#because that is the role of the former british empire

[good-old-gossip]

Shaheed-E-Aazam Bhagat Singh was called Terrorist by British Raj, but to Indians he was, is and always will be a Freedom Fighter

Indian socialist revolutionary Bhagat Singh and his comrades, Sukhdev Thapar and Shivaram Rajguru, were executed by India’s British colonial rulers.

During Singh’s short life, he became one of the most influential revolutionaries in India’s independence movement.

Although he respected Mahatma Gandhi’s role in organizing people to resist British rule, he also developed a critique of Gandhi’s methods and vision for a post-independence India.

Despite his atheism and Marxism, he’s still revered today by all sections of the country and is referred to as Shaheed-e-Azam (the Great Martyr) in Punjabi.

On March 23, 1931, Bhagat Singh and his two fellow revolutionaries were hanged.

As they marched towards the gallows, they reportedly chanted, “Down with British Imperialism” and “Down with capitalism!”.

Their actions and subsequent execution by the colonial regime inspired many and made them revered figures in the Indian struggle for freedom against the British Empire.

Just like Palestinians Resistance is called a terrorist group by the Western Nations simply because they refuse to give up their land for European and North American White People. Palestinians are indigenous to the land of Palestine. Becky from Brooklyn is not. This is not a war about religion, this is a struggle for their motherland of Palestine, this is a struggle for equal rights, this is a struggle for Palestinians for the Right of Return to their homelands from which they were and are being driven out by Terrorist militias in 1948 and by Europeans and North Americans with the help of Terrorist Organization IDF. Israel has made this struggle an excuse to commit GENOCIDE & ETHNIC CLEANSING of Palestinians. This is about BRUTAL & TERRORIST COLONIZER State Israel (like the British Raj in India where they STARVED & KILLED MILLIONS of Indians) and OPPRESSED & DISPLACED People of Palestine (Something that former colonies like India know)

[historia-vitae-magistras]

Mandatory Latina ask: do Matt feel American as in part of one of the Americas? Part of the New World? Mexico and Cuba would try and explain they are all American and Alfred feels The New World™ on a Manifest Destiny kind of philosophy but do Matt feels some kindship with his friend Cuba and Caribbean commonwealth brothers and Latinos and former or current French colonies nations?

This is a fascinating question because it's a D.) all of the above. Question if this was multiple choice.

I think, in the year of our lord 2023, he would probably call himself a North American and think of himself as a part of the New World, but usually, that definition for Canadians silently includes some of the South Pacific, so that doesn't make a whole lot of goddamn sense either. North Americans in a different way than the Americans but not as much the Pan-American sense of America. And that's very new. There's a small spurt of French Canadians considering themselves Latin Americans in the early 19th century with our revolt against the British and nationalism that corresponded with some participation of individuals in the wars of independence and other conflicts in South America. Matt had a moment before anglophone domination took over that he might have seen a future in that sort of Pan-American definition of American, but it was done by the 1830s.

After that, it was the British Empire. He defines himself by participating in that imperial system, not the French and not a sense of being North American until after WW1. And even then, it took until NAFTA in the early 90s for an actual large-scale cultural flow with the mainland. Cuba and the Caribbean are a little different because the trade relationship was there. Halifax was the main port for centuries, but it's still... it's an odd relationship. Suppose I look at the British Empire in Africa. In that case, it's easy to see how that would work because the Canadians played a small but very bluntly colonialist role in multiple conflicts. With the Caribbean, there's some exchange of people and trade. However, it's from an early enough date that Canada is still kind of too shitty and underdeveloped to have an oppressive relationship from the very get-go. Still, there is a lot of fuckery in there. I will say I think it's a bit easier than it might otherwise be as Black Canadians were politically organized in the late 19th and early 20th century, and that, amongst other forces, largely blunted our own want for a mini-empire in our sphere the way NZ and Australia did with island ports in their own neighbourhood. There's an alternate universe where Canada fought the Falklands War. So I think Matt gets along with them, but I'm not sure there's a sense of kinship so much as comradery in an 'oh fuck what'd the limeys/yanks/frogs/Spaniards/Portuguese do this time.'

Born a francophone, he has... it's a weird relationship he's got with the rest of the Francophonie. I don't think he feels a sense of kinship at all. Friendly, sure, increasingly interested in them, yes. But French Canadians, particularly the Quebecois, are pretty proud and tend to think of themselves as entirely different from France or Belgium. And despite what the Quebecois nationalists would say in the 1970s, we really cannot compare our history with, say, Algeria's or Vietnam's. And Matt is really aware of that. He was way more privileged under Arthur than practically anyone was under Francois.

He's not unique by any means. There's been middling anti-social sorts in every empire since the Akkadians, but he's just kinda everywhere and nowhere. He and Cuba have definitely had a relationship. Like, I don't believe it, but there's a reason there's a conspiracy that Justin Trudeau is Fidel Castro's son and not Pierre's lmao. If nothing else, Cucan has had some good sex. I think he gets along with Maria (my friend's Mexico) really well too. It doesn't help that he's not the most extroverted type either. He's such a weirdo I'm so sorry to whoever has to interact with him or us as a country lmao.

[louisupdates]

All of Those Voices’: the Ugly Truth Behind Louis Tomlinson’s Rise to Stardom

THE TEEN MAG

By María Vieytez | 5 April 2023

A nostalgic embrace between four band members; longing words for deceased mother and sister; 23-year-old Louis Tomlinson drowning in doubt and uncertainty over a menacing future ahead as a solo artist. Such were the images publicly revealed for the first time on March 22nd, 2023 in worldwide cinemas as part of the feature-length documentary ‘All of Those Voices’. Such was the story former-One-Direction-member Louis Tomlinson had to share with his fans.

As Louies (the eponymous moniker Tomlinson’s fandom wears) gathered in different countries’ theatres to reminisce the good old days and get exclusive footage of One Direction and Louis’ backstage highlights, their rose-tinted expectations were forced away as they met with astonishing testimonies from his family, friends, and even himself, on what his journey toward his most recent album ‘Faith in The Future’ truly meant. What Louies once believed to be a straight-lined success story —certainly involving battles previously revealed by the media, but nonetheless not as brutal as those portrayed in the movie— encapsulated in an endearing hour-and-a-half film, resulted in being a moving insight and blow-to-the-face documentary, leaving many with a larger admiration of their icon’s strength, and some others with a torn heart, feeling deeply sorry for a man who now appears most vulnerable before their stricken eyes. Regardless of having received it with the former or latter perspective (or a mixture of both), the film was responsible for portraying the raw reality that comes with self-doubt as a rising star, an unexpected separation from a hit-wonder band, and the passing of a mother and a sister in a matter of two years; here’s what that looked like.

Taking his Own Direction

Tomlinson was a member of the British band One Direction, releasing five hit-albums, touring with the other four members for five years, selling over 70 million records worldwide, bringing home seven BRIT awards, seven AMAs, and creating what appeared the perfect $215 million business empire, until his world came down when the band decided to go on an “18-month” hiatus in 2016, and he was left stranded.

“I think the feeling I remember the most is a little bit of anger, because I didn’t want to go on a break. It didn’t just upset me, it shocked me. I wasn’t prepared for it... It was not as if in the five years I was in the band that I’d ever dreamt about being a solo artist. Not once, because I was so obsessed with us moving as a unit and being part of this team. I’ve spent all my years doing this, I don’t really see myself doing anything else … It was very easy for me to imagine Harry having a solo career, Liam having a solo career. It was harder for me to imagine myself doing that. It was like, what the fuck am I going to do?”

The band’s separation meant the start of a foreign era and the abandonment of what appeared to be a gleaming past. However, when presented with the reality of Louis’ role as part of the band, "All of Those Voices” exposed it to be near-as emotionally damaging as his aimless solo era proved to be. “I didn’t know at the start who I was within One Direction”, he explained. Louis revealed that during the band’s beginnings, he felt like an odd-fitting piece inside a collective, a sense further abetted by his lack of vocal feature on their first album. He would stream their songs from “Up All Night” —One Direction’s debut— and hear Harry Styles’ voice on the verses he’d spent hours recording, and soon realized, that his presence in the band was dismissed, making him feel unworthy of the fans’ praise. “When I think about how proud I am of 1d, I think of it as a collective”, Louis stated. He didn’t feel as if his work was an element of the band’s success until he began to take the lead in songwriting; then, his perspective changed. “If I think about what makes me the most proud as me, as an individual in that band, it’s definitely having the most writing credits”, and by “most”, he means more than 35 credits throughout the five years of One Direction’s production.

Although Louis’ personal testimony about One Direction in the film started off appearing as pitiable, the development and end of such, proved it to be an opportunity for growth and personal development, which allowed him to be, one of, if not the best lyricist amongst the boys’ solo careers, something shown initially in his album ‘Walls’, and most recently, in ‘Faith in The Future’. Nevertheless, Louis’ struggles were far from over, because only eleven months after 1D’s separation, he would suffer from great loss.

In December 2016, Tomlinson went on stage at The X Factor final for his debut solo television performance. As he put on a show with his single “Just Hold On” with Steve Aoki on the mixer, his gaze met with the ceiling, and his eyes gleamed as he sang through grief. Three days prior, Louis’ mother, Johanna Deakin, had died from leukemia at the age of 43. Still, Louis, with a heavy heart, and a soul yearning for a mother who, in life, had been a best friend, came on stage and got a standing ovation from the X-factor judges.

“The bottom line is, I didn’t want me mum feeling like what happened to her was going to jeopardize my career,” he recalls. “I had just got this feeling from her and the things that she was saying that I was just to keep doing what I’m doing, trying to keep strong. I got up on that day for her more than I did me.”

Louis’ resolution after his mother’s passing was to keep living “one life for the two of us”, as he expresses in his song ‘Two of Us’, featured as a eulogy for Johanna in the album ‘Walls’. The beginning of his solo career presented itself as an opportunity to make her proud, and such a feeling was transmitted to his entire family in the mourning process.

“She would not have allowed us to kind of sit and let stuff take over our life or let anything ruin our life,” Louis’ sister, Lottie, says in the film. “She brought us up to be strong and she brought us up to look after each other and just to get on with things.”

Louis' career was bound for success. In 2017, he released his single 'Just Like You', in which he portrayed the reality behind fame and the battles he shares with every ordinary person in the 21st century.

“The fans have seen so much and got to know us so well, but I’ve never really had a chance to be as honest like that with music. So that was really refreshing. It was just important for me to write a song that could humanize me as much as possible, and that the fans could really feel like I'm just like them – honest and vulnerable and real.”

'Just Like You' became Louis' tool to show that, as a human, he suffered from heartbreak just like his fans do. Little did he know, that soon, his heart would break even further, as he would lose his sister Félicité only two years after his mom's passing. A drug-use overdose would take away his 18-year-old sister's life after a relapse, setting Louis back in self-doubt and lost in his journey.

“We did a lot, me and Louis, working together to try and help Fizz,” Lottie says in the documentary. “Obviously, it didn’t work. I felt that, kind of, how could we not get her out of this? I can only imagine how he felt. I’m sure it was heightened, one because he’s a brother and two because he probably felt the responsibility from our mum.”

“Life always throws shit at you,” Louis said. “Yes, I’ve had maybe more to deal with than most people my age. But then, when the natural things happen in life, when things weren’t going my way, I couldn’t deal with it. It was like, but I’ve already had so much to deal with. When am I going to start winning?”

Nonetheless, Louis would yet again use this loss as an opportunity for growth, and a year later, he would release his first studio album, 'Walls'.

Recovery and new Album Releases

In 2020, things started to look up. Louis' debut album 'Walls' was released, including tracks such as 'Don't Let it Break Your Heart', in which he expressed that he was "driving down a one-way road to something better...what hurts you is gonna pass, and you’ll have learnt from it when it comes back. You'll be doing better". His growth was evident, and his album, a success.

Walls had gained over 780 million streams, and Louis was about to start the European leg of his world tour, when the pandemic hit, and he was forced to stay home. In the film, Louis shared that he spent time in quarantine between producing his most recent album, 'Faith In The Future', and visiting his son, Freddie, in Los Angeles.

Back to normality, Louis continued with his tour, in which he traveled from Europe to South and North America, in a self-discovery process and recovery, in which he was able to finally recognize his value and the weight of his voice. While he was on stage, his fans reassured him of the importance he held in their lives, and in his shows, he'd often say "I need you, you need me". Mid-tour, his second album was released, and as he got to perform it before the crowds, the love transmitted to him on the stage, became even more fervent.

"I've just spent so long working for this moment, and tonight was the pinnacle of that idea. It's like me life just flashed before my eyes on the stage... I just feel blessed, man"

'All Of Those Voices' placed the story of Louis' journey from a dark place to becoming one of the brightest stars in the music industry, on the big screen. From severe loss and crippling self-doubt, Louis rose above the challenges in his career, achieving over 180 million streams on his most recent album. His story became one that inspired millions of fans around the world, and, in retrospect, he's finally able to admit that "Yeah, I do feel like I deserve this, and that's probably the first time I've actually said that out loud".

[charliethomascoxuniverse]

Netflix's Treason Is Charlie Cox's Anti-Daredevil Showcase

By Brittany Frederick   December 28, 2022 (X)

Charlie Cox is known and loved as the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Daredevil, but Netflix's Treason reminds viewers that he's more than Matt Murdock.

Charlie Cox is deservedly beloved for his portrayal of Matt Murdock / Daredevil, first in Netflix's Daredevil series and now in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Cox has given Marvel fans the Daredevil they always wanted and created new fans for the character with his well-developed and charming take on the character. But how many viewers can name someone Charlie Cox has played other than Daredevil?

Netflix's new miniseries Treason is only Cox's second TV starring role since he became the Man Without Fear, and the one with the biggest platform. The spy thriller is viewers' best opportunity to see the actor in a different light -- and a very different one, because like all good spy stories, it requires a certain amount of versatility. Charlie Cox is what makes Treason successful, and Treason will give TV viewers more appreciation for Charlie Cox.

Netflix's Treason Enables Charlie Cox To Move Beyond Daredevil

While Charlie Cox has a 20-year career (and counting), his Marvel association casts a long shadow. Add in the fact that as a British actor, some of his roles have been in UK productions that haven't gotten wide American releases, and the average Netflix viewer probably knows little about his resume. Maybe some folks remember that he was in two seasons of HBO's Boardwalk Empire. But Treason is on Netflix and with plenty of buzz about Cox thanks to Daredevil: Born Again, the project also has great timing. People are going to see it and see more of what he can do.

Cox portrays Adam Lawrence, the youngest person to ever head up the Secret Intelligence Service, more commonly known as MI6. He has everything under control, including a strong marriage to ex-soldier Maddy da Costa. But when Adam's former flame and fellow operative Kara Yerzov re-enters his life, everything goes to hell. The three of them must rely on each other to persevere while simultaneously feeling like they don't know each other at all. This provides room for Cox to have cute domestic moments, scenes of romantic angst and even beats dealing with MI6 bureaucracy. Matt Murdock is a great lawyer, but he doesn't have the leadership pressures Adam does and Treason shows Cox as someone who's defending his own life more than anyone else's.

Charlie Cox Makes Netflix's Treason a Better Spy Thriller

Treason is a serviceable spy drama -- yet any fan of the genre knows the beats that it hits. Of course Adam is an elite MI6 agent. Of course his personal life is a mess. Of course he ends up crossing paths with his ex-girlfriend. The story is familiar, so what makes the series worth a look is the cast. Not only are they a talented core bunch, but they also happen to be connected to each other. Ciarán Hinds previously starred in Kin with Cox, who worked with both Olga Kurylenko and Oona Chaplin's mother Geraldine Chaplin in the 2010 film There Be Dragons. Those are just two examples of the familiarity that gives Treason a little extra depth than the average thriller.

Yet it's Cox's performance that carries it, both because the plot centers so strongly around Adam and because he does some excellent work that's very different from what audiences saw in Daredevil. His presence keeps the show from turning into another clone of Taken because the viewer doesn't lose sight of the emotional stakes, not just the ones about terrorism and counter-intelligence. The more the plot stretches, the more Cox becomes an anchor, because viewers can focus on Adam. Cox may not be James Bond, but he doesn't have to be; his deeply flawed portrayal is the best thing about a miniseries that showcases acting instead of action.

~*~

[grandmaster-anne]

Sir Tim Laurence, head of English Heritage, on the challenges of conservation in the 21st century

By Henry Mance | Published 27 May 2022

English Heritage’s chair is Sir Tim Laurence, a former naval officer who happens to be married to Princess Anne. Laurence is a non-fusty, patrician figure. “Most people call me Tim. Even the gardeners call me Tim,” he tells me, over coffee at the Marble Hill café. In royal terms, he has a low enough profile that he even travels by Tube. (Don’t expect to see his wife: “I don’t think she’s been on an Underground for a long time, if at all. She has security issues which I don’t. I’m expendable.”)

While some English people feel threatened by the new historical narratives, particularly around slavery and empire, Laurence — sitting near the top of the Establishment — is not.

“History is what happened,” he says, upper lip duly stiffened. “Telling the story of Marble Hill without making the link to the slave trade and to mahogany would be wrong, in my view. We’re telling it like it is [ . . .] The transatlantic slave trade was one of the most appalling things in British history,” he adds.

“But there’s another important side of it, which is: it shouldn’t dominate. This place is all about how you build a beautiful house, what was going on at the time, the design of that wonderful garden, and making all of that available to the local community.”

The National Trust has been lambasted by some rightwing commentators for its approach; a recent article tried to depict English Heritage as a non-woke competitor. Laurence closes ranks: “We’re very close to the National Trust. I’ve been a National Trust member practically since I left school.” Like many British people, he tempers his revulsion at the slave trade by pointing to Britain’s role in ending it. “I’m extremely proud that my background is in the Royal Navy, and the Royal Navy battled for 60 years to try and stop it.” Some of the backlash to historical research “has become too extreme”.

English Heritage’s underlying challenge is financial. Since 2015, it has been an independent charity; it no longer receives a block government grant. Only about 20 of its sites — led by Stonehenge and also including Tintagel Castle in Cornwall — make a profit. The other 400 or so are either free to access or tickets don’t cover their cost. So it relies on its 1.2mn members, its cafés and gift shops, and grants from the lottery and others.

Covid has been “a really tough time”. Visitor numbers are expected to be near 5mn this year, down from 6.2mn pre-pandemic. “We need people to come back,” says Laurence. Foreign tourists in particular. “We do make quite a lot out of inbound tourism, so that’s a worry.” The charity has missed its target of breaking even in 2022, and is now aiming for 2025.

Despite financial constraints, he wants English Heritage to expand. “We’re not very strong on the industrial revolution, and we’ve got a couple of cold war bunkers. I would hope my successor would look to acquire more sites, probably more contemporary sites.”

For the moment, many English Heritage properties are either in ruins or threatening to become so soon. Last year part of Hurst Castle(opens a new window), an English Heritage property built in the 1540s on a shingle spit in Hampshire, collapsed into the sea after years of erosion.

“We haven’t absolutely got a long-term plan,” says Laurence. “Part of the problem is because the shingle from the spit comes from the shoreline along Christchurch Bay, and gradually over the decades Christchurch Bay has been concreted in with more and more habitation, so the shingle supply is not coming in at the same rate. So we’re fighting against the tide there. But we will go on trying to protect it as long as we can.”

Critics say that English Heritage is itself eroding its greatest asset, Stonehenge, by backing a motorway tunnel. Unesco has threatened that the site will lose its world heritage status if the project goes ahead. “I very much hope when Unesco look at it, when it’s finished, they say, ‘Actually, from a heritage point of view, this is a vast improvement on what was there before,’” says Laurence. But losing the status would probably be only symbolic: “Would it really make a difference to the people wanting to go there?”

In general, Laurence argues that the focus on heritage should not impede developments: “People are very anxious about change,” but “you’ve got to modernise.” He thinks people are “a bit over-precious” about the transformation of Liverpool’s docks for Everton’s new football stadium. (The docks have lost their Unesco heritage status.)

At Marble Hill, there were objections — ranging from “those who felt we shouldn’t be talking about Henrietta at all, because she was a harlot” to those who wanted a smaller café and assurance that there would not be regular concerts.

Such resistance is part of England’s history. When the land for Marble Hill was acquired piecemeal in the 1720s, some locals initially refused to sell “because they were frightened of this incomer”. The lesson of our heritage is that conservation works, but it’s also that someone had to work to create these sites in the first place.

[fatehbaz]

As the Spanish American empire disintegrated after [...] 1808, juntas from Mexico to Buenos Aires began to pass declarations of independence and constitutions. They also turned to the early modern legal tradition of privateering, or private prize-taking, which had allowed British, Dutch, French, Portuguese, and Spanish subjects to prey on the enemy’s merchant fleet since the late sixteenth century. Privateers sailed with the permission, or letters of marque, to engage in maritime warfare. In this well-written and succinct book, Edgardo Pérez Morales tells the story of the anti-Spanish privateering project engineered by the Republic of Cartagena on the Caribbean coast of Colombia. In doing so, he shows how privateering became an unexpected tool of revolutionary politics in the Atlantic world. 

Privateering, Pérez Morales argues, was not only a legally sanctioned practice that targeted the enemy’s merchant fleet; it also reflected Cartagena’s radical open-door policy. At a time when racial equality was associated with revolutionary Haiti in the minds of many white Creoles, a coalition of egalitarian free men of color and white Creoles pushed for the adoption of one of the most radical constitutions in the Atlantic world in 1812: not only was slavery abolished and racial equality proclaimed, but the new republic allowed foreigners to settle in the port city and become naturalized citizens, thus ending existing Spanish colonial restrictions. The recruitment of European and Afro-descendent Caribbean privateers was part of this strategy to turn Cartagena into a cosmopolitan haven. Privateering also served, according to Pérez Morales, as an “act of sovereignty” that revealed the existence of alternative communities before larger national states crystallized (p. 13). [...]

Although the Republic of Cartagena only lasted from 1811 to 1815, it played a key role in early struggles for independence in Spanish America because of “its growing maritime connections, increasingly radical anti-Spanish leaders, and vibrant cosmopolitan dynamics” (p. 6). The book concludes with the fall of Cartagena after a prolonged Spanish royalist siege. [...]

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Two outside influences played major roles in this history of Cartagena's privateers.

The first was Cuba, which remained loyal to Spain and committed to plantation slavery. By making Cuba the main target of their attacks, Cartagena's privateers undermined Spanish power [...].

The second foreign power that looms large in this history of Cartagena is Haiti: the former French colony had already abolished slavery and proclaimed the equality of all men. Haiti was, in Pérez Morales's words, the "natural ally" of the Tierra Firme privateers. It supported the privateers -- many of them were Haitians -- and even became the refuge of many republicans when Spanish forces closed in on Cartagena in 1815. [...]

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In discussing these topics, Pérez Morales also centers the role of free men of color both on land and at sea. He uses privateering to trace the discrimination Afro-Caribbean people faced after independence and why Latin American histories have ignored Cartagena’s maritime story and the privateers who participated in it. While racial equality remained an essential part of Colombian republican identity, politicians and historians were eager to dissociate their revolutionary past from Haiti. By breaking ties with Haiti and erasing its role in these earlier privateering efforts, Colombia stood a better chance of having its independence recognized and at fashioning itself as a legitimate (and whiter) country.

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Privateering involved multiethnic and multinational crews in a flexible but still hierarchical organization [...]. Although Cartagena declared free men of color to be citizens when it declared independence in 1811, privateer captains, like Aury, were of European or US origin, raising questions on the truly emancipatory potential of privateering. The privateers of Cartagena might have been eager to recruit sailors of African descent, but so were other imperial and royal navies at the time. [...] Because Cartagena’s maritime archives did not survive, Pérez Morales cannot really delve into the economic impact of privateering for the [...] formation of Cartagena. [...] Even if its existence was short-lived, its radical potential, especially for Afro-Caribbean sailors, lived on.

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Text by: Vanessa Mongey. “Mongey on Perez Morales, ‘No Limits to Their Sway: Cartagena’s Privateers and the Masterless Caribbean in the Age of Revolutions.’“ Published on H-LatAm (H-Net / Humanities and Social Sciences Online). July 2019. A review of the book by Edgardo Perez Morales.

[prue84]

National Treasure instagram: 8 September 2022

Fandom: BBC’s Merlin (post-canon, modern magic) AU AU: National Treasure Series: National Treasure instagram

Mandatory social post by Arthur Pendragon for the news of Queen Elizabeth's death.

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Arthur had been in close contact with the Queen since he returned - or, at least, since Merlin couldn't keep the world outside of his cottage's door anymore and had to allow people to get near Arthur (a crime, if you ask him!). Being Elizabeth the current monarch of the British Islands, Arthur always respected both her authority and her role in the kingdom (a kingdom definitely bigger than his own; it took him months to wrap his head around the fact she was ruling over a united Albion. And Merlin by then had still to touch the whole "Earth is round" and "English Empire" subjects). Too different and with a ridiculously crazy age gap for any chance to become close friends (literally children of two different millennia), they stroke a cordial rapport nonetheless and even enjoyed a couple of horse rides together (one on the shores of lake Avalon, no less). The picture captures a friendly moment between former King and current Queen during one of the private visits the Queen (with Prince Consort Philip) did to check the progress of the restoration work on the castle that has then come to be known as the Pendragon Castle of New Camelot. Queen Elizabeth officiated both the grand opening of the restored castle and the ceremony for the founding of the New Camelot enclave, but Arthur choose to celebrate Her Majesty's memory with a more private picture from his personal collection. For Arthur, the passing of the Queen is a sad day.

More about the AU (and ramblings about UK Royals) under the cut.

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Disclaimer I don't mean to express any opinion on the figure of the Queen nor Elizabeth Windsor's persona. I am Italian, so I don't hold any resentment toward the UK Royal Family, their role in the society, their flaws or crimes. Nor, at the same time, I'm loyal or feel drawn to them either. I'm not even a fan. Sure, I hear the news (unfortunately, media here are treating the funeral like you can expect - no matter that we're holding politic elections or that we aren't a British colony so she wasn't our queen - but media are enamored with the Royal Family and their shenanigans since Princess Diana) but neither I cheered nor I cried when the announcement was made. Since in this AU Arthur meets and has close ties with the Queen from his return and prompted by Bradley Jame's tweet, I just wanted to make a mock-post about the death, because I feel Arthur would. Arthur's opinion don't necessary reflect my own. He's a medieval king, after all. He almost respected Sarrum, why wouldn't he respect an old woman who seems more decent than the guy who tortured his sister? Sure, he might have some beef with how modern royalty works, but he'd ascribe that to "bloody modern times". Besides, the woman didn't bat an eye when her nephew and future heir married a "commoner": that's enough to get brownie points in Arthur's opinion.

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About the AU It's the 21th century and the existence of magic has been widely known since Guinevere, the last queen of Camelot, lifted the ban and had made Merlin her own advisor. With the centuries the myth of the Once and Future King has grown unchecked: Arthur Pendragon belongs to the category of the great people of history who the most have influenced the world, with the only difference that he will one day return. Magic, for a number of circumstances never verified (possibly a mix of abuse and industrialization), seems like having been drained, leaving only the passive one: charms applied to old houses or objects still works, but new charms cannot be cast and are ineffective. Immortality is a rare gift unavailable to most, but few people belonging to the world Before The Drain still live, the oldest of them born in the Late Renaissance age. Merlin, former wizard and oldest man of the world as the only one alive since the Middle Ages, is considered the world's grumpy uncle, that one parent who is a font of knowledge and tells funny stories about an otherwise serious topic like History but isn't willing to sit down and socialize with the youngsters (which means basically anyone, to him). Told to be always traveling, he imparts his knowledge almost exclusively through his blog, "Merlin's Cave". Unknown to all, though, Merlin has also a second identity under which he lives an almost ordinary life: Gaius de Bois, young professor of Medieval History at the University of Avalon, down-to-heart person, a professor much loved by his students, and, especially "nephew" of the Great Merlin. Arthur Pendragon emerges from the secluded Lake of Avalon and his return is made official by Merlin with a post on his Instagram, a photo about the two halves of a broken coin (with Merlin's and Arthur's profile) reunited. Arthur leads a quiet life, residing in Merlin's cottage on the shores of the lake, with his grumpy (not-so) former servant to protect him from meddlers and fanatics. To preserve and allocate the necessary resources to restore a conducive environment for him and his needs of Middle Ages man, he is given the title of National Treasure that grants him a monthly revenue, total coverage of expenditures and funds to restore the castle of Camelot – castle that Merlin has preserved by magically miniaturizing it and placing it in a snow-less globe. Merlin, through his social media and website, shares with the world the chronicles of how his king is adjusting to the modern times. Arthur is initially followed by paps and generally by the curiosity of the people: it's just Merlin's angry presence (and an endless stream of ordinances) that shelters Arthur from the frenzy although soon it becomes an ordinary sight to see the king going around wearing his armor and sunglasses. When Camelot is restored, it gets the status of Principality within the United Kingdom, a kind of enclave named New Camelot on which Arthur is granted absolute power: initially a city-state enclosed within the strong walls of the citadel, it grows when further lands and pastures are assigned to the principality to assure Camelot's self-sufficiency. Life in New Camelot, per Arthur's choice, doesn't reflect the innovations happened after the king's death, and the citadel will become a haven for people who wish to live a simpler life or simply unplug a bit from the modern times. With time Arthur will fully embrace the perks of modernity, thanks to Merlin (and his money) who spoils him, and he'll even get a driving license (against Merlin's will). But that's another story for another time.

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Notes I didn't know what Arthur would say (he would say something complimenting her and how he appreciated having to do with her? Something more formal?) so initially I decided to steal the purple heart posted by Bradley James on his Twitter. A last-moment change, right when I was in the middle of the posting, turned this into a simple "farewell".

Tec stuffs (aka Behind The Manip) It took me more time to search for pics than to make the manip itself. It's embarrassing. But find a Bradley pic that would work and then find a proper fitting pose for Queen Elizabeth wasn't as easy as it seems. Also. I meant to work on this as soon as possible but it's been an awful two weeks for me, starting with 27 hours of head spinning and then having hard time to sleep and... well, let's say I manip only during specific hours and I was in bed sleeping in those hours so... yeah. But I had to finish before the window closed on Monday, so here I am. Original manip is way bigger but it was scaled down to 1080px as that is the maximum size of the pics on Instagram. Instagram graphic made all by-hand, with much moving/copy/pasting and, especially, a wearying research to find out which font the website used. No template site. Since I created my own template (with a couple of tweaks, including not cutting a longer IG Story title), it won't reflect any future changes the platform might make (I have no intention of modify my template).

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Credits Bradley James at Pierrefonds, 19 June 2012. Photo taken by Yavannauk (yavannauk.livejournal.com - also here on Tumblr, but cannot tag). Queen Elizabeth in Windsor, 21 April 2016. Photo found at Royal Family Around the World (worldroyalfamily.blogspot.com/2016/04/queen-elizabeth-ii-and-prince-philip_21.html).

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Crossposted Livejournal: prue84.livejournal.com/90084.html Dreamwidth: prue84.dreamwidth.org/81859.html Deviantart: deviantart.com/prue84/art/8-September-2022-instagram-929982431 (instagram post) and deviantart.com/prue84/art/8-September-2022-photo-929983641 (photo)

[yestolerancepro]

While we were making the Tolerance film 25 years ago the Star Wars Franchise was making its return to the cinemas via the first episode in the prequel trilogy Episode I the Phantom Menace so much so that this book was sneaked on to the Tolerance film set

so it seems only fair that I feel the Tolerance film has a link with this movie for british fans reading this post the film is re-released in the UK on the 3rd May and comes with this rather snazzy re-ralease poster

And according to this article by Screenrant the new poster tells the story of the entire prequel trilogy.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace is celebrating its 25th anniversary, and a brilliant new poster design for the movie reveals the story arc of the entire Star Wars prequel trilogy. In an exciting update, Star Wars announced via Empire Magazine that The Phantom Menace will return to theaters for its 25th anniversary. Alongside this anniversary release is a new poster for the movie, which features some very key character placement choices that differ from the original posters.

Although the Star Wars prequel movies were poorly received at first, the prequel trilogy hate has since stopped, with many Star Wars prequel trilogy cast members reprising their roles in more recent projects to great acclaim. Building upon this increased interest, the theatrical re-release of The Phantom Menace will certainly bring on nostalgia. However, The Phantom Menace's newly-designed movie poster shows that not everything is the same as it was in 1999.

Via Star Wars, the new Phantom Menace poster, designed by Matt Ferguson, features Darth Maul hovering in the background, glaring with yellow Sith eyes, as the previous poster did. In Ferguson's version, however, Maul is shown at a greater distance, as though he is not just one of the characters but is in fact lurking in the background. This is significant because there has been some debate about who the Phantom Menace title refers to. It's been suggested that Palpatine is the Phantom Menace of the movie, but Ferguson's poster positions Darth Maul to be the "Phantom Menace" after all.

This is particularly interesting because Ferguson has stylized Darth Maul to better match how the character looked in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars show rather than in live action. This would certainly uphold the idea that Maul is the prequel trilogy's "Phantom Menace," as he returns not only in The Clone Wars show but also in Star Wars Rebels and Solo: A Star Wars Story. While The Phantom Menace at first seemed to fairly clearly indicate that Maul had died, Star Wars has now shown that in many ways he, too, was always working behind the scenes.

While Darth Maul's appearance on the poster has had some interesting updates, the other prequel trilogy characters have arguably had even more significant changes. Although prominently featured in the original Phantom Menace poster, Queen Amidala now serves as almost a focal point, sitting regally front and center. Interestingly, she seems to have taken the place of Anakin Skywalker, who was previously featured at the very front of the poster.

The two characters with the most exciting updates are Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi, former master and apprentice. On the original poster, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan appear, but they are separate, and Obi-Wan is much smaller. On the new poster, the two stand side-by-side, their lightsabers ignited. This choice was very intentional; the poster designer, Matt Ferguson, took to Twitter to explain his logic behind the poster. In particular, he wanted the newly-designed poster to tell the story of the Star Wars prequel trilogy.

This decision perfectly encapsulates the story that follows The Phantom Menace. While Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon, and Padmé all protect Anakin in the first movie, in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, the three characters are essentially part of his undoing. Qui-Gon's death in The Phantom Menace affects Anakin deeply, particularly because he has also just lost his mother (in that she was left behind on Tatooine).

This loss of his first master, essentially, creates a bit of tension between Anakin and Obi-Wan, which ultimately festers into resentment. Obi-Wan unfortunately and inadvertently contributes to Anakin's fall to the dark side of the Force in other ways, too, as he takes on the role of critical older brother and demanding master, to which Anakin responds poorly. Padmé, of course, becomes Anakin's great love, but she also therefore becomes his greatest weakness. It is this attachment specifically that confirms Anakin's turn to Darth Vader.

[tamaradoubraomonibeke]

MP- Research into Opobo (LO1)

It is important that I'm able to discuss and talk about the history rather than display objects. Thus, I did research unto the history of Opobo and it's creation. I struggled to find any information and decided it's best to ask my family members their experience rather than search on the web.

Example of article:

Opobo Kingdom | Opobo Foundation of North America

The ancient City State of Opobo stands as a founder’s delight. It is a story made up of war, strategy, fake reconciliation, jealousy, and economic genius It has sheer incredibly mixture of luck, intuition and political maneuvering tt resulted in the creation of the history

At the age of 12, a young boy was captured by his father’s enemies and sold into slavery ending up in the Kingdom of Bonny. His first owner who gave him the name Jubo Jubogha. He worked very hard for his master and was very humble until he was sold again to Chief Alali who was the ruler of the Opubo Anne Pepple Royal House at the time.

In those days, the Bonny Empire was a flourishing kingdom in ancient Nigeria that gained its wealth through trade and business in the slave trade. Slaves were granted their freedom if they had successful businesses and could rise in the social classes to become prominent people in society as well as rule. Jaja worked for the chief and run businesses on the side until he was able to buy his freedom and become a man of is own.

With his newfound freedom and already flourishing businesses, Jaja concentrated on running his businesses well and learnt the tricks and wits of working as a trader especially with the British. At a very young age, he had earned for himself high social status and an enviable name in the trading business in West Africa. His Ibani name of Jubo Jubogha (Juwo-Juwo) was declared as Jaja for convenience by the British.

At the death of his former enslaver, the ruler of the Opubo Anne Pepple Royal House, there was no one interested in taking up the throne because of the debts the royal house had incurred over the years. Seeing it as both a business opportunity and a way of honouring the late chief, Jaja boldly took up the role and paid off the debts in a matter of two years.

Chief Jack Annie Pepple and other pioneer Chiefs eluded their home in Grand Bonny the heartland of the Ibani people, to establish a new kingdom called “Opobo” (English for Opubo-ama, or the Kingdom of Opobo). It was derived from the name of legendary King Opubo (1738 – 1830) a celebrated Ibani monarch. Thanks to the strategic vision of Chief Jack Annie Pepple, the establishment of Opobo became an economic and political master stroke. It went far beyond its immediate cause, which was the 1869 war in Grand Bonny between Fubara Manilla group of Houses led by Chief Oko Jumbo and the Opubo Annie Pepple group led by Chief Jack Annie Pepple whose Ibani name of Juwo-Juwo (also spelt Jubo Jubogha by some) was rendered as Jaja by the British. Jubo-Jubogha was a former slave who rose to fame on the horn of danger and destruction that would have terrified lesser men. Not Jaja. For he turned the crisis of a civil war and defeat in Bonny into a great advantage for him and pioneer chiefs of Opobo, with the establishment of a new kingdom.

Jaja and his group of 14 out of the 18 war canoes in Bonny, secured a geographical location that reinforced their tactical and diplomatic vision as founding fathers. The land stood just about a day’s paddle away from their ancestral Ibani root. With it they were set to turn their new kingdom into a unique 19th century bridge for commerce. They crowned their leader Chief Jack Annie Pepple (Juwo Juwo) as King Jaja, the first Amanyanabo of Opobo Kingdom. They chose December 25, 1870 to establish Opobo. From its location, Opobo easily reached out to set up trading posts with land-based farmer communities. There spread out under thick foliage of freshwater forests to the left of the kingdom, along the one – way direction of a resolute Imo River. This was before colonial Britain seized the Niger Delta. The region was later shaped into part of a new political entity called Nigeria, which Britain created.

King Jaja and the 14 founding Chiefs demonstrated tenacity of purpose, statesmanship and commercial drive to bring Opobo to international prominence. The Kingdom quickly became one of the six leading City States of the Oil Rivers protectorate. Their strategic moves successfully engineered their local economy into prime relevance in the Palm Produce trade of 19th Century. Europe designed the trade to favour infant industries belonging to its urban merchant class, at the expense of rural West African communities.

Against this economic confrontation, King Jaja earned distinction as a leading entrepreneur and nationalist in the struggle against Europe’s business driven political agenda.   Together with the pioneer Chiefs of Opobo Kingdom, King Jaja built a flourishing City – State that helped to shape trade, education and diplomatic relations between European countries and paramount Niger Delta Kingdoms. These endeavours helped to define and strengthen the economy of the Niger Delta.

Unfortunately, the same endeavours sign-posted King Jaja as a symbol of potential indigenous control of the unfolding trade with Europe, an unyielding nationalist and first apostle of “resource control” in the Niger Delta. His position threatened the agenda of imperial Britain. He was subsequently abducted by Britain through ungentlemanly guile, tried under false charges and dispatched into exile like kings of other prominent communities, to clear the coast for the British. With Jaja and his fellow symbols of indigenous control of the Niger Delta out of the way, the British made rapid progress in imposing their empire on the region. They became the colonial master!  To seek a new direction for the home of King Jaja, this narrative was revisited with holistic passion by His Majesty King Dandeson Douglas Jaja (Jeki V or King Jaja the Fifth) in his coronation address as Amanyanabo of Opobo Kingdom on January 3, 2004.

Modern Opobo Kingdom is renewing the vision of relevance of its economy. King Dandeson Douglas Jaja JP, Jeki V Amanyanabo of Opobo, began succession rites in 1980, when his illustrious father King Douglas Jaja (Jaja IV), joined his ancestors. The coronation ceremony on January 3, 2004 has ushered in a systematic process of structures to enhance consultations and participation by the citizenry. They are to harness and redirect the human, cultural and social resources of the kingdom to fit into a productive local economy in a dynamic world. Appropriate committees have been set up by 2005 on the first anniversary of the coronation. A plan of action with innovations to inspire the kingdom, is being concretized under the leadership of the Council of Alapu (Chiefs) and the Amanyanabo of Opobo Kingdom.

Opobo Town is the headquarters of Opobo/Nkoro Local Government Area created in 1996.The Kingdom is made up of satellite towns namely: Kalaibiama, Queens Town, Minima, Illoma and Epellema, Ekereborikiri, Down-Below, Abazibie and Opukalama. There are also settlements and villages or fishing ports belonging to various Wari (War Canoe Houses) and Polo (Group of Houses or Section) of Opobo Kingdom.

Conclusion

I have chosen a subject that will be difficult to research academically. However, it proves my point that African history and culture is shrouded in unknown mystery and needs to be restored. I will do my research as stated using my family members experience and the few articles I've found along the way.

[itsytinyspiders]

(Part 12)

We are back with A Scandal in the British Empire, featuring an anxious John!

John, how are you feeling today?

John: …I feel like a lot of people are looking at me. (Pause) I don’t know why, but I feel like a lot of people know about mine and Sherlock’s plan.

Ah, first time jitters. It’s fine John, just follow Sherlock’s lead.

John: Look at that dark road. We planned to go through there, but it feels like there’s a lot of people looking at us!

(Sherlock looking for the invisible “people”)

Sherlock: No problem, John! According to my deductions, it’s only a box.

Sherlock being weirded out by Fangirl Irene is a treat!

Another pic for prosterity.

Oh, confirmation that mirrors represent acting?

Sidenote: The ongoing “John the Murderer proclaiming his guilt” gag certainly matches his vibes when he causes the fire at Irene’s home.

And the joke finally pays off as John kneels on the floor in repentance after setting fire to Irene’s flat.

Go queen!

Love how Irene always manages to (literally) snag the spotlight.

Look at Irene playing with the photo as her home burns down around her! If you can’t even do that, can you really call yourself a prima donna?

Jail! Jail for Sherlock and John for a thousand years!

Sherlock then gets up to analyze Irene (in his mind) and kneels back down dramatically. This stage play really just keeps on giving!

And back to Baskerville again!

I really like how Moran is taking on a big brother role for Fred in this arc, encouraging him to talk to William (first when Fred tells him about the kidnappings, then later when they’re in William’s office). I like that for them.

And Louis voicing his insecurities!

This feels like the first time we see adult Louis as more than a one-dimensional character, at least onstage. His other significant scene was him asking William about what Albert wants from them in a flashback.Thus far,

I imagine that being relegated to support has been weighing on Louis’ mind for a long time, but especially recently, since the Morigang started ramping things up. There were a lot of things he couldn’t do before, either because he was sick or because of his role as the “only” adopted son of the Moriarty family. It’s no wonder he wants to join this mission.

William’s reply about wanting Louis to enter the next world without blood on his hands – it hits hard. William has been taking on the role of protector for his little brother since he understood how the world works, and even more after Louis got sick. It could be that, from thew very beginning, part of his wish to create a more beautiful world was for Louis, his sickly little brother who deserved more, to live in it.

And it is because William loves his brother (because he sees that same love reflected in Louis towards him) that he ultimately lets Louis take part in the Baskerville mission.

Fred gets the first kill! Good for him 😊

(On another note, the fact that the “hunters” wear something similar to the iconic Sherlock Holmes outfit really irks me. I get that it’s probably a hunting outfit, and that these nobles hunt humans, but I don’t want my thoughts to go from them to Sherlock just because they decided to dress for the occasion. On the other hand, I suppose you could consider the outfit a reference to the fact that Sherlock handled this case in the original ACD canon.)

I always found this scene with Moran interesting.

My knowledge of Sherlockian lore comes from Detective Conan, BBC Sherlock and whatever I got from cultural osmosis. In other words, I know little to nothing about Moran, other than he’s Moriarty’s right-hand man and a former army officer. In the manga, we get a whole arc about his army days backstory, but this is the first time we get info on pre-army Sebastian Moran.

And it’s interesting, isn’t it, how Sebastian went from nobleman to soldier to Morigang member? We know how the latter part of his journey went, but the former part fascinates me, now that I got these tiny breadcrumbs from a man who’s about to die.

Yes! Louis finally gets a dramatic entrance!

The Baskerville arc is where we see Louis shine the most thus far, and while I get why they didn’t add it to the anime, I will be salty about it. I think the only other times Louis shows signs of violence is when he’s around Sherlock, so it’s easy to write him off. In any case, I’m looking forward to the next part of the Yuumori manga. Hopefully we’ll get more Louis-centric scenes now that he’s M.

I know that the fandom generally agrees that Albert is a pyromaniac, but I wonder if Louis has got a little bit of pyromania in him too. Then again, I feel like Albert is the type to enjoy watching the flame burn and leave nothing behind, whereas Louis cares insofar that fire helps him achieve his objective (i.e., killing the OG Moriarty family and staff, killing this noble and killing the “Jack the Ripper” group).

The main host of the event gets the least screentime, it seems.

Baskerville only came onstage to get skewered by William. A bit disappointed that we didn’t get to see him monologue about the wonders of familial love, since that’s one of the things that stuck to me the most during this arc. Baskerville’s chosen victims – the siblings – are meant to parallel William and Louis, like a reflection of their past selves. While the exclusion of these characters isn’t egregious, it does make me appreciate the manga more for adding those scenes in the first place.

And with that, we end the Baskerville arc!

[circusheart]

this tweet interests me... the implication is that a nation's (and its peoples') identity is less acceptable (particularly for leftists!) if it is "newer"

does length of time make "national identity" more valid and acceptable? is Italian (or German or Turkish or...) reclamation and reinterpretation of ancient Roman "glory" more acceptable than the invention of a new national identity?

Is it problematic for global south nations to forge new concepts of identity in the wake of decolonization? is tradition always good?

Is it even possible to create a new national identity wholesale with no reliance on history? If you said yes, can you name one example of a nation successfully doing so? Is using imagery of the past to support a new ideology better or worse than transposing ancient ideology directly?

Is the distant past kinder, more worthwhile, than the present or the recent past? How "ancient" must a cultural tradition be to matter? Are calzones not real Italian food because they originated in the 1800s?

What about nations (both states and groups of people) that literally *dont have* pre-1800s pasts? The Lumbee indigenous people arose in relatively recent centuries - how are they meant to find an identity without appropriating iconography from other peoples' history, if creating a new identity is morally questionable? Or the Chagossians, or the Singaporean Chinese? What about Singapore as a whole - is it wrong for Singapore to conceptualize itself as, say, a majority-chinese former British colony instead of a minor and unimportant island in the grand nusantaran empires of the 1500s? And who gets to claim what identity? Is it valid for non-celtic British people to take pride in brittonic history? What about Roman British history? Anglo-norman or anglo-saxon? Norse? Why or why not?

What about heavily multicultural nations - is it even possible to carry a national identity from the 1200s to the modern day when your government has been toppled and reinstated and reformed and revolutionized so many times? Are the Qing (manchu) or the Ming (han) or the Yuan (mongol) better role models for modern-day China? What about the Zhuang and the Hmong and the Miao and the dozens of other minority ethnicities of China? Are they excluded from national identity because of their lack of representation in ancient rule?

What about immigrants? The first recorded Japanese migrants arrived in Brazil in 1908 - are they not allowed to participate in Brazilian identity because they arrived too late? Is it more moral for Japanese Brazilians to immigrate to Japan, or stay in Brazil? Is your answer different depending on how long their family lineage has lived in Brazil?

[icmioneline]

Evaluating the Economic Impact of Carbon Pricing: Price Tag on Pollution

by International Carbon Markets Institute

Carbon pricing has ascended to a prominent role in the policy toolkit for addressing the prodigious challenge of climate change. By assigning a monetary cost to the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, it aims to incentivize reductions in these emissions.

Central to the concept of carbon pricing is the principle of internalizing environmental externalities. The economic theory posits that markets, left to their own devices, fail to account for the environmental damage inflicted by greenhouse gas emissions — an externality. By imposing a price on carbon, these environmental costs are internalized, creating incentives for businesses and individuals to reduce their carbon footprint.

Two primary mechanisms are employed to price carbon: carbon taxes and emissions trading systems. The former entails a direct levy on carbon emissions, while the latter limits total emissions and allows for trading of emission allowances within the limit.

The economic impacts of carbon pricing are manifold and extend beyond the environmental sphere. One of the most immediate impacts is on the cost structure of businesses. As carbon-intensive activities become more expensive, firms have a financial incentive to invest in cleaner processes and technologies. This dynamic can drive innovation and foster the development of low-carbon industries, leading to potential long-term benefits for economic productivity.

Moreover, the revenues generated by carbon pricing can be substantial. These funds can be used to reduce other taxes, invest in renewable energy and climate resilience, or returned to citizens in the form of dividends. The optimal use of carbon revenues is a topic of ongoing policy debate, with potential implications for economic efficiency, income distribution, and political acceptability.

Yet, carbon pricing is not without potential downsides. If not carefully designed and implemented, it can have regressive impacts, disproportionately burdening low-income households. This concern arises because energy costs represent a larger share of the budget for low-income households, and these costs could increase under carbon pricing.

Another key concern pertains to the potential impact on competitiveness. Industries exposed to international competition could be at a disadvantage if their competitors in countries without carbon pricing do not face the same costs. Several policy measures, such as border carbon adjustments and free allocation of emission allowances, have been proposed to address this issue.

Empirical evidence on the economic impacts of carbon pricing is growing. Case studies from regions that have implemented carbon pricing, such as the European Union, British Columbia in Canada, and California in the United States, provide valuable insights. These experiences indicate that it is possible to reduce emissions while maintaining economic growth, but the specifics can vary widely depending on local circumstances and policy design.

In conclusion, carbon pricing can play a pivotal role in the global response to climate change. Its economic impacts are substantial and multifaceted, influencing not just emissions but also economic productivity, public revenues, income distribution, and competitiveness. By understanding these impacts, policymakers can design more effective and equitable carbon pricing policies, and businesses can better anticipate and respond to the new economic landscape under carbon pricing.

Read more at International Carbon Markets Institute.

[yessadirichards]

'I love being older', says Harrison Ford as he retires Indiana Jones

CANNES

Artificial intelligence may have been used to make Harrison Ford decades younger in parts of his final film as Indiana Jones, but the 80-year-old actor said Friday he loves being older and has no plans to slow down.

Ford, whose "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" premiered in Cannes the previous night, has vowed this will be his last outing as the swashbuckling archaeologist after more than four decades in the role.

And Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm which also owns the Star Wars franchise, gave a resounding "no" at a press conference when asked if AI would be used to keep Ford coming back to the role.

An emotional Ford welled up several times while reflecting on his long career and co-stars, and said he was "real happy with age".

"I don't look back and say, 'I wish I was that guy again,' because I don't. I love being older, it was great to be young but, I could be dead, I'm just older," he said.

And he has no plans to slow down, confirming he would do another season of both western drama "1923" and comedy "Shrinking".

Ford was complimented by a reporter on his physique in a shirtless scene near the start of the movie.

"I have been blessed with this body -- thanks for noticing," he said to laughter from the press crowd.

But asked why it was time to let Indy go, Ford gestured towards himself and said with his ever-present dry wit: "Urr, is it not evident?"

He first swung onto screens as the quick-witted and intrepid archaeologist with his trademark fedora and whip in 1981's "Raiders of the Lost Ark", followed by three blockbuster sequels.

Ford also got emotional while receiving a surprise honorary Palme d'Or ahead of the premiere of the fifth installment.

He is joined in the new adventure by Phoebe Waller-Bridge as his witty and more sprightly sidekick, with Mads Mikkelsen as a villainous Nazi scientist.

The movie sees him fighting Nazis from Manhattan to Sicily, but critics have given the film mixed reviews.

Some were nostalgically transported by the logic-defying scenes and rousing theme song, with The Guardian newspaper calling it wildly silly and entertaining".

Empire also enjoyed the ride, saying it remained true to its "fantasy" leanings, but that the "barmy finale... might divide audiences".

The Hollywood Reporter was less impressed with the "rinse-and-repeat formula of chases and gunfights" and "how glaringly fake so much of it looks".

Elsewhere at the world's leading film industry shindig, three of the 21 movies in the running for the top prize Palme D'Or were premiering on a rain-drenched Friday on the French Riviera.

British director Jonathan Glazer was set to present his much-awaited "The Zone of Interest" about the banal private life of a Nazi officer alongside the horrors of the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Also showing are "About Dry Grasses" by former Turkey's Palme-winner Nuri Bilge Ceylan, and "Four Daughters" from Oscar-nominated Tunisian Kaouther Ben Hania.

A brief moment of drama saw police cordon off a wide area around the festival's red carpet to probe a suspicious package, which turned out to be a bag lost by a tourist.

[charliethomascoxuniverse]

Boardwalk Empire’s’ mystery IRA man Charlie Cox

IRISH CENTRAL  By CAHIR O’DOHERTY (X)

...As the ongoing story of Nucky Thompson, the undisputed ruler of Atlantic City who was equal parts politician and gangster unfolds this season, we’re introduced to a brand new Irish character played by British newcomer Charlie Cox.

Cast as a young and possibly on-the-run former IRA man from Belfast (we’re not going to say if he is for certain, and neither is Cox because that would be considered spoilers) Cox’s new role is the biggest professional boost of his young career – and it may well be thanks to his pal and sometime mentor Robert De Niro (the pair starred together in the romantic fantasy Stardust a few years back).

But as an uppercrust Englishman in an Irish role, the first question is how did he learn the Belfast accent?

“I have friends from Ireland and I mimicked them a little bit to begin with for my first audition,” Cox, 28, tells the Irish Voice from his parents’ home in France (where’s he gone to recover from Boardwalk’s punishing production schedule) this week.

“I also watched The Commitments over a dozen times, and when I got the invite to audition in New York I discovered that the character came from Belfast, so then the pressure was really on.”

Cox did what any enterprising young actor desperate to find a completely different Irish accent in a pinch did -- he Googled the Internet. Eventually, via the iTunes music store, he found a link to a Christian evangelical website made in Belfast and he created his accent in the show based on what he heard.

“From that podcast I found a perfect Belfast accent and I now know more about Jesus than I ever thought I would,” laughs Cox, who in his personal life is a British public school boy with a Catholic background.

“Of course I also researched the kind of life he might have had and the strife he would have known in the Ireland of that period. Believe it or not I also read Angela’s Ashes -- which is a remarkable book -- and I realized how arriving in Atlantic City where literally anything was possible must have blown my character’s mind after the life he had led up to that point. I keep that inner tension and awareness burning all the way through the new season.”

Cox is under a blanket ban from the shows producers not to reveal too much about his character’s personal arc in season two because they don’t want the Internet to light up with spoilers spread by obsessive fans of the show.

“What I can tell you is that he is very concerned with what’s going on in his homeland and that there’s a reason he stays around Atlantic City, although he could conceivably return to Ireland at any time,” Cox offers.

Fans of the epic series may be surprised to know how close to filming time the scripts for Boardwalk Empire actually arrive. If you thought the entire season was written and in the can before the first cameras rolled you’d be quite wrong -- often actors learn their characters fate just a few weeks before they shoot the scene.

“That kind of schedule keeps you fresh as an actor, and it means that you don’t get complacent about what’s going to happen to the person you’re playing. But the whole of acting is the same. You’re just one step away from your next job or your last one and that awareness should stop you from becoming conceited or complacent,” says Cox.

Right now as the final edits of the second season are still being cut, Cox doesn’t know what will happen to the majority of the other characters in the show. With a production this big it’s impossible to keep tabs on everything that’s happening unless you’re the producers or the writers -- and they’re famous for keeping all that information to themselves.

Meanwhile for Cox, the opportunity to act alongside a legendary director like Martin Scorsese and actors like Steve Buscemi is both exhilarating and nerve wracking.

“All actors at some level want to be acknowledged for what they do and I’m no different,” says Cox. “It’s exciting to think that this may lead to other opportunities but I’m not going to get carried away by it.”

“People told me I’d be on easy street back in 2007 with Stardust and that didn’t happen. The fame and fortune thing is nice as far as it goes, but it used to be you got famous because you were talented and that’s not quite the case anymore,” he adds sensibly.

Cox shies away from any further plot scoops into his upcoming season, but he will happily admit that he researched the activities of the IRA unit founded by Michael Collins that was known as The Squad or the Twelve Apostles.

These men, hand picked by Collins himself, acted mainly as assassins and they targeted policemen, collaborators, civil servants, MI5 members and most famously the so-called Cairo Gang (a British intelligence group who had formerly served in the Middle East).

“I was fascinated to learn about the history of that period, and it really brought my character’s own background to life for me,” says Cox.

“Once you start delving into that you get a real sense of the period and the stakes in play. And I have to mention the costumes and sets. They’re so well done and so meticulously researched they do so much of the work for you.”

As a lifelong rugby fan with his own seats at Twickenham, both Cox and his father thought they might have taken the research into Ireland too far when they started cheering the Irish rugby team in its match against Australia recently.

“My dad was suddenly standing up and shouting, ‘Come on Ireland -- I mean England!’ at the television and we both started to laugh at the level of involvement. Maybe this character has taken over our lives.”

~*~

[mariacallous]

It has been a week of firsts in British politics. The country has rightly celebrated the fact that it has its first Asian-heritage and Hindu prime minister. A rather less noted milestone, however, is that Britain also has its first investment banker PM.

Rishi Sunak’s first job was at the US investment bank Goldman Sachs. He went on to spend 14 years in the sector before becoming an MP. In many ways, his unelected appointment marks the highpoint of big finance’s takeover of Britain’s political and economic system – a quiet infiltration of Westminster and Whitehall has been taking place over several decades and gone largely unremarked.

Historically, the Square Mile played a big part in British politics, economics and empire. It’s well known that Thatcherism later tore up the corporatist model of economic management. The role of unions, British industrialists and the UK state was to be significantly rolled back. What was unclear was what would replace them. Looking back now, it’s clear that big finance stepped in.

This was because many of the key players in Conservative cabinets of the 1980s came from the financial sector. Norman Lamont spent years at the investment bank NM Rothschild and Sons. Cecil Parkinson, who engineered the “Big Bang” that paved the way for the huge expansion of the London Stock Exchange in the 1980s, had been a chartered accountant in the Square Mile. And Nigel Lawson cut his teeth as a financial journalist at the Sunday Telegraph and the Financial Times. Each has spoken of their City careers as being more significant influences on their thinking than any academic economists. Many other Conservative ministers also went from finance careers to either the Treasury or the Department of Trade and Industry.

This was a key reason why most nationalised industries weren’t simply sold off to the private sector but floated on the London Stock Exchange and transferred into the hands of City investors. It also explains why a series of tax changes and financial regulations favoured big finance over manufacturing, and changes to corporate governance privileged “shareholder value” over all else. Tax breaks and support were removed from industry and used to cut taxes on dividends, share and bond sales.

When New Labour arrived, it didn’t have the same former financial networks to call upon. But Gordon Brown and co also realised how fundamental the lucrative taxable income of the City was for funding its spending plans. They also needed its nous to continue privatising and, of course, enacting PFI contracts. Thus, “light-touch” regulation was rolled out to keep the sector expanding. A steady trickle of financiers were lured into government to facilitate all of this.

Looking at the coalition government, every senior figure who managed Treasury economic policy – George Osborne, Danny Alexander, David Cameron, Rupert Harrison, John Kingman and Nick Macpherson – later gained well-paid positions in the financial sector. And three of the last five chancellors have come from the sector. Jeremy Hunt’s current advisers all come from investment banking.

This matters because investment bankers have very little to do with the real economy that ordinary people inhabit. They don’t run businesses. They don’t deal with actual product and customer markets. Their work is confined to financial markets, aiding corporate financial manoeuvres, and trading and managing their own financial assets. Their primary aim is to make profits from such activities, regardless of how it affects the real economy, the national interest or employees. If that means shorting the pound or breaking up a successful company for quick profits, then so be it.

In other words, what benefits big finance often hinders business and manufacturing generally. Consequently, since the 1980s, Britain’s industrial decline and its financial expansion have been as pronounced as in any leading economy. Productivity and levels of R&D spending compare very poorly, too, because investors demand quick returns and rising share prices over long-term investment. Regional and class inequalities have grown ever-larger.

And an overpowered financial sector has certainly not been conducive to good governance, either. There’s nothing democratic about extensive public service cuts being used to pay for saving the private banking sector, as in the aftermath of the 2008 crash, or the bond markets determining the credibility of governments, or the fact that the bankers and hedge funds are the biggest single source of Conservative party donations. Nor is trust in British democracy likely to be enhanced by a super-rich PM who has allegedly avoided taxes and made a fortune as a financier at the nation’s cost.

During Liz Truss’s short premiership, there was much talk about the power and influence of the Tufton Street network of opaque rightwing thinktanks. But actually, the longer-term driving force of UK economic policy, there in front of us all this time, has been the City of London. It’s time to open our eyes and look more closely.

Aeron Davis is professor of political communication at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand. His new book, Bankruptcy, Bubbles and Bailouts: The Inside History of the Treasury Since 1976, is available at guardianbookshop.co.uk

[iejust]

Upper volta with missiles schmidt

#Upper volta with missiles schmidt series#

#Upper volta with missiles schmidt free#

Bush took American power to its high point. But it was one of his critics, Ronald Reagan, who set the scene for the ultimate triumph: peaceful victory in the Cold War. Henry Kissinger's challenge was to reverse that, and in many ways he succeeded. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, mainly because of Vietnam, it ebbed. "As the Soviet Union recovered from wartime devastation and entered the nuclear arms race, that lead shrank, and it has continued to shrink as other economies?€”e.g., Europe's, Japan's, China's?€”have grown relative to the U.S. power was immediately after the Second World War," explains Ferguson. "In economic and military terms the zenith of U.S. Does Ferguson think the State Department has declined in the degree of global influence it has now compared to when Kissinger was a massive figure on the world stage? Ferguson's most recent publication, "Henry Kissinger: The Idealist," arrived in bookstores during the autumn of 2015 to much acclaim and interest as a re-assessment of the former (and perhaps most famous) Secretary of State. "I am no expert on this," says Ferguson, "but it is clear that Russian support is finding its way to a wide range of populist parties throughout the EU, including the French National Front." The U.S: A Weakened Global PlayerĪrguably, the Cold War ?€” more than anything ?€” defined America's post-war strength. What are the Kremlin's links with far right parties in the EU? In the days of the U.S.S.R., Kremlin money tended to support the far left in Western Europe, but today there is speculated Russian support for far right parties such as the National Front in France. To withdraw now, at this moment of vindication, would be a huge strategic blunder." Our arguments have been vindicated by events. The UK then ?€” correctly in my view ?€” argued against a monetary union and borderless travel. This was a crucial achievement, and the result of British leadership in the 1980s.

#Upper volta with missiles schmidt free#

It came late to the process of European integration, but played a key role after 1973 in steering Europe away from protectionism towards free trade and the creation of the world's largest single market. "Britain eased its post-imperial 'shrinking pains' by playing leading roles in the institutions that emerged after 1945 as the framework of the post-war global order. Is this an accurate summary of Britain's contemporary global role and would a British withdrawal from the EU diminish it?

#Upper volta with missiles schmidt series#

Would Russia like to see Brexit? You bet." Shifting Power Structuresįerguson's 2003 book and TV series "Empire" was subtitled "How Britain Made the Modern World." The UK's post-imperial role has been to define itself through membership of the international community - be it the UN Security Council, NATO, the Commonwealth, the WTO and, of course, the EU. While it is true that NATO has been more important to West European security than the EU, Britain's membership of the EU has been an important source of strength to both the UK and the EU, and EU expansion has been one of the key Western successes of the post-Cold War era. The foreign policy dimension gets overlooked. On the other, the argument for exiting is based on a fantasy that the 19th century sovereignty of parliament can somehow be restored. On the one side, the argument for remaining is mostly about the economic risks, which in my view are very real, but not the most important point. Unfortunately, the debate in the UK has become rather narrow. So would a British "Leave" vote on June 23 be to Russia's advantage in weakening the EU, something the Kremlin sees as an institution which resists and works against Russian power in Europe? Ferguson said, "Yes, I believe so ?€” though like David Cameron, I haven't asked Mr. He respects strength and unity, not weakness and division." In an interview which Prime Minister David Cameron gave to The Independent on Sunday's political correspondent in March, when asked if President Putin would back Brexit, the PM replied: "I think he probably would…I don't know, I haven't asked him?€¦.Putin has an interest in trying to divide and weaken the West.