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Super Bowl XXIX 1994 San Francisco 49...
Super Bowl XXIX 1994 San Francisco 49ers Championship Ring
The San Francisco 49ers defeated the San Diego Chargers by the score of 49–26 and won the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1994 season, becoming the first team to win five Super Bowl championships. The game was played on January 29, 1995 at Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami, Florida (now part of the suburb of Miami Gardens, which became a separate city in 2003).
Champion Team Info: The San Francisco 49ers are a professional American football team located in the San Francisco Bay Area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The team currently plays its home games at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, located 45 miles (72 km) southeast of San Francisco in the heart of Silicon Valley. Since 1988, the 49ers have been headquartered in Santa Clara.
Champion Team: San Francisco 49ers
Based in: San Francisco Bay Area
Established at: June 4, 1946
Team Colors: Red, Gold
Team Nick Names: Niners
Championship Season (XXIX): 1994, 29th season for the Super Bowl XXIX
Championship Game (XXIX): Won Vince Lombardi Cup Final (49–26) versus San Diego Chargers
Solid Plated Solid Copper or 925 Silver Ring;
Prong Setting with AAA Clear Cubic Zirconia and Blue, Red, Yellow, Black Enamel;


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Gay Photography From Around the Globe
Photos can be a gateway into another world. Here on Hornet in this gay photography section, you'll find plenty of photo galleries that reveal what it's like to be gay in countries and cultures all over the globe. LGBTQ rights are slow to develop in many places, and some of these photos and photo galleries offer glimpses into the daily lives of LGBTQ people. Gay photography is also a great form of self-expression. Among the many photo galleries you'll find here, we have no shortage of pics of gay celebrities, athletes and the occasional ripped shirtless guy. We even like to highlight images of Hornet users. So go ahead, indulge, and spend a few moments browsing some seriously sexy photos of LGBTQ people from all over the world. Regardless of what kind of photos you're looking for, you're bound to find something here on Hornet that catches your eye.
The New York Public Library's Archives Are a Treasure Trove of Queer History
Queer parties, protests and trans women who started the Stonewall Riots are all hiding in the New York Public Library's massive photo archive.
Elska's Latest Issue Shares Candid Stories and Images From Gay Casablanca, Morocco
Elska Magazine, my publication dedicated to discovering gay communities around the world, has put the spotlight on gay Casablanca for its latest issue. Inside readers are invited to get to know an assortment of ordinary men who love men in this iconic Moroccan city. From the 1950s a reputation for[…]
20 Vintage Pics Snapped Before Men Were Conditioned to Not Show Physical Affection
An internet historian has located these images of men showing physical affection without worry
Elska Shines Its Queer Light on Atlanta, the Gay Black Capital of America
Elska magazine, my publication dedicated to sharing the bodies and voices of gay communities around the world, has put the spotlight on Atlanta for its latest issue. Inside Elska Atlanta readers are invited to travel virtually to the city and get to know a cross-section of local guys through intimate[…]
Style & Stuff

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December 30, 2007 September 6, 2016 JBW2 Comments on Two stories, two photos
Two stories, two photos
Christmas Night, our place, we needed another activity, so I called for the gingerbread kit and set Grampa Dave and Oma Barbara to work on it with Orion.
Orion didn't really want to get his fingers gooey with the frosting mortar, but he did help with the gumdrop decorations. It would be a great vlog for Bre Pettis at http://imakethings.com. Buy two kits and discover the thrill of rushing into the project willy-nilly with the first one.
Imagine building a house of cards with honey on your fingers. Now make it an A frame cottage.
Take the second kit and start on a styrofoam base with toothpick-rebar butresses. Sand the edges of the gingerbread panels for flatness. Use a chalking gun to apply the frosting. Reinforce with brass machine skrews. Cover the skrew heads with gumdrops. Stuff like that. To take the fun out of it, ya know. Now wait, here's an idea. Glue (with frosting, of course) the two roof pieces together with a hinge made from a tortilla. That would solve the main problem of the roof sliding off.
No, no, wait. How about following the directions better? You have to hold each piece in place until it stays put… for about a half an hour.
In the middle of this project, Grampa Dave had something he wanted us all to hear. He said that even Julie didn't know. He thought it was important enough for even Bibi Betsy and Uncle Nick to hear.
He has a perfectly serious manner, and I suspected grave news. Then he announced the story as "The Reason There's A Justin" and launched into the following:
Remember how I used to have to have this white van with a green stripe? The Bahama Mama? A Ford econoline? [Now the hooting and hollering and interrupting begins..] Well, one summer night we took a picnic basket on a drive… [more hooting, etc.] and we got to this place pretty far out that I couldn't even find again. It was near a farm overlooking a field, I think it was a wheat field, and we got out our picnic supplies ["Oh, is that what you called 'em?" hoot-hoot]. We had some sandwiches and probably some Boone's Farm. We were watching the stars when one of them starting moving in a funny way. ["For both of you?" hoot-hoot! Then we look at Oma Barbara. "Did you see this?" She says, "I'm not telling"] Well, it had flashing lights and was saucer shaped and descended into the field. [Trish says, "Hey, you already told me you don't believe in UFOs!" Dave says, "We found out what it was later, so it was an Identified Flying Object, now let me finish."]
When it flew away all that was left was a glowing orb in a ring of flattened crops. I turned and saw Barb tearing off her clothes with a glazed look in her eyes.
She said, "Make Son! Must make son while the hay shines!" [Collective groan and more hoots]
After most of the gingerbread house was done, Grampa Dave said, "This reminds me of another story…"
I was down at the boy store. You remember Howlett's Hardware? [Me: yeah, I'm wearing the T-shirt] It's since been bought up by a big box chain. I think it's Bramlet's or something.
But it was still Howlett's then. They were having a special on clamps. You know the kind with the orange handles? [me: yeah, sure]. Well, if they every go on special you should stock up on them. So I go up to the counter with my arms full of clamps, and there's this old geezer there in front of me. He says, "Mmm. You can never have too many clamps, toc-toc. [vocalizes with tongue]" Then he buys his stuff and leaves. I ask old man Howlett, "Who was that guy?" So he tells me, "Well, that's Hiram. We call him Ham. He used to be the high school shop teacher. He was a gunner on a plane in World War Two and crashed in the Himalayas. He was the only survivor. He woke up in a Tibetan monastery dressed in robes to the sound of chanting and gongs. It turns out that these particular monks were master woodworkers. However, they were only used to working with hand tools. Ham was used to working with power tools. Neither spoke the other's language. They had to invent sounds and hand signs to go with the tools they wanted. Like bang-bang for hammer [gestures hammering] and zzz-zzzz for saw [gestures sawing]."
Trish now asks, "What was the toc-toc?" Grampa Dave smiles and says, "I'm glad you asked."
"That was the sound of Old Ham Clamping."
Categories :o), Crafts, DIY, Family, Holidays, Restaurants
2 thoughts on "Two stories, two photos"
Grumps January 2, 2008 — 6:58 am
pretty accurate acount of event(s)
minor correction – van was named Fat Albert
and was painted an unfortunate green – with 2 white
stripes.
more astute readers will recognize the color scheme
as Michigan State's
I was raised in A^2 & was enrolled at Uof M
Fat Albert was accused of treason, although charges
were later droped when it was discovered it could be
very useful for transporting kegs & other necessaties
Grumps
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Q: In Verilog and VHDL, what exactly is the difference between `logic[19:4]` and `logic[15:0]`? and of course the equivalent syntax in VHDL?
Is the lower index a minimum bound for indexing? What happens in assignments between signals with differing bounds but the same width?

A: Assuming you meant the widths to be the same...
...so, in Verilog let's assume you meant
logic [19:4] v19_4;
logic [15:0] v15_0;

In a Verilog simulation, you will not experience any difference unless to try to index the bits.
If you index the bits, you will find that

*

*in the first case, the left hand bit is bit 19 (ie v19_4[19]), whereas in the second case, the left hand bit is bit 15 (ie v15_0[15]);

*in the first case, the right hand bit is bit 4 (ie v19_4[4]), whereas in the second case, the right hand bit is bit 0 (ie v15_0[0]).
In Verilog, it is valid to call the left hand bit "the MSB" and the right hand bit "the LSB".
You will experience exactly the same behaviour in VHDL.  In VHDL let's assume you meant
signal v19_4 : std_logic_vector(19 downto 4);
signal v15_0 : std_logic_vector(15 downto 0);

Again, in a VHDL simulation, you will not experience any difference unless to try to index the bits. If you index the bits, you will find that

*

*in the first case, the left hand bit is bit 19 (ie v19_4(19)), whereas in the second case, the left hand bit is bit 15 (ie v15_0(15));

*in the first case, the right hand bit is bit 4 (ie v19_4(4)), whereas in the second case, the right hand bit is bit 0 (ie v15_0(0)).
With synthesis you might see a difference. It is generally recommended to index vectors from 0 for synthesis to remove the possibility of synthesising more bits than you need. However, I would think that most synthesisers would optimise away the excess logic.

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Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, blasted President Trump on Twitter over Trump's use of a White House event honoring Navajo war veterans to make a racially-charged joke about Democrat Elizabeth Warren.
McCain said Trump's joke calling Warren "Pocahontas" was an "insult" to the sacrifices made by the Code Talkers during World War II.
Our nation owes a debt of gratitude to the Navajo Code Talkers, whose bravery, skill & tenacity helped secure our decisive victory over tyranny & oppression during WWII. Politicizing these genuine American heroes is an insult to their sacrifice.
McCain's remarks came as families of Navajo war veterans, who were honored at the White House, say they were dumbfounded that Trump used the event to take a political jab, demeaning their work during World War II.
Trump turned to a nickname he often deployed for Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, during the 2016 presidential campaign: Pocahontas. He then told the three Navajo Code Talkers on stage Monday that he had affection for them that he doesn't have for Warren.
Trump made the comment as he stood near a portrait of President Andrew Jackson, which he hung in the Oval Office in January. Trump admires Jackson's populism. But Jackson is an unpopular figure in Indian Country because he oversaw the forced removal of American Indians from their southern homelands.
''All tribal nations still battle insensitive references to our people. The prejudice that Native American people face is an unfortunate historical legacy,'' Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye said in a statement.
Still, Begaye and relatives of Navajo Code Talkers said they're honored the story of the men recruited from the vast Southwest reservation to become Marines could be told on a national stage. Peter MacDonald, a former Navajo chairman and trained Code Talker, who stood beside Trump, also took the opportunity to ask for support for a Navajo Code Talker museum. Trump obliged.
MacDonald didn't return messages left by The Associated Press. He didn't visibly react to Trump's ''Pocahontas'' comment and later told the president he was certain he would succeed, crediting military generals.
''I feel really sad that they didn't get treated with respect,'' she said.
Trump's Pocahontas comment is the latest in a long list of remarks Trump has made about people from specific ethnic and racial groups. In announcing a run for the presidency in 2015, Trump said many Mexican immigrants are rapists. He's sought to ban immigrants from certain Muslim-majority nations. He's come under fire for what some said was a too-slow federal response to hurricane damage in Puerto Rico.
The president has long feuded with Warren, an outspoken Wall Street critic who leveled blistering attacks on Trump during the campaign. Trump seized on questions about Warren's heritage, which surfaced during her 2012 Senate race challenging incumbent Senator Scott Brown.


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Poverty is the real difference between school attainment levels
The Scottish Government's parentzone website has published data on the performance of school leavers. The Daily Record highlighted how these figures show a shocking class divide between the wealthiest and least well off areas of Scotland.
This is my opinion piece in the Daily Record that ran alongside the article. In it I argue that the difference tells us more about poverty than schools.
"These figures don't tell us much about schools. What they tell us is that poverty ruins lives.
The enormous gap in qualifications between children in poor and wealthy areas is simply a reflection of the inequality that scars Scottish society. An appalling number of families are relying on foodbanks. You don't need to be an educational psychologist to work out that a well fed child is going to be a better pupil than one who is hungry. Saying that looking at these figures tell you more about house prices than it does about standards in schools is no joke, it's the truth.
They certainly don't tell us much about the teams who deliver education in the schools. Arguably it's the schools where fewer children are getting qualifications that are working the hardest, as the team in the school attempt to help the children overcome a host of social disadvantages in order to learn. Think about it – if it were simply a matter of the attitudes of the staff would the pattern of poor areas and supposedly poor schools be quite so consistent?
One of the things that drives attainment is the chance to undertake educational enhancing activities. It is clear that better off parents have resources to allow their children to take part in a wider range of activities than their less well-off peers. For example, going to see a play live makes it easier to get good marks in English than just reading it in a book or out loud in the class.
Those who have the least opportunity to do these activities out of school because of lack of money, need to have these opportunities through school. Cuts in local authority funding, made worse by the council tax freeze, mean that the cost of school trips, whether for a day or a week, and sports clubs are increasingly falling on parents. These are burdens that many families cannot meet. Here in UNISON we have been told by members on low wages or zero hour contracts of instances of their children, knowing the sacrifices their parents would make to find the money, of not even telling parents about school trips. These charges mean that far from narrowing the gap will see it grow.
There are some initiatives that could be taken in schools that might make some difference. Ensuring poorer children are not denied support that can't otherwise be offered would be a good place to start - for example by ending the trend of getting rid of Classroom Assistants.
And let's hope that the political response to these figures avoids nonsense about 'improving aspiration'. As if the poor, who lets remember are mostly working for a living, don't or can't care for their children.
No one should be in any doubt that the real key to reducing the gap between how children in poor areas do compared to children in rich areas is to reduce the gap between rich and poor."
Labels: Education, Poverty
Longannet - three reasons why it's closing early
The early closure of Longannet power station in Fife is a shocking blow to the workforce and the Fife economy. The causes are a toxic cocktail of company indifference, absurd regulations and an energy policy that's not fit for purpose.
Scottish Power has announced that it is to to close its coal-fired power station at Longannet early next year, rather than the original 2020 date. This comes after they failed to win a contract from National Grid to help maintain voltage capacity on the grid. The company didn't even bid for the earlier capacity auction from 2018. 270 jobs will go, plus those in the supply chain, including freight train operations and Scotland's struggling coal industry will suffer even more.
So why is it closing early?
Firstly, because of discriminatory transmission charges. The cost of sending electricity down the long distance transmission wires is heavily biased towards encouraging electricity generation near where it's consumed - mainly in the big English cities and London in particular. This is important because Scotland has always been an exporter of electricity, providing quality jobs and contributing revenues to the Scottish economy. This means that if you generate power near London you get a subsidy from the grid. If you generate it in Scotland or the North of England, you pay an additional charge. Ofgem's Project TransmiT has been reviewing those charges for years, but the changes will be too small and too late for Longannet. At best, its transmission costs next year will fall from £40m to £34m.
Secondly, we have company indifference. ScottishPower is owned by the Spanish energy giant Iberdrola, who have significant pressures on their limited investment funding. They have failed to invest in Longannet, either to make it IED compliant (reducing emissions) or put in a serious bid for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). It suits Iberdrola's purpose to highlight transmission charges because it diverts attention from their own failures. Former energy minister Brian Wilson described the relationship between the company and the Scottish Government in a recent column in the Scotsman. Lots of grand announcements, but precious little delivery.
Thirdly, we have UK and Scottish Government energy policy. A UK government implementing its hugely complex energy market reform that attempts to patch up market failure, badly. As for the Scottish Government's hopelessly unbalanced energy policy? Brian Wilson sums it up well:
"Now reality is closing in. The Scottish Government's policy is based on crossing its fingers and hoping that hated nuclear power stations keep going till 2030. Cockenzie is closed. Longannet is on the way out. "Renewables" has turned out to be synonymous with onshore wind – with virtually none of the hardware which adorns our hillsides manufactured in Scotland."
We now have the previously unthinkable situation where Scotland relies on England to keep the lights on when the wind isn't blowing. As Tom Greatrex MP highlighted recently, in the three years from 2012 to 2015, Scotland relied on English power for part of 231 out of 1036 days, or one in five. For seven days in each year, Scotland imported electricity from England for a full 24 hour period.
Even with English electricity there will be a concern that we have enough generation capacity in Scotland. On Boxing Day, when wind generated less than 1% of the power from Scotland going into the grid, Longannet met 40% of our electricity demand through coal. When our two nuclear stations go as well, the position will be even worse.
The early closure of Longannet is the result of an energy market that isn't working for Scotland. Multi-national companies don't care where the power is generated, but we should because of the impact on jobs and the economy. Equally, governments need to recognise the value of a balanced energy policy that ensures a mix of generation capacity. That is the best guarantee that the industry in Scotland has of a long term future and importantly, our lights remain on.
Labels: Energy
Today is UN World Water Day. It's a day to celebrate water. It's a day to make a difference for people across the world who suffer from water related issues. It's a day to prepare for how we manage water in the future.
In a developed country like Scotland we take water from the tap and the disposal of wastewater for granted. In developing nations the responsibility for collecting water every day falls disproportionately on women and girls. On average women in these regions spend 25% of their day collecting water for their families. This is time not spent earning an income, caring for family or attending school.
This year, World Water Day is focusing on sustainable development. Climate change negatively impacts fresh water sources. Current projections show that freshwater-related risks rise significantly with increasing greenhouse gas emissions, exacerbating competition for water among all uses and users and the potential for conflict. Combined with increased demands for water, this will create huge challenges for water resources management.
Here is just one of many scary statistics about water. To produce two steaks you nee 15,000 litres of water. By 2050, agriculture will need to produce 60% more food globally, and 100% more in developing countries.
In Europe a year has passed since the so-called 'positive' response from the European Commission to the first successful European Citizens' Initiative (ECI), but there has been little action. Nearly two million citizens who supported the Initiative are waiting for the European Commission to implement the Human Right to Water in the EU, and to stop its water commodification and privatisation agenda. The European Parliament is debating its opinion about the Initiative and the human right to water, which will be voted in the Plenary in July this year. European trade unions and others will be demonstrating in Brussels on Monday to call upon the EU to take action.
In Scotland, we are very fortunate to have a public water service. Scottish Water has around 5 million customers in 2.45 million households. 1.3 billion litres of water is provided every day and 842 million litres of waste water is taken away and treated before being returned to the rivers and seas. It has to cover an area of over 30,000 square miles, a third of the area of Britain. And Scotland has a longer coastline - over 6,800 miles - with a small and relatively dispersed population which requires a large number of small water and waste water treatment works. Despite these unique challenges, we pay lower charges than the average for the privatised industry in England. That's what public service can achieve through lower borrowing costs, vital to a capital intensive industry, and of course no profits filtered off to shareholders.
Across Europe, towns and cities are taking back their water services from the big corporations, recognising as we do the benefits of public ownership. However, we can't afford any complacency. The sharks would love to get their hands on Scottish Water. There remains an active lobby to privatise Scottish Water, even if they try and hide behind Trojan horses like Public Interest Companies or cooperatives.
Scottish Water has already privatised almost all of its capital programme and the Scottish Government is considering handing over the contract for public sector water to an English private water company. The direct consequence of the absurd introduction of competition for non-domestic services.
The regulatory system in Scotland seeks to mirror the English system, designed for a privatised system not a public service. Scarce resources are wasted maintaining these arrangements that do nothing for service delivery and encourage short term cost cutting that could put safety at risk.
In 2012 the Scottish Government launched a positive initiative - Hydro Nation. It set out a vision for Scotland's water that recognised a wet country has amazing potential in a world where water will increasingly be a scare resource. Sadly, the initiative was watered down (intentional pun!) and the grand vision has not been realised. The idea was right, even if the delivery has been poor.
Scotland needs a more democratically accountable water structure. One that builds on the public service ethos and takes full advantage of one of Scotland's greatest assets. On World Water Day let's be thankful we have a high quality public water service, but also recognise that we can do better.
It's Public Services Stupid!
Public services are the number one election issue for the majority of Scottish voters.
Today we have published a full scale poll undertaken by Survation, for UNISON Scotland, that asked Scottish voters to explain their priorities. They said that public services, welfare, jobs and pay were the most important issues for them in the coming general election.
They were also clear about their spending priorities.If the next government was to raise £2bn by cracking down on tax avoidance, 58% of respondents believe that the money should be spent on improving public services, compared to 19% who think it should be spent on reducing public borrowing, and 17% who think that it should be used on income tax cuts.
This is the complete opposite to George Osborne's Budget priorities this week as I set out last night. It is clear today that while yesterday's announcement might have brought the average cuts down over the spending review period, it still means around £2bn of Barnett consequential cuts for the Scottish Budget. That is around 30,000 further public service job losses in Scotland.
Scottish voters also had clear views about who should deliver public services. Half of respondents believe that 'public sector organisations (such as local councils and the NHS)' deliver the best quality public services. This compares to only 16% who believe that 'charities and social enterprises (such as co-operatives)' and 14% who believe 'private sector organisations (such as businesses)' deliver the best quality public services.
Public accountability was an important factor with more than two thirds saying public bodies are accountable to the public. If a greater proportion of council services was funded locally through council tax and business rates, 44% believe that those services would become more locally accountable to the needs of residents, compared to 12% who believe those services would become less locally accountable to the needs of residents.
Scottish voters also agree with UNISON that if acompany wins a government-funded contract it should have to pay the living wage.
This poll shows that Scottish voters understand that public services not only support our most vulnerable people, they help grow the economy and contribute to ending poverty and low pay. This is something theUK ConDem coalition is ignoring with their dogged adherence to austerity economics.
Labels: GE2015, Public Works
UK Budget 2015
If you are going to tell porkies, tell big ones. That seemed to be the Chancellor's strategy in today's budget.
It was as if the past five years didn't happen. The worst fall in real earnings in recorded history a total fall of 7.9% and even this is on the basis of the lower CPI index. No other real earnings decline comes close. The IFS says his tax and benefit changes since 2010, including the big VAT rise, have cost families on average £1,127 a year. Nearer £2000 if you are a public service worker suffering from the UK and Scottish government pay policy.
On public spending the head of the National Audit Office has said that the cuts in public expenditure over the last five years have been too much too fast. The consensus among economists is that low wages and spending cuts have stunted GDP growth, resulting in the slowest recovery from recession on record. This extract from today's OBR report explains, in an international context, why austerity economics have miserably failed.
On an individual basis the budget does little for most workers. Increasing personal allowances is the least effective way to help the lowest paid workers and will benefit most those in the top half of the income distribution. Measures to incentivise saving simply won't do much for those for whom saving is a dream. In any case Osborne is still relying on increasing household debt to boost the economy. This chart is slightly less scary than it was last December, but it should frighten anyone who remembers one of the causes of the financial crash.
Giving people the 'freedom' to turn their annuities into lump sums is a charter for the kind of abuses that have characterised the UK financial services for the past three decades and risks a return to the misselling scandals of the Thatcher era. The Chancellor has been repeatedly warned that the advice structures are inadequate.
For UNISON members the most important section in the budget is the changes to public spending first announced in last December's Autumn Statement. Lower inflation gave the Chancellor the opportunity to take the sting out of the IFS analysis that this would take spending back to 1930's levels.
So that's good news then? Well I'm afraid not. The Chancellor's plans still involve a £30bn cut by 2017/18 with even deeper cuts in year two and three. As the OBR puts it:
"The real cut in public services spending planned for the coming year is slightly smaller than the likely average for the current Parliament. But the squeeze then becomes much more severe than anything we have seen to date in 2016-17 and 2017-18". This chart shows just how bad and it comes on top of his 2016 National Insurance contribution increase that will hit workers and employers alike.
The much talked about spending relaxation is in the final year. Of course that is a long way off and based on this Chancellor's record you wouldn't bet your declining pay packet on him getting there. Not to mention deficit reduction which is based on hugely optimistic growth forecasts. Sadly, every single OBR forecast on deficit reduction and most on growth have been wrong and in every case have been far too optimistic.
Particularly when he is relying on extra revenue from tax avoidance. Here his record is dire. The gap between what is owed and what is collected is up not down. There has been no action on tax havens despite the Prime Minister's promises. In fact he appointed the Chairman of tax dodging HSBC as a Minister. No action on hedge funds, when stamp duty avoidance is costing well over £1 billion a year.
Why, because they bankroll the Tory party. As Ed Miliband put it, the Tories are the political wing of the tax avoidance industry. Tax avoidance expert Richard Murphy's view of the prospects of additional revenue: "without tax returns from millions of people and with the HMRC cuts already in progress that's just plain fantasy."
What does this mean for spending in Scotland? As always it is difficult to be precise because we don't know exactly where the cuts will be made in England and therefore the Barnett consequentials. The Chancellor claims that £13bn will come from departmental budgets and £12bn will come from welfare cuts. The £5bn balance from his fantasy tax avoidance savings. The Scottish Government estimates that this means "another £12bn of cumulative cuts in real terms over the period to 2019". A singularly unclear way of putting it because it doesn't tell us the time frame or if it's the annual DEL reduction or some other spending impact. Hopefully, the more reliable IFS will provide some greater clarity tomorrow.
On the subject of Scottish Government economic analysis, if after the GERS report there is anyone who still thinks oil revenues make a good devolved tax, have a look at this chart on oil forecasts.
A bad hair day at best! As for the Scottish Government claim that we can plug the gap with a 50% increase in exports, this chart would suggest that remains, as Brian Ashcroft puts it, 'fanciful'.
In conclusion, for individuals the budget measures are poorly targeted and will do little to support balanced sustainable growth. The precise consequences for public services and jobs in Scotland may still be unclear, but it will be grim.
Gers report shows Devo-Max is a gamble too far
The annual publication Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (Gers) has brought the debate over the merits of Full Fiscal Autonomy (FFA) or Devo-Max into sharp focus.
The report shows that in 2013/14, people in Scotland paid £400 more in tax than the UK as a whole but they also received £1,200 more in spending. The revenue figures include taxation from the oil and gas industry in Scottish waters. However, these figures have a time lag and therefore don't include the most recent fall in oil revenues.
Lost revenues now total around £6 billion compared to the figures in the Scottish Government's November 2013 White Paper. By sheer coincidence, the amount the ConDem coalition has cut from the Scottish budget since introducing austerity economics is also £6bn. That has resulted in 50,000 public service job losses and huge cuts in the services our communities rely on.
The IFS has projected the impact of falling oil revenues on Scotland's budget if we had adopted FFA. They calculate:
"that if Scotland were fiscally autonomous in 2015–16, its budget deficit would be around 4.0% of GDP higher than that of the UK as a whole. In cash terms, this is equivalent to a difference of around £6.6 billion."
Now, as the BBC's Douglas Fraser fairly points out "while Scotland runs at a loss, the UK government continues to run at a similar scale of loss, with a huge debt, and nothing to show in the bank for 40 years of oil and gas tax revenue."
While this is a legitimate historical point, it doesn't strengthen the case for FFA. The Scottish Government's defence is that with FFA the economy in Scotland would be growing faster. Well it might, but not at the rate necessary to plug the gap in oil revenues, as the IFS confirms. And, as Douglas Fraser also says; "It would also have to counter the prospect of offshore tax take falling quite fast, with much more impact than on UK finances, as a result of the oil price fall and lower production levels."
That is why the UNISON submission to the Smith Commission argued against FFA and oil revenues being devolved in particular. Devolved administrations want the least volatile revenues and expenditure possible. As the STUC put it yesterday:
"Today's report is a sobering reminder of some of the risks of full fiscal autonomy for Scotland. The STUC has consistently argued that whilst Scotland's funding settlement with the UK is entirely fair in the context of its historic and anticipated fiscal contribution, there are real risks associated with the volatile nature of oil revenues. It is for this reason that we argued for a combination of increased tax devolution and a continuing block grant as the best mechanism for secure and predictable funding for Scottish public services."
Fiscal devolution is always a complex interaction, but Full Fiscal Autonomy was always going to be a high-risk approach. With so many public services and the jobs that go with them at stake, it remains a gamble too far.
Labels: Constitution, Finance
Time to take a closer look at your pension
There are some big changes in pensions next month and they are not all good news.
Today I am in Orkney on the latest stage of a pensions tour that has included training up our excellent new generation of pension board members. Talking to members, I always emphasise certain key issues that all members of pension schemes should be concerned about. The first is the benefits payable on retirement and second, what you will pay in contributions towards those benefits. Closely linked to both is how your pension pot is managed, what we call governance. That is something most pension scheme members should take a closer look at.
The big change in public sector pension schemes next month is the shift from final salary to career average schemes. This will actually deliver better benefits for most members as the disproportionate gainers from final salary schemes have these benefits more evenly spread. In the NHS scheme contributions are going up, due to a Treasury cash grab, but LGPS members are spared that because we control real funds here in Scotland. However, most members will have to work longer before they can access their pension.
The other big change is how the LGPS funds are governed. For the first time there will be meaningful member representation on the eleven boards that manage pension funds in Scotland. There are some big issues to be addressed here, including the huge sums of money poured into fund managers pockets and how the funds are invested. We will also be reviewing if we really need eleven funds in Scotland. Tonight's BBC File on 4 radio programme will look at the way Canada manages its pension funds. It's all a far cry from the British pension scene, where a hundred local government pension funds each run their own affairs separately and pay costly fees to City firms for investment advice.
The change I am most concerned about is pension flexibilities. The UK government has passed legislation which allows pension scheme members to cash in their pension as a lump sum rather than take a pension. I accept that something had to be done about poor annuities in Defined Contribution schemes, although it would have been better if they had addressed charges, which can be twice as high in the UK than in The Netherlands. However, that would have involved taking on their City pals and that would never do!
The government has now gone one further by allowing those in quality Defined Benefit schemes to also cash in their fund. Although noticeably not in the 'pay as you go' schemes (NHS etc) where they would have to pick up the bill. Members doing this could be faced with a big tax bill and charges from an industry that is preparing to make money out of this 'flexibility'. I know this because I had a phone call last night asking me if I would consider this. Pity the poor call centre salesperson who gets me on pensions! As someone who can recall the last pensions misselling scandal in the Thatcher era, I well remember members coming into my office having lost a fortune over dodgy sales pitches.
There are a growing number of organisations warning about this. The Westminster Work and Pensions Committee has warned that savers are at risk of being "ripped off" in a new pensions scandal after George Osborne rushed through these reforms with little thought of the consequences. They have added to calls from the TUC and Which? for the urgent introduction of a drawdown charge cap. The protections against misselling in the legislation are also nowhere near strong enough as Ros Altmann and others have warned.
Few people really understand their pensions, but they are hugely important deferred pay. They should not be used by politicians as a short term pre-election fix. There are long term consequences for scheme members and the next generation who will have to pick up the bill for pensioner poverty.
Labels: Pensions
Supporting public services
It's often said, 'all politicians are the same', well in this UK General Election it simply isn't true, at least for public services and those who deliver them.
Today is the pre-election Scottish Labour Party special conference in Edinburgh. I was speaking at the NASUWT fringe meeting on supporting public services. For me, this is the number one issue in the coming election.
Unusually before an election, we have costed spending plans from both the parties challenging to make up the next UK government. We also have the benefit of them being analysed by the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).
While I would have some differences with the Ed Balls approach, these are minor in comparison to the difference in spending plans with the Tories. In the IFS analysis after the Autumn Statement they identified a gap of £43bn. The Barnett consequentials of that depends on where Tories decide to make their cuts. So, while estimates vary the numbers are huge - from £2.7bn at best, to £3.7bn at worst. Put another way, around 25,000 to 35,000 public service job losses.
We have just come through longest recession and slowest recovery, primarily because of the spending cuts Osborne implemented in 2010. Instead of learning from past mistakes, the Tories are planning to impose more of same failed medicine.
It was therefore very welcome to hear Ed Miliband and Jim Murphy talking about Labour's spending plans and what that would mean for Scotland. Labour does not talk enough about this, leaving the nonsense that Labour is voting for austerity unchallenged. The perceived need to talk up a particular interpretation of economic credibility, all too often drives out Labour's positive anti-austerity message.
Some will say, voting SNP will get us a coalition, keeping Ed Balls on an anti-austerity agenda. Actually the SNP 'plan', limited in detail though it is, isn't much different from Labour's. However, the key point is that you can't vote for a coalition - it's not on the ballot paper.
Even if you could what would be the price? Losing Trident would be fine - most of the Labour Party don't support replacement anyway. The big problem is, will a coalition depend on accepting the SNP demand for Devo-Max. If we had Devo Max now the Scottish Government would have to find a £6bn cut in public services due to the collapse in oil revenues. Coincidentally, that is exactly same amount as Tory austerity has cut from Scottish budget. That led to 50,000 jobs being cut and most of those in local services.
That's because the SNP has not dished out the misery equally. 4 out of 5 job losses have been in councils the only portfolio to suffer a cash cut to its budget. This has the perceived advantage of keeping bad news furthest away from Scottish ministers while they keep hold of little pots for sticking plaster announcements. Add to that the Council Tax freeze, underfunded at same level as 8 years ago. A regressive tax freeze that benefits wealthy households while the vulnerable face rising charges for services.
So, this election matters for public services and those who work in them and it matters big. The spending cut numbers are huge and they would have huge consequences for public services and those who deliver them. Even if there was some small positive from a possible coalition, the risk of another Tory government is just too big a risk. We cannot gamble with 30,000 members jobs and the services they deliver.
But Labour also needs to up its game. Talking up the differences on public spending, not hiding them. That's why I welcome Ed Miliband's speech today. More please comrade!
Labels: Finance, Labour Party
Focus on social care to end bed blocking
With thousands of beds blocked this winter by patients healthy enough to return home, it's time for politicians to put as much focus on social care as they are on NHS Scotland.
Thanks to data obtained by BBC Scotland we know that over a four-week period, an average of 1,216 beds per day were unavailable to incoming patients in hospitals across the country. NHS England is also struggling with this problem and 139k patients were stuck in beds, unable to leave, in December. Scotland's comparative numbers are more than double, with 31,610 reported in Scotland for a population 10 times less.
Health Secretary Shona Robison said the figures "aren't good enough" but blamed the position the government inherited. Possibly the lamest excuse a minister could give when her party has been in government for nearly 8 years!
Scottish Labour's health spokeswoman Jenny Marra said: "Bed blocking has a real impact on our whole health service and the operation of our hospitals. It is something the government needs to get on top of soon". True, but Labour's policy announcements have been focused on the NHS and not on social care - where the real focus should be at present.
The last edition of Holyrood Magazine has a good analysis on how the NHS in Scotland is being used as an election issue. In fairness to the politicians, they are largely reflecting public perceptions and therefore, as I said in the article, we all need to do more to explain the interaction between health and social care. The ConDem austerity cuts in Scotland are largely being dumped on local government and councils are in no position to respond to the demands placed upon them.
Council social care budgets are to be merged with health budgets. This is aimed at forcing both to work closer together to move patients into the right care setting. The Scottish Government announced £100m in funding which, invested over three years, will be used to help health boards and councils provide support packages for people in their own homes. Welcome though this funding is, it is well short of what is required.
Firstly, we need to fund an increase in capacity. We know from our surveys of the staff involved that assessments are not being delivered in full. That's in addition to patients blocking beds - now the equivalent of the bed capacity in the new Southern General Hospital.
Secondly, it's about recruitment and retention of quality staff. We have a hopelessly fragmented delivery of home care that has been increasingly privatised. Many of the new providers cannot deliver the service because of high staff turnover and recruitment problems. There has been a race to the bottom in pay and conditions, and staff are voting with their feet.
For example, an authoritative new report from the Resolution Foundation revealed that at least 160,000 care workers were being collectively cheated out of £130m a year by virtue of being paid below the National Minimum Wage. How can we claim to be a civilised society when we allow the people entrusted to care for our elderly and disabled people to be treated so outrageously? The Save Care Now web site has a petition on this issue that I would urge everyone to sign.
In Scotland, this is reflected in UNISON Scotland's Time to Care report that highlighted some appalling working practices. The growth in zero and nominal hour contracts is another abuse that needs to end because it directly impacts on the quality of care. Workers on these contracts are simply unwilling to report even care abuse, because of the threat to their precarious jobs.
Under the provisions of s52 of the Local Government in Scotland Act, councils should not be using procurement to create a two tier workforce, but they are. The recent local government benchmarking report says that the 8% shift to outsourced providers has, "contributed to reduced costs through lower salary and pension costs". Progress on extending the living wage through procurement has also been painfully slow.
Getting patients out of hospital is essential for the NHS and the quality of life for people stuck in an inappropriate care setting. It requires greater home care capacity as well as a revitalised workforce using the plan in UNISON's Ethical Care Charter. That is where political parties ought to be focusing their attention.
Labels: care integration, Health
Poverty is the real difference between school atta...


In this four-photo composite by Fatih Ozay, we see the different seasons throughout the year as experienced on one street in Newark, New Jersey near Branch Brook Park in Newark's North Ward (between the neighborhoods of Forest Hill and Roseville).
Fatih posted the photo earlier today to reddit where it reached the top spot on the front page. Congrats Fatih! You can see more of his photography on Instagram.


text:
<?php

    use \Meerkat\Widget\Widget_NavList;

    Route::set('account_about', trim(Kohana::$config->load('meerkat/user.url.account_about'), '/'))
        ->defaults(
            array(
                'directory'  => 'Account',
                'controller' => 'About',
                'action'     => 'index',
            )
        );
    Widget_NavList::instance()
        ->item(
            __('meerkat-user.menu.account'),
            'account_profile.about`',
            __('Изменить подробности о себе'),
            Kohana::$config->load('meerkat/user.url.account_about')
        );

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
info@bmgindia.com +91 22 4002 0045
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Keeping secrets can protect competitive advantage. Imagine the D-Day invasion of Normandy if the Allies had announced dates and locations...Read more
Execution is a People Problem, Not a Strategy Problem
Paul,* the CEO of Maxreed, a global publishing company, was having trouble sleeping. Publishing is an industry that's changing even faster than most other fast-changing industries, but Paul wasn't awake worrying about his strategy. He had a solid plan that took advantage of new technologies, and the board and his leadership team were aligned around it. Paul and his team had already reorganized the structure — new divisions, revised roles, redesigned processes — to support their strategy.
So what was Paul worrying about? People.
Which is precisely what he should be worrying about. However hard it is to devise a smart strategy, it's ten times harder to get people to execute on that strategy. And a poorly executed strategy, no matter how clever, is worthless.
In other words, your organization's biggest strategic challenge isn't strategic thinking — it's strategic acting...Read more
Top 12 Inspirational Leadership Quotes For 2017
Do you want to become an inspired leader in 2017—one who makes a big difference in your team, your organization, and society?
A good place to start is to review the qualities and practices of exceptional leaders, which have remained the same since the beginning of civilization, as summarized in a book M.A. Soupios and I co-authored, The Ten Golden Rules of Leadership...Read more
Report: Doing Business 2017
Doing Business 2017: Equal Opportunity for All, a World Bank Group flagship publication, is the 14th in a series of annual reports measuring the regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it. Doing Business presents quantitative indicators on business regulations and the protection of property rights that can be compared across 190 economies—from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe—and over time.
Doing Business measures regulations affecting 11 areas of the life of a business. Ten of these areas are included in this year's ranking on the ease of doing business: starting a business, dealing with construction permits,..Read more
The Best Strategic Leaders Balance Agility and Consistency
As a former consultant, I have a deep and abiding love for the use of 2×2 matrices in business strategy. My favorites are those that highlight two factors that seem, at first glance, in conflict. I find these particularly relevant to personal development, as individuals often must resolve the tensions between competing values and traits and must carefully monitor their own strengths so those strengths don't lapse into weaknesses...Read more
Designing an innovation process for organizations
In the realm of creativity research, there are two schools of thought: the 'tension' view and the 'foundational' view. Please describe them.
Most people are familiar with the 'tension view'—although they probably don't call it that; it is also referred to as 'diversity of thought' or 'recombination of ideas'. The underlying idea is that new ideas are in tension with how we currently think. We get so embedded in one way of thinking about the world, that it is very difficult to break out of it. Within this view of creativity, if you want new ideas, one solution is to bring in a bunch of diverse people from different backgrounds, brainstorm, and do some form of recombining of their ideas to get to a breakthrough...Read more
What So Many Strategists Get Wrong About Digital Disruption
"Digital is coming and it's coming fast"; "No industry sector is immune to disruption"; "One thing is certain about digital transformation: It will be a big change for your entire organization"; "Digital will disrupt your industry."
Judging by the headlines and opening lines of recent articles and business books, digital is about to disrupt your industry and you with it – unless you act now (and buy the book)...Read more
Five ways to take baby steps to leadership
Moving into a leadership role for the first time need not be difficult — but it does mean changing your focus and adjusting your goalposts in a way that you can do justice to the new role. Sreeradha D Basu speaks to experts to find out how you should go about it.
1. Be a Mindful Leader
"It's absolutely a deal-breaker if you are not a mindful leader," says Nina Chatrath, founder of Enhance Consulting. "Know yourself, your strengths, your weaknesses, your drive and lead mindfully. Self-aware leaders go a long way, as they know how to build themselves, build the team, build their function and business," she says. Invest in understanding your team members: Each member in your team is unique and considers himself unique...Read more
Paytm Payments Bank, NPCI's BHIM app, sign of rising digital finance in India
Paytm Payments Bank Ltd has been given the final go ahead by India's central bank to start a payments bank, which can take deposits and offer other mobile money services at very low costs to the country's poor.
The permit adds another significant shoulder to the wheel of digital finance in the country, as Paytm, the largest mobile wallet provider in India, seeks to expand its services.
"Our aim is to build a new business model in banking industry, focussed on bringing financial services to hundreds of millions of unserved or underserved Indians," Vijay Shekar Sharma, founder of One97 Communications Ltd, which operates the Paytm wallet business, said in a blogpost on Tuesday...Read more
3 Popular Goal-Setting Techniques Managers Should Avoid
In 2002, professors Edwin A. Locke and Gary P. Latham, two of the best known academic researchers on goal-setting, wrote an article in American Psychologist summarizing their 35 years of research. Among their findings:
Setting specific, difficult goals consistently leads to higher performance than just urging people to do their best.
High goals generate greater effort than low goals, and the highest or most difficult goals produce the greatest levels of effort and performance.
Tight deadlines lead to a more rapid work pace than loose deadlines
Making a public commitment to a goal enhances personal commitment.
Whether the goal is set by mutual agreement or by the boss alone doesn't make a big difference in goal achievement...Read more
Knowing and recognizing leadership blind spots
The mark of a great leader is that they are constantly trying to improve themselves. They understand that they are human, not perfect and often don't know what they don't know.
In our anatomy, the blind spot is the point of entry of the optic nerve on the retina. Insensitive to light, it is considered to be an area where a person's view is obstructed. We have visual blind spots while driving a car, those parts of the road that cannot be seen through any of the mirrors. Similarly we also have psychological blind spots: Aspects of our personalities that are hidden from our own view. These may be annoying habits like bragging or interrupting, or they may be deeper desires or fears that are extremely threatening to acknowledge to oneself...Read more
SBI pushes merger of 5 associate banks, BMB to next fiscal
MUMBAI: The merger of the five associate banks with State Bank of India (SBI) will be postponed to by a quarter due to the demonetisation exercise, acknowledged SBI chief Arundhati Bhattacharya who for weeks had said that the merger is as per the schedule. The bank had announced in May plans to merge its five associate banks with itself by March 2017 to emerge as a global bank in order to compete with peers in emerging markets...Read more
Instead of Optimizing Processes, Reimagine Them as Platforms
Process optimization can transform user experience. Rethinking process optimization — visualizing processes as platforms — can transform your business model.
One applications outsourcing team, for example, proposed a clever UX tweak to help optimize a global fulfillment process their company managed for its biggest client.
The idea was simple: Instead of making buyers go through the entire online ordering sequence only to find stock-outs or delivery delays, why not alert them to product availability upfront? A little dab of inventory data would enhance both customer expectations and process efficiencies. Surely this cheap, customer-centric, and data-driven innovation would impress the client...Read more
Geolocation is changing the retail business model yet again
In category after category, Amazon has steadily eroded the market share of traditional bricks-and-mortar retail chains, which seem to be in a state of irreversible decline.
Much of the online giant's competitive advantage is based on its access to and mastery of rich customer data. Traditional retailers know relatively little about their customers, unless they have a loyalty card and actually buy something – and even this knowledge comes late, after a purchase is made. They have no way to cross sell, recommend new products, or target advertising. Unlike Amazon, they can't tell if a potential customer visits the store or passes by it without buying anything...Read more
Top 10 Visionaries that Changed the World
What if you could sit down to dine with some of the world's most successful entrepreneurs and have a conversation with them? What would you ask them? What business ideas and life lessons would they give to you? Of course, it was not possible to deliver any one of these rock star entrepreneurs to your dinner table- no matter who was doing the cooking or what you were serving...Read more
When Large Companies Are Better at Entrepreneurship than Startups
Big companies starting businesses from scratch has become a big deal. In many cases, these volatile big bets create bigger movements, up and down, in the stock price of a company than its (more stable) core business.
For example, Google's restructuring into Alphabet highlighted just how much the company is spending on new businesses, from self-driving cars to space exploration and more. Ford recently announced that a unit called Ford Smart Mobility, headquartered in Silicon Valley, will build new businesses like car-sharing and parking-locator apps. David Kenny, the new head of IBM's Watson, defines that business as "AI (artificial intelligence) as a service," a central part of the data analytics market that IBM CEO Virginia Rometty says is a $2 trillion opportunity...Read more
Innovation and emergent strategies for competitive advantage
Strategies broadly fall into two categories: Corporate strategy, or "where to compete," and business strategy, or "how to compete." Often companies trip and fall awkwardly somewhere between where to compete and how. Today, we'll adjust that trip to more of a fashionable skip.
Innovation strategies are emergent, not planned.
Finding a strategy
Articles that highlight concepts of strategy are plentiful, but there are few that define the boundary between having a strategy and not having one. Donald C. Hambrick and James W. Fredrickson help us identify what a strategy is not. Outsourcing is not a strategy. Being a low-cost provider is not a strategy. Chasing a global footprint is not a strategy. Surprisingly, operational effectiveness is also not a strategy...Read more
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