LyrArc Article Gist
Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand have redefined citizenship so that it is along blood lines, and not birthright citizenship. The 14th Amendment of the US Constitution was passed by Congress in 1866 and ratified by the States in 1868. It uses the words-"All persons born or naturalised in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction therof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."  The US Supreme Court will have to interpret this language and intent of the Amendment whether they intended it to apply to children of unauthorized migrants coming illegally into the country. At the time it was passed after the Civil War it was intended to emancipate freed black slaves and give children of freed slaves citizenship and rights. Congress, the States and the Supreme Court will have to consider whether the situation intended to be addressed in 14th Amendment was slavery and not the refugees and economic driven illegal migrants flowing in at the rate of 1-2 million a year as happened in 2021-2023. The Supreme Court in its Wong Kim Ark decision in 1898 supported the 14th Amendment at a time when illegal entry into the US was a tiny fraction of what it is today.   The 14th Amendment included under Section 4 on Debt the words- "Neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void." The 14th Amendment was  in its intent designed to complete the work of the Civil War to free black slaves and give them the rights of citizenship. The 14th Amendment to the US Constitution Section 1 says- "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." ...

LyrArc Article Gist
The cooperation announced between India and Britain on the experiment to look at one grid between countries in different time zones could be a game changer in the way new technologies have already achieved in making solar less costly than fossil fuel. Embrace of new technologies is essential for achieving net zero emissions. India first proposed connecting solar energy across countries and time zones at the International Solar Alliance in 2018. If a way can be found to integrate the grid across time zones the problems of solar energy could be tackled effectively. Storage would not be needed in the way it is now as the solar energy can be sent to other areas with the demand. And the equally vexing problem of supply can be solved as the regions such as Spain could be generating solar energy when the sun had set in India. It is ambitious but it also brings in scientists and engineers from Europe, America, India and Japan to tackle the problem. There is also the opportunity to build on one discovery to make another scientific discovery in the way advances have happened in medicine and science.  And nothing about net zero is not ambitious. One of the lessons Modi learned early in Gujarat is that experiments are needed and to never rule out new ideas. In some of his speeches he describes the early experiments with electricity and solar energy in Gujarat that led to more ambitious efforts over time, and eventually to where solar targets like the one made at COP26 Glasgow of 500 gigawatts by 2030 are now within reach. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Svenja Schulze brings new hope and dynamism to Germany's Development Ministry. As head of the Development Ministry she brings international experience in fighting climate change as SPD minister in the last government heading the climate change related Environment ministry. There she launched the climate protection package measures aimed at making Germany climate neutral by 2045. She now heads a ministry with a budget of $13.5 billion (12 billion euros). She wants to cooperate better with the Global South with an effort to tackle poverty and help developing nations. After the shocks of the pandemic this is an essential and important task. Her predecessor as Development minister Heidemarie Wiezcorek-Zeul, SPD minister 1998-2009 says the ministry needs clout in decisionmaking and for this it is important that the Development ministry is separate and an independent entity not lumped in with the Foreign Office as in Britain. That would be quite disastrous she says.  Climate change issues are also seen as development issues and about poverty reduction. This is a useful point that Mr. Modi was trying to make as he addressed the COP26 Summit- that climate change has to be done in the overall context of mitigation, that climate change control is part of poverty reduction and brings in new opportunities when done this way. Examples are zero budget farming, and solar energy as low cost energy for rural areas in India. Here Schulze talks to employees at the Ministry and tell them "We must all strive to make a good life possible for everyone in the world, That may sound overly emotional, but it is our aspiration."  Martina Schaub, chairwoman for VENRO whivh represents 140 private and church development organizations in Germany sees Schulze as a sign of optimism. The need is great particularly in the weak health systems of many countries. It is a sign of hope, and of the new Germany under Schulz. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Greece's minister for migration tells the Times that seven charities including one in London form part of a chain stretching from Somalia to Britain in which smugglers move migrants illegally.  One of the seven charities is in London and is seen as colluding with human traffickers who are putting lives of migrants at risk. Greece has 70,000 migrants living in squalid refugee centres. Of these 17,000 are on islands in the Aegean sea. Europe cannot cope with all these migrants illegally making the crossing, much less during this pandemic. It has also unsettled the countries where migrants are settled on a humanitarian basis as there is at the same time serious neglect of poverty stricken communities inside Europe who are not getting the assistance they deserve. The result is even less focus on the development needs, on infrastructure, education and healthcare of the countries in Europe where migrants are headed, with the attention diverted to the migrants issue. Economic progress in Europe and rapid development could not only improve the condition of people in all communities, it could also help finance more foreign aid development project assistance to Africa and other countries. This would if vigorously done keep people in their home countries and help fulfill their development aspirations there, which is the better way.  Chancellor Merkel of Germany should have opted for a better way by setting up a program for aspiring migrants in the countries of Africa with a generous visa program offering training and technological skills, which could then be brought back to the country in Africa where it could generate jobs and opportunities with the necessary capital from European and other financial institutions and governments. This effort made in alliance with Britain and France could be powerful in its impact. Instead a haphazard three years of migration led to internal divisions, loss of confidence in the CDU and the SDP, FDP parties in coalitions, ending up where it should have started in the first place- reducing the migration to a trickle, returning some migrants back to their countries, and focussing on bringing economic assistance and development assistance to African countries for opportunities in these countries and a brighter future so that no one would want to leave and drift on oceans in tiny boats in the first place. The condition of the people in Africa is not so hopeless that the best they can do is to send their young people to drift on boats on the high seas in the hope of refugee status. China has shown that the there is a path from famine during the years following the Great Leap Forward to the development of today. India is doing that now and can repeat that story. Japan and South Korea, Taiwan have done this after devastating wars and out of nothing. Imagine what the world would be like if all these people in Asia set out on small boats for Europe.       ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Gerald Seib of the WSJ says president Biden is coming back with new actions to revive the Democratic agenda after a challenging period in the first year. Yesterday's first formal press conference of 2022 gave Biden an opportunity to respond. Why the WSJ, NYT, did not cover on their online edition front pages president Biden's first formal press conference on Jan. 19, after 1 year of the Biden administration, will remain a mystery. With the American press acting this way it did not take much for Germany's DW.com to run the story with the title "Biden's first year weighed down by disappointment," with a thoughtful Biden at the press conference replaced by a picture of Biden staring downwards.  This is only the first year of the Biden administration. Actions are planned to ease the supply chain situation and bottlenecks at ports. Much is made of inflation, Afghanistan, Ukraine, by Republicans assailing the Biden record. President Biden responded to this by asking at the press conference what Republicans are for. On Afghanistan Biden held firm on not investing billions of dollars every week when there is so much need in America and the rest of the world at this time of the pandemic after a failed adventure for 20 years in "a graveyard for empires."  Biden pointed to the bright spots in 2022- vaccination and testing achievements in the face of anti-vax sentiment with 200 million vaccinated, the job creation in the economy with unemployment way down and wage increases by employers, and the $1 trillion in infrastructure spending tackling much needed projects state by state with immediate impact. Rarely has a president faced so many challenges in the first year as Biden pointed out- vaccination drive in the face of the Delta variant and anti-vax sentiment, the Ukraine crisis with a president Truman period like event of the Berlin Wall coming up just potentially around the corner, and efforts to tackle problems left untackled for a generation in infrastructure, for working families and climate change. Scoring on infrastructure spending, one of the three, with the other two for working families and climate change to be tackled in the remaining three years and beyond.  Biden also told the American audience at the press conference that he was reminded of what his father used to tell him- that if all goals are equally important, nothing is important. In saying this he said help for working families through child tax credit, child care assistance, community college education funding, health care costs, climate change investment were priorities for his administration that would be tackled step by step. And he pointed out from the outset of the conference that only one or two senators were blocking the party's plan for children and working families. All 48 other senators were united in the Democratic party behind his plans for workers and families. As were 5 Republican senators who he said he would not disclose because of confidentiality. In that sense president Biden already has the majority he needs in Congress. This is not happening because of the peculiar situation of the 2016 and 2020 elections in the US and also in Europe- the historical problem of administrations of Democrats in US, Social Democrats in Germany, and Labor in Britain having give up on their working class families and middle class roots. Tech revolution and internet has further complicated the situation with economic changes, tech companies not paying taxes normally due, and tech workers shifting to Democrats yet living in a world distant from working class families fracturing social cohesion. This is changing in Germany with Scholz in Germany with the help of the Greens determined to restore the dignity of working class families, for Biden with a similar coalition, and a process underway in Britain as Labor returns to its roots. In essence Biden was saying- the process of unwinding decades of unwise policy that hurt America as a nation and leader of the free world would take time, requiring a patient step by step approach. To bring America closer to its own roots and Jefferson's immortal words of "all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, and among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." Jefferson went on to say in the Declaration that when government becomes destructive of these ends it is the Right of the People to alter it.   ...

LyrArc Article Gist
This Weekend Essay in The Times by Tom McTague looks at the European Union skepticism about the US after the failure of three administrations under Bush, Obama and Trump to extricate America from wars,  concentrate on building its infrastructure and manufacturing, renewing the lives of workers and families that were neglected. That skepticism came from administrations in Europe that also failed the Europeans in much the same way with the neglect of infrastructure, manufacturing, and little done for climate change under Schroeder and Merkel, Sarkozy, Hollande and Macron. The dependence on China for manufacturing and on Russia for energy for the EU and Britain made the situation even worse than in the US.  Al this has changed with the election of president Biden in the US, and Scholz with Habeck- Baerbock in Germany and with the recent elections in France upholding workers and families, acting on climate change. A false idea is presented about the Europe vs US and dominance as each is part of the free world alongside India, Australia, Japan, South east Asia, Latin America, French and English language Africa. This is why one has the G7 and G20 with countries like Argentina, Brazil and Indonesia critical parts of the free world. It is the ignorance of many officials in the EU more than the sentiments of the people of the free world in all these countries that leads to these false ideas about which country is dominant and skepticism - none are dominant it is through the unity of all and a shared vision in international rule of law, fairness, humility, respect for poorer nations. It is this that Kipling talked about in his poem "Intercessional," the lines repeatedly calling for the Lord's grace and for man to merit that grace with "a humble and contrite heart." It is also the spirit that so recently Mohandas Gandhi grasped and put forward for India and the world. Europeans talk about dominance- think about this for a moment, Gandhi merely asked for the right to move freely for Indians and Asians including Chinese at a meeting in 1908 where he gave a speech. The speech was on May 18, 1908, at the YMCA in Johannesburg and it debated the question "Are Asiatic and colored Races a Menace to the British Empire."  Not a word of ill will was uttered by Mohandas Gandhi even when talking about segregation in the speech. It is a humble and contrite heart that the Lord listens to. Both India and South Africa found a way out in a different way with faith in a higher authority, that even the British had not failed to address as Kipling clearly shows. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
After years of austerity policies from the Conservative Party, Britain is looking at new ideas to reorganize the economy and society. The 40% of the British vote taken by the Labour Party has given new impetus to think tanks looking at ways to reshape the British economy and society in coming decades. At issue are the effects of austerity in increasing poverty, rising inequality, and fewer protections for working class people.  The new think tanks include Common Wealth which aims at making changes to British business to provide more representation for labour and provide share of ownership to workers in an enterprise. Common Wealth came up with the ideas and policy for the Labour Party's plan to give 10% of ownership equity in large companies to worker owned funds. Mr McDonnell, chief economic policy maker of the Labour Party, has suggested a trial of a universal basic income, which has led to policy ideas and economic framework development from think tanks. A key idea is to frame how these new ideas can be implemented under a future Labour government, now that there is public disillusionment with the Tories under Theresa May.  ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Hitachi acquires British nuclear venture Horizon from Germany's RWE AG and E.ON AG for $1.12 billion. Hitachi plans to double its nuclear plant business in 10 years as it reduces its consumer product operations. The Horizon program is to build 4 to 6 new nuclear plants in Britain.

LyrArc Article Gist
A grass roots movement that is taking shape in the Social Democrats SPD party since 2018 that is likely to reshape the party around critical issues. A surge in memberships in the party is bringing more young people into the party. Many are joining to bring momentum like that of Jeremy Corbyn into the SPD. Jeremy Corbyn revived Labour by winning 40% of the vote in the 2017 election. He also won the leadership of the Labour party with the help of young people who became Labour party supporters by paying a small fee of $4.15. In 2015 these young activists took part in the leadership contest electing Corbyn. For the SPD the election results under a series of leaders are one long road downhill to support today at about 14%, a shocking figure for the party of Willy Brandt, a figure in the SPD from 1964 to 1987 of the stature of Konrad Adenauer who helped build a new post war Germany. There is no where to go but uphill and little to lose in shifting away from the coalition with the Christian Democrats which has hurt the SPD and the working class. Even a $14 minimum wage was rejected by the CDU in 2019 as the coalition begins to collapse and activists elect a new leader who like Corbyn for Labour in Britain can revive the SPD around critical issues and clear policy for ordinary working class Germans. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
It costs Israel about $200 million a day. Building repairs from buildings damaged by missiles might coast $400 million. A month of war could add up to $12 billion. Air defense systems cost $700,000 for incoming drones and missiles per interception for the David system. For the Arrow system it costs $4 million per interception for ballistic missiles. This is why the ballistic missiles and drones launched against Israel from sites in Iran are big hit first. It is also why US -Russia and relations are so important in any of these regional conflicts. As two technologically sophisticated military powers both need responsible behaviour to prevent conflicts involving nuclear weapns proliferation. In this sense the idea of western powers is a colonial period idea of the colonial powers Britain and France, that the US should be wary of accepting and the importance of western civilization that includes Russia as a reliable concept that maintains world peace and nuclear non proliferation. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
DJT says Iran does not want to talk to the Europeans, it wants to talk to the Americans. He says it is hard to stop the war when one side is winning. Russia and the US have better relations than under the Biden administration which is proving to be an important factor in this war. As it is about nuclear proliferation, not regional powers- the Israelis, the Saudis and the Iranians. Both Russia and the US are technologically sophisticated powers with different interests, they are world powers because they have first and foremost important responsibilities in nuclear non proliferation and the health of the planet. By allowing regional conflict in Eastern Europe to cloud this fact and not engage with Russia as a world power the US under Obama and Biden had failed to grasp a key principle of peaceful relations since World War II. We argue that "western powers" is a concept of colonial powers France and Britain, and western civilization is the reliable concept that includes Russia, and includes China and India that have embraced the creation of the modern world by western civilization. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
The local elections in Britain in 2019 show voter dissatisfaction with the mainparties. Both Conservatives and he Labour party each took 28% share of the vote. The big winners were the centrist Liberal Democrats with 19% of the vote. The Greens party also was a winner in the vote. About 8400 seats were up for election in this vote. Conservative party lost 1300 seats. The Labour Party disappointed because it was expected to win more seats as Conservatives did well in the last election in 2015, by winning 81 seats. The Liberal Dems and the Greens won 850 seats between them.  The stridently pro-Brexit Nigel Farage Independence Party did not put up candidates and a anti-Brexit party called ChangeUK also did not have candidates. Both will field candidates in the European elections causing the main parties to lose even more of their support that has dropped to 28%. This means Labour party leaders Corbyn and McDonnell might continue negotiations with Theresa May on Brexit plan. But as Rachel Sylvester reports in The Times today with May lacking support from her Conservative Party, her tenure as prime minister uncertain, there is little incentive for Labour leaders to go against the wishes of a majority of Labour MP's, voters, and members who are against Brexit. Corbyn also want to focus coming elections on austerity not Brexit. So this is not on Labour's agenda. Sylvester says a confirmatory referendum is looking like the only way out of the mess.    ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Some of the coverage such as this report in the WSJ looks at the empty stands and the loss of ticket sales, the strict rules that limited movement and the restrictions, seeing the Tokyo Olympics as a strange sporting event. Yet for the billions of viewers on television around the world the Olympics brought some relief and sense of exhilaration from the daily news of the delta variant and the pandemic. In many countries such as India, Britain, Canada, the US and Japan, viewers followed their favored athletes for 17 days. The Japanese government was able to pull this off precisely because they took the safe and tested route of empty stands and televised viewing around the world. This was also a needed precaution because of concern within Japan and fears of spread of the Delta variant.  The restrictions produced results- as 400 infections were confirmed for 190,000 people working at the games. Few clusters emerged from infection in the Olympic village as daily testing and rules for social distancing and hygiene were enforced for 11,000 events. Nine out of ten Japanese watched Japan win 58 gold medals including 9 in judo alone. In terms of grit and resilience, and keeping a glimmer of hope and revival during the pandemic, yet not letting its guard down even for a bit, accepting moments of doubt at times, Japan has shown the way when things are tough.    ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Extraordinary pictures taken by a photographer from Edinburgh who left Britain for Singapore and Far East in 1862 at the age of 25 years. He had worked as an apprentice with an optical manufacturer and learned photography. What is astounding is that this was the time when Japan was opening up to the ideas and technology from Europe with the Meiji restoration around 1871, China in transition under the Manchu dynasty which was to collapse in 1912 ending the monarchy. A major rebellion happened with the Taiping rebellion in southern China in 1854 that lasted till 1862. The Taiping rebellion was against the Manchu dynasty as a foreign dynasty imposed on Han people in China, and the result of famines, difficult conditions for peasants, opium addiction, poor economic prospects for a large population. Mao considered the Taiping rebellion as an unfinished revolution which the Communists continued this time against other foreign rulers the Japanese and European colonies in China,  and the Nationalist rule of Chinag-kai-Shek with corruption and wide disparities of incomes. John Thomson took pictures of China in the 1870's, now in the Wellcome collection and displayed in an exhibition at Heriot Watt University in Britain. Women and children in Guangdong, Canton and Beijing are shown in these pictures of China. Between 1872 and 1942 is a period of only 70 years with tumultuous events and huge changes in China. By 1944-1949 Communists controlled vast parts of China with Mao's forming of the People's Republic of China for the Chinese people, free of foreign influence, corruption, and opium trade of the British. And again 40 years later by 1989 China using a market economy to change China into a modern nation as advanced as Japan, Europe and America. For India the new People's Republic of China under Mao also brought the PLA army to the borders of India. In 1950 China invaded Tibet at Chamdo, and in 1951 annexed the country under a 15 Point Agreement making it a region of China. With that invasion India and China face each other for the first time in the Himalayas across a border stretching east to west for thousands of miles. A war in 1962 was followed by incursions across the border in 2020 in the Ladakh region. Both sides build infrastructure on either side of the Line of Control that stretches for 3500 kilometres. Most of the Indian people remain ignorant of the changes happening in China from the Manchus to the Communists. Most Chinese have little knowledge of the changes happening in India from British period to the post independence period under Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi , and further to the changes for modernization happening under Mr. Modi. Large populations of over 1 billion people facing each other but knowing little about each other in one of the strange situations in the world, and armies building infrastructure on either side of the line of control. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Friedman says the fairly obvious that Democrats in the US and Social Democrats in Europe readily grasp. That unrestricted immigration on the southern border in the US or in the southern border of Europe actually does little to improve the situation for people in the US and Europe or the people in the countries migrants are leaving because of unsettled conditions. Germany has shifted to a policy of becoming involved in development in Africa. Japan's International Cooperation Agency has worked for many years in African countries. The US has its own efforts to assist Mexico through trade and manufacturing. It is working with Central American countries that are a major source of migrants on the southern border at different times. Mette Frederiksen, head of the Danish Social Democrats government, has put it very well when she said that the only people who are getting hurt by open border policies are the working class families in Denmark. This is true also of other parts of the EU and the US. Simply by letting in migrants, a policy that is harmful to workers and families. Conservatives are looking to make political gains and further their own interests, indifferent to social divisions and increasing lack of upward mobility in society. Immigration has become the tool for many of the conservative parties that have used it in ways harmful to interests of workers and families, in Britain, in the US, and in the EU. One has only to see the large delegation that Mette Frederiksen led to India for discussions with prime minister Modi, the economic ministries, and business, to see how she did the right thing on a huge scale. Denmark is the world leader in logistics with Maersk, and in renewable energy. Denmark and the Nordic countries are working closely with a country of 1.4 billion people to improve the logistics to make India comparable to China in manufacturing for export. And similarly in renewable energy technologies. The Nordic countries and the EU have simply by these actions done more to uplift hundreds of millions of people in Asia than anything that ever happened in the history of the world. And the US is also working with India in the same way. India acts as a stable source of growth and model for a whole stretch of Asia from Indonesia to Vietnam. The population lifted out of poverty - 2 billion people. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
The European Union's Advocate General says he wants to open a third way so that MP's who support Britain remaining in the EU in the face of unsatisfactory Brexit can do so. This is legal advice usually followed by the European Court of Justice so that litigants who are MP's favoring Remain to unilaterally revoke the notification of the intention to withdraw. Prime Minister May is expected to put her EU agreement for vote in parliament in a week.

LyrArc Article Gist
XI Jinping tells China's National People's Congress that "western nations- including the US- have implemented all round containment, encirclement and suppression against us, bringing unprecedentedly severe challenges to development." Addressing the private sector Chamber of Commerce representatives which create significant number of jobs in China he said the Communist Party "has always regarded private enterprises and private entrepreneurs as our own people, and will always support them whenever they run into difficulties." Job creation in China is a challenge with high youth unemployment estimated at about 20%. The pandemic worsened the situation for state finances and for unemployment for migrants, the construction slowdown has added to this. The burden of trillions of dollars of local government debt increased during the pandemic with the central government lacking the resources to help, creating problems in the local economies.  This WSJ report says Xi's speech seeks to present his government's performance in the light of these challenges and future challenges as growth slows in China. The trading relationship with US-EU added to employment and income problems for China's economy and people, yet it had one weakness an over concentration in manufacturing in one country that European and US business placed in one country. The building of a  new supply chain that creates manufacturing in other countries to reduce this concentration, and the limits placed on access to western technologies by China to protect US-EU in competition, places new development challenges for China, which Xi alludes to. In the past China was able to use huge stimulus to tackle its debt by creating more growth that supported this debt creation. The pandemic may finally have reversed this as trillions of dollars of debt have built up, and construction of homes and infrastructure has reached a saturation point. This is the kind of situation that Japan entered in the 1990's after three decades of torrid growth and development rates. History is being repeated as China like Japan is entering a new phase of an aging society. In this sense the challenges China is facing are very different from that of Russia. Creating jobs is a perennial problem in India and China with their large populations and rising aspirations of people after centuries of underdevelopment, something that Europe including Russia does not face in anywhere to a similar degree. in this sense there is more in common between the EU and Russia even when they are in a war, than Russia and China, and China has more in common with India. The struggle in Europe as Cambridge historian Brendan Simms has pointed out in his History of Europe, is more about the balance of power which is the story of European history since the 1450's where no one country has been allowed to act with impunity in invading its neighbors and other countries formed a concerted group to prevent this. Be it France, Austria, Britain or Russia that acted seemingly with impunity. China has little to do with it or Europe's history. President Biden is right to say that the US only competes with China in the economic and business fields, and seeks to find common ground on climate change and food insecurity. The US has supported China throughout the twentieth century since the time of Woodrow Wilson in 1913, around the period when Tsinghua University was established with US help. The US helped China during the Japanese invasion and the Cold War period ended with renewed relations.  ...

LyrArc Article Gist
An alarming rise in mental health condition about 50% higher than before the pandemic is causing a surge in UK Disability Benefit costs. Wes Streeting, Secretary of Health and Social Care says there is overtreatment for mental health in hospitals and clinics. An overmedicalizing of everyday problems, is how The Times describes it. Streeting says- “Definitely … over diagnosis” and people being described as mental health patients when benefit can be gained from training in “resilience and coping skills”. UK Disability sickness benefits jumped from 46 billion pounds to 65 billion in five years from 2019 to 2025. By 2030 it could reach 100 billion pounds. Labour's reforms intend to tackle this with savings of 5 billion pounds setting a new direction for Disability benefits. Already there are 1 million more claimants than in 2019 in Britain. There are 3.3 million claimants in 2025, projected to go up to 4 million in 2027. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Britain's campaign finance laws limit each party to spending $29.5 million for the year before the election. British elections are determined by the results in 650 local constituencies, under a parliamentary system, making campaigning local. There too the laws are strict. Candidates for a parliamentary constituency have a limit of $60,000 for spending for the 5 months before the election, plus additional amounts depending on the number of voters and if it is rural or urban. Britain bans election advertising on commercial television and radio. Parties are provided pre-election broadcasts shown on commercial television and by the British Broadcasting Corporation. This stands in obvious contrast to the U.S. where an estimated $10 billion will be spent on the 2016 presidential election. Candidates spend as much time raising money as they do getting across their election message in the U.S. Britain also disproves the popular idea that election campaign spending inevitably moves in an upward trajectory. British researchers estimate the cost of the 1880 campaign to be 100 million pounds in 2002 prices, and the election spending in the 2010 British general election of 45.5 million pounds coming to less than half that....

LyrArc Article Gist
Britain's former prime minister David Cameron who said after resigning that he would continue as constituency Member of Parliament, says he will stop representing his constituency in the county of Oxfordshire. The decision comes early compared to previous prime ministers. Cameron says he does not want to continue because of the "risk of becoming a diversion." Critics say Cameron was reckless when he called for the referendum that led to the "yes" vote on Brexit with 52% support, leaving Theresa May with the daunting job of negotiating Brexit throughout the remainder of the term as prime minister.

LyrArc Article Gist
Arrests were made in a UK police inquiry including the Treasurer of the SNP, into handling of over 600,000 pounds in donations for a second independence referendum used for running costs instead, say this report in The Guardian. This Guardian report by Libby Brooks shows outwardly successful the Scottish National Party was behind the scenes chaotic, according to members who are frustrated at what has happened since 2014. A big influx of Yes voting members changed the party after 2014, and unable to cope it simply continued to function without modernizing its mechanisms for the last decade. Another problem appeared to be that power was concentrated in the husband and wife couple of Murrell the party's former chief executive who helped the party's electoral prospects, and Sturgeon as deputy leader. For much of the time party insiders say loyalty to Sturgeon after she headed the government, meant there was no effort to modernize the party with the growth in membership, and no serious discussion about this. Stuff got steamrollered. One insider says party leaders were inexperienced in handling a party of this size and did not realize that these problems would build up. It also reflects the support given to challenger Kate Forbes for the leadership election. What it means for Britain is that Labour and the Conservatives can count on Scotland, formerly a base for Labour, to give the leading British parties a decent chance in the next election on cost of living and public services issues. Issues that are uppermost in the minds of people in Scotland, to gain an overall parliamentary majority to tackle the issues of health, education, public services and climate change after the pandemic. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Ian Jack asks if Johnson's Conservative party can deliver for Britain, can deliver for women, can deliver for climate change, can deliver for health, education and infrastructure, can deliver dignity for workers, deliver for families and children, by looking at the roots of one of its leaders. He looks at Jacob-Rees Mogg and how he sees himself in the bewildering mix of English social classes in St Pancras neighborhood of London where he comes from.

LyrArc Article Gist
This report in DW.com says Lufthansa will gain many of the routes used by Air Berlin. Air Berlin lost 750 million dollars in 2016 and was declared insolvent. The German market has several hubs unlike France and Britain and it is not yet clear how Lufthansa will expand to adopt some of Air Berlin's routes.