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ESG Belden
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)
We are committed to fostering a company culture that seeks diversity, embodies inclusion, and promotes belonging in our core beliefs and practices. With this foundation, opportunities to grow, utilize talents, and actively participate will create equity across our global organization.
Our focus is to foster a culture of teamwork that upholds diversity and inclusion, and we are dedicated to creating an environment of equity for the people that we employ.
In 2020, we appointed a new internal Director of Inclusive Culture to lead this important work, Elle Marc-Charles. Elle is focused on creating company-wide diversity and inclusion plans including a full workplace assessment, comprehensive workplace policy reviews and employee training. We are working diligently to create a more just and equitable workplace and to communicating our progress at Belden over time.
Goal: By 2025, as a first step toward our vision of a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace, we will deliver unconscious bias training to 100% of the Belden team worldwide.
Employee Growth & Development
We define this topic as the training, development, and career growth opportunities to attract, support, develop and retain skilled talent from around the world. We inspire each other to continuously learn and grow our capabilities to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow, while developing careers that help achieve our personal aspirations.
We believe in the potential of our workforce and the importance of providing career development for those who want to learn and grow with us. Belden is a proud Equal Opportunity Employer and we celebrate diversity and embrace differences to broaden our perspectives and strengthen the work we do.
Our Talent System
We fundamentally believe that highly engaged team members provided with the right tools, working environment, and supportive leadership can deliver fantastic results. We want Belden to be a place people choose to work because they can really make a difference. Our Talent System helps ensure we provide ample opportunity for challenging developmental work, formal and informal skills development, and recognition for achievements. It also ensures that our teams stay focused on the things that will progress our strategy and deliver results for our customers and other stakeholders well into the future.
Key components of our Talent System include,
The performance of our associates is based on what was delivered and how it was delivered. Living our values every day is as important as delivering the results.
Hiring, development and succession plans are built around the company's strategic plan and reviewed annually. We utilize global functional teams from across our business units to agree on specific actions that build the capabilities we need now and into the future.
We hold Employee Pulse surveys twice a year with a representative cut of 50% of the organization. Associated feedback & our overall results have improved year over year for six years and our engagement scores are in line with the very best companies across all industries.
Early Career Leadership Program
The Belden Early Career Leadership Program allows recent college graduates to participate in three 12-month rotations to develop business acumen and participate in an action-based learning curriculum.
Belden's Pathways to Employment program seeks to address the impacts of the opioid epidemic on individuals seeking employment. With increasing frequency, employment opportunities go unfilled because applicants fail the drug tests requirements.
In partnership with health services and professional development groups in Richmond, Indiana, Belden applicants who fail pre-employment drug testing are offered an opportunity to enroll in a personalized drug rehabilitation program. Upon successful completion, candidates are offered a job at Belden, along with resources and support to maintain a substance-free lifestyle. This program combines our commitment to the safety of our employees and quality of our products as we work towards a solution that address health, safety, wellness, and economic opportunity for all.
Goal: By 2025, 75% of Belden's top 150 positions will have been filled with talent that has been developed within our company.
Goal: By 2025, over 200 professionals will have graduated from our Early Career Leadership Program and our Intern Program.
Goal: By 2025, over 85% of team members will agree that they have the opportunity for development and growth at Belden.
Employee Well-Being & Engagement
We create a healthy, safe and inspiring workplace that has a positive impact on our colleagues, and the communities in which we live and work.
We believe that engaged employees with the right tools, working in an open and inclusive environment can deliver exceptional business value. Our culture and benefits are designed to meet the professional and personal needs of our employees and their families and are adapted to the various countries in which we operate. To this end, we provide competitive working arrangements and benefits that include:
Up to 5 days paid leave per year to work on programs in local communities
Flexible working arrangements, including remote working when in a role where this is feasible
Competitive benefits programs tailored to local market needs, including retirement programs and wellness plans
Employee stock ownership and purchase plans
A People-Centered Safety Culture
Health and safety is fundamental to our culture and is at the forefront of everything we do. Our corporate EHS Policy sets the highest standards in an effort to safeguard human health in all of our operations.
Through our EHSMS, we continuously track health and safety KPI's, including incident rates which are well below industry average. In the spirit of continuous improvement, we strive toward a zero-incident rate workplace for our employees.
Goal: By 2025, global team members will be encouraged to participate in 16 hours per year of community related activities.
Goal: By 2025, 60% of global team members will participate in company wellness programs.
In our ongoing commitment to building long-term value, we support the communities where we live and work.
Connect with Community Program
In 2020, we launched the Connect with Community to support communities in impacting the lives of disadvantaged groups. Program highlights include:
Up to 5 days paid leave for employee volunteerism
Increased company gift matching program amount to 2x the employee contribution—with no contribution ceiling
Expanded corporate donations to organizations offering STEM programs for youth in diverse groups
Kathleen Hutchins, Channel Account Manager, has been volunteering with Families in Transition for more than 15 years. Families in Transition's mission is to prevent and break the cycle of homelessness through providing dignified housing, developing collaborative relationships with clients and partners, and creating opportunities for donors and volunteers committed to making a difference where they live and work.
In 2021, Families in Transition delivered comprehensive programs and services to several people in need last year. The organization served 1,528 individuals in affordable housing and emergency shelters and served 193,230 meals to program participants. These results could not have been achieved without with help of their generous volunteers, including Kathleen.
Through the Connect with Community program, Kathleen was able to utilize paid leave for employee volunteerism to spend Friday mornings during the summer at the Families in Transition – New Horizons Food Bank sorting fresh vegetables and baked goods donated by local grocery stores and assist individuals with their shopping. Having access to fresh foods as well as pantry staples makes an enormous difference for those in need.
"With the support of Belden, I'm grateful to be able to make this contribution with my time as well as the generous financial contributions over the years with Belden match."
Supply Chain Labor Standards
This topic includes labor management in the supply chain, including direct and indirect suppliers. We source responsibly and ensure our suppliers uphold ethical and fundamental labor standards, and that workers' rights are protected.
We expect our suppliers and business partners to uphold our values and our commitment to ethics, health and safety, and human rights in accordance with our Code of Conduct.
We expect our business partners, including our Suppliers, to follow the laws and regulations and to share our commitment to environmental stewardship, ethics, health and safety, human rights and labor issues. To ensure suppliers meet our expectations with respect to responsible, ethical and legal business practices, we've established the Belden Supplier Code of Conduct.
As such, we seek to maintain a resilient supply chain that includes supplier relationships with like-minded business and economic values, social compliance and corporate sustainability adoption.
Belden is dedicated to ensuring the safety of our stakeholders and as such, performed an analysis of our product components and the role our suppliers play throughout our manufacturing and product delivery chain. We've adopted the standard Conflict Minerals Report established by the Responsible Materials Initiative ("RMI") and launched our initial conflict minerals due diligence communication survey to these suppliers in 2013. We continue to perform annual due diligence analyses with our 3TG suppliers to ensure the continued integrity of our 3TG supply chain.
Belden 2021 Conflict Minerals Report
Belden 2022 Conflict Minerals Reporting Template
Modern Slavery & Human Trafficking Policy
Belden is committed to ethical, legal and socially responsible business practices in its operations across the globe. This includes, but is not limited to, a commitment to ensure that our supply chain is free from slave labor and human trafficking. This statement, made pursuant to the 2010 California Transparency in Supply Chains Act and the 2015 United Kingdom Modern Slavery Act, highlight Belden's efforts to ensure our supply chain is free from human trafficking and slave labor.
Belden Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Policy
Goal: By 2025, we will assess the responsible sourcing risks in Belden's supply chain, conduct audits of most at-risk tier 1 direct suppliers and engage 100% of conflict minerals suppliers.


Companies spend considerable effort to improve the effectiveness of their teams. Personality tests, motivational speakers and retreats are just a few of the tools used by organizations. While those tools can have an impact, the effect is often brief and fades with time. After morale gets low again, another team-building exercise is held.
Successful teams work because they're always growing and building. Concern for morale isn't a quarterly exercise, it's built into daily activities. Team members look for ways to support each other. Powerful teams embrace a culture of trust, employ diversity to attain success, and support the vision of a unifying leader.
The importance of trust within a team can't be overstated. Members need to know that they can rely on their teammates. You want to take it for granted that everyone is working hard towards the same objective. There's not a concern that someone is trying to undercut your efforts. And it's easier to concentrate on the task in front of you when you're not looking over your shoulder.
Teammates watch out for each other. If one person uncovers information that affects another part of the project, the details are shared. If one member is having difficulties, the rest of the team helps out. When someone notices a mistake, they point it out before it causes greater problems.
You're more apt to seek out feedback from people you trust. It's easier to accept critiques when you know the person wants you to improve, and their comments aren't insults or digs. An internal review by the team will make the final product or service better.
Supporting and trusting each other is important when striving for a common goal. And diversity among the group working towards the goal increases the strength of the team. You don't want a team composed of people with the exact same backgrounds, same abilities and same opinions. A "cookie-cutter" approach is good for one purpose – making cookies.
Diversity includes many things – race, gender, age, education, experience, skills and more. Don't define the type of people you need and then try and fill quotas. List the qualities that you want represented on the team, and then recruit people who have some of those qualities.
Powerful teams build on the differences of their members. Detail-oriented people plan the steps required to achieve the ideas of visionaries. Creative people help make the numbers generated by analysts appear interesting. Then leaders bring it all together into a unifying effort.
All powerful teams have powerful leaders. "Powerful" doesn't mean charismatic or dynamic. Powerful means the leader has clear goals for their team and is able to guide a diverse group of trusting people to the successful completion of those goals.
The leader must take responsibility for creating an atmosphere of trust. Trust starts with the leader setting the example for proper behavior. Next the leader reinforces that behavior by rewarding right actions and correcting improper conduct. The leader makes it clear that violating the principles of trust won't be tolerated.
Building a diverse team isn't easy. We like people who are like us. As leaders, we need to seek out people who think differently than us. While we don't want challenging employees, we do want employees who will challenge our ideas.
The powerful leader brings unity and purpose. Individuals are naturally inclined to work first on the tasks that are self-serving. A leader helps members look outside their own wants and focus on what the team needs.
Being part of a powerful team is rewarding. We're able to perform at our best, knowing we're supported by those around us. We learn from people who bring different experiences and ideas to the team. We're inspired by a leader who brings us together for a common goal.
Best of all, when we're part of a powerful team, we succeed.


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People's Council Activity
Deputies' Activity
People's Council
Legislative Activity Analytics
Interim Commissions Reports
People's Council Office Reports
People's Council Office
Subordinate Acts
RLA (Regulatory Legal Acts) of Executive Power
Documents of Ministers' Council
Head's Documents
RLA (Regulatory Legal Acts) of Supreme Council
Representative Activity
Government Hour
Deputies' Inquiries
#Official Commentary of Marina Zheynova on allocation of new grants to nonprofit organizations
According to media reports, the US State Department is allocating $800.000 to finance Ukrainian public organizations, which will monitor local authorities for corruption and build relationship with regional media. Thus, the outgoing Obama's administration is trying to retain control of the situation in Ukraine.
The enhanced funding of the nonprofit organizations can mean two vectors of the US policy – either to strengthen the local government with the help of public organizations or to prepare a change of power. The role of the puppet nonprofit organizations in the February revolution of 2014 is obvious at the moment. Thousands of nonprofit organizations were established with the help of USAID and Soros Foundation's funds in Ukraine, which had been training civic activists several years before "Maidan" of 2013-2014. Let's remind only some of them.
The Civil Network "Opora" is financed by the Soros "Revival" fund. This is a network for activists to control elections and to influence on authority. The Soros's independent establishments have always acted in unison when they received a necessary command. The "Democratic Initiative" foundation, IREX and other structures can be envisaged under this category. These structures are a basis of "soft power" to take control of the power and "Maidan" showed us how this soft power turned into hard power.
It is believed that the United States strengthen the power in Ukraine in this way. But, there is one question: if the main objective of such structures is a soft seizure of power, which can become hard one in case of necessity, and does this mean that new NPOs, which are given grants, will not be engaged in the consolidation of power? Case scenario, when the US, assuring itself of mediocrity of Ukrainian politicians, who have come to power, forms a new 'young team', which will be more obedient rubber stamp of the US. One may laugh at the Washington's puppet Saakashvili, who has announced fund-raising for a new party called "Movement of New Forces", but it is a known technology that allows legalizing so-called "black cash" in a political game. It is quite possible that the old and new NPOs will support the former president of Georgia, former governor of Odessa and whom his bosses will involve in a new political adventure.
And let's not forget that radical nationalists, fascists and Nazis of all stripes, who are gaining strength in Ukraine, are waiting for a signal for redistribution of power in the country and their appetites only grow. But the US has no interest to present the world its true face, at least not yet. It requires pro-democracy NPOs' activists, who are on everything "good" and against everything "bad". These are trying times for the Poroshenko's regime, and former allies may be ruthless enemies. After all, It is just a business for the US, in which the incumbent president of Ukraine may be a dead weight.
Marina Zheynova, the DPR People's Council deputy
The official website of the DPR People's Council
Civilians killed by AFU attack commemorated in Donetsk
Vladislav Berdichevsky: Donbass roots for peace, but our people are to independently determine their future fate
Vladimir Bidyovka: Residents of Donbass reaffirm their choice they made in May 2014
Heads of DRP and LPR's delegations visit event dedicated to establishment of Cossack military community "Black Sea Cossack Host"
People's Council of the Donetsk People's Republic Official website

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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UK to Derogate from the ECHR in Armed Conflict
At the Conservative party conference this week, the UK Prime Minister and her defence secretary announced that the UK will derogate from the European Convention on Human Rights in times of armed conflict. I have written before that such derogations – if appropriately used – can be a valuable tool in regulating the relationship between human rights law and international humanitarian law, by providing much needed clarity and flexibility. I hence have no problem with the principle of the idea – indeed, I have argued in particular that the dicta of some of the judges of UK's highest courts to the effect that the ECHR cannot be derogated from extraterritorially are not to be followed. I do have a problem, however, with how this derogation idea is now being sold to the British public and for what purpose. In that regard, my comments in this post are caveated by the unfortunate fact that the specifics of the derogation plan are yet to be published – we know that there will be a 'presumed' derogation, but not from which rights and under what exact circumstances.
Let me first deal with the political salesmanship. To start with, there's the usual (and forgivable) pandering – Theresa May thus opens her pitch by saying that "Our Armed Forces are the best in the world" and that her government "will ensure that our troops are recognised for the incredible job they do. Those who serve on the frontline will have our support when they come home." Oh, please. By what metric exactly are the British armed forces "the best in the world"? By their tactical combat effectiveness? By their actual achievement of specific strategic goals (in which they've been constantly hampered by the underfunding, underequipping and wishful thinking on the part of their political masters)? By their compliance with the law of armed conflict? The Chilcot inquiry's findings with respect to the armed forces' performance in Basra do not exactly support the "best in the world/incredible job" label.
But okay, as I said this is the more forgivable type of pandering, even if it is the start of a fundamentally flawed narrative that blames any British military underperformance not on the fact that its political masters give the military impossible/misguided/unlawful missions to fulfil and not enough tools to do them with, but on some (completely unsubstantiated) supposed ill effect of human rights law. What is simply not forgivable is how the whole derogation idea is sold as protecting the (individual) troops. Thus Mrs May says that "We will repay them with gratitude and put an end to the industry of vexatious claims that has pursued those who served in previous conflicts" while the defence secretary notes that
Our legal system has been abused to level false charges against our troops on an industrial scale. It has caused significant distress to people who risked their lives to protect us, it has cost the taxpayer millions and there is a real risk it will stop our Armed Forces doing their job. This will help to protect our troops from vexatious claims, ensuring they can confidently take difficult decisions on the battlefield. And it will enable us to spend more of our growing defence budget on equipment for them rather than fees for lawyers.
There are several reasons why this argument is fundamentally flawed. First, it simply asserts, rather than provides any proof for, the claim that there exists an "industry of vexatious claims" and that "false charges" have been levied against our troops "on an industrial scale." This is an empirical question, and not simply a matter of opinion. At the very least, we would need to know (1) how many claims have been made; (2) how many of these claims were "vexatious"; (3) and by what criteria is this vexatiousness to be judged. Without even an attempt at such analysis it simply cannot be said that the legal system is being abused.
In that regard I don't doubt that there have been some claims that could properly be called vexatious (or "lawfare"), even if I reserve judgment on such accusations being levied against law firms such as the now-defunct Public Interest Lawyers and Leigh Day. But not every claim that ultimately turns out to be without merit can be said to be vexatious. Indeed, the potential for abuse exists for any kind of legal claim, not simply those relating to the armed forces. Without knowing, in other words, whether the percentage of vexatious claims dealing with the armed forces is significantly higher than for other types of claims (e.g. in construction, consumer protection or medical malpractice), we cannot really know what the problem is, how big it is and how to help solve it.
Second, even if the vexatious claims problem actually exists, derogations from the ECHR are almost certainly not going to fix it. My understanding is that the vast majority of claims against individual UK personnel regards allegations of mistreatment. Not only is Article 3 ECHR non-derogable, but I also very much doubt that the armed forces could benefit from some kind of derogation from the right of access to court under Article 6 ECHR (on which more below). Moreover, the mechanism of derogation is there to protect the state party to the ECHR, not any individuals, even if they are the state's agents. While the scope of the state's obligations might be varied under Article 15 ECHR, claims against individuals depend on the obligations of these individuals under other branches of the law that apply to these individuals, such as criminal law.
Third, the money spent on the fees of supposedly vexatious lawyers is even on the most generous assessment (£100 million for all cases (not simply the vexatious ones) since 2004, i.e. less than £10 million per year) a drop in the ocean when it comes to UK military expenditure, which stands at some $55 billion per annum. There are far better efficiency targets available – let's just take as one example the procurement Charlie-Foxtrot that are the new British aircraft carriers, on which billions of pounds have been spent with little actual payoff. To say that British troops in Iraq didn't have the proper body armour or vehicles equipped with effective counter-measures against improvised explosive devices because that money was (or would be) going to lawyers' fees, as Fallon is basically implying, is not just dishonest, it is monstrously dishonest. It is in fact precisely these lawyers who helped British soldiers bring claims against their own country before British and European courts because their own government was failing them (the Smith and Pritchard cases). And it is these soldiers – and their families – who should be angriest because the consequences of governmental incompetence and mismanagement are now being blamed on a supposedly vexatious legal profession.
Finally, not only is the case for derogations being mis-sold, it is also being oversold. A derogation is only possible if there is a war or an emergency threatening the life of the nation, and can only be done to the extent strictly required by the exigencies of the situation. And it will be for the courts – British and European – to have the final say on whether the derogation was valid (cf. the Belmarsh saga after 9/11). This is not "exempting troops from human rights law", but at best varying the standard of judicial scrutiny that will still very much be there. Note in that regard that there is caution in the language of the Ministry press release that obviously echoes the caution in the language of the government's legal advice, saying that there will be a "presumption to derogate" but that derogation will be done "if possible in the circumstances that exist at that time," but this obviously doesn't come across in the public political pitch. There is a massive political risk here that derogations simply don't deliver on what they were perceived to promise, which can only backfire for everybody concerned.
So, what should the government be doing? Again, as I said before derogations are to my mind a potentially positive idea. But they need to be done and considered carefully.
First, in that regard, the government should articulate a clear legal position (contrary to the judicial dicta I've already mentioned) that derogations are possible for extraterritorial situations. It is true, as the director of Liberty noted, that ""There is a dark irony in our government proposing derogation in wars of its choosing, even though many of those conflicts, like in Iraq and Afghanistan, are fought ostensibly in the name of human rights." But the irony lies more, I would submit, in the fact that the terrible exigent circumstances were caused or contributed to by government policy, as in Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan, and at that in interventions that may have been ad bellum unlawful, as was Iraq. It is not in the supposed choice, or the ability to withdraw, from an overseas situation. I've thus argued that the 'threat to the life of the nation' criterion should be interpreted by reference to the life of the (overseas) local community in which the emergency is taking place, and that the more the ECHR is held to apply extraterritorially the less sensible it would seem to deny the possibility of extraterritorial derogation. In any event, the government would be well advised to have a clear position on this point, and to make that position public now rather than wait for an inevitable case in which the derogation will be challenged.
Second, the UK government should NOT take the road of high ambiguity that was recently employed by France and Turkey in their derogations. Not only will this undermine the whole purpose of derogations – providing further clarity – but it is not a strategy that is likely to be persuasive to the courts ultimately tasked with determining the derogation's validity and effects. Precision both with regard to the nature and scope of the measures being taken and as to why they are strictly required by the exigencies of the situation would be of the greatest possible benefit.
Third, derogations would seems to make the most sense with respect to Articles 2 and 5 ECHR in times of cross-border or extraterritorial non-international armed conflict, because this is where clarity is needed the most. It would also be sensible to adopt domestic legislation further regulating the use of force and the grounds and procedure of deprivation of liberty in such circumstances.
Fourth, I doubt that derogations from the positive procedural obligation to investigate would be as effective, especially because that obligation already is (or can be) flexible (cf. Jaloud). In any case, while investigational obligations on the ground (e.g. Iraq) can be attenuated somewhat by reference to the prevailing exceptional circumstances, I very much doubt that the same could be done to investigations of British service people back home, in the peacetime conditions of the United Kingdom itself.
Finally, derogations from the Article 6 ECHR right of access to court (e.g. exempting partially the armed forces from judicial review) would almost certainly not work. Article 6 is not listed as a non-derogable right, but it is hard to see how such a (discriminatory) derogation could ever be said to be strictly required by the exigencies of the situation, as has in fact been confirmed by the Human Rights Committee vis-à-vis derogations from Article 14 ICCPR.
In sum, the government should be very careful in how it decides to use derogations from the ECHR, and should not give the impression that they are somehow a magical solution for problems both real and contrived. The demagoguery of the last few days unfortunately does not inspire much confidence in that regard.
Deprivation of Liberty
Extraterritorial Application
derogation
Noam Lubell says
Thanks for this, Marko.
Daragh Murray and I yesterday also put out something on this: https://theconversation.com/why-human-rights-law-is-not-a-threat-to-the-british-armed-forces-66504
Martin Scheinin says
While I see some merit in the idea of a European country using the tool of derogation in adjusting itself to the necessities created by its participation in an armed conflict elsewhere, I have some objections to the way Marko puts it. To me, the ECHR Article 15 threshold of derogation must be met, namely that the situation constitutes a threat to the life of the nation itself, not the life of some other nation far away. Note, however, that Article 15 does not say "existence of the nation" but simply refers to the (normal) "life" of the nation. To me, that threshold is quite often reached when a country finds itself as a party to an armed conflict somewhere else.
Secondly, Marko's reference to Article 2 will need qualifications, as the Article 15 reference to Article 2 being non-derogable "except in respect of deaths resulting from lawful acts of war" suggests that there cannot be any other derogation except what is already written in the text of Article 15 itself as an 'inherent derogation' and hence would require no act of formal derogation. If the UK or any other country were to try formally derogating from Article 2, the only acceptable formulation would be a verbatim repetition of Article 15 to invoke the inherent derogation.
I am in agreement with Marko about Article 5 being the most likely provision subject to legitimate derogation justified with reference to participation in an armed conflict abroad. However, it should be made clear that (ultimate) judicial review of any form of detention and the prohibition of arbitrary detention are two non-derogable dimensions of the right to liberty of the person (see General Comment No. 29 by the Human Rights Committee).
Any declaration of a state of emergency and ECHR derogation as an adaptation to the emergency must be related to a concrete situation that constitutes a threat to the life of the nation. A generic extraterritorial derogation for any future participation in any future armed conflict is incompatible with the requirements of Article 15.
Finally, what we have heard from the UK government sounds like there would be an idea of shielding soldiers against human rights claims and litigation by way of depositing with Council of Europe a notification of an extraterritorial derogation. As Marko rightly points out, that is not what derogation is about. It is about modifying the substantive human rights obligations of a Member State in a manner that will be subject to scrutiny once litigation against the state emerges. The tool of derogation is plainly unfit for the purpose the UK government appears to be suggesting for it. Here I hope that any lawyer advising the UK government would carefully read the case of Loizidou v. Turkey (Preliminary Objections), 1995, to see that such a plan is doomed to fail.
Martin Lederman says
Is it already well-established, and uncontroversial, that "threatening the life of the nation" is a condition that qualifies "in time of war" in addition to "other public emergency"? I had been under the impression that one function of Art. 15 was simply to permit a state to fall back to IHL- rather than ECHR- compliance, especially to permit status-based targeting/detention, in any armed conflict.
Susan Kemp says
Thank you Marko for highlighting this issue and thanks to the authors of the other excellent post at The Conversation. I agree with Martin that derogation will not solve the problem the government claims exists. There is an urgent need for clarity on the terms of any derogation and also how it will specifically address the policy problem (vague though that is).
On the vexatious claims issue, Col. Nicholas Mercer has useful piece in The Guardian, here [https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/oct/03/british-army-abuses-iraq-compensation] pointing out that the Ministry of Defence (MOD) has already settled a large number of expensive cases out of court, indicating that it accepts that many claims are in fact perfectly legitimate. The Law Society President has also spoken out, see here [https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/news/press-releases/law-society-comment-on-legal-cases-against-uk-troops-in-iraq/] warning that "Lawyers must not be hindered or intimidated in carrying out their professional duties and acting in the best interests of their clients within the law. They should not be identified with their clients or clients' cases."
The range of non-ECHR based obligations to investigate allegations of military misconduct is again ignored. As to the practical impact, it is not clear whether the government foresees lower standards being applied in future by the three UK service police forces, the Service Prosecuting Authority and Crown Prosecution Service in these cases, or if it merely aims to reduce their overall workload by preventing claims reaching them at all. Post-derogation, the government may find that UK courts turn to other applicable IHRL standards (rooted in the ICCPR or UNCAT for example) to flesh out our investigative obligations under international humanitarian law or the general law of state responsibility. Notably, the UK has not consented to individual communications from alleged victims under the UNCAT or the ICCPR mechanisms and so the prospect of closing avenues to rely on the ECHR in domestic courts or in Strasbourg is all the more troubling. (Other "tools" not dependent on derogation are also being looked at include restricting legal aid and standing to bring claims).
The point made by previous commentators about flexibility is key, and there is a lack of appreciation by campaigners here that the due diligence principle can fairly assess compliance efforts even during challenging operational contexts. The political objection though seems to be more about the locus of decision making than the legal tools themselves.
For readers interested, the backdrop to this announcement is a 2015 manifesto commitment from the current government to "Ensure our Armed Forces overseas are not subject to persistent human rights claims that undermine their ability to do their job" which is part of an overall proposal to repeal the UK Human Rights Act 1998 and replace it with a "British Bill of Rights" on which see [http://www.ejiltalk.org/the-new-uk-government-wants-to-scrap-the-human-rights-act-does-the-act-matter-and-can-anything-be-done-to-save-it/].
Kanstantsin Dzehtsiarou says
I have also written a short piece on this topic. I am much less optimistic than you... :) https://goo.gl/tj9q6e
Aurel Sari says
Dear Susan, thanks for your thoughts on this. I am not sure I understood your point about relying on the due diligence principle to assess compliance efforts during challenging operational contexts. Would you mind briefly explaining? Thanks!
Terry Washington says
Yesterday's (October 5, 2106) Times editorial made much the same point as this article did, as did one in the Guardian for the same day!
Thanks Aurel. I'm referring to the standard against which UK positive obligations to investigate might be measured. My point is that international law should not, and does not in my view, impose an intolerably high standard on States trying to investigate alleged unlawful killing or mistreatment during conflict, occupation or other challenging situations. The standard applied by Strasbourg (States must take "all reasonable steps to ensure that an effective independent investigation is conducted" e.g. Jaloud paras 164, 226) seems consistent with the general concept of due diligence as a "default standard" in international law - discussed in ILA reports in 2014 and 2016. Whether judicial views of what is "reasonable" are realistic or not is worthy of robust debate for sure, but the test itself appears suitable. (I'm looking into specific variations in the investigative standards required across IHRL/ICL/IHL for research into British post war proceedings – so any thoughts are most welcome!)
Thanks Susan! I agree that a standard of reasonableness should not be objectionable in the present context and have made this argument in more detail in a draft paper I need to revisit... (http://ssrn.com/abstract=2411070). The difficulty is that reasonableness means different things to different people finding themselves in different circumstances. For example, the ECtHR proclaims that it is mindful of the context in which a respondent State's armed forces operate, but it only seems to think in terms of large-scale deployments involving land forces. What might (!) work in those circumstances does not necessarily work for air power. But even here one may question, as you note, whether the Court is not setting the bar too high (cf the autopsy issue in Jaloud). Which to my mind does raise the question whether the test of reasonableness is appropriate, or more precisely, what it means. IHL talks about feasibility, which puts the emphasis squarely on that which is practically possible. What is practically possible should always be reasonable, right, but is what is reasonable always practically possible?
Indeed Aurel there is a need to unpack the test further. I had a similar reaction to the autopsy issue in Jaloud btw, though I hope it would not have rendered the entire investigation ineffective had it been the only failing. Thanks for the link!


text:
Q: Managing a Large OSGi Application I have a large, growing OSGi application with a number of bundles. I am curious to know the best way to manage this type of application. Currently, I am using Eclipse and Maven, but although this is great for building bundles (via maven-bundle-plugin), as of now it has not been easy to manage the entire application.
What I would like to do is either have ONE run configuration or ONE pom.xml that can be launched and the entire application/project be built and launched. Also, I would like to have something that would be good for debugging.
I have heard of PAX Construct and have it installed in Eclipse, but so far it has been of little help (maybe I'm not using it correctly).
I am sure there are people out there with large OSGi applications that are being managed correctly. Any advice that could be shared would help tremendously.
Thank you,
Stephen

A: A run configuration is possible via Pax Runner. It lets you choose OSGi platform implementation, specify profiles (pre-packaged sets of bundles for some role, e.g. web, log, ds, etc.) and has good provisioning support, for instance it can load bundles from Maven repository. As a result, you can have a run configuration like
--platform=felix
--log=INFO
--profiles=scalamodules,ds,config,log
mvn:com.my/bundle/1.0.1-SNAPSHOT@update
# other bundles

In case your application is very large or you have different applications, there a way to create own profiles as well.

A: Well...
It all deopends on what do You mean by "managing" the application.
For dev time launching, building and debugging - Eclipse IDE should fit the bill just perfectly.
Maven... I can't speak for it, as I've never used it myself.
We have a pretty large eclipse based application (several, actually) and on the dev side of things we are not using anything special besides the Eclipse and it's integrated SCM.
In the cc build server, we also use headless eclipse to do the building and packaging.
Now the setup of the workspace has gone a bit out of hand of late with all the dependencies and intermediate build steps, so we are investigating Buckminster for managing the materialization of target platform and workspace resources.
If that works out, we'll probably move to building with Bucky as well - it sure looks promising.
(I do not have any experience with PAX, but at a glance, it looks promising as well...)

A: i'm quite new to OSGi but,
wouldn't it be possible to use OBR-service in such a way that
you would have one OBR repository file  which needs the  bundles
and let the OBR-service figure out the dependencies and populate your OSGIhost for you?

A: This area I think has very poor support at the moment.  OSGI doesn't really define anything about deployment or packaging so its up to other frameworks (e.g. Eclipse) to come up with their own way of doing it.
If you are building an RCP (Eclipse base) application, then the eclipse systems do all this stuff, right down to creating exes etc.   However builds are mainly done on the Eclipse workspace, headless builds are trickier.   The Tycho project is trying to make this more sensible by joining the Maven and Eclipse build cycles, however it is still focussed on RCP applications rather than generic OSGI.
If you not doing RCP, which is my situation as well, then you probably have to roll your own solution, as I haven't found any general solution.   Here's an outline of what we do:
We define one POM project that lists all the bundles that are contained in your application.  All this project does is list the references - lets call it the 'bundle-list' project.
Then, we use pax provision to run the project in development mode.  This is achieved by making the 'bundle-list' pom the parent of the provisioning pom of the pax project (usually in the 'provision' folder).  Then, when you start pax, it uses the list of bundles from that project to start OSGI.  The bundle references in the 'bundle-list' project have to be marked as 'provided' scope for this to work.
Then, to create a distribution, we have another project.  This project also has the 'bundle-list' project as its parent.  This project uses various plugins to create a distribution, including downloading the bundle jars.   The distribution includes scripts that start up OSGI, but these are hand written, there's no pax systems here.
This works well for us to keep the list of bundles in one place, but there's still a lot of hand written scripts, and there are issues sharing configuration between the two systems - e.g. config files, bundle start levels etc.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


I've been doing a lot of restoration lately and a recent project of mine was this chest of drawers. I believe that it is English but it could be American. The arguments for it being English are that it has oak drawer sides and it has a veneered perimeter concealing the joinery of the drawer dividers. The arguments for it being American are that the dovetails aren't very delicate, not at all the refined pins of an English piece. The pulls have American motifs including E Pluribus Unum on the ribbon held by the eagle and 13 stars above the eagle. The brasses are replaced so it may mean nothing. The drawer bottoms are pine or deal depending on which country you attribute it to.
I repositioned the drawer dividers, replaced the drawer runners, patched many veneer losses, replaced missing cockbeading, repositioned the drawer bottoms, filled shrinkage cracks, replaced a missing escutcheon and installed an antique lock in the upper center drawer, polished the brasses, colored repairs, repaired large areas of bleaching and polished with shellac and wax. Images of the project are below.
Damaged perimeter with drawer dividers protruding from the frame and damaging the veneer. Drawers are missing cockbeading.
Damage on the other side.
Restored perimeter on the left side.
Veneer losses to the base.
Bleached side, broken and missing veneers around the top and perimeter of front.
Drawer pull back plate with eagle, 13 stars and E Pluribus Unum on the ribbon.


text:
18% of Texas hospitals aren't reporting complete data, DSHS says
by: Maggie Glynn
AUSTIN (Nexstar) — The Department of State Health Services reported Monday that only 82% of hospitals in Texas reported complete data to the agency, resulting in a partial data set and an appearance of a drop in hospitalizations.
This comes after federal requirements changed last week, instructing hospitals to bypass the Centers for Disease Control, and report directly to Health and Human Services. The transition has caused the lag, according to DSHS' website.
"There are some smaller communities where the hospital information is not being provided timely," Governor Greg Abbott said in a live interview with Nexstar on Monday.
Also on Monday, DSHS updated the way it reports its COVID-19 fatalities by identifying them through the cause of death listed on death certificates.
"This method allows fatalities to be counted faster with more comprehensive demographic data. Using death certificates also ensures consistent reporting across the state and enables DSHS to display fatalities by date of death, providing the public with more information about when deaths occurred," DSHS said in a statement.
The hospitalization data is critical, though, Texas Medical Association president Dr. Diana Fite said.
"We need to know if a hospital is on the verge of not having enough beds whatsoever, whether regular beds or Intensive Care Unit beds," Fite said.
Modeling experts depend on the data to make accurate projections.
"My largest concern would be that if the data right now we're getting is missing hospitalization numbers, then we might be projecting a decline in the epidemic, when actually the epidemic is stable or could even be growing, depending on how those data are missing," associate director of the University of Texas' Covid-19 Modeling Consortium Dr. Spencer Fox explained.
City health leaders across the state use the information to shape policy decisions, like Lubbock health authority Dr. Ron Cook with the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center explained.
"We manage our workforce, we manage our contact tracing, we manage all sorts of things based on the data that we get, that's reported to the state," Dr. Cook said. He added that the discrepancy could also cause confusion, if the lag lasts more than a few days.
"Our citizens of our community, you know, they're getting one piece of information and the hospital or the clinics are reporting another information," Cook said. "And when the two don't meet it, doesn't it, you know, it puts us at odds with our other people, when we're trying to get everybody on the on the same ship going in the same direction, about you know, doing social distancing, and face mask and facial coverings are working."
DSHS has not yet responded to request for comment on the missing data.
Texas Trib map
More State News Stories
by Tom Miller / Jan 18, 2021
AUSTIN (KXAN) -- A mesmerizing field of red white and pink flags has transformed the grass in front of Shane Reilly's central Austin home into a blanket of color.
This eye-catching tribute became a daily project for Reilly starting in May.
AUSTIN, Texas (Nexstar) – State Rep. Brooks Landgraf has his sights set on Robin Hood again in 2021.
Landgraf officially filed House Bill 1077, which aims to reduce the recapture rate of Robin Hood from mineral wealthy school districts. It's a battle Landgraf is all too familiar with.
Fort Bliss officials investigating officer's death, 2nd on-post death in 3 weeks
by KTSM Staff / Jan 17, 2021
FORT BLISS, Texas (KTSM) — A 27-year-old noncommissioned officer who was assigned to the 1st Armored Division died Jan. 14 in an on-post residence on Fort Bliss.
According to a news release from Fort Bliss, Staff Sgt. John D.S. Bailey was pronounced dead by Fort Bliss Department of Emergency Services personnel. Officials said the circumstances surrounding his death are currently under investigation.


A UK-based brand created by Charlotte Knight, Ciate caters to both nail technicians and salons, as well as to private customers. They have some amazing manicure kits and I can't wait to show you one in particular. I picked up a few of their nail polishes from Sephora Dubai recently, but now wish I had bought out every colour they had in stock, though I can't remember how much I paid for each bottle and Sephora won't attach price tags - the formula is brilliant.
I know I keep reaching for fall colours in spring and summer! I fully intended to paint little yellow suns on this dark brown nail polish from Ciate, named Pecan Pie, but ended up not wanting to ruin the chocolatey goodness with my lousy freehand. I applied this nail polish to go with my neutral brown EOTD with Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette, which I showed you on Friday.
Pecan Pie is part of Ciate's Complexion Collection - nail polish shades for every skintone. Pecan Pie is a dark brown with golden microshimmer. The photograph above is taken indoors with flash - I hope you can see the microshimmer. The photograph below is in natural light. The flat brush has 250 bristles. No, I didn't count - the SA had told me that. Application is a dream and the photographs were taken today, and I applied the polish on Thursday. Not bad, not even tip-wear or chipping. Since I change my polish at least one (mostly two) times a week, I can't tell you if wear-time is longer than that.
I have applied two coats here, though one coat goes on quite opaque. I must say I am in love with Ciate polishes now. Creamy,, pigmented and thick formula, which spreads out nicely on the nail - comparable to O.P.I. cremes. The drying time is about average. Plus, how can you not love the cute bow on the bottle? Watch out for more Ciate polishes on this blog.


The 'Speed To Proficiency Model [S2Pro©]' was developed through five years of extensive rigorous doctorate research at SCU Australia titled "Modelling Accelerated Proficiency in Organisations: Practices and Strategies to Shorten Time-to-Proficiency of the Workforce" (May 2018). The model was developed by Raman K. Attri, founder or S2Pro© Research.
This model provides organizations and practitioners with a detailed framework consisting of proven 6 business practices and 24 strategies to accelerate time to proficiency of the workforce. The model is derived from the collective wisdom of over 85 industry experts and global thought leaders with proven project experience in reducing time to proficiency in different contexts. This practice-based scholarly study revealed universal laws of speed, employed by over 50 leading organizations from different business sectors reduce time to proficiency by up to 80%.
First-ever practice-oriented model fully grounded on rigorous scholarly research methodologies.
Emerged from the largest sampling size employed till date for any comparable study spanning 85 participants from 7 countries.
Reviewed and aligned by leading thought leaders, practitioners, and academic researchers.
Authentic, credible, and representative of a wide range of contexts and settings and largely generalizable across the board.
Derived from aggregated practices/strategies used by renowned hands-on specialists in reducing time to proficiency significantly.
Reliability checked with proven evidence of successful time to proficiency reduction in 66 project cases.
The scale and magnitude of the study spanning across a range of settings makes this model highly authentic, relevant, representative and valid. The Speed to proficiency model [S2Pro©] is derived from a massive study conducted with 85 renowned thought leaders, specialists and practitioners participants from 7 countries. They contributed 66 successful bounded start-to-end project cases in which they reduced the time to proficiency of employees tremendously. The contributed project cases represented contexts from 10 economic sectors, 20 business sectors and 28 industry groups.
The trustworthiness of a study's findings in terms of its credibility, authenticity, reliability, validity, generalizability, and acceptability depends on who participated, how it was conducted, how data was gathered, how data was analyzed, how conclusions were drawn and how it was tested or validated. The model we developed in this research is highly credible and valuable in multitude of business scenarios due to highly rigorous and systematic research approaches applied throughout the study.
Industry thought leaders, business practitioners, learning specialists, and performance consultants who had the unquestionable authority and in-depth knowledge of various aspects of workforce performance challenge such as speed to proficiency, accelerated proficiency, accelerated performance, time to proficiency or similar areas.
Participants were selected based on their experience in a completed project with the goal of accelerated proficiency or reducing time-to-proficiency. Evidence of experience were checked from written media (e.g., industry reports, interviews, company newsletters, conference presentations, webinars, books, journal or magazine article authorship, white papers, blog posts, LinkedIn resume, internet profiles, academic CVs, responses to research questionnaires, personal communication, etc.). Participants also included the individuals who received any recognition or award for their work in related area (e.g., industry awards, nominations, etc.) or individuals associated/affiliated with a society, forum, client, company or organisation whose main charter or work was known to be in areas related to speeding up time to proficiency.
371 participants qualifying the strict experience criteria were approached. 85 top notch leaders/practitioners participated in the study from 7 countries, hailing from 24 different industries, serving mostly as CEOs, VPs, directors and consultants or equivalent, with average experience of over 20 to 30 years years in industry, and half of them holding doctorate degrees in relevant fields.
Data were analysed using two powerful data analysis methods most commonly used in scholarly qualitative research studies: thematic analysis and matrix analysis to identify the themes and patterns in the data.
Thematic analysis was used to identify similar and contrast patterns with reference to the other project variables and contextual elements. The major patterns are noted and clustered into themes. Themes are combined into overarching themes based on relationships and conceptual similarities. Several data analysis tools like concept mapping were used to integrate several perspectives of data analysis into the final model.
Themes and data of bounded project cases was arranged in the form of a matrix or a table of columns and rows to arrange the data in one place). Matrix analysis was then used to perform within-case analysis and cross-case analysis to compare the practices used among project cases across various contexts to understand the dynamics of the project cases within itself and then across the project cases by stacking rows of data from other project cases.
A conceptual model emerged from recurring association, analyzing the interactions/presence of themes in various contexts and validation of themes with the overall project stories.
A powerful "speed to proficiency" model explaining interactions and connections among 6 business practices and representing how projects with are typically executed and managed in organizations successfully to reduce time to proficiency.
Highly enriched recommendations specified by the model and its rich description increased its utilization and instant application.
The Speed To Proficiency Model [S2Pro©] is based on powerful findings that six business practices are employed by leading organisations almost universally in every context, job, and business sector to reduce time-to-proficiency of their employees. These 6 practices were implemented through a set of twenty-four strategies proven successful in various contexts. The strategies employed were much beyond the boundaries of conventional training interventions. The job itself acted as the primary mechanism to accelerate proficiency.
The Speed To Proficiency Model [S2Pro©] consists of a closed-loop system with input-output-feedback interactions among six practices/processes . We found that in every one of the 66 project cases, all the six business practices were presented to a varying degree. Each practice in itself acts as a self-contained process contributing towards improving time to proficiency. However, implementing any one of the practices/processes in itself would not lead to significant and sustainable results. The best results in shortening time-to-proficiency are achieved when all of these six practices/processes are correctly orchestrated together as an integrated 'change management system'. The outcome, however, depends on the degree of the orchestration of all the practices/processes. This integration as a closed-loop system leads to a significantly shorter time to proficiency. Evidence showed that up to 80% reduction in time to proficiency is possible using this model.
Interested to know more about the model?
Ask for a free/complementary mini-research report developed during the process – Register for free report here.
Upcoming blog posts: Stay tuned with upcoming posts. Subscribe our blog in the meantime.
Scholarly publications in the process of submission/publications: Checkout my publications.
Upcoming practitioner-focused articles in leading magazines: Follow us on our social media channels.
Alternatively, simply fill the contact form below and get in touch with me.
CHALLENGED WITH LONG TIME TO PROFICIENCY?
Interested in getting a free research report on how to reduce time to proficiency of employees? Visit this section and register for a free research report.


text:
Mystery council big wigs set for £100,000-plus golden goodbyes
Coventry City Council won't reveal who is leaving or how much public cash they will be paid
Simon Gilbert
Three senior council employees are in line for six-figure golden goodbyes as they leave the local authority under the latest re-shuffle.
Coventry City Council has so far refused to reveal who is in line to receive the publicly-funded pay-offs, or the exact amounts they are in line to receive, citing data protection rules.
The payments are due to be signed off during a finance meeting on Monday.
A report produced ahead of that meeting reveals only that the three employees are in line to receive "in excess of £100,000" each, while council officials would only confirm that the employees concerned were "managers" within the Children's Services department.
The redundancy / early retirement payments will form part of a move to axe 26 staff in total, with those pay-offs set to total £604,000.
Council bosses say the restructure will produce annual savings of £1.1million in the long run.
It is the latest cost-cutting measure from the local authority which has drastically scaled back services since 2010 as it aims to shave £119m a year from its budget by 2020.
£150k-a-year council finance chief who oversaw Ricoh Arena deals to leave
Coventry Council House
Six figure pay-offs
The payments for employees leaving under the restructure are linked to salary, pension contributions and service length.
Asked about the level of salary received by the senior employees in line for the higher pay-offs, a council spokesman said: "The posts fall within an annual salary range of £41,025 and £48,727, with an employer superannuation contribution of 16.8 per cent."
He added: "We are required to meet the early retirement cost to the pension fund where an employee is over the age of 55-years-old.
"This increases the total level of exit payment incurred. We understand that national government are reviewing the public sector exit payments and we are waiting the outcome of this review."
Council reshuffles
Boss who oversaw Ricoh deals to leave
Top lawyer quits on eve of Ricoh battle
£300k golden goodbye for senior boss
Mystery chiefs' six-figure pay-offs
Why is the re-shuffle taking place?
A council spokesman said: "The Children's Services redesign is part of a larger transformation programme which supports the Services Improvement Plan that was shared with Ofsted following the recent inspection that was released in June 2017.
"The new structure will help services sustain and improve the service experience and outcomes for children and young people by reshaping the way that support is delivered to children and young people.
"The change is also helping us to protecting front line services and streamlining the way we work meaning we need less managers, and as a result of the changes there will be nine fewer managers.
"In a full year the redesign delivers a £1.1m ongoing revenue saving."
Revealed: £300k golden goodbye for senior Coventry council boss
Brian Walsh, former Coventry City Council director of people
Other pay-offs
In February this year, the Telegraph revealed that former £150,000 a year head of finance Chris West was set to leave the local authority with a pay-off.
He was joined by two other senior colleagues who had combined wages of £200,000.
In April, the Telegraph uncovered details of a £295,000 pay off for former "director of people" Brian Walsh as he took early retirement.
Since 2010 the authority has cut in excess of 2,000 posts - saving more than £50m a year. It has also lost its status as the city's biggest employer.
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Editor's note: The following is a list of local civic meetings that are scheduled this week around Humboldt County.
When: First Thursday of the month at 5 p.m.
• The commission will review its endorsement policy, systemic racism and property management discrimination.
When: First Thursday of the month at 5:30 p.m.
Where: Board of Supervisors Chamber, 825 Fifth St.
• The commission will consider approving both a conditional permit and special permit for Talking Tree Farms, which is seeking existing outdoor cannabis cultivation in the Willow Creek.
• The commission will consider a conditional use permit for 12,000 square feet of existing cultivation in the Willow Creek area.
• The commission will consider granting a conditional use permit for 43,650 square feet of existing cannabis cultivation and a special permit for a 600-foot reduction of adjacent public lands at 6191 Doodyville Road in the Ettersburg area.
• The commission will consider adding new zoning districts to the inland zoning ordinance. Properties are proposed to be rezoned to be consistent with the 2017 Humboldt County General Plan.
• The commission will hold a workshop to review policy over sea level rise.
• The commission will continue discussing its commercial cannabis application process.


text:
Understanding Jersey Property
By Tony del Amo
Posted: 29th March 2012 12:37
Le Gallais & Luce traces its heritage back to the last years of the 19th century, making it almost certainly the oldest law firm in Jersey. However, in order to survive, it has always ensured that its staff is on the cutting edge of changes to the law and the legal system.
Today, approximately half of its turnover derives from property law transactions and, although a large part of that turnover involves residential purchases and sales, the firm advises on significant commercial transactions as well. These include commercial and residential developments, the acquisition and sales of commercial buildings and associated leasing structures.
Two of the firm's partners specialise in property law and the consultants at the firm have a combined experience in excess of 90 years. The four full time members of the conveyancing department itself have in excess of 100 years experience in dealing with property matters.
Jersey land law is based upon Norman customary law and until recently all contracts relating to freehold and leasehold property were written in the French language. The biggest change in the area of property law in Jersey in recent years came about in 2006 with the change to contracts being drafted in the English language rather than the French language. This reflected the need for contracts to be more readily understood by the public, the majority of which are now English speaking rather than French. In practising Jersey land law however it is still important that a good knowledge of French is retained as, in checking title to a property, it is necessary to consider previous contracts which, up to 2006 would have been written in the French language. This is the challenge for the new generation of conveyancers and property lawyers – in order to maintain standards in drafting and advising upon the law it will still be essential to maintain a good grasp of the French language.
Contracts for the transfer of real property are still passed formally before the Royal Court of Jersey which sits (subject to Public Holidays) to pass such contracts every Friday at 2.30pm. The purchasers and vendors of properties as well as lessors and lessees of properties where the lease is in excess of nine years together with any parties to the contracts are required to attend either in person or by representation to swear the oath under which the title to the property passes or the term of the lease is granted. This is an unusual requirement for passing contracts dealing with real property in the modern world and is probably unique to the Island.
At Le Gallais & Luce we have been fortunate, not only in our traditional local client base which has continued to transact notwithstanding the economic downturn, but also in the way we have built relations with other property professionals in a difficult economic climate and in that way have maintained and even increased the level of our property work over the last few years. Whilst the financial constraints placed upon clients, for example the issues with bank lending and the availability of mortgages, has inevitably caused a certain contraction in property transactions generally, we have managed to continue to be competitive in terms of price, whilst always seeking to retain the levels of service for which we have been renowned for some considerable time.
Whilst the overall situation has been steady over the last few years we are hoping that we will continue to undertake high volumes of transactions and increase our market share by continuing to provide the services for which we have earned a solid and reliable reputation and to build further relationships with our property professionals and contacts.
I believe that the overall feeling within the property law community is that there will be a continuing reduction in the overall volume of transactions although the developers continue to introduce new properties to the market which might cause a glut of certain types of property, mainly apartments. As a result this is a time of great opportunity for investors seeking to acquire high quality investment properties on a buy to let basis, although those persons outside the Island seeking to invest will need to consider carefully the types of property available to them due to local Housing Laws. Whilst the number of properties available should lead to a reduction in property prices, the last few years have not necessarily indicated that there has been any substantial reduction.
We, however, continue to be optimistic that, if more assistance to the public comes from the major lenders, which has generally been the case in regard to smaller lending institutions, some stimulation in the property market will be achieved. Some of the clearing banks however, perhaps as a result of the criticisms levelled at them following the recent economic crisis, seem reluctant to re-enter the market at realistic levels. It is my belief that this could be generally beneficial to the property market and indeed to them in terms of an increase in overall production of wealth and boost in economic growth.
Background to the firm:
The firm's roots can be traced through a Mr Le Gallais who had practiced from 6, Hill Street since qualifying in 1889 and, prior to that, through Mr P Guiton who had practiced as a solicitor from the same premises since the 1870's.
During the period from 1901 until 1972 the firm provided three Crown Solicitors for Jersey and, as such, represented the Crown as well as the Island's government and administration for a total of 48 years. This came to an end in 1972 when the States of Jersey established a civil service department for this purpose.
Le Gallais & Luce are rightfully proud of their heritage and strive to retain the traditional values of client care and professionalism in everything they do.
Tony Del Amo can be contacted at: tdelamo@lgl.je


Very friendly helpful folks here. They took care of me when applying for my medical cannabis card and followed up after I received it. Don't expect them to be able to speed the State of Illinois in slowly processing your application but they will most assuredly make sure that your paperwork is in proper order when filed. They have their clients' best interest in mind at all times.


Does anyone know how to create a life map without the graphics?
What feature would you like to see in the sequel?
How to get out of a vehicle?
Just finished the game - a question.
Where is the key in level 6? Help please.


text:
// <copyright file="Artikel.cs" company="Fubar Development Junker">
// Copyright (c) Fubar Development Junker. All rights reserved.
// </copyright>

using System;

using FubarDev.Lexware.Database.Shared;

namespace FubarDev.Lexware.Database.Faktura
{
    ///
    /// Stammdaten für Artikel
    ///
    public class Artikel : IAuditEntity
    {
        ///
        /// ID (SheetNr)
        ///
        public virtual int SheetNr { get; set; }

        ///
        /// Artikel-Nummer (ArtikelNr)
        ///
        public virtual string ArtikelNr { get; set; }

        ///
        /// Artikel-Bezeichnung (Bezeichnung)
        ///
        public virtual string Bezeichnung { get; set; }

        ///
        /// Artikel-Beschreibung (StringClob)
        ///
        public virtual string Beschreibung { get; set; }

        ///
        /// System_created
        ///
        public virtual DateTime? Created { get; set; }

        ///
        /// System_created_user
        ///
        public virtual string CreatedBy { get; set; }

        ///
        /// System_updated
        ///
        public virtual DateTime? Updated { get; set; }

        ///
        /// System_updated_user
        ///
        public virtual string UpdatedBy { get; set; }
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
#ifndef __OFP_APP_H__
#define __OFP_APP_H__

#include <odp_api.h>
#include "ofp_types.h"

#if __GNUC__ >= 4
#pragma GCC visibility push(default)
#endif

typedef enum ofp_return_code (*ofp_pkt_processing_func)(odp_packet_t *pkt);

struct ofp_ifnet;

int default_event_dispatcher(void *arg);

/**
 * Return the minimum size of the user area that must be present in all
 * ODP packets passed to OFP.
 */
uint32_t ofp_packet_min_user_area(void);

/**
 * Input a packet and process it using the function supplied by the
 * caller.
 *
 * @param pkt      Packet to process. pkt_func may require some of
 *                 L2/L3/L4 offsets to be set.
 * @param in_queue ODP queue from which the packet was dequeued, or
 *                 ODP_QUEUE_INVALID.
 * @param pkt_func Packet processing function. This may be one of the
 *                 ofp_*_processing() functions.
 */
enum ofp_return_code ofp_packet_input(odp_packet_t pkt,
	odp_queue_t in_queue, ofp_pkt_processing_func pkt_func);

/**
 * Process a packet, starting with L2.
 *
 * To be used with ofp_packet_input(), not to be called directly.
 *
 * @param[in,out] pkt Packet to process. L2 and L3 offsets must be
 *                    set.
 */
enum ofp_return_code ofp_eth_vlan_processing(odp_packet_t *pkt);

/**
 * Process an IPv4 packet.
 *
 * To be used with ofp_packet_input(), not to be called directly.
 *
 * @param[in,out] pkt Packet to process. L3 offset must be set.
 */
enum ofp_return_code ofp_ipv4_processing(odp_packet_t *pkt);

/**
 * Process an IPv6 packet.
 *
 * To be used with ofp_packet_input(), not to be called directly.
 *
 * @param[in,out] pkt Packet to process. L3 offset must be set.
 */
enum ofp_return_code ofp_ipv6_processing(odp_packet_t *pkt);

/**
 * Process a GRE packet.
 *
 * To be used with ofp_packet_input(), not to be called directly.
 *
 * @param[in,out] pkt Packet to process. L3 offset must be set.
 */
enum ofp_return_code ofp_gre_processing(odp_packet_t *pkt);

/**
 * Process an ARP packet.
 *
 * To be used with ofp_packet_input(), not to be called directly.
 *
 * @param[in,out] pkt Packet to process. L3 offset must be set.
 */
enum ofp_return_code ofp_arp_processing(odp_packet_t *pkt);

/**
 * Process a UDP packet.
 *
 * To be used with ofp_packet_input(), not to be called directly.
 *
 * @param[in,out] pkt Packet to process. L3 offset must be set.
 */
enum ofp_return_code ofp_udp4_processing(odp_packet_t *pkt);

/**
 * Process a TCP packet.
 *
 * To be used with ofp_packet_input(), not to be called directly.
 *
 * @param[in,out] pkt Packet to process. L3 offset must be set.
 */
enum ofp_return_code ofp_tcp4_processing(odp_packet_t *pkt);

enum ofp_return_code ofp_send_frame(struct ofp_ifnet *dev, odp_packet_t pkt);
enum ofp_return_code ofp_send_pending_pkt(void);

enum ofp_return_code ofp_ip_send(odp_packet_t pkt,
				 struct ofp_nh_entry *nh_param);
enum ofp_return_code ofp_ip6_send(odp_packet_t pkt,
				  struct ofp_nh6_entry *nh_param);

#if __GNUC__ >= 4
#pragma GCC visibility pop
#endif

#endif /*__OFP_APP_H__*/


text:
Microsoft's $75bn bet on Activision sets off content wars in gaming
Why blaming your staff publicly is always a cheap shot
Lunch with the FT Life & Arts
Donald Trump's Lunch with the FT in 2013
Hype seems hard-wired into the billionaire property developer who has also built one of the world's most recognisable brands.
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Martin Dickson
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© James Ferguson
"Give him some rice, too!" Donald Trump instructs the server behind the buffet counter. Rice? I haven't asked for rice. I'm more of a potatoes person, and that is what I have just ordered from the display cabinet, to go with my stuffed baked chicken. But if the Donald wants me to try the rice as well, it seems churlish to refuse. This, after all, is his restaurant, the Trump Grill, a wood-panelled, clubby enclave serving American fare in the basement food court of his best known Manhattan building, Trump Tower.
If truth be told, I would prefer to be ordering from the Grill's set menu – the tourist in me wants the "Trump Grill Burger" followed by "Trump's Ice Cream" – but the billionaire real estate developer has intimated that it would be good to try the buffet, which he tells me is "the best in New York".
Business is not exactly brisk at the best buffet in New York. In fact, Trump and I are the only people ordering. But it is a bitter winter's day, not the tourist season when, Trump insists, the queues down here get very long.
Tall, broad and erect, Trump looks good for his 66 years, though his gravity-defying bouffant hair is whiter and not quite as bouncy as I had expected, while wrinkles are invading the bland smoothness of the face beneath. He is wearing his familiar working uniform of grey suit, white shirt and a plain silk tie, today in bright red.
He helps me choose my chicken. "That piece looks like a winner!" he says, pointing out the plumpest, most golden-brown portion. For himself, he orders a livid beef sandwich and potatoes. As we return to our table, I marvel at his urge to lavish superlatives on the most commonplace Trump-related things. Hype seems hard-wired into him. There ought to be an adjective to describe it: trumptastic, perhaps?
But then Trump, or the "blowhard billionaire" as the New York tabloids call him, has created one of the world's most recognisable brands through relentless self-promotion, using any available medium: he has a shelf-full of books to his name, with uplifting titles such as Think Like a Billionaire; he is a TV regular, while his own hit show The Apprentice, now rebranded Celebrity Apprentice, is about to begin its 13th US series; and he tweets avidly to his 2m followers on all things from politics (Obama's re-election was "a total sham and travesty") to business philosophy and golf. "I've won many club championships," he tells me – twice.
I am hoping that in the relaxed atmosphere of Lunch with the FT I may get beyond the outer showman but the setting is hardly confessional. The buffet means we don't linger over a menu. Sipping Diet Coke as we wait for our dishes to arrive, I open the conversation by asking about his tastes in food ("all types – pastas, steaks …" he says) and the fact that alcohol has never passed his lips.
He leans forward, and answers carefully with press-conference formality, his voice surprisingly soft. "I've seen over the years too many people who have destroyed their lives with alcohol …I have some good traits and some bad traits. The bad traits I never talk about." I joke that we can get on to those later but his face does not register amusement.
Far from breaking the ice, I seem to be thickening it. I turn the conversation to the safer subject of property and tell him we have a link: my home is on Riverside Boulevard – a cluster of newish Trump-built apartments that line the Hudson river for 10 prime blocks of the Upper West Side.
He becomes less stiff, more animated. I'm relieved but not surprised: real estate is where he started and, despite his new wrapping of showbiz glitz, is still central to his business.
The son of a self-made millionaire builder in the New York boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn, Trump was sent to a military school to install some discipline in him. He later attended Wharton business school before starting in business with his father – a hard taskmaster and profound influence. Against the elder man's advice, he set his sights on building in glitzy Manhattan. Displaying an eye for location, a genius for self-promoting bull and extraordinary self-confidence for one so young, he had completed Trump Tower by 1983, while still in his mid-thirties.
But then came his comeuppance. The recession and property crash of the early 1990s badly hurt his operations – particularly highly-leveraged casinos and hotels in Atlantic City. Businesses there bearing the Trump brand have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection several times since. But – a vital distinction – Trump himself has never personally been bankrupt, and he has bounced back to create an empire that stretches from property, through an extraordinary array of Trump-branded goods, to entertainment. He co-owns not only The Apprentice, now a worldwide franchise, but the Miss Universe beauty pageant.
Trump Tower, where he has chosen to lunch with the FT, is still at the heart of his empire. With its bronze curtain glass walls and distinctive sawtooth design, it has worn the years well, and its location, on Fifth Avenue next to Tiffany & Co, is a shopper's dream. Trump works here and lives at the top of the tower with his third wife, Melania, a Slovenian-born former model 24 years his junior, in an apartment of gold-plated rococo luxury with fabulous views over Central Park. It is the fantasy life of any hot-blooded teenage male.
The story of the Upper West Side development is more down to earth: the 100 acres used to be abandoned railway yards. Trump, still only in his twenties, realised that it was among the best undeveloped land on Manhattan. But it took some three decades, with extraordinary financial ups and downs and planning battles, before he finally developed the area, with Chinese backing. And his original vision, to anchor the development with a television studio and the world's tallest building, would be watered down to a line of bland apartment blocks – since sold on.
Trump asks which building I am in. "Very good," he says, "You have to be happy there. It's a great place. You know I built that whole thing; it's been very successful for me …And people love the neighbourhood!"
I point out that it took a very long time to pull off. "It's the old story. Never give up. But I ended up making a tremendous amount of money and, perhaps more importantly, having built a city within a city …People love it. They absolutely love it. So that's great!" He congratulates me on my good taste in real estate and I compliment him on the quality of staff his management company employs in my building. The ice is broken.
Our food arrives. There is chicken and rice on my plate but no potatoes. No matter. Trump points to his potatoes. "These are great! Do you want the potatoes or the rice?"
"I've got the rice," I say, keen to avoid further delay.
I ask him what he is working on now, and he turns the conversation to Scotland, and the golf course he has built on the coast near Aberdeen, which opened last summer.
"It is very, very highly rated. Unbelievably rated. Meaning, critically, it's been unbelievable. They are saying it is one of the best golf courses in the world." The claim may sound trumptastic but the course has, indeed, received stellar reviews from top golfers.
Still, I say, you've had a lot of opposition: the development won backing from politicians and business leaders but was attacked by environmentalists and some local residents, furious that it got planning permission, despite being set amid dunes designated a site of special scientific interest.
"You know," says Trump, "there's always opposition when you do something big." He runs off a list of his developments – in New York, Chicago and Scotland – that have provoked protest. "I do many things that are controversial. When people see it, they love it!" Indeed, he adds, the Scottish opposition has been tremendously good publicity, making the course an even bigger success.
The conversation pauses as a young man stops by the table and says hello. It's Eric, the third of Trump's five children, who, like his elder siblings Donald Jr and Ivanka, works for the Trump Organisation. He has been eating lunch in the Grill.
Eric disappears but, almost immediately, two more faces are there saying hi. It's Donald Jr and Ivanka, and they, too, have been in the Grill, celebrating a "good deal" their father has just signed for them.
"The best restaurant in Midtown," volunteers Ivanka, with a winning smile. "We know, because we eat here all the time!" chimes in Don Jr.
Ivanka is a celebrity in her own right, with jewellery and fragrance products – a living, breathing intergenerational line extension of the Trump brand. There is even a salad in the Grill named after her. Maybe I should have had that?
As they disappear, I am left wondering whether there is a genetic component to trumptastic utterances. "It's good when you have the kids working with you," says Trump, "and they are very capable." Capable? It suddenly sounds shockingly modest.
Trump has been talking for many minutes now about his construction triumph amid "these very monumental dunes, the great dunes of Scotland, the very largest dunes in the world" without mentioning a rather substantial problem: he is now in a fight with Alex Salmond's government lest it give the go-ahead to an array of offshore windmills in sight of the Trump course, and a second one he is planning to construct.
I raise the subject. "I don't think they'll be built," he says. "I built a masterpiece. I don't want to see it destroyed by windmills. Windmills are going to be the death of Scotland and even England if they don't do something about them. They are ruining the countryside."
Warming to his theme, he continues: "I've done a great favour to Scotland and even Great Britain …A lot of people were devastated when their houses were ruined and their values destroyed when they put up a windmill near it. But they had no voice. Now they have a voice: me. I've empowered them to fight. And people are fighting these ugly monstrosities."
The irony of Donald Trump as the people's champion against monstrous development seems lost on him. And if the windmills get the green light? "I'll bring a lawsuit and I think it will be tied up for many years in court. How's your chicken?"
"Good," I venture.
"Great food, isn't it?" he says. "This place is the hottest place in New York." I look around for confirmation. Business still seems rather desultory. It must be because it is winter.
A waiter arrives to clear our dishes. "Look at that empty plate," Trump exclaims. "I think he liked it! For a non-heavy guy to wipe out a whole chicken, that's pretty good! OK, good job, fellows!" he says to the staff.
Momentarily, my mind goes all trumptastic. Yes! For a "non-heavy" (in less euphemistic language, small) guy such as me to wipe out a whole chicken must be testament to my manly appetite and the amazing quality of the food. But the instant passes and I reflect that I did not eat a whole chicken, merely a thigh, and my total calorific intake was probably no more than on any other day. Still, I think, it would be nice to float with such an intoxicating, self-delusory sense of achievement all the time.
I order coffee while Trump sticks with Diet Coke. We move on to politics, where Trump has a record of heavy-handed interventions that provoke derision among Democrats and unease among Republicans. The latest was his promise in October to announce something that would change the course of the presidential election. In the event, he merely resurrected the "birther" issue – the claim that President Obama was born outside the US – and said he would give $5m to a charity of the president's choice if Obama released college and passport applications and records. America yawned and moved on.
Did he regret this? "No, many people love me for it," he says, and claims that he had even raised the sum at stake to $50m.
I turn the conversation to ageing: he is known for working extremely hard but is he slowing down? "No, I feel good …I'm in good health – knock on wood!" He strikes a wall panel and praises even it: "It's nice wood!"
"If you love what you do, if you love going to the office, if you really like it, not just say it, but really like it, it keeps you young and energised. I really love what I do." There's a touch of real passion about this.
And his legacy? "You know I've become very successful over the years. I think I own among the greatest properties in the world. I'm worth more than $8bn."
Amid the lunch civilities, this is a tricky moment. The private ownership of his company, along with his deals and extensive licensing of the Trump brand, make it hard for outsiders to gauge his fortune independently. I brace myself and say that, according to Forbes, his net worth is closer to $3bn.
Trump bats away the suggestion. "I don't know what they say. People don't have access to my numbers but I'm worth more than eight." He adds that when he was thinking of running for politics, he made a filing that supports this figure. And with such wealth, he says, he doesn't work for money any more. "I just enjoy creating things."
Does he see himself handing the business on to his children? "Yeah, at the right time." But, he adds, real estate people never retire. "They get older …It's funny, we take out our cosmetic surgery on buildings instead of fixing ourselves, right?"
It is time to pay. He is amused that the FT insists on footing the bill for his lunch in his restaurant. "That's very funny. The first time ever – usually, we just leave, right?"
He escorts me up to the pink marble lobby, lined with stalls selling all manner of Trump-branded goods: books, caps, shirts, ties, teddy bears, cologne, cufflinks. He asks how sales are going. Really well, enthuse the staff, who tell us a particularly strong seller is a tiny book of The Donald's wisdom wrapped together in cellophane with a gold chocolate bar, stamped TRUMP.
Yet business does not seem brisk. In fact, I can see no other customers. It must be because it is winter, I tell myself as I emerge on to Fifth Avenue, my body numbed by cold and my mind by superlatives.
Martin Dickson is the FT's US managing editor
Trump Grill
725 5th Avenue, New York
Chicken Fresco $21.00
Steak Sandwich $21.00
Diet Coke x3 $12.00
Coffee $3.00
Total (incl service) $74.06
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In 2006, Joseph A. Graziola, III was charged by the Federal Trade Commission for his fraudulent credit repair activities under his company Bad Credit B Gone. This case ended with a $322,047 judgment against Graziola.
Bad Debt B Gone was nailed for making the same old stupid and fraudulent promises of removing accurate but negative items from credit reports. This pitch even included assurances that attorneys would be involved in removing bad credit.
Now that stuff is all old news but just to show you how a scammer can always be a scammer, Graziola just pled guilty to stealing $900,000 from Best Buy by submitting false invoices for payment. The invoices were for equipment never sent to Best Buy and this activity occurred at the same time Graziola was running his illegal credit repair operation.
What is different about his guilty verdict this time is that Graziola is facing up to 20 years in prison for his crimes.


I've just submitted my details to confirm my slot as a speaker at Affiliate Summit East 2010, happening August 15-17 of this year. The panel is called Podcasting 101, and it's led by Trisha Lyn Fawver, a blogger (TrishaLyn.com) and podcaster (Affiliate Marketing Fanatics).
Also on the panel? Joe Magennis, my partner on Geek Dads Weekly! Our third on the show, Drew Bennett, is up for another panel at the conference, and speakers are only allowed one panel each.
In this era of self-publishing, anyone – including you – can produce a podcast (and make money doing it!) Come learn the basics of producing, monetizing, hosting and promoting your very own podcast.
We're up first on the 15th! Well, along with three other sessions in that time slot. I'm not actually sure if that's a good thing… but I suppose if I start to get nervous, I can remind myself that I'm getting it out of the way early so I can enjoy the rest of the conference.
I sat on an impromptu panel at Summit West in Las Vegas back in January, as part of the GeekCast.fm Live! session. It was a lot of fun, and I'm sure this panel will be, too. Fun and informative, that's our goal.
Are you planning on going to Summit? I'd love to say hello.
Update: shortly after I posted this, it was announced that Drew's panel has been approved and scheduled. He's on Tuesday at 2pm with Murray Newlands and Eric Schechter, and the session is called How Bloggers Can Successfully Connect with Audiences.


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Perfect! Great view of bridge, Big Ben, Westminster, etc. Easy access to a Tube and easy walk to see everything around. Great visit!
Great location! Close to bus/subway and super close to Big Ben and London Eye! 5 minute walking distance. The room was nice as well, just a bit noisy due to construction in the pruning.


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