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Are clients ready for Single Touch Payroll?
Dec 20, 2017 | News, Single Touch Payroll
The ATO's 'Single Touch Payroll' (STP) initiative will start on 1 July 2018 for many employers — but businesses and their advisers cannot be complacent until then.
The next six months is a crucial time for 'substantial employers' (≥ 20 employees) to understand how STP will change their existing processes and ensure that they have compliant payroll software well before the start date. Smaller employers must also pay attention to STP developments as the Government plans to extend STP to them from 1 July 2019.
What is Single Touch Payroll?
In December 2014, the Government announced the STP initiative as part of its Government-wide 'Digital by Default' program. STP is intended to reduce the administrative burden and cost for employers by simplifying tax and superannuation reporting obligations, while improving the visibility of employer non-compliance.
Under STP, employers will use Standard Business Reporting (SBR)-enabled software to electronically report payroll and superannuation information to the ATO at the same time that their employees — and their superannuation funds — are paid. STP will also simplify the administrative processes involved in hiring new staff by providing optional digital services for completing Tax File Number (TFN) declarations and choice of superannuation fund forms.
Employers will have to upgrade their existing payroll software or acquire compatible software to fulfil their obligations under STP.
ATO overview of STP (click on image to enlarge)
Source: Presentation 2 from the ATO's livestream session held on 16 November 2017
The STP story so far …
[fusion_table]
Government announcement — introducing STP
Josh Frydenberg and Bruce Billson's joint media release Issued: 28 December 2014
ATO consultation — discussion paper
ATO released a discussion paper
[no longer available on ATO website] Issued: 16 February 2015
Government announcement — amended proposal
Bruce Billson's media release — announced:
start date will be deferred from 1 July 2016
real-time payments will not be mandatory
further consultation to be undertaken
Issued: 10 June 2015
Government announcement — 1 July 2017 start date
Kelly O'Dwyer's media release — announced:
new start date — 1 July 2017
streamlined processes for commencing employment
small business pilot in first half of 2017
Issued: 21 December 2015
STP draft legislation
Budget Savings (Omnibus) Bill 2016 — Schedule 23 Introduced into Parliament:
ATO consultation paper — draft legislation
ATO consultation paper on the STP measures in the Budget Savings (Omnibus) Bill 2016 Consultation: September 2016
STP enacted
Budget Savings (Omnibus) Act 2016 — Schedule 23
Inserted new Div 389 into Schedule 1 to the Taxation Administration Act 1953 Royal Assent:
Government announcement — STP for small employers
Kelly O'Dwyer's media release — announced that STP will be extended to small employers from 1 July 2019 Issued: 29 August 2017
ATO's STP Small Business Pilot Final Report
ATO released its Single Touch Payroll Small Business Pilot Final Report Published:
[/fusion_table][fusion_text]
Implementation of STP — key dates (click on image to enlarge)
What are an employer's current obligations?
Currently, an employer's pay as you go (PAYG) withholding obligations include:
periodically reporting amounts paid to employees on business activity statements (BAS) and remitting PAYG withholding (quarterly, monthly or weekly);
giving annual payment summaries to each employee just following the end of the income year;
lodging annual payment summary reports with the ATO after the end of the income year; and
when a new employee commences — lodging a TFN declaration form with the ATO.
The employer's superannuation guarantee (SG) obligations currently include:
making compulsory SG contributions to their employees' superannuation funds on a quarterly basis (or more frequently);
when a new employee commences — providing a 'choice of fund' form to the employee (if required to do so), and retaining relevant records relating to choice of fund; and
provide the employee's TFN to the superannuation fund.
A snapshot of how employer reporting will change … or not
Payroll solution (software) Needs to be updated to STP-compliant software
Reporting payments to employees (e.g. salaries, wages, allowances, deductions), and of PAYG withholding amounts and superannuation contributions Will be reported to the ATO at the same time as the payments are made to the employees or the superannuation funds
Payroll cycle No change to employer pay cycles
Due dates of PAYG withholding and superannuation contributions No change to due dates for remittance of PAYG withholding to the ATO and payment of SG contributions to super funds
(Note: Real-time payment of PAYG withholding and SG at the same time as the payroll event reporting was considered when STP was originally announced, but the idea has since been discarded)
Annual payment summaries No obligation to provide annual payment summaries (except in relation to reportable employer superannuation contributions and reportable fringe benefit amounts not reported via STP)
Employees will have access to real-time data via the ATO online service on myGov
Commencement of new employee TFN declaration and choice of super fund can be completed online by new employees and automatically reported to the ATO — note that it is optional for the employer to offer the service and optional for the employee to use the service (the existing paper forms will remain available)
STP for substantial employers from 1 July 2018
Under the enacted STP legislation, 'substantial employers' must commence reporting using STP from 1 July 2018 unless they qualify for an exception.
What is a substantial employer?
Even though STP reporting is not mandatory until 1 July 2018, employers are required to determine their substantial employer status based on the number of employees on the payroll three months earlier, on 1 April 2018. This will allow the employer to ensure they are equipped with the necessary processes ahead of the start date of 1 July 2018.
A substantial employer is an employer with 20 or more employees on their payroll on 1 April 2018. Although this happens to be Easter Sunday, it is based on the number of employees on the payroll as at that date, not who turns up to work that day!
Key questions about the 1 April 2018 headcount
Is the headcount based on full-time equivalent? No. The headcount is based on the number of employees on the payroll on 1 April 2018, not the full-time equivalent.
Who is included in the headcount?
Full-time employees;
part-time employees;
casual employees who are on the payroll on 1 April 2018 and worked any time during March 2018;
employees based overseas;
any employee who is absent or on leave (paid or unpaid); and
seasonal employees.
Who is NOT included in the headcount?
Any employees who ceased work before 1 April 2018;
casual employees who did not work in March 2018;
independent contractors;
staff provided by a third-party labour hire organisation;
company directors;
office holders; and
religious practitioners.
Although company directors are excluded from the headcount, if the employer is a substantial employer then remuneration paid to directors through payroll, or superannuation payments made in respect of them, will generally be reportable under STP.
Casual employees who did not work in March 2018 are also excluded from the headcount. If they subsequently work again for the employer and are paid on or after 1 July 2018, those payments will have to be reported under STP.
How does the headcount work for a company group? If an employer is part of a company group, the total number of employees employed by all member companies of the wholly-owned group must be included.
(Note: there are no other grouping rules, so a trust or partnership — or a partly-owned company — cannot be grouped with other entities for this purpose.)
What if the headcount falls below 20 any time after 1 April 2018? The Government has proposed to extend STP reporting to employers with fewer than 20 employees from 1 July 2019.
If this proposal does not proceed, a substantial employer on 1 April 2018 will continue to be required to report through STP permanently even if the number of employees drops below 20, unless an exemption is granted.
If this proposal does proceed:
an employer will continue to be required to report through STP throughout 2018–19 even if the headcount drops below 20 at any time between 2 April 2018 and 30 June 2019 (inclusive); and
the headcount will become irrelevant from 1 July 2019 — all employers will be obliged to report via STP from that date unless an exception or deferral applies.
Does an employer have to register for STP?
There are no specific registration requirements for STP. Lodging the first report via STP-enabled software suffices as notification to the ATO.
Exemptions and deferrals
The ATO has broad powers to grant exemptions from STP reporting and deferrals of the start date. While these will be considered on a case-by-case basis, there are some general guidelines which apply.
The ATO may grant exemptions for one or more income years on:
a class of employer basis (by legislative instrument); or
an individual employer basis.
To date, the ATO has provided only limited guidance on the circumstances in which it is likely to grant an exemption. However, it has indicated that it may grant an exemption where the employer is:
located in a rural area with no reliable internet connection; or
a substantial employer for only a short period of the income year (e.g. due to harvesting activities).
Where appropriate, an exemption may be limited to only:
part of an income year; or
specific items to be reported.
During a livestreamed information session for employers held on 16 November 2017, the ATO confirmed that, for ease, exemptions will generally be granted for a full income year and not for part of the income year. A part-year exemption would require the employer to comply with two sets of rules in relation to the same income year. However, the ATO will make exemption decisions on a case-by-case basis.
Deferrals — individual employer circumstances
The ATO may defer the STP commencement date until after 1 July 2018 for an employer if the employer:
has entered administration or liquidation;
needs to align its reporting with foreign related entities;
has been impacted by a natural disaster; or
is affected by a circumstance outside their control.
Deferrals — payroll solution providers
The ATO is aware that there are likely to be payroll solution providers — known as 'digital service providers' (DSPs) in the ATO's lexicon — whose software packages may not be fully STP-ready by 1 July 2018.
To assist transition, the ATO has announced that it will grant a deferral for eligible DSPs which will automatically apply to all of the particular DSP's customers. The ATO will issue a deferral reference number (DRN) to the DSP, which will pass the DRN onto its customers.
Employers covered by a DRN will not have to individually apply to the ATO for a deferral.
When applying for a deferral, a DSP must submit a Deferral Evidence Package (DEP), which is a suite of documents which — broadly — relate to the DSP's strategy and detailed plans to develop and/or upgrade products for STP. The ATO will review the DEP when considering whether to grant the deferral.
Applying for an exemption or a deferral
A deferral needs to be requested before 1 July 2018. The employer or their registered agent can request the deferral.
The ATO will publish more information about applying for an exemption or deferral. Keep up to date with the ATO website publication Streamlined reporting with Single Touch Payroll: Information for employers (QC 50662).
The following table summarises the ATO's guidance on how to ensure that the business is ready to report through STP‑compliant payroll solution by 1 July 2018, based on the employer's current payroll reporting system.
How you currently report payroll information* to the ATO Recommended actions to prepare for STP
Using a payroll solution Is the software STP-enabled?
YES → You are ready for STP reporting
UNSURE → Check which payroll software and service providers offer STP-enabled products on the ABSIA product catalogue — this catalogue will be updated over time
NO → Update payroll software (your provider can let you know when your payroll solution is ready for STP)
ALTERNATIVE → Engage a third party (e.g. accountant, bookkeeper or payroll provider) to assist in dealing with your STP reporting obligations
Using a third party^ to report on behalf of the business Communicate with the third party to ensure that they will be reporting through STP on behalf of the business
Manually (e.g. paper) Not yet ready for STP
Acquire a payroll solution that is STP-enabled
Engage an accountant, bookkeeper or payroll provider to assist in dealing with your STP reporting obligations
* Payments to employees (e.g. salaries, wages and allowances) and PAYG withholding amounts.
^ A third party that reports payroll information on behalf of an employer may include an accountant, a bookkeeper, a tax agent or a payroll service provider.
Tip — ABSIA product catalogue
Employers will be able to check which payroll software and service providers offer STP-enabled products on the Australian Business Software Industry Association (ABSIA) product catalogue.
What information needs to be reported — and when?
Under STP, an employer will report information relating to a 'payroll event' at the time that the 'event' (i.e. payment) happens.
Below is a summary of the key need-to-know points about payroll event reporting through STP.
PAYG withholding amounts
Withholding payments and withholding amounts (under the PAYG withholding rules) include (but are not limited to):
salaries and wages to employees and office holders;
remuneration to a director of a company; and
payments for termination of employment, unused leave, parental leave and dad and partner pay.
These amounts must be reported on or before the day that the payment is made to the employee (not the day on which the withheld amount is remitted to the ATO). This is generally the day of the regular pay cycle. The payroll event must be reported even if the withholding amount is nil.
Payments made to contractors are not required to be reported under the STP law.
The ATO has indicated that it will likely exempt payments made to directors through accounts payable rather than payroll. We await further ATO guidance.
Superannuation amounts
Salary and wages for SG purposes or ordinary time earnings — to be reported on or before the day on which the amount is paid; and
superannuation contributions — distinguishable between SG contributions and contributions which exceed the SG percentage (e.g. salary sacrificed amounts) — to be reported on or before the day that the contribution is made.
These amounts must be reported for 'employees' as defined in the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992 but not including contractors within that definition. This is because such contractors are generally not paid through payroll.
The ATO has indicated that the information contained in SuperStream reports would also satisfy STP requirements. We await further ATO guidance on the option to submit SuperStream reports for STP purposes.
Out-of-cycle payments
An out-of-cycle payment is one which is not paid in the employee's regular pay cycle — e.g. commissions, bonuses and back payments. Such payments can be reported:
on the day the payment is made;
included in the next payroll event reported for that employee (generally the next regular pay cycle) in the same income year; or
by 30 June in the income year in which the payment is made, if the next payroll event is after that date.
Reportable employer superannuation contribution (RESC) and reportable fringe benefit (RFB) amounts
An employer is not required to report RESC and RFB amounts through STP.
However, the employee may elect to report these amounts through an 'update event' by 14 July following the end of the income year.
Other amounts possible in the future
The ATO may in the future also request additional information, or accept other forms of information already contained in an employer's payroll software other than those listed above where appropriate.
To lodge an STP report, the employer will be required to make an electronic declaration indicating that the information contained in the report is true and correct and that the person or entity is authorised to lodge the report.
The declaration will be required irrespective of whether the payroll function is processed in-house or outsourced to an external payroll service provider.
Finalising STP reporting for an income year
For each income year, the employer will need to make a 'finalisation declaration' for an employee by providing a finalisation indicator by 14 July after the end of the income year. This is done on an employee-by-employee basis.
In its livestreamed information session for employers held on 16 November 2017, the ATO advised that it will provide an automatic deferral for every employer for the first two income years:
for 2017–18 — deferred due date of 14 August 2018; and
for 2018–19 — deferred due date of 31 July 2019.
We await further ATO guidance in relation to these transitional finalisation dates.
The ATO also announced that finalised information can be amended for up to five years after the end of the relevant income year.
Payment summaries will (mostly) be redundant
What will no longer be required — and when?
Once a finalisation declaration has been made for an employee in respect of an income year, the employer is exempt from providing:
to the employee — an annual payment summary; and
to the ATO — a payment summary annual report, a notification of withholding amounts, a payment summary for payments for termination of employment, and a part-year payment summary, to the extent that the relevant amounts have been reported through STP.
What will the employee receive instead of a payment summary?
Information reported by the employer will be displayed in the employee's ATO online services account accessed through myGov.
The employee will be able to see year-to-date pay, tax withheld and superannuation contributions, updated progressively throughout the income year.
The ATO will pre-fill the employee's income tax return with the reported data. For self-lodgers, this will be available via myTax; and tax agents will see pre-filled data for their individual clients.
Employees who want a payment summary may contact the ATO, which will provide them with the necessary data or other useful guidance.
Employers may choose to continue to provide annual payment summaries for the first income year or two while their employees are adapting to the new system. This is entirely at the employer's discretion and does not impact on the employer's obligations under STP.
RESC and RFB amounts
In relation to any RFBA and RESC amounts that the employer has chosen not to report through STP:
a payment summary must be given to the employee; and
a payment summary annual report must be provided to the ATO,
in accordance with the existing rules (i.e. by 14 July following the end of the income year).
This will be the case even though the employer will not have to prepare annual payment summaries in relation to PAYG withholding amounts reported through STP.
Employers and intermediaries — viewing lodged STP information
Employers will be able to view their lodged STP reports via the Business Portal. PAYG withholding information reported through STP for the current and previous four income years will be viewable.
The report will display payroll transactions which include:
PAYG withholding and gross payment amounts on the date submitted; and
the name of the intermediary or payroll service provider that submitted the payroll data.
Registered tax agents and BAS agents will also be able to view their clients' STP reports through the Tax Agent Portal and the BAS Agent Portal respectively.
Further, the ATO will pre-fill labels W1 (Total salary, wages and other payments) and W2 (Amount withheld from payments shown at W1) of the BAS with the sum of the amounts reported for the activity statement period.
Penalties for non-compliance
Administrative penalties will apply if an STP report is not lodged on time (or at all), or if it contains an error or omission that is 'false or misleading'. The Commissioner has powers under the STP rules to offer penalty relief.
Transitional relief — second chances given in first year
An employer will be exempt from penalties for failure to lodge on time for the first 12 months of reporting via STP.
However, this concession is not limitless; the exception will not apply if the employer has previously failed to meet its STP obligations and has received written notice from the Commissioner advising that a further failure to comply may result in penalties. In other words, employers cannot abuse and take advantage of the transitional relief.
Ongoing grace period for correcting errors
The STP rules allow the Commissioner to provide an ongoing (permanent) 'grace period' within which employers may correct errors or omissions in lodged STP reports without incurring penalties for false or misleading statements.
The Commissioner may determine the length of the grace period for a class of employers (which may perhaps be based on the size of the withholder and the size of the correction) or a specific employer.
The ATO will release specific guidance on how and when to correct different types of errors. It has previously broadly indicated that an error would be required to be corrected in either:
the next payroll event for the employee; or
an update event.
Regardless of any grace period determined by the Commissioner, all corrections need to be made by 14 July after the end of the income year. This is to allow employees to finalise and lodge their own income tax returns for that income year.
Streamlined processes on commencing employment
When an individual starts a new job, they will have the option to electronically complete a pre-filled TFN declaration and superannuation standard choice form using their ATO online services account accessed through myGov.
The ATO has confirmed that the new online service will be optional for both the employer and the employee. Existing paper-based processes will remain available. Further, there is no impact on existing rules regarding choice of fund and default funds.
Extending STP to small employers
On 29 August 2017, the Government announced that STP will be extended to small employers — those with 19 or fewer employees at 1 April 2018 — from 1 July 2019.
The initiative reflects a key recommendation in the Final Report of the Cross Agency Superannuation Guarantee Working Group to extend STP to small employers to combat SG non-compliance by ensuring that the ATO receives regular and accurate information on SG obligations from all employers.
During the early part of 2017, the ATO conducted a small business STP pilot with 134 small employers. Based on the pilot findings, the Small Business Pilot Final Report recommended that STP should be introduced for smaller businesses from 1 July 2019. The report also recommended a transition-in period of two years including a voluntary opt-in period of 12 months from 1 July 2018, and a grace period of 12 months from 1 July 2019.
The Treasury is currently drafting legislation to give effect to this proposal. The ATO has commenced consultation with industry representatives, including TaxBanter. Will the release of STP draft legislation for small employers arrive just in time for Christmas 2017?
For more information …
The ATO has a range of guidance products currently available on its website, including the following:
Streamlined reporting with Single Touch Payroll (QC 50662)
Materials from the ATO livestream session for employers held on 16 November 2017
STP document library — design and technical; stakeholder information; consultation documents
STP page on the Let's Talk online forum — for news and updates
On 20 November 2017, the ATO announced that it is currently updating its employer guide and will make it available once finished. In the lead-up to 1 July 2018, the ATO will continue to release new and updated materials on how it plans to administer STP reporting.
The Explanatory Memorandum to the Budget Savings (Omnibus) Bill 2016 also provides useful guidance on the STP legislation.
TaxBanter will be conducting a webinar explaining STP — with a guest speaker from the ATO's STP team — on 6 March 2018. Stay tuned for more details.
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text:
Michel Chossudovsky (born 1946) is a Canadian economist. He is professor of economics (emeritus) at the University of Ottawa.
The Globalization of Poverty and the New World Order - Second Edition - (2003)[edit]
Relentlessly feeding on poverty and economic dislocation, a New World Order was taking shape.
Preface to the Second Edition, p. xxii
Humanity is undergoing, in the post-Cold War era, an economic and social crisis of unprecedented scale leading to the rapid impoverishment of large sectors of the world population.
Introduction, p. 1
Modern capitalism appears totally incapable of mobilizing these untapped human and resources.
The WTO was put in place following the signing of a "technical agreement" negotiated behind closed doors by bureaucrats. Even the heads of country-level delegations to Marrakech in 1994 were not informed regarding the statutes of the WTO, which were drafted in separate clossed sessions by technocrats.
Chapter 1, The Globalization of Poverty, p. 25
Mainstream economics scholarship produces theory without facts ("pure theory") and facts without theory ("applied economics")
Chapter 2, Global Falsehoods, p. 27
The budget targets imposed by the Bretton Woods institutions, combined with the effects of the devaluation, trigger the collapse of public investment.
Chapter 3, Policing Countries Through Loan "Conditionalities", p. 53
According to the World Bank, the concentration of wealth and the structures of corporate economic power have no bearing on woman's rights.
Chapter 4, The World Bank and Woman's Rights, p. 67
Global poverty is an "input" on the supply side; the global economic system feeds on cheap labor.
Chapter 5, The Global Cheap-Labor Economy, p. 69 (See also: Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Marx)
The experience of Somalia shows that famine in the late 20th century is not a consequence of a shortage of food. On the contrary, famines are spurred on as result of a global oversupply of grain staples.
Chapter 6, Somalia The Real Causes of Famine, p. 99
On the contrary, famines are spurred on as result of a global oversupply of grain staples.
The civil war in Rwanda and other ethnic massacres were an integral part of US foreign policy, carefully staged in accordance with precise strategic and economic objectives.
Chapter 7, Economic Genocide in Rwanda, p. 120
In return, US surpluses of genetically engineered maize (banned in the European Union) were being dumped on the horn of Africa, in the form of emergency aid.
Chapter 9, Wreaking Ethiopia's Peasant Economy, p. 141
Both Hindu, as well as Islamic fundamentalism, feed on the poverty of the masses.
Chapter 10, India: The IMF'S "Indirect Rule", p. 155
Moreover, the entire international trading system is prone (from the lower echelons to top state officials) to corruption and bribery by foreign contractors.
Chapter 12, The Post War Economic Destruction of Vietnam, p. 177
Macro-economic policy had accelerated the "expulsion" of landless peasants from the countryside leading to the formation of a nomadic migrant labor force moving from one metropolitan area to another.
Chapter 13, Debt and "Democracy" in Brazil, p. 200
Macro-economic reform undermined the legal economy, reinforced illicit trade and contributed to the recycling of "dirty money" towards Peru's official and commercial creditors.
Chapter 14, IMF Shock Treatment in Peru, p. 225
For the West, the enemy was not "socialism" but capitalism. How to tame and subdue the polar bear, how to take over the talent, the science, the technology, how to buy out the human capital, how to acquire the intellectual property rights?
Chapter 16, The "Thirdworldization" of the Russian Federation, p. 240
The collapse of the standard of living, engineered as result of macro-economic policy, is without precedent in Russian history: " We had more to eat during the Second World War."
Lost in the barrage of images and self-serving analysis are the economic and social causes of the conflict.
Chapter 17, Dismantling Former Yugoslavia, p. 257
While Financier George Soros was investing money in Kosovo's reconstruction, the George Soros Foundation for an Open Society had opened a branch office in Pristina establishing the Kosovo Foundation for an Open Society (KFOS) as part of the Soros' network of "non-profit foundations" in the Balkans.
Legal and illegal activities had become inextricably intertwined.
Chapter 18, Albania's IMF Sponsored Financial Disaster, p. 293
" The Cayman Islands, a British Crown colony in the Caribbean, for instance, is the fifth largest banking center in the world,"
Chapter 19, Structural Adjustment in the Developed Countries, p. 303
A new global financial environment has unfolded in several stages since the collapse of the Bretton Woods system of fixed exchange rates in 1971.
Chapter 20, Global Financial Meltdown, p. 309
In a cruel irony, speculators - rather then elected politicians - are the shots on crisis management. In an absurd logic, those who foster financial turbulence have been invited by the G7 Finance ministers to identify policies which attenuate financial turbulence.
Economic Warfare, Chapter 21, p. 327
America had come to the rescue of Korea's "troubled banks". The auction of commercial bank assets was an obvious fraud.
The Recolonization of Korea, Chapter 22, p. 340
Retrieved from "https://en.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=Michel_Chossudovsky&oldid=2603167"
Economists from Canada
Non-fiction authors

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Sometime in 2014, I interviewed a mechanic in Benin City, who had been deported from Germany. Austin is his name. He is one of the most interesting people I'd ever met. He narrated to me how he and a number of his friends went from Sokoto State into Niger Republic, into Mauritania, Algeria and Morocco. He was lucky, even though he saw many people die along the route. He spoke about the deportation centres, and the rafts with which he and his friends sailed across the most treacherous parts of the Mediterranean Sea. He mentioned how the gendarmes on the other side of the water would sometimes shoot at them – the deportees – and what awaited them on the other side. Austin managed to get into Europe, crossing from Italy into Germany, surviving for about a year-and-a-half before his luck ran out. His memory was remarkable. The way he reeled out the names of places, the routes and the experience was shockingly vivid. See the interview here.
He was back in Benin in 2014, and despite what he went through and the risk involved, he promised to return to Europe through the same route the moment he could find the opportunity. He said he was not 'buoyant' in Nigeria, and that he made much more money as an illegal in Europe. Perhaps it is the allure of living far away from home, where one can do any odd job without any shame, or living in sterilised environments where everything is orderly. And there are many like Austin; hundreds of thousands of Nigerians, and their numbers are increasing. Austin was very funny towards the end of the interview as he narrated how, upon alighting at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, without any of his belongings, a fellow Nigerian approached him for alms, claiming he had just been released from Kirikiri prisons! It was at that point Austin resolved to go back to Germany from whence he was deported.
When one hears such fantastic stories, one wonders the kind of desperation that makes Nigerians set upon a journey possibly of no return across an unforgiving desert, and at the mercy of hardened criminals. The Sahara Desert has claimed thousands, if not millions of lives, and this should be a great embarrassment to governments in Africa if our leaders had any soul left in them. For Nigeria, this is a major source of shame, for we tout our prosperity and status among other countries in Africa. As we speak, given the ongoing economic crisis that Nigeria is going through – no thanks to lethargic governance – tens of thousands of Nigerians seem to have resolved to leave and are leaving. When President Buhari said anyone who has another country should leave, he should have been reminded that he has lived a protected, charmed and sponsored life since he was a kid.
Many people – especially in the South of Nigeria – have lived lives of struggle and intense competition from the day they were born, and have faced terrible circumstances that necessitate them taking this terrible risk that is akin to suicide. They have ambitions. They are frustrated. Yes, it could partly be due to a fault of theirs. But we cannot condemn them until we hear their stories. In this same country, through connections, some people have lived lives of undue advantage, always present when scholarships and sponsorships are to be handed out, when one government largesse or the other is on offer, when pilgrimage money is moving around, when houses and cars are to be sold for cheap, when jobs openings are made available under the table, when oil blocs are being allocated, when public enterprises are being gifted away, when choice lands are being distributed in expensive cities. Some even get their weddings and burials sponsored by the state. Some are indeed lucky, but those who are lucky should not scorn those who are not. Some of us have never benefited anything from this country but for the sacrifices we have made for her. It's painful that some people strive to build Nigeria, while others are only interested in pulling her down since they were born. This has to have consequences.
Governance is about having an eagle-eye view of what is happening to your people. Governance is about ensuring that their situations don't continually get worse to the extent that they begin to take irrational decisions. Governance is not about being dismissive of their complaints and showing disdain to the less fortunate. Governance is not about creating or maintaining class structures where some are seen as condemned to penury from heaven, while others are ordained to enjoy the spoils of the land. We have to move away rapidly from those old ways of governance and embrace the new ethos of happiness and prosperity for all at a certain level. Nigeria has not done well in this regard, and the current administration has been particularly disastrous, leading to a skyrocketing of the numbers of Nigerians risking their lives to leave, and the middle class now falling over themselves to get into places like Canada where their children's education could at least be secured. What we have seen is that many Nigerians are daily giving up and we are back to the 1980s era where many Nigerians ended up taking menial jobs abroad. President Buhari, given the love Nigerians expressed for you, this is simply not acceptable.
That is just in brief. These white people keep their records and have no reason to lie in this instance. From 800 Nigerians in 2012, a whole 22,500 Nigerians have crossed the Mediterranean this year! And 3,700 Nigerians have drowned! No statement by our government and absolutely no action being taken to stave off these terrible occurrences. Of course, the best antidote is meaningful, compassionate governance, not uncaring, selfish, and devil-may-care approaches that have rendered even those of us hanging on in the country to be despondent. People have departed this country in thousands and just disappeared into thin air. These are humans created by God too, and God will ask for their souls from those who run Nigeria, many of whom have simply made themselves very comfortable at the expense of these totally desperate folks.
Before the end of 2016, chances are that that figure will spike to about 30,000. The exodus from Nigeria is on. These Nigerians believe that no one cares for them. Government policies, shockingly, has been centred on making their powerful friends richer. A former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, who could be used as a model president given our circumstances, recently bragged about creating 25 billionaires, in a country where more than 75 percent remain poor. Since he departed, governance has turned out even worse, inequality has increased further, and as the figures above show, Nigerians have become more desperate.


Christopher Paul Curtis's tough decision (and all of these have been tough): Marching For Freedom versus A Season of Gifts.
And this is the point in the Battle of the Kids' Books that I almost go completely off topic. Obesity? Really? And chubby? (Erase rant about health versus obesity and celebrity culture saying constant dieting, purging and excessive exercise is the desired norm, plus lets stop confusing obesity (with its implications of laziness and lack of self control along with the use of that term for anyone overweight) with health issues (about food and additives)).
Curtis praises both books, to the point where until I read "and the winner is..." I wasn't sure who he would pick. But Marching for Freedom continues to March on. Will its luck change once a decision is posted in April? Or will the appeal of Marching for Freedom combined with its educational value mean that it will April on?
Since Gifts has fallen by the wayside, I can now confess: I haven't read it. And I don't get the Grandma Dowdel worship. I do love that books for kids have a main character that is a senior citizen!


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My Log 763 Sept 30 2019; Chronicles from my Tenth Decade: 198; I wake up to a beautiful sunrise over Montreal; some reflections on bitter conservative forces in society that have always gotten my goat; I hope we are not about to elect them here
I woke up at 4.20 this morning, read for an hour or so and then got up to check on what time today's Rugby World Cup game was to be played. I had in mind to write something about my childhood, and memories thereof, but the first thing I saw on the day was the spectacle of the southern sky, blazing red as the dawn came up, backlighting the tall buildings of the Montreal skyline, a spectacular sight. With my childhood upbringing in mind I couldn't help but reflect on how different was this sight of the big North American city, from that small place where I grew up. In those days, New .Zealand was a country of small towns: I lived in the fifth biggest town in the country, whose population was only 26,000, and which did not boast a single building taller than, say three stories. A far cry from the modern big city that always seems impelled to reach out both across the land, and up into the sky, vainly trying to touch the heavens.
But before I get on to my subject for the day, I simply have to mention what I read about at 4.20 am. It was an article in the most recent issue of The Guardian Weekly, from London, about a campaign against so-called illegal immigrants to Britain initiated by Theresa May when she was Home Secretary in the government of David Cameron, that was so horrible as to be scarcely believable. She had vans going around in six London boroughs with considerable immigrant populations, emblazoned with a message: "In the UK illegally? Go home, or face arrest." The notices were illustrated with a picture of handcuffs and the number of recent immigration arrests ("106 arrests last week in your area") and a notice along the bottom: "We can help you to return home voluntarily without fear of arrest or detention."
The article dealt with the inhumanity and injustice visited on what has become known as the Windrush generation, named for a shipload of West Indians who were imported into Britain with their families to fill jobs that could not be filled with British-born. These people were never offered any documents asserting their right to be in Britain, although they were all British subjects, and were therefore sitting ducks when, almost half a century later, public sentiment turned against immigrants --- especially, one might observe, coloured immigrants --- and whose children were targeted for deportation in the most heartless and brutal manner conceivable.
The article tells one detailed story, among several others, of a woman who was four when she arrived with her Grenadian parents in 1968, and was 48 when, worn to a frazzle by her fruitless effort to get the government to accept the 75 proofs she had gathered of her lifetime of residence in the country, she gave up and accepted "voluntary" repatriation to a country she had never known, where she arrived without money, had no contacts, and little prospect of getting work. Her life was completely ruined by the experience of being so chosen and persecuted, and even the eventual repatriation to Britain that she was granted, and some of which was paid for by the British government, did not make things any easier for her: once again, she had to start to rebuild her life at an age where such a thing for a woman in her circumstances was almost impossible.
Okay, that's the cheerful story with which I started my day.
The article was written by a journalist called Amelia Gentleman, who had spent several years uncovering this horror-story, a job that was made rather touchy for her in that she was married to Jo Johnson, celebrated brother of Boris Johnson, who was at the time a minister in the Conservative government. It was her articles that eventually forced the government to take notice of the injustice so callously visited on these Windrush survivors,
What I originally set out to write 671 words ago was stimulated by my having seen the New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, as she appeared on Stephen Colbert's Late show. He was trying to get her to say something undiplomatic about Donald Trump, because she was present when he addressed the General Assembly the day before, at which time there was a whiff of laughter when he spoke. He remarked that he did nt expect that response. "Did you join in the laughter?" Colbert asked.
"Are you trying to create a diplomatic incident?" she asked. She said the audience had laughed at Trump a second time, and that time, as Trump claimed, they could be said to be laughing with him.
"And the first time?" persisted Colbert.
"The first time was like a gentle murmur among themselves," she said, laughing.
"Did you join in?" asked Colbert. "I was observing," she laughed..
What set me off to write something about Ardern was that I saw the exchange on a New Zealand newspaper outlet, and it was followed by a large number of reader responses. Many of them were of a grouchy, grumpy variety that I remembered vividly from my childhood, "What's she doing over there, gallivanting about," was the tone. "She spends more time doing that than working hard to make life better for New Zealanders."
I have the impression from what I have read recently that she has had to confront that sort of criticism ever since she was chosen to be the Prime Minister. And it was the grouchy tone of these responses that seemed so familiar to me. I was 17 when I became a newspaper reporter in my own small town. I was a supporter of the Labour Party and its government at the time, and I came to abhor the ultra-conservative National Party opposition whose policies had gotten New Zealand into the desperate position from which a Labour government was needed to pull the country back up by its bootlaces.
I worked in journalism in New Zealand fore almost three years before leaving the country for good, and during that time, in fact during all of the years until I was 22, I never remember any New Zealand newspaper of the time expressing any favourable opinion of the Labour government.
I remember just after I first left home to move to a slightly bigger city, Dunedin, (80,000 population, the fourth city in the country) that I took a room in a boarding house kept by a dreadful woman who had a virulent hatred of the Labour Party, the Labour government, and anything that could be in any way associated with Labour and its works, however loosely. She tended to greet my arrival in the house by holding up some headline or other from a newspaper, showing another proof of the imbecility of Labour and its ministers.
It was not lost on me that the government she was talking about was one that had been elected in 1935, and was re-elected every three years until 1949, having during all those years presided over an extremely well-managed economy, maintained at full employment with a successful export programme for the nation's wool, butter and cheese, and one that, with its generous social programmes kept New Zealanders healthy and strong, and well enough educated to have chosen to keep them in power in spite of the unrelenting media campaign against them.
The first Labour Party Prime Minister was an Australian working class man, Michael Joseph Savage, an unremitting socialist, who had been a labourer, ditchdigger and held a variety of other jobs until getting involved in the union movement, after which he had drifted into, first, municipal, and later national, politics. He was deeply revered among the ordinary people of New Zealand: for many years, pictures of him adorned the walls of thousands of the homes of ordinary New Zealanders, alongside, often, pictures of Queen Victoria. He was the Prime Minister when the British government declared war on Germany. He issued a statement virtually from his death bed, declaring unequivocal support for the war:
"…we range ourselves without fear beside Britain. Where she goes, we go; where she stands, we stand. We are only a small and young nation, but we march with a union of hearts and souls to a common destiny."
My wife often told a story that encapsulates the feeling people had for Savage. In the middle of rhe great depression she was given a watch as an unimaginable birthday present by her Maori grandmother, "Don't thank me, dear," her grandmother said, "thank Michael Joseph Savage."
That my distaste for these bitter conservatives who so much out my back up during my brief adulthood in New Zealand, was not displaced was confirmed for me when I returned to New Zealand to live after 25 years. It happened that the leader of the National Party was elected Prime Minister just after I arrived with my family in 1975.
Every speech Robert Muldoon made was full of what sounded to me like dreadful ideas, every one of which I abhorred. I leave it to Wikipedia to explain the results:
"(Muldoon)'s tenure as Prime Minister was plagued by an economic pattern of stagnation, high inflation, growing unemployment, and high external debts and borrowing. Economic policies of the Muldoon Government included national superannuation, wage and price freezes, industrial incentives, and the Think Big industrial projects. In foreign policy, Muldoon adopted an anti-Soviet stance and re-emphasised New Zealand's defence commitments to the United States and Australia under the ANZUS pact. His refusal to stop a Springbok rugby tour of New Zealand divided the country and led to unprecedented civil disorder in 1981."
That is why I so disliked the negative conservatism that, during my boyhood, I always felt was waiting to pounce on the country and ruin it. I had the impression during the 18 months I was able to stay in New Zealand, that every time Muldoon opened his mouth to utter some banal idiocy, the greater was the applause showered on him by the reactionary electors who voted him into power.
Ah well, wot the hell, wot the hell?
My Log 762 Sept 27 2019; Chronicles from my Tenth Decade: 197: The great protest march: a moving spectacle; but the presence of Trudeau in it was an anomaly: how much so is explained in a new book by Martin Lukacs
the biggest I have ever seen in my long life, young people for the most part, but young and old joined in a single cause, file by in an eloquent, peaceful act of civil protest against the inaction that has marked the political response to the gathering emergency of the human-induced warming of the climate.
The moving aspect of this experience was somehow heightened when one considered that it was all stimulated by this tiny slip of a girl, Greta Thunberg, who emerged as a 15-year-old from her shaky status as a sufferer from a combination of Asperger syndrome, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and selective mutism, to stand each day with a sign before the Swedish Riksdag or Parliament, carrying a sign saying School Strike for Climate.
Organizers estimated today's crowd in Montreal at 500,000 --- far outstripping the 60,000 people I remember gathering in Trafalgar Square, London, in the 1960s in favour of another great cause, their Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Although that campaign had gathered huge public support, had even won to its side the British Labour Party after an intense and astonishing debate, all that meant nothing to the politicians, who blissfully ignored the democratic decision, with the result that the major powers still are brandishing nuclear weapons at each other, and one could not help but wonder today if a similar fate may not befall this impressive display of public uneasiness about climate warming.
Ms. Thunberg, perhaps because her physical disabilities require that she speak only when she has something to say, is an extremely impressive speaker, riveting as she delivers her forceful message with her blunt, powerful delivery, a message that is simple in the extreme: listen to the science, she tells the politicians, act on the science.
She seems to be too serious a young woman to peddle in ironies, but if she were, she might have jibbed at the presence in this great protest march against the inactivity of political leaders, of Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who she had, politely, in a brief interview before the march, told in her blunt fashion, that he was not doing enough. Trudeau, being a man whose brand is to be always on both sides at once, told her that he agreed with her.
It happens that I have just read a new book on Trudeau, which, if it gets to be read by enough people, might well finish him off as our Prime Minister. It is called The Trudeau Formula: Seduction and Betrayal in an Age of Discontent, by Martin Lukacs, published by Black Rose Books of Montreal, 295 pps, $24.50.
Lukacs is a capable writer and researcher who approaches his subject from a frankly socialist perspective, from which viewpoint --- this is nothing new!--- all political parties fall far short of what one might hope. For those of us --- I number myself among this coterie of malcontents --- who have always remained resistant to the siren song of the Liberal party of Canada, Lukacs' recital of its strengths and weaknesses will come as well-trodden ground. He establishes Trudeau as the not altogether gifted son of a Liberal Prime Minister, good-looking, fairly eloquent on his feet, with an almost pathetic wish to please, infinitely pliable about what to believe in, but underneath the glossy-exterior that has been so skilfully sold to the world, he is a tough operator who does not react well to opposition, especially from within his own party, and whose links with the makers and shakers of the Canadian economy --- in other words, as we call them nowadays, the one percenters---are well established, and virtually unshakeable. The author must have had in mind to write this book for several years, for he recounts many occasions on which he has sneaked into events that were essentially closed to all but adherents to the status quo that the Liberal party has always been so skilful at protecting. Events like weapons fairs, or private party shindigs bringing together the top men from the Party with the leaders of the corporations from which the Liberals essentially get their orders on how to run Canada.
The picture thus presented of the Liberal Party is fascinating, paying, as it does, obeisance to their skill at maintaining themselves on top of the Canadian political heap through the shrewd manipulation of their intense contacts with the lords of Big Business.
But the picture of Trudeau himself is nothing like so pleasing: he seems to be a man skilled at saying one thing, and doing another. The most obvious examples of this are in his climate and environmental policies in which he brazenly pretends to be following contradictory policies that have so far proven to be irreconcilable, to such an extent that among some of North America's leading environmentalists Trudeau is regarded as the King of Hypocrites.
His management of his subordinates, as illustrated by his ruthless --- but fruitless --- hounding of his former Justice Minister to vary a scheduled prosecution for bribery against the Quebec engineering giant SNC Lavalin, reveals a different face from that of the smiling optimist. Some other stories I had not heard before indicate that this willingness to accommodate Big Business was shared by those who became closest to him when he became the top gun. For example, there is a very revealing tale about his friend and mentor, Gerry Butts, when, as head of the World Wildlife Fund Canada, he presided over a determined effort to reveal the unsuitability of the Alberta Tar Sands as a source of future oil supplies. One of his subordinates realized that everything pertaining to this campaign had suddenly been expunged from their WWF web site, without explanation, except that eventually he discovered that the future mover and shaker in the future Prime Minister's office had succumbed to determined lobbying by the oil interests to stop their accursed campaigning, so that they could get busy developing the Tar Sands. No sooner said than done, old boy.
A good deal of space is given to the close relationship of the Liberal government with the Business Council of Canada, or whatever it is now called --- they keep changing its name, but its function remains the same ---the lobbying arm for all the country's top CEOs. For years this was headed by a man called Thomas d'Aquino; now it is headed by former Liberal minister John Manley. It is one of the most influential groups in the country, regularly consulted by government about all matters of interest to business, and usually given the task of re-writing, whenever necessary, the rules for competition in Canada. Labour interests, who could be said to have at least an equal, if not perhaps a greater interest, in the rules of business, are never consulted. ( I remember an occasion when a film I made about the aluminum multinational, Alcan, was screened on TVO, the Ontario government's outlet, that in a panel discussion following the film D'Aquino, one of the guests, was almost frothing at the mouth in rage when I said we had not asked for the company's permission to make the film: how disgusting to spend public money from the NFB budget, on such an enterprise!)
I remember years ago on my blog I would drop in a paragraph occasionally to the effect that neither the minister of natural resources, Anne McLellan, nor John Manley was fit to be a minister, because they were, respectively in the pockets of the oil industry and the business interests, and were both tame ministers. Both of these turn up in Lukacs book as prominent advisers to the current government.
Lukacs recounts occasionally heart-rending stories, as for instance when our Foreign Minister, Christia Freeland -- another I classify as not fit to be a minister --- had to fight back tears when the Prime Minister of Walloon in Belgium refused to endorse Canada's trade treaty with the European Union. This was one of the many treaties the Liberals had signed, including the infamous NAFTA, that extended to all multinational corporations the right to sue Canada if any legislation --- for example an environmental regulation --- might be considered likely to affect the bottom line profits of the company. This rank betrayal of the national interest is the sort of management of the economy that for years has made Canadians with a slightly nationalist bent tear out their hair. But to ministers like Freeland, such betrayals are regarded as triumphs of diplomacy.
The book is made up of many such horror-stories. It ends with Mr. Lukacs expressing his disappointment that the NDP, his favored party, should have proven such a pushover for the values of neoliberalism, that when they eventually get into power, or close to it, their policies are virtually indistinguishable from those of the Liberals.
It strikes me that this is likely to be a more or less permanent condition, since Canadians, although more progressive in their politics than our neighbours to the south, are still, at their centre, a relatively conservative people, unwilling, it seems, to embark on any course that might be described as too radical.
The Trudeau Formula, from this perspective, is an essential, but not a comforting, read. It convinces me that I don't like Trudeau, but leaves me confronted with the dilemma: his likely replacement as Prime Minister, should he lose the current election, seems to be fifty times worse.
Woe is me! Woe is us! And my mantra --- wot the hell, wot the hell? --- is no comfort.
My Log 761 Sept 17 2019: Chronicles from my Tenth Decade: 196; Tomorrow the ninth tournament for the Rugby World Cup will keep your interlocutor occupied for a month or more; while hoping for an All Blacks win, he remembers that it is, after all, just a game
Four or five months ago I was looking forward to the Rugby World Cup that opens in three days, but without much hope that I would make it. With now only three sleeps to be survived, I am beginning to think I may make it after all. And that has brought me to an understanding of the puzzling fact that most of the people who are reading this Chronicle have minimal interest in Rugby, and will not really welcome any attempt by me to explain it. One thing I will say in favour of this ignorance: it is not as profound as the North American ignorance of that other British-invented game, cricket, a game that I consider to be the greatest game on earth.
Whenever cricket rubs its way into the North American consciousness, I realize I am about to be assailed by one of those feeble attempts at humour essayed by the popular press about this game whose fundamentals appear to be too complex for their understanding.
Never mind: the least I can do is try to give you poor souls some minimal understanding of what all the fuss is about. I know it is going to be tough for you, because your own favourite Canadian game is wrought with expressions about fighting, hitting, body checks, sticks over the heads, and lifetime concussions in spite of the extravagant body shields worn. I freely admit that this wonderful Canadian game is the fastest played by anyone, and is a game to be immensely enjoyed for its superb skills on those rare occasions on which they do not start punching each other out with the intention of wounding and hurting, objectives that I have long ago taken to be the antithesis of sport and games.
By contrast, Rugby Union, the game I am espousing in his piece, is composed of hard knocks, but never with the intention of hurting or wounding anyone. In fact, the prevailing ethos of the game is that when the final whistle has blown, the losing team will form a line of applauding players through which the winning team makes its way off the field. Thereafter, as is well-known, it is customary for the teams to gather in the pub, or even in one of the dressing rooms, to share a quick one. Or two. Or so. In an atmosphere of cameraderie.
When I started to read up about the history of these British-invented games, I was surprised by how ancient they are. Cricket began late in the 16th century, had become the national sport of England by the 18th century, played its first international match --- between the USA and Canada, no less! --- in 1844. For generations the game was dominated by intense gambling, just as it is now in India and Pakistan, and the present system of professional county teams began to appear by 1709, with a regular scorecard employed since 1772, and the Lord's Cricket Ground, which still lies at the heart of the game, was opened in 1787.
Although the Chinese have put in a claim to have originated the game now called soccer in many millennia ago, that is not really surprising, because as the British scientist Joseph Needham showed in his monumental 16-volume study of Chinese life, that long-lived civilization has a virtually unquestionable claim to having originated almost everything.
When I enquired of the Internet about origins, it came up with his concise description:
Records trace the history of soccer back more than 2,000 years to ancient China. Greece, Rome, and parts of Central America also claim to have started the sport; but it was England that transitioned soccer, or what the British and many other people around the world call "football," into the game we know today.
Being so very cheap to play, requiring no more than a shirt and a pair of shorts, and a ball, or something resembling a ball, it was from the first the game of the people, who, in Britain over many centuries, had been great and persistent gamblers, who quickly took to gamble over the games of football (so called, apparently, not because it was played with the foot, as from the fact it was played without the use of horses.)
The particular version of football that I grew up with is known as Rugby Union, and it came about because, so it is said (although rigorous researchers have taken pleasure in doubting the historical accuracy of this "fact"), during a game being played at Rugby school, in Warwickshire, when a boy called William Webb Ellis picked up the ball and ran with it. The Cup awarded to the victor in the Rugby World Cup is named after Ellis. I am indebted to the school's Wikipedia entry:
The game of Rugby football owes its name to the school. The legend of William Webb Ellis and the origin of the game is commemorated by a plaque. The story has been known to be a myth since it was investigated by the Old Rugbeian Society in 1895. There were no standard rules for football in Webb Ellis's time at Rugby (1816–1825) and most varieties involved carrying the ball. The games played at Rugby were organised by the pupils and not the masters, the rules being a matter of custom and not written down. They were frequently changed and modified with each new intake of students. The sole source of the story is Matthew Bloxam, a former pupil but not a contemporary of Webb Ellis. In October 1876, four years after the death of Webb Ellis, in a letter to the school newspaper The Meteor he quotes an unknown friend relating the story to him. He elaborated on the story four years later in another letter to The Meteor, but shed no further light on its source. Richard Lindon, a boot and shoemaker who had premises across the street from the School's main entrance in Lawrence Sheriff Street, is credited with the invention of the "oval" rugby ball, the rubber inflatable bladder and the brass hand pump.
This occurred before professionalism in 1885 entered the older game known formally in the United Kingdom as Association football, and elsewhere as soccer, this being a shorthand version developed from the initials "assoc", often used to delineate the game in its early years.
It is a matter of some interest, I suppose to Canadians as to why this articular colony should have been almost the only one in the British Empire that did not wholeheartedly adopt these two British sports, cricket and soccer. Today, cricket is said to draw the largest following world-wide, but there can be no denying that it is soccer that is the favoured game of the greatest number of people.
Rugby's relatively genteel origin is still evident in the composition of the 20 nations competing for the World Cup about to get under way tomorrow, no fewer than 12 of the 20 owing their origins to British imperialism. It is said today that the game is played in some 62 nations, but that still today the British Isles have more players than the rest of the world combined.
Although with a mind like mine, one can watch a soccer match for 1000 hours without ever seeing anything much happening, I am willing to concede that the game, when played expertly, can be a thing of beauty, but I do not accept the designation as "the beautiful game," given by its followers. That rosy view of the sport has been dented by the hooliganism that has invaded the supporting group of citizens in most countries but so far as I can tell in Britain, and possibly Russia, above all others. Such hooliganism has never appeared among followers of the Rugby persuasion, at least not to anything like the degree common among the Socceroos.
I admit that our Rugby World Cup, which began in 1987, is a straight steal from the FIFA World Cup, which began with a victory by Uruguay, in 1930, and has since been won five times by Brazil, and otherwise shared between Germany, Italy, Spain, France and England, among European countries and Argentina among Latin Americans. (The acronym FIFA itself is proof of the widely spread origins of the game, because it stands for Fédération Internaionale de Football Association.)
The Rugby cup has been won three times by New Zealand, twice by Australia and South Africa and once by England. France have been the most unfortunate with three runners-up performances.
One aspect of the game that might be confusing for North .American audiences is that to pass or throw the ball forward is not permitted; also, in a game of such avowed contact by its very nature, strict rules govern the type of tackle that can be essayed. To tackle legally, the tackler much have his arms around the man being tackled; it is also forbidden to tackle around the head, and it is a violation to tackle a man who, while jumping to collect the ball from a high kick, is pulled down while still in the air. The central rule is that one is allowed to tackle only the man with the ball: this is one of the major differences, in terms of physical contact, from the North American gridiron game, whose players apparently can be hit from any direction whether they have the ball or not. These are rules designed to ensure as far as possible that contact will not lead to injury, although it has to be admitted that with the game finally passing into professionalism in 1995, injuries seem to be more frequent and possibly more severe than when the game was amateur at all levels.
Still, the game has a huge public following, with crowds of 80,000 to 110,000 being attracted for major so-called Test matches in Australia, Britain and France.
The team I will be following, because I grew up as a child for some years believing it my sincerest wish to become one of them, are known as the All Blacks, representing New Zealand. A team, mostly of Maoris, toured Britain and Europe in 1888, one of the first international tours ever undertaken, and it became common to refer to them as All Blacks because of their all black uniform with a silver fern insignia. (An alternative explanation is that an admiring reporter once described their hard and fast running game by saying "they are all backs," a reference to the half of the team comprised of swift runners, smaller and lighter usually than the eight so-called forwards whose primary task is to obtain possession of the ball by way of a scrum, following an infraction, or from a lineout when the big men contest for the ball that is thrown in between their two lines.)
The place of the All Blacks as the iconic team of world Rugby was solidified by the team of 1905, which toured Britain and Europe, playing 35 games with only one loss, and scoring 976 points to only 59 against. A reporter of the time wrote: "These New Zealanders turn from defence to attack with such rapidity….there is nothing in the game at which they do not excel." They had never seen anything like it in Britain; and New Zealand at the time had a population of only 815,000. Ten years later, New Zealand provided nearly 17,000 of their young men and women to be led to the slaughter in the First World War, a war fought in Britain's interests.
I am pleased to be able to report that even today it remains the objective of the All Blacks to produce a fast, exciting and beautiful version of the game whose fundamental purpose, after all, is to pass the ball, and run with it.
That they are, as so often before, entering this competition as the favourites to win, is not something they take for granted: many have been the worries expressed among their followers that their game plan seems to have been disrupted by the recent improvement of the northern hemisphere sides, and the recent revival of South Africa, their long-time nemesis, who have emerged from a period of confusion following the downfall of apartheid, under which the springbok Rugby team was the favoured symbol of the racist rulers of the country. Now, following an imposed quota system designed to encourage black Africans to play the game, South Africa is emerging with a hefty proportion of swift-running, hard-tackling and ferociously-scrimmaging players of whom any team must beware.
Whatever happens, whoever wins, in the end it will still be possible for New Zealanders to say,
"Wot the hell, wot the hell, it's only a game, chaps, only game."
Posted by boyce richardson at 8:32:00 PM 1 comment:
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After many years in this home and raising a family the current owners have decided that it is time to move on.
A solid brick Character Bungalow with polished floor boards, central hallway and a 730 square metre plus allotment there are plenty of options for you in the future.
As you enter the home you are greeted by a central hallway with all 3 bedrooms located at the front of the home. All the bedrooms are carpeted and have ornate features such as picture rails or fire places.
Either side of the hallway is the spacious lounge and formal dining room offering space for casual and formal entertaining. At the rear of the home is the kitchen overlooking the rear yard and bathroom and laundry facilities.
The kitchen and bathroom are both very usable and functional but could use with updating or with the land size offers a great opportunity to add an extension onto the home.
Extras include drive through to the rear yard with a 6 metre by 7.4 metre shed with good high access, gas heating, ducted evaporative cooling, alarm and a rear yard that can easily accommodate an extension, pool and all the kids toys.
An excellent opportunity to move into and enjoy as is, update to your own tastes or in the future take advantage of the land size and add on an extension.


text:
Oracle Linux 7 Update 4 Reaches General Availability
Wednesday Aug 9th 2017 by Sean Michael Kerner
The new update follows last week's Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4 release.
Oracle has released the latest update of its Oracle Linux operating system, providing organizations with a freely-available enterprise Linux operating system.
Oracle Linux 7 Update 4 is based on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4 release that first debuted on August 1. Oracle has been building its own Linux distribution based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux since October 2006.
A key difference between Oracle Linux and Red Hat Enterprise Linux however is in the Linux kernel. Oracle Linux has long offered a Red Hat-Compatible Kernel as well as its own Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel for Oracle Linux (UEK). The UEK is optimized for Oracle application deployment, including Oracle's enterprise database.
The Red Hat kernel in Oracle Linux 7 Update 4 is Linux 3.10.0-693, while UEK is the 4.1.13-94.3.9 update. Among the notable improvements in the UEK version is an update for the overlay file system and XFX.
"This update includes a patch that prevents mounting an overlay file system on XFS where the XFS file system is not formatted to support d_type entries," the UEK release notes state. "This change helps to prevent file system corruption issues and instability in environments that might use an overlay file system, such as Docker."
Expanded Support for Btrfs Filesystem in Oracle Linux 7 Update 4
Oracle has also continued to expand its support for the next generation Btrfs filesystem as part of Oracle Linux 7 Update 4.
"Btrfs is the ideal filesystem for supporting containers in the cloud," Scott Lynn, Product Strategy Director for Oracle Linux, wrote in a blog post. "We continue to support and enhance Btrfs in Oracle Linux 7 with Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 4 allowing you to continue to use Btrfs for your container cloud deployments."
Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at ServerWatch and InternetNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist.
8 Best Server Monitoring Software Solutions
Blade vs. Rack vs. Tower Servers


text:
Russia Is Eying More Armed Icebreakers After Launching Missile-Toting Arctic Patrol Ship
The Ivan Papanin, the first of the Project 23550 icebreaking warships, is our first look at Russia's specialized Arctic naval force.
By Joseph Trevithick November 14, 2019
Alexander Galperin / Sputnik via AP
A Russian shipbuilding industry official says that the country's plans for fleets armed icebreakers, such as the Project 23550 Ice class corvettes, are growing and that they may be able to carry more even weapons depending on their exact configuration. This comes nearly three weeks after the launch of the first Project 23550 ship, the Ivan Papanin, which will already be able to carry containerized cruise missile launchers. This ships and others in its class may ultimately have a 100mm main gun, instead of a 76mm one as originally planned, too.
Valery Polyakov, who serves an adviser to the head of Krylov State Research Center, a state-run shipbuilding research and development group, offered the update on Russia's armed icebreaker plans to state media outlet TASS on Oct. 14, 2019. Krylov, which has also been involved in the development of new, more traditional surface warships, including extremely ambitious amphibious assault ship and aircraft carrier concepts, is set to celebrate its 125th anniversary tomorrow.
This Is Russia's Warship Built Specifically For Arctic Fighting By Tyler Rogoway Posted in The War Zone
Russia Projects Heavy Airpower In The Arctic From Constellation of New And Improved Bases By Joseph Trevithick Posted in The War Zone
Russian Icebreaker Under Construction Bursts Into Flames, Injuring At Least Two By Joseph Trevithick Posted in The War Zone
US Navy Plans To Send More Ships Into The Arctic As It Looks To Establish New Polar Port By Joseph Trevithick Posted in The War Zone
Now The U.S. Coast Guard Wants Cruise Missiles On Its Icebreakers Too By Tyler Rogoway Posted in The War Zone
"There will be ice-breakers and ice-breaking ships, in other words, ships capable of moving at a sufficient speed through ice floes of [a] certain thickness. In fact, they will be armed icebreakers," Polyakov. "Where the ice is thin, there will be more weapons and the other way round."
Polyakov said this latter point was the result of the need to devote more or less mass to ice-breaking reinforcements on different categories of icebreakers. However, he did not name any particular classes of ships or specific weapon systems as examples.
The most obvious example, of course, is the Project 23550 design. Admiralty Shipyards, part of Russia's state-owned United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC), launched the first of these for the Russian Navy, Ivan Papanin, on Oct. 25, 2019, in St. Petersburg. This same yard expects to lay the keel for the second ship, the future Nikolai Zubov, next year, which it says will also mark the beginning of the production of the serial design with minor, unspecified differences. Vyborg Shipyard, in the town of the same name to the northwest of St. Petersburg, will reportedly build at least two more of these ships for the country's border patrol, as well.
These 9,000-ton displacement ships can reportedly break through ice up to five and a half feet thick, making a relatively light icebreaker, though still more capable in such an environment than a traditional ship. Heavy icebreakers can push through ice packs up to 10 feet thick, while medium designs are typically described as being only able to pierce through ice up to eight feet thick.
Icebreakers historically have generally not been designed for any real combat, either. Ivan Papanin and its cousins notably have space in the rear specifically for containerized missile launchers capable of firing the Klub and Kalibr anti-ship and land-attack cruise missiles. It is possible that those launchers, or others that fit in the same modular space, will be able to fire other existing or future cruise missiles, as well.
They will also feature an integral main gun in a turret on the bow. Reports had indicated that this would be an AK-176MA 76mm gun. After speaking with Polyakov, TASS reported that the Ivan Papanin and other ships in the class might actually come armed with an AK-190 turret, also known as the A-190, which has an 100mm gun.
The Project 23550s also have a helipad in the rear and at least one previous artist's conception of the ship shows a Ka-29 armed light transport helicopter onboard. This could give the ships an additional means of engaging hostile threats.
Pella Shipyard
An artist'c onception of the Project 23550 design with the AK-176MA turret, containerized missile launchers at the rear, and a Ka-29 helicopter on the helipad.
While we don't know if Polyakov was speaking specifically about the Project 23550 getting additional weapons on top of these systems, it would make sense to do so, if possible, especially if Russia expects these to be more combat-oriented vessels. Even just the installation of a close-in protection system, such as the new Pantsir-ME, which features both command-guided surface-to-air missiles and a pair of six-barrel 30mm rotary cannons, would help shield the ship from incoming threats. Added capabilities could also include non-kinetic systems, such as optical dazzlers now entering service elsewhere in the Russian Navy that are designed to blind and confuse optical seekers on incoming weapons, optical sensors on hostile ships and aircraft, and enemy personnel.
Polyakov may also have been referring to broader plans to consider arming other existing or future icebreakers and other ice-capable ships in the Russian Navy and elsewhere across the country's security services. Russia already has a notably large icebreaking fleet with approximately 40 of varying sizes, but it is also in the process of building more.
These include the new conventional Project 22600 and nuclear-powered Project 22220 icebreakers and the ice-capable Project 03182 multi-purpose tankers. Russia has already taken delivery of a number of other ice-capable support ships in the Project 20180-series in recent years. None of these ships are armed in their present configuration, but it might be possible to integrate weapons, especially by using containerized systems, onto them later depending on the physical space and power constraints of their respective designs.
Zelenodolsk Design Bureau
An artist's conception of the Project 03182 ice-capable multi-purpose tanker, another component of the Russian Navy's planned future Arctic-focused fleets.
Whatever the full size and scope of Russia's combat- and ice-capable fleets might look like in the end, it is hardly surprising that the country is interested in developing these capabilities given how strategic the Arctic region has become in recent years. Global climate change has already led to a steady reduction in the size of the polar ice cap and shortened the periods of the year where ice presents the greatest risks, which has, in turn, opened up the region to greater activity and geopolitical competition.
Russia, as well as the United States, and to a lesser extent China, among others, has been working hard to expand its military presence in the Arctic and build up additional infrastructure to support growing deployments of ships, aircraft, and ground forces. The United States and others have also begun to express more interest in actual warships better suited to this frigid environment and giving them more firepower, too. There has even been talk in the past about giving the Coast Guard's new heavy icebreakers a cruise missile capability, as well.
For now, Russia's Project 23550 ships remain the most visible example of this trend and are likely to be the first to enter operational service. The Russian Navy expects to formally commission Ivan Papanin in 2023, by which time the full extent of its plans for armed icebreakers and other ice-capable ships will have hopefully become clearer.
This Is Russia's Warship Built Specifically For Arctic Fighting
Moscow's missile-slinging icebreakers are becoming a reality.
Russia Projects Heavy Airpower In The Arctic From Constellation of New And Improved Bases
The increased aerial patrols will also help advance the Kremlin's economic agenda in the region.
Russian Icebreaker Under Construction Bursts Into Flames, Injuring At Least Two
The blaze is the latest in a series of major accidents at Russia's beleaguered naval bases and shipyards in 2018.
US Navy Plans To Send More Ships Into The Arctic As It Looks To Establish New Polar Port
The service needs to expand its footprint in the far north as the ice continues to recede, exposing new opportunities and potential for conflict.
Now The U.S. Coast Guard Wants Cruise Missiles On Its Icebreakers Too
The news is yet another sign that the US is struggling to catch up to Russia when it comes to dominating the Arctic.


I thank you for twenty-five years of support. As we continue with our mission, I hope you will join me on this path: advancing the safety and security of our clients and the overarching progress, harmony and stability of our community.
It brings me great joy to take a moment and reflect upon the history of Casa Cornelia: twenty-five years of collaboration, determination, and legal action to help thousands of children, women, and men to find justice and humanitarian protection. It is thanks to your friendship, compassion, and generosity as well as the continuous renewal of your commitment, that we made it here – a quarter century serving immigrant and refugee communities in Southern California.
From the beginning, Casa Cornelia understood the special and unique needs of our region, located near the busiest land border crossing in the world. Today, we continue with our mission of serving indigent persons who arrive to the U.S. seeking safety and freedom from abuse, persecution and/or torture. We continue to be that beacon of hope and promise of a better life to the most vulnerable. While the needs continue especially for the unaccompanied child, the victim of domestic violence or human trafficking and many others, we remain steadfast in the knowledge that we have the support of persons like you. For this, I am deeply grateful.


text:
Paul Scholes signs for the Premier Futsal League in India
23rd June 2016 by Futsal Focus
Former Manchester United star Paul Scholes has signed a marquee deal to play for the next three editions of Premier Futsal, with the inaugural season scheduled to be held next month, the League announced on Thursday.
"Futsal is a fascinating format that has played a pivotal role in developing the skills of some of the greatest football players. I have seen Futsal grow not just back home, but also across the world and I have played in a few of those tournaments," said the former midfield ace who won 11 Premier League titles and two Champions League trophies during his stint with the famous English club.
"Premier Futsal will be a great way to introduce the sport to India and I'm looking forward to meeting the fans across India who I know are some of the most passionate in the world," said Scholes who appeared 718 times for Manchester United during an illustrious career spanning 22 years.
The league has already unveiled Alessandro Rosa Vieira, the sport's most renowned player fondly known as Falcao, and 19 other international futsal stars earlier, including ex-Portugal star Deco who was the first marquee signing.
Scholes has become the second of the eight marquee players who will be a part of Premier Futsal commencing on July 15, the release said, adding players would be allotted teams through a player draft which is slated to take place later this month.
If you like the information provided, you can read more articles about global Futsal by going to the top bar navigation or click here
Tags: AsiaAwarenessDevelopmentFutsalFutsal NewsGlobalGlobal FutsalIndia FutsalPaul ScholesPremier Futsal
14th January 2020 121
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Futsal Futsal Awareness Futsal News International Futsal English Futsal Futsal Development


A Road-rail vehicle is a self-propelled vehicle that can be legally used on both roads and rails. They are sometimes referred to as a Hy-rail or HiRail. They are normally converted rubber-tired road vehicles that have additional steel wheels for running on rails. Because only one set of wheels would logically be used at a time, a pneumatic, or hydraulic system is employed to lower and raise the rail wheels.
Such vehicles are normally used for permanent way maintenance during engineering possessions of the line. They can be driven on roads to near the site and then convert to rail vehicle for the final journey to the worksite. This avoids both the complex manoeuvres that would be associated with a rail vehicle, and the problem with a road vehicle of accessing the worksite if the worksite is not near a road. Since they are normally converted road vehicles, they would not fare well in a collision with a heavy rolling stock and therefore can only drive on railways under an engineering possession. Their light weight also means they may not correctly operate track circuits for signaling.


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text:
Florent Rouamba, né à Ouagadougou le , est un footballeur international burkinabé. Il joue au poste de milieu défensif au St-Pryvé St-Hilaire FC.

Il est international burkinabé depuis 2004. À ce titre, il a participé à trois Coupes d'Afrique des nations avec la sélection du Burkina Faso.

En , il s'engage avec le club du CA Bastia. Il joue actuellement au club de Saint-Pryvé Saint-Hilaire Football Club.

Clubs
 1999-2002 :  Union sportive de Ouagadougou
 2003-2005 :  Association Sportive du Faso-Yennenga
 2006-mars 2013 :  FC Sheriff Tiraspol
 mars 2013-janvier 2014 :  Charlton Athletic
 janvier 2014- 2015 : CA Bastia
 Depuis 2015 : Saint-Pryvé Saint-Hilaire Football Club

Palmarès
 AS Faso-Yennenga
 Championnat du Burkina Faso de football
 Champion en 2003 et en 2004
 Coupe du Burkina Faso de football
 Finaliste en 2003
 Sheriff Tiraspol
 Championnat de Moldavie de football
 Champion en 2006, en 2007, en 2008 et en 2009
 Coupe de Moldavie de football
 Vainqueur en 2006 et en 2008
 Coupe de la CEI de football
 Vainqueur en 2009
En sélection nationale :
 Finaliste de la Coupe d'Afrique des Nations en 2013

Liens externes

Statistiques de Florent Rouamba sur LFP.fr

Footballeur international burkinabé
Joueur de l'ASFA Yennenga
Joueur du Sheriff Tiraspol
Joueur du Charlton Athletic FC
Joueur du Cercle athlétique bastiais
Joueur du Saint-Pryvé Saint-Hilaire FC
Naissance en décembre 1986
Naissance à Ouagadougou

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Airport in Indonesia's second city reopens after volcanic eruption
Feb 16. 2014
Jakarta - The airport in Indonesia's second-largest city has reopened after being closed because of a volcanic eruption on Java island, officials said Sunday.
The Juanda international airport in Surabaya reopened Saturday night and activities returned to normal Sunday, said Rikora Harjo, an official of airport operator PT Angkasa Pura I.
Mount Kelud in East Java province erupted late Thursday, killing four people and spewing ash and rock that covered much of the island. More than 56,000 people were displaced.
The eruption forced the closure of seven airports on Java, resulting in the cancellation of hundreds of flights. Most have since reopened.
The airport in Yogyakarta, the country's second tourism destination, remained closed to allow workers to clean up volcanic ash, the Transportation Ministry said.