in black bean sauce, and chow mein with beansprouts. My childhood favourites.

OK, Ill take them, I said, but my bags too small to carry the boxes. My dad got up from the table and went to the hallway to retrieve his rucksack. He rummaged around inside for a moment and then pulled out a neatly folded plastic bag. Opening it out, he offered it to me. I reached for it and then my hand paused in mid-air as I gawped in disbelief.

How long have you had this? I asked in amazement. He shrugged. This was no ordinary plastic bag. Indeed, the bag was not of this millennium.

It was vintage Marks & Spencer, made from thick white polythene emblazoned with St Michael QUALITY FOODS in blue lettering, the St Michael logo in a distinctive handwritten style. If you shopped in M&S in the 90s, you may remember it. Its a classic. Ive since found out that the St Michael brand was phased out in the year 2000, making this bag at least 20 years old.

My dad isnt a man of many words, but that night hed had a few glasses of wine. He told us that he used the bag regularly, despite its pristine appearance, and that the last time hed used it in the local M&S the cashier had shrieked, Oh my lord, I havent seen one of these in years, and made the other members of staff gather round to take a look. This moment perfectly encapsulated what I would describe as Dads Golden Rule No 1: nothing goes to waste, which applies equally to food, clothes, household items, cars everything really. Things will be used until they break, if they can be mended they will be mended, but rarely will anything be thrown away. This was established in his childhood out of necessity, but even now, in relative comfort, he still treats everything with such care and hates wastefulness.

A couple of weeks later, I came across an article written by the journalist Dan Hancox in the Guardian. I had thought I was pretty familiar with the long history of anti-Asian racism and discrimination in the UK and elsewhere; the shifting stereotypes, the scapegoating, Yellow Peril and the like, and the erasure of the contributions of the 140,000 men of the Chinese Labour Corps who risked their lives carrying out essential work for the allies in the first world war. But this was a story I had never heard before.

In the aftermath of the second world war, Britain forcibly deported hundreds of Chinese seamen who had served in the merchant navy, deeming them an undesirable element of British society. These men had helped keep the UK fed and fuelled on highly dangerous crossings of the Atlantic (approximately 3,500 vessels of the merchant navy were sunk by German U-boats, with the loss of 72,000 lives).

Many of the surviving men had married and started families with British women in Liverpool. However, they were secretly rounded up without notice and shipped back to east Asia. Many of their wives never knew what happened to them, and their children grew up believing they had been abandoned.

The fact that this story is only now coming to light, with no official acknowledgment or apology, may not be surprising, but it is still heartbreaking and enraging. By the time I finished reading the article, I was in tears. I realised that this had struck a deep chord because my own father had served for years in the merchant navy before he settled in the UK.

My dad grew up as one of six kids in a poor, single-parent household in Hong Kong. He was the third child and the oldest son. My ah-ma (his mother: barely 5ft tall, very fierce, could out-haggle anyone) worked three jobs to support her children. One was as a seamstress, with long hours bent over a sewing machine in a sweatshop, earning the equivalent of less than 1 a day. Initially my dads family lived in a shack on a hillside, with no running water. Then they moved into a block where they had one room, sharing a bathroom with 30 other families on the same floor. At one point they were made homeless when the block of flats burned down.

After leaving school, my dad worked for years on ships mostly oil tankers at sea for months at a time, and sent money home to pay for his siblings school fees. Only after they had all finished school could he save enough to pay for his own degree, coming to the UK to study engineering at the University of Strathclyde, where he would meet my mum (her own familys tumultuous journey to the UK is a story for another time).

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During my childhood, my dad was the most selfless and diligent father. His love for my sister and me was expressed not through words but through small acts of devotion: always cutting fresh fruit for us; making sure we drank two full glasses of milk each day so our bones would grow strong (milk being a luxury they rarely had in Hong Kong); patiently teaching us how to swim (Golden Rule No 2: learn how to swim). However, when I was younger, there were some things about him that I found hard to understand: his obsession with education, his aversion to waste of any kind, his insistence that we finish every bit of food on our plates; and his constant reminders not to take anything for granted. It was because he knew what it was like to have nothing.

After I sent him the article about the Chinese seamen, we had a long conversation on the phone. He doesnt often speak about his past, but we talked about his time in the merchant navy. Some things I remembered him telling me long ago: how hard and lonely those years at sea were, how much he missed his family, and how dangerous it could be. On his third voyage, his ship, a chemical tanker, was sailing between Taipei and Kobe when they were caught in the tail end of a typhoon. The chief officer went out on deck to help secure the cover of the anchor chain locker, which was filling up with water, and was killed when a large wave dashed him against the ship. He was buried at sea.

But other details were new. I found out that, after seven continuous months at sea on his first voyage, my dad had noticed that the white British officers and crew spent six months at sea at most, with some serving four-month contracts before getting tickets to fly home to be with their families. This was in contrast to the Chinese crew, who usually had to serve long periods of nine months.

While some of his fellow junior engineers were apprehensive about being seen to be causing trouble, he represented other Chinese crew members on board and took it up with the shipping companys superintendent. He found out that the British crew were employed under Article A (better pay, shorter sea time, paid study leave, etc), whereas the Chinese crew were employed under Article B (less pay, longer sea time, fewer benefits). The company told my dad he was the first person to complain. Dad told them he just wanted equal treatment. As a result, he and the others who protested were allowed to fly back home with holiday pay. They had docked in Trinidad, so he flew from there to Toronto, on to Vancouver, then Honolulu, then Tokyo. Finally, after three days of flying, he was reunited with his family in Hong Kong.

When I heard this story, it was impossible not to think again of the deported Chinese seamen. One of the reasons they were considered undesirable was because they had gone on strike to fight for an increase in their basic pay (originally less than half that of their British crew mates) and for the payment of the standard 10-a-month war risk bonus.

Its a precarious business simply to stand up for your rights, especially if you are poor or a person of colour; and it unfortunately remains the case that those in power usually dont appreciate being held to account. I hope that one day there will be an official acknowledgment of this terrible act of state-sanctioned racism and of the wrong done to those men and their families. I hope that the surviving children get the answers and justice they deserve, and that they can find peace.

My relationship with my dad hasnt always been easy as is often the case, its possible to derive both pain and gratitude from the same place but I know how lucky we are to have him. And I will be forever thankful for the sacrifices he made for our family and for the things he taught me: the value of hard work, never to look down on those who have less, to stand up for others, and that a Bag for Life truly means life.

This essay appears in East Side Voices, edited by Helena Lee, published by Hodder & Stoughton on 20 January at 14.99. To support The Guardian and Observer, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.

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Gemma Chan on the truth about her fathers life at sea: He knew what it was like to have nothing - The Guardian

Millions of people could starve to death in Afghanistan this winter.

Two Philadelphians are trying to prevent that from happening.

This is a campaign for humanity, said Naser Shahalemi, 42, a Kabul-born, University City businessman who helps lead a new and burgeoning awareness campaign, End Afghan Starvation. Twenty years we were helping them, and now were not helping them?

He and Gulmakai Popal Saleh, 44, a childrens book author in Northeast Philadelphia, started and lead a movement thats gained supporters across the globe, spread across the internet, and generated demonstrations in three cities. Nearly 10,000 people have signed online petitions pleading for U.S. action to avoid a humanitarian disaster.

Why Philadelphia as a starting point?

Things spark up in Philly, Shahalemi said. He and Saleh, both Afghan Americans who immigrated here as children, decided they had to act as they saw a crisis developing.

Afghanistan has long been beset by malnutrition. But now its being racked by a convergence of drought, war, poverty, unemployment, and pandemic thats wiped out crops and cut off international aid.

More than half the population, 22.8 million people, face severe hunger, according to U.N. analyses, and more than 8.7 million of those are nearing famine.

The billions of dollars in aid that flowed to the U.S.-backed Afghan government vanished when the country fell to the Taliban in August. Subsequent American economic sanctions have limited Afghanistans access to global financial markets and left humanitarian organizations unable to pay workers, buy supplies, and distribute food.

The Biden administration moved to exempt aid groups from the sanctions shortly before Christmas, but its unclear whether that will be sufficient to forestall famine.

Part of the challenge is political the Biden administration risks being seen as supporting the Taliban if it provides assistance.

End Afghan Starvation calls on the administration to ignore political concerns and get food to hungry people, mounting Twitter storms under the hashtag #endafghanstarvation.

The group seeks no monetary donations, noting that funding for food programs already is being sought and collected by groups that include the World Food Programme, International Rescue Committee, UNICEF, and Action Against Hunger.

More than 4,100 people have signed a petition that urges immediate action, to be submitted to the Biden administration, the United Nations, the European Union, and the United Kingdom governments.

For Gods sake, please help Afghans meet their basic needs! wrote one signer, Shahla Sadiq of McKinney, Texas, near Dallas. Each one of us knows what its like to be hungry for a couple of hours and not be able to eat, never mind not having the food!

A similar petition by Just Foreign Policy, a Washington-based reform group, has drawn 5,300 signatures.

Particularly vulnerable this winter are three million Afghans who have been internally displaced, that is, forced by war and violence to flee their homes but not to leave their homeland.

An estimated 50,000 fled to the capital of Kabul a city higher than Denver in elevation where winter temperatures often fall below zero at night. Many will spend the winter in makeshift shelters or unheated rooms, according to the U.N. High Commission on Refugees.

Roughly 3.2 million Afghan children under age 5 are acutely malnourished,according to UNICEF, and an estimated 1.1 million could die. Many mothers struggle to breastfeed because they themselves are undernourished.

This week End Afghan Starvation intends to reach out to the 40-some House Democrats who called on Biden and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to unfreeze Afghanistans bank reserves. The lawmakers say that continuing to enforce international restrictions on Afghanistans banking system risks economic pain and humanitarian collapse.

Were American citizens, Saleh said. At the same time we care about our people, the place we were born.

The author of four childrens books is the founder and director of the Golden Tree of Goodness, which seeks to promote kindness through reading and encourages children to follow the golden rule.

She came to the United States at age 4 in 1981, two years after the Soviet invasion. Last month she helped gather speakers for a rally outside the White House, as similar demonstrations against hunger took place in London and Vienna.

Were getting phone calls from around the world, she said. The support is growing. Were uniting, regardless of what ethnic group or religion you belong to.

Shahalemi, a business consultant who arrived in this country at age 1 in 1980, said action is needed now, as winter snows threaten to cut off remote areas of Afghanistan.

Were speaking up for the defenseless children of Afghanistan. Every day, another child could die.

For more information, or to contact the organizers, visit endafghanstarvation.org.

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Millions face starvation in Afghanistan. Two Philadelphians are trying to stop it. - The Philadelphia Inquirer

Navarro is the assistant editor for The San Diego Union-Tribune en Espaol. She lives in Tijuana.

Like many binational kids in our CaliBaja region, I grew up in Tijuana, believing in Santa Claus and singing carols in English and Spanish, eating spicy tamales and turkey with gravy. And while my White friends will usually take down their holiday decorations right after Christmas, in my house everything stays the same until Jan. 6. Im sure that Im not the only one who follows the unwritten tradition: For Mexicans, the holidays go from Dec. 12, on the Day of the Virgen de Guadalupe feast, to Jan. 6, the Epiphany a time frame that even has its own name, el maratn Guadalupe-Reyes.

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For many Latino families, on both sides of the border, the Da de Reyes on Jan. 6 is the last day of the season to celebrate and cherish the joy with your loved ones, and it is also the last chance to bring gifts to the little ones while celebrating an important date in our faith. The story in the Bible describes three wise men who visited Jesus after his birth, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. They symbolize the first gentiles converted to Christianity. Even now, the kings are always present on my moms nativity ornaments, el nacimiento. I remember them in my grandmas decorations: Melchior, a white-skinned and golden bearded king riding a camel; Gaspar, with an Arabic look, riding a horse; and Balthazar with dark skin, riding an elephant. All three men wore fine capes and jeweled crowns. I also remember how my grandma use to play with the three figurines when I was a kid.

First, she would place them away from the nativity manger, and every day she would move them, so they could walk closer to the nativity scene. There are different traditions associated with the Three Kings Day. The first one has to do with presents. Before going to sleep, on Jan. 5, the children place one shoe near the nativity decorations or next to a window, so they can collect a gift from the wise man the following morning. Then there is food, just like in any other celebration. Before the date, and on Jan. 6, we drink hot chocolate, champurrado (a thick drink made of corn masa and Mexican chocolate, with or without milk) or coffee while eating the rosca de Reyes. The sweet bread, shaped like a wreath and decorated with nuts and fruits, represents the kings crowns and another biblical passage. Inside each rosca, the baker hides a tiny baby figure that represents the hiding of baby Jesus from King Herods troops. On larger roscas, there are several babies hidden.

Most recently, the baby has morphed into popular figures, like Grogu (aka Baby Yoda) and many other characters. Also, the extravagant and exquisite cuisine of our region innovates every year, offering a wide variety of roscas on both sides of the border. From the classic sweet bread that you can find for cheap at any Hispanic market to gourmet creations from exclusive bakeries and upscale prices stuffed with cream cheese, chocolate, cajeta (dulce de leche) or fruits. For those on a special diet, a quick search on social media can lead them to specialty places where its possible to order vegan and gluten-free choices.

Once you choose your rosca, you should know that, at least in my house, there is one rule to obtain your piece of that special cake: no one else can cut your piece of rosca, because if you touch it, the baby is yours. And of course, there is a golden rule: If your piece of bread has the baby figure, then you must serve tamales the following month, on Feb. 2. Some say that receiving the baby is a symbol of good luck, others that it is just an excuse to keep partying with your loved ones, with more champurrado and tamales. No matter on what side of the border you celebrate the Epiphany, this will be the last day of this seasons holidays. After this day, its fine to remove the Christmas decorations and start working out to lose those extra holiday pounds. Because if you eat rosca, tamales will be back next month!

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Opinion: For many Latino families the holidays arent over until the Epiphany - The San Diego Union-Tribune

January is the time of the year when many try to shed extra Christmas pounds and get fighting fit for the year ahead.

But it's not always straightforward, maybe you hate the gym, love eating lots of food or are just generally lazy.

However, if you are looking for advice, Irish Mirror sports reporter Gavin Quinn, 24, has you covered.

Gavin lost five stone in just seven months without once going to the gym - here's how he did it, from his diet to level of exercise.

I lost 70 pounds (32 kg or five stone) in seven months after deciding to make a change in October 2020.

Tipping the scales at around 17 stone, I wasn't massively overweight but I'd noticed a gradual increase since I was a teenager that was accelerated by the initial Covid-19 lockdown.

I looked into what I was eating and slowly turned around my diet and found cycling as a great way to get active to compliment the changes I'd made.

By Christmas I had lost over two stone and I kept it up in the new year before hitting the five stone mark in May 2021.

After getting down to 12 stone (just over 76 kg), I was happy enough to ease off and work on fitness goals rather than focus on my weight.

For some people it's an epiphany moment like a favourite shirt no longer fitting them or seeing an old picture and noticing a big difference.

But for me it was just a culmination of all the right things, I don't have any overriding reason for making a change.

At the time Ireland was staring at another Covid-19 lockdown - which incidentally lasted almost the entire seven months of my journey barring the weeks before Christmas.

I'd tried almost all of the 'fad diets' to no avail in the months and years before, and I could just feel my confidence was at an all-time-low.

And on October 4, a Sunday morning, I said to myself that I need to make a change and that day would be day one.

The first thing I tackled was my eating and sleeping habits.

My working hours would often see me work mornings one week and evenings the next, so I'd struggled with establishing a structure to my diet and often just ate with no thoughts on how much I was eating and what kind of food.

I gave myself a simple plan to start off with - get eight hours sleep as often as possible and have three meals a day at roughly the same time.

When it comes to weight loss, on paper the simplest way to think about it is creating a calorie deficit - if you burn more calories than you consume each day then you will lose weight.

Of course it takes a lot of planning and preparation to follow a strict calorie deficit, but I set myself a rough target of 2,000 daily calories and used apps such as MyFitnessPal to help track what I was eating.

Initially I didn't pay too much attention to my macro-nutrients but made an effort to ensure I was drinking plenty of water, eating foods with high fibre, vitamins and lower fat counts - particularly saturated fats.

On my first day I had no grand plan or target weight to reach.

But Christmas provided a perfect landing point, and I set myself the target of losing two stone (12.7 kg) before the Christmas break.

A huge goal can often make the task of losing weight seem like an upward battle, so if you can take it step by step and set attainable goals.

Gyms are great, but they're not for everybody.

Personally, I never took to the gym when I was younger and always liked to exercise as a means of engaging in a sport or activity.

Gyms can be intimidating if you've never become a member, but I'd suggest anybody looking to get active consider it.

For me, I found a means to exercise in cycling - which has grown into somewhat of a passion for me over the past 15 months.

I spoke about this in greater detail with online health coach Cillian McCahey on The Confidence Code podcast.

It can be difficult to follow a calorie deficit, when you're consuming less calories than you're burning your body is being forced to eat into fat reserves to fill that void.

I made sure not to overdo it - deliberately eating just 1,000 calories per day can be too much and you could risk reverting back to old ways.

Having my breakfast and lunches at very similar times (9-10 am for breakfast and 1-2 pm for lunch) helped build early eating habits that would set me up for the day.

Again to ensure I wasn't completely flipping my diet completely I used a degree of leniency when it came to dinner time, small changes like portion control and avoiding fatty foods when you have the option can make all the difference.

Initially I found myself eating a lot of the same foods I already had, particularly snacks, but doing so meant I'd simply be eating less of what I used to rather than eating right.

After the first week I began replacing some snack foods with lower calorie snacks, which in turn meant I had more calories to play with for my substantial meals.

If I was eating a pack of 200 calorie crisps, I'd replace them with 100 calorie crisps, swap the Cadbury chocolate bars for lower calorie rice cake bars, treating myself to a zero calorie fizzy drink rather than a full sugar alternative.

This meant I still had treats and snacks to enjoy, but the small changes slowly begin to add up and the 2,000 calories I consumed each day began to feel like more and more as the days and weeks went by.

Some days it was 1,700 calories and other days it was 2,200 calories - don't beat yourself up over going over your allowance every once in a while.

It's not about cutting yourself off from food, but rather improving your relationship with food.

I've found so many great foods the past 15 months that I never enjoyed before, and I'd be confident in saying my relationship with food has really grown as I became more aware of what I was putting into my body.

Here's some of my favoured foods these days:

Cous Cous: I sometimes use it as a lighter alternative to rice, it's easy to make and is high in carbohydrates and fibre.

Rice crispy bars: Excellent for a quick snack, they're a lot better than a bar of chocolate.

Lentil curls: A low calorie alternative to many brands of crisps, I've grown to love them.

Nuts and seeds: A great snack, good source of protein and fats.

Turkey burgers: Lean, high in protein and delicious - no explanation needed.

Vegetables: Whatever they are eat plenty of them, they're good for you and should be an essential pillar of your diet.

Not really.

We've always had a 'Takeaway Friday' at home so I made sure to allow myself the Friday treat. Although instead of chips in the chinese takeaway some weeks I'd get rice or even eat a smaller portion.

I initially gave up alcohol until Christmas, but when I did drink I opted for lower calorie light beers or spirits more often than not instead of calorie-dense lagers or stout.

Everybody needs support when undertaking such a big change.

Whether that be a personal trainer, or just a family member or close friend, I'd recommend you get someone on board to be there for support.

In my case, I asked a close friend to act almost like my 'coach' to keep me honest. He would get in touch every now and then to see how I was getting on, was there to listen if I had problems and cheer me on to my goals.

Needless to say that educated professionals are much more qualified to play such a role, but having someone to bounce off and hold you accountable on the journey is essential.

Yeah, I came pretty close on November 1.

I was making good progress in the weeks before but that morning I weighed in after a particularly tough week and had lost just one pound.

In hindsight losing a pound in a week is a good achievement, but that week had been so difficult and the loss was a lot lower than I was expecting.

I was agitated and questioning what I was doing for hours before I was convinced to take an hour to go on a short cycle to clear my mind.

If I hadn't walked out to get some headspace I would've broken and dialled back weeks of progress, especially since I'd already been fully committed to nearly a month.

If you're about to give in - take a step back and remember why you're doing it.

Some days you just wake up and the same motivation you initially had just isn't there - it'll happen to everybody.

Of course motivation is great, but it comes and goes. Behind the motivation you do need to have a certain amount of discipline.

It can be very tough but you need discipline for when the inspiration and motivation just isn't there.

Weekly goals can help keep you focused.

The real goal wasn't to get down to a certain weight or number, it was to feel good and take back some confidence that I'd probably lost.

I started to notice a difference in how I looked around Christmas time (two months in), but had already felt better after about 10 days or so.

I tipped the scales initially every week but increased that to twice weekly to avoid any discouraging fluctuations.

Weighing yourself can be a good way of mapping out progress, but it's not the most important.

If you're not getting the expected results one week, don't get discouraged, it's important to make sure to keep doing the right things - the results will come.

Quite important.

I found a passion in cycling during my weight loss journey, but any form of exercise can give you similar results. Some people like running, walking, playing certain sports or of course the gym.

It really doesn't matter what your form of exercise is, if you have a healthy and balanced diet then exercise is your best friend.

Think of it as a complimentary relationship, the old saying of you cant out-exercise a bad diet can also be true for having a healthy diet but sitting on the couch all day.

As little as a walk in the park, a short hike, leisurely bike ride or a dip in the sea can compliment whatever calories deficits you're creating and help you reach your goals faster.

But if you are taking on more rigorous exercise, it's important to ensure you aren't creating too large of a deficit and are re-fuelling adequately.

Everyone has their golden rules for weight loss, and although these particularly rules won't work for everyone, here's a couple of mine:

- Calorie deficit: If you create a daily calorie deficit, you will lose weight. It's simple when you break it down like that.

- Always treat yourself: It's not about burning your bridges with certain foods, it's about improving your relationship with food.

- Take your time: There's no rush, everyone's bodies are different and once you're moving in the right direction that's all that matters.

- Find your support network: Find someone to keep you on the right path and hold you accountable in the long run.

- Exercise: Doesn't matter what it is, get out there and get active.

- Listen to your body: If you're hungry, eat something. If you're over-exercising, rest.

If you were to take one thing from reading this, it would be my real golden rule.

Sustainability.

Whatever habits, calorie deficits or exercise regimes you're trying to put in place - you have to ask yourself if it's sustainable.

When I set out to lose some weight, the one huge difference between all my failed attempts in the past was I asked myself is it sustainable?

You should be trying to implementing a lifestyle, not a 'lose weight quick' hack.

When you start on day one, ask yourself could you see yourself doing the same on day 100 or day 1000?

Because to lose weight and live a healthy and well balanced lifestyle, whatever way you go about it needs be sustainable in the long term.

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I lost 70 pounds in seven months without a gym - here's my guide to how I did it - Irish Mirror

The 79th annual Golden Globes Awards, celebrating the best in televisionand movies is set to premiere on January 9, 2022.

It's a night that is eagerly awaited by many where actors and actresses from different projects come together to celebrate their achievements.

The women wear lavish gowns while the men don expensive suits and tuxedos, mingling with one another and taking unforgettable pictures on the red carpet.

The 2021 Golden Globes were postponed last year amid concerns of the coronavirus pandemic, but this year it is back in full swing.

With award season starting and the upcoming Golden Globes set to premiere, we can't forget some of the weird rules that celebrities are told to follow during the ceremony.

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According to E!, there are strict rules in place for celebrities who are late getting to their seats.

Producers are also"notoriously heavy-handed" with not allowing people to go back to their seats once break time is up.They don't want viewers to see several empty seats when cameras scan the room of celebrities.

There are also seat-fillers on call to sit in celebrities chairs as they wait behind closed doors until the next commercial break.

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According to Variety,the Hollywood Foreign Press Association has announced new eligibility guidelines for future Golden Globe Award shows.

The new rules will allow non-English language films to compete in their top categories, following the Minari backlash last awards season in which the association forceddirector Lee Isaac Chungs to compete in foreign language category instead of best picture.

This new rule allowsnon-English language films to compete in the best motion picture (drama) and motion picture (musical or comedy) categories.

The set of new rules comes after NBC annouced that it will not air the 2022 Golden Globes ceremony afterrecent controversies surrounding a lack of diverse voices within the HFPA.

However, the HFPA said that it willproceed with its annual awards presentation without NBC involvement, according to Reuters.

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According to ABC, the red carpet is pretty much divided into two lanes.

One lane is reserved for major stars like Brad Pitt, or Leonardo DiCaprio. The second lane is for celebrities who aren't "right lane" material, and fall below A-list.

It's sectioned off like this for the sole purpose of photographers being able to get the perfect shot of major stars, and will even ask their not-really-famous dates to step out of the way.

"Okay, can we get a fashion?" is apparently the cue for their date to get out of the way, says to LA Times photographer Jay L.Clendenin in an interview with Variety.

RELATED:Do 'Firsts' Still Matter At The Oscars? Historic Wins Of 2021 And Why We Should Celebrate Them

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7 Weird Rules Celebs Have To Follow During The Golden Globe Awards - YourTango

Philosopher and historian Procopius Canning has announced the release of "The Modern Prometheus: Why the 21st Century Intellectual Must Be Fearless to Succeed". In this book, Canning, writing as an exiled fugitive 300 years from today, combines science fiction with established philosophical concepts to critically investigate current news events, and the controversial social issues behind them, using the perspective of a future whistleblower historian and philosopher.

Cast in the years 2114 to 2290 CE, after the U.S., Canada, and Mexico have united to form the Glorious Tri-North American Alliance, an omnipotent Board stifles freedom of thought under the guise of preserving democracy, with secret tribunals. These furtive trials are made privy to the reader by future historical chronicler Procopius Canning, and the reader gets to witness them only because he surreptitiously smuggled out his official recordings, which were then made into this ominous and prophetic book. Using this device, social issues are explored, and philosophy becomes courtroom drama, as various characters are put on trial three centuries from now, for intellectual transgressions against prescribed social order.

"Philosophers have had to deal with cancel culture for thousands of years. Consider the unfortunate fate of Socrates, Hypatia of Alexandria, and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King," says Canning, adding, "the ability to think freely is sacrosanct to philosophers; exploratory freedom is an essential ingredient for humanity's intellectual evolution, and a vital pillar of genuine democracy. Cancel culture is the erosion of freedom of thought, and thus also, of philosophy itself."

In this thought-provoking book, Canning weaves together a melange of compelling and often provocative topics, explored using different characters, each facing punishment, some death. These include future Nobel Prize winning scientist Eugenia Barbara Florstein, charged with Criticism Extra Humanitario, for researching Professor Jordan Peterson's use of Jungian archetypes, Terrence Devon Wagner, who as every future schoolchild knows, in 2256 CE, proved Einstein's Theory of General Relativity false, using the symbolic logic that is included in the book, and for comic relief, Rafael Edward (Ted) Cruz III, a future politician who just can't seem to get elected, due to vicious viral memes against him, based on his ancestor's association the the Zodiac Killer. Even the philosophy of gothic novelist Mary Shelley, and her philosopher mother Mary Wollstonecraft, must be cancelled, if modern standards are applied, according to the Board.

Ultimately a call for calm, reason, tolerance, and the Golden Rule, 'The Modern Prometheus: Why the 21st Century Intellectual Must Be Fearless to Succeed', uses current events to show that philosophy, literally, "the love of wisdom", is as relevant and useful for understanding our world today, as it was in 300 BCE. Available on amazon.com.

Original post:

Philosopher and Historian Procopius Canning Releases THE MODERN PROMETHEUS - Broadway World

Its bad enough when the kids embarrass you in the supermarket. But when they surprise you by live-streaming you lying in bed, so the whole world can see you on social media, its a whole new level of mortification.

Thats just what happened to Kim Kardashian when her eight-year-old daughter North burst into her bedroom and declared: Mom, Im live! as she filmed her on TikTok. Her famous mum, who was lying in bed in her pyjamas, shouted: No stop, youre not allowed to!

Nevertheless, the very next day the youngster was filming her family again for the TikTok account she shares with her reality-star mum, which has amassed more than 2.1 million followers in the two weeks since the pair created it.

Clearly, being able to embarrass your mum big style on social media is fun for kids and something parents really need to keep a lid on. But what boundaries need to be set for childrens social media use, both to keep them safe and protect their parents as well?

Social media is a big part of our online world today, and its key that parents take the time to be involved in their childrens social media use, and to set age-appropriate boundaries, so children understand whats appropriate and inappropriate in their own actions, as well as the actions of others, says Dr Sangeet Bhullar, founder of UK group Wise Kids, which promotes childrens positive and safe use of the internet.

Bhullar says there are a number of guidelines for parents around social media use, particularly for teenagers. They are

1. Learn about their social media world

Start by exploring what social media your children are interested in what they use, how they use it and why, and actually ask them what they love and dislike about different platforms.

Work out what they know and understand its important to meet them in their experience without judgement, explains Bhullar.

2. Address any potential problems through stories

Bhullar suggests parents involve their children in discussing stories or scenarios featuring tricky situations, with themes that cover issues of cyberbullying, peer pressure, sharing nudes, oversharing, body image, blackmail, radicalisation etc.

Involve them in discussion and problem-solving, she advises. Kim Kardashian, for example, might do well to sit down with North and discuss why filming her live in bed wasnt a good idea, and how that might be avoided in the future.

3. Make sure children know whats allowed

As well as parents making sure children are clear on what is acceptable and/or safe to put on social media, Bhullar says its also important to ensure children know about laws online.

Discuss whats appropriate and inappropriate in social media use, she advises.

Help them understand their own roles and responsibilities when they share content online ensure they understand how digital data can get out, how to manage privacy online, and the importance of being kind.

4. Help them learn to spot fake news

Develop their ability to evaluate content and interactions online. Find examples of fake news and discuss what might indicate it was fake, and how important it is not to believe everything they read.

This is particularly important in an age of proliferation of fake news and cybercrime, warns Bhullar.

5. Offline wellbeing is relevant to online behaviour

How young people feel about themselves generally, and not just in relation to their online life and social media accounts, has a direct bearing on their behaviour both on and offline.

Bhullar advises: Develop their confidence, wellbeing and resilience, as this will also influence their actions online and offline. Its important not to use fear, but to develop their confidence to manage risks.

6. Discuss the good side of social media with them

Social media is, of course, vitally important for keeping people and particularly young people connected. Talk about this with your kids, and also look at the wider positive aspects of social media and the internet.

Ensure you also explore positive internet and social media use with them, for example, linking to social media use by businesses, and developing a positive digital footprint, suggests Bhullar.

7. Be a role model

Dont be afraid to be the parent, and to be a role model, as well as set boundaries as needed. So, make sure youre setting a good example to your kids with your own social media use you shouldnt have one rule for them and another rule for yourself.

Social media can be a powerful force for good, but it starts with our own understanding and confidence, explains Bhullar. Our children need life skills for the digital world, and you have a big role in helping them with this.

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North West and TikTok: These are the 7 golden rules of parenting and social media - Irish Examiner

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ROME Germany and Italy vowed greater unity on Monday a pledge that could reshape the EU's power centers.

Yet as they promised closer union, some disunion was on display over a core issue: Money.

At a joint press conference in Rome, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi demonstrated a palpable divergence on whether to reform the EU's debt rules a contentious topic as the pandemic ragesand climate change looms. Still, the leaders did agree "to intensify and improve EU cooperation in areas like industrial modernization, digitalization and climate change, while noting more permanent structures for collaboration were in the works.

We need a strong and better European Union, and our two countries are of the utmost importance in ensuring that this actually succeeds, Scholz told reporters. Berlin and Rome, he said, would work on an action plan to deepen the future of this cooperation. He also raised the prospect of joint German-Italian government consultations as soon as the coronavirus situation permits.

Draghi echoed his colleague, arguing there is a necessity to work together to reinforce European integration, and also, if possible, accelerate the process of integration.

The friendly words will carry across the EU, as they raise the prospect of Italy joining the already-tight pair of Germany and France to create a power trio. Last month, Italy and France signed a cooperation treaty, while Germany and France have a longstanding partnership enshrined in the treaties of Elyse and Aachen. Officials said the new German-Italian action plan aims to serve as the missing link to a triangle featuring Berlin, Paris and Rome. The goal, they said, is to jointly advance European policies post-Brexit.

Notably, Scholz's trip to Rome only his fourth foreign capital after stops in Paris, Warsaw and Brussels comes much earlier than his predecessor Angela Merkel first made the trip. She visited London, Washington and other international capitals before making it to Rome.

Over the years, Italy and Germany have not always seen eye to eye, with frustrations over managing migration, as well as Italys high debt and inability to implementstructuralreforms.

Draghis arrival as prime minister has helped ease some of these tensions. But not all. On Monday, the two leaders diverged on questions about reforming EU debt rules, a pressing conversation as leaders seek ways to buttress the post-pandemic economy and incentivize environmentally friendly investments.

Specifically, they seemed split over how to proceed with a Franco-Italian plan to exempt certain investments from the EUs spending limits, dubbed "the golden rule." Current rules say a countrys annual deficit can't exceed 3 percent of economic output, and that its overall debt must not top 60 percent of that output.

Draghi spoke of needed changes concerning budget rules [and] state aid rules in order to be coherent with the objectives that the EU has set itself in the fields of environment, the fight against climate change and digitalization, but also in the field of defense.

Scholz, however, sounded cool about Draghis proposals. He reiterated his longstanding position that the existing EU debt rules had always shown great flexibility and [are] still doing so. He added: We have shown what we can do, within the framework of the rules we have, and therefore we will be able to use them for the future. They are a good basis for this.

He also said that the EU had already provided a lot of fresh money to countries, referring to the EUs 800 billion recovery fund, as well as 300 billion of additional aid through loans and a new unemployment scheme.

A lot of money has already been mobilized in Europe," Scholz said. "And the first ambition we should have now is to use the money."

Draghi nonetheless tried to sound optimistic that he could reach an understanding with Scholz: I think there will be a rapprochement of positions," he said. "In my view, there will be an agreement."

Indeed, the Scholz-led government has signaled some cautious openness to reforming EU spending rules. The government's three-partycoalition agreementcalled for EU fiscal rules to be simpler and more transparent, as well as more consistently enforced by Brussels. But the coalition agreement also stressed the flexibility of the current rules. Scholz's finance minister also hails from a fiscally conservative party and Scholz himself is more fiscally conservative than his Social Democratic Partys base.

Draghi has been far blunter.

Last week, the prime minister told Italy's lower house of parliament that the EU budget rules "did not work, made things worse, did not support countries in need and would have been changed anyway" and said that commitments to digital and green transition are "incompatible with the old rules."

But Draghi played coy on Monday, parrying away a reporters question about fiscal reforms with light wit.

Im not very competent, I will leave the floor to the chancellor, he quipped, triggering broad laughter in the room.

Scholz immediately objected, saying Draghi was very competent.

In reality, both have a financial background. Scholz was finance minister for three years before ascending to the chancellery, while Draghi led the European Central Bank from 2011 to 2019.

Italy can consider itself lucky to have such a competent man at its helm, Scholz said.

Pleasantries aside, both leaders also offered slightly diverging views on whether to retain the EU's unanimity requirement for making financial and foreign policy decisions.

German politicians have repeatedly voiced frustration about the approach, which has sometimes hampered the bloc's ability to even issue statements a statement was blocked, for instance, on China's activities in Hong Kong. They say the threshold should be lowered to a "qualified majority" in some situations.

"My position is that we would like it if majority decisions were possible," Scholz said. "But that will certainly not be on the agenda tomorrow. After all, we have to reach a consensus on this among everyone in Europe."

Draghi, however, warned that such discussions were "not easy," adding: "Because if you reflect about what it means to renounce on the unanimity when you need to take the decision to send your soldiers in a battlefield, you realize that its pretty complex."

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Germany and Italy want unity if money doesnt get in the way - POLITICO Europe

Most diversity and implicit bias trainings are not effective because they are based on empathy rather than compassion. Having empathy, instead of compassion, as the basis for addressing racial bias is akin to using water, instead of a metal cover, to put out a grease fire. Empathy based trainings have done nothing to reduce the growing societal fires related to bias such as bullying and hate crimes.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reported that 2020 was a record year for hate crimes in the U.S The number of "recorded bias incidents" by the FBI in 2020 was the highest in more than a decade and that was an increase of 6% compared to 2019.

In terms of where Americans work, and where diversity trainings have been the norm at large firms since 2005, a 2019 Deloitte survey of 3,000 workers showed that 64% of them "felt they had experienced bias in their workplaces during the last year." In 2016, according to research conducted by Georgetown University, nearly 66% of Americans said that they were bullied at work as compared to 50% in 1998. If diversity and implicit bias trainings are working, we should be experiencing decreases in hate crimes.Dr. Chris Kukk

A central problem of such trainings is that they are really empathy trainings. And the problem with empathy as Paul Bloom, in Against Empathy, and others have shown is that "Empathy is biased, pushing us in the direction of parochialism and racism." We (all human beings) tend to be more empathetic to people who look like us and have similar backgrounds relative to people who we deem to be different.

Empathy is centered around the person seeking understanding rather than the person that needs to be understood. If you are practicing empathy, you're searching for feelings and emotions to put into yourself. When you are trying to "walk in someone else's shoes," as the empathetic motto goes, it is centrally about you wearing the shoes but not necessarily walking with the person who is suffering.

Compassion, in contrast, is other-centered. When you practice compassion, your search is about understanding not only another's problem or suffering but also their perspective and experience (i.e., their walk) with the problem. When you are compassionating, your goal is not necessarily focused on someone else's shoes but on learning about their walk, especially in the middle of a problem, so that you can help them through it. It is not your walk that should be the center of attention or concern, but theirs.

The fuel or 'oxygen' of bias is self-centeredness and empathy's egocentricity, as compared to compassion's other-centricity, feeds the fire of an us-versus-them perspective.

Because the promise of using empathy to reduce racism is both empty and risky, the following are several ways to increase tolerance and inclusion via compassion:

(1) From Calling Out to Calling In

Loretta J. Ross, a civil and reproductive rights activist and organizer, has fostered a movement that "calls people in" rather than "calling them out" for their racism and hate. Instead of making people feel blame and shame for their bigotry, the "calling in" movement requires each of us to alternate between respectfully questioning and sincerely listening to one another so that a conversation starts rather than a fight. The calling in movement is opposite of our current "cancel culture" as it strives to "build a culture and a world that invites people in rather than pushing them out." In short, its a culture of compassion.

(2) From One & Done to Converse & Traverse

The diversity trainings that I have been required to take are usually an hour or two long and end with a personal reflection exercise. If we are seeking to change minds regarding race and inclusion, shouldn't we base our efforts on what we know works about learning from the field of educational neuroscience? For example, learning is more likely to stick when it occurs over time and through various contexts, not when only one-offs that are online with little to no conversations are offered. Our trainings, to be effective, should include on-going conversations based around ideas such as the "calling-in" movement that help us traverse the chasm between hate and love. A workplace culture of inclusion is born out of everyday happenings rather than an annual event.

(3) From Golden to Platinum Rule

A change of emphasis on the Golden Rule (Do unto others as you would want done to you) to the Platinum Rule (Do unto others as they would want done to them) would move our diversity learning from self-centric to other-centric. The Platinum Rule is learning about the other and doing for them what they would want done to them based on their unique values and tastes. You cant get too more focused on the other. As George Bernard Shaw said: Do not do unto others as you would expect they should do unto you. Their tastes may not be the same. In contrast, followers of the Golden Rule dont require any learning about anothers wants or tastes because their actions are based entirely on their own perception of how to solve a problem.

The use of empathy in diversity trainings is well-intentioned but according to Albert Camus The Plague "good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence if they lack understanding." Compassion offers a clear path toward understanding, tolerance and inclusion. We can either feed the firestorms of bias, bigotry and racism with empathy or smother them with compassion.

Dr. Chris Kukk is the Sharp Dean of the Cormier Honors College at Longwood University and author ofThe Compassionate Achiever.

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Why Diversity Trainings Don't Work: The Empty of Empathy - Diverse: Issues in Higher Education