text:
What is the post after the president in the Indian constitution?
1. President
2. Vice-President
3. Prime Minister
4. Governors of States within their respective States
5. Former Presidents
5A. Deputy Prime Minister
6. Chief Justice of India Speaker of Lok Sabha
7. Cabinet Ministers of the Union.
Chief Ministers of States within their respective States Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission
Former Prime Ministers
Leaders of Opposition in Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha
7A. Holders of Bharat Ratna decoration
8. Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and High Commissioners of Commonwealth countries accredited to India
Chief Ministers of States outside their respective States Governors of States outside their respective States)
9. Judges of Supreme Court
9A Chairperson, Union Public Service Commission Chief Election Commissioner
Comptroller & Auditor General of India
10. Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha
Deputy Chief Ministers of States
Deputy Speaker, Lok Sabha
Members of the Planning Commission
Ministers of State of the Union {and any other Minister in the Ministry of Defence for defence matters}
11. Attorney General of India. Cabinet Secretary.
Lieutenant Governors within their respective Union Territories
12. Chiefs of Staff holding the rank of full General or equivalent rank.
13. Envoys Extraordinary and Ministers Plenipotentiary accredited to India.
14. Chairmen and Speakers of State Legislatures within their respective States. Chief Justices of High Courts within their respective jurisdictions
New Delhi, the 26th July, 1979
15. Cabinet Ministers in States within their respective States
Chief Ministers of Union Territories and Chief Executive Councillor, Delhi within their respective Union Territories
Deputy Ministers of the Union
16. Officiating Chiefs of Staff holding the rank of Lieutenant General or equivalent rank.
17. Chairman, Central Administrative Tribunal.
Chairman, Minorities Commission
Chairperson, National Commission for Scheduled Castes Chairperson, National Commission for Scheduled Tribes
Chief Justices of High Courts outside their respective jurisdictions Puisne Judges of High Courts within their respective jurisdictions
18. Cabinet Ministers in States outside their respective States
Chairmen and Speakers of State Legislatures outside their respective States
Chairman, Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission
Deputy Chairmen and Deputy Speakers of State Legislatures within their respective States
Ministers of State in States within their respective States
Ministers of Union Territories and Executive Councilors, Delhi, within their respective Union Territories.
Speakers of Legislative Assemblies in Union Territories and Chairman of Delhi Metropolitan Council within their respective Union Territories.
19. Chief Commissioners of Union Territories not having Councils of Ministers, within their respective Union Territories.
Deputy Ministers in States within their respective States.
Deputy Speakers of Legislative Assemblies in Union Territories and Deputy Chairman of metropolitan Council Delhi, within their respective Union Territories.
20. Deputy Chairmen and Deputy Speakers of State Legislatures, outside their respective states. Ministers of State in States outside their respective States
Puisne Judges of High Courts outside their respective jurisdictions.
21. Members of Parliament.
22. Deputy Ministers in State outside their respective States
23. Army Commanders/ Vice-Chief of the Army Staff or equivalent in other services Chief Secretaries to State Governments within their respective States Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities
Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes
Members, Minorities Commission
Members, National Commission for Scheduled Castes
Members, National Commission for Scheduled Tribes
Officers of the rank of full General or equivalent rank
Secretaries to the Government of India (including officers holding this office ex-officio). Secretary, Minorities Commission.
Secretary, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Commission.
Secretary to the President.
Secretary to the Prime Minister.
Secretary, Rajya Sabha/Lok Sabha
Vice-Chairman, Central Administrative Tribunal
24.Officers of the rank of Lieutenant General or equivalent rank.
25.Additional Secretaries to the Government of India. Additional Solicitor General
Advocate Generals of States.
Chairman, Tariff Commission
Charge d' Affairs and Acting High Commissioners a pied and ad interim
Chief Ministers of Union Territories and Chief Executive Councillor, Delhi outside their respective Union Territories
Chief Secretaries of State Governments outside their respective States.
Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General
Deputy Speakers of Legislative Assemblies in Union Territories and Deputy Chairman, Delhi Metropolitan Council, outside their respective Union Territories.
Director, Central Bureau of Investigation
Director General, Border Security Force.
Director General, Central Reserve Police.
Director, Intelligence Bureau
Lieutenant Governors outside their respective Union Territories.
Members, Central Administrative Tribunal
Members, Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission
Members, Union Public Service Commission
Ministers of Union Territories and Executive Councillors, Delhi, outside their respective Union Territories.
26.Principal Staff Officers of the Armed Forces of the rank of major General or equivalent rank Speakers of Legislative Assemblies in Union Territories and Chairman of Delhi, Metropolitan Council, outside their respective Union Territories
Joint Secretaries to the Government of India and officers of equivalent rank. Officers of the rank of Major-General or equivalent rank
source ministry of home affairs .


I believe in Jesus Christ…The third day he rose again from the dead.
You are here: Home / Worship / Apostles' Creed / I believe in Jesus Christ…The third day he rose again from the dead.
Cornelius the centurion knew Jesus. The Lord's fame had spread far and wide and touched everyone—including the Roman legion stationed at Caesarea.
But this centurion knew more. He knew that the Old Testament taught: "the good news of peace through Jesus Christ who is Lord of all" (Acts 10:36). Cornelius knew that Jesus had preached in Judea and Galilee. He knew Jesus had power over both disease and the devil. He knew that God was with Jesus! He knew the sad story of Jesus' death as he hung on a cross—mocked by Romans, despised by Jews, cursed by God.
Now God had arranged a meeting between Cornelius and the apostle Peter. Peter told him, "I want you to know the rest of the story. I want you to know what we saw. We saw Jesus alive. I am an eye-witness of his resurrection from the dead.
Peter had received his own revelation, which he shared with Cornelius. He called Jesus "the Lord of all," and testified to this centurion, "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right'" (Acts 10:34-35).
We believe that Jesus died for all, and we believe that Jesus rose for all. The truth of Jesus' resurrection anchors our faith that Jesus is Lord of people from every nation, tribe and language, and it inspires our outreach to the whole world.
https://whataboutjesus.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/700x411-ApostlesCreed.jpg 400 711 waj https://whataboutjesus.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/WAJ-logo-offwhite.png waj2016-07-10 06:00:522019-01-17 10:21:52I believe in Jesus Christ…The third day he rose again from the dead.
When Does the Soul Go to Heaven?
When is the resurrection going to happen?
What Happens to the Soul before Judgment Day?
Why is Jesus' resurrection from the dead significant for me?
Will I Rise from the Dead?
How can I be sure there is life after death?
I believe in Jesus Christ…He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right... I believe in Jesus Christ…He descended into hell.


The Government of Assam have been taking various steps to accelerate development process for the welfare of Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities in the State through democratic decentralization of power and empowering the Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities to participate in the planning, monitoring and implementation of Tribal Sub Plan (TSP) schemes in grass root level by constituting Territorial Councils, Autonomous Councils and Development Councils for different Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities in the State.
The Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) has legislative, administrative, executive and financial powers over 40 policy areas in the Bodoland Territorial Areas Districts comprising 4 Administrative Districts namely Udalguri, Baksa, Chirang, Kokrajhar comprising various protected tribal belts and blocks in Assam and 40 Elected Representatives to the BTC Legislative Assembly and provisions for 6 Nominated Members to be nominated by the Governor of Assam from the unrepresented communities in the BTCLA through direct election in the districts of Assam. It was established in 2003 following a peace agreement between the Government of India and Bodo Liberation Tigers and is functioning since 2003 under the provision of the Amended Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India. The first Chief Executive Member of the BTC was Hagrama Mohilary. The headquarters of Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) is at Kokrajhar Town in Kokrajhar district.
The North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council, Dima Hasao District (NCHAC) and the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council, East Karbi Anglong (KAAC) are autonomous councils constituted under the provisions of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India to administer the respective districts and for the development of the Tribal people. The headquarter of North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council, Dima Hasao District (NCHAC) is in Haflong, Dima Hasao district. The headquarter of Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council, East Karbi Anglong (KAAC) is in Diphu, East Karbi Anglong district.
Vital Statistics including registration of birth and deaths & Food & Civil Supplies and takes different development related programmes covering these sectors for upliftment of ST peoples in different council areas.
The creation of each of the Development Council was made by separate Gazetted Notification during the month of May and June in 2010 and in the month of January in the year 2011. During the year 2015- 2016 also few Development Councils were created for socio-economic, educational, cultural and ethnic advancement of the people of the community within the State of Assam.
To regulate the various function/ activities of the Development Councils, the Government has issued Guidelines vide notification No.TAD/BC/105/2013/6 Dated 07.03.2013. Each of the Development Councils has their Council body with minimum 15 and maximum 25 members headed by Chairman elected by the Members of the Council.


Isabelle offers consistent quality, a warm atmosphere, and plenty of tasty treats for all occasions.
06:00 AM - 09:00 PMBook a FRENCH CREPE PARTY! It's different! We bring everything to your house .... savory and sweet , a complete meal! You provide drinks, plates and silverwares : WE DO THE REST!!!! ENJOY!


The most important rule you should always obey when your hot water system is damaged is to never go outside your reach and attempt to repair it unless you're qualified or told to do so by a professional.
When you switch on the hot water and there isn't any, what happens then? It's possible you have one serious hot water heater issue and you need to get it fixed so you can have your morning hot shower. You simply might have just run out of hot water. When guests come over stay for extended visits, this can put pressure on the heater in the mornings. The heater is only designed to handle for only a few people. It can get rough for not only the heater but for everyone else. If the hot water heater is more that 10 – 15 years old, the loss of hot water may be in title to a replacement. The pilot light on the hot water heater is gone out but you didn't even know what it was till now. Take off the cover and check on the pilot light to see if it's on or not. If not try reigniting the pilot; newer models switch to electronic ignition. If still no light has come on recommend getting a plumber to look.
If the pilot light or electronic ignition system is working fine, then it could be something to do with the burners. This can be multiple things including a gas flow issue, the thermostat is playing up, or some other mechanic not working. What ever it is you shouldn't touch or play around with the burners. It's always worth it to call a plumber who does this kind of work on a daily basis. The circuit breaker has tripped is also another reason you don't have hot water. The circuit might overload and trip the breaker causing no hot water. Checking the breaker and resetting it might work. If the problems still occur, have the heater looked at. It's also possible the electric panel itself is faulty.
Another problem can occur with hot water heaters is that it's the wrong size. Never let non-professionals install your water heater, since poor sizing is a mistake people often make. You'll need to install a better water tank that matches your households needs.
Other causes for you not having hot water and possibly things you can try. Accidental grounding; look for foreign objects shorting across wiring connections. Tripped reset button, tripping repeatedly could be signs of a failed reset button. First what you can do is try resetting the water heater. If it doesn't do much you will likely need to get someone to fix a component. Water leaks can stop hot water from coming through, it'll be obvious if a simple water leak was lurking and happened to be the problem. Leaking connections can sometimes help be tightened and be replaced if tightening doesn't work.
If you need hotter water in your home and fixed by today and you live in South East Queensland give Jetset Plumbing a call.


A portrait and stock photography series celebrating disabled BIPOC around the Pacific Northwest.
Affect Conf was an annual 2-day conference plus group volunteering event that took place in Portland, Oregon from 2016-2018. If you didn't catch it before, we still have videos and transcripts and resources for putting together accessible events.


text:
Popular Spectator Sports in St Louis
If you are a sporting fanatic, St Louis city provides many opportunities for you to meet and interact with other lovers of spectator sports. Enjoy thrilling fun-filled sporting actions in the beautiful arenas within the city for a wonderful stay. Although there are many sports activities, here are some popular spectator sports where you are likely to meet thousands of fans. St. Louis, MO can be seen here.
St Louis Cardinals is the city's favorite team. Since 1892, the St Louis Cardinals have made it to the World Series more than 17 times and had more than 300 players. The zeal of baseball fans in St Louis led to the city being recognized as the "baseball heaven" by broadcasters across the country. Enjoy live local baseball league games in one of the many arenas spread around the city.Visit about The Best Accommodation Facilities in St Louis.
St Louis Blues Hockey is a member of the National Hockey League's Western Conference and Central division and a favorite among fans in the city. The team has inspired the rise of many other teams playing in local leagues. Enjoy live hockey matches in different arenas within the city with friends.
Thousands of spectators show up every July to witness world-class professional tennis competition in St Louis. Experience the energy among the fans of tennis as World Team Tennis players battle for glory on the tennis lawns.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


This page presents the Google satellite Street map (zoomable and browsable) of The Watermark in Mount Annan, New South Wales.
Geographical coordinates are -34.0551326 and 150.7513875.
Scroll below the map to see the Street View of The Watermark.


In some countries, the size N and characteristics of the exposed population and its conditions of exposure can be precisely derived from health insurance databases. In this case, except for the poor quality of case collection (i.e. under-reporting), SR approaches the cohort design.
Unfortunately, in most cases, it is necessary to estimate these parameters from sales statistics and/or drug prescription on drug utilization panels (Begaud et al., 1993). The use of such agregated data precludes any possibility of considering some individual or sub-group characteristics in the analysis.


text:
The Woodlands Institute For Health & Wellness
The Woodlands Institute For Health & Wellness Headquarters: Spring, Texas, United States of America, 77380
The Woodlands Institute For Health & Wellness Headquarters:
Spring, Texas, United States of America, 77380
The Woodlands Institute For Health & Wellness is a travel and tourism retailer with online presence and sell travel and tourism services related products. It is headquartered in United States of America. The Woodlands Institute For Health & Wellness has an estimated web sales of $500K-$1M. Woodlandswellnessmd.com attracts a monthly unique visitor traffic 577 visitors.
$500K-$1M
Travel and Tourism Services
The Woodlands Institute For Health & Wellness Revenue & Other Metrics
Top, middle, and bottom of the funnel metrics for The Woodlands Institute For Health & Wellness – calculated by proprietary Commercepedia algorithms
The Woodlands Institute For Health & Wellness Traffic
Other Technologies used by The Woodlands Institute For Health & Wellness
Technologies used by The Woodlands Institute For Health & Wellness for website
Technologies used by The Woodlands Institute For Health & Wellness for advertising
Specialized adTech
Google Remarketing Tag
Technologies used by The Woodlands Institute For Health & Wellness for personalization
The Woodlands Institute For Health & Wellness Competitors
eCommerce companies that sell similar or complementary products. They compete directly with The Woodlands Institute For Health & Wellness or for the wallet share of similar customers
Nanostring
Nanostring is a health and fitness & science and laboratories retailer with online presence and sell hospitals and healthcare services & life scien...
Osho is a health and fitness retailer with online presence and sell meditation and wellness related products. It is headquartered in Ireland. Osho ...
Uthealth
Uthealth is an education retailer with online presence and sell universities and colleges related products. It is headquartered in United States of...
Gomo Health
Gomo Health is a health and fitness & science and laboratories retailer with online presence and sell healthcare products, hospitals and healthcare...
Hardy Diagnostics
Salem Health
Atlanticare
The Woodlands Institute For Health & Wellness Commerce Model
Deep classification of customer, revenue, channel, SKU, & distribution model of The Woodlands Institute For Health & Wellness – powered by proprietary Commercepedia algorithms
The Woodlands Institute For Health & Wellness Delivery Model
One-of-its-kind classification of delivery features & strategies based on shipping policies & terms documents of The Woodlands Institute For Health & Wellness
The Woodlands Institute For Health & Wellness Delivery Time Window
The Woodlands Institute For Health & Wellness Shipping
The Woodlands Institute For Health & Wellness Returns
The Woodlands Institute For Health & Wellness Key Partners
Key technology, finance, payments, & logistics partnerships of The Woodlands Institute For Health & Wellness – discovered by Commercepedia knowledge graph
Proprietary competitiveness score based on the analysis on business models, features, & technology investments made by The Woodlands Institute For Health & Wellness
FAQs About The Woodlands Institute For Health & Wellness
What is The Woodlands Institute For Health & Wellness' revenue - 2022?
Who are the competitors of The Woodlands Institute For Health & Wellness? Which other companies are similar to The Woodlands Institute For Health & Wellness in terms of target segments?
How much funding has The Woodlands Institute For Health & Wellness raised until Jan, 2023?
What is the valuation of The Woodlands Institute For Health & Wellness as on Jan, 2023?
Where is The Woodlands Institute For Health & Wellness' headquarters?
What is the business model of The Woodlands Institute For Health & Wellness? How does The Woodlands Institute For Health & Wellness make money?
The Woodlands Institute For Health & Wellness' revenue in 2022 (trailing twelve months' revenue) ranges between $500K-$1M, calculated on a gross merchandise value basis.
The Woodlands Institute For Health & Wellness sells products in the travel and tourism category. There are other companies like Nanostring, Osho, Uthealth, Gomo Health, Hardy Diagnostics, Salem Health, Atlanticare and The University Of Kansas Health System that also sell products in similar or adjacent categories like travel and tourism services.
The Woodlands Institute For Health & Wellness is either boot strapped or is a public company and so venture funding data for The Woodlands Institute For Health & Wellness is unavailable.
The Woodlands Institute For Health & Wellness' revenue in 2022 (trailing twelve months' revenue) ranges between $500K-$1M, calculated on a gross merchandise value basis. Typically eCommerce companies are valued at 1-1.5x their trailing twelve months' gross merchandise value. So we expect The Woodlands Institute For Health & Wellness valuation to be in the range of $500K-$1.5M. Actual valuations may vary.
The Woodlands Institute For Health & Wellness' headquarters is in Texas, United States of America. The headquarters address is 26110 Oak Ridge Dr,Spring,Texas,77380,United States of America.
The Woodlands Institute For Health & Wellness is a dtc company. They sell through own web store. They make money through one-time sales. The Woodlands Institute For Health & Wellness' customers are B2C.
Based on PipeCandy's proprietary Commercepedia maturity scoring model, The Woodlands Institute For Health & Wellness' scores 37/100. We classify them as a big enterprise company.


James Reid heard the beach calling and so he came.
Hey, Papapeh. Mind if we join your sunset cruise? Inigo Pascual sure is living the island life!
Bailey may have gone international but the Philippines still remains as his fave travel destination.
Own the season with a quick getaway at city resorts like Karen Reyes.
Adventure + good travel photos: It's looks like a win-win vacation for Sue Ramirez!
Julia Barretto takes time to fulfill her dreams this season by checking Peru off her bucket list.
New IG-worthy photos are one of our agenda this summer like Sofia Andres.
Enchanted Kingdom brings the happy kid out of Hashtags member CK!
Music festival it is for Elisse Joson to chill out this summer!
Making its way to the top of Sharlene San Pedro's getaway spots? Baguio City!
How about you? Where are you headed this summer?
Gone are the days when we were making a fuss over the repeated twenty-four hour period of our lives and wait until summer arrives. But finally the vacay season has arrived! So how are you planning to spend your most-anticipated time of the year?
To say that summer screams rest and relaxation is stating the obvious, but it's actually more complicated than that. Some may think of it as a few weeks of escapades from school and work loads, while for others, it's the perfect means to complete the unfinished tasks. We can't blame them. However, there's also no denying the fact that career burnout does not in any way help to improve your performance. That is why as much as possible, we expect you to take advantage of it and recharge yourself before it's over. But how relaxed is relax? Let's take it from our favorite celebrities who, despite their busy schedules, still find time to do vacation right!


text:
/*
* @Author: Sze Ka Wai Raymond (FakeC)
* @Date:   2016-01-01 03:05:37
* @Last Modified by:   Sze Ka Wai Raymond (FakeC)
* @Last Modified time: 2016-01-21 22:18:27
*/

import Mongoose from 'mongoose';
import Promise from 'bluebird';
Mongoose.Promise = Promise;

const schema = new Mongoose.Schema({
	title: {
		type: String,
		required: true
	},
	content: {
		type: String,
		required: true
	},
	createdBy: {
		type: String,
		required: true
	}
}, {timestamps: true, versionKey: false});

export default Mongoose.model('Document', schema, 'Documents');

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Bill Clinton Implored Hillary Clinton to Challenge President Obama in 2012?
"The country needs you! The country needs us!" —Bill Clinton in August of 2010, urging Hillary Clinton to run against President Obama in 2012, according to a new book by Ed Klein, the author who has previously alleged that Chelsea Clinton was conceived when Bill raped Hillary.
Bill Wanted Hillary to Run in 2012?


text:
in Providence
Medical Alert Systems > Rhode Island > Providence Medical Alert Systems in Rhode Island
Providing Safety and Security in Providence
With over 14 percent of the population over the age of 65, it is safe to say that maintaining independence with age is a top priority for seniors in Providence. Seniors in Providence, and across the nation, have more options than ever when it comes to where they want to grow older, and an overwhelming amount of them prefer to age in place.
Like most of the states in the northeast, Providence experiences some pretty cold, brutal winters. And are prone to experiencing heat waves during the summer. It's important for seniors to have access to help at home during extreme weather conditions. Icy conditions in the winter can lead to dangerous injury-causing falls, and intense heat during the summer can cause dehydration or heat stroke. Seniors in Providence who are concerned about weather-related health emergencies should invest in a Medical Guardian medical alert device.
Top-Rated Medical Alert Systems
Medical Guardian has earned its positive reputation in the field of medical alert devices by protecting thousands of older Americans since their launch over a decade ago. Medical Guardian will provide seniors in Providence with peace of mind in knowing they are being protected by the best. Here's what sets Medical Guardian apart from their competitors:
Superb Customer Service. Medical Guardian does not outsource their customer service. Their in-house Client Services team is dedicated to helping their customers work through challenges. Whether you need to make changes to the contact information on your account, troubleshoot billing issues or need help activating or installing a new medical alert device, Medical Guardian's team will patiently work through it with you.
Top-Notch Monitoring Centers. Medical Guardian's US-based monitoring centers are not only UL-certified, but are also Five Diamond Certified by the Central Station Alarm Association. These terms may sound complicated, but they are simply a fancy way of saying that every Medical Guardian monitoring center has the highest-quality standards of operation. And you can rest assured knowing that all of the emergency operators are 9-1-1 and EMT trained, enabling them to act swiftly in emergencies.
No Hidden Costs. Unlike many of the other companies selling medical alert systems, Medical Guardian believes that what you see is what you get. There are no surprises when you get a bill from Medical Guardian because there are no startup fees, equipment fees or hidden costs of any kind. Medical Guardian was built on transparency.
Free Resources for Seniors. Medical Guardian believes that seniors in Providence and all across the U.S. should have access to information that can help them live better, healthier, more independent lives. Through the Medical Guardian blog, seniors have a free resource to educate themselves on how to live their best lives.
Peace of Mind for Providence Seniors
For seniors in Providence and their loved ones, Medical Guardian provides more than just a service; they provide peace of mind. With a wide variety of medical alert systems to choose from and wallet-friendly options, Medical Guardian is the best choice for seniors in Providence, and beyond.
Blackstone Charles College Hill
Downtown Elmhurst Elmwood
Federal Hill Fox Point Hartford
Hope Lower South Providence Manton
Mount Hope Mount Pleasant Olneyville
Reservoir Silverlake Smith Hill
South Elmwood Valley Wanskuck
Washington Park Wayland West End
Zip Codes in Providence:


text:
(Politics)
Tactless Kalonzo Tells His 'Last Hope' Raila To Retire
By Ken / Tuesday, 20 Nov 2012 07:52PM / Leave a Comment
Does Kalonzo Have Any Game Plan?
In what may see him go down as the most tactless politician, Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka has hit out at the person many believe to be his last hope for survival, Raila Odinga.
The VP yesterday told Raila to join Kibaki in retirement next year. He said this is the only way Kenyans will have a chance of electing new leaders, who will develop the country further.
"He should consider taking a break from politics and let young and determined leaders to take over from where they have left," said Mr Musyoka during a rally at Nabongo grounds in Mumias town. He added that the Prime minister's post was not even constitutional prior to the last general elections, and was only 'sneaked' in to accommodate a coalition government and that it has now been completely scrapped off.
The VP said that he will work with Musalia Mudavadi "..and capitalise on the vast leadership experience I have and give Kenya the best leadership."
Talk has been rife that Kalonzo is to be Raila's running mate, especially after Kang'undo MP Johnstone Muthama publicly stated that the two would partner. Mutula Kilonzo also added his voice, laughing off claims that G7 was once again courting Kalonzo in hope that he doesn't team up with Raila.
Many analysts believe that Uhuru-Ruto meeting Raila-Kalonzo in the ballot would be one complicated 'fixture', capable of producing any winner, and it is believed that Raila has been working overtime to make this work, after failing to convince Ruto to join him.
Kalonzo's lieutenants have meanwhile been sending mixed signals, with some preferring to work with Mudavadi while others prefer Raila. Kalonzo has however been leaning towards the former, where his chances of leading the ticket is high.
It is believed that the VP still thinks he will be president in 2013, despite things looking not so good. His best shot at the presidency will come when he convinces Mudavadi to be his running mate. Then, he may improve from his previous trial and emerge number two, but as things stand as of now, not better than that. Convincing Mudavadi to be his running mate may however turn out to be mission impossible, considering that he left ODM where he was assured of a similar position.
Kalonzo accepting to be Mudavadi's running mate is out of the question.
If the VP goes back to G7, he'll be in contention for the majority leader seat, and nothing more than that. The president and running mate position are already filled.
If he joins Raila, he'll be assured of the running mate position and nothing more than that. Still, this ticket will be a gamble considering the voting power Uhuru's and Ruto's communities possess, and where Mudavadi will stand. However, this is emerging as his only viable route to a senior government position next year.
So, when he publicly attacks Raila just days to the submission of pre-election pacts, one wonders whether Kalonzo knows what he's doing.
Singer Amani Allegedly Spotted In Uganda With A Married Man
Mohammed Ali: Why I Left That Station NTV


Data visualization has rapidly become a critical part of business analytics and business communications. Without visualization, the numbers and statistics of analytics are difficult to interpret and incomprehensible to many who need to turn data into knowledge. The advent of big data, with increasing volume and velocity of data, emphasizes visualization as a technique to compress large volumes of data into digestible presentations and observe streaming data in motion.
Elegant and well-designed data visuals often appear to be easy because skilled visual developers are able to hide the complexities and hard work behind the scenes. Business intelligence and business analytics professionals need to communicate as effectively in visual forms as they do with their verbal and written communications skills. Get started by learning the fundamentals of data visualization.


text:
« On Being Right Before Everyone Else Is | Main | The Imitation Game »
19 November 2014 11:39 AM
Getting Putin Right - but Russia Wrong. Two old articles.
In a Twitter argument with the BBC journalist John Sweeney, I pointed out that I had been alert to the tyrannical nature of Vladimir Putin before most people had heard of him. This caused me to look in the archives and revive this article from 7th March 2004.
I have since then revised my view to some extent. That is, I've more or less abandoned the position I then held, that the internal affairs of other countries are our business. I don't think I'd thought very hard about this in 2004, when I was still a recovering Cold Warrior. But I don't in any way draw back from the general sentiments about Mr Putin's aims and behaviour . I would stress rather more that this is Russian nationalist authoritarianism, not in any way a revival of Communist power or of the Cold War. I also wish I had made more at the time of Russia's resentment of its post-1989 humiliation. I was aware of it. But I don't think I imagined that the EU would try to push into Ukraine.
RUSSIA'S HARD MEN STAGE A QUIET COUP
Russia is holding an election, but you would never know it...because there's only one serious candidate and only one thing voters want - and it isn't democracy
Like a column of tanks in human form, Vladimir Putin slowly crushes the freedoms that flourished in Russia after the sudden collapse of the old Communist order - and nobody cares.
The world, and the Russian people, are now witnessing the KGB putsch that everyone feared back in August 1991, when I watched as real tanks rolled, halted and then mysteriously turned back.
But this time the coup d'etat is clever instead of clumsy; quiet instead of noisy, and its leaders icily sober rather than slurred, incoherent and drunk.
And what is worse is that this assault on liberty is actually popular at home and willingly excused abroad. It seems to me to be part of a new death of freedom taking place around the world, where more and more exhausted, insecure and frightened people are sinking into the arms of authority with sighs of relief.
Unless I am very much mistaken, the Russian people are about to vote for a tyrant who does not really think they have any right to choose him, and who despises democracy.
They will do this because the word 'democracy' has been poisoned here. To most Russians it means crime, chaos, the wiping-out of their savings, the loss of their jobs and the humiliation of their nation. They have had enough of it.
Perhaps that is why this election is being held more or less in secret. You would barely know it was happening if you had not been told. There is hardly a poster to be seen, though there are strange advertisements - including one on the backs of Tube tickets - urging people to vote. They do not say who to vote for, but they might as well.
For Comrade Vladimir Putin is the only candidate, or more accurately the only candidate who counts. For the sake of form, a few others have been allowed to stand, but not run.
They include a token Communist, Nikolai Kharitonov, so he can be beaten and Communism shown to be finished; a token nationalist, Sergei Glazyev, for the same reason; and a token Thatcherite liberal, Irina Khakhamada, ditto.
The authorities would be devastated if these fig-leaf contenders withdrew, the only action within their power that could seriously upset the Kremlin. The veteran dissenter Yelena Bonner, widow of the majestic liberation fighter Andrei Sakharov, has actually called on them to do so.
But when Ms Khakhamada said she would pull out if the others would, nobody took up the offer.
Here is an example of the shameless rigging of this poll: the campaign began with a 30-minute televised meeting between Putin and his supporters shown on the big national channels, all government-controlled.
But when the other candidates pleaded for equal time, the supposedly impartial election commissioner told them to get lost.
The President meanwhile appears constantly on the prime- time TV bulletins, floating above the phoney fray like an archangel on a cloud. He is portrayed sitting in an ornate, thronelike chair looking serious, rebuking ministers or meeting global notables.
His challengers, if they appear at all, are shown doing stupid, trivial things such as playing billiards.
A few heavyweight newspapers, with tiny circulations among the big city elite, discuss the poll and cover it properly. But there is no middle ground between them and trashy papers adorned with Russian nipples and packed with showbiz trivia, but which also find time to print large, damaging stories about Irina Khakhamada.
Ms Khakhamada, a young and slender 48, is by far the most appealing of Putin's challengers. A former economics teacher, she is a successful businesswoman and mother with a real if tumultuous family life. Her Japanese father was an ardent Communist who came here to build paradise and died disappointed. She sees the best hope for the future in a prosperous, free middle class, still a tiny force in this country.
When I met her in a Moscow Italian restaurant, she explained her purpose in standing, though she has few illusions that she can win: 'I hope to provide strong opposition and to show that Putin is building a regime rather than a democracy.
'The President has huge power, his will rules everything and he is personally responsible for everything that goes on,' she explains. She complains of the self-censorship of the media and of 'the suppression of independent centres that express the will of the ordinary people'.
When I put to her that her cause is hopeless, she resorts to an optimism which seems completely unrealistic.
'The true democrat should carry on fighting,' she insists. In many ways, she is Putin's ideal opponent. Her Japanese ancestry and looks make her unacceptable to the racially prejudiced Russian masses. Her business background also repels many poor Russians who associate all commerce with sharp practice and corruption.
Another of Moscow's rare democrats, MP Vladimir Ryzhkov, 38, is even more scathing about the new Russia's fake freedom. 'It's a pseudo-democracy,' he says. 'It's impossible to have real competition with Putin and his group. As for the mass media, it can either be free or influential. Not both. The influential media are not free. The free media are not influential.' In recent years all three major TV stations have fallen under direct or indirect state control. They suppress or play down bad news within Russia, just as the old Soviet TV did.
One victim of this is Yevgeny Kiselyov, who was for a while as close as Russia could get to Jeremy Paxman; an irreverent and searching TV interviewer. Now not merely has he been taken off the air: his old TV station has been bought up by a state-controlled company and turned into a poodle channel.
Kiselyov admits this is not a full return to the old Communist days. Those who wish to think and speak freely can do so, but are simply denied any major platform. Books are published without difficulty. It is the TV transmission towers that are controlled. Kiselyov is infuriated by the way foreign leaders fail to criticise Putin for his tightening grip on the airwaves.
He recalls his one meeting with Putin, during the state takeover of his TV station. Putin began by being utterly charming, as he is to almost everyone, but switched to a cold, bullying manner the moment Kiselyov challenged him.
'He immediately became very angry, aggressive; accusing me of speaking words put into my mouth by others.
'He wagged his finger at me and asked, "Do you think I don't know anything about your hour-long conversation with your boss?" ' But when Kiselyov asked Putin outright if he was saying his phone was tapped, the President changed the subject and ignored him. Kiselyov believes Putin's charm is entirely false, instilled into him during his KGB training - for the best way to recruit and handle an agent is of course to pretend to be his friend.
Those grim initials KGB are never far away in any discussion of the new Russia. Recently details were published of an Eighties secret KGB plan to allow economic freedom but keep iron political control, more or less what Vladimir Putin now seeks to do.
Putin's potent private office is infested with KGB veterans with mysterious gaps in their official biographies, the so-called 'Siloviki', or 'men of force'; hard, quiet men from Russia's dark heart. They still openly admire Yuri Andropov, the KGB boss who briefly ran the USSR before his early death.
Putin himself recently declared that the 1991 collapse of the USSR had been 'a national tragedy on an enormous scale'. Yet outside the feverish, garish capitalist enclave of Moscow, the USSR more or less survives, merely waiting to be called back into being.
I travelled 120 miles south-east to the city of Ryazan and was instantly transported back to the old Soviet way of life, with a few important changes.
The town centre is still dominated by a statue of Lenin, but behind him is a brand new bank - the Zhivago Bank, of all things. And down the road, the churches of Ryazan's beautiful miniature Kremlin are being lovingly restored. A brash new newspaper tries to expose corruption.
The new Russia has realised it can dispense with the rubbish of Communism; the nationalisation of ice-cream stands and the suppression of faith, criticism and independent thought. In truth, kept under control, these things are no threat to central power.
Ryazan, a heavily military city whose factories once turned out components for Moscow's fleets of tanks, submarines and bombers, suffered badly from freedom. Amid dingy apartment blocks bundled, ill-looking people, aged before their time, still struggle through wildernesses of rubbish, wreckage and vast brown puddles. The new economy, dozens of unconvincing banks and people selling mobile phones to each other, is just topdressing here, failing to conceal the glum reality.
When I conducted a miniature opinion poll on Ryazan's streets, Putin won it. Many will vote for him out of a sort of habit, some because they reckon that if they do not use their ballots the authorities will steal them anyway.
Most are worried sick by poverty and deprivation, salaries of £50 a month, failing jobs, housing shortages. 'My son must wait for me to die to get a flat,' said one sad grandmother. A few believed Putin had helped them, including a pharmacist who had finally started getting her wages again after a long gap.
But perhaps my most interesting encounter was with Lydia Kryuchkova, deputy editor of the conservative local paper, the Ryazan Bulletin.
I say 'conservative' because she loathes pornography and swearing, crime and disorder, unpunctuality and low culture.
But Lydia, with her classic Soviet face straight out of the Sixties, is an unashamed Communist, even though she now wears a crucifix round her neck. 'We had so-called democracy,' she says. 'We never had real democracy. What's essential now is to get rid of crime, to bring back order.
Only after that will we install democracy.' What she - and millions of others - want is the security of the predictable.
If they cannot have the rule of law, and such a thing is terribly remote in this place, they would at least like to be sure that tomorrow will be much like today.
Putin hopes that is exactly what he can achieve, as long as the oil price stays high. And we, who in truth care more about Russia's oil than about her democracy, will look the other way as yet another brief, failed experiment in freedom slowly flickers and fades. How long before we decide that our freedom, too, is an expensive nuisance?
Here's another article from February 2007, on the same subject. Once again, events since the 'Arab Spring' and the attempted overthrow of Syria have altered my view. There's a small flicker, towards of the end, of doubt about the 'Orange' and 'Rose' revolutions in Ukraine and Georgia. But again, I think it was the Syria episode that shifted my view of this:
I am more scared of Russia now than I ever was in the days of the Cold War, when silly disarmers fanned exaggerated fears of nuclear war.And so should you be. Then, we were the respected members of a great and potent alliance that stood united against an economically and politically decrepit Kremlin, whose colossal armies dared not move forward one foot, and whose rockets could only be fired in an act of global suicide.
Now we are a small and lonely country, singled out for the ire and spite of a reborn, vigorous Russian nation: ruthless, aggressive, rich; flushed with a revived national pride and armed with the entirely usable weapons of oil and gas.
Russia's state-controlled gas monolith, Gazprom, is an enormous energy power, second only to Saudi Arabia in the size of its reserves. It is the biggest extractor of natural gas in the world and the planet's third largest corporation. It is the sole supplier of gas to the three Baltic republics, as well as to Bosnia-Herzegovina, Finland, Moldova and Slovakia. It is by far the biggest gas provider to Turkey, supplying around 65 per cent of that country's needs.
It sells about a quarter of the gas used by the entire European Union. This includes
97 per cent of Bulgaria's gas, 89 per cent of Hungary's, 86 per cent of Poland's, almost 75 per cent of the Czech Republic's, two thirds of supplies to Austria, 40 per cent of Romania's, 36 per cent of Germany's, 27 per cent of Italy's and 25 per cent of France's.
At present it has only two per cent of Britain's gas market but this is expected to rise to 20 per cent during the next few years, and Gazprom is also talking about buying Britain's gas distribution company, Centrica.
Significantly, in recent disputes with Ukraine and Belarus it has been ready to turn off the tap to get its way.
Suddenly, it is believable that Russian agents might murder their government's enemies, blatantly and spectacularly on British sovereign soil – and that we will get no serious help in tracking the culprits. We are also being treated in general with snorting, bullying contempt designed to let us know just how far we have fallen.
Her Britannic Majesty's Ambassador to Moscow, Anthony Brenton, who ought to be a figure of status and respect, is subject to a crude and unsubtle campaign of personal harassment, sometimes actually dangerous, and unashamedly winked at by the Moscow authorities. The BBC's Russian service is mysteriously told it can no longer broadcast on the FM band, thanks to alleged licensing difficulties. And now a strange whistling noise is interfering with reception on the AM band as well.
Britain's official cultural arm, the British Council, has been raided by tax inspectors, famous for their selective zeal against those who upset the President. And, laughably in this country of low safety standards, it has just been fined for breaking fire regulations in its Leningrad office – run, as it happens, by Neil Kinnock's son, Stephen.
It is a new experience for Britain, so long herself a feared power who could behave much as she wished, to be the weaker party in such a quarrel, and with no great hope of getting stronger.
We are, in my view, being warned crudely and bluntly that in future we must treat Moscow with respect, in the street-gangster sense of the word. There are to be no more grants of political asylum to foes of the Kremlin. There are to be no more lectures on human rights from diplomats or the BBC. Or else.
This is a calculated humiliation. At least America has been tactful as it has quietly deprived us of our empire and reduced us to second-class status.
The new Russia is as tactful as a teenager full of lager. This is a raw, adolescent society. Moscow, once somnolent and repressed, is now Europe's most exhilarating, exotic and expensive city. It glitters with money like a Gulf oil state. Significantly, its seven great Stalin-era skyscrapers, assertions of overbearing might dating from the last years of the great dictator, have been scrubbed and regilded as an expression of nostalgic national pride.
The Russian rouble, once a sort of joke money traded in wads, like wastepaper, on the black market and useful only for buying bottles of raw vodka or blue, diseased chickens, is now a petrocurrency available from exchange offices in London and accepted by airlines for duty-free goods.
At street level you see other significant signs of brashness, lawlessness and immaturity.
Bodyguards, dressed in obligatory black, sit next to hotel lifts guarding their rouble-billionaire clients, or march through the lobbies with their shut, blank faces and that strange, swaying gait. Shops display the gross bad taste of the new rich.
Within the fences that keep out the poor, the expensive women totter about, dressed as if to satisfy the sexual fantasies of 14-year-old schoolboys: no heel lower than five inches, every skirt tight and short.
Amid such scenes I briefly snatched a conversation with Andrei Lugovoi, one of the men suspected of playing a part in the death of Alexander Litvinenko.His two bulging bodyguards loitered, adopting boxers' stances, presumably ready to floor me if I misbehaved.
Mr Lugovoi had until then been ignoring my requests to see him but a Russian colleague tracked him down and bravely blocked his path while I caught up with him. Mr Lugovoi is a slight man in bizarre shoes with long, tapering toes. He bestows on me a disarming smile and twinkles as I try to question him. Will he be returning to London? 'I hope so,' he lies merrily before walking off. If this is a Kremlin hitman, he puts on a good act. But then such a man would, wouldn't he?
Shaped as I was by the Cold War and by two melodramatic years living in Moscow as the old regime collapsed 15 years ago, I had begun my enquiries by meeting Mikhail Lyubimov, now in his 70s but once a real-life KGB hood, expelled from London after he tried to recruit female Whitehall clerks at tea dances.
Compared with Russia's modern hard men, Lyubimov is Santa Claus. He still has a spy's instinct, insisting on sitting in the darkest corner of the pizzeria where we meet. He remains very much the loyalist, praising President Vladimir Putin as 'more sensible than Boris Yeltsin, more sensible than Gorbachev'.
He is plainly impressed by the revival of national self-confidence under the ex-KGB agent. 'Putin understands the mind of the people. He understands Russian pride.' Lyubimov doubts the reinvigorated Russian state would nowadays kill its enemies on foreign soil. 'The idea that he gave the order to kill Litvinenko, this is rubbish,' he says. In his time, the KGB certainly took stern vengeance in its cellars on such traitors as Oleg Penkovsky. But in a revulsion from the methods of the Stalin era, it was careful about killings abroad. He recalled: 'In the Stalin years, we killed a lot of people abroad.' But he explains this stopped under Khrushchev and never seriously started again.
'I remember there was a decision to kill Oleg Lyalin, the Seventies defector. This was sent to all KGB stations, "If you see this man you must do all in your power to eliminate him." I imagined I might meet him on the London Tube – what should I do? [Smilingly, he mimes a pushing action] Shove him under the wheels of the train? It was a typical secret service order. They knew it would not be done.' Nor was it. Despite having helped to wreck Russian spy networks in London for a generation, Lyalin died of natural causes in 1995, at an unnamed location in England.
All very comforting. But Alexei Venediktov, one of Russia's leading political commentators, widely believed to have excellent Kremlin access and the ear of influential billionaire Roman Abramovich, suspects things have changed. I spoke to him at the studios of the radio station Echo Moscow, a favourite forum for the capital's politically aware.
He points out that in 2004, two Russian agents were convicted by a Qatari court of killing a Chechen rebel exile in the Gulf state. The pair have since been returned to Russia, supposedly to serve their sentences there, but actually to an official welcome and likely release. And he draws my attention to a new law signed by President Putin last July, specifically allowing Russian special service agents to kill 'terrorists' abroad.
He also explains that Britain's stock is low in the new Russia. 'Our ruling elite believe Britain is not a country with its own policies, but one which follows American policy, so there is no sense in talking to the British when they can talk to their American bosses.' But it is more than that. There is a specific dispute, and it is personal between President Putin and Anthony Blair. It is caused by an argument over extradition. The treatment of the British Ambassador, Anthony Brenton, has been personally permitted by the Kremlin and is a sign of its displeasure over the asylum given to anti-Putin billionaire Boris Berezovsky and to the Chechen leader Ahmed Zakayev.
Venediktov, referring to Kremlin potentates as 'the people from behind the walls', says: 'The Russian authorities are also displeased that Berezovsky travels on a British passport under what they regard as the false name of Platon Yelenin.
'They are sure the decision about this asylum was not taken by the courts but by the Home Office, and we know Putin talked to Blair about that. Putin thought Blair was not being helpful. They think, surely, there is a way to overrule the courts in Britain.' Apparently – in a bizarre throwback to old Soviet propaganda ideas about Britain – Putin's advisers believe Ministers and judges belong to the same clubs and communicate with each other privately there.
When I suggest to him that the Russian Embassy in London must surely know this is all wrong, Venediktov replies that Russia now has the sort of government whose foreign envoys tell it what it wants to hear.
The dispute is personal. 'Putin's disbelief of Blair was the start of the sudden cooling of relations with Britain. The Russian government thinks the British Government has not met expectations. Putin thinks Blair fooled him when he promised tight co-operation against terrorism. Putin is very personal in his relations with other political leaders.' He would do them personal favours, and presumably expects the same in return.
Boris Berezovsky is regarded by Putin as a sort of terrorist because of his open calls for the overthrow of the Russian government.
But the Kremlin had got used to that. The incident that really damaged relations was the granting of asylum last summer to executives from Yukos, the oil company now effectively seized by the Russian state but once owned by Putin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky, currently doing time in a remote jail for supposed tax offences. Russian prosecutors were livid that they were prevented from extraditing the Yukos men.
And soon afterwards the troubles of Ambassador Brenton began. To some extent they are his own fault. He spoke at a meeting of opposition groups under the umbrella of an organisation called Another Russia, which he was absolutely entitled to do. But among these groups was the repellent National Bolshevik Party, led by Eduard Limonov, a creepy writer of dirty books, accused by his enemies of being an open supporter of discredited Stalinist and National Socialist ideas. Certainly his party's symbols are startlingly – and intentionally – similar to those used by Hitler's Nazis.
But this cannot be the reason why Mr Brenton has since been singled out and harried, as we shall shortly see. Two American diplomats spoke at the same gathering and the French ambassador was present, but nothing has happened to them.
Venediktov says the treatment of Mr Brenton is the first of its kind since a dangerous frontier quarrel between the old USSR and China in 1969. Then, an officially sponsored demonstration was unleashed against the Chinese embassy. Since then, there has been no action comparable to this by a Moscow government. But the pursuit of Mr Brenton is obviously happening with official support.
'There is no doubt they are acting on the orders of the Kremlin,' Venediktov says.
Who can doubt he is right about that? The organisation that pursues Mr Brenton is a supposed patriotic youth movement called Nashi, which means, roughly, 'Our thing'.
Nashi is as spontaneous as North Korea. If it is a popular youth movement, why is its Moscow headquarters bare of any indication of who operates within? Why have its leaders met President Putin three times?
Why are its finances such a mystery?
Nashi's campaign against our man in Moscow is an elaborate, malicious and sometimes risky tease, which in my view could not have been dreamt up by a few teens and which clearly has official sanction and help. Mr Brenton called for a 'civil society' in Russia, with freedom of expression. And that is what he is getting.
Youths, including 19-year-old computer student Tikhon Chumakov, have been demonstrating outside the British Embassy and wherever Mr Brenton goes. They are mysteriously well informed about his movements. They even follow his official car through the hellish Moscow traffic, which can be dangerous. How do they do it?
I spoke to Chumakov, a slim fair-haired character who looks a little as the young Putin must have done. He is slightly vague about how the protests began or how he came to be involved but he now has a personal grudge after being thumped by a (Russian) security guard during a protest outside the Ambassador's beautiful residence just across the river from the Kremlin.
The Ambassador has since said sorry for this excess of zeal. But Chumakov wants a broader apology for associating with the 'fascists' of the National Bolsheviks. He is currently planning a trip to London during which he hopes to appeal to the Queen about the matter.
He claims to be outraged. But he is curiously passionless as he says he is motivated by disgust at the National Bolsheviks and similar types. 'We in Nashi think such people are just scum. Since we are an antifascist youth movement, we were outraged.' He asks: 'Can you imagine the Russian ambassador to London going to an IRA conference, or the Russian ambassador in Washington at a Ku Klux Klan rally?'
Mr Brenton has offered to have tea with Nashi representatives to explain his position but they have responded by displaying banners saying: 'We don't want your tea.' Chumakov says they want a proper apology, not a nice meeting. 'I will carry on pursuing him until he either apologises or leaves the country.' Surely, I asked him, Nashi is a front organisation for Putin? He replies: 'We do support the ideas of the President. But to say that my actions are ruled or ordered by the Kremlin is untrue. I am doing it on my own.' He admits he has been given some travelling expenses when he has pursued Brenton to distant cities such as Samara but says only small sums are involved.
He is, obviously, only a footsoldier in someone else's army. I get a more subtle explanation of how the group works from Anastasia Suslova, 21, a Nashi official.
While unable to say where Nashi gets its money (it is said to come from pro-Putin businessmen, as it happens), she explains that: 'In 2005, with the "orange" and "rose" revolutions in Ukraine and Georgia, we realised we needed a young generation which would understand that Russia is equal to the other European nations, and we would need a young generation that would not blindly follow such revolutions.
Our job is to bring up young patriots from the generation of people who grew up to survive the failure of democracy in Russia.' That phrase 'failure of democracy' is very important. The Gorbachev-Yeltsin years are seen as a time of chaos and national humiliation. Many refer to it in Russian as 'Dermokratiya' which translates rather unpleasantly as 'The rule of s***'.
'Our ideas and tasks coincide with what Putin wants from youth. We support the political goals of the President,' adds Anastasia. Which is a very happy coincidence for Mr Putin, who was severely shaken by the outbreaks of 'people power' in neighbouring countries, seeing them – with some justice – as the manipulation of crowds and public opinion to overthrow authoritarian governments much like his own. Had such a thing happened in Moscow, I think we would have seen hordes of Nashi supporters holding gigantic counter-demonstrations and waving their symbol: a combination of the Tsarist St Andrew's Cross and the old Soviet red flag, which is a good summary of Putin's view of Russia.
Putin, aided by his brilliant spin doctor Vladislav Surkov, has shown some skill in creating or backing – at arm's length – political movements that serve his purpose at the time, and dumping them later. Nashi is just the latest and Britain is its present target. Once we have learned to do as we are told when Russia wants to extradite someone, the outrage over Mr Brenton's behaviour will mysteriously die away.
At approaching elections, President Putin rather wittily plans to back two parties at once: United Russia to get the patriotic vote and Just Russia to pick up support from the old Communists. Real opposition parties will disappear or get tiny totals. The battle will be so hollow it will make our own bloodless contest between New Labour and Cameron Toryism look like a real struggle for the soul of the nation.
Under the leadership of this clever, secret police-trained cynic, the new Russia will go on getting stronger, more authoritarian, more confident; casting a longer shadow over a Europe which has yet to realise the size of the threat that this new oil and gas state poses, or of the resentment it feels over the way it was humbled by a triumphalist West at the end of the Cold War.
Now it is getting its own back. There will be worse to come.
November 19, 2014 Comments (33) Categories: Intervention, Liberal , Russia | Permalink
The Russian economy is set to lose 90 billion dollars this year due to a combination of sanctions and (Saudi manipulated) low oil prices in which the Saudis cause the problem they claim to be reducing oil prices to solve. In other words the Saudi/US axis funded and created ISIS yet now claim to be artificially reducing oil prices so ISIS cannot make money selling oil (but it is actually so Russia cannot make money selling oil).
Our political elite and involved in an attempt at regime change (with a nuclear power), right now, that is at best impoverishing millions of Russians and at worst will lead to a hot war and yet no one in the media is even calling them out on it!
Posted by: Sid | 24 November 2014 at 11:22 PM
@ Elaine
Are you not being a bit naïve here . An American weakness if ever there was. Crimea a bit like Afghanistan . Once taken difficult to get out of. In Russia's case and that of any military objective, is to contain the prize. This can only be achieved by creating a buffer zone between the prize and those wishing to reclaim it' The last western man out of Afghanistan . It will revert back to the Taleban days with vengeance. The same with Crimea. And human nature as well .The neighbours grass is always greener You cannot blame Russia for doing what the English did and America does even as we speak. Plus of course the whole of the old free Europe did , plunder on behalf of its people .
Posted by: mikebarnes | 24 November 2014 at 02:25 PM
@Elaine | 23 November 2014 at 10:31 PM
"That sounds good but if Russia had only been interested in Crimea they could have said "OK, we got it. Let's go now" They could have walked away. They didn't. They continued to meddle, so I think they clearly wanted something more."
Yes, but had Ukraine received a definitive understanding from Russia on its territorial integrity and sovereignty in exchange for Crimea then further Russian incursions into Ukraine would equally definitively have constituted unlawful aggression.
You could argue that any 'understanding' with Mr Putin would have been 'another 1938', and that all Ukraine would have done was wave a useless piece of paper. That possibly would have been the case. But I think the 'international community' has moved on from 1938 wherein global interactivity and interdependence has lent more weight to behaving internationally according to law and agreement. Putin is something of a wildcard to be sure, and so suspicion would be legitimate and circumspect, but I think even Putin would have had to comply in this instance.
Something Mr Hitchens did allude to some while ago is the prevailing thinking among western governments that it is 'all about the West', and of course it is not. Russia is entitled to entertain legitimate concerns about its nationality and security along with every other sovereign nation, but these concerns should be tabled at international forums, of which there are plenty, and not rolled across national borders on tracks.
True the West is presently aggressively involved in the Middle East, but I don't think 'all about the West' is at issue there, nor 'EU aggression'. The wild-eyed extreme-religion loonies are a threat to us all, and it would have been nice, I think, to have had Russian planes in formation with ours.
In the ultimate, all that 'ordinary' Russians want to do is live decent and fruitful lives, bring up their children, shop at supermarkets, watch television, take holidays, and so forth, just like everyone else; just like Britons, just like Americans, just like every other European. I can't for the life of me see how 'EU aggression' and Russian 'counter-aggression' fits into this picture and moves the story along to everyone's betterment. If someone is driving these issues it is not 'ordinary people'.
I'm gravitating more and more to a loss as to how all this much-celebrated, much-remembered, much-glorying militarism nonsense yet survives two decades into the 21st century as if nothing has been learnt from the devastating and near catastrophic 20th. British tanks are now 'on exercise' in Poland, and more are to be sent. Russian tanks are already 'exercising' in and around Ukraine. Both air forces are similarly 'exercising' in the region. It's absurd. Will the human race *ever* get out of adolescence?
Posted by: Paul P | 24 November 2014 at 12:26 PM
So Peter pulls out these previous articles where he was spot on in his assessment - could it be his way of saying that he was wrong about the recent negative articles he's written about Ukraine.
You are almost there Peter, just admit you were wrong and that the latest Russian war on Ukraine had nothing to do with Ukrainian junta, nazis etc.
Posted by: Sam Sifkin | 24 November 2014 at 12:06 AM
"I think this is a legitimate Russian concern, and much might have been avoided if Ukraine in exchange for a definitive understanding on the part of Russia as to Ukraine's sovereignty and its membership of the EU had negotiated a transition of Crimea into Russian ownership"
Posted by: Paul P.
That sounds good but if Russia had only been interested in Crimea they could have said "OK, we got it. Let's go now" They could have walked away. They didn't. They continued to meddle, so I think they clearly wanted something more.
Posted by: Elaine | 23 November 2014 at 10:31 PM
@Colin Broughton | 22 November 2014 at 10:31 PM
"The state broadcaster, the soi - disant 'balanced' and 'impartial' BBC, is of course a prime offender in this regard."
Not quite sure what you mean here but I presume it to be a reference to the policy of 'balance' at the BBC.
I heard this policy was under review, albeit selectively. Thus climate change 'deniers' (a.k.a. lunatics) will no longer be offered to 'balance' warmists (a.k.a. renowned climate scientists forming a consensus together with environmentally anxious activists and their political sponsors).
I have no doubt but that other non-approved opinions will soon be eliminated from the 'balance' portfolio. Since 'we are all feminists now', anti-feminism opinions will no longer be considered 'balance'. And so forth until only approved opinions will appear for broadcast and 'balance' become redundant. What on earth would be the point of 'balancing' approved opinions, i.e. clearly correct, with off-the-wall lunatic-fringe nonsense?
I do feel however that you have fallen into the same trap that most observers do with regard to Mr Putin. As they perceive Putin to be the personification of Russia they therefore attribute whichever peculiarly Russian qualities to him which fit the situation.
Posted by: Mike | 22 November 2014 at 11:17 PM
I was struck by the reference to thought and discussion being allowed in the new Russia, but not in TV broadcasting over which those in power keep control.
Much the same occurs in our own country, where a policy of 'no platform' is in force so far as those who hold anti - PC opinions are concerned.
The state broadcaster, the soi - disant 'balanced' and 'impartial' BBC, is of course a prime offender in this regard.
Posted by: Colin Broughton | 22 November 2014 at 10:31 PM
@Elaine | 21 November 2014 at 04:17 AM
"Observers Say Russia had Crimea Plan for years"
That is plausibly the case as regards contingency planning. Russia needs access to the Med, and with Ukraine's long-desired membership of the EU having looked to be coming to fruition Putin might have felt that Russia was being squeezed out of the Black sea. Russia also occupied northwest Georgia, which has a long Black Sea coast. If Ukrainian Crimea had been allowed to assert coastal territorial rights then Putin might have felt Russia to be being 'hemmed in' at the far end.
I think this is a legitimate Russian concern, and much might have been avoided if Ukraine in exchange for a definitive understanding on the part of Russia as to Ukraine's sovereignty and its membership of the EU had negotiated a transition of Crimea into Russian ownership - which the Russians assumed anyway. Some realpolitik might have worked to Ukraine's longer term advantage if they'd played the longer game.
@ Mats
The one thing you forgot in your equation is the Russian People. The main and only reason Stalingrad was lost . These folk bathed naked during that winter .Cold no more a problem than warmth .
During my days as a personal gard. I got friendly with two Russian Guys . These were simple men Great friends as well .But in a corner, no worries . They would take a bullet meant for me or anyone else.
Yesterdays Mail a perfect example, when confronted by ten men messing with his wife. The three that fancied a fight all took out with one punch each . It was like a ballet.
So regardless of what the world thinks .Messing with these weather hardened men of steel. is a bad move . Just as messing with the only guys able to contain them . Afghanistan Warriors. That a bad move as well.
Russia has a long way to go before a Russian Adenauer appears. Actually, there are many Russian intellectuals up to the task but chances of them being elevated to positions of power are slim.
The Holodomor litmus test, if you will, distinguishes between true Russian nationalists and faux ones like Mr. Putin.
Posted by: Mark Jaremko | 22 November 2014 at 02:10 PM
This all happened because Russians, especially males like Putin, have fallen deep in love with idea that Soviet Union single handed beat Nazi Germany. However it never really happened it that way. Without lend lease and growing military action by western allies Stalin's wonderland would never have won the war. Why? Because after all the population rate between Greater Germany and Soviet Union was just about 1:2 but in battleground Germans were always much more effective (with rate of 1:4, 1:5 or 1:6 depends on do you believe very questionable Soviet loss figures or not) .
Russians are still living in fantasies of Great Patriotic War. They have never really had change to have honest talk about the war and limits of Russian empire. Heck they never really managed to conquer there small neighbour Finland (neither in 1940, nor in 1944). The war itself was disaster with military casualties of 14 241 000 men (latest Russian academic studies). The myths and legends of Great Patriotic War are one of the most vital things poisoning Russians to understand their real strength. Russia is not near as strong and powerful as it is believing and many others are scaring.
Posted by: Mats | 22 November 2014 at 08:00 AM
As a Finn i can much easily see Putin's action mostly reacting what so called West has done since they promised (or did they?) "Gorba" not to push NATO near border of Russia/Soviet Union. You can think what ever but truth is that NATO is child of Cold War. I have never understood why after collapse of Soviet Union they didn't run down NATO. Was it actually against "Communist aggression" or was it made for so called 3rd World?
Anyway, just like history of Finland 1810-1917 as a part of Russian Empire, then fiercely and very successfully fighting against Stalin's aggression during WW2 is telling us - you must have ability to see difference between Russian Empire before 1917 and brutality of Communist regime (during era of Lenin and Stalin). However Soviet Union after Stalin changed indeed much less aggressive and in late 1950's to 1980's it was relatively conservative authoritarian state. Not long time ago i talked with my wife how we never really thought about "danger near in superpower". We Finns never really lived in that kind of reality. Perhaps we were naive but then we should "blame" the brave generation of WW2 which made uss possible to be naive. Our brother in south, Estonian people, were less lucky and they faced much uglier face of both Hitler and Stalin. That's why they needed NATO. For most of Finns worshipping American protection is actually blasphemy. Putin is surely not as weak as Nikolai II but he isn't incarnation of new Hitler or Stalin. Russia, just like most of other European nations have rather gloomy future mostly because bad stage of demographics. With fertility rate just about 1.6 one cannot pretend to be big power near in future. Putin knows it pretty well but just like other western leaders he can't change that cultural development. So called western culture (and Russia part of it) is indeed waning.
Posted by: Johannes | 22 November 2014 at 07:24 AM
I know that Stalin is dead. And Kaganovich. Yet its effects
are still profound -- the so called 'Russian' population in eastern
Ukraine is not so native to the land. It was achieved by murderous
mayhem.
What I have the most problem with is the MiniTrue of contemporary
Russia doing everything possible to deny it, even going
so far as to teach schoolchildren 'it was necessary'. Imagine
Germany teaching some nonsense such as 'the holocaust is
an exageration by zionists and those that did perish, it was
necessary because Jews controlled all the banks'. Outrageous, absolutely.
And Moscow pushed the Yanukovich government to
appoint an education minister to propagate such garbage.
"NEWS FLASH: Stalin is no longer in charge. Nor Krushchev, nor Beria, nor Molotov or Bulganin or Kaganovich or Malenkov. All gone. Every last one of them."
Posted by: Brian Meredith
This is true but Mark Jaremko didn't really explain why he would ask the question. He said it would "tell him everything". What does that mean? I assumed that it meant that if Peter Hitchens was not going to hold the perpetrators of that evil accountable then he can understand why he won't hold the perpetrators of evil accountable today. I didn't think it was an attempt to blame the present Russia for the sins of the past. It had more to do with accountability and shifting the blame. That's why he asked if : "the famine in Ukraine an act of genocide by Moscow or something 'made up by Ukrainian nationalists and fascists'?"
It would be nice if he could explain it further.
Cynic,
"Democracy Russian style.....President Putin; Prime Minister Putin; President Putin; Prime Minister Putin and so on and on..... Uncle Joe himself couldn't have done it better...."
Singapore, taken from a jungle Kampong by Lee Kuan Yew, who ruled for over 30 years, is one of today's most successful economies and a wonderful place to live.
In his early years he was vilified by the British establishment and press who accused him of being a despotic dictator because he had the audacity to demand of his citizens an orderly disciplined society.
Strong leadership creates a strong nation.
The West is crumbling from weak and corrupt leadership while Russia and China will forge ahead to eventually eclipse the West and probably overpower us.
Posted by: Michael Wood | 21 November 2014 at 08:35 AM
A virtual aggressive expansion would in any case have been created by Mr Putin to play the role of his necessary barbarian-at-the gate.
I read somewhere that EU officials were trying to pinpoint how far back the annexation of Crimea was planned. After a quick search I found an interesting article (but not the one I initially read) in the Moscow Times called "Observers Say Russia had Crimea Plan for years"
"The fact that the operation was brilliantly implemented proves that the plan was created long ago and was kept at the General Staff's office for years," said former Kremlin spin doctor Gleb Pavlovsky......
"Most observers agreed that the final decision to annex Crimea was made in late January, when it became clear that Yanukovych would not be able to hold on to power."
I hope you are right Paul P. I hope this is the beginning of a back track because things could get worse. The aggressive posturing towards Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, and even towards Finland and Sweden could turn into violence. And then how do you back track from that? What excuses could you give?
Posted by: Elaine | 21 November 2014 at 04:17 AM
Yet if I only had a few seconds, I would only ask him one question: Was the famine in Ukraine an act of genocide by Moscow or something 'made up by Ukrainian nationalists and fascists'? Tell me this and this will tell me everything.
NEWS FLASH: Stalin is no longer in charge. Nor Krushchev, nor Beria, nor Molotov or Bulganin or Kaganovich or Malenkov. All gone. Every last one of them.
Yes the Ukraine famine was an unspeakably evil act but it was but one of many evil acts perpetrated by a psychopathic pre-war Soviet Union Politburo. For how long are you going to tar today's Russia with that filthy old historic brush? Come to that, Stalin and Beria weren't even Russian.
Posted by: Brian Meredith | 20 November 2014 at 03:48 PM
Democracy Russian style.....President Putin; Prime Minister Putin; President Putin; Prime Minister Putin and so on and on..... Uncle Joe himself couldn't have done it better....
Posted by: cynic | 20 November 2014 at 01:21 PM
@ Mark Jaremko.
I think most contributors on this blog allowed you free reign as an ex pat Ukrainian now living in Canada
But now we have a new kid on the block a Mr Klimenko. Who challenges your outlook. If as you say Russia is not a great country or civilisation. what does that make Ukraine. Who it seems want the world ,to rid Ukraine of its neighbour.
If the weather was more kind on the steppes. Russia could feed the world. Its mineral wealth vast enough to make the USA keep oil at low price in order to hurt Russia . When every time someone slips and falls in the Middle east the price of oil goes thru the roof
Now there's a conspiracy to dwell on . The oil cartels being told what price to charge . Putin now next to those illustrious others who might wish to sell their oil in return for Euro's. Set up an anti Euro flim flam with Russia . And therefore make Putin not so keen to do business with the Euro block
Then the USA wins .Its nearest currency rival weakened The USA do not usually do these things. to non countries. But see Russia as a rising power again. And what with China an even greater rival in the oil scarce wars to come . The USA sees it long term future limited.
In fact if AWG was an event happening .Russia might yet become a food export power .Just looking at my atlas, the Western Siberian plain dwarfs both of the America and Canadian Praires
A tyrant Putin may be but had the west not meddled & involved themselves in Ukraine, Putin may not have made a move at all. We will never know. The west misread the situation, a situation impossible to control when up against the sharp brain of Putin, a situation handled ridiculously unprofessionally by the US. The west pushed Putin into moving into Crimea (a move which I still believe to be just). They purposely provoked him, wanting him to react. He didn't. In my opinion the kind of leader suitable for Russia's needs.
Countless other countries have been interferred with by the west & in particular the US in recent years. Libya, probably the most damaging to Europe's future with uncontrolled immigrants flooding from their shores. A country that needed a tyrant as a leader & that tyrant, murdered in cold blood was doing remarkably well at controlling his country in his own way.
Now the west is back bombing again in the Middle East. An area suited to tyrants. The west never learning from the past. Not an exact quote but from memory, Lawrence of Arabia wrote along the lines of the following: If you take an arab by the hand you can lead him into the bowels of the earth but if you stab an arab in the back with a bayonet, he'll fight you to the death.
All this selfishness & bloodshed is for what? So the failing western civilisation can survive. It is not really necessary for it to take the whole world down with it just because other countries don't run the way the west want them to, i.e. under their control.
Posted by: Katie H | 20 November 2014 at 11:24 AM
i hope putin cuts the gas supply to europe this winter. this would maybe stop the meddling by the eu into countries that they should leave well alone. the more countries that they can get to join the eu the bigger salaries they will demand and also a bigger pat on the back
Posted by: r dickson | 20 November 2014 at 10:32 AM
PH "But I don't in any way draw back from the general sentiments about Mr Putin's aims and behaviour . I would stress rather more that this is Russian nationalist authoritarianism"
I wonder what you make of all the psychological assessments made about Putin's behaviour? Putin is alleged to have stolen a diamond encrusted superbowl ring, that someone showed him but he decided he was going to keep, for example. The conclusion seemed to be (he liked taking things which were not his), the implication is he is therefore a sociopath menace who wants to steal other countries.
Posted by: Sid | 20 November 2014 at 10:23 AM
The combined ambition of the ruling elites of every major Western power is world domination.
The USA's (ruling elite), with all its poodle cheer-leaders in tow (including Britain's ruling elite), are hard at it and, with their combined technological advantage and weaponry strength, believe they are unstoppable.
In my opinion, without Russia and China, (Putin in particular) and now many other more discerning nations who are now forming an alliance to balance this global threat, we would already have all been subjected to a despotic regime of corporate slavery and population culling. (Despots never stop with the defeat of their enemies.)
The despotic West challenges the despotic East and empires rise and empires fall - but far more quickly and decisively now, thankfully.
"The new Russia has realised it can dispense with the rubbish of Communism; the nationalisation of ice-cream stands and the suppression of faith, criticism and independent thought. In truth, kept under control, these things are no threat to central power."
As you've said before, modern Russia is not the Soviet Union reborn. Therefore we are to take it that her existence does not pose the kind of existential threat that could spark a new Cold War, and I would have to agree; I think her far likelier to spark a Hot one.
I know that you have once described Russia as "merely" a large country that (unusually) insists upon maintaining its sovereign independence, which means not buying into the current neoliberal world order, America's inheritence from Britain. She proposes an order of her own for the countries in her orbit. Well, what could be a more existential threat than that?
At least with the Soviet Union there was a question of ideology, some ground for debating the merits of one system vs. the other. Western welfare states and regulatory regimes had, in fact, already smoothed over quite a few of the economic differences between the two systems: the ideological debate served to sharpen Western wits, to highlight the lines that we couldn't cross (despite our politicians having the power to do so) if we didn't want to become like "them." The Cold War, for all its peril, was instructive in the best possible way.
Now there is no question of ideology, merely one of power: our transnational regulatory and "human rights" regimes (the latter being just another dehumanizing layer of regulation) vs. those proposed by the Kremlin. They send a few oligarchs to Siberia to ease competition for select state-favoured companies, and we condemn them; meanwhile, our own Ministers and bureaucrats play favourites with domestic companies every single day. They shut the BBC down over "licensing issues," while our own regulators work to force "racists, homophobes, and transphobes" off the air, and, in Britain, licence the press. Who's right? Who cares. Apparently its a zero sum game now.
Can the "Russian model" (now, incidentally, being assiduously applied in Turkey by Ergodan) beat neoliberalism? Not a chance: Russia's not THAT big. But remember that they still have enough nukes to roast the planet. And what on Earth are we going to do about China? Just keep crossing and fingers and hoping that, any day now, they'll start playing by the same rules as us, as we've done for the past two decades? No good can come from all this. We do indeed live in a more fearful world than in the days of the Cold War.
Posted by: MJMD | 20 November 2014 at 06:18 AM


Pure Ceremony is the continuation of the story that began with the album Ceremony in 2014.
This all-new double album sees James deepen the sonic exploration, adding additional instrumentation and rhythmic textures to his signature PanArt Hang soundscapes.
Noted ambient music writer and critic Stephen Hill: " Pure Ceremony is not just a worthy successor to its popular predecessor, but an evolutionary vehicle, where just the right amount of musical development and embellishment was added to the project."


text:
Kingsmark
From OrthodoxWiki
Our venerable and God-bearing Father Kingsmark (also Cynfarch, Cynmarch, Kynemark) was a monk, Scottish chieftain, and disciple of St. Dubricius of Caerleon in the 5th century. He later lived in Wales, where he grew to such renown for his holiness, that soon after his death he was glorified by the Welsh faithful. St. Kingsmark is said to have been married to a granddaughter of St. Brychan of Brecknock.
Many churches are dedicated to him in the English West Country and Wales. His feast day is celebrated on September 8.
Troparion (Tone 8) [1]
Seeing that many were brought to Christ by the radiant example of thy virtuous life
And thy missionary labours, O holy Cynfarch,
Pray that we too may follow thee
In the service of our Saviour, that our souls may be saved.
Latin Saints of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Rome
The Life of St. Dubricius
Kingsmark (Cynfarch) from Book of the Saints by the Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine's Abbey, Ramsgate (1921), pp. 160-161.
Troparia & Kontakia September 8 St Cynfarch, monk
From Glein to Camlann: The Life and Death of King Arthur (5)
Retrieved from "https://en.orthodoxwiki.org/index.php?title=Kingsmark&oldid=112405"
Saints of the British Isles
Pre-Schism Western Saints
5th-century saints
Categories > Church History
Categories > Liturgics > Feasts
Categories > People > Monastics
Categories > People > Saints
Categories > People > Saints > Pre-Schism Western Saints
Categories > People > Saints > Saints by century > 5th-century saints
Categories > People > Saints > Saints of the British Isles
This page was last edited on October 25, 2012, at 13:13.


Established in 1981, North Central Truck Parts Ltd. provides truck parts and transmission services to the people of Prince George and the surrounding areas. With more than 29 years of experience in offering new and used pickup truck parts and repairs, we are northern British Columbia's largest domestic parts specialist.
Call North Central Truck Parts today at (888) 690-0847 if you need affordable parts or transmission service for your domestic pickup truck!
At North Central Truck Parts, we have a wide range of new and used truck parts to choose from, including transmissions, axles, bumpers, doors, gas tanks, radiators, fenders and more. In addition, we buy salvage! Call us today at (888) 690-0847 for more information.
"These people are amazing. They did an amazing job on my truck last minute for an amazing price and even with the horrible attitude I had when I picked my truck up when I wrecked my rear diff leaving the lot they pushed my truck back in the shop that was already packed with people who were booked well ahead to fix my truck and make sure it was worthy of a 400km drive in a blizzard. Wouldn't recommend anybody else in the PG area."


What are the specifications of amber glass bottle ?
Q: Can you print our logo on the amber glass bottle ?
Send your inquiry to our good quality Wholesale different capacity small amber glass bottle products.


text:
Next Gen | Within Region
Working in fashion doesn't have to mean being based in London. There are opportunities all over the UK
With bright lights, a cosmopolitan buzz and a reputation as one of the fashion capitals of the world, it's little surprise young people flock to London to enjoy life working in the city. But it seems that many have blinkers on when it comes to living and working regionally – where in fact the opportunities are aplenty – leaving retailers with a recruitment dilemma.
"There is a big problem," says Jonathan Tinning, HR business manager for home shopping company JD Williams, which is part of retail and catalogue business N Brown Group. "Everyone says 'if I want to be a buyer I have to go to London'. Whereas actually there is a lot of activity in Leicester, in the Northwest and across into West Yorkshire."
JD Williams attends graduate fairs to promote opportunities at its Manchester head office. Tinning says: "We're telling them that there are opportunities right round the UK. And collectively we've got to start promoting the opportunities that are there." He adds that student placements are an integral part of that strategy: "We have a great success rate with student placements. We take them on 12-month placements and we go on to hire about 75% of them."
Mary Anderson-Ford, owner of recruitment consultancy AQUA retail, says candidates are more likely to work regionally when their priorities change. "I find that many buying and merchandising professionals who moved to London to get more choice for their careers have a homing instinct when they reach a certain age, and want to be closer to the family – or indeed raise their own in more rural surroundings," she says. "There are some retail head offices in gorgeous locations such as Clarks in Somerset or Fat Face on the south coast."
Caroline Grant, group resourcing delivery manager for Clarks, says: "It's an old-school thought that leaving a big city means leaving your career aspirations behind, but that couldn't be further from the truth. I've been fortunate enough to work in London and Dubai and have found that Clarks is just as driven as any city firm I've worked for. It is just as motivated to achieve great things, but with the added bonus of a more supportive and engaging environment to do it in."
Adam Owen, men's senior designer for Clarks, made the move from London to Somerset and has not looked back. "I am passionate about shoe design and wanted to immerse myself within a company full of like-minded 'shoe dogs'," he says. "What I wasn't quite ready for is what Somerset and the Southwest has to offer a London lad. It is a quirky, artistic, characterful county, second to none that I have experienced." Clarks was founded in Street in Somerset in 1825 and its head office there still acts as its nerve centre, with key support functions driving a global business that has a presence in more than 75 countries. "The appeal of working with us is obvious. Due to our location, however, that doesn't mean that securing the right talent is always easy," says Grant. "When roles require niche skills, it can prove more challenging.
Some of the technologies we're using are advanced in the market, which means that we sometimes need to look further afield. To find the right talent, we will advertise on job boards, take to LinkedIn or get networking," she adds. Seth Davies, senior HR officer for Next, says it can be harder to tempt London candidates to come and work in Leicester where the fashion chain's offices are based, but once they see the state-of-the-art facilities at the headquarters and meet the people here, they are won over. "There's countryside right on our doorstop as well as lively and historical cities nearby, such as Nottingham and Birmingham, which have great nightlife and shopping. All this provides a great alternative to the hustle and bustle of London. We have a grade two-listed property that we use to help relocate new employees from all over the country, plus this year we've opened an amazing new workplace nursery onsite to cater for our employees' early childcare needs."
Nadine Tipping, senior consultant for buying and merchandising in the North at Success Appointments, says more businesses are relocating out of London because it makes sense financially. "There is also a good talent pool outside the capital. For example, Morrisons made the decision to base its clothing division [Nutmeg] in the Leicester area and not at the northern head office, as the talent pool they needed to tap into was in the Midlands."She adds: "We're doing a lot of work with rapidly expanding online fashion retailer Boohoo, which is based in Manchester's trendy Northern Quarter.
Boohoo is attracting young, ambitious talent from London and the South as it is a unique opportunity to be part of a very successful fast-paced UK and international fashion business. Plus they find that their accommodation and lifestyle is much better in the North." Multibrand Retailer Shop Direct, which owns brands Very, Isme and Littlewoods, operates from a light and open-plan renovated aircraft hangar outside Liverpool in Speke. Director of HR and people services Sarah Willett says: "Most people are very surprised when they get here to find that Liverpool doesn't look like Brookside.
For a start, it takes less than two hours to get from London into the heart of Liverpool. The city is extremely vibrant with a great nightlife and shopping scene. And if you want the best of both worlds, you can live just outside the city centre and have fields and national parks on your doorstep." Aquaretail's Anderson-Ford says the challengeis catching candidates at that pivotal moment: "You can't put an ad out saying 'are you a head of merchandising looking to move to the country?', because people don't apply to those adverts. You have to actually go in and target them." She adds: "I recently recruited a London-based buying and merchandising executive into a role in Kent.
Initially she rejected the suggestion based on the upheaval and life change, but changed her mind and is now living a wonderful life away from the stress of the commute." However, luring the best talent from London comes at a cost – with salaries on average 15% higher across all levels and relocation packages for the top jobs. "I think employers do need to look at the packages on offer.
While we all know there is a London weighting to salaries it is hard for candidates to accept a move for the same salary or a drop even if they know the cost of living is lower," says Tipping. As well as accommodation at its grade two-listed property and its crèche, Next offers a range of perks.
This includes two subsidised restaurants, a coffee shop, a sports and social club, free company coach transport through Leicestershire and free car parking, a staff discount, and share save scheme. Not to mention two bonus pots this year for head office staff. "We find that working regionally offers the same dynamic pace and exciting responsibilities of London but without those little extra hassles of life. Transport access is quicker, there's free parking and importantly the cost of living is significantly cheaper too. All these things help when you are focused on progressing your career quickly," says Davies.
JD Sports Fashion is based on the outskirts of Manchester, and group recruitment manager Nicola Arrowsmith says prospective employees will find lots of opportunities open to them at the sportswear retailer. "Because we're growing, JD Group can offer a career path, not just a role. With different divisions there are opportunities to move between them and upwards, getting exposure to different products and cultures. We own JD, Size?, Scotts, Bank, Champion, Blacks and Millets, with more being added every year."
Working regionally could pay off in the long term, says Charlotte Yates, digital and marketing consultant recruiting for the North at Success Appointments. "I think in the long term it is better for career progression. Businesses based regionally realise how hard it is to replace people as there is a smaller pool of talent to look at so they concentrate on developing and promoting the people they do have."
Drapers Next Generation 2019
What the rising stars of Drapers 30 Under 30 did next
Next Gen | Could you be there in 2015?