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Theresa May warned of fresh court challenge over Brexit as 'law requires second referendum' on any agreement | The Independent
Posted on April 30, 2017 by tomiejones	• Posted in Uncategorized	• Leave a comment
Theresa May has been warned she could face a fresh court challenge over Brexit, after a retired Scottish doctor claimed the law requires there to be a second referendum on any withdrawal agreement. Dr Andrew Watt, a former radiologist from Glasgow, sent a letter before action – usually the first step in taking disputes to court – to the Prime Minister, in which he argued Section 2 of the European Union Act 2011 requires a referendum before the UK can leave the EU.
Source: Theresa May warned of fresh court challenge over Brexit as 'law requires second referendum' on any agreement | The Independent
Benjamin Netanyahu says Germany's foreign minister wouldn't take his call after the Israeli prime minister canceled talks
@flipboard | Official Flipboard account
Source: Benjamin Netanyahu says Germany's foreign minister wouldn't take his call after the Israeli prime minister canceled talks HE IS A RIGHT THICKO NETANYAHU.HE CANCELS THE TALKS THEN HE RINGS TO TALK!GOD BLESS YOU NETANYAHU TALK TO YOUR GOD MAYBE HE ,SHE ,OR IT ,CAN TALK AND EXPLAIN THE SIMPLE LOGIC OF NOT TALKING MEANS NOT TALKING .
Thousands Of Israelis Take To The Streets Calling For Palestinian Genocide:"Ignore Courts, Just Kill Palestinians all! – News
Source: Thousands Of Israelis Take To The Streets Calling For Palestinian Genocide:"Ignore Courts, Just Kill Palestinians all! – News NOT TRUE, I MEAN OUR SELFCONFESSED ZIONIST JEWISH BLOGGER IS FOREVER TELLING US THAT THE ISRAELI ZIONISTS ARE COMPASSIONATE CARING PEOPLE AND THE PALESTNIANS ARE A BUNCH OF NASTY MUSLIMS
WHY JEREMY CORBYN WILL BE THE UK,S NEXT PRIME MINISTER.
Roger Cole: Why Jeremy Corbyn will be the UK's next prime minister
Labour leader will displace Theresa May because he leads a movement, not just a party
Mon, Sep 26, 2016, 12:43
British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. "A Corbyn-led Labour is now far closer to the values of Connolly than the current Irish Labour Party." Photograph: Peter Nicholls/Reuters
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The last time British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn Ireland visited Ireland was 2009, to attend an international peace conference in Shannon organised by the Peace and Neutrality Alliance (Pana). The Irish Times agreed to publish an article by the alliance, but due to production constraints it left out the closing paragraph, which stated: "Pana has, over the last 20 years, developed strong links with British CND, Scottish CND and CND Cymru. They represent all that is best among the British, Scottish and Welsh people. It is their values and their vision that gives hope for the possibility of a great future for the UK shorn of its imperial culture either in what remains of the British empire or the emerging European empire."
Corbyn has, for his entire political life, been a supporter of CND and its values. He was re-elected Labour leader not because he is a decent, honest and humble man (which he is) but because he leads a movement, not just a political party.
It is a movement that wants, among other things, a real national health service (the greatest achievement of the historic 1945 Labour government), rather than the continuation of Britain's imperial tradition of a commitment to perpetual war and the renewal of the Trident nuclear programme as advocated by the current ruling parties of Tories and New Labour. If Corbyn becomes prime minister it will be because of a deep and fundamental change in the values of the British people.
Neoliberal corporate media
So can that happen? The prime minster, Theresa May, has made it clear she is prepared to kill millions of people with the Trident missile system. She will no doubt have the total support of the war-loving neoliberal corporate media. Current polls show that in an election she would win relatively easily. So what would Corbyn have to do to defeat the Tories?
First, he has to become the undisputed leader of Labour and his second victory will go a long way to achieving that. The Blairites will split, some will retire, some will accept the result, some will join the Tories or the Liberal Democrats and some might even form a new party. Whatever happens, Corbyn's party, already 600,000 strong (the Tories have 150,000 members) will continue to grow, creating a major door-knocking organisation that will, along with social media, undermine the power of the war-loving neoliberal corporate media.
London Letter: Jeremy Corbyn's Labour on edge of electoral cliff
Pay caps are neither economically crazy nor morally wrong
London briefing: Corbyn calls for a maximum wage to curb fat-cat pay
While the internal attacks on Corbyn will not end, the marginalisation of the Blairites will accelerate and consolidate the unification of Labour under Corbyn in its fight against the Tories.
Corbyn's decision to accept the democratic decision of the British people to reject membership of the emerging European empire and its emerging European army has been crystal clear. It is a decision that will go a long way to regaining the support of those voters who shifted to Ukip.
In Scotland, the SNP will more than likely continue to dominate, but would be far less antagonistic to a Corbyn-led Labour. If they work together in the first-past-the-post system, they could put the final nail in the coffin of Tory Scotland and maximise the number of MPs for both parties. After all, with a Corbyn-led government, the SNP understand that it is their best chance of a second independence referendum.
Concentration of wealth
While there is no doubt that decades of Thatcher/Blair senseless warmongering and neoliberalism remains popular, especially among those that benefited from it imperial values, the sustained attacks on the social system, the massive and growing concentration of wealth in the hands of a small number of billionaires is losing its appeal among a growing number of ordinary people. They would prefer a more equitable taxation system, a better-funded NHS and an end to perpetual war. And why not?
These are the values of people throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Northern Ireland, Labour membership has increased from 300 to 3,000. It would be ironic if it now had more members than the Labour Party in the Republic. A Corbyn-led Labour is now far closer to the values of Connolly than the current Irish Labour Party. Perhaps under leader Brendan Howlin, the latter might consider returning to its roots. Let us hope so.
So, will Corbyn become the next British prime minister? It is now a realistic option. The Tories and their grammar-school prime minister (who supported the Iraq war) have been around long enough. The British people may decide that even if they do not support everything Corbyn stands for, they will agree to a change – in practice more of a Harold Wilson than a Clement Atlee transformation.
Anyway, I put a bet on that the Brexit side would triumph in the recent referendum. My only regret now is that I did not put more money on it. Come the British election I will not make that mistake again: my money is on Corbyn.
Roger Cole is chair of the Peace and Neutrality Alliance
HOW THE BIBLE BELT LOST GOD AND FOUND TRUMP
sAdd to myFT
How the Bible Belt lost God and found Trump, Oh and how maurice finds this man to be a winner,they have so much in common.
He's a divorced adulterer who ran a gambling empire, so how did America's Moral Majority get so evangelical about Donald Trump?
Wang Ramirez: Everyness, La Villette, Paris — lofty theme, generic emotions
by: Gary Silverman in Auburn
I went down to Alabama a few weeks ago and had a religious experience. A man of God welcomed me into his home, poured us both cups of English tea and talked about what has been happening to Jesus Christ in the land of Donald Tr.
My host was Wayne Flynt, an Alabaman who has made the people of the southern US his life's work. A 76-year-old emeritus professor of history at Auburn University, he has written empathetically about his region in books such as Poor But Proud. A Baptist minister, he still teaches Sunday school at his church and delivered the eulogy at last year's funeral of his friend Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird.
I took my place in the book-lined study of Flynt's redwood house in Auburn, Alabama, to hear his thoughts on the local economy, but the conversation turned to a central mystery of US politics. Trump would not be president without the strong support of the folks Flynt has chronicled — white residents of the Bible Belt, raised in the do-it-yourself religious traditions that distinguish the US from Europe. I wondered how a thrice-married former casino owner — who had been recorded bragging about grabbing women by the genitals — had won over the faithful.
Flynt's answer is that his people are changing. The words of Jesus, as recorded in the Gospels, are less central to their thinking and behaviour, he says. Church is less compelling. Marriage is less important. Reading from a severely abridged Bible, their political concerns have narrowed down to abortion and issues involving homosexuality. Their faith, he says, has been put in a president who embodies an unholy trinity of materialism, hedonism and narcissism. Trump's victory, in this sense, is less an expression of the old-time religion than evidence of a move away from it.
"The 2016 election laid out graphically what is in essence the loss of Christian America," Flynt says, delivering his verdict with a calm assurance that reminded me of Lee's hero, Atticus Finch, as played by Gregory Peck in the 1962 film of her novel.
"Arguably, what has constituted white evangelical Christian morality for 200 years no longer matters, which is to say we're now a lot like Germany, a lot like France, a lot like England, a lot like the Netherlands, and what we have is a sort of late-stage Christian afterglow."
Wayne Flynt photographed by Cary Norton for the FT
The irony is that evangelicals turned to politics to prevent that very outcome. Fearing that so-called secular humanists would impose a moral order of their own through government action, born-again Christians began flocking to the polls in the late 1970s. Their impact was undeniable. They were the shock troops of the Reagan Revolution of 1980. They rescued Trump last year after many political analysts had counted him out, reckoning that the changing demographics of the US had made a white conservative like him unelectable.
When the Christian right burst to prominence, its calls to defend the unborn were a rallying cry. But unyielding opposition to abortion was not a traditional evangelical position. In 1971 — two years before the Roe v Wade Supreme Court decision legalising abortion — the evangelical Southern Baptist Convention, the largest US Protestant denomination, endorsed abortion in cases of rape, incest, "severe" foetal deformity or where there was "the likelihood of damage to the emotional, mental and physical health of the mother". As recently as 1976, it said it believed government should play a "limited role" on abortion matters.
Abortion only became a leading concern of the religious right when the late firebrand Jerry Falwell and other leaders of the Moral Majority seized upon the issue towards the end of the 1970s. In the decades that followed it became a sure-fire way to mobilise conservatives unmoored by a variety of political and social changes that followed from the 1960s — ranging from federal efforts to take away tax breaks from racially segregated Christian schools to movements promoting the rights of women and homosexuals. ("God made Adam and Eve," Falwell liked to say, "not Adam and Steve.")
By any measure, Trump was an odd vessel for evangelical hopes. He had described himself in the past as pro-choice. When he was growing up, his parents took him to church in New York, but it was one presided over by Norman Vincent Peale, a non-traditional pastor who wrote the 1952 bestseller, The Power of Positive Thinking. Before he married any of his three wives, all of whom are still alive, Trump spent the early years of the culture wars taking in the scene at the Studio 54 disco in Manhattan, where he told a biographer he once watched seven "well-known supermodels getting screwed on a bench in the middle of the room".
Trump supporters © Getty
Trump also had a long history — before business reversals prompted his exit — in casino gambling, an industry that evangelicals ostensibly abhor. As recently as 2014, the Southern Baptists condemned government-sponsored casinos and lotteries, saying they "promote and perpetuate the mentality of getting something for nothing, which is contrary to scripture and replaces biblical teachings of working for a living".
Trump's efforts to reach evangelicals during the campaign were marred by technical difficulties. After an appearance at Liberty University in Virginia, which was founded by Falwell, Trump was lampooned for quoting from a section of the Bible he called "Two Corinthians", rather than "Second Corinthians", as would customarily be done. Ultimately, Liberty University split over Trump. Its current president, Jerry Falwell Jr, endorsed his candidacy. But Mark DeMoss, a member of the university's board of trustees and a former chief of staff for the elder Falwell, objected and resigned as a trustee. In a Washington Post interview last year, DeMoss described Trump's rhetoric as antithetical to Christian values.
"Donald Trump is the only candidate who has dealt almost exclusively in the politics of personal insult," DeMoss said. "The bullying tactics of personal insult have no defence — and certainly not for anyone who claims to be a follower of Christ. That's what's disturbing to so many people. It's not [the] Christ-like behaviour that Liberty has spent 40 years promoting with its students."
Nonetheless, Trump was backed by 81 per cent of white voters who identified themselves as evangelical Christians, more than recent Republican candidates such as Mitt Romney and John McCain, according to the Pew Research Center, and more even than George W Bush, whose strategist Karl Rove made wooing them a priority of the campaign. Analysts say Trump made evangelicals an offer that they could not refuse. Unlike his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton — who was both disliked by conservatives and uncompromising in her support of a woman's right to choose — Trump pledged to appoint an anti-abortion justice to fill the vacancy on a Supreme Court that was split between conservatives and liberals.
The white evangelical flight to Trump has caused "deep heartbreak" for "evangelicals of colour" who see him as a bigot, says Jim Wallis, a progressive evangelical leader in Washington. "It's the most painful divide I have seen in the churches since the beginning of the civil rights movement."
© Bloomberg
But white evangelicals appear to be getting what they wanted from their man in the White House. President Trump quickly filled the Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of conservative Antonin Scalia with Neil Gorsuch, a jurist revered on the religious right who was confirmed by the Senate this month. Even as Trump's approval ratings were falling below 50 per cent in national surveys, 74 per cent of white evangelical Protestants viewed him favourably in a poll conducted in mid-February by a PRRI, a non-partisan group that specialises on research on religious matters.
One such admirer is David Jeremiah, a Southern Baptist pastor in El Cajon, California, who hosts a 30-minute radio programme, called Turning Point, heard on 2,200 stations around the world. "It's still all about the Supreme Court," he wrote recently. "President Trump told the American people that he would nominate a Supreme Court justice in the mould of Scalia. In Judge Gorsuch, a strict originalist, he has succeeded marvellously and honoured his promise to evangelicals."
But that's not the way things look at the house on a hill in Auburn, Alabama, where Wayne Flynt lives with his wife of 55 years, Dorothy. As evangelical Christianity has grown more successful in the political realm, Flynt fears that it has been reduced to a sum of its slogans. Lost in the transition, he says, is the traditional evangelical standard for sizing up candidates — "personal moral character", which includes such criteria as marital fidelity, church attendance and kindness.
"No one I know of would argue that Donald Trump inculcates moral character," Flynt says. "What has happened to American Christianity is there is this afterglow of what a candidate is supposed to represent. It's no longer moral character. It's policy positions on things that bother evangelicals."
Flynt says evangelical Christians are mainly mobilising against the sins they either do not want to commit (homosexual acts) or cannot commit (undergoing an abortion, in the case of men). They turn a blind eye toward temptations such as adultery and divorce that interest them. In 2010, the Southern Baptist Convention passed a resolution calling the rising incidence of divorce among its members a "scandal". A Pew Research Center study in 2015 found that evangelical Protestants in the US were more likely to be divorced or separated than Catholics, Jews, Muslims or atheists.
Pastor Joshua Nink (right) prays for Donald Trump as Melania watches © AP
"Jesus says four times in four different places: do not divorce," Flynt says. "Does divorce bother evangelicals? No, absolutely not. Does adultery bother evangelicals? No, not really, because if so they wouldn't have voted for Donald Trump. So what bothers them? Abortion and same-sex marriage. Beyond that, there's no longer an agenda."
Flynt, who left the Southern Baptist Convention in 1979 to protest its turn to the right, notes ruefully that his former denomination has lost members for nine years in a row.
Into this religious void, he believes, stepped Trump, an unabashed materialist and hedonist — "What is right to Donald Trump is what gives him pleasure," Flynt says — who thinks that he alone can make America great again.
"To be sure, every politician has some element of narcissism, but he has perfected narcissism, he has made it the supreme element of his life, and not only that, evangelicals have responded in an almost messianic way that he is the saviour, which makes him feel really good because he does believe he is the saviour," Flynt says. "It is kind of curious evangelicals would not be offended by this. I am as an American Christian. I'm offended because I already thought following Jesus was going to make us great again."
I did not have much to offer in response because I am not a Christian, or a religious person in a formal sense. My paternal grandfather used to call my father a "cardiac Jew", meaning he felt the religion in his heart, but did not follow its rules, and the same could be said of me. If we do need help to become great again, I'm not sure who, or what, is going to get it done.
But I do know that it felt good to spend some time with Flynt. For all his talk about the loss of Christian America, I came away from our conversation with the faith that I had found at least a little piece of it in the Flynt home in eastern Alabama.
Even the design of the room where we met left me with that impression. When Flynt and his wife decided to add a study to their house a few years ago, he wanted as much space as possible for his books. But Dorothy dreamt of a spot where she could look at her wild flower garden in the backyard. A compromise was reached, and a floor-to-ceiling window now bisects the shelves.
While Mr Flynt spoke, I sat in Mrs Flynt's seat, in the sun.
HOW MANY OF JEREMY CORBYN,S POLICIES DO YOU DISAGREE WITH
JEREMY CORBYN CAN WIN THIS ELECTION AND MAKE BRITAIN A STRONG ,CARING MEMBER OF EUROPE. BUT HE CAN ONLY ACHIEVE THIS WITH YOUR SUPPORT .HE IS NOT THE BOOGIE MAN BUT HE IS THE BEST MAN FOR THE JOB.
How many of Jeremy Corbyn's policies do you actually disagree with?
A London School of Economics study into how Jeremy Corbyn is represented in the media found that only a paltry 11% of all newspaper articles about him bothered to accurately state a single one of his actual policies. In the hard-wing Daily Mail and Express that figure was 0%.
Given this lack of unbiased political coverage it's not difficult to understand why so many people are so unfamiliar with Jeremy Corbyn's actual policies, and tend to judge him as if politics is some kind of vapid personality contest.
So here are some of the Jeremy Corbyn policies that the mainstream media really don't want to tell you about, so you can judge for yourself whether you like them or not.
Labour Party policies
Ban companies based in tax havens bidding for government contracts
It's astounding that this isn't the case already. How on earth could anyone even attempt to justify taxpayers' cash being paid to companies based in tax havens for the purpose of dodging tax?
£10 minimum wage for all workers over the age of 18
The UK is the only country in the developed world where workers' wages are declining in real terms, while the economy is actually growing. A £10 minimum wage would help to reverse this scenario, and it would also significantly reduce the cost of in-work benefits like tax credits and housing benefit (most of which goes to working families these days).
All rented accommodation to be fit for human habitation
Again, astounding that this isn't the case already, but in January 2016 the Tories (over 1/3 of whom are landlords) deliberately voted down a Labour Party amendment to their housing bill to ensure that all rented accommodation is fit for human habitation.
Renationalise the railways
This is a very popular policy that is supported by an overwhelming majority of the public. Do you support rail renationalisation too, or are you one of the minority who think that the current shambles is acceptable?
Renationalise the NHS
The Tory party have been carving up the English NHS and distributing the pieces to the private sector, Jeremy Corbyn has pledged to reverse this process. Are you one of the 84% of people who thinks the NHS should be run as a not for profit public service, or the 7% who agree with the ongoing Tory privatisation agenda?
The policy of providing free school meals to all school children between the ages of 4 and 11 is based on evidence based research showing that universal free school meals lead to significantly improved grades. It will be paid for by ending the generous tax breaks (public subsidies) for the 7% of kids who go to private fee-paying schools.
Create a National Education Service
Jeremy Corbyn believes that education is a right, not a commodity. He wants to create an integrated National Education Service to ensure that education is freely available to anyone who needs it.
Scrap tuition fees
Thanks to the Tories (and their Lib-Dem enablers) UK students now face the most expensive tuition fees in the industrialised world for study at public universities, meaning students typically leave university with £50,000 of debt, and two thirds of them will never pay off their student debts. Labour would end this lunacy by getting rid of student fees.
Restore NHS Bursaries
One of the first things Theresa My did when she came to power was to scrap NHS bursaries for nurses and other NHS workers. This removal of financial support for nurses has caused a huge 10,000 decline in the number of applicants to nursing courses. This collapse in nursing recruitment would be bad enough in its own right, but in combination with a record increase in the number of EU nurses quitting the NHS and a mind-boggling 92% fall in nursing recruitment from EU countries, the UK is clearly facing a massive NHS recruitment crisis. Labour would reverse this calamitous state of affairs by restoring NHS Bursaries for trainee nurses.
Increase the carers allowance
Labour are proposing to increase the Carers Allowance for the 1 million unpaid carers in the UK. This would be paid for by scrapping the Tories' Inheritance Tax cut for millionaires. Unpaid carers save the UK economy an estimated £132 million a year, and they're doing ever more work as a result of the £4.6 billion in Tory cuts to the social care budget.
Create a National Investment Bank
This is actually one of Jeremy Corbyn's best policies, but few people actually understand it. It's absolutely clear that allowing private banks to determine where money is invested ends up in huge speculative bubbles in housing and financial derivatives, while the real economy is starved of cash. A National Investment Bank would work by investing in things like infrastructure, services, businesses and regional development projects, and would end up becoming a kind of sovereign wealth fund for the UK.
End the public sector pay freeze
Under Tory rule UK workers suffered the longest sustained decline in real wages since records began. The public sector pay freeze contributed massively to this. You'd have to be economically illiterate to imagine that repressing public sector wages with below inflation pay rises for year after year would not exert downwards pressure on private sector wages too. Ending the public sector pay freeze would actually boost the economy by putting more money in people's pockets, meaning an increase in aggregate demand.
End sweetheart tax deals between HMRC and massive corporations
David Cameron (the son of a tax-dodger) repeatedly lied through his teeth about how serious he was about confronting tax-dodging, whilst allowing HMRC to concoct sweetheart deals with corporations like Google, Vodafone and Starbucks. One of the main reasons the corporate press are so strongly opposed to Jeremy Corbyn is that they know that unlike David Cameron, he's serious when he talks about clamping down on tax-dodging.
Stop major corporations ripping off their suppliers
Major corporations are withholding an astounding £26 billion through late payment, which is responsible for an estimated 50,000 small businesses going bust every year. The scale of this problem is so massive that it should be a national scandal, and Jeremy Corbyn is absolutely right to align himself with small businesses to defend their interests.
Reverse the Tory corporation tax cuts
Since 2010 the Tories have cut the rate of corporation tax for major multinational corporations from 28% to just 17% (by 2020) meaning the UK has one of the lowest corporation tax rates in the developed world. The global average is 27% and the G7 average is 32.3%. Theresa May has already threatened to lower the corporation tax even further to turn post-brexit Britiain into a tax haven economy, Corbyn is proposing to do the opposite and increase corporation tax rates so they're more in line with the rest of the developed world.
Defend Human Rights
Theresa May has repeatedly expressed her intention to tear up Winston Churchill's finest legacy, the European Convention on Human Rights. Labour would oppose this Tory attack on our human rights.
Zero Hours Contracts ban
Almost a million UK workers are now on exploitative Zero Hours Contracts. Last year the New Zealand parliament voted to ban them, and Labour is proposing to do the same. Long-term employees and workers doing regular hours would be protected from Zero Hours Contract exploitation.
Holding the Tories to account over Brexit
Labour have said that they won't block Brexit, but they will seek to hold the Tories to account over it. A landslide Tory victory would be a disaster for the UK because it would allow Theresa May to pursue the most right-wing pro-corporate anti-worker Brexit possible with almost no democratic scrutiny. The only way to make sure the Tories don't push a fanatically right-wing Brexit on the nation is to ensure that there are plenty of opposition MPs to hold them to account.
Under the Tory government the level of UK housebuilding has slumped to the lowest levels since the 1920s, even though demand for housing is extremely high. Labour are guaranteeing to invest in a programme of housebuilding, and committing to ensure that half of the new houses are social housing. This wouldn't just alleviate the housing crisis, it would also stimulate the economy by increasing aggregate demand.
Combat inequality
George Osborne's ideological austerity agenda resulted in the longest sustained decline in workers' wages since records began and condemned an additional 400,000 children to growing up in poverty, meanwhile the tiny super-rich majority literally doubled their wealth. Labour is pledging to reduce the inequality gap and introduce progressive policies to reduce the gap between the incomes of the highest and lowest paid. There is plenty of evidence to show that the least unequal societies are more economically successful places where the people are happier.
So out of these 20 Labour Party policies, how many do you actually strongly disagree with?
This article attracted rather a lot more interest than I'd imagined (well over 1 million hits in 3 days!). One of the big questions people have been asking is how all of this would be paid for.
The answer is that quite a lot of the policies are actually investments that would pay for themselves in the long-term because they would stimulate more economic activity than the investment cost (see my articles on fiscal multiplication and the marginal propensity to consume to get a better idea of how). Other policies could easily be funded if we had a government that was actually serious about cracking down on tax-dodging, which costs the country vast amounts per year. Just ending sweetheart deals between HMRC and major multinationals would generate £billions, which would pay for stuff like restoring the NHS bursary many times over.
If anyone is genuinely worried about how stuff is going to be paid for, the first thing on their mind should of course be the impending threat of a "no deal" Tory strop away from the Brexit negotiating table that Theresa May has made the centrepiece of her so-called "negotiating strategy". If that happens the IFS have estimated a 6.3% -9.5% collapse in GDP, which would be a much more significant economic meltdown than the one that was caused by the 2007-08 global financial sector insolvency crisis (that our economy and our wages have still nowhere near recovered from). What do you think would happen to the tax take and the budget deficit if the economy tanked even worse than it did in 2009 thanks to Theresa May's alarmingly woeful threat-based Brexit negotiation strategy resulting in the chaos of an economically ruinous cliff edge Brexit?
Another Angry Voice is a "Pay As You Feel" website. You can have access to all of my work for free, or you can choose to make a small donation to help me keep writing. The choice is entirely yours.
Watch Dennis Skinner force Theresa May to admit that 'election fraud MPs' will stand in the general election | The Canary
Go Dennis!
Source: Watch Dennis Skinner force Theresa May to admit that 'election fraud MPs' will stand in the general election | The Canary go for the jugular Dennis mp for bolsover one of many good and true labour mps.let us get the labour party back in power and then commit ourselves to the european union united we stand divided we fall .


Is Healthy Eating Possible at Boarding School? - SchoolFinder.com!
We have thought of absolutely everything to make students feel at home while living away for the first time! Canadian boarding schools build strong and durable foundations in preparation for life in a way that cannot be replicated in any other educational setting.
While boarding school offers a variety of benefits, including academic and extracurricular opportunities that extend beyond the classroom, services and amenities that create a home away from home and teach lifelong healthy habits is equally as important.
Great food and excellent service are the hallmarks of dining services and residence life, not to mention providing nutritiously balanced meals that appeal to a variety of taste and dietary preferences. The dining hall is the heart of campus – the place where everyone gathers to share food and time.
Over the years, campus dining has transformed significantly, and today's students are offered a plethora of options that celebrate both domestic and international cuisine while catering to a broad range of needs. Most schools also offer gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan options, among others, and can work with students who have other dietary restrictions to ensure they have nutritious and delicious meals. Peanut- or nut-free dining halls are the standard and healthy options are always on the menu.
In 2017, St. Margaret's School (SMS) for girls in Victoria, BC, partnered with SAGE Dining – the leading foodservice provider for independent schools and colleges throughout North America. SAGE has a focus on safety, quality service, community, nutrition, education, sustainability, and delicious food made from scratch using seasonal, locally-sourced ingredients.
With the help of the SAGE program, students develop a positive relationship with food and make informed choices. Registered Dietitians review each menu before it appears online to ensure that there are healthy, nutritionally diverse options for everyone.
SMS uses the SAGE Spotlight Program to create menus with variety, balance, and moderation. Every dish is assigned a colour-coded dot indicating its nutritional value, including fat, salt, and added sugar content. The dot system signals whether one should eat lots of a certain food or enjoy it only in moderation.
The dining program also offers a comprehensive app that empowers guests with food allergies to manage their diets in the safe, transparent dining environment. The innovative online filter allows parents and students to view the ingredients in a dish and plan a safe, delicious and healthy meals accordingly.
"Through conversations and the shared experience of eating together, we hope to build connections between boarders and day students. Food also plays a huge part of the identity of every culture and can be used to celebrate our diversity and strengthen the community," said Nicole Folkes, Director of Residence at St. Margaret's.


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SAFETY4SEA Manila Forum
Attending Organizations
The inaugural SAFETY4SEA Manila Forum was successfully concluded on Tuesday 12th of November 2019 at New World Manila Bay Hotel, Philippines, attracting 350 delegates from 120 organizations.
Discussions varied among key challenges affecting the industry, with a special focus on the hot issue of attracting new generations and diversified talents in the maritime industry which is struggling to cope with the reforms brought by accelerating technology and remain productive and efficient.
Speaker presentations of the forum in PDF are available online for SAFETY4SEA Plus subscribers
Tentative Schedule Topic
0800 – 0900 Welcome Coffee & Registration
0900 – 0945 Opening Keynotes
Vadm Narciso A Vingson Jr, Officer-in charge, MARINA
Gerardo A. Borromeo, Vice-Chairman Chief Executive Officer, Transmarine Carriers – Discruptive trends and implications for continuing talent development
0945 – 1100 Talent Attraction and Development
Patrick H. Maxwell, Vice President, MAGSAYSAY – Attracting Young Talent into the Maritime Industry
Capt. Nicolo S. Terrei, Managing Director, Rina Academy Philippines – Introduction of IoT applied to Maritime Training
Leo M. Bolivar, Country Manager, International Registries (Far East) Limited – HR, Training & Development, STCW, ILO MLC
Vadm Eduardo Ma R. Santos, President, Maritime Academy of Asia and the Pacific – Ensuring excellence at sea at all times
45 min Panel discussion and Questions open to the floor
1100 – 1130 Networking Coffee Break
1130 – 1300 Human Element Challenges
Capt. Albert E. Bartilad, Vice President and COO of Manila Shipmanagement & Manning, Inc. / Vice President and CTO of Manship Maritime Training Center, Inc. – Safer, smarter seafaring through soft skills training
Iris Baguilat, President, Döhle Seafront Crewing (Manila), Inc. – Loss Prevention, Risk & Security management
Mailyn Borillo, President, OSM – Best practices beyond compliance
John Wilson, Technical Director for Asia, The American Club – The human element in maritime cyber security
1300 – 1400 Networking Buffet
1400 – 1500 Crew Wellness & Resilience
Gavin Lim, Regional Development Manager, Sailors' Society – Wellness at Sea training and surveys
Antonio Roberto M. Abaya MD, Medical Director, Health Metrics – Repatriation Risk Assessment: The Use of Machine Learning in Maritime Medicine
Apostolos Belokas, Managing Editor, SAFETY4SEA – Crew Wellness, Soft Skills & Resilience
1500 – 1600 The Millennials Generation in the spotlight
Elaiza Marie Galvez Perez, Junior Training Development Officer, Manship Maritime Training Center, Inc.
Jim Acanto Alminar, 2nd Engineer, Manila Shipmanagement & Manning, Inc.
Shaina Moriones, 1st Year Student, MOL MAGSAYSAY Maritime Academy
Norman Cris Ayat, 2nd Year Student, MOL MAGSAYSAY Maritime Academy
Jonathan Hernandez, Chief mate, Ocean Going Ships
Michelle Francisco, Second Mate, Ocean Going Ships
1600 – 1605 Closing Remarks, Forum ends
Antonio Roberto M. Abaya, Medical Director, Health Metrics
Dr. Abaya graduated from the University of the Philippines College of Medicine in 1985. After his internship, he spent the next 8 years of training in Cardiovascular Surgery in Spain, England, and Belgium. He returned to the Philippines in 1995 and while reviewing for the specialty boards, took occupational medicine at the University of the Philippines. Besides his surgical practice, he has been active in dealing with Filipino seafarers for more than 15 years now and is presently the Chief Medical Officer of Health Metrics, Inc. a diagnostic center for pre-employment medical exams. His clinical practice now focuses on maritime medicine and seafarers health and welfare. He is also very active in the research field of Seafarers Health and Safety being the first Filipino doctor with a Masters degree in Maritime Medicine which he obtained from the University of Cadiz, Spain.
Iris Baguilat, President, Döhle Seafront Crewing (Manila) Inc.
Innovative, transformational and results-driven leader focused on achieving remarkable outcomes in a highly competitive environment that demands continuous improvement and agility. Seasoned legal practitioner, lecturer, and consultant in maritime law dedicated to updating and improving shipping laws in the Philippines. Held executive positions in various companies and organizations in the Philippine maritime sector, and recognized for managing start-ups, pioneering organizational transformations, and leading business expansions. An academic achiever and scholar – local and abroad, and an effective people manager anchored on developing high-performing teams in highly complex organizations.
Capt. Albert E. Bartilad, Vice President and COO of Manila Shipmanagement & Manning, Inc., Vice President and CTO of Manship Maritime Training Center, Inc.
A seafarer for twenty-six years, Capt. Bartilad sailed onboard crude oil carriers (ULCCs to panamaxes), oil/chemical tankers, and dry bulk cargo vessels. After years of serving as a master, he disembarked to join the senior management of Manila Shipmanagement & Manning, Inc. ("MANSHIP") as its Vice President and Chief Operating Officer in 2008. Eight years later, Capt. Bartilad was appointed as the Vice President and Chief Training Officer of Manship Martime Training Center, Inc. ("MMTC") where he now applies his years of sailing wisdom and expertise towards training the next generation of seafarers. Under his leadership, the MMTC was certified by the American Bureau of Shipping to be compliant with ISO 9001:2015 standards for the "Provision of Course Development, Conduct of Training, Assessment, and Support Services for Seafaring and Maritime Business Related Industry".
He is an Associate Fellow of The Nautical Institute, an international organization of maritime professionals based in the United Kingdom. Capt. Bartilad has a remarkable array of certifications that attest to his competence including accreditations as instructor, assessor, simulator trainer & assessor and supervisor. He is also an accredited Pre-departure Orientation Seminar trainer, conducting the seminar for seafarers hired by clients of MANSHIP.
With both his experience and accomplishments, Capt. Bartilad aims to empower Filipino seafarers to not only perform well onboard but to inspire others to do the same.
Apostolos Belokas, Managing Editor, SAFETY4SEA
Apostolos is a Maritime Safety, Quality & Environmental Expert, Consultant, Trainer and Project Manager with more than 25 years background in shipping as Technical, Marine, Safety & Training Superintendent and Consultant. He entered the industry back in early 90's as Engineering Superintendent with a leading ship manager operating a mixed fleet of bulk and oil/chemical tankers. He then shifted to regulatory compliance and QHSE as superintendent and later as a Consultant and Trainer. Apo has successfully completed a wide range of QHSE projects including 250+ management system projects (ISM/ISO 9001-14001-18001/TMSA/MLC), 500 vessel and office audits to various standards and he has trained more than 8,000 people in a wide variety of QHSE subjects. He has also presented and chaired to more than 40 conferences. He holds Mechanical Engineering Bachelor and Master's specialising in Energy & Environment and Master's Degree in Maritime Business and Business Administration (MBA), all of them awarded with distinction. Apostolos is the Managing Director of SQE MARINE, SQE ACADEMY and Managing Director of SAFETY4SEA.
Leo M. Bolivar, Country Manager, Marshall Islands Registry
Mr. Bolivar joined IRI in August 2015 as Office Manager for the newly opened office in Manila, Philippines and was promoted to Country Head of the Philippines in 2016. Prior to joining IRI, Mr. Bolivar worked for Navis Maritime Services, Inc., where he served on the Board of Directors and most recently held the position of Senior Executive Vice President and General Manager, where he was responsible for the management of day-to-day administrative operations. Additionally, in this role he oversaw internal and external audits and assisted in the development and implementation of compliance with key corporate, legal, and regulatory requirements. Mr. Bolivar has also held the positions of Director, Corporate Treasurer and Vice President for Administration with Crossbow Outsourcing Inc, Director and Head of Administration at Ulstein Marine Services, AS, and Owner's Representative and Consultant at Uljanik Plovidba d.d. Mr. Bolivar has also worked as an Executive Assistant to the Owner's Representative at Stolt-Nielsen Philippines Inc., where he was responsible for the evaluation of cadet performance and crew onboard vessels. Mr. Bolivar is a member of the Philippines Norway Business Council, Filipino Association for Mariners' Employment, Inc., Philippine Association of Manning Agencies and Shipmanagers, Inc., the International Maritime Association of the Philippines, and the Joint Manning Group.
Mailyn Borillo, Managing Director, OSM Philippines
Mailyn Borillo leads OSM Philippines as the first woman to Head OSM Maritime Services Inc as it's President. She is also the first Filipino to head the OSM ROHQ as it's Managing Director . She's been in the company for 5 years now.
She has 25 years of experience in International Shipping where she holds various leadership position in Vessel Operation, Finance, Technical Purchasing and Marine HR, in Philippines and in Denmark.
Prior joining OSM, She's been with Maersk for 18 years. This is where she had an opportunity to worked in different facets of shipping. She rose from the ranks, and headed Maersk Filipinas Crewing from 2009 to 2011.
She also headed Torm Shipping Phil for almost 4 years. During her stint with Torm, Mailyn also had an opportunity to head the Global Purchasing Team and the Global Marine HR team. In both departments, Mailyn headed teams in India and Denmark.
"I think it was the value of grit, perseverance, integrity, and most specially my desire to make an impact that brought me to where I am. I didn't plan all this. I was just so blessed to be employed by a good company who I share the values with and surrounded by great people who were kind enough to share their knowledge and wisdom.
Mailyn also values the fact that in OSM, aside from promoting personal excellence, continuous improvement, automation and innovation, the real magic is having owners, leaders and colleagues who understand that their purpose is to create more jobs — meaningful jobs that improve the quality of countless lives.
"Coming from a very poor family, I never thought of the corporate ladder as progressive set of titles; I have always looked at it as opportunities to serve and make a difference."
Mailyn is married to a former seafarer, now an educator and businessman, with one beautiful daughter taking up medicine.
Gerardo A. Borromeo, Vice-Chairman Chief Executive Officer, Transmarine Carriers
Mr. Gerardo A. Borromeo is the Chief Executive Officer of the Philippine Transmarine Carriers (PTC) Group of Companies.
Mr. Borromeo has been responsible for the development and implementation of the PTC Group's strategic initiatives and business development activities involved in ship and crew management, maritime education and training; chartering, ship agency, logistics and freight forwarding; as well as in medical diagnostics; travel services; fuel distribution and renewable energy development; offshore business processing; property development; and international professional placement.
He currently serves as Vice Chairman of the International Chamber of Shipping, a premier global shipping organization representing around 80% of the world's merchant tonnage. He is also the President of InterManager, an international trade association for the global ship management industry whose membership comprises inhouse and third party ship managers. Mr. Borromeo is the first Filipino to be elected unopposed to this leading post.
Concurrently, he is the Vice President for External Affairs of the Filipino Shipowners Association, and is a private sector Board Director of the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) of the Philippines. For his invaluable contributions to the Philippine maritime industry, Mr. Borromeo was honored by MARINA
with the TIMONEL Maritime Achievement Award in 2014.
He is a member of the Board of the Directors of the PTCCSJ Foundation, as well as the US Philippine Society, and the Executive Board of the World Maritime University.
Mr. Borromeo earned his Bachelor's degree and Master's degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the USA. He continues to represent MIT as a Regional Chair and Educational Counselor for the Philippines and has been recognized with the MIT George B. Morgan Award for sustained excellence in educational council activity.
Gavin Lim, Regional Development Manager, Sailors' Society
Gavin Lim is the Asia regional manager for maritime welfare charity Sailors' Society. Based in Singapore, he leads and supports a network of 20 port chaplains and community development officers.
Since joining the Society in 2014, he has overseen the design and implementation of 12 flagship projects in the Philippines, Indonesia and India. These projects include building housing and medical facilities, school rehabilitation, community outreach and the expansion of the award-winning Wellness at Sea programme.
Prior to joining the charity, Gavin spent more than 20 years in the commercial sector with experience in marketing, operations and compliance management.
He is a graduate of the University of London, with an honours degree in law.
Patrick Maxwell, Vice President, MAGSAYSAY
Patrick Maxwell is the Vice President of the Magsaysay People Resources Group with responsibility over strategic planning, business development and shared services. Magsaysay People Resources is involved in offering maritime, cruise and other sectors talent solutions as well as training, development and education. Prior to joining Magsaysay, Patrick worked in Seacor Holdings in New York and Hong Kong. He returned to the Philippines, his hometown, to head the newly formed Magsaysay-Seacor joint venture spearheading its first acquisition, Omni Aviation, a flight training school. Patrick has a Master's degree from the IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain and a Bachelor's degree from the University of British Columbia.
Vadm Eduardo Ma R. Santos, President, Maritime Academy of Asia and the Pacific
VADM EDUARDO MA R SANTOS was the 23rd Chief of Navy of the Philippines from 1996 to 1999. He was responsible for the initial modernization of the Philippine Fleet, with the acquisition of three (3) Peacock class patrol ships and production of locally manufactured patrol craft fast (PCF). He also served as Vice Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
VADM SANTOS likewise served with the Philippine Coast Guard as Commander, Fifth Coast Guard District in 1989-90. He was also the Chief of Naval Intelligence of the Philippine Navy from 1994 to 1996.
From 1980-1984, he was the Manager of the premier and busiest port in the Philippines, the Port of Manila.
His public service earned for him two Legion of Honor Awards, five Distinguished Service Stars, an Outstanding Achievement Medal, two Distinguished Navy Crosses, and 14 Military Merit Medals.
Upon retirement from the public life in 1999, ADM SANTOS became the first President of the Maritime Academy of Asia and the Pacific, a position he holds up to the present. He is also the Executive Vice President of the Associated Marine Officers' and Seamen's Union of the Philippines (AMOSUP) – the largest Seaman's Union in Asia.
He heads many social/professional organizations in the country notably: President of the Bagong Bayani Foundation for OFWs, President of the Philippine Chapter of The Nautical Institute (NI) and President of the Philippine Chapter of the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology (IMAREST). He is also the Chairman of the Philippine Navy Board of Advisers and President of the Citizens' Support your Navy Foundation.
In the international scene, he is Vice Chairman of GlobalMET, Chair of the Finance Committee of the International Association of Maritime Universities (IAMU) and a member of ITF's Ships' Automation Working Group.
Capt. Nicolo S. Terrei, Managing Director, Rina Academy
Capt. Nicolo Terrei is a licensed and experienced Mariner and has sailed for over 24 years onboard various dry and liquid cargo vessel types.
His first encounter with Filipino seafarers was on 1994 when he was assigned as Superintendent for COECLERICI Group assisting all vessels for certification under the International Safety Management (ISM) Code. In 1998, he was designated as Director for COECLERICI (CC) Group Manning Agency in Manila, Philippines responsible for the monitoring and control of performance of crew onboard. During the same assignment, he spearheaded the surveillance of construction and start-up of transhipper for dry cargo dedicated for lightering in Persian Gulf. He has since developed his dedication and passion in the promotion of Filipino seafarers onboard international sea-going vessels.
He established Elburg Shipmanagement in 2005, that is among the 20 leading recruitment agencies in the Philippines at present. In his vision to bring the Filipinos in the forefront of the global seafaring industry, he led the conceptualization and establishment of RINA Academy Philippines, Inc. in 2007 together with the Registro Italiano Navale (RINA) and CONFITARMA which is the Italian Shipowner's Association and has since became a counterpart of the Italian Shipwoners, Philippine government and of the Union in the development of Programs dedicated to the career and competence development of Filipinos. He is also the owner representative of Augustea Ship Manning Philippines Inc. handling 80 Bulk Carriers.
Vadm Narciso A. Vingson Jr, Officer-in charge, MARINA
Vice-Admiral Vingson, before his designation as the OIC of MARINA, was appointed by President Duterte as the new Executive Director of Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping Office (STCWO) on 15 October 2018, and took his office of oath at the weekly flag ceremony of the MARINA Central office on 22 October 2018.
After graduating with the PMA Sandiwa Class of 1985, Vice-Admiral Vingson started his duty and subsequently commissioned ensign in the Philippine Navy wherein he served in various key positions that proffered him a wider and deeper appreciation of staff functions and role.
As a naval warfare officer, Vice-Admiral Vingson underwent training courses in the United States in Anti-submarine Warfare, Amphibious Warfare, Naval Gunfire Operation, and Combat Information Center Operation. He also pursued higher education at the Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey earning a degree in Master of Science in Systems Engineering.
Vice-Admiral Vingson, while he is in his junior years, served as branch chief at the offices of the naval staff for personnel, operations, weapons, communications, electronics, and information system. He also served as Admin Officer at the Office of the Flag Officer In Command, Philippine Navy, and later on designated Education and Training Officer at the Naval Education and Training Center prior his assignment as principal staff for personnel of the Philippine Fleet.
Furthermore, while Vice-Admiral Vingson was in Navy, he is considered as "seadog" wherein he have commanded three commissioned vessels: a patrol gunboat, the BRP Alberto Navarette (PG394); a patrol craft escort, the BRP Iloilo (PS32); and, the Presidential Yacht, the BRP Ang Pangulo (AT25).
After a challenging yet fulfilling life at sea, Vice-Admiral Vingson took on higher responsibilities in the Navy hierarchy, as he was chosen to be the primary staff for personnel at the Headquarters Philippine Navy. It was during this assignment that he crafted the "Philippine Navy Human Capital Strategy," an innovative approach to producing highly competent and motivated professionals for the naval service.
In 2013, Vice-Admiral was designated as the Deputy Commander of the Naval Education and Training Command (NETC), where he earned his first star and three years later, he returned to NETC as its commander and gained his second star.
Vice Admiral Vingson also commanded the Sealift Amphibious Command in 2014 and became Deputy Commander of the Philippine Fleet in 2015.
After having been in the naval service for the past 31 years, Vice-Admiral Vingson was assigned to the General Headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and was designated as Inspector General on December 2016. Shortly thereafter, he rose to his current position where he earned his third star.
A month after being the Inspector General, Vice-Admiral Vingson was designated on January 2017 as the 73rd Deputy Chief of Staff of the AFP, the chief strategist and policy maker of the military.
Currently, Vice-Admiral Vingson will temporarily takeover the administration of the day-to-day activities of the MARINA, while also performing his role as the Executive Director of the STCW Office, the MARINA unit that is primarily responsible for the implementation of the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for seafarers 1978, as amended or the STCW Convention in the Philippines.
John Wilson, Technical Director for Asia, American Club
John has spent 37 years working worldwide in the maritime, legal and insurance industries, alongside colleagues of many nationalities and skill sets, which has enabled him to gain considerable experience of the relevant technical, commercial and cultural issues of the international maritime business. His 15 year career at sea began as a deck trainee, rising to Chief Officer. He sailed worldwide on a variety of vessels, gaining a Class 1 Deck Master Mariner (UK) Certificate of Competency, and endorsements for oil and liquefied gas cargoes, followed by an MSc in Maritime Operations, ISM /ISO Auditor qualifications, and Fellowship of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers and The Nautical Institute. He began his shore based career in Hong Kong in 1997 as a marine consultant surveyor and Lloyd's Agency manager, spanning a total of 12 years in two spells, as well as 5 years as a marine investigator at an international law firm, before joining SCBMCS Ltd in 2014 as Director of Technical Services, Asia, for the managers of The American P & I Club in their Hong Kong office.Between 2011 to 2016, he was a member of the Hong Kong Government Pilotage Advisory Committee (PAC), Pilot Examination Board, and Pilot Disciplinary Board. John has conducted surveys and investigations in Asia and further afield on numerous types of vessels involving various cargoes and incident types, including major casualties and pollution incidents, salvage and wreck removal, producing expert reports for claims settlement, arbitration, and court proceedings in the UK and Hong Kong. He has is engaged in investigating incidents and resolving claims, and providing survey, technical and loss prevention advice, as well as developing and presenting training workshops for crew members and shore based staff of maritime companies on a variety of maritime and insurance related topics, including cyber risk and technology in shipping.
The Millennials Generation in the spotlight
Elaiza Marie Galvez Perez, Training Development Officer, ManShip Maritime Training Center
ELAIZA MARIE PEREZ is a licensed Officer-in Charge of Navigational Watch with experience sailing onboard bulk carrier vessels. After a few years of sea service, she set her sights on pursuing a career as a trainer, working as an instructor in a maritime institution while endeavoring to attain her Master's Degree in Maritime Administration. In addition to developing her professional career, Laiza still found the time to perform her civic duties, joining the Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary in 2017. At present, she is the newest member of the MANSHIP MARITIME TRAINING CENTER, INC., currently serving as a Junior Training Development Officer.
Jim Acanto Alminar, 3rd Engineer, ManShip Maritime Training Center
At 27 years old, JIM A. ALMINAR is a licensed Second Engineer currently serving as an Officer-in-Charge of Engine Watch onboard oil tankers being manned by MANILA SHIPMANAGEMENT & MANNING, INC. ("MANSHIP"). A seafarer since 2010, JIM began his voyage as a scholar under MANSHIP's Cadetship Program, eventually graduating from the Philippine Merchant Marine Academy as a member of the "SANLAYAG" Class of 2012. Whenever ashore, he devotes his time and energy as an instructor, teaching cadets and seafarers as part of his mission of helping develop a better safety culture in the maritime industry. He fervently believes that knowledge is the key to both improving one's standing in his or her chosen profession, and this is something he continues to advocate, both at sea and on land.
Chief Officer Jonathan Hernandez, a licensed Master Mariner and an experienced Chief officer on board bulk carrier vessels. He started his career with Elburg Shipmanagement under cadetship program and went onboard as Cadet in a Product tanker. After aquiring his OIC of Navigational watch license, he was given a chance to be an Officer on board in Chemical and conventional tankers. He also started teaching in Maritime School to share his knowledge and experience to students who are aspiring to become an officer someday. Presently he is a Chief Officer on board in bulk carriers being manned by Augustea Ship Manning Phils Inc. and at the same time serving as an Instructor and Assessor of RINA Academy Philippines.
– Graduate of BS Marine Transportation at Technological Institute of the Philippines
– Manila –
Started career at sea on 2012
– Affiliated in Academic School as Maritime Instructor
– Currently Second Officer in Augustea Shipmanagement Inc. Philippines
– Goal-oriented and incessantly esteeming on best outcome of vocation.
– Versatile to a fast-changing world and over the years of being a seafarer, learned a lot about the impact of shipping industry in lives of human being as well in the environment and its inhabitants.
MAGSAYSAY PEOPLE
Magsaysay People Resources Corporation (MPRC) is considered one of the world's leading human resource companies, with employees based in various international locations, including the Philippines, Indonesia, China, Eastern Europe, Central America and North America.
MPRC has grown to become a premier solutions provider in the areas of Manning and Crew Management, Ship Management, International Recruitment and Staffing, Maritime and Technical Skills Training, Hospitality and Culinary Training, Cadet Development and Skills Management Training, Language and Cultural Training, Food Management and Audit, and Onboard Food and Provision Management.
We take pride in our people. From our onshore staff to our crew members, MPRC invests heavily in human capital development to ensure our clients have the best professionals for the job.
We take pride in our service and our brands. MPRC has built a diverse and dedicated talent pipeline to meet each of our client's particular needs and expectations in each industry that we serve.
We serve the global community. Every client is our partner and their business is our business. With a network of offices across Asia, Europe and the Americas, we work hard to deliver lasting results, create value for our stakeholders, and benefit industries, societies, and the environment.
http://www.magsaysaypeople.com
Manila Shipmanagement & Manning, Inc. ("MANSHIP")
Manila Shipmanagement & Manning, Inc. ("MANSHIP") was established on 21 July 1988 with the aim of providing complete marine services such as full and partial crewing of ocean-going vessels, management of ships or their crew, ship chandling, shipbroking, and trading in marine supplies and equipment. The company began its foray into the maritime industry by providing manning services for six (6) Ultra Large Crude oil Carriers ("ULCC"). This number grew to twenty-two (22) within the next two (2) decades.
In 1994, MANSHIP seized its first major achievement by becoming the first manning agency in the Philippines to be certified by the International Organization for Standardization ("ISO") as compliant with its quality management standards. From then on, MANSHIP has set itself on a path of excellence by continuing to expand and improve the quality of our services in order to set ourselves apart from the rest, such as being one of the first manning agencies in the Philippines certified by Germanischer Lloyd (now DNV-GL) to be compliant with the Maritime Labour Convention.
http://www.manship.com/
Manship Maritime Training Center, Inc. (MMTC)
The MANSHIP MARITIME TRAINING CENTER, INC. ("MMTC") was established on 21 July 2015 for the purpose of developing and conducting client-specific maritime training courses. The MMTC works closely with MANSHIP and its clients in order to develop and conduct training courses that are company-specific. MMTC also provides cadet scholarship program and promotions program that is designed to produce competent, trustworthy, and loyal senior officers in a span of ten (10) years. The MMTC is an American Bureau of Shipping-certified provider of ISO 9001:2015-compliant "Course Development, Conduct of Training, Assessment, and Support Services for Seafaring and Maritime Business Related Industry", attesting to its ability to provide quality training services.
RINA Academy Philippines
RINA ACADEMY PHILIPPINES INC. (formerly Italian Maritime Academy Philippines Inc.) is governed by a Scientific Committee which consists of representative of the Italian Maritime cluster: Italian Maritime Shipowners and CONFITARMA. The scientific committee supervises the principles and methods of work applied by the RINA ACADEMY PHILIPPINES INC. as certified under ISO 9001 Standards, Rules for Certification of Training and Competency Management Systems, INTERTANKO's Tanker Officer Training Standards (TOTS) and local government institutions.
The academy is established in 2007 in response to a need of the maritime industry for available, licensed, skilled and competent Deck and Engine Officers and Ratings prepared to man ships to the best interests of ship owners, charterers, ship managers and ship operators. The Academy shall be assessed, trained and verified in accordance with the requirements of the Ship Owners, International Standards, and TOTS.
RINA ACADEMY's Quality Management System (QMS) adopts the policies of RINA Rules for Training and Competency Management Systems (TCMS); Class NK for Rules for Rules for Certification of Competence Management Systems and the ISO Quality Management Guidelines for Training.
https://www.rinaacademy.com.ph/
RISK4SEA
RISK4SEA is an online intelligence platform providing PSC inspection analytics & benchmarking. Using big data analytics an ISM manager may benchmark his ships, fleet & company against industry standards and get a clear insight of his performance gaps and a roadmap to continually improve.
RISK4SEA provides several useful reports for specific time periods in order to help ISM Managers to:
– Identify possible weaknesses
– Find the current PSC status of a Country or Port that their managed vessels is going to trade
– Prepare to address local PSC requirements
– Benchmark their performance with other similar fleets and operators
Users may review the KPIs and inspection analytics for the last Quarter, last 4Qs or 12Qs (i.e. 3 years) or for a specific calendar year.
http://risk4sea.com/
SQEMARINE
SQE Marine is a leading provider of Safety, Quality and Environmental Solutions providing Consulting, Training and Information products in these areas. We have been successfully providing a product and service range to more than 1,200 clients (based in 75+ countries) over the last 20 years, operating a DNVGL Certified Training Center and a LR ISO 9001 certified management system.
Strong enough to provide immediate response and feedback to all client queries and needs, we provide a range of competitively priced services and timeliness for product / service delivery; we provide foolproof products and services to ensure full after sales support for as long as necessary. Last but not least, technical competence is the core of our management system & operations.
Our vision is to be a leading world class corporation that provides reliable maritime solutions in the areas of Quality, Health, Safety, Environmental, Crisis, Security, and Risk Management. Our mission, therefore, is to provide real life, effective and efficient maritime solutions range including Consulting, Training and Information provision in order to maximize client benefit and minimize risk.
https://sqemarine.com/
SQE ACADEMY
We are providing open, in house, distance and licensed training courses fully tailored to corporate and industry needs, ensuring:
Update to latest legislation and best marine practice
Use of real life case studies and examples
Provision of a world class learning environment
Staying up to date after the completion of the training course
https://sqemarine.com/training/
Standard Club
The Standard Club is a mutual insurance association and member of the International Group of P&I clubs, owned by its shipowner members and controlled by a board of directors drawn from the membership. The club has been insuring shipowners, operators and charterers for their liabilities to third parties for over 100 years and insures about 10% of the world fleet.
The Standard Club prides itself on quality of service to members, and sets great store in responsiveness and support at all times, especially in times of crisis. Claims are managed from one of our 6 international offices, and our global reach is expanded by our correspondent network. We also put an emphasis on financial strength and stability, which has resulted in an S&P A rating and no unbudgeted supplementary calls for over 20 years.
The Loss Prevention department works to minimise losses through ship surveys, member risk reviews and a programme of educational events and publications. The loss prevention team is continuously developing its tools and training its personnel to enable it to provide expert technical and loss prevention advice to members round the clock.
The Safety and Loss Advisory Committees are key to the club's loss prevention initiatives and meet twice yearly to discuss claim trends and industry issues. Various initiatives have come as a result of the committee meetings, such as the member risk review programme, introduced in 1993 and unique to all International Group clubs
http://www.standard-club.com/
"K" Line Maritime Academy Philippines
Adamson (Phil.) Inc.
Anglo-Eastern Tanker Crew Management Philippines Inc
Araw Shipping Agency,Inc.
Arcadia Shipmanagement Co Ltd
ARPAPHIL Shipping Corporation
Asia Navis International Corporation
ASP Crew Management Services Inc.
Augustea Shipmanning Philippines
Avior Marine Inc
Bahia Shipping Services Inc
Baliwag Navigation Inc.
CF Sharp Crew Management Inc
CMA CGM
C-Man Maritime, Inc.
Consolidated Training Systems, Inc.
Crossworld Marine Services Inc.
Crystal Shipping Inc.
Dalisay Shipping Corporation
Döhle Seafront Crewing (Manila), Inc.
Easgate Maritime Training Center Inc. (EMTCI)
Eastern Mediterranean Manning Agency, Inc.
Eastgate Maritime Corporation
Elburg Shipmanagement Phil
Elwin Crew Management Inc.
Empire Navigation Inc.
Epic Gas Crewing Inc.
Epsilon Maritime Services, Inc.
ERMA FIRST
EVIC Human Resources Management Inc.
FIL Maritime Travelers Inc.
Friendly Maritime Services Inc.
Gigamare Inc.
Global Seaways
Grace Marine & Shipping Corp.
Great Swiss Shipping Corp.
Hartmann Crew Philippines, Inc.
Health Metrics
IMS Philippines Maritime Corp.
INC Navigation Company Philippines, Inc.
International Registries (Far East) Limited
Interorient Maritime Enterprises
Ionic Shipping (Mgt) Inc.
Jebsens Maritime Inc
KGIS Fleet Management Manila, Inc.
Lighthouse Shipmanagement PHILS
Logimatic Singapore Pte. Ltd.
MAAP
Maersk-Filipinas Crewing, Inc.
Magsaysay Maritime Corporation
Magsaysay Martime Academy
Maine Marine Philippines, Inc.
Manship Maritime Training Center, Inc.
Maran Tankers Management Inc.
Maritime Academy of Asia and the Pacific
Masterbulk Pte. Ltd
Mercury Shipping Corporation
Michaelmar Phils., Inc.
Misuga Philippines, Inc.
MOL Magsaysay Maritime Academy
MOT-BARKO Manila, Inc.,
Net Ship Management Inc.
Noah Ship Management DMCCO Dubai
Norbulk Shipping UK
Nordic Medical Clinic
O.F Sharp Crew Management
OceanWideSurveys Inc.
Orion Manila ROHQ
OSM Maritime Services Inc.
OSM Shipping Phils., Inc
PACC Shipping Philippines
Philam Life
Phil-Bright Ocean Ship Management Inc.
PHILCAMSAT – Philippine Center for Advanced Maritime Simulation and Training, Inc.
Phil-Crewing Maritime Services, Inc.
PhilSafe Marine Services Inc.
Phoenix Maritime Corporation
PMMA Graduate School
Rigel Maritime, Inc.
RINA Academy Philippines Inc
Sailors' Society
Sandigan Maritime Training Inc
Sea Centre Inc.
SeaComs Maritime Development International, Inc.
SeaLanes Marine Services
Seanergy Management Corporation
SeaQuest Shipmanagement
Seashore Shipmanagement And Marine Services Corp. / Ship Managers Association of the Philippines (SMAP)
Senator Crewing Manila Inc
ShipMoney
SHIPSERV CI Philippines
Songa Shipmanagement Ltd
Southfield Agencies, Inc
Spectral Technologies, Inc.
SSM Maritime Services Inc.
Status Maritime Corporation
SWM Shipmanagement Inc.
Synergy Group Operations Inc.
TDG Ship Management, Inc.
Thenamaris Philippines Inc.
Top Ever Marine Management Phil. Corp.
TORITEC Co., Ltd.
Transmarine Carriers
Ultraship Crewing Philippines, Inc.
V.Ships Manila
Ventis Maritime Corporation
Veritas Maritime Corporation
Viken Shipping/Wallem Shipmanagement (China)
Vintex Shipping Phils Corporation
Virjen Shipping Corporation
Wagenborg Manila Inc.
Wallem Maritime Services, Inc.
Wallem Shipmanagement Ltd.
Westfal Larsen Mgt AS
Widesea Marine Services & Shipping Lines., Inc.
Zeaborn Marine Services (Philippines) Corp.
First SAFETY4SEA Manila Forum focuses on key shipping workforce challenges
The event was organized by SAFETY4SEA having as sponsors the following organizations: Magsaysay People, Manila Shipmanagement & Manning, Inc. ("MANSHIP"), Manship Maritime Training Center, Inc. (MMTC), RINA Academy Philippines, RISK4SEA, SQEMARINE, SQE ACADEMY, and Standard Club and Trafalgar Navigation. Supporters of the event were F.A.M.E., Green Award, IWSA, AMOSUP-PTGWO-ITF, MARINA and Sailor's Society, while participating companies included the American Club, Dohle Seafront Crewing (Manila) Inc., Health Metrics, the Marshall Islands Registry, OSM Maritime and Philippine Transmarine Carriers, Inc.
Discussions varied among key challenges affecting the industry, with a special focus on the hot issue of attracting new generations and diversified talents in the maritime industry which is struggling to cope with the reforms brought by accelerating technology and remain productive and efficient. In addition, the human element, amid a growing shift in automation and the continuing cyber threat, was high on the agenda. Moving forward, the presentations touched upon the vital theme of crew wellness, while the last panel provided interesting discussions on how the industry can attract millennials by millennials themselves.
Opening Keynotes
Opening the event, Mr. Apostolos Belokas, Managing Editor, SAFETY4SEA, welcomed the delegates and speakers, thanked sponsors, and gave the word to Vadm Narciso A Vingson Jr, Officer-in charge, MARINA, as well as Gerardo A. Borromeo, Vice-Chairman Chief Executive Officer, Transmarine Carriers, who made their special warm welcoming to the first SAFETY4SEA Manila Forum and provided a brief introduction of the current industry challenges.
Presentations and discussions formed as follows:
Panel 1- Talent Attraction and Development
Opening the first panel, Mr. Patrick H. Maxwell, Vice President, MAGSAYSAY, noted that the shipping industry of today has to deal with major manpower shortages both at sea and ashore, as a result of the economic and demographic changes that have led to aging populations. In this regard, he shared key challenges shipping must address in order to attract new generations to select a career in shipping as a top choice: Connectivity, shore leave, criminalization and piracy are among the key challenges, he stressed.
In his presentation, Capt. Nicolo S. Terrei, Managing Director, Rina Academy Philippines, shared his experience from the investment in IoT technology for providing a quality maritime training, to continuously assess seafarers, shore-based personnel and staff, and subsequently enhance shipping safety.
Leo M. Bolivar, Country Manager, International Registries (Far East) Limited, noted that global demand for competent seafarers has been constantly growing over the years with shortage expected to peak in the next five years. He then described how the Marshall Islands Registry together with other industry stakeholders is proactively developing future seafarers through its work at the IMO, as well as human resources programs on education, training, and experience to produce quality crew for safer ships.
On his turn, Vadm Eduardo Ma R. Santos, President, Maritime Academy of Asia and the Pacific, provided insight into efficient ways to attract the younger generation in the industry and key challenges that we need to address for the development of competent graduates who shall possess the character, knowledge, and skills necessary for the successful pursuit of a maritime career.
Panel #2 – Human Element Challenges
Capt. Albert E. Bartilad, Vice President and COO of Manila Shipmanagement & Manning, Inc./ Vice President and CTO of Manship Maritime Training Center, Inc. highlighted the importance of safer, smarter seafaring through soft skills training, further stating that competence may be necessary, yet does not always guarantee performance. In fact, performance may be affected by a variety of personal or environmental factors, he noted.
During her presentation onloss prevention, risk and security management, Iris Baguilat, President, Döhle Seafront Crewing (Manila), Inc. presented truths about life onboard, underlying that even in this high-tech age, the lives of seafarers are characterized by isolation, tedium, and confinement apart from having to execute essentially challenging work.
Mailyn Borillo, President, OSM, discussed the human element, sharing best practices beyond compliance, further underlining that life skills improve seafarer's wellbeing, yet are the most neglected part of employees' development. The main challenges of seafarers are challenges on family relationships; mental and physical sickness and further financial burdens, she stressed.
John Wilson, Technical Director for Asia, The American Club talked about the human element in cyber security, highlighting the rise of cyber incidents as a business risk and the importance of cyber incidents as a business risk. In order to reduce the risk to reduce the human error, he proposed that a cyber wellness culture should be established within the company.
Panel # 3 – Crew Wellness & Resilience
During his presentation, Gavin Lim, Regional Development Manager, Sailors' Society talked about wellness at sea training and surveys, highlighting that companies should adopt new ways to engage in promoting on board health and well-being, since the current definition of wellness looks at the human being's holistic nature.
Antonio Roberto M. Abaya MD, Medical Director, Health Metrics gave his insight concerning the use of machine learning in maritime medicine, as repatriation risk assessment and proposed effective ways in which the use of machine learning in maritime medicine can act as a means to avoid risk.
At his presentation, Apostolos Belokas, Managing Editor, SAFETY4SEA, talked about crew wellness, soft skills and resilience. Lately, focus has been shed on finding ways to address the five key aspects of wellness for people working onboard in terms of social, emotional, physical, intellectual and spiritual and refered to industry's initiatives.
Panel # 4 – The Millennials Generation in the spotlight
The last panel was devoted to a very specific category of young people: Millennials are expected to bring a whole new set of demands and expectations on the modern shipping workplace. In a bid to provide a different perspective of the current skills challenges amid the industry, the panel gave the word to millennials themselves: Elaiza Marie Galvez Perez, Junior Training Development Officer, Manship Maritime Training Center, Inc., Jim Acanto Alminar, 2nd Engineer, Manila Shipmanagement & Manning, Inc. Shaina Moriones and Norman Cris Ayat, students from MOL MAGSAYSAY Maritime Academy, as well as Jonathan Hernandez, Chief mate, Ocean Going Ships, and Michelle Francisco, Second Mate, Ocean Going Ships, discussed how the industry can become more attractive to new generations, taking advantage of millennials' unique experiences to reshape its traditional way of doing business.
All presentations will be made available on YouTube in high resolution within October at the SAFETY4SEA Channel
Speaker Articles
Edited articles with key points of several presentations will be available at safety4sea.com under 'Opinions' column within this month
Available at SAFETY4SEA Flickr
Paper Magazine Coverage
Event will be covered on the next SAFETY4SEA Log!
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text:
Phenomena of Nature: Cells-Chemical Organisation – Dr. Sayed Abdul Wadud
30/12/2015 Dr. Syed Abdul Wadud, English Book - Tolue Islam Trust, Phenomena of Nature
(16:13).
"And the things of various colours that He has created for you in the earth, in them is a Sign for those who keep the working of the Divine laws before them".
As stated earlier, the first living bodies on earth were single cells. These gradually evolved into animals and plants that we see now. The world today thus consists of unicellular as well as multicellular organisms, the basic unit being a cell. Every cell differs from the other in certain respects. Moreover the chemical constituents of a cell are changing every moment. New materials enter a cell. Reactions within a cell change the incoming materials into new compounds, some of which are redistributed within the cell substance, others including the waste products leave the cell. These changes are continuous. But inspite of all the differences between cells and changes within cells, there are certain basic features which are common to all of them. Functions of a cell are based on the properties of its chemical constituents.
BASIC CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS OF A CELL
95 per cent of the weight of a cell consists of four elements; oxygen 62 per cent, carbon 20 per cent, hydrogen 10 per cent and nitrogen 3 per cent. The rest 5 per cent of the weight of a cell consists of thirty other elements, including calcium, iron, sodium, potassium, magnesium, iodine, phosphorus, chlorine and sulphur as the main ingredients. In addition trace elements are present in particular types of cells. All the elements described above are present in the oceans. The cells having originated in the oceans, their contents and composition are a reflection of the oceanic water.
Minerals. All minerals present in a cell are present in the form of solution, except calcium salts which are present in the form of crystals around individual bone forming cells. Another element namely silicon is also present in crystal form in the outer cells of certain grasses.
Organic Components. As noted already, these are Carbohydrates (which include sugars and polysaccharides) fats, proteins, nitrogen-bases drivatives which include adenoL'iie phosphates and nucleic acids. Like minerals, some of the organic substances form hard parts, for example wood, horn and chitin (the external covering of insects).
Carbohydrates. These, as we know, consist of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. A carbohydrate with five carbons (C5H10O5) is called pentose. Common example is ribose. That with six carbons (C6H12O6) is called Hexose. Common examples are glucose, fructose and galactose. Sugars such as Pentose or Hexose are called monosaccharides as each represents a single sugar unit. Two monosaccharides joined together form a Disaccharide, a double sugar. Example is cane-sugar which is a combination of glucose and fructose. Two or more disaccharide molecules combine to make a polysaccharide. Examples are cellulose, glycogen etc.
Fats. As seen already, fats are formed by combination of one glycerine molecule and three fatty acid molecules. Like coal or petrol in an engine, fats serve as fuel in cells. They also form boundary membrances of cells where they contribute to controlling the movements of materials into and out of cells*
Proteins. Are polymers of Amino acids. A protein may contain any type, any number and any sequence ofamino-acids. Proteins may be categorised as Fibrous and Globular. Fibrous Proteins are relatively insoluble in water and provide the building materials for the structural framework of cells. Fats, carbohydrates and other materials get secondarily deposited in it.
Protein formation being under the control of nucleic adds, every organism has got specific types of proteins. Thus if protein from one organism is transferred to the body of another organism, it acts as a foreign body and produces disease. For , example bacteria give rise to disease when they infect a host. Proteins of one animal when grafted into another, do not heal into place.
Nucleic acids. As we know, these are nudeotide polymers. Nucleotide is a phosphate of a nitrogen-base plus simple sugar pentose. Pentose may be either Ribose or Deoxyribose, the latter containing one oxygen atom less than ribose. On this basis we may distinguish between Ribose-nucleic-acids (RNA) and Deoxyribose-nudeic-adds (DNA). DNA forms genes and RNA functions as an intermediary between genes and the sites of protein synthesis in a cell.
* Formerly fat was considered to be metabolically inactive substance. (For example, in human body it was supposed to be a reservior from which the body could draw calories during starvation or similar conditions. Its main day to day function was one of insulation against temperature changes and mechanical protection of underlying structures against minor trauma. We were also familiar with the aesthetic aspects of fat But it was not considered as an organ in its own right It is nbw known that fat plays a unique and central role in the economy of energy, a fact of which we were ignorant several years ago. To use an analogy, just as the capital of a bank cannot be allowed to be idle, so resources stored in the fatly tissue are not to be regarded as inactive or inert To extend the analogy, although the amount of capital represented by fat may be constant, there is a continuous borrowing and lending of funds, with the result that, provided the weight remains constant, a zero balance is struck.
Other constituents of cell. In addition to fats, carbohydrates, proteins, nucleic acids and Adenosine-phosphates which form the bulk of living matter, a cell contains hundreds of other organic substances. These are present in minute quantities and yet they may be extremely important for the maintenance of life. One category of these substances is known as pigments. Besides their aesthetic aspect in the living world, pigments perform various extremely important roles.
Pigments. Three types are particularly significant-
One group includes pigments known as Tetrapyrrols. A pyrrol contains a skeleton of five atoms of carbon and nitrogen arranged in a ring. Four such rings joined together form a tetrapyrrol. Tetrapyrrols of this type include red, blue, green and other varieties of pigments found, for example, in algae, in the shells of robin and other bird eggs and in mammalian faeces and urine
Fig.24.-PIGMENTS. (Chemical Structure)
In other tetrapyrrols, the four pyrrol rings are joined to form a larger ring in turn and in the centre of this larger ring is usually present a single atom of metal. A major pigment of this type is green chlorophyll, the central metal atom here being of magnesium. This is present in photosynthetic organisms. In another important type of ring-like tetrapyrrol, the central atom is iron and such pigments are red; for example, haemoglobin, the red oxygen-transporting substance in the blood of many animals (man and vertebrates generally).
(b) A second large group of pigments in organisms comprises carotenoids. They produce red, orange, yellow and brown colours. They are long chains of carbon atoms, with carbon rings attached at both ends of the chain. Two subgroups of carotenoids are the Carotenes and the Xanthophylls. Carotenes have a general formula C40 H55 and Vitamin A is its derivative. Named after the carrot in which carotenes are abundant, the pigments also occur widely in all leaves and are reponsible for the red, yellow or cream white colours of, for example, tomatoes, pumpkins, egg yolk, butter, milk and other plant and animal products.
Xanthophylls contain oxygen in addition to carbon and hydrogen. They are also widely distributed. A common Xanthophyll of leaves is lutien (C40H56O2), which is responsible for the yellow colours in autumn foliage( ).
(c) A third major group of pigments comprises the Anthocyanins formed among plants but not animals. An anthocyanin molecule is composed of several rings of atoms, the ring being joined in complex ways. They produce the deep reds and blues of plants as in many flowers, fruits and roots (e.g., beet-root). They are also manufactured in autumn foliage where they account for red colouration. They are water soluble whereas carotenoids and chlorophylls are fat soluble.
Most conspicuous in animals but not in plants is Melanin. It is responsible for yellow-brown, brown and black animal colours. Thus it occurs abundantly in hair, skin, in the inner layers of eyes and also in the interior membrances of some animals. Melanin is a chemical derivative of the amino acid tyrosine. Specialised pigment cells produce melanin, which accumulates in granules within such cells. If only a few melanin granules are present, the cell appears to be yellowish or brownish in colour. A black colour is produced by dense masses of granules.
The Holy Quran says:
"Do you not see that Allah sends down rains from above and leads it through springs in the Earth? Then He causes to grow therewith produce of various colours. Then it withers and turns yellow. Then He makes it dry up and crumble away. Truly in this is a message to men of understanding".
These are the wonderful ways of the working of Divine laws in the physical world. We note how the same Carbon, Nitrogen, Hydrogen and Oxygen atoms in a molecule with change in their number and arrangement pattern, produce a variety of pigments. How the inclusion of a single atom of magnesium in a formula produces green colour, and the inclusion of an atom of iron produces red colour. How the addition of oxygen to carbon and hydrogen atoms (C40H56O2) produces lutien, a yellow pigment of autumn foliage ( ) and so on.
Meaning of colour. It would be worthwhile in this connection to describe what we mean when we say that so an and so object has got so and so a colour. For example, we know that a plant is green because it contains a green pigment called chlorophyll. Why does chlorophyll look green?
For this let us recall the electromagnetic radiation, already described in Chapter IV. The constituents of electromagnetic spectrum which are of different wave-lengths extend from radio-waves to cosmic rays. The wave-length decreases from radio-waves, through infrared rays, light rays, ultraviolet rays, X-rays, gamma rays, to cosmic rays. Thus radio-waves are longest and least energetic and cosmic rays are shortest and most energetic. The light rays or the visible spectrum which is a part of the electro-magnetic spectrum described above is again composed of rays of different wavelengths. They range from violet, through indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, to red in increasing lengths. Thus violet is shortest and most energetic, and red is longest and least energetic.
Colour is not an inherent property of an object. It is a sensation produced by stimulation of optic nerves by particular light vibrations and its interpretation by brain cells. When light from a self-luminous source falls on a particular object the light rays may be absorbed, or transmitted, or reflected by it. The transmitted or reflected rays when they fall into our eyes, are carried by optic nerves to optic lobe area of brain which interprets these vibrations as colour. (Fig. 25).
Fig.25.-LIGHT RAYS. (Light rays reaching an object may be partly reflected, partly absorbed and partly transmitted.)
An object which absorbs all types of light rays (from violet to red) falling on it would be invisible. A black object approaches this theoretical condition very closely. An object which transmits all light rays, would be completely transparent and would thus be invisible. And an object which reflects all light would appear in the colour of light falling on it.
Thus the colour of an object depends on what type of light rays are absorbed, transmitted or reflected. Just as a radio-receiver is sensitive only to a portion of electromagnetic spectrum known as radio-waves, so the human eye is sensitive only to a portion known as visible spectrum or light rays. The optic lobe of the brain is so constructed that it interprets the shortest most energetic light waves as colour violet and the longest least energetic as colour red. Light waves of intermediate increasing wave-lengths are inerpreted as indigo, blue, green, yellow and orange respectively. Viewed together in a properly mixed beam such as sunlight the whole spectrum of visible waves is interpreted as white.
The subjective nature of colour is revealed in colour blind persons. These people can identify certain colours and not others. The defect here lies in the visual mechanism of the viewer and not in the object viewed.
We may conclude therefore that the light waves which chlorophyll reflects and transmits, and which make chlorophyll appear green to us, have intermediate length and energy content; and that the light waves which chlorophyll absorbs must be the other components of the visible spectrum, namely, the long red waves and the short blue-violet waves.
Similarly the colours of plants, animals, rocks, minerals and in fact of all the living and non-living objects around us varies with their respective chemical and physical structure and consequently upon the rays of solar spectrum that each of them reflects, transmits or absorbs. What a beautiful arrangement, for the display of beautiful colours in this beautiful world.
The scientists who explore nature and gain knowledge of natural phenomena are termed 'Ulema' by the Holy Quran:
(35:27-28)
"Do you not see that Allah sends down rains from above? With it We then bring out produces of various colours. And in the mountains are newly created strata of rocks, white and red of various shades of colour, and intensely black. And so amongst men and crawling creatures and cattle are they of various colours. Those who posses the knowledge of these sciences ( ) really appreciate the mighty powers of the laws of Allah. They know that His law is omnipotent and provides protection for those who abide by it".
The word in the above verse is significant. Usually it is translated as "tracts". But actually it means the newly created strata of the Earth's crust.
means 'new, or 'newly created'.
Let us recall that most sedimentary rocks were formed by erosion of other rocks. The action of air and water causes exposed rocks to crumble and the rainwater gradually moves the pieces downhill. After movement has ceased, some substance in solution in water deposits a cementing material which holds the pieces together to form a rock. If the pieces are large, we call it Conglomerate. Pieces about the size of sand grains form a sandstone. When the mass is like a fine smooth powder, the rock becomes a shale. The normal succession of sedimentary rocks is conglomerate, sandstone, shale and limestone. The limestone which is made principally of the shells of marine animals is formed only in clear water, and indicates the presence of very sluggish streams preceding the rock formation that could not carry even small particles. The sedimentary rocks may be turned into metamorphic rocks under the influence of heat, pressure, water and motion. Thus shale became slate, granite became gneiss, limestone became marble and sandstone became quartz. The changes involve recrystallisation and the formation of new minerals. Rocks are made up of minerals, and minerals themselves are composed of one or more of the natural elements. The compounds of different elements, e.g., carbon, copper, iron, aluminium, calcium etc., produce different colours. The colours of rock strata are further influenced by other factors. For example, limestone is white in colour,
but when quite near the shores, mud may be mixed with it to give it a grey colour. Metamorphosis may change colours: for example, sedimentary coal is brown in colour, and when subjected to heat and pressure bituminous coals are formed which are dull-black in colour.
In the above-said verse (15:28), the display of various colours in the newly formed strata of the Earth's crust is referred to. Moreover this is the only verse in the Holy Quran where the word is used, and here it is used for those who possess knowledge of natural phenomena.
OTHER CONSTITUENTS OF CELLS
In addition to the above constituents of cells there are other complex substances, such as derivatives of corbohydrates which form cells of animals and plants; and lipid derivatives, such as waxes which form covering films in plants; or cutin and sebrin which function as water-proofing and evaporation-resisting materials. Similarly, ralated to fats are the sterols, complex ring structures which form the molecular framework of a number of vitamins and of animal hormones which play major functional roles.
Weathering also affects the colouration of newly sedimentary rocks. Rocks exposed to weather for a long time assume a different colour. The chief agents responsible for weathering of rocks are (1) Air (2) water (3) Temperature changes and (4) plants and animals. The methods by which they cause changes are of two kinds;
mechanical and chemical. It is only chemicals which cause change of colour. Air alone has no -effect on rocks but air and water together are the chief agents of weathering. Oxygen and carbon dioxide are the gases of the air which with water cause important chemical changes in rocks of all kinds. Oxygen and water attack the iron found as a constituent of many dark coloured minerals, changing it to ferric oxide (rust). That accounts for the yellow, brown and red colours of most rocks and soils. The carbonaceous materias of plants also cause change in the colour of soils. The red colour is due to oxidised iron, produced by the chemical weathering of some rocks. There are two classes of iron compounds, ferric and ferrous. The ferric are red, yellow and brown in colour. Ferrous compounds are almost colourless. Hence a reduction of ferric to ferrous compounds by the carbonacous material of the humus, results in a change from red soils to colourless and finally black soils.
Cells-Chemical Organisation, Dr. Sayed Abdul Wadud, Phenomena of Nature