text:
Golden Bell and the intended Anglo-Chinese College on Mount Faber
Much has been told of Golden Bell (mansion). Built in 1910 as Tan Boo Liat's stately hilltop residence at Pender Road, an air of romance and some mystery perhaps, surrounds the place. It has quite a proud and distinguished past and its guests included Chinese revolutionary leader Dr. Sun Yat-sen, who spent a night there in 1911. Lavish parties were said to have been thrown at house in the brief period that Tan Boo Liat occupied it. In the little more than a century that has elapsed, neither the romance nor the mystery seems to have been lost, even with its use since 1985 by the Danish Seamen's Church. Those curious enough to have stolen a glance at the grand residence on the way down from Mount Faber will also have little doubt of its majesty.
Golden Bell today.
A chapter in the Golden Bell story that seems to be missed by most, is one that relates to the Methodist Mission, and its plans to establish an institution of higher learning in Singapore. The ambitious idea was long held by Anglo-Chinese School's founder, Bishop William F. Oldham, when it was set in motion through the arrival of Rev. James Stewart Nagle in 1914. Rev. Nagle, picked as the principal of the 3-decade old ACS so that he could also put plans for the college in place, set to work immediately. A College Council was established. Its members counted prominent figures such as Tan Kah Kee, Lee Choon Guan, and Tan Cheng Lock, all of whom made generous pledges and contributions.
Anglo-Chinese College Council, 1918. Seated left to right: Tan Kah Kee; William Thorpe Cherry Junior; Lee Choon Guan; Chan Kang Swi; and Rev. J.S. Nagle. Standing: 3rd from left – Reverend P.L. Peach (ACS Principal, 1922-1924); 4th from left – Reverend Boughman; and extreme right – Tan Cheng Lock.
By late 1917, a reported 26½ acres (10.7 hectares) of land on a "hilltop location in Telok Blangah" had been secured, including Golden Bell. Contrary to the popularly held view that it remained in Tan Boo Liat's hands unil his death in 1934, the mansion, which had already been vacated by late 1914, had been put up for sale in 1916.
Extract from a 1922 Thomas Cook Guide to Singapore, published by the Methodist Publishing House, that lists the "red brick mansion known as 'Golden Bell'" as belonging to thr Methodist Mission and "intended as an educational site".
It was also in 1917 that the Mission sent a deputation to Governor Sir Arthur Young – to "seek Government sanction" for the college. Young (as did his successor in 1919, Sir Laurence Guillemard) had misgivings about the plan. It was seen as a threat to British prestige as the Mission was very much an America one. A letter, sent by the Colonial Secretary F. S. James some weeks after the 29 August meeting, stated that while the Government did not object to the setting up of the college, it could neither support the project nor sanction the granting of degrees by it.
Inside Golden Bell's turret – originally a Billiard Room.
Rev. Nagle and the Council pressed ahead in spite of the apparent objections. In 1918, a Propectus of the Anglo-Chinese College was issued. The prospectus laid out the aims of the intended college, which was to provide "equal facilities with all other students for qualifying of any public degrees that may be instituted by the Government …" and prepare students for degree examinations that "might be instituted by the Straits Settelments Government, or for degree examinations of any recognised British University". This was clearly intended to address the concerns that the Government had.
Golden Bell's dining room – now a place of worship.
While the Council may have met with some success in its efforts to raise funds, which by 1920 had grown to a tidy sum of $400,000, it wasn't as successful in changing the minds of those that mattered. The continued reluctance on the part of the Government to lend its support – who in 1918 embarked on its own plans for a publicly run college – and the unscheduled departure of Rev. Nagle in 1922, would lead to the plan's demise. With that, funds raised for the college were channelled instead towards the mission's other educational endeavours. This was the case with Tan Kah Kee's subscription of $30,000 (Straits Settlements Dollars), which was transferred with his approval to the ACS's physics and chemistry funds.
The Entrance Hall.
The house, and the land that had been acquired for the college, remained in the possesion of the Methodist Mission into the 1930s – despite attempts to have that sold once the plan had fallen through. While the Methodist Mission may have failed, its efforts prompted the Government to move on their own plans up for an insitution of higher learning. The outcome of the Government's plans was Raffles College, the forerunner of the University of Malaya and what is today the National University of Singapore, which was set up after some delay in 1928.
More on the intended Anglo-Chinese College can be found at this links:
In days of yore (Pt. 4) – Earnest Lau
An Abortive Plan for an Anglo Chinese College in Singapore – Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 45, no. 2 (222), 1972, pp. 97–109.
Addendum 8 May 2019
The use of Golden Bell as the "Singapore Private Hospital" – an untold mini-Chapter in the Golden Bell story:
It has come to my attention (via Khoo Ee Hoon) that Golden Bell was also used briefly as the "Singapore Private Hospital", which opened in August 1924. Newspaper reports mention its opening above "Plantation Bahru" on a site "200 feet up on hilly ground west of Mount Faber", "overlooking Keppel Golf Course" and with accommodation for 14 patients. It also had an "operating theatre with modern surgical theatre and an X-Ray plant for examination and treatment" and had "fully trained English Sisters in charge of nursing".
The hospital seems to have closed some time the following year. Advertisements for an auction sale of hospital equipment at the property appear in November 1925. "To Let" advertisements for the property subsequent to this – at least up to 1934, list addresses that are associated with the Methodist Mission.
Golden Bell and Tan Boo Liat
Designed by a "local" architect, Wee Teck Moh – whose signature appears on the plans of many shophouses built at the end of the 1800s, the Edwardian-style mansion was given the "blood and bandages" fairfaced brick and plaster face appearance that seemed popular at the time. Local examples of buildings erected during the period with a similar appearance are the Central Fire Station, the former MPH Building and the rectory of the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd. The house also exhibits several "local" features such as the Buddhist stupa shaped roof that adorns a turret. The house is thought to have been named after Tan Boo Liat's grandfather, Tan Kim Ching – the son of Tan Tock Seng ("Kim Ching" translates into "Golden Bell" in Hokkien).
Plans for Golden Bell approved in 1909 (National Archives of Singapore).
Tan Boo Liat, who took over his grandfather's rice milling business interests in Siam and was a racehorse owner with a reputation for having lived lavishely, hosted parties at Golden Bell. The mansion also saw some illustrious guests, playing host to Dr. Sun Yat-sen, when he made a short visit to Singapore in December 1911.
Tan Boo Liat seems to have used the mansion up to about 1913-14, after which he was constantly on the move. Besides being away in Bangkok for long periods in the 1920s, and in Shanghai for two years until his death there in 1934, he also moved quite a fair bit around Singapore. His residential addresses here included 60 Emerald Hill Road, and 8 Simons Road (Angullia Park today). It was at his Simons Road residence and not at Golden Bell as stated in a 2011 Zaobao article, that Prince Chakrabongse Bhuvanath of Siam, brother of King Vajiravudh (Rama VI) and heir apparent to the Siamese throne, passed away during a stopover in Singapore on 13 June 1920 at the age of 37.
A group photograph at Golden Bell with Lim Nee Soon and Tan Chor Lam among the faces in the crowd (National Archives of Singapore).
Golden Bell would eventully fall into the hands of the Port of Singapore Authority, who used it until 1985 and from whom Danish Seamen's Church initially leased it from. The State Property, still used by the church, has since been transferred to the Singapore Land Authority.
A wooden grille with a golden bell motif on it in the mansion,
Tags: Anglo-Chinese College, Anglo-Chinese College Council, Architecture, Bishop William Oldham, Danish Seamen's Church, Dr. Sun Yat-sen, Golden Bell, Methodist Church, Methodist Mission, Mount Faber, Old Places, Pender Road, Photography, Prince Chakrabongse Bhuvanath, Rev. J. S. Nagle, Singapore, Singapore History, State Property, Tan Boo Liat, Unseen Singapore, Wee Teck Moh
Categories : Architecture, Architecture, Conservation, Forgotten Buildings, Forgotten Places, Heritage Sites, Photography, Photography Series, Reminders of Yesterday, Singapore, Unseen Singapore
Parting Glances: the cylinder on Pearl's Hill
A last look at Pearl Bank Apartments, a Chinatown landmark and a celebrated modern building.
The time has come to bid farewell to Pearl Bank Apartments, that cylinder-shaped apartment block sticking right out – perhaps like the proverbial sore thumb – of the southern slope of Pearl's Hill. Sold to us here in Singapore Southeast Asia's tallest residential building during its construction, it is thought of as a marvel of innovative design in spite of a rather unpretentious appearance. Emptied of its residents, it now awaits its eventual demolition; having been sold in February 2018 in the collective sale wave that threatens to rid Singapore of its Modern post-independence architectural icons. CapitaLand, the developer behind the purchase, will be replacing the block with a new development that with close to 800 units (compared to 288 units currently).
The residential block, photographed in 2014.
Pearl Bank Apratment's development came as part of a post-independence urban renewal effort. Involving the sale of land to private firms for development, which in Pearl Bank's case was for the high-density housing for the middle class. The project, which was to have been completed in 1974 with construction having commenced in mid-1970, ran into several difficulties. A shortage of construction materials and labour, as well as several fatal worksite accidents, saw to the project being completed only after a delay of about two years.
An advertisement in 1976.
After the completion of the project in 1976, its developer, Hock Seng Enterprises, ran into financial difficulties and was placed into receivership in August 1978. This prompted the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) to step in to purchase all eight of the block's penthouses in 1979. The 4,000+ sq. ft. penthouses (the area included a 1,000 sq. ft. roof terrace) were resold to Civil Servants and Statutory Board officers at a price of $214,000 for an intermediate unit, and $217,000 for the corner unit – a steal even at the prices of the day!
A view from one of the penthouse units.
The 38-storey apartment block also saw problems with its lifts and for over a month in 1978, only two were in working order. Another incident that imvolved the lifts occurred in November 1986 when a metal chain of one of the lifts fell a hundred metres, crashing through the top of its cabin. It was quite fortunate that there was no one in the lift during the late night incident. The building developed a host of other problems as it aged, wearing an increasingly worn and tired appearance over time. Even so, it was still one to marvel at and one that had photographers especially excited.
Built on a C-shaped plan, a slit in the cylinder provided light and ventilation. The inside of this cee is where the complex nature of the building's layout becomes apparent, as does its charm. Common corridors provide correspondence across the split-level apartment entrances as well as to each apartment's secondary exits via staircases appended to the inner curve. The apartments are a joy in themselves, woven into one another across the different levels like interlocking pieces of a three-diemnsional puzzle. The result is joyous a mix of two, three and four bedroom apartments.
There have been quite a few voices lent in support of conserving the building and other post-independence architectural icons, which even if not for their architectural merit, represent a coming of age for the local architectural community and a break away from the colonial mould. Several proposals have been tabled previously to conserve the building, including one by one of its architects, Mr Tan Cheng Siong and another by the Management Corporation Strata Title Council.
Part of the waste disposal system.
That sentiment is however not necessary shared by all and the sites central location and view that it offers, does mean that the site's development potential cannot be ignored. Among its long-term residents, a few would have welcomed the opportunity to cash in. Those occupying units on the lower floors might have had such thoughts. It seems that it was increasingly becoming less pleasant to live in some of the lower units due to choked pipes. One could also not miss the stench emanating from the rubbish disposal system.
The view from a penthouse roof terrace.
Architectural or even historical perspectives aside, the person-on-the-street would probably not get too sentimental over the loss of Pearl Bank Apartments. Unlike the old National Library, the National Theatre or the old National Stadium in which memories of many more were made, there would have been little opportunity provided to most to interact or get close enough to appreciate the building.
A last reflection.
All eyes I suppose are now on CapitaLand, to see what in terms of the site's heritage – if anything – would be retained. Based on noises being made online, the launch of the project is due in 2H 2019.
Tags: 1970s Singapore, Architecture, Landmarks, Modern Architecture, Parting Glances, Pearl Bank, Pearl Bank Apartments, Pearl Bank Apartments Haunted, Photography, Post-Independence Architecture, Redevelopment, Singapore, Urban Redevelopment, Urban Renewal
Categories : Architecture, Architecture, Changing Landscapes, Chinatown, Parting Glances, Photography, Photography Series, Singapore, Singapore Architecture
127 years old, but not over the hill
A last look at a 127 year old former "House on the Hill" a.k.a. "Tower House", before it becomes part of a residential development known as "Haus on Handy":
Perched on the brow of the hill we know as Mount Sophia is a last of a hilltop once devoted to the large and airy residences of the mid to late 19th century, a two-storey house known as "Tower House". Used in more recent years as a playschool "House on the Hill", the conservation house was included in a land sales exercise last year as part of a larger plot.
An early photo of Tower House (source: Memories, gems and sentiments : 100 years of Methodist Girls' School).
Built in 1892 for the Singapore Land Company, the house was laid out – unusually for the houses of Singapore in the day – on an asymmetrical plan. It featured a carriage porch and a dining room on the ground level and living and sleeping spaces on the upper level. As with the houses of the day, ample openings and generously proportioned verandahs are provided for a maximum of light and ventilation.
More on the house, which I had an opportunity to visit and learn more about some 7 years back, can be found in this November 2011 post: Windows to Heaven.
The former House on the Hill on its perch at the top of Mount Sophia.
The ground floor
A plaque commemorating the repurposing of the house as the Women's Society of Christian Service Centre in Dec 1989.
Wrought-iron grilles.
What would have been the dining room.
Evidence of the house's last occupants.
A doorway into the service area.
A door way to the verandah area surrounding the former dining room.
A view of the ground floor verandah.
Another view from the verandah.
The second level
The Drawing Room.
Views around the verandah.
The starirway to heaven (the tower)
Views from the Tower
Miscellaneous Views
Tags: 12 Mount Sophia, 1890s Singapore, Architecture, Crane Brothers, House on the Hill Montessori Pre-School, Mount Sophia, Old Methodist Girls' School, Old Singapore, One Hundred Steps, One Hundred Steps to Heaven, Singapore, The House on the Hill, Tower House, Women's Christian Service Centre, Women's Society of Christian Service
Categories : Architecture, Changing Landscapes, Forgotten Buildings, Forgotten Places, Photography, Photography Series, Reminders of Yesterday, Selegie Road Area, Singapore, Singapore Architecture, Unseen Singapore
Parting Glances: old Singapore's last place of healing
Those familiar with Moulmein Road in the days of Moulmein Green would remember the old Middleton Hospital and its iconic gatehouse. The landmark entrance-way stood for over 70 years before "progress" swallowed it up in the 1980s. Progress, which came in the form of road realignment and widening as part of the construction of the Central Expressway (CTE), saw also to the demise of Moulmein Green – one of at least a couple of roundabouts that were named "Green" (the other was Finlayson Green).
The gatehouse with the black lion crest on it and a bit of Moulmein Green in the foreground.
The gatehouse provided both the hospital and the area with an identity that went beyond being a physical presence. It was the hospital's black lion crest, which was on prominent display on the house, that the area's name in the Hokkien vernacular came from.
The black lion – seen at the entrance of the former CDC.
The structure's disappearance came at about the same time that Middleton, a name that the infectious diseases hospital was known as for 75 years, was also lost. Morphing in Tan Tock Seng Hospital's Department of Communicable Diseases in 1985 and in 1992 the Communicable Diseases Centre (CDC) however, did not stop the former hospital from being in the news. It was a key component in the health plan drawn up in early days of the AIDS epidemic that saw a dedicated AIDS ward set up in April 1986. The CDC, which for a period of 3 years until 1995 functioned independently of Tan Tock Seng Hospital, has also been at the forefront in the battle against several other high-profile disease outbreaks, such as the 2003 SARS epidemic.
Structures belonging to the former Middleton Hospital.
The absence of the gatehouse has also allowed a much clearer view of the centre's expansive grounds and the quaint old structures seen on it. The sight is one that is increasing rare in Singapore and provides a glimpse of what could be thought of as an old-fashioned bit of Singapore that we should be thankful to the continued operation of the CDC for.
The old laundry.
It was an old-fashioned and a very different Singapore into which the former hospital came into being. With many in the already overcrowded municipality's rapidly increasing urban population living in quite insanitary conditions, the urban centre was rife with highly contagious and often deadly diseases. Containing the spread of them, especially among the largely ignorant townsfolk, posed a huge challenge.
The wards of the new Tan Tock Seng Hospital. Overworked medical staff from the hospital, which was also in Balestier Road before moving to their new site at Moulmein, provided care for the poor also attended to patients at the smallpox hospital and quarantine camp.
The former hospital's origins can be traced back to a smallpox hospital that was established in the early 1870s at Balestier Plain (where the Singapore Singapore Indian Association and its sports fields are now located). This was expanded with a quarantine camp to isolate and confine "natives" afflicted with other infectious diseases on an adjacent site. Overworked doctors from nearby Tan Tock Seng attended also to patients at the camp.
An 1893 Map showing the Smallpox Hospital and also a Leper Asylum in Balestier Plain (National Archives of Singapore).
A 1905 Map showing the smallpox hospital and the infectious diseases ward (National Archives of Singapore).
By the turn of the last century, it became apparent that the hospital/quarantine camp "was unfit to meet the requirements of a large population liable to epidemics of smallpox and cholera and, to a less extent, of plague". In 1905, plans were put forward by the Municipal Commission to erect an Infectious Disease Hospital at Moulmein Road. This would also provide wards for Europeans (not without objection), as well as "better class natives". It wasn't however until 1911 that work on a scaled-down version of the new hospital began in earnest.
Commissioned on 1 June 1913, the $270,000/- 172-bedded Infectious Diseases Hospital was described as being a "little more than the bones of what was proposed". It was an improvement however to the "ramshackle institution in Balestier Road" that it replaced. Spread over an 11.5 hectare site, the facility featured three camps for the isolation and confinement of patients infected with cholera, plague and smallpox.
There were originally three clusters of pavilion wards – all widely spaced from each other – "camps" encircled by a fence.
The gentle rising slope that the hospital was placed on, provided for drainage. A fence, a triple-fence on three sides and an iron fence along Moulmein Road, encircled the hospital. This was as much to keep the general public out as it was to keep patients in. The gatehouse provided the hospital with a "pre-processing gateway" with lodgings for the gatekeeper / caretaker on the upper level.
The "pre-processing gateway" – with caretaker's lodgings above.
Going past the gatehouse one would have seen the doctors and nurses quarters on the right, with those for other staff on the left. An administrative building was positioned right up the road. Three six-bedded wards were placed some distance away to its left with another three on its right. These were for observation and discharge.
What probably were the nurses quarters.
The camps, each enclosed by a fence, were found further up the road past the administrative building. The plague camp was arranged on the left, the cholera camp on the right, and the smallpox camp at the back at the top of the slope. The camps featured a ward for "natives" with extensions to accommodate "better class natives". "Europeans" were housed separately.
The administrative building.
The old-fashioned concept of infection control through separation and ample (natural) ventilation that resulted in the layout of the hospital and in the design of its wards is very much in evidence in the CDC's pavilion-style wards, even if they may have been modified. Air-conditioning, for both comfort and infection control, is one modern day addition. Building materials and fittings containing asbestos must also have been replaced. These would have been found in the Eternit ceiling panels that were fitted for insulation, damp and vermin control, and fire resistance.
Features for natural light and ventilation are found on the older ward buildings.
With the CDC moving to its new home last December where it has taken on a new identity as the National Centre for Infectious Diseases or NCID, time is being called on the former hospital. The site is marked for residential development under the URA Master Plan and it would probably not be long before all evidence of the hospital and its buildings is erased.
In the Master Plan.
Another former ward building.
Many of the former CDC's buildings do actually go back to its days as the Infectious Diseases Hospital of 1913, including the administrative building, a stand-alone mortuary building, and the laundry in its southeastern corner. The laundry, which was expanded postwar with the addition of a new building, was designed such that dhobis would not have had to handle the items to be laundered until they were properly disinfected and cleaned. There are also some of the original wards – Singapore's last pavilion wards to remain in use and former quarters.
The mortuary.
Possibly one of the original observation or discharge wards.
With the old hospital having passed into history, it also is important not to forget those associated with its past. Prof. Ernest Steven Monteiro is one who comes to mind whose pioneering in preventive medicine Singapore must be thankful for. Dr. Monteiro is credited with initiating what turned out to be a very successful mass vaccination campaign against polio in the the late 1950s.
The front of the mortuary.
Dr. Monteiro connection with the hospital was during the Japanese Occupation. As the Japanese appointed director of the then Densen Byoin, which was teeming with sick people with infectious diseases such as typhoid and ailments brought about through malnutrition, the young director faced many challenges. One especially serious one was the shortage of anti-diphtheria serum, which he overcame through improvisation. His son, Dr. Edmund Monteiro, was to make significant contributions to Middleton Hospital and the CDC during his service there from 1965 to 1993. The younger Dr. Monteiro's oversaw the hospital's transition to the CDC and co-ordinated the CDC's response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Ward 76, which was converted for use as a HIV/AIDS ward.
We should also remember the forgotten Dr. William Robert Colvin Middleton, after whom the hospital was named in 1920 upon his retirement. This was to recognise the many contributions he made as one of Singapore's longest serving Municipal Health Officers to improving lives and the role he played in the setting the hospital at Moulmein Road up. A short bio on Dr. Middleton can be found at the end of this post.
A visible part of the CDC today – former quarters.
The newer extension to the laundry.
Emergency wards set up for SARS.
An isolation room in the emergency wards.
A look inside one of the former wards.
A much more modern addition, a negative pressure ward.
(The forgotten) Dr. W. R. C. Middleton, Municipal Health Officer, 1894 to 1920
A painting of Dr. Middleton, one of three portraits painted by Anatole Shister for display in the Chief Committee Room of the new Municipal Building (later City Hall) in 1929 (National Collection as listed on roots.sg).
The son of a Church of Scotland Minister and a military chaplain in India, Dr. William Robert Colvin Middleton was born in Bombay in 1863. Having obtained his medical qualifications in 1888, he served as a resident physician in the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary before heading to Singapore in 1890 to work for Dr. Charles Llewellyn Howard Tripp in the Maynard and Co. Dispensary.
Dr. Middleton applied for the position of Municipal Health Officer in late 1893 when its became vacant due to the resignation of Dr. Charles Eardley Dumbleton. Dr. Middleton was given the appointment of Acting Health Officer in January 1894 with a view to the full post, on the condition that he obtain a Diploma in Public Health; the Municipal Commission had then determined that should be a prerequisite for the position. Dr. Middleton left for Aberdeen at the end of March that year, returning with the required Diploma in October, all at his own expense!
Dr. Middleton held the appointment of Municipal Health Office upon his return until his retirement late in 1920, except for a spell back home in during the Great War in 1916. He survived the torpedo attack on the ill-fated RMS Arabia, which sunk in the Mediterranean in November 1916, on his passage back to Singapore from this.
Besides the numerous contributions he made improving the state of sanitation in Singapore, as well as in other aspects of public health including in maternal care, Dr. Middleton also served as the Deputy President of the Municipal Commission in 1904. He held the rank of Major in the Singapore Volunteer Corps and was credited with setting a medical aid post up on the P & O wharf during Singapore Mutiny for the transfer of casualties to the military hospital on Pulau Blakang Mati.
He passed away at the age of 58, on 8 December 1921, in Bexhill in Sussex. He was survived by his wife, the former Mrs. Ethel Hunt, whom he married at St. Andrew's Cathedral in April 1909.
Tags: Balestier, Balestier Road, CDC, Communicable Diseases Centre, Dr W.R.C. Middleton, Dr William Robert Colvin Middleton, Infectious Diseases, Infectious Diseases Hospital, Middleton Hospital, Moulmein Green, Moulmein Road, Old Buildings, Old Hospitals, Old Singapore, Or Sai, Photography, Quarantine Camp, Reminders of the Past, Reminders of Yesterday, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, TTSH, William R C Middleton
Categories : Architecture, Changing Landscapes, Forgotten Buildings, Forgotten Places, Parting Glances, Photography Series, Reminders of Yesterday, Singapore, Thomson / Balestier Road Area
Bearing a burden through the streets of Singapore
Chetty (or Punar) Pusam / Thaipusam
With a greater proportion of folks in Chinatown preoccupied its dressing-up for the Chinese New Year on Sunday, a deeply-rooted Singaporean tradition that took place in the same neighbourhood, "Chetty Pusam", seemed to have gone on almost unnoticed.
Involving the Chettiar community, "Chetty Pusam" is held as a prelude to the Hindu festival of Thaipusam. It sees an especially colourful procession of Chettiar kavidi bearers who carry the burden from the Sri Layan Sithi Vinayagar Temple on Keong Saik Road through some streets of Chinatown to the Sri Mariamman Temple and then the Central Business District before ending at the Sri Thendayuthapani Temple on Tank Road.
The procession coincides with the return leg of the Silver Chariot's journey. The chariot, bears Lord Murugan or Sri Thendayuthapani (in whose honour the festival of Thaipusam is held) to visit his brother Sri Vinayagar (or Ganesh) in the early morning of the eve of Thaipusam and makes its return in the same evening.
More Photographs of Thaipusam in Singapore:
Vel, Vel, Vadivel: Thaipusam in Singapore (2010)
Sights Sans Sounds of Thaipusam in Singapore (2011)
Thaipusam at the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple (2012)
An Annual Walk of Faith (2013)
Faces of Thaipusam 2014 (2014)
What colours the full moon of Thai (2015)
The full moon of Thai (2016)
The Thaipusam Chariot Procession (2017)
Photographs of Thaipusam 2017
The Silver Chariot through the streets of Chinatown (2018)
Photographs of Thaipusam Preparations at the Sri Srinivasa Perunal Temple (2018)
Kavadis on Keong Saik (2018)
Tags: Chetty Pusam, Chinatown, Colours of Singapore, Devotion, Faces of Thaipusam, Festivals, Hindu Practices in Singapore, Hinduism, Keong Saik Road, Photography, Punar Pusam, Religious Festivals, Religious Procession, Religious Traditions, Silver Chariot, Singapore, Thaipusam, Thaipusam 2019, Traditions
Categories : Chinatown, Civic District, Devotion, Events, Photography, Photography Series, Singapore, Traditions
The Quadrant, built as a temporary Oversea Chinese Bank HQ
There has been much mystery over the origins of The Quadrant at 19 Cecil Street. Identified in Gretchen Liu's wonderful compilation of images charting Singapore's progress over the year's, Singapore: A Pictorial History 1819-2000, as having been built for the Kwangtung Provincial Bank, it turns out that it was for another Chinese bank – the Oversea Chinese Bank – for which it was erected for.
The Quadrant
Built in 1928/29 and designed by Keys and Dowdeswell, the motivation for the construction of the quadrant shaped Art Deco building – in an area that wasn't considered by the directors of the bank to have been in a "not quite central" location – was the need to search for temporary premises. The bank's HQ at 62-63 Chulia Street was affected by the implementation of the 1909 amendment to the Municipal Ordinance known as the "Back Lane Scheme" (more on the scheme: Off a little street in Singapore), which effectively cut its premises into half.
As the Kwangtung Provincial Bank, 1939 to 1979.
Rather than invest time and effort to seek new premises, the bank decided instead to erect a new building on a site at the corner of Cecil and Market Streets occupied by 6 three-storey shophouses they had acquired. The bank felt that the building – even if there were no plans to use it once a more central location (closer to the hub of commercial activity by the Singapore River) was found – was a "good investment". The bank moved out once its permanent premises at China Building in Chulia Street (current site of OCBC Centre), which was co-developed and shared with Chinese Commercial Bank, was completed in late 1931. The two banks together with Ho Hong Bank merged in 1932 in the face of the Great Depression under the Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) banner and China Building became OCBC's HQ.
China Building, completed in 1931.
The temporary HQ was occupied by wine merchants, Eastern Agencies from 1933 to 1938, the Kwangtung Provincial Bank from 1939 to 1979 and Four Seas Communications Bank from 1982 to 1990 (which was already part of the OCBC group by that time). Pacific Can, when the building was renamed Pacific Can Building, occupied it from around the early 1990s to the 2000s, by which time I have been advised it had come into the hands of the State. Other occupants were Cherie Hearts – a childcare group, and then the Homestead Group, , which has a lease on it until 2021. The group had planned to lease the premises out to a bank, but despite much interest, the economic put paid to the idea and instead has sub-let out the lower level of the building to The Black Swan. The grand banking hall the building was given is still very much in evidence in the gorgeously decorated bar and bistro – almost three decades since it was last used as a bank.
The Black Swan.
Stairway to the gallery (mezzanine).
Also in evidence at the rear section of the 20 feet high banking hall is an upper level "gallery" from which the bank's managers could have a view of what went on below, which the bistro uses as a cocktail bar, The Powder Room. There is also a private dining area located in the former vault.
The former banking hall – seen during yesterday's Discovering Singapore's Best Kept Secrets.
The Powder Room.
The former bank vault.
The upper levels of the building – access to which is through a beautifully built stairwell where a rebuilt 1929 vintage Marryat and Scott elevator is installed – is occupied by a co-working space run by WOTSO.
The stairwell.
Some of the lift's original mechanism.
WOTSO's co-working spaces on the upper levels.
Another view of the Powder Room.
The visit to The Quadrant was organised on 1 December 2018 as part of the Discovering Singapore's Best Kept Secrets series of State Property Visits, supported by the Singapore Land Authority, the Homestead Group, The Black Swan and WOTSO.
Tags: #SLASecretSpaces, #SLAStateProperty, 19 Cecil Street, 1920s Building Boom, Architecture, Banking History, Buildings, CBD, Colonial Architecture, Commercial Centre, Commercial Quarter, Discovering Singapore, Discovering Singapore's Best Kept Secrets, Homestead Group, Kwangtung Provincial Bank, Oversea Chinese Bank, Places of History, Singapore, Singapore Land Authority, The Black Swan, The Quadrant, WOTSO
Categories : Architecture, Architecture, Discovering Singapore's Best Kept Secrets, Forgotten Buildings, Photography Series, Reminders of Yesterday, Singapore, Singapore Architecture, State Property Visits
Inside the new star of MacTaggart
Uniquely shaped, the former Khong Guan factory stands out at the corner of MacTaggart and Burn Roads – especially so with a recent 8-storey extension that certainly added to the presence that its conserved façade has long commanded.
Having won an award for Restoration & Innovation at AHA 2018, its doors were recently opened for tours conducted by the URA, which provided an opportunity to have that much desired peek inside.
More on the factory and the restoration effort can be found at the following links:
2 MacTaggart Road : Stellar Landmark (URA)
The new star rising at MacTaggart Road
The fallen star of MacTaggart Road
Photographs of the interior and also of the restored exterior:
The attention grabbing mosaic and iron grille work on the ground level of the triangular shaped building's apex. The star is apparently a trademark of the maker of the iron grilles, Lea Hin Company (at the corner of Alexandra and Leng Kee Roads).
Inside what used to be a retail outlet that students from neighbouring Playfair School (across Burn Road) would frequent.
Iron grilles – very much a reminder of the days when the building came up in the 1950s. This one – a gate which the family used to gain access to their accommodation in the old building.
A view of the actual gate.
The reception – lit by a glass covered skylight.
The conjurer and his apprentice: Lee Yan Chang of URA showing the workings of the skylight's blinds.
The skylight as seen from the terrace above.
Stairway to a new heaven.
The stairway, which leads from the lobby to the corporate offices of Khong Guan's HQ.
The view from above.
A terrace on what used to be the roof deck of the old building.
A view of the extension from the terrace. Lightweight cladding, with aluminium honeycomb backing, is used on the exterior.
The former entrance to the building's offices. What it looked like previously: please click.
A display window. What it looked like previously: please click.
Tags: Architectural Heritage, Architectural Heritage Season, Architecture, Conservation, Heritage, Industrial Architecture, Industrial Buildings, Khong Guan Biscuit Factory, Landmarks, MacPherson Road, MacTaggart Road, Photography, Singapore, URA Architectural Heritage Awards
Categories : Architecture, Changing Landscapes, Conservation, Forgotten Buildings, Heritage Sites, Photography, Photography Series, Reminders of Yesterday, Singapore, Singapore Architecture, Unseen Singapore


A reinterpretation of rites and symbols illuminating some of the dark corners of primordial society.
Intrigued by Velikovsky's claim that Saturn was once the pre-eminent planetary god, David Talbott resolved to examine its mythical character. "I wanted to know,", he wrote, "if ancient sources had a coherent story to tell about the planet ... I had no inkling of the spectacular tale hidden in the chronicles.
In this startling re-interpretation of age-old symbolism Talbott argues that the "Great God" or "Universal Monarch" of the ancients was not the sun, but Saturn, which once hung ominously close to the earth, and visually dominated the heavens.
Talbott's close textual and symbolic analysis reveals the fundamental themes of Saturn imagery and proves that all of them -- including the "cosmic ship", the "island at the top of the world", the "eye of heaven" and "the revolving temple" were based on celestial observations in the northern sky. In addition he shows how such diverse symbols as the Cross, "sun"-wheels, holy mountains, crowns of royalty and sacred pillars grew out of ancient Saturn worship. Talbott contends that Saturn's appearance at the time, radically different from today, inspired man's leap into civilization, since many aspects of early civilization can be seen as conscious efforts to re-enact or commemorate Saturn's organization of his "celestial" kingdom.
A fascinating look at ancient history and cosmology, The Saturn Myth is a provocative book that might well change the way you think about man's history and the history of the universe.
David N. Talbott is the founder and former publisher of Pensee, and out-growth of the Student Academic Forum which developed the book, Velikovsky Reconsidered. He is also the co-author of The Ecstasy of Sati-Ra, a cosmological mystery. He now lives with his family in Oregon.
Copyright © 1980 by David N.Talbott.


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Tag Archives: #CollegeJourn
The CollegeJourn global reporting project
"How does the healthcare on my University campus compare to the healthcare at other Universities?"
That is the focus of CollegeJourn's first collaborative data-gathering project, an idea that has rapidly gained momentum in just one week.
Some background on CollegeJourn: Founded by Ben Leis (@benleis) in January of this year, CollegeJourn started out as a Twitter hashtag chat for journalism students, educators and practitioners for the furtherance of ideas on remodelling journalism education to suit a rapidly changing industry.
With burgeoning popularity, the hashtag chat switched to a chatroom hosted on collegejourn.com, taking place at 8pm EDT every Sunday evening. I set up a parallel chat at a more amenable time of 8pm BST for European participants, also hosted at collegejourn.com, in March.
Last week, the idea of a global collaborative project for student reporters was floated. The first, a 'hard-news' data-gathering assignment, would go hand-in-hand with the second, a thematic feature piece exploring the history of a word or concept in the relevant location. You can find CollegeJourn transcripts to catch up on here.
For the first part, participants would gather data relevant to their location on a particular topic, collaborating with those investigating the same in other locations as they go. On or before the deadline, reporters would bring their findings together for use in one (or more, depending on findings) finished publication.
In the second-part of the assignment, contributors would file their feature pieces as a news-feature accompaniment, allowing for creative interpretation across the globe and likely producing some interesting interpretations. The accompaniment to the investigation above is "What does 'health' mean in your location?".
Sarah Jackson (@sarahsodyssey), involved in the chat on the night, blogged about her dream of a 'global collaborative journalism project' here. Suzanne Yada (@suzanneyada), moderator of the US-based chat, later said, 'we're breaking out of the naval-gazing. Let's stop talking about journalism and do some journalism'.
As a platform for the collaboration, we will use HelpMeInvestigate.com. Aside from the benefits of working alongside a highly-skilled virtual newsroom, HMI allows us to easily break the investigation down into digestible challenges and see the progress of others working on the same thing. UPDATE: Click here for Help Me Investigate group.
For group communication, we will be using the newly-acquired Publish2 network, Wired Journalists. Click here for the CollegeJourn group. Weekly catch-up chats will also be held on Sundays, 8pm BST (3pm EDT), at collegejourn.com. All welcome.
Even though the (very) new UK Student Publication Association is in it's earliest stages, I would urge them to jump on board for this project. As an organisation that seeks to work to 'support student publications and their contributors by offering guidance, knowledge sharing, links in to the industry', this would seem to be the perfect opportunity to develop alongside similar networks.
Likewise, I would urge anyone who's as excited about this as us to get involved. By the nature of the project, we're wanting contributors from all corners of the globe to join in, so do get in touch.
Feel free to come along to our Sunday chats and join our Wired Journalists group. Presuming you're on Twitter, send a message to @suzanneyada, me (@JoshHalliday), @sarahsodyssey or tag your tweet with #collegejourn to jump into the conversation. We'll look forward to hearing from you!
This entry was posted in online journalism and tagged #CollegeJourn, collaborative, j-school on August 31, 2009 by Paul Bradshaw.
#CollegeJourn comes to Europe
The widely respected #CollegeJourn is coming to Europe. #CollegeJourn was established as the real-time online discussion for members of the college journalism community in the US. But it runs in the early hours of Monday mornings, which often stops people from this side of the Atlantic attending.
So Sunderland journalism student Josh Halliday, editor for www.injournalism.co.uk, is launching a chat for Europe at a more amenable hour. #CollegeJourn Europe will launch this Sunday 22nd March at 8pm GMT.
Josh said: "It's a great chance for those in journalism education who are either worried or excited about the state of journalism today to come along and see what others think."
If you want to share some ideas for the discussion in advance, you can send any topic suggestions towards the #collegejourn hashtag on Twitter, to Josh directly or the deceptively named @florida_mike. To read more about plans and topics that might come up then take a read over at Josh's blog.
The mission of #CollegeJourn is to provide a meaningful and resourceful forum of conversation for college journalists. University journalists, journalism professors, and journalism professionals, are all welcome. Josh is hoping to attract some big names in j-education to the opening debate. The chat takes place in Meebo. Put it in your diary now, and spread the word.
This entry was posted in online journalism and tagged #CollegeJourn, Alex Lockwood, j-school, josh halliday, journalism education on March 19, 2009 by Paul Bradshaw.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The Annual Report is presented by the Chair each year at our AGM. All clubs, teams and players are invited to attend.
The dates for the remaining ladies/sitting evenings are January 12th, February 2nd and April 5th. There is no ladies/sitting evening in March, instead there is a novice evening on March 8th (there was no room for a ladies/sitting evening as well).
The 2015/2016 fixtures page has now been updated with all the games for 2016 (the first couple of months were updated last week). As per usual there are no games this week (Christmas holidays) so the next games will be on Tuesday January 5th 2016. The league table pages will get updated soon so they contain all the fixtures.
but they can also be linked to from the top menu items (under Indoor League).


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Florida teen who threatened Denver-area schools found dead
2:00 PM EDT, Wed April 17, 2019
An armed teen allegedly obsessed with the Columbine shooting has been found dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said Wednesday.
Sol Pais, 18, had allegedly made threats to schools in the Denver area, sparking a massive manhunt that started Tuesday.
Pais traveled this week from Miami to Colorado, where she bought a pump-action shotgun and ammunition, said Dean Phillips, special agent in charge of the Denver FBI.
She had allegedly expressed an infatuation with the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado; because of her comments and actions, she was considered a credible threat to the community, Phillips said. The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office had called Pais "extremely dangerous."
This Saturday will mark 20 years since the Columbine massacre. On April 20, 1999, two students opened fire at Columbine High School, murdering 12 classmates and a teacher before killing themselves.
In the wake of the threats, Denver public schools closed on Wednesday, as well as public schools in Jefferson County, which encompasses Columbine High School.
"A student who doesn't feel safe at school is not a well educated student," John McDonald, Executive Director of Jefferson County schools, said at a Wednesday news conference. "I'm very thankful this threat is over and we can get back to the business of learning. But we know that Columbine continues to attract people from around the world, and if I have any message: we are not a place to come visit if you are not a student… we are not a tourist attraction and we are not a place for you to come and gain inspiration."
Public schools are also closed Wednesday in nearby Littleton, Cherry Creek, Douglas County and Aurora.
Schools in the Denver area were placed on lockout as a precaution on Tuesday. Students were later released and no one was injured.
The threat wasn't isolated to one school or individual, police said.
Pais was a senior at Miami Beach Senior High School in Miami, Florida. The Miami-Dade County Public Schools said it was "fully cooperating" with the search for the teenager.
"There is no immediate threat to Miami-Dade Schools. However, in an abundance of caution and as a matter of prevention, we have heightened our alert systems and have disseminated information regarding this individual, including her picture, to all schools throughout the District," Miami-Dade schools said in a statement on Wednesday. "Law enforcement officials are conducting a comprehensive background check on this student. Based on initial information, she has not been the subject of any investigation."
Pais' neighbor, Ben Nohan, described the teen to ABC News as "an incredibly sweet girl."
"There's nothing really out of the ordinary about her… they're the nicest neighbors I have," Nohan said Wednesday morning. "I'm hoping for the best."
Deputies make first-ever drone rescue in Collier County
Naples students learn what it was like to live in the Middle Ages


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Research | Open | Published: 27 December 2018
Comparative safety and effectiveness of cholinesterase inhibitors and memantine for Alzheimer's disease: a network meta-analysis of 41 randomized controlled trials
Kai-Xin Dou1,
Meng-Shan Tan1,
Chen-Chen Tan1,
Xi-Peng Cao2,
Xiao-He Hou1,
Qi-Hao Guo3,
Lan Tan1,
Vincent Mok4,5,6 &
Jin-Tai Yu1,7
Alzheimer's Research & Therapyvolume 10, Article number: 126 (2018) | Download Citation
Cholinesterase inhibitors and memantine have been approved for management of Alzheimer's disease (AD), but there has been no consensus about the choice of various types and doses of drugs at different stages. Hence, we compared and ranked the efficacy and tolerability of these available drugs.
We searched PubMed, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and Embase for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published from database inception to July 21, 2017. The primary outcomes were the mean overall changes in cognitive function and responders who had any adverse events. We conducted a random-effects network meta-analysis.
Forty-one RCTs were included in this study. Compared with placebo, galantamine 32 mg daily (standardized mean difference – 0.51, 95% credible interval – 0.67 to − 0.35), galantamine 24 mg daily (− 0.50, − 0.61 to − 0.40), and donepezil 10 mg daily (− 0.40, − 0.51 to − 0.29) were probably the most effective agents on cognition for mild to moderate AD, and memantine 20 mg combined with donepezil 10 mg (0.76, 0.39 to 1.11) was recommended for moderate to severe patients. Memantine showed the best profile of acceptability. Rivastigmine transdermal 15-cm2 patch was the best optional treatment both in function and global changes. None of the medicines was likely to improve neuropsychiatric symptoms through this analysis.
Pharmacological interventions have beneficial effects on cognition, function, and global changes, but not on neuropsychiatric symptoms, through current network meta-analysis. The choice of drugs may mainly depend on the disease severity and clinical symptoms.
Alzheimer's disease (AD), a progressive neurodegenerative disorder, is the most common form of dementia affecting 46.8 million people with an enormous public health impact [1, 2]. Primary manifestations of AD include progressive deterioration of cognition, impairment in functional ability, and alterations of neuropsychiatric symptoms. Currently, there are no therapeutic interventions that can delay the disease progression, but available medications have provided symptomatic benefits [3]. Two main classes of drugs are recommended by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for pharmacological management of AD: cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEIs) donepezil, galantamine, and rivastigmine, which are licensed for mild to moderate AD [4, 5]; and glutamate antagonist memantine for moderate to severe stage [6]. Donepezil is the only ChEI to be indicated for use all across the full spectrum of AD [7]. Owing to fewer treatment options for more serious patients, donepezil 23 mg was approved for moderate to severe AD in recent years [8, 9] and the combination therapy of donepezil plus memantine is proposed for treating patients in this stage [10].
Previous meta-analyses focused only on comparing the efficacy and tolerability of drugs with placebo, which gave the clinical application directions [6, 11, 12]. Those findings showed modest benefits for improving the symptoms related to cognition, function, behavior, and clinical global changes [13, 14]. But considering the lack of direct comparative evidence among available drugs, the results of those studies were inconclusive on how to choose the optimal therapeutic regimens to achieve the maximum efficiency [15]. The network meta-analysis combines evidence from a network of all included trials to rank all available treatments in terms of efficacy and tolerability, providing estimates for interventions even if they have not been directly compared [16]. Here, we therefore conducted a network meta-analysis to comprehensively compare and rank different types and dosages of cognitive enhancers at different clinical stages for guiding treatment decisions.
Search strategy and selection criteria
In this network meta-analysis, potentially eligible randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were searched through PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, which were published between database inception and July 21, 2017. Additional trials were retrieved from the cited references of relevant published meta-analyses and systematic reviews. Included studies were completed RCTs with English language publication that met the following criteria: only double-blind RCTs with follow-up of 12–104 weeks; the trials compared four primary FDA-approved treatments (donepezil, galantamine, rivastigmine, or memantine) alone or in combination (only including the donepezil–memantine combination approved by the FDA) with placebo or other treatments; drug dosages were specific and within the therapeutic range; eligible participants had a clinical diagnosis based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) for dementia of the Alzheimer's type or the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke and the Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association (NINCDS-ADRDA) for probable AD [17]; criteria for disease severity classification were reasonable; and at least one of the five outcomes of cognition, function, behavior, global assessment, or adverse events was covered. We excluded quasi-randomized trials, trials with too short-term or too long-term follow-up (< 12 weeks or > 104 weeks), trials that included patients with mixed dementia or neuropsychiatric symptoms, and trials that recruited fewer than 10 participants per group.
Data extraction and quality assessment
Basic study characteristics—for instance, sample size, age, gender, race, drug dosage, disease severity, diagnostic criteria, trial duration, cognitive scores of baseline level, efficacy outcomes of the change from baseline, and individuals who experienced all-cause adverse events—were extracted from each trial. For all of the studies included, we analyzed the intention-to-treat (ITT) population results if the trials adopted the ITT approach [18]. Three investigators (K-XD, M-ST, and C-CT) independently abstracted information from original articles with the standardized data extraction table. If no consensus was reached, further discussion would be carried out with other members of the team or authors. We appraised the risk of bias using the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool [19].
Measurement scales that were used in the trials were different from each other. We paid close attention to cognitive function (the mean overall changes from baseline to endpoint) and tolerability (the responders who had any adverse events during the treatment period) for the primary outcomes. Efficacy in cognition was mainly evaluated by the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale—cognition subscale (ADAS-cog), the Severe Impairment Battery (SIB), and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Secondary outcomes included daily functions assessed by the Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study—Activities of Daily Living (ADCS-ADL) and the Bristol Activities of Daily Living Scale (BADLS), neuropsychiatric symptoms assessed by the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI), and the global assessment of changes assessed by the Clinician's Interview Based Impression of Change Plus Caregiver Input (CIBIC plus) and the Clinical Global Impression of Change (CGIC). Based on all included RCTs in this network meta-analysis, we summarized that most of the patients with mild to moderate AD have MMSE scores of 10–26 and those with moderate-to-severe AD have scores of 0–15.
At first, we conducted a pairwise meta-analysis using the random-effects model. We chose the standardized mean difference (SMD) with 95% confidence interval (CI) as the effect sizes for continuous results, while dichotomous results were calculated using pooled odds ratios (ORs). We quantitatively investigated the statistical heterogeneity in each direct comparison using the I2 statistic and P value. Publication bias was examined with the Egger's regression test. The pairwise meta-analysis was conducted in STATA (version 14.1) software.
Secondly, we performed a random-effects model Bayesian network meta-analysis using WinBUGS software (version 1.4.3; MRC Biostatistics Unit, Cambridge, UK) and drew relevant diagrams with STATA [20]. We summarized the results of the network meta-analysis by choosing the SMD or OR with corresponding credible intervals (CrIs) as effect sizes. We adopted noninformative priors and changed the precision of the prior distribution in sensitivity analyses. Details about the WinBUGS codes are presented in Additional file 1: Supplementary 1. The global heterogeneity of network meta-analyses was assessed by the I2 statistic with the gemtc R package (version 3.2.2). Inconsistency was statistically examined by calculating the significant discrepancies between direct and indirect evidence in each closed loop with the loop-specific method and the node splitting method [21,22,23]. The intervention hierarchy was estimated and expressed by rankograms, the surface under the cumulative ranking curve (SUCRA), and mean ranks [24]. The comparison-adjusted funnel plot could be drawn to detect publication bias in the network meta-analysis [24].
Study characteristics, the main source of heterogeneity, might affect the accuracy of the results. Correspondingly, we conducted the subgroup network meta-analyses for secondary outcomes to adjust for the difference in severity of disease. Additionally, sensitivity network meta-analyses were conducted to examine the robustness of primary outcomes by omitting short-term or longer follow-up studies (only including studies with 20–30 weeks of follow-up).
Literature search findings
Through electronic searches, we identified 11,599 citations and assessed 176 full-text articles for potentially eligibility. We excluded 135 studies and the remaining 41 studies were included for the network meta-analysis (Fig. 1). Overall, we used eligible double-blind RCTs published from 1998 to 2016, which enrolled 18,898 individuals. The detailed lists of the included studies and clinical characteristics are presented in Additional file 1: Supplementary 2 and 3. The studies were mainly conducted in European and American countries (80.4%) and about 64.7% of participants were women. The mean period was 28.7 (between 12 and 104) weeks and the average number of individuals was 207 (range 11–1024) in each group. Only five trials had a follow-up time shorter than 20 weeks. As for the risk of bias, most RCTs (73.2%) had a low risk of bias for random sequence generation and incomplete outcome data (87.8%). However, 60.1% of studies were rated as unclear risk of bias for blinding of participants and personnel, and 82.9% for selective outcome reporting (Additional file 1: Supplementary 4).
Flow diagram of study selection
Pairwise meta-analysis
Detailed results of pairwise meta-analyses are presented in Additional file 1: Supplementary 5. For assessment of cognition, all drugs except for rivastigmine 5-cm2 patch were significantly more efficacious than placebo for mild to moderate AD; the combination therapy of memantine 20 mg with donepezil 10 mg, donepezil 10 mg daily alone, and memantine 20 mg daily alone were superior to placebo for moderate to severe AD. In terms of tolerability, donepezil 10 mg daily, galantamine (24 and 32 mg), and rivastigmine (12 mg oral and 5-cm2 patch) were less well tolerated than placebo for mild to moderate AD; donepezil 10 mg daily was less well tolerated than placebo for moderate to severe AD. In terms of activities of daily living, the combination therapy of memantine 20 mg with donepezil 10 mg, donepezil 10 mg daily alone, galantamine 24 mg daily alone, and rivastigmine 10-cm2 patch alone were more efficacious than placebo. For assessment of global changes, donepezil (5 and 10 mg), galantamine 24 mg, and rivastigmine 12 mg were superior to placebo. Only galantamine 24 mg significantly improved in neuropsychiatric symptoms compared with placebo. Overall, the heterogeneity of direct comparisons was moderate (I2 < 50% for most comparisons, Additional file 1: Supplementary 5). However, we found I2 > 70% for direct comparisons of donepezil 10 mg vs donepezil 23 mg (I2 = 72.3%) and galantamine 24 mg vs galantamine 32 mg (I2 = 71.1%).
Network meta-analysis—primary outcomes
Cognitive functions for mild to moderate AD
In our network meta-analysis, 22 trials assessed mean changes of cognition based on the ADAS-cog scale for mild to moderate AD. The network plot of comparisons among available drugs in cognition for mild to moderate patients is shown in Fig. 2a. All interventions, except for rivastigmine 15-cm2 patch, had at least one placebo-controlled comparison and all drugs were directly compared with at least one other treatment. The results for the primary outcomes among the mild to moderate patients are displayed in a league table format (Fig. 3). All drugs except for rivastigmine 5-cm2 patch were significantly more efficacious than placebo, with SMDs ranging between − 0.51 (95% CrI − 0.67 to − 0.35) for galantamine 32 mg daily and − 0.24 (− 0.40 to − 0.08) for memantine 20 mg daily. Both galantamine 24 mg and 32 mg were superior to four other therapeutic regimens (rivastigmine 12 mg, 5-cm2 patch, and 10-cm2 patch and memantine 20 mg); otherwise, galantamine 24 mg daily was superior to donepezil 5 mg (SMD − 0.18, 95% CrI − 0.33 to − 0.01). Figure 4 shows the probabilities of 10 therapy regimens ranked in order. Galantamine 32 mg daily had the greatest probability to be the best choice to enhance cognitive performance according to the SUCRA (91.1%). The therapies of galantamine 24 mg (90.9%), donepezil 10 mg (72.8%), and rivastigmine 15-cm2 patch (59.8%) followed close behind in second, third, and fourth.
Network of eligible comparisons of cognition for mild to moderate AD (a) and moderate to severe AD (b). Width of lines proportional to number of trials comparing every pair of treatments, and size of every node proportional to number of randomly assigned participants (sample size). DON donepezil, GAL galantamine, MEM memantine, PBO placebo, RIV rivastigmine
Comparative efficacy and tolerability for mild to moderate AD in the network meta-analysis: comparisons should be read from left to right. Efficacy and tolerability estimate located at intersection of column-defining treatment and row-defining treatment. For efficacy (mean changes of cognition), SMD < 0 favors column-defining treatment. For tolerability (all-cause adverse events), OR < 1 favors row-defining treatment. Significant results bold and underlined. CrI credible interval, DON donepezil, GAL galantamine, MEM memantine, OR odds ratio, PBO placebo, RIV rivastigmine, SMD standardized mean difference
Rank for efficacy on cognition (solid line) and tolerability (dotted line) for mild to moderate AD. Ranking (x axis) indicates probability to be best treatment, second best, third best, and so on. DON donepezil, GAL galantamine, MEM memantine, PBO placebo, RIV rivastigmine
Cognitive functions for moderate to severe AD
For assessment of cognitive function for moderate to severe patients, the SIB scale and the MMSE were used in 12 studies to assess five treatment regimens (Fig. 2b). The combination therapy of memantine 20 mg daily plus donepezil 10 mg daily (SMD 0.76, 95% CrI 0.39 to 1.11), donepezil 23 mg daily alone (0.60, 0.21 to 0.99), donepezil 10 mg daily alone (0.53, 0.33 to 0.75), and memantine 20 mg daily alone (0.34, 0.08 to 0.63) showed statistical significance compared with placebo, but no significant differences were observed between either of the two active drugs (Additional file 1: Supplementary 6). The combination therapy had the greatest probability to be the best treatment according to the SUCRA (91.5%), followed by donepezil 23 mg daily with the greatest probability (69.6%) in second position, and then donepezil 10 mg daily (57.3%) and memantine 20 mg daily (31.3%), see Additional file 1: Supplementary 8.
Tolerability for mild to moderate AD
In terms of tolerability, 21 RCTs with 10 interventions provided data on participants experiencing any adverse events in mild to moderate stage. The network plot was presented in the Additional file 1: Supplementary 7. The network meta-analysis revealed that no active drugs were more tolerable than placebo and only memantine 20 mg daily, donepezil 5 mg daily, and rivastigmine 5-cm2 patch did not present a significantly higher risk of adverse events than placebo (Fig. 3). Rivastigmine 12 mg daily had a significantly higher risk of adverse events than placebo (OR 2.87, 95% CrI 1.97 to 4.14) and five other therapeutic regimens (donepezil 5 mg, donepzeil 10 mg, galantamine 24 mg, rivastigmine 10-cm2 patch, and memantine 20 mg). Probably, the best acceptable regimen was memantine 20 mg daily with a SUCRA of 87.3%, followed by donepezil 5 mg (78.1%), donepezil 10 mg (53.7%), and then galantamine 24 mg (50.4%). Rivastigmine 12 mg daily with a SUCRA of 8.4% and galantamine 32 mg (15.2%) had the highest probability of being ranked in the last two positions (Fig. 4).
Tolerability for moderate to severe AD
For assessment of tolerability for moderate to severe patients, only 10 studies with four treatments were evaluated. All drugs except for memantine 20 mg daily had a significantly higher risk of potentially adverse reactions than placebo (ORs ranging from 1.56 to 2.63). Donepezil 23 mg was less well tolerated than donepezil 10 mg (OR 1.69, 95% CrI 1.20 to 2.35) and memantine 20 mg daily (2.56, 1.35 to 4.50). Memantine 20 mg showed the highest probability (SUCRA 83.5%) of receiving the highest treatment acceptability rating, followed by donepezil 10 mg (50.3%) and memantine 20 mg in combination with donepezil 10 mg (21.9%), while donepezil 23 mg was ranked in last position (4.5%).
Network meta-analysis—secondary outcomes
In terms of secondary outcomes, 20 studies with nine treatments reported data on the activities of daily living according to the ADL and BADLS scale. All drugs except for rivastigmine 5-cm2 patch were significantly more efficacious than placebo, with SMDs ranging between 0.12 (95% CrI 0.01 to 0.23) for memantine 20 mg daily and 0.42 (0.15 to 0.69) for rivastigmine 15-cm2 patch (Fig. 5a). Rivastigmine 15-cm2 patch was significantly superior to memantine 20 mg daily (SMD 0.31, 95% CrI 0.01 to 0.59). Rivastigmine 15-cm2 patch was likely to be the best treatment to improve activities of daily living (SUCRA 93.2%), followed by memantine 20 mg in combination with donepezil 10 mg (76.4%). Sixteen studies measured the mean changes on the NPI scale for the efficacy of neuropsychiatric symptoms, which evaluated five different therapy regimens and placebo. The network meta-analysis indicated that all interventions did not have significant improvements in neuropsychiatric symptoms compared with placebo. The assessment of clinical global changes with 22 eligible studies and 11 treatments on the CIBIC+ scale and the CGIC scale indicated that donepezil 5 mg, 10 mg, and 23 mg were significantly more efficacious than placebo (ORs ranging between 1.98 and 2.15); rivastigmine 12 mg, 10-cm2 patch, and 15-cm2 patch were superior to placebo (ORs ranging between 1.57 and 2.77). The results are shown in Fig. 5b. Rivastigmine 15-cm2 patch received the highest treatment acceptability rating according to the SUCRA (83.6%), followed by donepezil 10 mg (81.7%) and donepezil 5 mg (71.3%).
Forest plots of network meta-analysis of efficacy on function (a) and global changes (b) compared with placebo. SMD standardized mean difference, OR odds ratio, CrI credible interval
Subgroup analyses and sensitivity analyses
We estimated the effects on different severities of disease for secondary outcomes in subgroup analyses (Additional file 1: Supplementary 11). For assessment of activities of daily living, rivastigmine 15-cm2 patch (SMD 0.41, 95% CrI 0.02 to 0.81) and donepezil 10 mg (0.25, 0.04 to 0.46) were better than placebo on function for mild to moderate AD; the combination therapy of memantine 20 mg with donepezil 10 mg and donepezil 10 mg daily alone showed the superiority in activities of daily living in moderate to severe AD. The results on global changes were similar to those of the main analyses and no statistical difference was observed between active drugs and placebo on neuropsychiatric symptoms. The results of sensitivity analyses did not affect the main results by omitting short-term or longer follow-up trials (Additional file 1: Supplementary 12).
Consistency analyses and heterogeneity analyses
There was statistical incoherence between the comparison of donepezil 5 mg daily with placebo and that of donepezil 5 mg with donepezil 10 mg for mild to moderate AD by the node-splitting method using direct and indirect evidence (Additional file 1: Supplementary 9). In heterogeneity analyses, we found that the global I2 value was higher than 75% in cognition among the population with moderate to severe AD (80.12%, Additional file 1: Supplementary 13). The comparison-adjusted funnel plots of the network meta-analysis showed a relatively symmetrical distribution and suggested that publication bias did not exist (Additional file 1: Supplementary 10).
This network meta-analysis comprehensively compares and ranks efficacy and tolerability among current available cognitive enhancers approved by the FDA for AD. The cholinesterase inhibitors result in better outcomes on cognition than memantine for mild to moderate patients, among which galantamine and donepezil are probably the interventions most strongly associated with cognitive improvements. For moderate to severe AD, the combination therapy of donepezil 10 mg with memantine 20 mg is the most effective regimen, followed by donepezil 23 mg alone. However, none of the cognitive enhancers was likely to improve behavior. The higher-dose rivastigmine transdermal patch (15 cm2) was probably the best option considering the benefits of both function and clinical global impression. Memantine shows the best profile of acceptability, while rivastigmine oral form is associated with a high incidence of adverse events. Both clinical efficacy and adverse events related to cognitive enhancers are shown to be dose dependent. Our findings may help physicians choose targeted pharmaceuticals for patients with different stages and clinical symptoms.
In this network meta-analysis, we extend the previous meta-analysis by including a large number of studies with a broader dosage range and enrolling more patients in all stages of disease. Two dosages of galantamine 24 mg and 32 mg daily were involved for mild to moderate AD. The corresponding SMD (efficacy) of 0.01 and OR (tolerability) of 0.64 indicated no additional risk–benefit profile from higher doses. Hence, this evidence suggested that galantamine 24 mg daily probably had a favorable balance between benefits and tolerability. For patients with moderate to severe AD, it was observed that the combination therapy of donepezil 10 mg with memantine 20 mg offered the highest level of cognitive benefits, and the results generally supported previous studies and current guidelines [10, 25,26,27]. Moreover, we evaluated the effects and safety of donepezil 23 mg approved recently. This treatment showed beneficial effects on cognition, but had the lowest safety profile. The Asia-Pacific Expert Panel for donepezil 23 mg recommended that we should perform a stepwise escalation of donepezil to 23 mg daily and monitor the incidence of adverse events in a timely manner [28].
All pharmacological interventions are well tolerated for most patients. Compared with placebo, more side effects occurred with ChEIs and combined treatment, but not with memantine. Although ChEIs share a similar mode of action, they differ in pharmacologic characteristics and routes of administration, which can determine the pharmacological and toxicity profile [29]. Rivastigmine capsules 12 mg daily were strongly associated with high incidence of all-cause adverse events among ChEIs. The transdermal patch formulation approved for use across all stages of AD has been shown to have a better tolerability in comparison to the oral form. A higher dose of the rivastigmine transdermal patch (15 cm2) is also approved for the treatment of moderate to severe AD [30]. Better outcomes were observed as improvements in daily activities and global clinical impression in our analysis. The transdermal system delivery is innovative because it reaches the point of steady-state plasma concentration in a shorter time and alleviates the adverse reactions of the gastrointestinal tract better than the oral form based on the principle of pharmacokinetics [31]. Overall, the transdermal patch may provide a new approach to AD therapy.
Neuropsychiatric symptoms are common features throughout all stages of AD, which lead to a heavy burden for patients and caregivers [32]. Previous meta-analyses have already concluded that the ChEIs and memantine have benefits in the treatment with neuropsychiatric symptoms, and various drugs show mixed results [12, 33]. The results of our pairwise meta-analyses showed that only galantamine's beneficial effects were verified compared with placebo, but no significant difference for cognitive enhancers was found through the network meta-analysis. Furthermore, there was no statistical difference between five active treatments and placebo in our subgroup meta-analysis. Fewer patients with neuropsychiatric symptoms based on our inclusion criteria may provide a reasonable explanation for the discrepant result. Many systematic reviews and meta-analyses recommended that antipsychotics, ginkgo biloba, and nonpharmacological treatment provide evidence of effects for patients with behavioral symptoms [12, 34,35,36]. Developing new drugs targeting neuropsychiatric symptoms and further research to strengthen evidence of therapeutic benefits are needed.
This network meta-analysis has several limitations. We found that the main inconsistency in our network analysis was in the loop of donepezil 5 mg–placebo–donepezil 10 mg, and we considered that this inconsistency was related to the difference in durations of the included trials. We conducted sensitivity network meta-analyses restricting the study period to 20–30 weeks, which did not result in any further inconsistency. The global heterogeneity of network meta-analyses was high in cognition among the population with moderate to severe AD, probably because different measurements (MMSE and SIB scale) were included in this network. In the pairwise meta-analysis, the heterogeneity was high for donepezil 10 mg vs placebo, and we found that two trials had a relatively shorter follow-up (12 weeks), which may have led to increased heterogeneity. The research implications of these results were limited by study characteristics (such as trial durations, simple sizes, and inclusion or exclusion criteria) and methodological models, and they also suffered from the bias due to quite fewer studies in a pair of comparisons or selective reporting, which might result in potential confounding factors to be cautious of. Although we used multiple databases to search published articles as much as we can and sent emails to authors for additional detailed information, we are still unable to exclude some possibilities that several unpublished studies are unavailable or that included eligible trials might overvalue the research outcomes. Furthermore, this network meta-analysis offers a clearly hierarchic relationship, but intervention rankings have a certain degree of imprecision, because most interventions have overlapping 95% CrIs [37].
In this network meta-analysis, we did not involve a cost-effectiveness analysis. Medication cost accounts for a large proportion of the total dementia healthcare cost. It is indicated by most economic evaluations that pharmacological treatments for AD are reasonable in terms of clinical effects and costs. The probabilistic sensitivity analyses suggested that donepezil and memantine were cost-effective with slightly greater quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) [38, 39]. Treatment with donepezil plus memantine was cost-effective within the willingness-to-pay threshold in moderate-to-severe AD [40, 41]. Nevertheless, the results generally are associated with a degree of uncertainty, which is related to country-specific data. In England, the use of prescription drugs doubled after introducing the national dementia strategies [42]. The proportion of people who receive the concomitant use of AChEI and memantine has increased in Europe [43]. Indeed, drug costs are very high in some countries (China, Indonesia, South Africa) because some drugs remain on patent and these countries are reluctant to use generic medicines.
Our analysis provides some evidence that galantamine and donepezil may show the highest level of efficacy in cognition for mild to moderate AD, and the combination therapy (memantine 20 mg with donepezil 10 mg) and donepezil 23 mg daily are recommended for moderate to severe patients. The higher-dose rivastigmine transdermal patch (15 cm2) is the best option considering the benefits of both function and clinical global impression. None of the medicines is likely to improve behavior through current network meta-analysis. Memantine shows the best profile of acceptability, while rivastigmine oral form is associated with a high incidence of adverse events. Although the clinical effects are uncertain in the multifactor environment, these findings are helpful for guiding treatment decisions. Hopefully, further research should try to differentiate more clearly the effects of monotherapy versus combined therapies.
ADAS-cog:
Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale—cognition subscale
ADCS-ADL:
Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study—Activities of Daily Living
BADLS:
Bristol Activities of Daily Living Scale
CGIC:
Clinical Global Impression of Change
ChEI:
Cholinesterase inhibitor
CIBIC plus:
Clinician's Interview Based Impression of Change Plus Caregiver Input
CrI:
Credible interval
DSM:
Intention to treat
Mini-Mental State Examination
National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke and the Alzheimer's Disease and Relate Disorders Association
RCT:
SIB:
Severe Impairment Battery
Standardized mean difference
SUCRA:
Surface under the cumulative ranking curve
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The authors thank Prof. Nan Zhang for critical review.
This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Provided as additional supporting files.
Department of Neurology, Qingdao Municipal Hospital, Qingdao University, No. 5 Donghai Middle Road, Qingdao, China
Kai-Xin Dou
, Meng-Shan Tan
, Chen-Chen Tan
, Xiao-He Hou
, Lan Tan
& Jin-Tai Yu
Clinical Research Center, Qingdao Municipal Hospital, Qingdao University, Qingdao, China
Xi-Peng Cao
Department of Neurology & Institute of Neurology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, WHO Collaborating Center for Research and Training in Neurosciences, Shanghai, China
Qi-Hao Guo
Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories Hong Kong, China
Vincent Mok
Therese Pei Fong Chow Research Center for Prevention of Dementia, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories Hong Kong, China
Gerald Choa Neuroscience Centre, Lui Che Woo Institute of Innovative Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories Hong Kong, China
Department of Neurology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, No. 12 Wulumuqi Road, Shanghai, China
Jin-Tai Yu
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J-TY, M-ST, and K-XD conceptualized and designed the study. K-XD conducted the study. K-XD, M-ST, and C-CT analyzed and extracted data. K-XD wrote the first draft of the manuscript. All authors reviewed the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Correspondence to Lan Tan or Jin-Tai Yu.
Supplementary 1. Network meta-analysis model. Supplementary 2. References for included trials. Supplementary 3. Summary of included trials and patient characteristics. Supplementary 4. Risk of bias assessment. Supplementary 5. Results from pairwise meta-analysis for each outcome. Supplementary 6. Results from network meta-analysis for each outcome. Supplementary 7. Network plot for each outcome. Supplementary 8. Treatment ranking and rankograms for each outcome. Supplementary 9. Assessment of inconsistency results for each outcome. Supplementary 10. Comparison-adjusted funnel plot for each outcome from the network meta-analysis. Supplementary 11. Subgroup network meta-analysis for secondary outcomes. Supplementary 12. Sensitivity network meta-analysis for primary outcomes. Supplementary 13. Assessment of heterogeneity results for each outcome. (PDF 2427 kb)
Cholinesterase inhibitors
Memantine
Network meta-analysis


NB: This was originally posted on Equestria Daily on 26 March 2018.
A commission for a story by artist 'Dreams Of Ponies', this piece from Vylet is subtle and subdued, with some excellent play between different instruments throughout the track. It definitely carries a nice air of playfulness and mystery thanks to the lovely composition.


text:
A Different Kind of Crusader?
by lundry | Apr 7, 2011 | Analysis, Diplomacy, Islam, Language, Media, Narrative, Obama, Religion, Strategic Comm. | 2 comments
by Chris Lundry
In our work identifying and tracking the use of Islamist narratives here at the CSC, the second most frequently invoked among Islamist extremists in our research (after Nakba or Palestine) has been the Crusader master narrative. The use of this term among Islamists connotes religious war, subjugation by Western Christians, injustice, and eventual colonization. Its use in the West, however, connotes a much different meaning: a righteous cause, good triumphing over evil, a reclamation of holy lands. Hence perspective is key in the use of narratives, which is why they are so powerful and able to convey deep meanings with the invocation of a few key terms. The use of narrative to convey meaning is important, and it is equally important to understand how audiences perceive the use of these narratives.
Islamists the world over continue to use the term "crusade" to describe the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. But when George W. Bush referred to the war in Iraq as a crusade, he was roundly (and rightly) criticized for playing into the Islamists' narrative. While he may have wanted to convey the justness of the struggle to eliminate violent extremism, to Muslims worldwide he conveyed the meaning of religious war in order to dominate Muslim lands. The narrative slip is widely considered the gaffe that it was.
When NATO forces began to enforce the no-fly zone over Libya in an effort to prevent Muammar Qaddafi from bombing and strafing his own people, the opinions of observers – including allies and enemies of the United States – ran the gamut from full support to condemnation. Because it was an attack on a predominantly Muslim nation by predominantly Christian nations (Qatar an exception), Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin criticized the effort and called it a crusade (Qaddafi also used the term). Russia's President, Dmitry Medvedev, in a rare public difference on policy, condemned the use of the word in this context.
The Putin-Medvedev rhetorical dispute was covered in the mainstream press, including the New York Times, which carried a story with the connotation that Putin's words were not well chosen (Christian Science Monitor story here). My colleague Jeffry Halverson wrote a Comops blog post about Putin's comments here.
This is why it was particularly surprising and disturbing to read a front-page story on March 29 about the conflict in Libya that invoked the crusade narrative in referring to Samantha Power, President Obama's advisor on human rights.
The Times fell into a narrative trap that it set for itself. The issue of human rights in the Muslim world – and elsewhere in Asia and Africa – is contentious. Dictators – in Africa, Latin America, and Asia – have often portrayed western ideals of human rights as an imposition of foreign values on these countries, and claim that democracy, for example, is inconsistent with their cultures (here is a recent essay on the topic from the Chinese embassy in the US). This is belied, of course, by these countries' grassroots human rights and pro-democracy movements – including those in Libya (although it remains to be seen exactly what would hold the rebels together if they should achieve their goal of ousting Qaddafi). Sharp observers of those condemning "western" human rights point out that this criticism is made frequently by those for whom human rights and democracy are a threat – such as Singapore's Lee Kwan Yew, Indonesia's Suharto, and more recently Syria's Bashar al Assad.
When the Times refers to a human rights promoter as a "crusader," however, it plays into the historical notion of human rights as a foreign, western concept, and provides rhetorical ammunition for Qaddafi and his supporters, as well as opponents of democracy and human rights elsewhere. It is as if the United States is suggesting that human rights are an imposition of western or foreign or even Christian values, similar to the crusades, and it is a particularly curious and troublesome choice of words on the part of the Times. It sends an unfortunate message that undermines its intent when viewed from a Muslim perspective. Many Muslims have beliefs about human rights that are mostly consistent with international norms. We need to engage and empower these people, not alienate them.
Dr. Timothy Furnish on April 12, 2011 at 8:11 am
Mr. (Dr.?) Lundry,
Your point about the umbrage which (some, especially Arab) Muslims take at the term "Crusade(r)" is well-taken; but I would submit that giving propagandists in the Islamic world veto power over the usage of certain terms in the West–in effect, giving them power to censor our speech–is a greater threat to our civilization than any problems that may result from alleged hurt feelings in the Muslim street.
editor on April 12, 2011 at 9:07 am
Thanks for the comment, but I'm not sure I see where Dr. Lundry proposed giving foreign propagandists control over our vocabulary. He said the Times should know better than to throw around a word with meanings that are not intended for some members of its audience, which plays into a communication strategy of our enemies. They could have conveyed the same meaning without these drawbacks by choosing to call Ms. Power a "champion" for civil rights. I guess you can call that (self-)censorship if you want, but I think effective communication would be a better description.