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pcinews_twt SEPTEMBER 2, 2022 www.canadianinquirer.net VOL. 8 NO. 505

‘BER’ MONTHS BEGIN

A vendor arranges Christmas trees sold at a stall along Dapitan Street in Quezon City, ahead of the start of the ‘ber months’ on Wednesday (Aug. 31, 2022). The Philippines has the longest Christ-
mas season in the world, with preparations and celebrations starting as early as September.
ALFRED FRIAS / PNA

Hontiveros seeks 25

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sexual harassment cases Want to get more women to
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Office of Senator Risa Hontiveros
Senator Risa Hontiveros has filed a
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In Proposed Senate Resolution No.
168, Hontiveros, the principal author of
the Safe Spaces Act, cited incidents of
harassment and abuse involving teach-
ers at Bacoor National High School in
Cavite, St. Theresa’s College in Quezon
❱❱ PAGE 6 Hontiveros seeks inquiry
29
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2 SEPTEMBER 2, 2022 FRIDAY
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2022
PBBM to review import Palace orders
plan for 150K MT of sugar probe into
BY RUTH ABBEY GITA-
CARLOS
Philippine News Agency
release of fake
BI appointment
MANILA – The plan to im-
port around 150,000 metric tons
(MT) of sugar will still be subject
to review by President Ferdi-
nand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.,
Malacañang said on Tuesday.
In a press conference, Press
Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles
said Marcos has yet to receive
a copy of the sugar import plan.
“He (Marcos) will review the
[proposed sugar] order prior to
signing,” Cruz-Angeles said.
Marcos, in his recent vlog, an-
nounced that the government is
eyeing to import 150,000 MT of
sugar, if the country’s supply
dwindles by October:
The Sugar Regulatory Ad-
ministration (SRA) is eyeing
the issuance of an order allow-
ing the importation of 150,000
MT of sugar by middle of Sep-
tember, the sugar body’s acting
administrator John David Alba
said on Aug. 25.
LTFRB eyes immediate
release of PUV fare hike
resolution
BY RAYMOND CARL DELA
CRUZ
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The Land Trans-
portation Franchising and Regu-
latory Board (LTFRB) is expect-
ing to release its resolution on
the requested fare hike on public
utility vehicles (PUV) soon.
In a statement on Tuesday,
LTFRB Chair Cheloy Garafil
said the agency is awaiting the
position paper of public utility
jeepney (PUJ) operator groups.
The deadline for the position
paper is on Saturday.
“Hinihintay ng ahensya ang
position paper ng PUJ groups
upang masimulan nang mapag-
desisyunan ang kanilang peti-
syon (The agency is just waiting
(BONGBONG MARCOS/FACEBOOK)
The importation order, Alba
said, would help stabilize the
prices of sugar in the market.
Quizzed if the proposed quan-
tity might be altered, Cruz-An-
geles said: “Parati naman po
itong nire-review. Kung ano ang
naangkop na amount, ‘yun ang
gagawing quota ng importation
(It is always under review. The
proper amount for the import
quota will be determined).”
Marcos earlier rejected the
proposal to import 300,000 MT
of sugar, despite the spike in
for the position paper of the
PUJ groups so we can begin
making a decision on their peti-
tion),” Garafil said.
The groups are seeking a
PHP5 to a PHP6 fare hike.
To date, Garafil said the Na-
tional Economic and Develop-
ment Authority (NEDA) has
submitted a position paper on
the matter to the LTFRB.
She acknowledged the need
for a fare hike but noted that
LTFRB Memorandum Circular
2019-035, which outlines the for-
mula for a fare adjustment, could
not be used due to the challenges
brought by the pandemic.
“Bagamat kailangang magta-
as ng pamasahe, kailangan ding
pag-aralan ang magiging epekto
ng taas-pasahe sa ekonomiya
at sa purchasing power ng mga
prices of the basic commodity
because of supply constraints.
Despite his disapproval, the
SRA earlier issued Sugar Order
(SO) 4 allowing the importation
of 300,000 MT of sugar.
The issuance of SO 4 was
called “illegal” by Malacañang.
Authorities, upon Marcos’ or-
der, have been conducting sur-
prise visits to Customs-bonded
sugar warehouses in the coun-
try to determine whether the
supposed shortage of the com-
modity’s supply is artificial. ■
pasahero oras na madagdagan
ang minimum fare sa PUJ (De-
spite the need for a fare hike, we
also need to study its effects on
the economy and the passen-
gers’ purchasing power once
the minimum fare for PUJs in-
creases),” she said.
She assured PUV drivers and
operators that the LTFRB con-
tinues to study and work on
how to improve their welfare,
their passengers, and the devel-
opment of the country’s public
transport.
In June, the LTFRB approved
the temporary increase in the
minimum fare of several PUVs
in response to the continued
rise in fuel prices.
The minimum fare was raised
to PHP11 for traditional PUJs
and PHP13 for modern PUJs. ■
www.canadianinquirer.net
Philippine News
BY AZER PARROCHA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – Malacañang on
Tuesday ordered the National
Bureau of Investigation (NBI)
and Philippine National Police
(PNP) to investigate the release
of a “fake” document supposed-
ly announcing the appointment
of a new commissioner of the
Bureau of Immigration (BI).
The Palace earlier said no
document for the said position
has been issued by the Presi-
dential Management Staff, Of-
fice of the Executive Secretary,
or the Office of the President.
“Nag-utos [ang Palasyo] ng
imbestigasyon sa NBI and PNP
through their respective sec-
retaries, [Justice] Secretary
[Jesus Crispin] Remulla and
[Interior Secretary] Benhur
Abalos,” Press Secretary Trixie
Cruz-Angeles announced in a
Palace press briefing.
The NBI is a line agency
of the Department of Justice
while the PNP is an agency un-
der the Department of the Inte-
rior and Local Government.
Cruz-Angeles said those
found to have forged the great
seal of government, signature
and stamp of the president in the
fake document could be punish-
able with reclusion temporal, or
between 12 to 20 years in prison.
She said President Ferdinand
“Bongbong” Marcos Jr. called
for the probe over concerns
that the forging his signature
could cause instability and lead
to further crimes.
“Hindi rin natin alam kung
ano ang maaaring paggamitan
ng mga ganung klaseng doku-
mento. It can cause not just
confusion but further crimes.
Kung kaya’t with this in mind
nag-order siya ng investigation
(We also do not know what such
documents can be used for. It
can cause not just confusion
but other crimes. So with this in
mind he ordered an investiga-
tion),” she said.
Cruz-Angeles said it is too
3
early to point fingers at any par-
ties pending investigation.
“Wala po tayong pini-pre-
sume sa ngayon. Titignan po
muna natin yung magiging re-
sulta, at least preliminarily dun
sa imbestigasyon. Hindi natin
maaaring sabihin na meron na
tayong pinupunterya na tao.
Tignan natin yung ebidensya
(We are not presuming any-
thing right now. Let’s see the
result first, at least prelimi-
narily in the investigation. We
can’t say that we have someone
to target. Let’s look at the evi-
dence),” she added.
She the President has not set
a timeline to release results of
the probe.
‘Unique position’
Meanwhile, she said media
outlets which published the re-
port are in a “unique position”
to give information about the
source of the fake document.
“Wini-welcome natin ang
kahit na anong impormasyon
tungkol sa pag-prosecute sa
kaso na ito kung susuportah-
an ito ng ebidensya through
the investigation (We welcome
any information regarding the
prosecution of this case if ev-
idence supports it),” she said,
clarifying that the Palace is not
trying to “scare” journalists,
but give them an opportunity to
cooperate in the probe.
She said reporters and media
outlets will also be held liable if
they “knowingly” published a
forged document.
“Para magkaroon ng liability
at that end kailangan muna na-
tin ma-determine yung validity
ng dokumento, yung paggamit
nito, sinong gumawa ano yung
ends and so on. Unlikely po un-
less merong conspiracy o alam
nila na ang ginagamit nila ay
isang falsified or forged na doc-
ument (To have liability at that
end, we must first determine
the validity of the document,
its use, who made them and so
on. Unless there is a conspira-
cy or they know that what they
are using is a falsified or forged
document),” she added. ■
4 Philippine News
DOJ seeks data on online channel
linked to child pornography
BY BENJAMIN PULTA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The Philippine
National Police (PNP) Anti-Cy-
bercrime Group, Women and
Children Cybercrime Protec-
tion Unit has forwarded to the
Department of Justice (DOJ)
two Warrants to Disclose Com-
puter Data (WDCD) for social
media giants Facebook and
Youtube to compel a local chan-
nel that reportedly runs pedo-
philic videos.
State Counsel Gerald Vin-
cent Sosa of the DOJ - Office of
Cybercrime told reporters in
a text message that “Usapang
Diskarte” must disclose infor-
DOST, DENR’s turn to SoKor to provide
present priority programs marine litter-
in Cabinet meeting collecting ship
BY AZER PARROCHA
Philippine News Agency to PH
MANILA – The Departments
of Science and Technology
(DOST) and Environment and
Natural Resources (DENR)
presented their priority pro-
grams in the 6th Cabinet meet-
ing presided over by President
Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos
Jr. on Tuesday.
In a Palace press brief-
ing, Press Secretary Trixie
Cruz-Angeles said Marcos and
top officials of the DOST and
DENR tackled various efforts to
lead the country’s scientific and
technological efforts as well as
converse, manage, develop, and
properly use the country’s envi-
ronment and natural resources.
“Sa DOST, ang kanilang mga
priyoridad ay (In the DOST, their
priorities are) creation of technol-
ogy-based enterprises, jobs for re-
gional development; food security
and resilience; health security;
water security and environmental
protection; and energy,” she said.
“Ang mga nasa plano ng ating
DENR ay (In the plans of the
DENR are) enhancement of
mation on the strength of the
WDCD.
“Nasa process ng serving ng
cybercrime warrant ‘yung of-
fice namin bilang central au-
thority in all matters relating to
international cooperation and
extradition and relating to cy-
bercrime and cyber-related of-
fenses. Kami ang nagse-serve sa
mga foreign company ng ating
warrant (We are in the pro-
cess of serving the cybercrime
warrant, being the central au-
thority in all matters relating
to international cooperation
and extradition and relating to
cybercrime and cyber-related
offenses. We serve the warrants
to foreign companies),” he said.
As a matter of procedure, the
the natural capital accounting
system including the valuation
of ecosystem services; budget
realignment and strategic col-
laboration with other NGAs [na-
tional government agencies],
LGUs [local government units],
private sector, academe, and
other stakeholders; bolstering
science and technology in envi-
ronmental and natural resources
management (e.g. Balik Scientist
Program); improvement of sen-
sor networks and analytics; and
promoting green and blue jobs
in environmental and natural re-
source management,” she added.
The DOST is currently head-
President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr. oversees the Cabinet meeting that discuss-
es priority programs of the DOST and the DENR. (OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT/FACEBOOK)
DOJ said the PNP and other law
enforcement agencies do not di-
rectly go to the social media com-
panies to serve the warrants.
“Ang ginagawa nila du-
madaan sa office namin and
kami ‘yung nagse-serve kay
Facebook or kay YouTube
(They approach our office and
we serve the warrant to Face-
book or Youtube),” he added.
Sosa said Facebook and other
social media platforms have law
enforcement portals where the
law enforcement agencies’ re-
quests are coursed through.
He said, thus far, social media
companies are cooperative, espe-
cially in cases involving children.
“Very compliant naman sila,
especially sa case natin ngay-
ed by Secretary Renato Solidum
Jr., while the DENR is led by
Secretary Maria Antonia Yu-
lo-Loyzaga.
Solidum earlier said he will
prioritize job creation, and use of
science, technology and innova-
tion (STI) to address various con-
cerns that the country is facing.
In July, Marcos met with
Yulo-Loyzaga to discuss initia-
tives aimed at protecting the
environment.
Marcos and Yulo-Loyzaga
touched on “environmental
protection efforts that would
❱❱ PAGE 7 DOST, DENR’s turn
www.canadianinquirer.net
on, which is child grooming or
violation ng child pornography
(They are very compliant, es-
pecially in our present cases in-
volving child grooming or por-
BY JOYCE ANN L.
ROCAMORA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The South Korean
government is providing a ma-
rine litter-collecting vessel to the
Philippines to support the coun-
try’s ocean protection efforts, a
ranking diplomat said Tuesday.
In a statement, Korean Em-
bassy Consul General Lee Kyoo
Ho said Korea is committed to
strengthening its bilateral part-
nership with the Philippines in
achieving clean and sustainable
oceans by combatting marine
plastic pollution.
Through the Korea Inter-
national Cooperation Agency
(KOICA), Seoul will extend a
USD7.7 million official devel-
opment assistance that would
also include the establishment
of a marine litter monitoring
system and training for officials
of the Department of Environ-
ment and Natural Resources
and the Philippine Coast Guard.
“This year, KOICA targets (to
SEPTEMBER 2, 2022 FRIDAY
nography),” Sosa said.
Among the posts in the “Usapa-
ng Diskarte” channel are tips on
how older men could lure minors
into having sexual relations. ■
complete) designing the vessel,”
Lee said. “This project is sched-
uled to be implemented from
2021 to 2025. But due to the pan-
demic, it has been delayed a bit.”
The vessel would be sta-
tioned in Manila Bay once com-
pleted, the diplomat shared.
The Korea Export-Import
Bank (KEXIM) also pledged to
finance a USD105 million mar-
itime safety project in the prov-
inces of Romblon and Cebu in
partnership with the Depart-
ment of Transportation.
Through this project, two
buoy bases will be constructed
and capacity-building programs
for AtoN (Aids to Navigation)
services would be provided.
“Ultimately, this project aims at
reducing risks of marine accidents
and by doing so, contributing to
protecting marine environment,”
the embassy said in a separate
statement. “Korea will remain
committed to supporting the Phil-
ippines’ initiative to promote and
advance regional cooperation to
keep our seas and oceans clean,
healthy, and sustainable.” ■
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2022 5

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 6 Philippine News
Nothing irregular with unprogrammed
funds in 2023 budget: DBM
BY RUTH ABBEY GITA-
CARLOS
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – There are no ir-
regularities in the PHP588.1
billion in unprogrammed
funds included in the proposed
PHPP5.268-trillion national
budget for 2023, the Department
of Budget and Management
(DBM) said on Wednesday.
In a press conference, Budget
Secretary Amenah Panganda-
man explained that the unpro-
grammed funds were “actually
itemized,” explaining that the
money can be used for “emer-
gency” situations.
“Ang mga proyekto po na
nilalagay natin dito, ito po ‘yung
mga proyektong hindi pa po na-
tin alam ang mangyayari, kat-
ulad po noong nagkaroon tayo
ng pandemic (The projects in-
cluded [in the unprogrammed
appropriations] are those we do
not expect to be implemented,
just like those projects that we
had at the height of the pan-
demic),” Pangandaman said.
This, after some lawmakers
asked the DBM to explain the
PHP588.1 billion in unpro-
grammed appropriations un-
der the proposed 2023 national
budget.
Hontiveros seeks inquiry...
❰❰ 1 City, and the Philip-
pine High School for
the Arts in Los Banos.
“Sigurado na hindi lang ang
mga paaralang ito ang may mga
kaso ng karahasan, pang-aabu-
so, at harassment. Often, vic-
tim-survivors do not report be-
cause their abusers are persons
of authority. How many more
of our students are suffering in
silence? Hindi pwedeng hayaan
lang natin ito,” Hontiveros said.
The senator previously filed
Proposed Senate Resolution No.
26, urging the Senate to probe
the reported culture of abuse,
harassment, and violence at the
Philippine High School for the
Arts (PHSA). The resolution was
filed after a Vice World News
report revealed that PHSA stu-
dents have experienced harrow-
ing forms of harassment and
abuse committed by teachers,
‘Standby appropriations’
The DBM, in a separate state-
ment, said the unprogrammed
funds are “standby appropri-
ations” that will be used for
“some unexpected expenses;
additional support for infra-
structure projects and social
programs; support to FAPs (for-
eign-assisted projects), [and
other programs such as] last
mile schools program, procure-
ment of vaccines and risk- man-
agement program.”
“The Department of Budget
and Management stands firm
on its position of having no ir-
regularities in allocating un-
programmed funds under the
2023 [proposed] National Ex-
penditure Program (NEP), as it
is ready to defend the proposed
budget with the start of the
marathon of budget delibera-
tions,” it said.
Pangandaman and her office
also provided a breakdown of
the proposed unprogrammed
appropriations under the pro-
posed 2023 NEP.
Of the PHP588.1 billion,
around PHP149.6 billion will be
used to support infrastructure
projects and social programs,
including the vaccine procure-
ment worth PHP22 billion.
Around PHP5 billion will go to
the Armed Forces of the Philip-
non-teaching staff, and students.
“The issues in both resolutions
will be tackled in the hearing
next week, in time for the open-
ing of face-to-face classes. Hindi
pwedeng hindi ito matugunan
habang papasok na ang ating mga
anak sa eskwela. Schools should
remain as safe havens for stu-
dents,” Hontiveros said.
PSR No. 168 additionally de-
tailed the evidence shared online
by survivors from Bacoor Nation-
al High School, including messag-
es of married teachers pestering
their students into illegal and im-
moral relationships despite the
clear, explicit, and unmistakable
refusal by the students.
Hontiveros also emphasized
that the Safe Spaces Act man-
dates all schools, whether pub-
lic or private, to publish griev-
ance procedures and to assign
an officer-in-charge who can
pines’ Modernization Program;
PHP20.6 billion for budgetary
support to government-owned
or -controlled corporations;
PHP1 billion for the Risk Man-
agement Program; and PHP2
billion for payment of arrears of
Land Transportation Office - In-
formation Technology’s Service.
Under the unprogrammed
appropriations, about
PHP210.5 million will also be
allocated for the refund of the
service development fee for the
right to develop the Nampeidai
Property in Tokyo, Japan.
Around PHP380 billion
will also be earmarked to sup-
port foreign-assisted projects,
the DBM noted, adding that
PHP378.2 billion of which will
be given to the Department of
Transportation (DOTr) while
the remaining PHP2.2 billion
will go to the Department of So-
cial Welfare and Development.
The DBM said some PHP10
billion of the unprogrammed
funds will be allocated for the
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
(BSP) Equity Infusion pursuant
to Republic Acct 11211; PHP18.9
billion for public health emer-
gency benefits and allowances
for health and non-health care
workers; and PHP14 million for
Prior Years’ local government
units (LGU) Shares.
receive complaints regarding
violations of the Act.
“Do our schools follow the
law? Sexual harassment cas-
es brought up to education-
al institutions’ notice must
be resolved in a transparent,
Senator Risa Hontiveros (ALBERT CALVELO/SENATE PRIB VIA SENATE OF THE PHILIP-
PINES/FACEBOOK)
www.canadianinquirer.net
“The [unprogrammed appro-
priation] came into being more
than four decades ago, and was
accepted by subsequent admin-
istrations. It is a form of stand-
by appropriations, meaning if
at any given point when excess
revenues are not generated,
and an item of appropriations
is found to be deficient or even
non-existent, then unpro-
grammed appropriation will be
triggered,” the DBM said.
Only PHP200-B ‘consid-
ered unprogrammed’
The DBM said only PHP200
billion or 4 percent of the
PHP588.1 billion will be “con-
sidered unprogrammed,” since
PHP378.2 billion of the total
unprogrammed appropriations
(AUs) will be allocated for DO-
Tr’s loan proceeds requirements
“Hence, the DBM contends
that if there is going to be an
analysis on whether it exceed-
ed the ideal percentage of UA
against the national budget, it
should be based on the PHP200
billion unprogrammed ap-
propriation, and not with
the PHP378.2 billion unpro-
grammed appropriation cor-
responding to loan proceeds of
DOTr,” it said.
“Thus, should this be removed,
only approximately PHP200 bil-
lion, or 4 percent, is considered
pro-active, and timely manner
in order to ensure the swift de-
livery of justice. Tila nagiging
last resort ng mga estudyante
ang pagrereport sa social me-
dia ng kanilang karanasan dahil
baka hindi sila pinapakinggan
SEPTEMBER 2, 2022 FRIDAY
unprogrammed, which will be
triggered for release only upon
the generation of additional rev-
enues,” the DBM added.
The DBM explained that
the DOTr’s loan proceeds
were transferred to the unpro-
grammed appropriation “due to
their history of low absorptive
capacity insofar as loan pro-
ceeds is concerned.”
Wisdom of unprogrammed
appropriations
The DBM said it is “ready
to provide details and open to
Congress” the wisdom to allo-
cate specific programs and proj-
ects under the unprogrammed
appropriations.
It gave the assurance, as it ac-
knowledged that there were cer-
tain instances when the proposed
budget in the past did not have un-
programmed appropriation.
“This is due to the logic that
when budget is effectively in-
creasing, there should not be an
unprogrammed appropriation.
But in our country where we
have calamities we do not ex-
pect or activities we do not even
anticipate but necessitates us
to provide services to our peo-
ple, the unprogrammed appro-
priation is an available resource
cover that will trigger addition-
al amounts for the national gov-
ernment,” the DBM said. ■
o sineseryoso sa kanilang mga
paaralan,” Hontiveros said.
The senator then stressed that
“teachers and perpetrators who
harass students have no business
remaining in schools in the com-
pany of young students and must
be made to answer for the conse-
quences of their actions.”
“I take exception to state-
ments made by school ad-
ministrators who prioritize
saving face instead of prompt
and transparent case resolu-
tions. Nagbabalik-eskwela na
ang ating mga bata. Please be
reminded na may responsibi-
lidad kayo sa mga estudyante.
May obligasyon kayo na pana-
tilihin silang ligtas at malayo
sa panganib. Tungkulin ninyo
na protektahan ang kapanan ng
bawat mag-aaral. We cannot ac-
cept anything less,” Hontiveros
concluded. ■
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2022
CA confirms Lagdameo as Districts to get up
UN rep, Romualdez as to P50-M disaster
ambassador to US funds each from
PAGCOR
BY WILNARD BACELONIA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The Commission
on Appointments (CA) con-
firmed on Wednesday the nomi-
nations of Jose Manuel “Babes”
Romualdez as Philippine Am-
bassador to the United States
and Antonio Manuel Lagdameo
as permanent representative of
the Philippines to the United
Nations in New York.
Lagdameo, who is the father
of former Davao del Norte rep-
resentative and now Special As-
sistant to the President Anton
Lagdameo, recalled that he had
been facing the CA to be con-
firmed for all of his international
DA pushes for P100-M
fund to boost salt industry,
increase jobs
BY STEPHANIE
SEVILLANO, WILNARD
BACELONIA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The Department
of Agriculture - Bureau of Fish-
eries and Aquatic Resources
(DA-BFAR) said Tuesday it is
pushing for a PHP100-million
fund allocation to further boost
the country’s salt industry.
At the Laging Handa public
briefing, BFAR Chief Informa-
tion Officer Nazzer Briguera said
this target would help increase
job opportunities in the country.
“Ilalaan po ang pondong ito
para sa pagpapalakas ng kapa-
sidad ng ating mga salt makers
dito sa bansa. Nandiyan po ang
pagbibigay sa kanila ng maka-
bagong teknolohiya, makaba-
gong kagamitan at kaalaman po
para masiguro din iyong aspeto
ng food safety dito sa ating asin
dahil ito po ay bahagi ng ating
pagkain (This fund will be allo-
cated for the strengthening of
assignments in the last 15 years.
“It is always a distinct pleasure
and honor to be able to face all of
you and to at least show that we
are still willing to serve and help
our country in whatever way we
can,” he told the CA Committee
on Foreign Affairs chaired by
Senator Jinggoy Estrada.
Prior to his appointment,
Lagdameo served as the coun-
try’s ambassador to the United
Kingdom.
Meanwhile, Romualdez gave
credit to former President Ro-
drigo Duterte for the Philip-
pines and US relationship that
is “best right now”.
He also emphasized Presi-
dent Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.’s
agenda to strengthen economic
salt makers in the country. This
includes providing them with
innovative technologies, mod-
ern equipment, and training to
ensure food safety because salt
is part of our diet),” he said.
Briguera noted that this is
part of the agricultural agenda
of President and Agriculture
Secretary Ferdinand Marcos
Jr., hence, the assurance that
programs under the targeted al-
located fund shall be sustained.
“Ito po’y lilikha ng mas maram-
ing trabaho. Ibig sabihin po nito
mas aangat ang kabuhayan ng mga
sektor na nasa industriya po ng
pag-aasin. Ito po sa pangkalaha-
tan ang nakikita natin na magig-
ing resulta sa tuluy-tuloy na pag-
bibigay-pansin ng pamahalaan sa
industriyang ito (This will create
more jobs, meaning the business-
es of those in the salt industry will
definitely improve. This will be the
overall result of the continuous at-
tention given by the government
to this industry),” he added.
The BFAR noted that it is
high time to give focus to the
relations with the US.
“He believes that the econ-
omy of the world is at stake,
especially after this pandemic.
We all need to recover from it
and I think the global econo-
my is very important. And the
United States will be able to
play a major role, especially in
our economic ties,” Romualdez
told the CA.
Romualdez has been serving
as the Philippine ambassador
to the US since 2017.
On the other hand, the delib-
eration for the confirmation of
Department of Foreign Affairs
Secretary Luis Enrique Manalo
was deferred by the CA due to
time constraints. ■
salt industry as it has not been
prioritized for a long time.
Briguera cited data, although
“still subject for verification”, show-
ing that 93 percent of the Philip-
pines’ salt supply is imported.
“Dahil po sa sitwasyon na ito,
nakita ng Department of Agri-
culture na kailangang magbigay
ng sapat na atensiyon para po
sa industriyang ito nang sa gay-
on ay magkaroon po tayo ng
self-sufficiency pagdating po
sa asin at hindi po tayo aasa sa
pag-angkat ng commodity na
ito (Because of this situation,
the DA sees the need to give ad-
equate attention to the industry
so that we could attain self-suf-
ficiency in salt production and
no longer need to import the
commodity),” he said.
The BFAR, meanwhile, said
it has profiled about 30 groups,
or at least 100 beneficiaries, for
the assistance program.
The regional offices have be-
gun implementing interven-
tions for beneficiaries in the
Ilocos region. ■
www.canadianinquirer.net
Philippine News
BY FILANE MIKEE
CERVANTES
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The Philippine
Amusement and Gaming Cor-
poration (PAGCOR) has ear-
marked PHP30 million to
PHP50 million for each con-
gressional district as disaster re-
silience funds to ensure the safe-
ty and survival of the country’s
disaster-prone areas, a House
leader said on Wednesday.
In a statement, House ap-
propriations committee chair-
person Elizaldy Co said the
PAGCOR provision totaling
between PHP7.29 billion to
PHP12.15 billion for the 243
legislative districts would pro-
vide funding to aid in disaster
response and recovery.
“We thank PAGCOR Chair-
man Al Tengco for agreeing to
provide evacuation and disaster
resilience buildings. This amount
will help each district cope with
typhoons, floods, earthquakes,
and volcanic eruptions that fre-
quent our country,” Co said.
During the congressional bud-
DOST, DENR’s turn...
❰❰ 4 help the DENR fulfill
its mandate to protect
and conserve the envi-
ronment.”
In the last Cabinet meeting, the
Department of Migrant Workers
(DMW) and the Department of
Labor and Employment (DOLE)
presented their plans to help ease
the plight of Filipinos working in
the country and overseas.
Meanwhile, Marcos also met
with Munther Mahfoodh Salim
Al-Mantheri, the outgoing Am-
bassador of Oman.
Marcos shared photos of his
meeting with the outgoing envoy
on his official Facebook page.
“We thank H. E. Munther
Mahfoodh Salim Al-Mantheri,
the outgoing Ambassador of
Oman to the Philippines, for
visiting us today in Malacañan
7
get hearing of the agency, Tengco
reported to the House panel that
the gaming regulator’s income
last year was PHP35.48 billion,
while its income for the first half
of this year already stands at
PHP26.7 billion.
Co noted that PAGCOR has
been supporting the country’s
efforts to boost disaster pre-
paredness and recovery by al-
lotting PHP3.5 billion for the
construction of multi-purpose
evacuation centers and 77 di-
saster-prone areas in 2019.
To date, 15 evacuation facil-
ities have been completed in
various parts of the country.
Co said PAGCOR is also the
source of funding for the so-
cial projects for Filipino youth,
poor families, and Universal
Health Care beneficiaries.
For 2021, it contributed
PHP7.71 billion to the Universal
Health Care Program per Re-
public Act 11223.
Deputy Speaker Rufus Ro-
driguez, meanwhile, opposed
the reported plan to privatize
or sell PAGCOR to the private
❱❱ PAGE 27 Districts to get
Palace,” he said in the caption.
“We appreciate his efforts and
contributions to the develop-
ment of a vibrant relationship be-
tween the Philippines and Oman.
We wish him the best of luck on
his new journey,” he added.
Diplomatic relations be-
tween the Philippines and the
Sultanate of Oman were official-
ly established on Oct. 6, 1980,
with the Philippine Ambassa-
dor to Riyadh being accredited
as the country’s non-resident
Ambassador to Muscat.
It was not until March 1992
that the Philippine government
opened a resident Embassy in
Muscat, with Consul Bahnarim
Guinomla as Charge d’Affaires.
Ambassador Sanchez Ali be-
came the first resident Philip-
pine Ambassador. ■
8 Philippine News
Correspondent/Hosts
Joanna Belle Deala
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Babes Newland
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Member
DOH supports decision to allow
unvaxxed join in-person classes
BY MA. TERESA MONTEMAYOR
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The Department of Health
(DOH) is supporting the move of the Com-
mission on Higher Education (CHED) al-
lowing unvaccinated tertiary students and
faculty members of higher education in-
stitutions (HEIs) to join in-person classes.
In a statement Tuesday, the DOH said
CHED officials and health experts dis-
cussed on Aug. 29 the scientific bases
for the policy update, including the high
Covid-19 vaccination coverage in the
country’s higher education sector.
About 77 percent of students and 90
percent of HEI personnel are fully vacci-
nated against the coronavirus, it added.
“DOH and health experts also present-
ed Philippine data showing less infections
in the 18-25 age group compared to other
age groups, further to international data
showing that Omicron and its sub-vari-
ants thus far have lower fatality or severi-
ty of disease,” the statement read.
Earlier, CHED chairperson J. Prospe-
ro de Vera III said this significant policy
change was based on several consider-
ations, including high vaccination cov-
erage in HEIs, lowered risk classification
in the country, and other parameters.
DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario
Vergeire said the country’s Covid-19 re-
sponse is “dynamic” and follows the lat-
est scientific recommendations available.
“The benefits of in-person and face-
to-face schooling now outweigh the
House panel okays GUIDE bill
BY FILANE MIKEE CERVANTES
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – A House of Representa-
tives panel on Tuesday approved a mea-
sure seeking to expand the government’s
lending programs to provide financial
assistance to small enterprises to drive
a stronger economic recovery from the
coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19)
pandemic.
The House Committee on Banks and
Financial Intermediaries, chaired by
Representative Irwin Tieng, approved
the consolidated version of House Bills
1, 685, 3460, and 3700, or the proposed
“Government Financial Institutions
(GFIs) Unified Initiatives to Distressed
Enterprises for Economic Recovery
(GUIDE) Act.”
The bill aims to strengthen the ca-
pacity of government financial institu-
www.canadianinquirer.net
risk of Covid-19 infections. Face-to-face
classes boost academic performance,
improve mental health and well-being,
and help develop social engagement
skills,” she said. “Even as proof of vacci-
nation is no longer needed, vaccination
and boosters for all eligible individuals is
still strongly recommended. Let us keep
the wall of immunity strong.”
The Philippines joins at least five oth-
er countries in giving more weight on the
value of in-person and face-to-face high-
er education, given the scientific bases.
These countries include Australia,
United Kingdom (but strongly encour-
aged), Canada (strongly recommended
for congregate student-living settings),
New Zealand, and Singapore (but un-
vaccinated students require biweekly
tions --the Land Bank of the Philippines
(LBP), and the Development Bank of
the Philippines (DBP) -- to provide the
needed financial assistance to micro,
small, and medium enterprises (MS-
MEs), and other strategically important
industries.
The committee invoked Section 48
of the House Rules, which allows the
immediate approval of measures that
already hurdled third reading in the pre-
vious Congress.
Tieng said the approved bill will be
referred to the House Committee on
Appropriations and Committee on Ways
and Means for funding and tax provision
requirements, respectively.
“As a matter of procedure, we have to
submit our approved committee report
to the appropriations for funding and of
course for ways and means for tax provi-
sion,” Tieng said.
Tieng noted that many businesses
SEPTEMBER 2, 2022 FRIDAY
testing for indoor dining).
This move is supported by the global
community, including the World Health
Organization and the UNICEF.
Vergeire reminded tertiary students
and personnel to continue adhering to
the minimum public health standards in
the campuses.
“Wear the best fitting mask, Isolate
when sick, double up protection with
vaccination and boosters, and ensure
good airflow,” she said. “The DOH will
keep working with CHED and our col-
leges and universities to ensure safe
higher education.”
CHED is giving discretion to HEIs in
deciding on the health protocols to im-
plement such as securing temperature
checks and declaration forms. ■
and critical industries, including MS-
MEs, were disrupted due to lockdowns
brought about by the pandemic.
He emphasized that it is crucial for
the government to offer these business-
es with the needed financial assistance
to keep them viable, and in so doing pro-
tect the jobs of Filipinos.
Tingog Party-list Rep. Jude Acidre,
author and sponsor of the measure,
stressed the need to support small busi-
nesses as they are critical for Covid-19
economic recovery.
“The pandemic has placed a severe
strain on our economy. The previous
Congress successfully passed several
versions of the Bayanihan to Heal as
One Act to cushion the economic impact
of the Covid-19. Nevertheless, our micro,
small and medium enterprises remain
struggling to survive the deleterious ef-
❱❱ PAGE 10 House panel okays
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2022
Stakes could not be higher for the
Conservative Party in this leadership race
BY ANDREW PEREZ
Policy Options
The next election will be the
CPC’s “do-or-die” moment.
What will the shift away from
the centre under Pierre Poil-
ievre mean?
On Sept. 10, the Conservative
Party of Canada (CPC) will an-
nounce the results of the mail-
in balloting to choose a new per-
manent leader to replace Erin
O’Toole, who was dismissed in
February when a majority of
Conservative MPs delivered a
stinging rebuke to his fleeting
tenure as party leader.
O’Toole’s brusque ouster was
unprecedented: 62 per cent of
Conservative MPs voted to re-
move him under Reform Act pow-
ers that enabled the caucus vote to
take place. But what has come out
of this process for the party in its
ensuing leadership contest has
been equally unprecedented.
Eighteen years into its exis-
tence as a party, the CPC is at
an inflection point. That might
sound like a cliché, but after
three successive losses at the
hands of Justin Trudeau’s Lib-
eral Party of Canada, the next
election campaign will be a “do-
or-die” moment for the party.
Conservatives instinctively
know this. After losing the last
two elections to a prime minis-
ter and Liberal campaign that
were not merely vulnerable, but
also beatable, CPC brass and
the broader membership are in-
tent on drawing Liberal blood.
Exasperation, anger and sheer
contempt for Trudeau have co-
loured the party’s 2022 leader-
ship race, introducing unparal-
leled levels of vitriol and toxicity
into a contest that should have
been about uniting Conserva-
tives after a tumultuous year.
But what’s made this race fas-
cinating is not intrigue around
its mostly preordained outcome
– a likely first-ballot victory for
Pierre Poilievre. Instead, it’s
the organizational, ideological
and party unity dynamics that
Canada News
have proven instrumental to the
course of this leadership race.
Beyond Sept. 10, these dynam-
ics will continue influencing
the CPC’s path in the lead-up to
what could become an existen-
tial election for Canada’s mod-
ern conservative movement.
Historic membership sales
and fundraising
While the third CPC leader-
ship vote in five years has been
inherently divisive, it has been
accompanied by historic mem-
bership sales and fundraising
that signify a boon for party re-
newal. In late June, the party
announced that 675,000 mem-
bers are eligible to vote in the
leadership contest. This figure
far surpasses the nearly 270,000
individuals who were eligible to
vote in the 2020 leadership cam-
paign that elected Erin O’Toole.
These numbers represent ex-
traordinary and historic growth
for the party’s membership list.
Interestingly, the party’s sec-
ond-highest recorded member-
ship total was not while it was in
government for a decade; rather
it was 18 years ago during the
Progressive Conservative-Re-
form-Alliance merger. The pro-
longed merger process combined
membership sales from sever-
al leadership contests to reach
282,000 members in 2003-04.
Today’s 675,000 figure is es-
pecially impressive given that
at the contest’s onset there were
only 113,000 active CPC mem-
bers nationally. The fact that
95 per cent of new members
purchased their memberships
online reflects positively on
the respective leadership cam-
paigns’ ability to execute robust
digital membership drives.
On this front, Poilievre is
the undisputed winner: earlier
this summer, his campaign an-
nounced it had signed-up an esti-
mated 312,000 new party mem-
bers while raising $4 million in
the second quarter from nearly
37,000 donors. During the same
quarter, Jean Charest’s campaign
managed to pull in only $1.3 mil-
lion from about 4,200 donors.
Before he was disqualified
from the race in early July by
the CPC’s leadership election
organizing committee, Patrick
Brown’s campaign claimed it had
sold more than150,000 member-
ships. Charest’s team declined to
share its membership sales.
Populism overtaking tra-
ditional conservatism
Since landing on the Op-
position benches seven years
ago, the CPC has increasingly
suffered from an identity cri-
sis, unable to clearly define its
brand of 21st century conserva-
tism. We’re now deep into the
throes of yet another leader-
ship contest where several can-
didates representing a variety
of conservative ideologies have
come forward.
Throughout his decade as
prime minister, Stephen Harp-
er was able to keep these vari-
ous factions in one big blue tent
through strong leadership and
his ability to keep these distinct
groups in line by offering cab-
inet posts and other key roles
to members of his government.
But since 2015, the party has ap-
peared increasingly lost, lurch-
ing from ideological positions to
more pragmatic ones with little
success. Since February, when
O’Toole’s dismissal coincided
with the “Freedom Convoy”
occupying Ottawa, much of the
party has swung to the populist
right, embracing a form of griev-
ance-based politics that resem-
bles “Trumpism.”
Poilievre has proudly as-
sumed the mantle of this divi-
sive style of politics, reinforced
by leadership candidates Les-
lyn Lewis and Roman Baber.
Meanwhile, Jean Charest, Pat-
rick Brown and Scott Aitchison
have spearheaded pragmatic
campaigns synonymous with
“progressive conservatism.”
But with mere days until the
votes are tallied, it’s apparent
that Poilievre’s brand of popu-
list, grievance-based politics has
won the hearts and minds of the
majority of CPC members. This
marks a clear departure from the
www.canadianinquirer.net
CPC’s ability to accommodate a
variety of conservative factions
since its formation almost two
decades ago. Even more worri-
some, the influence of the his-
torically dominant Blue Tories
is clearly waning.
Although Red Tories played
a seminal role in the legacy PC
Party, Blue Tories held equal in-
fluence in shaping party policy
and often dominated leadership
elections by sheer numbers. For
example, in the 1976 and 1983
PC leadership contests, promi-
nent candidates such as Claude
Wagner, Michael Wilson, John
Crosbie, Brian Mulroney, Jack
Horner and Peter Pocklington
all embraced strains of Blue
Toryism. They embraced the
prevailing neo-liberal consen-
sus in conservative politics
but steered clear of the griev-
ance-based politics that has en-
gulfed the party today.
These historical examples
are important because they il-
lustrate that even law-and-or-
der, free-enterprise Blue Tories
are becoming an endangered
species within today’s CPC.
Indeed, they have been sub-
merged by a brigade of “freedom
loving,” anti-science, anti-es-
tablishment activists who are
(@PIERREPOILIEVRE/TWITTER)
9
intent on installing Poilievre
as leader – whatever the cost
to their party and movement.
In doing so, they are rejecting
the party’s long, distinguished
history of accommodating and
representing an assortment of
conservative ideologies that are
representative of this diverse
country and its interests.
For the remaining tradition-
al Conservatives, these devel-
opments are disturbing. In its
various iterations, the CPC tra-
ditionally accommodated Red
Tories, Blue Tories, and even
social conservatives and liber-
tarians, but is now dominated
by factions that do not respect
the rule of law and traditional
government institutions.
Party unity at a breaking
point
The final dynamic that has
shaped this contest is that of a
party that appears less united
than ever in its two-decade his-
tory. While a Poilievre victory
on Sept. 10 is unlikely to lead
to an immediate splintering of
the conservative movement, it
could result in some of its Que-
bec MPs resigning in protest.
Joël Godin has already said he
❱❱ PAGE 11 Stakes could not
 10 Canada News SEPTEMBER 2, 2022 FRIDAY

How the ‘Queen of Canada’ is making

inroads into the U.S., Australia and beyond
BY CHRISTINE
SARTESCHI, Chatham
University
The Conversation
Romana Didulo is a Canadian
conspiracy theorist who false-
ly asserts she is the queen and
ruler of Canada. On her instruc-
tions, some of her disciples re-
cently attempted to arrest police
officers in southern Ontario.
The plan was then to turn
the police over to the military
to be tried as war criminals.
If convicted of crimes against
humanity, the police officers
would be executed, according to
Didulo. Instead, her followers
were arrested and charged with
assaulting police officers.
Nonetheless, Didulo is mak-
ing strides in replicating her
movement in the United States
and beyond.
This expansion began in July
2022. As a behavioural scientist
and researcher of what’s known
as the sovereign citizenship
movement, I have been moni-
toring Didulo and how she’s ex-
panding her reach.
In the United States, the
“Kingdom of America” is now
being led by “His Highness
King David J Carlson” and his
wife “Her Highness Lady Sarah
MG Carlson.” The couple are
residents of Arizona but little
else is known about them.
‘Clinton cartel’
“King Carlson” claims to be
“Commander-in-Chief” of the
“United States Armed Forces
Civilian Command.” He claims
he was awarded this position af-
ter a failed coup attempt “by the
Clinton cartel to overthrow the
election of Donald Trump. The
military then stepped in and
made sure that Donald Trump
actually took office.”
The military then allegedly
showed its gratitude by making
him King of America and com-
mander-in-chief. He offers no ev-
idence to support his contention.
If the Carlsons and Didulo
have their way, they would in-
stall a “benevolent monarchy”
under natural law or God’s law.
Didulo’s 79 royal decrees would
become law. As “civilian white
hats” (a QAnon reference to
freedom fighters), the people
would become “sovereign free
beings,” guided by “sovereign
principles.”
They want to create “secondary
government for if and when the
other governments fall or fail.”
Their monarchy system would
eliminate politics seen as divisive
and a tool used by the “evil cabal”
to “brainwash humanity.”
They are currently recruiting
volunteers for leadership po-
sitions in all 50 states. To date,
they have identified “ministers”
for 30 states. These ministers
are encouraged to build a follow-
ing for themselves and to create
their own security teams. King
Carlson has also appointed a
“Minister of National Global In-
telligence, US Navy,” a “Minister
of Global Affairs” and an “Advi-
sory Minister of the Kingdom of
America, US Army.”
As part of the Carlson-Didu-
lo outreach efforts, they’ve
been contacting public officials.
They have written letters to
the attorney general of Florida,
Miami-Dade County officials,
managers for the city of Miami,
veterans’ groups and high-pro-
file Republicans via the social “queen, commander-in-chief and to parallel Didulo’s ideology in
media website, Truth Social. president” of Australia and New their respective towns. They
They write that the move- Zealand. Edwards was chosen by spoke about their decision to
ment “is being brought to the Didulo because she was “familiar stop paying their bills, fully ex-
world’s attention, [and] the with her work more than anyone pecting not to lose their homes.
Kingdom of America will be else” and for her fight against the One of the leaders, mimicking
mirroring her Royal Majesty “deep state cabal.” Didulo’s travel in an RV, said she
Queen Romana.” Edwards has since started would also be travelling around,
Rift developing her own page on the Telegram greeting the people.
Interestingly, a rift between messaging app to communicate ‘Sovereign citizens’
King David and Queen Roma- with her subjects. Didulo and her people are
na has emerged. Despite her She states, in her personal bi- seeking to replace legitimate
contention that she’s governments in all
queen, he does not of North America via
yet consider her as their movement. Her
such (he says she’s a claims are many, out-
contender and in the rageous and all with-
running). Carlson also out proof.
believes that Didulo’s ... that the movement She claims to be a
decrees are not law, “is being brought to the reptilian shape-shift-
but he aims to imple- er who can become
ment them. world’s attention, [and] invisible at any given
The most note- the Kingdom of America time. She claims to
worthy decrees erase have healing cham-
all debts, make elec- will be mirroring her Royal bers aboard her many
tricity free, abolish Majesty Queen Romana.” space ships, with the
income tax and make power to heal any dis-
water bills illegal. ease and only avail-
Didulo’s followers able to her believers.
have responded by Many of her edicts
not paying their bills, mandate the death
and are beginning penalty. She has ad-
to lose their properties and ography, that she had previous- vocated hanging people upside
homes. ly worked as a public interest down from helicopters and
Her edicts are causing tangi- officer, a cybercrime analyst, is dropping them to their deaths
ble harm to her followers. If her an advocate for justice and is a in crocodile-infested waters.
movement gains traction in the humanitarian. In the footsteps Her claims, though ridiculous
U.S. and other countries, we can of Didulo, she too regards her- and without seeming merit, led
expect similar outcomes. self as a benevolent ruler. directly to the alleged assault of
Beyond the leaders Didulo The new leader of Germany Canadian police officers.
has appointed in the United and Austria is “Her Royal Maj- She may be laughable but she
States, leaders have also been esty Queen Regina.” “Her Royal is most certainly not harmless,
appointed for Australia, New Majesty Queen Xuyen Nguyen” and her movement’s global ex-
Zealand, Austria, Germany, En- will rule Vietnam, and “Her Roy- pansion needs to be taken seri-
gland, Vietnam, Switzerland, al Majesty Queen Meryl” has ously by authorities. ■
Hungary and the German state been tapped to run Switzerland.
of Bavaria. Five leaders, from the “King- This article is republished
Didulo announced a woman dom of Britain for Natural Law,” from The Conversation under a
named Helen Edwards is now publicly discussed their plans Creative Commons license.

House panel okays...

❰❰ 8 fects of the pandemic.
In view of the forego-
ing, it is our humble
but firm belief that we need to
create a more enabling envi-
ronment for financial access for
our MSMEs,” Acidre said.
In his explanatory note to
HB 1, Speaker Martin Romual-
dez said the bill would mandate
the LBP and DBP to expand
their credit and rediscounting
facilities to affected MSMEs in
the agriculture, infrastructure,
manufacturing, and service
industries to help them meet
their liquidity needs.
Additionally, the LBP and the
DBP would be authorized to
create a special holding compa-
ny, which Romualdez explained
would provide support with sol-
vency or liquidity issues caused
by the health crisis to strategi-
cally important companies.
ACT-CIS Party-list Rep. Jef-
frey Soriano cited that MS-
MEs make up 99.5 percent of
business establishments in the
country, provide employment
to 63 percent of the country’s
workforce, and contribute 40
percent to the gross domestic
product of the Philippines.
Soriano said the measure
would help the MSME sector
through tax exemptions, regis-
tration discounts, and loan as-
sistance programs.
The measure proposes an
allocation of PHP7.5 billion to
LBP and PHP2.5 billion to DBP
www.canadianinquirer.net
or a total of PHP10 billion to
carry out their mandates.
“To this end, the government
financial institutions are man-
dated to expand their credit pro-
grams in order to assist MSMEs
to meet their liquidity needs. In
particular, the LBP and DBP are
mandated to expand their cred-
it and rediscounting facilities to
affected MSMEs in the agricul-
ture, infrastructure, manufac-
turing, and service industries,”
the bill read.
The bill also seeks to in-
crease DBP’s capital stock from
PHP35 billion to PHP100 bil-
lion divided into one billion
shares of PHP100 each to be
fully subscribed by the national
government.
This is among the priority
measures enumerated by Pres-
ident Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in
his first State of the Nation Ad-
dress. ■
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2022
Could Quebec’s skills training model help
solve Canada’s labour shortage?
BY YVES BLANCHET
Policy Options
Pooling resources to cre-
ate “training mutuals” could
be a way for small- and medi-
um-sized businesses to train
workers, an IRPP study shows.
From baggage handlers at Ca-
nadian airports, to health-care
workers, teachers and carpenters,
Canada is beset by a shortage of
workers in almost every business
sector and region of the country.
Job vacancies reached more
than one million in April, up
2.4 per cent from March and up
44.4 per cent from a year earli-
er, Statistics Canada reported.
Businesses don’t see any sign
of the situation abating. Ac-
cording to the Bank of Canada’s
most recent Business Outlook
Survey, the share of firms re-
porting labour constraints re-
mained at a near-record high
in the second quarter of 2022.
Many businesses reported
plans to raise wages to attract
and retain workers.
Investing in skills training of
existing and potential employ-
ees can be another solution to
fill the vacancies. However, most
Canadian employers are small-
and medium-sized businesses,
which tend to invest a smaller
proportion of their revenues in
training than large firms.
Stakes could not...
❰❰ 9 would “reflect” on “his
future political life”
if Poilievre wins but
fails to pivot to the centre.
Among Charest’s most stead-
fast supporters are moderate
Quebec MPs wary of how a
party led by Poilievre could be
perceived in their home prov-
ince. In fact, seven MPs in the
10-member Quebec CPC cau-
cus have endorsed Charest
while only one, Pierre Paul-
Hus, has backed Poilievre.
Come Sept. 10, the party
could face a similar fate to the
one the federal Liberal Party
experienced in June 1990, when
Jean Chrétien defeated Paul
Martin for the party’s crown in
one of the most divisive lead-
ership elections in Canadian
history – and one that coin-
cided with the collapse of the
To encourage businesses to
invest in skills development,
Quebec has taken its own unique
approach. Since the early 2000s,
small- and medium-sized com-
panies, often working in the
same sector, have had the option
to pool their resources to deliv-
er skills development options to
their employees. The concept,
known as “training mutuals,”
could hold lessons for other Ca-
nadian provinces and territories.
One of the objectives of train-
ing mutuals is to identify com-
mon training challenges facing
companies and to offer solu-
tions. General managers of new-
ly created mutuals contact com-
panies in the sector to get a clear
picture of their training needs.
They then identify available
training programs and launch
new ones when needed, secure
necessary financial and organi-
zational resources, and encour-
age companies and their em-
ployees to participate in them.
Training mutuals, which func-
tion as semi-public intermedi-
aries in the workplace training
system, can be an effective way
to encourage smaller and medi-
um-sized firms to invest in train-
ing. It also makes it more acces-
sible to those workers who need
it most. Pooling resources can
make it less costly for individual
businesses to offer training pro-
grams and can reduce the hesi-
Meech Lake Accord. Shortly
after Chrétien won an impres-
sive first-ballot victory in Cal-
gary, Quebec Liberal MPs Jean
Lapierre and Gilles Rocheleau
abruptly quit the party, pro-
testing the accord’s failure and
Chrétien’s alleged role in un-
dermining its passage.
The Liberals did not splinter,
but these sudden caucus resigna-
tions destabilized Chrétien’s grip
on the party in the early years of
his leadership. Fortunately for
Chrétien, the majority of Paul
Martin’s ardent supporters chose
to remain in the Liberal fold.
While the Chrétien-Martin rival-
ry was fierce, the outright disdain
that Charest and Poilievre hold
for one another dwarfs anything
seen throughout the Liberal Par-
ty’s 1990 leadership contest and
subsequent years. It’s also un-
tancy of firms to invest in training
for fear of having their employees
poached by competitors.
The first training mutuals
were established in Quebec be-
tween 2002 and 2007 and their
status was embedded in provin-
cial legislation in 2008. Over the
next four years, more than 20
mutuals were created. However,
some were short-lived because
they weren’t financially viable.
Currently there are six active
training mutuals in the province.
A recent study published by
the Institute for Research on
Public Policy (which publishes
Policy Options) takes a close look
at four training mutuals in op-
eration between 2008 and 2017
likely that many of Charest’s sup-
porters will remain loyal to the
party should Poilievre take over
the reins.
There is already ample evi-
dence that those opposing Poil-
ievre’s style of grievance-based
conservatism are more than
willing to speak out and, more
importantly, organize.
Last spring, former CPC
leadership contender Rick Pe-
terson co-founded “Centre Ice
Conservatives” – an organiza-
tion devoted to championing a
centrist brand of conservatism
in an ever-more-polarized po-
litical environment. It remains
unclear whether this nascent
entity will seek to influence a
Poilievre-led party, remain on
the sidelines or disperse into
other federal parties. Nonethe-
less, it’s hard to see prominent
www.canadianinquirer.net
Canada News
in the graphic communications,
construction, child-care and
seniors’ residence sectors. Not
all were successful. Some faced
challenges in recruiting mem-
bers and obtaining funding.
To be successful, training
mutuals must be able to prop-
erly identify training needs,
clearly define the objective to
be achieved, avoid competition
and duplication, and optimize
existing resources. Success
also depends on the willing-
ness of businesses, unions and
other stakeholders to become
actively involved in the opera-
tion of the mutual and to invest
in training. Mutuals must also
show an ability to work with
moderate Conservatives – such
as former Harper ministers Pe-
ter Kent and Lawrence Cannon
– remaining active in a party
run by Poilievre.
Interestingly, Charest has ruled
out forming a new centre-right
party inspired by French Pres-
ident Emmanuel Macron’s En
Marche should he not win the
leadership. More striking, the for-
mer Quebec premier has declined
to run under Poilievre’s banner in
the event the latter wins the CPC
leadership.
The stakes could not be high-
er for today’s Conservative Par-
ty. It’s likely a Poilievre victory
will reinvigorate Trudeau, po-
tentially extending his political
lifespan through one more elec-
tion cycle. If Trudeau’s Liberals
are able to defeat the CPC for
a fourth consecutive time, the
11
other organizations to secure
the appropriate resources.
As rising interest rates damp-
en consumer spending, the hir-
ing challenges that businesses
currently face could ease. But
many of the conditions fueling
the current demand for labour
are structural, including an ag-
ing population and rising skills
requirements due to the adop-
tion of new technologies in the
workplace. Canada’s transition
to a low-carbon economy is also
expected to increase the need for
skills development for workers
in emerging industries and sec-
tors undergoing transformation.
We need a strategy to address
Canada’s long-term training
needs. While some recently
proposed solutions such as the
Canada training credit target
workers, businesses should also
be more proactive in solving
their skills needs.
Provincial governments
should consider adopting Que-
bec’s model to complement
their existing workforce devel-
opment measures. If the right
conditions are met, training
mutuals could make a signif-
icant contribution to skills
training across the economy. ■
This article first appeared
on Policy Options and is repub-
lished here under a Creative
Commons license.
brutal electoral aftermath could
send shockwaves through the
CPC, fracturing it beyond repair.
Whatever the outcome on
Sept. 10, the Conservative Par-
ty’s 2022 leadership contest
has revealed a fundamentally
shifting party that continues to
withstand seismic shifts nearly
two decades after its inception.
While the end result of this race
has never truly been in doubt,
the organizational, ideologi-
cal and party unity dynamics
that have converged over the
past six months to define this
contest have surely secured its
rightful place in the political
history books of our country. ■
This article first appeared
on Policy Options and is repub-
lished here under a Creative
Commons license.
12
Child poverty estimates point to a record
low in 2021 – here’s how it could have been
even lower
BY STEVEN PRESSMAN,
The New School, ROBERT
H. SCOTT III, Monmouth
University
The Conversation
The U.S. government will
likely report in September 2022
that for 2021 its most accurate
measure of child poverty was
the lowest on record. This was
due, in large part, to generous
government benefits. Our re-
search suggests child poverty
in 2021 would have been even
lower had the government
made it easier for families to re-
ceive these benefits.
One way the federal govern-
ment responded to the eco-
nomic upheaval that accompa-
nied the COVID-19 pandemic
was to boost the money Ameri-
cans got as benefits – and to dis-
tribute those benefits to people
who didn’t previously get them.
Starting in the spring of
2020, for example, most Amer-
icans received a series of eco-
nomic relief payments. Those
funds helped reduce child pov-
erty, which fell to 9.7% in 2020
from 12.6% in 2019, according
to what’s known as the “supple-
mental poverty measure.”
Morocco’s national tourism outlook
‘very promising’
MAP
Philippine News Agency
CASABLANCA – The out-
look for national tourism is
“very promising” as shown by
the dynamics observed since
the beginning of the summer
season, according to Minister
of Tourism, Handicraft and So-
World News
Research that we and other
economists have conducted in-
dicates that the share of Amer-
ican children living in poverty
fell even further in 2021. One
key policy change brought
about this decline: The govern-
ment temporarily expanded the
child tax credit, boosting the
incomes of nearly all families
with children.
We have determined, how-
ever, that child poverty would
have plunged much more had
the government done a better
job ensuring that all who qual-
ified got the credit.
Child tax credit
Unlike the official poverty
rate, the supplemental poverty
measure accounts for govern-
ment benefits, such as the Sup-
plemental Nutritional Assis-
tance Program, or SNAP.
The supplemental poverty
measure has been consistent-
ly lower for children than the
official poverty rate since its
launch in 2011.
One reason for this is the
child tax credit. It began in
1998, with a maximum possi-
ble credit of $400 per child.
The amount families could
get was limited by the income
taxes they owed. Since low-in-
cial and Solidarity Economy,
Fatim-Zahra Ammor.
The reputation of Morocco
is no longer to be proven and
its attractiveness is increasing
thanks to all the incentives of-
fered by the Kingdom, includ-
ing the launch of the electron-
ic visa, as well as all the efforts
to promote and improve the
traveler’s experience, Ammor
come families either don’t pay
any income taxes or owe very
little, this did them little good.
Subsequent reform measures
increased both the amount of
the credit and made some of
this benefit available to families
that paid no income tax.
A large federal spending
package enacted in 2021 in-
creased the credit further and
made it available to all but the
wealthiest families with chil-
dren. Between July 2021 and
June 2022, most received up to
$3,600 for each child under 6
and as much as $3,000 for kids
Government benefits can reduce child poverty.
said in an interview with MAP,
praising the vigorous recovery
of the national tourism sector.
“While all forecasts in the
world, predicted a return to
pre-crisis levels by 2023, we are
pleased to see that the recovery
rates for the summer season
exceed 80 percent for the main
indicators of the industry. For
some, we have even approached
www.canadianinquirer.net
between the ages of 6 and 17.
The Internal Revenue Service
distributed half this money in
monthly payments between
July and December 2021, and
the rest at tax time in 2022.
3 million fewer children in
poverty
Many economists predict-
ed that this benefit would help
millions of children escape pov-
erty.
A Columbia University re-
search team that tracks child
poverty rates on a monthly
basis calculated that the child
tax credit expansion reduced
a 100 percent recovery rate, es-
pecially in terms of tourist arriv-
als at border crossings,” she said.
A total of 3.2 million tourists
visited Morocco since the be-
ginning of the summer season,
of which 2 million are Moroc-
cans living abroad, i.e. 60 per-
cent of the total.
Regarding earnings, the recov-
ery rate of the sector is close to
SEPTEMBER 2, 2022 FRIDAY
child poverty by about 29%
in December 2021 compared
with what it would have been
without the credit. That would
translate into 3 million fewer
children in poverty.
If confirmed, that would be
an extremely positive result.
But we estimate that the child
poverty rate could have fallen
even further had the govern-
ment ensured that more eligible
families received the expanded
child tax credit last year.
As we recently explained in
the Journal of Post Keynesian
Economics, an academic pub-
lication, we reviewed detailed
2019 data to estimate what
would have happened to child
poverty that year had all eligi-
ble families received the 2021
tax credit expansion. We found
that child poverty would have
declined an additional 9 per-
centage points from what the
Columbia team estimated for
December, or 38%.
We believe the best explana-
tion for this gap is that many
low-income families didn’t file
a tax return in 2019 or 2020
because they didn’t owe federal
income taxes. To get monthly
❱❱ PAGE 14 Child poverty estimates
80 percent with a return of 27.3
billion Dirhams (USD2.5 billion)
for the first half of the year.
“Thanks to the lessons
learned from the crisis, we now
know what local and interna-
tional tourists are waiting for,”
the minister added. “Our coun-
try has all the tourist potential
to become one of the world’s
top destinations,” she said. ■
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2022
Heat waves + air pollution can be a deadly
combination: The health risk together is
worse than either alone
BY ERIKA GARCIA,
University of Southern
California, MD
MOSTAFIJUR RAHMAN,
University of Southern
California, ROB SCOT
MCCONNELL, University of
Southern California
The Conversatioin
On the morning news, you
see the weather forecast is for
high heat, and there is an “ex-
cessive heat watch” for later
in the week. You were hoping
the weather would cool down,
but yet another heat wave is
threatening human health and
increasing the chance of wild-
fires. On top of these warm days
and nights, air quality data has
been showing unhealthy levels
of pollution.
Sound familiar? This scenar-
io is increasingly the new nor-
mal in many parts of the world.
High heat and air pollution
are each problematic for hu-
man health, particularly for
‘Tomato flu’ outbreak in India
– here’s what it really is
BY SARAH PITT, University
of Brighton
The Conversatioin
A “new virus” called tomato
flu has been reported in Kerala,
India. According to an article in
The Lancet Respiratory Medi-
cine, the first case of this mysteri-
ous illness was reported on May
6. There have now been over 80
cases, with the disease spreading
to other parts of India.
Most of those infected are
children under the age of five,
with symptoms including a high
temperature, intense joint pain
and a rash. The children also suf-
fered an eruption of red, painful
blisters that grew to the size of a
tomato – hence the name.
Although the children can be
unwell, there have been no re-
ports of serious illness or death
vulnerable populations such as
older adults. But what happens
when they hit at the same time?
We examined over 1.5 million
deaths from 2014 to 2020 reg-
istered in California – a state
prone to summer heat waves
and air pollution from wildfires
– to find out.
Deaths spike when both
risks are high
The number of deaths rose
both on hot days and on days
with high levels of fine par-
ticulate air pollution, known
as PM2.5. But on days when
an area was hit with a double
whammy of both high heat and
high air pollution, the effects
were much higher than for each
condition alone.
The risk of death on those ex-
tra-hot and polluted days was
about three times greater than
the effect of either high heat or
high air pollution alone.
The more extreme the tem-
peratures and pollution, the
higher the risk. During the top
10% of hottest and most pol-
so far. Everyone seems to be re-
covering.
Doctors treating the children
were unsure what was causing this
illness. The temperature, aches
and pains could be due to any
number of infections. They spec-
ulated that it might be the result of
some exotic-sounding viruses that
are transmitted by mosquitoes,
such as dengue and chikungunya –
or even chickenpox.
They thought that perhaps
the unusual tomato-shaped
rash might be occurring be-
cause children were reacting
differently to infections after
they had COVID. Also, because
of the large size of the spots,
there was even a suggestion
that it might be monkeypox.
Mystery solved
Scientists have been testing
samples from children with to-
mato flu to try to identify the
luted days, the risk of death in-
creased by 4% compared to days
without extremes. During the
top 1%, it increased by 21%; and
among older adults over age 75,
the risk of death increased by
more than a third on those days.
Why risks are higher when
both hit at once
There are several ways the
combined exposure to extreme
Bad air pollution and extreme heat each raise health risks, but they’re worse
combined.
cause of the disease. Two chil-
dren in the UK who developed
suspected tomato flu symp-
toms after returning from a
family holiday in Kerala were
swabbed. The lab results re-
vealed that they were infected
with an enterovirus named cox-
sackie A16.
Coxsackie A16 causes
hand, foot and mouth disease
(HFMD), so-called because
the patient has blisters on the
palms of their hands, soles of
their feet and in their mouth.
So it seems that tomato flu is
actually HFMD. It is not a type
of influenza, has nothing to do
with tomatoes and is not a new
disease at all.
It is not in any way related to
foot and mouth disease of cattle.
It is usually mild and clears up
by itself within a week or so, al-
though pain relief can be helpful.
www.canadianinquirer.net
World News
heat and particulate air pollu-
tion can harm human health.
Oxidative stress is the most
common biological pathway
linked with particulate air pol-
lution and heat exposure. Ox-
idative stress is an imbalance
between production of highly
reactive molecules known as
reactive oxygen species, or ROS,
and the body’s ability to remove
Sometimes people get sores
in their mouth, which makes it
hard to swallow, so dehydration
can be a problem in small chil-
dren. In very rare cases, the per-
son can develop viral meningi-
tis. But it is important to note
that, so far, no cases of serious
illness following “tomato flu”
have been reported from India.
Like many common child-
hood infections, it is very conta-
gious and can be spread through
faeces and the fluid in the spots,
so parents are advised that chil-
dren with HFMD should be
kept away from school or nurs-
ery for five days after the symp-
toms start.
Strange things
Viruses have been doing
strange things since the COVID
pandemic started. For example
seasonal winter viruses spread
in summer 2020, and no one is
13
them. It’s been linked with lung
diseases, among other illnesses.
Antioxidants help clean up
these molecules, but particulate
air pollution and heat disrupt
this balance through excessive
metabolic ROS production and
lowered antioxidant activity.
Our research also showed that
the effects of particulate air pol-
lution and heat extremes were
larger when high nighttime
temperature and pollution oc-
curred together. High nighttime
temperatures can interfere with
normal sleep and potentially
contribute to chronic health
conditions such as heart disease
and obesity, and disrupt how the
body regulates temperature.
Older adults may be more sus-
ceptible to effects of extreme heat
and air pollution exposure, in
part because this stress comes on
top of age-related chronic health
conditions like heart disease,
high blood pressure, diabetes or
chronic lung disease. Impaired
❱❱ PAGE 14 Heat waves + air
entirely sure what caused the
outbreak of hepatitis in chil-
dren in 2021. And until 2022,
monkeypox outbreaks outside
of Africa only involved small
numbers of people.
Now we have these unusu-
ally large tomato-type rashes
that aren’t typical of HFMD. It
will be interesting to find out
why the spots looked different
enough for the disease to be
given a new name. The “tomato
flu” rash might be due to a range
of different causes, and this
highlights the value of accurate
laboratory testing for viruses.
However, it is worth noting that
fewer than 100 cases of toma-
to flu have been reported since
early May. So the outbreak is
probably under control. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
14
Will the UK experience
blackouts? Three scenarios
for this coming winter
BY DAVID JENKINS, Heriot-
Watt University
The Conversation
The UK could experience its
first large-scale blackout in de-
cades this winter if gas short-
ages combine with particularly
cold weather. That’s according
to the government’s “reasonable
worst case scenario”, a warning
which was dismissed by a No 10
spokesperson.
For blackouts to happen, many
different factors would have to
line up. The UK has control of
some of these factors, such as the
day-to-day running of the ener-
gy system or policies to try and
reduce demand for gas and elec-
tricity at peak hours (the two are
linked since about a third of the
UK’s electricity is generated by
burning natural gas).
Other factors are only con-
trolled over much longer times-
cales and so won’t have much
impact this winter – we can’t
insulate millions of homes over-
night, or suddenly build new
power plants. And then there are
factors that are largely beyond
the control of those charged
with keeping the lights on in the
UK: climate change, weather
patterns, a major gas-producing
country going to war.
With these limitations in
mind, what might happen this
winter in the UK? Here are
three possible scenarios:
1. Mild winter
– Manageable supply chains
– Very low risk of blackouts
Energy demand rises signifi-
cantly every winter when people
need to heat and light their build-
ings, but the difference between
an extreme and mild winter can
be devastating. A milder winter
will put significantly less stress on
the country’s energy system and
disruption becomes less likely.
The UK’s cost of living cri-
sis will still dominate this
winter, whatever the weather
and regardless of the threat of
blackouts. The spiralling cost
of energy could therefore see
demand reduced even further
from what might be expected.
That would help avoid energy
rationing, though, of course,
World News
Cold weather is bad news for the energy system.
people under-heating their
properties will have extreme-
ly serious consequences for
health and wellbeing.
2. Typical winter
– Noticeable disruption in
energy systems
– Low risk of blackouts
Colder temperatures com-
bined with restrictions on the
availability of gas could be the
point at which network disrup-
tion becomes more noticeable
to ordinary people.
The National Grid is current-
ly projecting, based on a winter
with average cold spells, that
the first half of December may
be the highest risk period. How-
ever, it believes that its “stan-
dard operation tools” should
be able to manage this. These
include the use of Electricity
Margin Notices, essentially a
call to generators that more
supply is needed. These are
relatively common (there were
four last winter, for instance)
but we may see many more be-
ing issued in 2022/23.
The UK’s remaining coal
power plants produce an ev-
er-diminishing share of the
country’s electricity ( just 2%
last year). To cope with gas sup-
ply issues from Europe, it is also
likely that these coal plants will
have their lives extended.
3. Extreme winter
– Significant alterations to
management of energy supply
– Uncertain risk of blackouts
A very cold winter with seri-
ous supply problems from Eu-
rope does raise the risk of power
disruption significantly. While
this is not entirely stepping into
the unknown, and there are
likely to be many comparisons
to the winter of 1973/74 and
its three-day week, there are
significant uncertainties that
make concrete predictions very
difficult. For instance, we do not
know exactly what several Eu-
ropean countries will decide to
do with their exports, most no-
tably Norway and France, who
will have their own challenges
to deal with.
As we enter what the govern-
ment refers to as a “reasonable
worst case scenario”, an esti-
mated shortfall of one-sixth of
peak demand could be seen for
a period of days, as even reani-
mated coal plants are not able
to cope with cold temperatures
and reduced imports from Eu-
rope. It is here where more vis-
ible emergency measures such
as energy rationing may take
place, where gas flows in partic-
ular will require prioritisation
based on need.
The UK is fortunate to have
a relatively robust energy sys-
tem, at least in terms of keep-
ing the lights on. But we are in
almost unprecedented times.
There is a recognition that we
are where we are and we need to
get through the technical, social
and economic challenges posed
❱❱ PAGE 19 Will the UK
www.canadianinquirer.net
Heat waves + air...
❰❰ 13 body temperature reg-
ulation in response
to heat can also occur
with aging. And older adults may
be less mobile and therefore less
able to get to cooling centers or to
medical care and be less able to
afford air conditioning.
A future of high tempera-
tures and air pollution
This isn’t just a California
problem. Climate change will
increase exposure to high heat
and air pollution in many parts
of the country.
Yearly average temperatures
in the U.S. are already more
than 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit (1
degree Celsius) warmer than at
the beginning of the 1900s. By
the end of this century, global
temperatures are on pace to
be nearly 5 F (2.7 C) warmer.
Dangerous extreme heat waves,
currently rare, will become
more common.
Changing climate is also af-
fecting levels of outdoor fine
particulate pollution – for ex-
ample, through weather chang-
es such as air stagnation events,
wind and dust storms, and dri-
er and warmer conditions that
contribute to increasingly fre-
quent and intense wildfires.
What to do to stay safe
Further research is needed to
better understand these effects,
such as the full impact of wild-
Child poverty estimates...
❰❰ 12 child tax credits from
the IRS, these families
needed to file a return.
Alternatively, families could
log in to the IRS website and
apply for the child tax credit.
That was hard to do for many
low-income people who lacked
internet access.
Lack of awareness
Surveys by a Washington
University in St. Louis research
team support our theory. It
found that 29% of low- and
moderate-income Americans
knew little or nothing about the
child tax credit expansion – or
even that they were eligible to
receive it.
Specifically, 78% of those sur-
veyed who did not file a 2020
tax return didn’t know much
about the credit. Furthermore,
some journalists found that the
IRS website people must use
to apply for benefits when they
didn’t file a tax return was not
SEPTEMBER 2, 2022 FRIDAY
fire smoke exposure. However,
enough is known that people
should take measures to reduce
their risk of harm during periods
of extreme heat or air pollution.
That means staying well hy-
drated and keeping cool. Shop-
ping malls and other air-condi-
tioned public spaces can provide
a refuge from heat. Home air
conditioning, especially during
nighttime, can reduce mortality.
A portable air filter in the bed-
room can markedly reduce par-
ticle pollution levels.
People with symptoms of
heat stress, such as headache,
nausea, dizziness or confusion,
especially the elderly, should
seek medical care.
Many county and state health
departments already provide
alerts about extreme heat and ex-
treme air pollution. Developing
a special category of alert during
co-occurring extremes may be
beneficial to public health.
Governments also need to
take steps now to avoid the
worst future climate change
scenarios. Some best practices
for cities include creating cool-
ing shade cover and green space
that will also reduce particle
pollution. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
user-friendly, and no Spanish
version was available.
These findings suggest that
expanding the child tax credit
can greatly reduce child pover-
ty. They also point to the need
for increased outreach efforts
to ensure that all low-income
Americans can obtain the ben-
efits for which they are eligible.
We will learn more when the
Census Bureau releases its 2021
poverty statistics in September
2022. Based on our estimates
and those of other research
teams, we expect to see that the
child tax credit expansion led
to a further sharp decline in the
the supplemental poverty rate
for children.
If that’s the case, there should
be loud calls for this benefit to be
restored on a permanent basis. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2022
‘A consequential but ultimately tragic
figure’: last leader of the USSR Mikhail
Gorbachev dies aged 91
BY MATTHEW SUSSEX,
Australian National University
The Conversation
Few world leaders have cut
a more consequential but ul-
timately tragic figure than
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gor-
bachev, whose death at the age
of 91 has been announced by
Russian state media.
In a way it was fitting that
as the last leader of the USSR,
Gorbachev was probably its
only truly humane one. And
it’s equally sobering that Gor-
bachev has passed away at a
time when political repression
in his native Russia has become
stifling once more, and the
spectre of conflict in Europe
which long overshadowed the
region during the Cold War has
become reality.
These were outcomes Gor-
bachev strived to avert. He was
a man who became associated
with opening up Soviet society,
encouraging hope and debate
rather than stifling it. He sought
to revitalise the USSR, foresee-
ing a coming century of peace in
which the Soviet Union joined a
“Common European Home”.
Gorbachev’s achievements
Gorbachev’s accomplishments
were numerous. They included
the negotiation of arms reduction
treaties with the United States
during a number of summits
with US President Ronald Rea-
gan. His suggestion to Reagan in
Reykjavik that the US and USSR
should eliminate nuclear weap-
ons blindsided a US foreign policy
establishment that initially saw
Gorbachev as little more than a
younger version of the geronto-
crats he had succeeded.
After initially vacillating, he
admitted the 1986 Chernobyl
disaster, accepting that doing
so would weaken him both at
home and abroad. In 1988 he
unilaterally drew down Warsaw
Pact forces in Europe without
waiting for a reciprocal agree-
ment with NATO nations.
Earlier in his tenure he had
developed a personal rapport
with Margaret Thatcher, who
famously told the BBC he was a
man the West could do business
with. He withdrew Soviet forces
from Afghanistan in 1988-9, and
admitted their presence was a
violation of international law.
He refused to intervene
in many of the spontaneous
demonstrations seeking to over-
throw entrenched communist
leaders across the Warsaw Pact,
pressuring them not to use force
against their own citizens.
And perhaps most notably,
he was the chief architect of a
grand plan to revitalise the So-
viet Union’s economy (through
“perestroika”, or restructur-
ing), its society (via “glasnost”,
meaning openness), and its
politics (“demokratizatsiya”, or
democratisation).
Gorbachev’s rise
There were few clues during
Gorbachev’s unremarkable rise
through the ranks of the “no-
menklatura” system of Soviet
elites that he would come to
champion such a radical pro-
gram. Born in 1931 as the son of
peasant farmers in Stavropol, a
region cataclysmically impact-
ed by forced collectivisation
of agriculture, Gorbachev fol-
lowed an established path to in-
fluence in Soviet politics.
He joined the Komsomol, the
youth league of the Communist
Party, and was accepted to study
law at Moscow State University.
After becoming First Secretary of
Stavropol, and then the province’s
party chief, he began cultivating
an image as a moderate reformer,
offering bonuses and private plots
of land to farmers who exceeded
crop production norms.
Gorbachev’s political career
could have ended there. But
like many successful political
elites, he benefited from net-
works of patronage, with the
Communist Party’s main ideo-
logue Mikhail Suslov and the
KGB head Yuri Andropov both
seeing him as a valuable fresh
face in an increasingly sclerotic
Soviet leadership.
Casting himself as a vigorous
opponent of corruption, Gor-
bachev was promoted to the Par-
ty’s Central Committee, and then
to the Politburo, the main policy-
making body of the USSR. When
the Communist Party General
Secretary Leonid Brezhnev died
in 1982, Andropov took the reins
and gave Gorbachev increasing
control over the economy. He
was effectively the second most
powerful figure in Soviet politics
until he eventually took over as
General Secretary in 1985, fol-
lowing the deaths of Andropov a
year earlier, and then the ailing
General Secretary Konstantin
Chernenko.
Although Gorbachev was
venerated in the West as the
man who ended the Cold War,
he became almost equally re-
viled at home as a foolish leader
who brought about something
he didn’t even intend: the col-
lapse of the USSR.
And while he will be most
remembered in Europe and
the US as one of history’s great
peacemakers, Russians saw an
entirely different face to Gor-
bachev, as the personification
of instability and decline.
By the time the East Europe-
an communist dominoes fell in
1989, culminating in the tear-
ing down of the Berlin Wall in
November and the defection of
a large chunk of East Berlin’s
workforce to the West virtually
overnight, the USSR had lost its
empire. It was also in the pro-
cess of losing its unifying na-
tional idea.
The chief reason for this was
that Gorbachev’s social reforms
were far too successful, while his
economic reforms were an ab-
ject failure. Perestroika served
only to reveal how deeply inef-
ficient and corrupt the Soviet
command economy had be-
come. Beginning as a program of
economic acceleration, and ulti-
mately morphing into a 500-day
plan to shift the Soviet economy
from the plan to the market,
Gorbachev relied on a new cadre
of younger technocrats to push
through his reforms while many
of the old guard remained in top
positions.
Campaigns against alcohol-
ism saw him publicly ridiculed
as the “Mineral Water Sec-
retary”, and his wife Raisa’s
expensive tastes in Western
clothing became an object of
popular anger. As the gap be-
tween economic performance
and the people’s ability to crit-
www.canadianinquirer.net
World News
icise it widened, Gorbachev
blinked too late. In 1990, he
intervened to put down civil
unrest in Baku, and blockaded
Lithuania, which had voted for
independence.
While Gorbachev struggled
to hold the USSR together, the
old Soviet guard launched a
hard-line coup in August 1991,
placing Gorbachev under house
arrest at his villa in the Black
Sea resort town of Foros. Bo-
ris Yeltsin, the leader of the
Russian Federation, became
the face of the resistance, em-
ulating Lenin by climbing onto
a tank and demanding Gor-
bachev’s release as well as free
and fair elections. With the
Russian army refusing to fire
on the crowd of demonstrators,
the coup collapsed.
Gorbachev returned to Mos-
cow but as a diminished figure,
resigning as General Secretary
of the USSR and eventually its
President after the constituent
parts of the USSR negotiated the
end to the Union Treaty and the
beginning of their own sovereign
statehood. As President of Rus-
sia, the main component of the
Soviet Union, Yeltsin inherited
the USSR’s seat on the UN Secu-
rity Council and eventually the
entirety of its nuclear arsenal.
After losing power, Gor-
bachev initially ran in Russian
presidential elections (nev-
er attracting more than a tiny
fraction of the vote), wrote
books and memoirs, and later
as he gradually withdrew from
Mikhail Gorbachev (MITYA ALESHKOVSKY/FLICKR, CC BY-SA 2.0)
15
public life came to express his
regrets about how history had
played out. Gorbachev initially
praised Putin’s ability to unite
Russia, but as the Russian
journalist Alexei Venediktov
revealed in 2022, he became
bitterly disappointed that Pu-
tin had destroyed everything he
had worked to create.
Ultimately, the tragedy of
Gorbachev was his misplaced
faith in Soviet economics, and
how badly he mistook the de-
sire of the people of the USSR
for national self-determination
for a willingness to revitalise
the Soviet idea.
Yet his enduring belief in
enlightened progress and a
preparedness to take risks to
achieve it stand in stark con-
trast to the caricature Russia
resembles today, which cele-
brates what divides rather than
what might unite us.
Sadly Gorbachev’s human-
ism, flawed though it was, has no
place in Vladimir Putin’s Russia,
which has turned its back on
modernity, cultivating a culture
of victimhood and glorifying
Russian chauvinism in the cyni-
cal pursuit of personal power.
Like other tragic reformers
in history, then, Gorbachev’s
chief legacy is to remind us
about what might have been,
rather than what subsequently
transpired. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
16
Entertainment
Festivals must do more
to address sexual violence
BY HANNAH BOWS, Durham
University
The Conversation
Music festivals are important
cultural and economic events.
They have become symbols of
the British summertime.
However, festival spaces are
not equal spaces. Festival line-
ups remain dominated by men,
and female festivalgoers are
also not free to enjoy festivals
in the same way as men. In 2018
a poll conducted by YouGov
found that over 40% of women
under 40 reported being sexu-
ally harassed or assaulted.
Together with colleagues,
BGYO heightens excitement on “Darna” via
OST “Patuloy Lang Ang Lipad”
ABS-CBN
BGYO joins this generation’s
Darna in her flight against great
danger with the group’s rousing
rendition of “Patuloy Lang Ang
Lipad,” the main theme song of
the new ABS-CBN Entertain-
ment series, “Mars Ravelo’s
Darna.”
Gelo, Akira, JL, Mikki, and
I began a research project in
2018 to explore sexual violence
at UK festivals. The first part of
our study – a survey of 450 fes-
tivalgoers – reinforced the find-
ings of the YouGov poll.
We found that 34% of female
respondents reported being
sexually harassed or assaulted
at a festival in the previous few
years, compared with 6% of
men. In our study, 9% of women
and 1% of men reported being
sexually assaulted.
We wanted to explore these
experiences and their impact
in more detail. We interviewed
13 female festivalgoers aged be-
tween 18 and 40 who had been
sexually harassed or assaulted
Nate’s latest P-pop offering
conveys the excitement and
confidence in the program’s tit-
ular character, Darna played by
Jane De Leon, who embodies
heroism, love, and compassion
for the people of the fictional
Nueva Esperanza.
Released a day before “Dar-
na” simultaneously premiered
on television and online last
August 15, the soundtrack has
at a festival in the previous two
years. This included being cat-
called and leered at, having a
hand put up their dress or skirt,
and being rubbed against or
groped. It also included pene-
trative assault.
Some of the participants,
to some extent, expected this
behaviour. It had become nor-
malised – part and parcel of be-
ing a woman at a festival.
This chimes with broader
research. A UK survey found
that 86% of 18- to 24-year-old
women, and 71% of all women,
had been harassed in a public
space. More than half of 18- to
24-year-olds will experience
harassment or assault in a bar,
club or other nightlife venue. As
one participant said to us, sex-
ual harassment and aggression
are something “we’re kind of
taught to expect”.
The festival environment
Festivals are not the only
spaces women experience sex-
ual harassment or violence. But
there are unique aspects of fes-
tivals that unfortunately make
them ideal locations for perpe-
trating these acts, while simul-
taneously making it difficult for
women to report or seek help.
Crowded stage areas can pro-
vide a cloak of anonymity for per-
petrators who harass, grope or
already earned over 136,000
streams on Spotify and almost
100,000 views on YouTube. It
also charted as the leading song
on iTunes in the Philippines,
Singapore, UAE, and Saudi Ara-
bia immediately after release.
BGYO performed the track
in a live performance on “ASAP
Natin ‘To” featuring the power-
house cast of “Darna.”
Kapamilya singer-songwrit-
www.canadianinquirer.net
assault. Perpetrators can disap-
pear into crowds quickly and are
difficult to locate by security or
other staff. One woman in our re-
search described this behaviour
as like “drive by” misogyny.
Similarly, the walkways be-
tween festival and camping ar-
eas, as well as the camping sites
themselves, were highlighted
by women in our study as spac-
es where they had been ha-
rassed or followed. One woman
described having a man “break
into” her tent and assault her.
These spaces rarely have secu-
rity on site and may be located
away from security huts, mak-
ing it difficult to report quickly.
Culturally, festivals can be
locations that see high levels
of alcohol and drug intoxica-
tion. They are also places where
large groups of men attend to-
gether. These aspects reduced
how safe women (and to a lesser
extent, men) felt at festivals in
our earlier survey.
The women we interviewed
felt these factors created a cul-
tural atmosphere where sexual
violence was normalised and
sometimes trivialised by friends,
other festivalgoers, perpetrators
and, in some cases, festival staff,
including security.
Women described being
shocked and upset and told us
ers Angela Ken, Trisha Denise,
SAB, and Lian Kyla penned the
lyrics of “Patuloy Lang Ang Li-
pad” with ABS-CBN Music cre-
ative director Jonathan Manalo
who also produced the song.
The series meanwhile con-
tinues to be the talk of the town
with viewers anticipating Dar-
na’s challenging fights against
Extras in the coming episodes
and her growing friendship with
SEPTEMBER 2, 2022 FRIDAY
that the experience often ru-
ined the festival for them. Some
had stopped going to festivals.
Others changed their behaviour
to reduce the risk of sexual vi-
olence in other ways. In other
words, women engaged in what
is known as “safety work” – such
as reducing their alcohol con-
sumption, avoiding certain plac-
es and not going to places alone.
Changing the space
One of the unusual features
of festivals compared with other
nightlife and live music settings
is that the venue is not fixed – it is
changeable and adaptable. This
means that there are opportu-
nities to redesign and reimagine
the spatial layout of festivals with
preventing sexual violence in
mind. This may include placing
security or safety ambassadors
in specific locations closer to the
areas women are reporting ha-
rassment or assault, including in
crowded stage areas, but a wider
conversation about how to modi-
fy festival spaces is needed.
There have been positive de-
velopments over the last few
years. The Association of Inde-
pendent Festivals, which rep-
resents over 100 independent
festivals, has developed a char-
ter and campaign to raise aware-
❱❱ PAGE 27 Festivals must do
Brian Robles (Joshua Garcia).
Produced by ABS-CBN’s JRB
Creative Production unit, “Dar-
na” airs weeknights at 8 pm on
Kapamilya Channel, Kapami-
lya Online Live, A2Z, CineMo,
and TV5. It is also available on
iWantTFC and TFC.
BGYO’s “Patuloy Lang Ang
Lipad” is available on various
digital streaming platforms. ■
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2022 Entertainment 17

“Lyric and Beat” showcases the artistry and

charm of a new generation of Filipino talent
ABS-CBN
Following more than a two-
year hiatus triggered by a nag-
ging global pandemic that
caused a near hibernation for
a lot of artists in the entertain-
ment world, millions of fans
around the world have grown
very curious about what and
who’s new in the industry.
For millions of Filipino en-
tertainment fans overseas,
there is a hunger to experience
both fresh and familiar artists
and the current body of work
that they are offering.
iWantTFC, the leading glob-
al Filipino streaming platform,
unveiled a most welcome re-
sponse with the launch this
month of its first original music
series called, “Lyric and Beat”.
Starring a new generation of
young talent from Star Magic,
the talent management arm of
ABS-CBN that has produced
in the last 30 years many of
the biggest Filipino superstars,
“Lyric and Beat” offers the
viewers a front seat to the most
electrifying vocal and dance
numbers ever seen in a Philip-
pine on-screen musical.
The new series is generating
vibe comparisons to modern
on-screen (big or small) musical
classics like “Glee”, “High School
Musical”, and “Pitch Perfect”
-- all with school settings and a
compelling array of unique char-
acters involved in a challenging
song and dance competition, and
family and romance drama.
Viewers are already raving
about the first three episodes
and have gotten “LSS” (last song
syndrome) over songs that have
been given a fresh twist such
as “Tara Tena (Let’s Go),” “Ka-
bataang Pinoy (Filipino Youth),”
“Hindi Kita Iiwan (I Will Not
Leave You),” and “Patuloy ang
Pangarap (The Dream Goes On).”
All the songs featured in the se-
ries are a part of award-winning
Filipino composer Jonathan
Manalo’s 20-year discography.
Manalo, currently ABS-CBN
Music’s creative director, is
known in the Philippine music
industry as “Mr. Music”, having
recorded and published almost
500 compositions in his two-de-
cade career.
The series features an exciting Leading global Filipino streaming platform
iWantTFC unveils first original musical offering
❱❱ PAGE 23 “Lyric and Beat” to viewers in over 200 countries. (ABS-CBN)

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www.canadianinquirer.net
18 Entertainment SEPTEMBER 2, 2022 FRIDAY

A Deeper Dive: ‘Thai Cave Rescue Trailer

Reveals Untold Stories From Incredible
Mission of Survival
NETFLIX
Netflix today revealed the full
trailer for the limited series Thai
Cave Rescue, which brings to light
untold perspectives of the rescue
mission that captivated the entire
world in 2018. Discover the stories
of heroes you haven’t heard about
from the Tham Luang cave and
beyond, on September 22, 2022.
An expansive, authentic
portrayal that goes beyond
tized retelling that covers in de-
tail, for the first time, the harrow-
ing experiences of Coach Eak and
the 12 Wild Boars inside the cave
and their lives on the outside.
In addition to insights from
interviews with the real boys
from the Wild Boars football
team, Thai Cave Rescue features
scenes shot at their real homes
and even props that are items
from the actual events of 2018.
To further ensure an authentic
and immersive depiction, the un-
charoen and Baz Poonpiriya, Thai
Cave Rescue’s sweeping Thai cast
and crew came together in a mon-
umental effort to create an expe-
rience that is most faithful to the
incredible real-life events.
As the deeper parts of the real
cave cannot serve as a filming
location, the production team
spent three weeks exploring
the real Tham Luang and its
surrounding forests and moun-
tains, and months shooting ad-
ditional locations involved in (NETFLIX)

the headlines
The six-episode limited series
– created and written by Michael
Russell Gunn and Dana Ledoux
Miller – is a deeper dive into this
incredible rescue mission. Shot
entirely in Thailand, with on-lo-
cation filming at the real Tham
Luang cave, Thai Cave Rescue
delivers an expanded, drama-
derwater cave diving scenes fea-
ture Dr. Richard “Harry” Harris
– the Australian anesthesiologist
and cave diver who took part in
the rescue – as the body double
of Rodger Corser, who plays the
show’s version of Dr. Harris.
Crafted for realism with
Thai creators
Beyond directors Kevin Tan-
the operation. A fully 3D LIDAR
scan using advanced laser tech-
nology was then carried out to
recreate the interior chambers
of Tham Luang on a soundstage.
It was a huge undertaking, all
done in the service of telling this
story well. Showrunner Miller
says: “I am eternally thankful
for all the people who trudged
through knee-high mud,
dammed a cave, were pelted
with five different levels of rain
for hours on end, spent weeks
creating a LIDAR scan and then
recreated caves on set, spent
hours underwater slamming
against rocks, and took Covid
test after Covid test and wore
N95 masks in 99 percent humid-
ity day after day, all so we could
share this story with the world.”
Discover the full story of the
harrowing and inspirational
rescue mission that held the
world’s attention in Thai Cave
Rescue, on Netflix starting
September 22. ■

www.canadianinquirer.net
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2022
Is narcissism a mental health problem?
And can you really diagnose it online?
BY PAULA ROSS, Australian
Catholic University, NICOLE
LEE, Curtin University
The Conversation
It’s not uncommon these days
to hear someone – such as an ex
romantic partner or a politician
– described as a “narcissist”.
Singer Robbie Williams re-
cently told an interviewer he
took an online test to see if he was
one. He revealed the test suggest-
ed a “mild indication of narcissis-
tic personality disorder”.
But what is narcissism, when
is it a problem and can an on-
line test really provide a reliable
diagnosis?
A fixation on oneself
According to the Greek myth,
a beautiful young man called
Narcissus fell in love with his
own reflection in a pool of wa-
ter. He stayed staring at it for
the rest of his life. His name
gave rise to the term “narcis-
sism”, characterised by a fixa-
tion on oneself.
Narcissism is a cluster of
traits along a range of severity.
At one end of the spectrum, peo-
ple may be confident, charming
and well-adapted.
In the middle of the spectrum,
people may be overly focused on
seeking out status, success and
admiration at work or in their
social lives. They can have a
need to appear perfect, special
or superior to others in order to
feel OK about themselves.
At the very extreme end,
it may become a disorder in
which people can be self-cen-
tred, grandiose and destructive.
What’s ‘narcissistic per-
sonality disorder’?
“Narcissistic personality
disorder” is a mental health
Will the UK...
❰❰ 14 by this coming winter.
Longer term, the
UK must address the
energy inefficiency of its homes
and businesses, and its reliance
Lifestyle
diagnosis given to people with
extremely narcissistic traits.
These traits have reached the
point where they start to im-
pact on the person’s ability to
function at work or socially.
Narcissistic personality dis-
order is relatively rare. It is es-
timated around 1% of the popu-
lation has a diagnosable form of
the condition.
Men tend to be more narcis-
sistic than women. There is no
evidence that young people are
more narcissistic than previous
generations at the same age.
Their symptoms are de-
scribed as “pervasive”, meaning
they are obvious across all of a
person’s activities, not just in
specific situations. So, on the
face of it, pop star Robbie Wil-
liam’s insistence his score on
the quiz reflected only his nar-
cissistic personality on stage is
not quite accurate.
People with narcissistic per-
sonality disorder tend to over-
estimate their abilities and ex-
aggerate their achievements.
And they are surprised or angry
when others don’t notice their
accomplishments.
They need constant confirma-
tion of their value, specialness
or importance. They may have
fantasies about power, success,
having perfect lives or relation-
ships, believing these are not
only achievable but deserved.
Specialness by association
People with narcissistic per-
sonality disorder might talk a
lot about how people in their
lives are extra special in some
way – such as being the very
best at something or leaders in
a particular field – because it in-
creases their own sense of spe-
cialness by association.
When their status or superiori-
on fossil fuels. It must look at
how to store more energy and
“flatten” times of peak demand
in order to change the relation-
ship between demand and sup-
People with extreme narcissism can be demanding and destructive.
ty is challenged they can respond
with extreme anger, rage or belit-
tling the person and their opinion.
They find it difficult to tolerate
the thought they may be flawed or
vulnerable in some way.
In relationships, they can
have exceedingly high expecta-
tions of devotion from partners
and friends, but may them-
selves be low in empathy and
lack of awareness of others’
needs. They may be envious of
and unable to celebrate the suc-
cess of others, and respond by
devaluing them.
They are often unaware of
the impact of their behaviours
on others.
How is it diagnosed?
Diagnosis should only be
made by a mental health pro-
fessional. Trying to diagnose
yourself or someone else with
an online quiz may give you
results that are misleading and
unhelpful.
Narcissistic personality disor-
der is a cluster of symptoms on a
continuum and many diagnoses
share similar symptoms. For a
ply, while still providing all the
services that we demand in our
buildings, vehicles and indus-
try.
Doing so will not stop energy
proper diagnosis, a clinician needs
to assess which cluster of symp-
toms is present, how far along the
continuum they are, and which
other diagnoses to exclude.
But a symptom checklist
might help you work out wheth-
er you should consider seeing a
mental health professional for
further assessment or support.
How do people get this way?
We don’t know exactly what
causes narcissistic personality
disorder.
There is probably a genetic
component. Traits such as ag-
gression, poor emotional reg-
ulation and low tolerance to
distress tend to be high in peo-
ple diagnosed with narcissistic
personality disorder.
Certain experiences in child-
hood are also more likely to
lead to narcissistic personality
disorder. These might be either
particularly negative, such as
trauma or rejection, or over-
ly positive, such as excessive
praise or being constantly told
you have extraordinary abilities.
Parenting styles that are either
crises from happening again,
but it will reduce the effects
and give us more options from
which to find sustainable solu-
tions. ■
19
very neglectful or overly protec-
tive are also associated with the
development of narcissism.
People with narcissistic per-
sonality disorder often have
other mental health conditions,
particularly mood disorders.
They also have a high rate of
suicide. These conditions may
have a common cause or they
may be a result of the difficul-
ties people with narcissistic
personality disorder have with
social interactions.
Can it be treated?
Narcissistic personality dis-
order is a lifelong condition
that is considered manageable
but not curable. There is no
standard medicine or psycho-
logical treatment for narcissis-
tic personality disorder.
Psychological treatment aims
to reduce the severity of symp-
toms, improve mood, manage
impulses, and build communi-
cation and relationship skills.
One of the main goals of therapy
is to develop more realistic ex-
pectations of others.
Medicines that help with oth-
er mental health problems like
anxiety, depression and bipolar
disorder may also help reduce
some symptoms.
People are more likely to seek
help for another mental health
condition, such as depression.
Getting treatment for these
conditions can also positively
impact on personality disorder
symptoms. ■
If this article has raised issues
for you, or if you’re concerned
about someone you know, call
Lifeline on 13 11 14.
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
20
Five books you’ll like if you love The Odyssey
BY RACHEL BRYANT
DAVIES, Queen Mary
University of London
The Conversatioin
In The Odyssey, an almost
3,000-year-old epic attribut-
ed to a poet known as Homer,
the soldier Odysseus narrates
most adventures in retrospect.
The poem, which tells of Od-
ysseus’ return from the Trojan
War, is both the origin of our
concept of nostalgia (from the
Greek nostos meaning the jour-
ney home) and one of the first
travel narratives. Whether or
not you’re already familiar with
The Odyssey, Emily Wilson’s
celebrated English translation
is a must-read (or listen).
The epic has inspired many
writers. For anyone hungry for
more, these suggested reads take
Homer’s Odyssey as a spring-
Students perceive themselves as a ‘math
person’ or a ‘reading person’ early on – and
this can impact the choices they make
throughout their lives
BY SIRUI WAN, University of
Wisconsin-Madison
The Conversatioin
The Research Brief is a short
take about interesting academic
work.
The big idea
As kids progress through
school, they tend to increasing-
ly perceive themselves as either
a “math person” or a “language
person,” even if they’re good
at both, according to a recent
study I led.
My colleagues and I were in-
terested in why people pursue
specific educational and career
trajectories – like choosing a
science, technology, engineer-
ing and mathematics major vs. a
non-STEM major in college. We
know that having a specific aca-
demic identity, like considering
oneself a “math person,” is one
of the reasons people choose a
corresponding career path. My
team wanted to find out when
Lifestyle
board to expand on the myths,
offering additional perspectives,
especially from female charac-
ters and taking the story to new
and imagined worlds.
1. Ithaka by Adele Geras
Geras’ novel tells the story of
what happened to Odysseus’ fam-
ily and household while he was
away. Both parents and young
adults can enjoy her shift of fo-
cus (featuring descriptions of the
dog’s daydreams) which opens
with children playing on the
beach and moves among peach
orchards and almond groves. Told
from the perspective of Penelo-
pe, Odysseus’ son Telemachus
and their friends, Geras capture
“kitchen gossip” and tangible de-
tails of a place seemingly caught in
limbo in Odysseus’ absence.
2. Meadowlands by Louise
Gluck
A collection of poems, Gluck’s
Meadowlands weaves a portrait
some kids start to lean toward
identifying this way.
We focused on math and lan-
guage arts because they are the
most common subjects in the
U.S. K-12 system; for example,
the SAT has two main sections:
English and math. There is also
a gender stereotype that reading
is for girls and math is for boys.
My team analyzed data in-
volving 142 independent sam-
ples across the world, featuring
almost 211,000 students from
16 countries and regions. This
data includes self-reported
confidence and interest in math
and language arts from stu-
dents in different grades.
Our research indicates an
age-related change in kids’ aca-
demic identity formation.
We found that during pri-
mary school, students who
reported high confidence and
interest in language arts were
also likely to report high confi-
dence and interest in math. But
as students progress though the
of the end of a marriage with
the story of The Odyssey. Time-
less myth is set against everyday
struggle. There are poems written
from the perspective of Telema-
chus, Odysseus’s son, about being
school years, this pattern grad-
ually changes. In high school,
students who reported high
confidence and interest in lan-
guage arts reported lower confi-
dence and interest, on average,
in math, and vice versa.
In other words, students be-
come more likely to think that
they’re either a math person or
a reading person as they prog-
ress through their school years.
Why it matters
Students choose to pursue a
specific career path for various
reasons. One of the most com-
mon is that they believe they
are good at doing a task. Our
research suggests that some
students develop a misconcep-
tion that they can only be either
a math or a reading person as
they move from primary to sec-
ondary school.
This misconception can have
a dark side: Students might dis-
engage from subjects that they
perceive as their relative weak-
nesses even when they are actu-
www.canadianinquirer.net
raised by one parent. There are
also the voices of Penelope and
Circe. These epic figures become
knowable as Gluck makes their
lives seem at times ordinary. For
instance, in the poem “Quiet Eve-
ally good at these subjects rela-
tive to other students.
An example is that many stu-
dents, especially girls, perform
very well in math but do even
better in verbal domains. These
students might view math as
a relative weakness and avoid
pursuing math-related educa-
tional and career paths.
In other words, the miscon-
ception found in our study can
lead some students to miss out
on educational opportunities.
What still isn’t known
Although viewing oneself
as better in one domain than
another likely carries costs, it
may have benefits as well. It
would be useful to understand
these before our team can make
strong recommendations to
parents, teachers or policymak-
ers for interventions.
Additionally, to support
each student’s unique journey,
parents, teachers and schools
would benefit from a stronger
understanding of how students
SEPTEMBER 2, 2022 FRIDAY
ning” she writes:
the quiet evenings in summer,
the sky still light at this hour.
So Penelope took the hand of
Odysseus,
not to hold him back but to im-
press
this peace on his memory.
It is a collection full of wit
and humour as well as emotion.
3. The Penelopiad by Mar-
garet Atwood
The Odyssey ranges across
wildernesses, beaches, gardens,
orchards and palaces, but as the
writer Madeline Miller notes,
“however far afield [Odysseus]
travelled, always [his stories] came
back to Ithaca.” Odysseus eventu-
ally returns to his wife Penelope.
In the epic poem of shifting lo-
cations and identities, Odysseus’
immoveable “here” is his marital
bed, built around “an olive tree/
❱❱ PAGE 21 Five books you’ll
come to think that one can
only be good at either math or
reading. Unfortunately, we still
know little about the impact of
contributing factors, such as
the school environment.
A potential contributing fac-
tor that we considered in our
study is tracking, or schools di-
viding students into groups by
their perceived achievement.
Our study found that German
students tend to believe they are
good at only one of the two do-
mains slightly earlier than U.S.
students do, perhaps because
academic tracking starts earlier
in Germany than in the U.S..
Studying the implications of
different educational practices on
students’ academic beliefs is a line
of research that my colleagues
and I are currently pursuing. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2022
Do humans really need other species?
BY TOM LANGEN, Clarkson
University
The Conversation
Can humans live without
any other species of plants or
animals? – Arunima S., age 14,
Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh,
India
People definitely cannot sur-
vive without other species.
As an ecologist – a scientist who
studies the interactions of plants,
microorganisms, fungi and ani-
mals, including humans – I know
there are at least three reasons we
need other organisms.
Humans need other spe-
cies to produce food
First, without other species
people would have nothing to eat.
Humans and all organisms
require food for energy and the
materials to build their bodies
and reproduce. Only some mi-
croorganisms and plants have
a way to use energy from sun-
light, water and carbon dioxide
to make the basic molecules that
provide that food. This process
is called photosynthesis.
Without these organisms,
humans wouldn’t have food to
eat. Almost everything we eat is
either a plant or other photosyn-
thetic organism, an animal that
grazes on them, or an animal
that feeds on animals that graze.
Processed foods may not look
like they come from microbes,
plants, fungi or animals, but
nearly all do. Some vitamins
and other food ingredients are
manufactured, but they are
only a very small component of
the human diet.
Chemists have discovered
ways to use various sources of
energy to make molecules that
could be used for food. Mol-
ecules produced this way are
called “synthetic.” However,
Five books you’ll...
❰❰ 20 with delicate long leaves,
full-grown and green,/
as sturdy as a pillar”.
Written also in the style of an
epic poem, Margaret Attwood’s
The Penelopiad (2005) gives
Odysseus’ long-suffering wife
a chance to tell her side of the
story. Penelope and her maids
narrate Odysseus’ violent home-
coming in hindsight from their
afterlife location in the mythical
underworld. Atwood’s retelling
pioneered this approach to nov-
these processes are so difficult
and expensive that it is current-
ly impossible to feed people
with these synthetic foods.
Production of synthetic food
using genetically modified bacte-
ria or cultured cell lines is grow-
ing in importance. In the future,
the human diet may become a
little less dependent on consum-
ing plants and animals. Still, liv-
ing organisms will remain a core
component of these foods.
It takes countless different
organisms – big, small and mi-
croscopic – to create healthy
soil and breathable air. To break
down and recycle waste. To puri-
fy water and prevent erosion. To
break down toxic chemicals into
harmless forms, and convert
other chemicals into sources of
nourishment that other organ-
isms need to grow and thrive.
And many of our food plants
– over 1,200 species – depend
on pollinators to produce the
fruit or seed that humans and
other animals eat. Pollination,
the process that allows plants
to reproduce, happens when
animals carry pollen from one
Science shows that humans are happier and healthier around other animal and
plant species.
els which give the perspectives
of characters often marginalised
in canonical ancient texts – es-
pecially the women.
4. Circe by Madeline Miller
One of Odysseus’ most mem-
orable adventures is his sojourn
with the goddess Circe, who
turns Odysseus’ crew into pigs.
Madeline Miller’s Circe power-
fully re-conceives her story from
several Greek myths. The daugh-
ter of the song god and titan He-
lios, she is an unremarkable child
plant to another. Bees are the
main pollinators, but many oth-
er insects, birds, bats and other
animals also transport pollen
between plants.
Animals of all sizes, from tiny
ants to enormous elephants,
also move seeds, spreading
plants that make for healthy
and productive ecosystems.
Diverse species, from tiny mi-
crobes to huge vultures and
sharks, break down dead organ-
isms into chemicals that can be
used to grow more food.
The number of species that
contribute to creating each
bite of the average meal is
mind-boggling.
Human bodies need other
species to stay healthy
Many functions of the human
body itself rely on a complex
and highly diverse ecosystem
of microbial species that live on
the skin and in the respiratory,
digestive and reproductive sys-
tems. These bacteria, fungi and
other microbes are called a “mi-
crobiome.”
Each person has a unique
personal microbiome to protect
born into a life of luxurious tedi-
um. But Circe wants more and
seeks the companionship of hu-
mans. In trying to twist her fate
and defy the will of the gods she
discovers she possesses powers.
For this, she is exiled.
This story of Circe’s life in exile
on her island challenges The Od-
yssey’s focus on Odysseus. Miller
emphasises Circe’s isolation as
intended punishment that grows
to become so much more.
In contrast to her “father’s
www.canadianinquirer.net
Lifestyle
against infection, digest and ex-
tract nutrients in food and syn-
thesize vitamins.
For example, the gut micro-
biome is important for breaking
down food into usable energy
and nutrients, and converting
other indigestible or toxic sub-
stances into forms that can be
excreted.
This microbiome changes
over people’s lifetimes based
on what they eat, what’s around
them, where they live and how
healthy they are. In fact, human
bodies are made up of more bac-
terial cells than human cells.
Diet and drugs strongly affect
the 300 to 500 bacteria species
that are the core of a healthy gut
ecosystem.
The microbiome also plays
an important role in preventing
infection. Many diseases are as-
sociated with microbial commu-
nities that are dominated by just
a few species. Some physicians
transplant poop from healthy to
ill people to establish a healthy
community of microbes and
hopefully cure the disease.
Humans are happier
around other species
Finally, research shows that
people are healthier and more
content when they are around
other species of plants and an-
imals. They need to experience
the sights, sounds, smells, feel
and taste of other organisms
for mental and physical health.
This drive is called “biophilia,”
meaning love of living things.
For example, seeing and
hearing birds creates positive
feelings. Two recent studies in
Canada and Germany found
that the more species of birds
in a neighborhood, the happier
people are. This may be due to
experiencing the birds them-
selves, or due to a healthy en-
vironment, as indicated by the
halls”, Miller’s Circe experi-
ences her island as “the wildest,
most giddy freedom”. Circe dis-
covers that “to swim in the tide,
to walk the earth […] is what it
means to be alive. […] All my
life, I have been moving for-
ward, and now I am here.”
5. An Odyssey: a Father,
a Son and an Epic by Daniel
Mendelsohn
The critic and writer Dan-
iel Mendelsohn’s memoir, An
Odyssey: A Father, A Son and
21
presence of birds.
In a different Canadian ex-
periment, researchers played
birdsong from hidden speakers
along hiking trails. People re-
ported that they felt more re-
stored and were more satisfied
about the hike when they heard
a diversity of birds species than
when they heard few or none.
Today, more than half the
world’s population lives in cit-
ies instead of the countryside.
So urban planners and land-
scape architects are exploring
ways to include more green
spaces and green infrastructure
in cities.
Research shows that when
a city has diverse wildlife, am-
ple open green space and veg-
etation along streets and on
buildings, people are more ac-
tive, less stressed, healthier and
happier. These conditions pro-
vide opportunities for people
to experience and interact with
other organisms, as well as ben-
efit from the other things that
plants, animals and microbes
do to make the environment
healthy and pleasant.
Scientists now know that it
takes thousands of species to
support human life. Yet we are
only just beginning to under-
stand the important roles dif-
ferent species play in ecosys-
tems, including urban ones. We
still need to learn much more
about why and how other spe-
cies are necessary for human
survival. And if people are to
successfully travel for long pe-
riods in space or establish space
colonies, we will have to under-
stand what species we need to
take along with us to survive
and prosper. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
an Epic, relates his experience
exploring The Odyssey with his
father, first in his classroom and
then as they travel around the
Mediterranean recreating Od-
ysseus’ journey. The book is part
literary crash course on The Od-
yssey, part touching memoir and
part travelogue. An informative
and moving read. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
22
FIBA World Cup presents countless
opportunities for PH hoops
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – The Philippines’
hosting of the 2023 FIBA World
Cup will serve as a stage for the
country to showcase itself as
both a hoops loving nation and
a destination for tourism, Sa-
mahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas
(SBP) chairman Senator Sonny
Angara said on Monday.
One year before the coun-
try opens its doors once again
as a host country for the 2023
FIBA World Cup, Angara met
with FIBA officials where they
discussed the growth of Philip-
pines basketball and the oppor-
PBBM congratulates Gilas over win
vs. Saudi Arabia
BY RUTH ABBEY GITA-
CARLOS, WILNARD
BACELONIA
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – President Ferdi-
nand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
on Tuesday commended the Gi-
las Pilipinas team for defeating
Saudi Arabia at the FIBA World
Cup Qualifiers.
Marcos, who was among the
crowd who cheered for the team
Monday night, took to Twitter
to congratulate Gilas after its
84-46 win at Mall of Asia Arena
in Pasay City.
“Binabati natin ang Gilas
Pilipinas sa kanilang panalo la-
ban sa koponan ng Saudi Ara-
bia sa naganap na FIBA World
Cup Asian Qualifiers Game
kagabi (We are congratulating
Gilas Pilipinas for their victo-
ry against Saudi Arabia in the
FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifi-
ers Game last night),” said Mar-
cos, who sat at courtside beside
Samahang Basketbol ng Pili-
pinas chair emeritus and busi-
nessman Manny Pangilinan.
Sports
tunities presented by the event
for the Philippines.
FIBA top brass President
Hamane Niang and Secretary
General Andreas Zagklis met
with Angara in preparation for
the Philippines’ hosting duties,
which it will share with Indone-
sia and Japan.
A total of 80 national teams
are vying for a spot in the 32
team FIBA World Cup through
six ongoing qualifying windows.
The World Cup group phase
will start on Aug. 25, 2023 in the
three host countries while the
final phase will be in Manila.
The World Cup championship
will take place on Sept. 10, 2023.
He expressed confidence
that the team would continue
to bring pride and honor to the
country.
“Kumpiyansa tayo na gagaw-
in nila ang lahat ng kanilang
makakaya para makapagdala
ng karangalan sa bansa (We are
confident that they will do ev-
erything to bring pride to the
country),” Marcos said.
Marcos arrived during the
third quarter and stayed until
the Philippines’ won.
Also posted on his Twitter
and Facebook accounts were
several photos of him taken
during and after the game.
Hosting preparations
Meawnhile, Senator Chris-
topher Lawrence Go said he
will discuss with players, orga-
nizers, coaches, and sports offi-
cials how the government could
help in the preparations for the
hosting of the FIBA World Cup
next year.
Go, who chairs the Commit-
tee on Sports, recently filed
Senate Resolution 83 that seeks
to conduct an inquiry in aid of
legislation on the ways to fully
“We are excited to once again
be host to the biggest interna-
tional tournament for basket-
ball. The last time we hosted
this event was in 1978 so this
is something that all Filipinos
are looking forward to, both as
a recognition of the Philippines
as one of the biggest markets for
the sport and the commitment
of the government to open its
doors once again to the world,”
Angara said.
“It will be a huge opportunity
for the whole country, not just in
terms of basketball, but also for
tourism and business,” he added.
Gilas Pilipinas is already qual-
ified for the 2023 FIBA World
support the Philippine basket-
ball team in future internation-
al competitions and “look over
the preparations being done
by the concerned offices and or
agencies for our hosting of the
2023 FIBA World Cup.”
“Titignan natin kung paa-
no tayo makakatulong na pal-
akasin pa lalo ang ating sports
(BONGBONG MARCOS/FACEBOOK)
www.canadianinquirer.net
Cup based on its global ranking
and as host to the tournament.
Angara said the economic ben-
efits brought about by the 2023
FIBA World Cup hosting duties
will be on a much larger scale
than what it was back in 1978.
“The biggest stars who are
brands in themselves and com-
panies will be in the country
in August 2023. The last one
we hosted was in 1978, but as
the FIBA guys mentioned—be-
cause of social media and the
growth of basketball around the
world, this will be much bigger,”
Angara said.
As a sports enthusiast him-
self, Angara said he is looking
programs, lalo na sa basketball
na hilig talaga ng mga Pilipino
(We will check how we can help
strengthen our sports program,
especially in basketball, which
is a passion for many Filipinos).
For so many years, our nation-
al teams have brought pride
and honor to our country. So,
we want to make sure we can
SEPTEMBER 2, 2022 FRIDAY
forward to seeing Gilas battling
it out with the best and before a
worldwide audience.
He said there are many rea-
sons to be optimistic about Gi-
las’ chances in the World Cup,
including the commitment by
Filipino-American star Jordan
Clarkson to be part of the team
in August 2023 and the support
of the PBA for the preparations
for the tournament.
“We still have a lot to do in
terms of preparations for our
hosting duties, but we give our
full support to this endeavor,
which will benefit our tourism
sector and the economy as a
whole,” Angara said. ■
keep on improving,” he said in a
statement on Tuesday.
The Senate aims to review
laws and policies to ensure op-
timal performance in future in-
ternational sports competitions
and further protect the welfare
of Filipino athletes, he added.
Go was also at the Gilas game,
along with Senators Ronald dela
Rosa and Francis Tolentino.
Senator Sonny Angara sees
the hosting as a stage for the
country to showcase itself as
both “a hoops-loving nation”
and a destination for tourism
but noted that a lot of prepara-
tions still need to be done.
“The last time we hosted
this event was in 1978 so this
is something that all Filipinos
are looking forward to, both as
a recognition of the Philippines
as one of the biggest markets for
the sport and the commitment
of the government to open its
doors once again to the world,”
Angara said in a separate state-
ment on Monday.
Japan and Indonesia will co-
host the sport’s biggest event
next year. ■
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2022
London 2012 Paralympics was not
a gamechanger for disabled people’s
sports participation – here’s why
BY CHRISTOPHER BROWN,
University of Hertfordshire
The Conversation
This summer marks ten years
since London hosted the 2012
Paralympics. It was hoped the
Paralympics would have a last-
ing legacy on improving access
to and participation in sports
for disabled people. But the data
shows the Games made no mean-
ingful difference in this regard.
One year after the 2012
Paralympics, around 20% of
disabled people in England
were shown to participate in
sports at least once a week. By
2016, this number had declined
to only 17%. Ten years on from
the Games, disabled people’s
monthly participation in sports
is still less than half that of
non-disabled people in England.
The Paralympics on its own
isn’t enough to create more
sporting opportunities for dis-
abled people. Instead, leverag-
ing a sport mega event is vital.
This means making plans to im-
prove sports participation on
the back of it – including, cru-
cially, providing opportunities
for people to participate in dif-
ferent sports before, during and
after the event. Yet the research
shows this largely didn’t hap-
pen for the 2012 Paralympics,
making it a missed opportunity
to turn interest in sports into
regular participation.
In part, this was because a
specific plan to create lasting
sporting opportunities for dis-
abled people wasn’t announced
until 2010. This didn’t help
“Lyric and Beat”...
❰❰ 17 cast led by Andrea Bril-
lantes, Seth Fedelin,
Darren Espanto, AC
Bonifacio, Kyle Echarri, Sheena
Belarmino, Jeremy Glinoga, An-
gela Ken, and Awra Briguela.
ENTHUSIASTIC RECEP-
TION
Nylon Manila magazine
called the series “the new gen
musical series you’ve been
waiting for” and added that it is
a palate-cleanser that “looks to
sports organisations to prepare
in terms of having the resourc-
es and knowledge to cope with
increased demand following the
Games. Waiting lists to join clubs
weren’t uncommon as a result.
It’s also worth noting that the
Paralympics doesn’t necessarily
prove inspiring to everyone who
may be interested in participat-
ing in sport. While some disabled
people find the Games empow-
ering and inspiring, for others it
may actually be disempowering.
The Paralympics is an exclu-
sive event which only a fraction
of disabled people ever qualify
to participate in. The achieve-
ments of Paralympians may
have no relevance in the day-
to-day lives of most disabled
people, perhaps explaining why
they don’t inspire everyone.
Research shows that peer role
models, rather than Paralympi-
ans, are actually more likely to
inspire physical activity.
The Paralympics may even
perpetuate disability stereotypes,
leading to exclusion for those
who don’t meet the Paralympic
ideal. And since the event isn’t
representative of most people’s
experience of disability, it may
lead to an underappreciation of
the barriers and challenges that
disabled people face.
Room for improvement
The London 2012 Paralym-
pics also relied on the policy of
“mainstreaming” to promote
sport participation. Main-
streaming is where non-disabled
sports organisations offer sport-
ing opportunities for disabled
people. The problem has been
the lack of clarity as to how this
give Pinoy musicals its deserved
moment in the spotlight.”
Village Pipol also praised
the show’s feel-good story and
called it a “once-in-a-blue-
moon” series that will leave
viewers “stomping your feet to
the majestic beat.”
Along with “Lyric and Beat’s”
musical madness, viewers also
sang praises for the series on so-
cial media for its captivating sto-
ryline with an inspiring message
works in practice. Mainstream
organisations have sometimes
struggled to provide suitable
sport opportunities due to a lack
of knowledge or resources.
Organisations can some-
times view inclusion as an af-
terthought, rather than a core
commitment. And due to the
limited and patchy effectiveness
of mainstreaming, there are a
number of organisations operat-
ing in the sector. This can cause
confusion and unnecessary
complexity for people looking to
get involved in sports. A lack of
awareness of sporting opportu-
nities can also be seen as a symp-
tom of the complex landscape of
sports for disabled people.
Ableism is also still a problem
for many disabled people who
want to participate in sports.
Many disabled students report
feeling excluded from physical
education, and institutionalised
ableist practices within main-
The paralympic symbol was suspended on Tower Bridge in London to signal
the start of the games on 29 August 2012. (BERIT WATKIN/FLICKR, CC BY 2.0)
to never give up on one’s dreams.
In the current story, Lyric
(Andrea) and Beat’s (Seth) Team
Werpa is practicing hard as the
members prepare for a group
showdown against the famous
Prime Belters, which is led by
their team captain Jazz (Darren).
Amidst the rivalry between
the two groups, a special bond
seems to be developing between
Lyric and Beat as they help each
other succeed in school. Which
www.canadianinquirer.net
Sports
stream sport organisations con-
tinue to limit sports access for
disabled people.
For example, some club set-
tings only fully include disabled
people if they can participate in
a sport separately to non-dis-
abled people. Disabled people
can sometimes be forced to
adapt to how the club provides
a sport, rather than the club
adapting the sport to best meet
that person’s needs. Ableism
constrains participation by
negatively shaping what many
people think sport should look
like, or who sport is for.
Addressing barriers
It’s clear that simply hosting
the Paralympics in 2012 wasn’t
enough for improving access
and participation in sport for
disabled people throughout the
UK. To achieve true change,
systemic, social and econom-
ic barriers to participation all
need to be addressed.
team will earn the right to rep-
resent their school in the high-
ly anticipated grand national
competition?
HOW AND WHERE TO
WATCH
Stream new episodes of “Lyr-
ic and Beat” every Friday on the
iWantTFC app (iOs and An-
droid) and website (iwanttfc.
com), available with a Premium
subscription for only USD 12.99
a month in the U.S. New eligible
23
Unfortunately, a number of
these barriers still exist and hin-
der sports participation. The
2012 Paralympics was hosted
amid a backdrop of recession
and austerity. Austerity mea-
sures disproportionately im-
pacted disabled people – with
many disabled people limiting
their participation in sports due
to the fear of losing benefits if
they were seen to be active.
And even ten years on, trans-
port is not always accessible to
disabled people – a barrier of
particular importance when lo-
cal sporting opportunities may
not be available. Some sporting
sites are also inaccessible, so
even if a person wants to get in-
volved, they may not be able to.
The pandemic has now added
another obstacle in the journey
to create change, even revers-
ing some of the progress made
in recent years. Research sug-
gests there’s now less support
to help disabled people to par-
ticipate in different sports.
The London 2012 Paralym-
pics did help to raise the profile
of parasport and disability in
society to some extent. But any
increases in sports participation
that happened as a result were
temporary. To truly improve
participation in sport, the chal-
lenges and barriers that prevent
disabled people from partici-
pating in both sport and society
need to be addressed. We cannot
simply rely on a two-week elite
sporting event to do this. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
users can also enjoy a free trial.
Watch iWantTFC on a larger
screen with select devices, includ-
ing VEWD, ROKU, and Amazon
Fire streaming devices, Android
TV, select Samsung Smart TV
models, Telstra TV (in Australia),
and VIDAA in select countries.
Visit https://bit.ly/
iWantTFC_TVDevices for a
complete list of compatible de-
vices, sign-in instructions, and
account activation. ■
24
Cost of living crisis: what are your rights if
your landlord wants to increase your rent?
BY TOM SIMCOCK,
University of Huddersfield
The Conversation
A lack of affordable housing
and growing demand for rental
properties have sent the rental
market into a state of crisis, and
young people are particularly
affected. New data suggests that
nearly four in ten renters under
the age of 30 pay more than 30%
of their income on rent, and some
are turning to house sharing.
According to Rightmove, ask-
ing rents on property listings
outside London are up 12% on
the previous year, and growing
at the fastest rate in 16 years.
And the Office for National Sta-
tistics reports that for the year
to August 2022, rents increased
by 3.2% across the UK.
If you rent, you may be wor-
ried about what you can do if
your landlord wants to increase
the rent. There are some circum-
stances where a landlord can in-
crease rents, but only by follow-
ing the rules and sticking to the
tenancy agreement. Tenancy law
is complex, and your rights de-
pend on the type of contract you
have and where you are.
If you privately rent in En-
gland and Wales, you are likely
to have what is called an assured
shorthold tenancy. You would
normally have a fixed-term pe-
Globe builds over 570 new towers in H1 2022
BY RAYMOND CARL DELA
CRUZ
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – Local telecom-
munications service provider
Globe Telecom Inc. (Globe) has
built a total of 572 new cell tow-
ers and upgraded around 6,800
mobile sites to 4G LTE in the
first half of the year alone.
In a statement on Friday,
Globe SVP and head of network
Business
riod – usually six or 12 months,
sometimes nine months for stu-
dents – before the tenancy would
go onto a periodic (month-to-
month) open-ended tenancy.
If you have a fixed-term tenan-
cy, the landlord could ask you to
sign a new tenancy agreement at
a higher rent, replacing your ex-
isting agreement. But you do not
have to agree to sign this, and you
can continue with the same price
as your current agreement.
Alternatively, your tenancy
agreement may have a rent re-
view clause. This depends on
the agreement and what is stip-
ulated. But your landlord would
have to stick to the procedure
You don’t always have to agree to a rent increase.
planning and engineering Joel
Agustin said the company is
“on track” with its network roll-
out target to end the year with
about 1,700 new cell sites, more
than the 1,407 cell sites it built
in 2021.
“Our network rollout mo-
mentum continues, and it is
faster. We accomplished about
70 percent more than in the
same period last year. We are
very positive that we can set a
new build record this 2022,”
set out in the agreement. Your
landlord may also ask you ver-
bally or in writing to agree to
a new rent. The government
states that your landlord must
get your permission to increase
the rent. The rent does not in-
crease if you do not agree.
Shelter, a housing charity,
warns that if you pay the higher
rent, even if you don’t agree to it,
this automatically becomes the
new legal rent. It is best to seek
advice before paying a new rent.
If at the end of your fixed
term, you do not sign a new
tenancy agreement or end the
tenancy yourself, your existing
tenancy will continue as a pe-
Agustin said.
By the end of June, Globe has
spent 56 percent or PHP50.5
billion of its PHP89 billion cap-
ital expenditure allocation for
the year.
“Globe’s aggressive network
expansion is in line with its sup-
port for the United Nations Sus-
tainable Development Goals,
including UN SDG No. 9, which
highlights the roles of infra-
structure and innovation as cru-
cial drivers of economic growth
www.canadianinquirer.net
riodic tenancy (rolling month
to month) at the same rent.
During a periodic tenancy,
there are several ways for your
rent to be increased. This in-
cludes, as above, the rent review
clause or the landlord asking
you to increase the rent and you
accepting – either by paying or
signing a new agreement.
The final way your landlord
can increase the rent is by serv-
ing you a Section 13 notice. Your
landlord can only do this once a
year, they must give you at least
one month’s notice, and use the
correct form.
If you do not agree to the rent
increase proposed under the Sec-
tion 13 procedure, you can chal-
lenge the increase at a first-tier
tribunal. The increase usually
doesn’t apply until the tribunal
has decided on whether to in-
crease your rent, keep the rent
the same, or possibly decrease it.
The Scottish system
In Scotland, the government
reformed private renting and in-
troduced the Private Residential
Tenancy agreement in December
2017. This banned “no fault” evic-
tions, introduced open-ended
tenancies, and protected tenants
from frequent rent increases.
Rent increases in Scotland un-
der this system are different than
in England and Wales. There are
different protections on rent in-
creases. These include that your
and development,” he said.
He highlighted the recogni-
tions received by Globe from
global analytics firm Ookla as
the “Philippines’ most reliable
mobile network” with a “con-
sistency score” of 79.44 and the
“most available in all technol-
ogy” with a score of 93.11 for
being a network whose users
spend the highest percentage of
their time on “all technology.”
“All our efforts are not only
aimed to elevate the standard of
SEPTEMBER 2, 2022 FRIDAY
rent can not be increased more
than once every 12 months, your
landlord must use the correct
form, and provide you with at
least three months’ notice.
If you think the rent increase
is too much, you can apply
within 21 days to a rent officer
for them to decide on whether
this increase is fair. Based on
local market rents, the rent offi-
cer could decide to increase the
rent even higher or lower the
rent if they think it is too high.
Negotiating with your
landlord
You can negotiate rent in-
creases with your landlord. Get-
ting a new tenant can be costly
and risky, with the upfront costs
of tenancy checks and letting
agent fees. If you can not afford
the increase, Shelter recom-
mends having a conversation
with your landlord and explain-
ing your financial situation. To
prepare for this conversation,
look at what similar properties
in your area are charging – you
may be able to argue that your
landlord is charging above the
market rent. They may be un-
derstanding and agree to not
increase your rent or increase it
by an affordable amount.
While there are options to
challenge and negotiate a rent
increase, if you are on a period-
❱❱ PAGE 29 Cost of living
connectivity within the Philip-
pines, but equally important, this
continued drive will deliver a con-
sistent level of quality,” he said.
On Aug. 12, Globe announced
its plans to sell and more than
7,000 of its towers across the
country to various tower com-
panies to raise capital.
In addition to raising capital,
the company will also secure a
leaseback agreement to ensure
that it has access to these nec-
essary infrastructures. ■
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2022
Want to get more women to start their own
businesses? Here’s what it takes
BY MELODI BOTHA,
University of Pretoria
The Conversation
Globally, men are twice as
likely as women to start a busi-
ness. Most research into how
to start a business has been fo-
cused on men. Not much has
looked at why women are not
fully represented among entre-
preneurs or how to change this.
Yet it’s known that women
entrepreneurs play an import-
ant role as leaders of entrepre-
neurial teams who contribute
to economic growth and pover-
ty reduction.
Research shows that women
in South Africa are less likely
to consider starting a business
than men. They are also signifi-
cantly less likely to act on their
entrepreneurial intentions. One
reason could be the lack of en-
trepreneurial competencies and
the extent to which women have
“prior exposure to business”.
My research set out to inves-
tigate the relationship between
prior entrepreneurial exposure
and entrepreneurial action. In
other words, whether women
who came from a business en-
vironment where they were ex-
posed to prior entrepreneurial
experience were more likely to
start their own business. This
included “shadowing” an entre-
preneur, having entrepreneur-
ial parents, working in an en-
Converge, Globe top Netflix’s
speed index in July
BY RAYMOND CARL DELA
CRUZ
Philippine News Agency
MANILA – Fiber broadband
provider, Converge ICT Solu-
tions Inc. (Converge), and mobile
and broadband firm, Globe Tele-
com Inc. (Globe), have topped
Netflix’s Internet Service Provid-
er (ISP) Speed Index in July.
In its ISP Speed Index for the
month of July, Netflix reported
an average performance of 3.4
Megabits per second (Mbps) for
trepreneurial business before
starting your own or having en-
trepreneurial role models.
My approach towards the
question was a new one. I divid-
ed entrepreneurial action into
three phases of a process – be-
fore a decision is taken, before
action, and action itself.
As I expected, context is key.
This is also true for women and
their entrepreneurial endeavours.
Being exposed to role mod-
els or having entrepreneurial
parents encouraged women to
start businesses. This prior ex-
posure had a stronger effect on
action when women have cer-
tain entrepreneurial competen-
cies. The relevant ones were:
self-efficacy, leadership, curiosi-
ty, innovativeness, and need for
achievement (motivation).
My findings have important
implications for women entre-
preneurs, educators and entre-
preneurship models, which have
been traditionally male domi-
nated. For example, to get more
women to start businesses edu-
cators and policy makers can de-
velop women’s self-efficacy, lead-
ership, curiosity, innovativeness
and motivation entrepreneurial
competencies based on their en-
trepreneurial exposure.
Exposure, intentions and
action
My research sample consisted
of South African entrepreneurs:
346 women and 804 men. The
men were included so as to test
both Converge and Globe, higher
than PLDT and Sky Cable’s 3.2
Mbps and Royal Cable’s 3 Mbps.
This is compared to June’s
ISP Speed Index that crowned
Globe with the country’s top
spot after achieving an average
performance of 3.6 Mbps, fol-
lowed by Converge, Sky Cable,
and PLDT with 3.4 Mbps, and
Royal Cable with 3.2 Mbps.
“The Netflix ISP Speed Index
is a measure of prime-time Net-
flix performance on a particular
ISP and not a measure of overall
performance for other services
whether the relationship be-
tween prior entrepreneurial ex-
posure and action was stronger
for women entrepreneurs than
for men. I found that it was in-
deed stronger for women.
The average age of the wom-
en was 50, ranging from 26 to
78. Just over half (51.1%) had at
least an undergraduate degree.
Most of the businesses (56.6%)
were service based, mainly in the
Gauteng or Western Cape prov-
inces (70.3%). They were mostly
in the financial, manufacturing
and business services industries
(31.7%). On average, the busi-
nesses were five years old.
The women were asked
or data that may travel across
the specific ISP network,” it said.
In a media bulletin on Thurs-
day, Converge chief operations
officer Jesus Romero noted how
the company doubled the speed
of its base plan to 100 Mbps to
provide a better experience to
its customers.
“We’re back on top this July
in Netflix’s ISP Speed Index
since we’ve been able to main-
tain consistent speeds that are
ideal for streaming and down-
loading videos on high-quality
resolution,” Romero said.
www.canadianinquirer.net
Business
which entrepreneurial expo-
sure they were exposed to be-
fore starting their businesses.
The study showed that prior en-
trepreneurial exposure made a
noticeable difference in a wom-
an’s likelihood of pursuing her
entrepreneurial goals.
The reason for this is simple.
Women typically face conflict-
ing identity roles. They find
themselves caught between tra-
ditional “feminine” roles and
their desire to start businesses,
an activity that is generally un-
derstood to be more “mascu-
line”. But if women see other
women pursuing and being suc-
cessful in an entrepreneurial en-
The Netflix ISP Speed In-
dex Philippines is a monthly
ranking of ISPs based on their
ability to give the best prime-
time viewing experience on the
streaming platform.
25
vironment, they are more likely
to follow that path themselves.
Women need to hone their
entrepreneurial competencies
if they want to commit to being
self-employed. These competen-
cies include the knowledge, skills
and abilities that contribute to-
wards entrepreneurial action.
Therefore, together with prior
exposure, it can enhance the as-
piring entrepreneur’s likelihood
of starting a business because of
the learning that it provides.
Entrepreneurial compe-
tencies
The research showed that
leadership, innovativeness,
curiosity, self-efficacy and mo-
tivation are some of the com-
petencies that women entre-
preneurs need to start their
own businesses.
1. Leadership means devel-
oping a vision, sharing it, and
encouraging others to follow
it. Entrepreneurship conveys
an entirely new vision for an
emerging venture.
2. Innovativeness is the
ability to develop new products,
services and business models
that generate profits.
3. Curiosity is the key in-
gredient that leads entrepre-
neurs to find new solutions to
customers’ problems. The link
between entrepreneurial curi-
osity and entrepreneurial ac-
tion is strong. A curious wom-
❱❱ PAGE 29 Want to get
Having faster performance
on Netflix translates to general-
ly having better picture quality,
quicker start times, and fewer
interruptions. ■
26
Social network BeReal shares unfiltered and
unedited moments from our lives - will it last?
BY EMILY WADE, Deakin
University
The Conversation
BeReal hit the social net-
working scene in late 2019 but
didn’t take off until downloads
started skyrocketing in 2022.
So, what is BeReal all about, and
is it here to stay?
BeReal is based in France and
was founded by Alexis Barreyat
in December 2019. At this stage,
it doesn’t feature any paid ad-
vertising and is funded by ven-
ture capital. Although the big
names such as TikTok, You-
Tube and Instagram still dom-
inate global social networking
popularity rankings, BeReal’s
rapid growth has grabbed at-
tention this year.
BeReal reached number one
on the iPhone charts for free
apps in July 2022 and currently
has more than 21 million active
users per month.
The platform works by send-
ing one randomly timed noti-
fication per day to users and
gives them two minutes to take
simultaneous photos with the
front and back cameras on their
phone and share it with friends.
Users cannot manipulate the
timing of the notification and
it’s sent at the same time to ev-
ery global user.
BeReal mandates no filters,
no editing, no followers (except
friends), and no cheating.
Although users can delay
their daily photo, friends will
see that the post was late and
how many photo attempts were
Technology
made. On the App Store, the
company says “BeReal is your
chance to show your friends
who you really are, for once”.
Reality and gamification
But the risk here is that re-
ality can be boring. To combat
this, BeReal has employed sev-
eral gamification strategies to
keep users engaged.
Gamification is the appli-
cation of game elements in
non-gaming contexts, which
means the fun parts of games
can be applied to other things,
including social media. BeRe-
al uses scarcity (limiting users
to one post per day) and mys-
tery (users don’t know ahead
of time when the notification
will appear) to hook users. And
like Snapchat, photos disappear
after 24 hours. Disappearing
media can be an incredibly ef-
fective motivator – users check
the app regularly because they
don’t want to miss out.
If you’ve ever known the dev-
astation of losing a Snapchat
streak, you understand how
gamification can emotionally
engage us. But the trade-off is
that gamification strategies can
also be addictive.
So, although BeReal is try-
ing to move away from some
of the negative cultures (and
endless scrolling) that have de-
veloped around platforms like
Instagram, users could still end
up frustrated and tied to their
phones, waiting for the daily
notification.
Despite potential frustra-
tions, people are nevertheless
flocking to BeReal.
SEPTEMBER 2, 2022 FRIDAY
What’s the big deal with Reviews on the App Store and eras simultaneously on Reels.
BeReal? Google Play reveal users who Although this feature alone
BeReal’s growth in 2022 has love the concept of the app but doesn’t copy the complete Be-
largely been driven by its col- have been frustrated by techni- Real experience, it’s likely only
lege ambassador program in the cal issues. It’s a promising sign the beginning of competitor
United States and United King- that developers have been re- pressure.
dom, where college students sponsive to these reports, but Ultimately, for an app that
are recruited as paid ambassa- fixing bugs is just one of several by design resists virality and
dors for the brand, and BeReal’s challenges BeReal faces. “doesn’t care if you have mil-
ethos appears to be resonating For long-term viability, Be- lions of followers or if you’re
with users. Real needs to consider how ad- verified”, keeping enough users
In an age when the Instagram vertising or other commercial engaged in the long term could
algorithm requires some seri- partnerships will appear on the be difficult.
ous strategy to navigate, and app, and the impact these might Perhaps the biggest question
influencer culture is dominant, have on user experience. Com- is, are our daily unfiltered and
some young people are search- petitors also have their eyes unedited lives too mundane to
ing for a different and more keenly trained on BeReal. keep us coming back for more? ■
authentic online experience. In July 2022, Instagram Dual
Tired of finding the perfect light was launched, which allows us- This article is republished
or event for an Instagram post, ers to snap photos with their from The Conversation under a
sharing random daily moments phone’s front and back cam- Creative Commons license.
on BeReal can be liberating.
Steph, a 27-year-old BeReal
user and full-time marketing of-
ficer, said that sometimes when
she sees her friends’ photos on
the app, “it’s nice reassurance
that I’m not the only one who
sits at home and does nothing”.
She gestures to the validation
that social media users seek
(consciously or unconsciously),
and her relief in knowing “it’s
not just me”.
Does BeReal have staying
power?
Steph explains that although
the app has been fun to exper-
iment with, some features can
be annoying, such as notifica-
tions that pop up in the middle
of the night, and difficulty in
framing both photos because
you can only see one view at a
time. “I have a feeling this app
may not last,” she said. (PHILIPPINE CANADIAN INQUIRER)
www.canadianinquirer.net
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2022
YouTube: how a team of scientists worked to
inoculate a million users against misinformation
BY JON ROOZENBEEK,
University of Cambridge,
SANDER VAN DER
LINDEN, University of
Cambridge, STEPHAN
LEWANDOWSKY, University
of Bristol
The Conversation
From the COVID-19 pandemic
to the war in Ukraine, misinfor-
mation is rife worldwide. Many
tools have been designed to help
people spot misinformation. The
problem with most of them is how
hard they are to deliver at scale.
But we may have found a
solution. In our new study we
designed and tested five short
videos that “prebunk” viewers,
in order to inoculate them from
the deceptive and manipulative
techniques often used online to
mislead people. Our study is the
largest of its kind and the first to
test this kind of intervention on
YouTube. Five million people
were shown the videos, of which
one million watched them.
We found that not only do
these videos help people spot
misinformation in controlled
experiments, but also in the
real world. Watching one of our
videos via a YouTube ad boost-
ed YouTube users’ ability to
recognise misinformation.
As opposed to prebunking,
debunking (or fact-checking)
misinformation has several
problems. It’s often difficult
to establish what the truth is.
Fact-checks also frequently
fail to reach the people who are
most likely to believe the mis-
information, and getting peo-
ple to accept fact-checks can be
challenging, especially if people
have a strong political identity.
Festivals must do...
❰❰ 16 ness of sexual violence.
The Association en-
courages festivals to
take the issue seriously, with an
approach that means all disclo-
sures are believed and taken se-
riously in their prevention and
response initiatives.
Partnering with sexual vio-
lence specialist services such
as Rape Crisis and grassroots
campaign organisations like
Safe Gigs For Women and Good
Studies show that publishing
fact-checks online does not fully
reverse the effects of misinfor-
mation, a phenomenon known
as the continued influence effect.
So far, researchers have struggled
to find a solution that can rapidly
reach millions of people.
The big idea
Inoculation theory is the
notion that you can forge psy-
chological resistance against
attempts to manipulate you,
much like a medical vaccine is
a weakened version of a patho-
gen that prompts your immune
system to create antibodies.
Prebunking interventions are
mostly based on this theory.
Most models have focused
on counteracting individual ex-
amples of misinformation, such
as posts about climate change.
However, in recent years re-
searchers including ourselves
have explored ways to inoculate
people against the techniques
and tropes that underlie much
of the misinformation we see
online. Such techniques include
the use of emotive language
to trigger outrage and fear, or
the scapegoating of people and
groups for an issue they have
little-to-no control over.
Online games such as Cranky
Uncle and Bad News were
among the first attempts to try
this prebunking method. There
are several advantages to this
approach. You don’t have to act
as the arbiter of truth as you
don’t have to fact-check specific
claims you see online. It allows
you to side-step emotive dis-
cussions about the credibility
of news sources. And perhaps
most importantly, you do not
need to know what piece of mis-
information will go viral next.
Night Out would be a welcome
step - one that some festi-
vals have taken. For example,
Boomtown had Safer Spaces at
their festival this year.
But more needs to be done.
It requires commitment from
all festivals at all levels, work-
ing together with specialist
agencies and women who have
experienced sexual violence, to
create a coordinated strategy to
improve women’s safety at fes-
The amount of information online is overwhelming.
A scalable approach
But not everyone has the
time or motivation to play a
game – so we collaborated with
Jigsaw (Google’s research unit)
on a solution to reach more of
these people. Our team devel-
oped five prebunking videos,
each lasting less than two min-
utes, which aimed to immunise
viewers against a different ma-
nipulation technique or logical
fallacy. As part of the project,
we launched a website where
people can watch and download
these videos.
We first tested their impact
in the lab. We ran six experi-
ments (with about 6,400 partic-
ipants in total) in which people
watched one of our videos or an
unrelated control video about
freezer burn. Afterwards, with-
in 24 hours of viewing the video,
they were asked to evaluate a se-
ries of (unpublished) social me-
dia content examples that either
did or did not make use of misin-
formation techniques. We found
that people who saw our pre-
tivals, alongside better data col-
lection and sharing to ensure
swift responses to issues on site
and wider prevention through
safety planning. More broadly,
festivals need to address line-
ups and other areas of gender
inequality to set a wider cultur-
al change in motion. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
www.canadianinquirer.net
Technology
bunking videos were significant-
ly less liable to manipulation
than the control participants.
But findings from lab studies
do not necessarily translate to
the real world. So we also ran
a field study on YouTube, the
world’s second-most visited
website (owned by Google), to
test the effectiveness of the vid-
eo interventions there.
For this study we focused
on US YouTube users over 18
years old who had previous-
ly watched political content
on the platform. We ran an ad
campaign with two of our vid-
eos, showing them to around
1 million YouTube users. Next
we used YouTube’s BrandLift
engagement tool to ask people
who saw a prebunking video
to answer one multiple-choice
question. The question as-
sessed their ability to identify
a manipulation technique in a
news headline. We also had a
control group, which answered
the same survey question but
didn’t see the prebunking video.
Districts to get...
❰❰ 7 sector, arguing that
the agency is earning
“tens of billions of pe-
sos” a year for the government
and for its numerous public ser-
vice programs.
“I am strongly against pri-
vatizing it,” Rodriguez said. “So
why kill, or more appropriately,
why sell the goose that lays the
golden eggs?”
Rodriguez, however, suggest-
ed that PAGCOR should stop
27
We found the prebunking group
was 5-10% better than the con-
trol group at correctly identi-
fying misinformation, showing
that this approach improves
resilience even in a distracting
environment like YouTube.
Our videos would cost less
than 4p per video view (this
would cover YouTube adver-
tising fees). As a result of this
study, Google is going to run
an ad campaign using similar
videos in September 2022. This
campaign will be run in Po-
land and the Czech Republic to
counter disinformation about
refugees within the context of
the Russia-Ukraine war.
When you are trying to build
resilience, it is useful to avoid
being too direct in telling peo-
ple what to believe, because that
might trigger something called
psychological reactance. Reac-
tance means that people feel
their freedom to make decisions
is being threatened, leading to
them digging their heels in and
rejecting new information. Inoc-
ulation theory is about empow-
ering people to make their own
decisions about what to believe.
At times, the spread of con-
spiracy theories and false in-
formation online can be over-
whelming. But our study has
shown it is possible to turn the
tide. The more that social me-
dia platforms work together
with independent scientists
to design, test and implement
scalable, evidence-based solu-
tions, the better our chances of
making society immune to the
onslaught of misinformation. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
being a regulator and operator
at the same time.
He proposed the creation of a
Casino Gaming Regulatory Au-
thority so that PAGCOR could
continue to be a gaming-casino
operator.
“It’s not fair to businessmen
investing in casinos. This situ-
ation of PAGCOR being a regu-
lator and a player is not condu-
cive to attracting investments,”
he said. ■
28
Take Camping to The Next Level
With Seven Luxe Glamping Stays
BOOKING.COM
While many travelers may en-
joy getting off the grid, pitching
a tent and roughing it for a few
days, it’s not for everyone. In
fact, almost half (45%) of global
travelers prefer to stay in luxury
accommodations* to ensure they
receive special treatment and
pampering. But with 83% report-
ing that beautiful natural scen-
ery is a key motivation for their
next trip,* opting for a glamping
experience will make it possible
to get up close and personal with
nature without having to sacri-
fice on home comforts. With the
campfire calling and the stars
awaiting, we have selected seven
of the best luxe camping experi-
ences in wild spaces around the
world. From cool dome-shaped
tents in rural Colombia to beach-
front cabanas in India and ex-
travagant campsites in the Mo-
roccan desert, going off grid has
never been more appealing.
Oxygen Lodge Agafay in
Agafay, Morocco
For a special glamping stay,
this lavish lodge is nestled in
the heart of the 25 mile (40 km)
moon-like desert southwest of
Marrakesh. Experience a unique
yet majestic stay in the spacious
and stylish tents, each with a
private bathroom. Featuring all
the comforts of a luxury hotel,
including an infinity pool, sun
terrace and restaurant serving
tasty Berber dishes, there’s even
a tea and fire ceremony that
takes place every sunset for all
the guests. The Agafay Desert
is an adventure playground for
those keen to experience the
great outdoors; horse-riding is a
popular way to explore the sur-
rounding desert, as is canoeing
on the nearby man-made reser-
voir, Lalla Takerkoust. For spec-
tacular views of the Atlas Moun-
tains, visitors can embark on a
Desert Camel Safari at golden
hour for an unforgettable cam-
el ride across the rolling sand
dunes. Back at camp, the vast
star-filled African night sky is
Travel
the biggest attraction and is ab-
solutely mesmerizing on a crys-
tal-clear night.
Mendocino Grove in Men-
docino, United States
Abundant with natural beau-
ty, Mendocino is a scenic des-
tination in northern California
just a few hour’s drive from San
Francisco. The town is located
on a headland surrounded by
the Pacific Ocean and is home to
the tallest Redwood trees in the
world and the only oceanfront
botanical gardens. Mendocino
Grove, nestled in a charming,
wooded area, offers the finest
glamping adventure with stun-
ning platform tents for an ex-
ceedingly comfortable stay. The
grove is just a short walk away
from the beach where diving
and whale watching are popular,
and a trip to the Mendocino Art
Center to experience the town’s
artistic community is a must.
Get to know the area on a Scenic
Train Tour offering a leisurely
journey through spectacular
countryside into the Noyo Riv-
er’s majestic canyon.
Plage Cachée - Glamping in
Vrboska, Croatia
The most glorious thing about
this hidden gem on the sunny is-
land of Hvar is that it comes with
its own private beach so guests
can take a secluded dip in the
sea. There’s also a boat berth for
those who want to get out and
explore the aquamarine waters.
Situated in the picturesque town
of Vrbosk and surrounded by un-
touched pine forests, the tents
have a beautiful rustic bohemian
décor, each with a decked private
patio with a sea view, hammocks
shaded by the trees and a fully
equipped kitchen and separate
bathroom. Vbroska is sometimes
referred to as Little Venice as it
lies at the bottom of a narrow
curving fiord with several bridg-
es which visitors can explore. A
Yacht Tour of the Blue and Green
Caves of Hvar where travelers
can swim and snorkel in the crys-
tal-clear waters of the Blue La-
goon will also tempt guests away
from this luxury hideaway.
Cabo Serai in Canacona,
India
For travelers looking to es-
cape the hustle and bustle with
a tranquil stay on the beach,
look no further. Cabo Serai is
located on the beachfront in
Canacona, South Goa, where
secluded bays, winding streams
and hidden caves are all waiting
to be explored. This charming
resort allows guests to con-
nect with nature with generous
modern comforts. Featuring
air-conditioned wooden caban-
as and tents with indigenous
details and natural fabrics, all
are ocean-facing whilst nestled
in a forest of coconut groves and
creeks. Cano Serais’s philosophy
is to promote wellbeing and,
with three quarters (75%) of
global travelers reporting that
travel is an essential part of their
self care,** there’s a raft of offer-
ings from beach yoga and forest
bathing to Ayurvedic massages
and bird walks. A wellness-fo-
cused menu made from organic
produce can be savored around
the resort; from breakfast in the
bay to sundowners on the shore
watching the magnificent Goan
sunset. The area is well known
for its religious temples, seafood
delicacies and beautiful beaches
including Cola Beach and Ka-
kolem Beach which are just a
short walk away.
www.canadianinquirer.net
Currajong Retreat in Bur-
ragate, Australia
For travelers looking for a real
Australian outback experience,
this blissful retreat can be found
in the small rural location of
Burragate in New South Wales.
Guests may be deep in the Aus-
tralian bush, but this opulent
oasis provides private veran-
dahs with a stunning outdoor
bath overlooking the Towamba
river and the South East Nation-
al Park – perfect for star-filled
night skies and secluded sun-
bathing. Roomy tents are ideal
for couples and include a dou-
ble bed, lounge, fully equipped
kitchen and private ensuite
with a waterfall shower. The liv-
ing area is also kitted out with a
wood burner for guests to cozy
up in cooler climes. Surrounding
gardens feature barbecue facili-
ties to cook up a storm and toast
marshmallows on the campfire.
Situated near the Egan Peaks
Nature Reserve and the Nether-
cote Falls waterfalls, hiking and
fishing are popular activities in
the area – or hang out with the
awesome mob of goats in the
farmland around the retreat.
Lodg’ing Nature Camp Lu-
beron in Saint-Michel-l’Ob-
servatoire, France
This nature camp is situated
in the charming commune of
Saint-Michel-l’Observatoire in
SEPTEMBER 2, 2022 FRIDAY
southeastern France, famous
as the hometown of the Haute
Provence Observatory. Regard-
ed by astronomers as the best
European low-altitude obser-
vatory to study the stars, this
destination is a sublime spot
for stargazing travelers. Nestled
in a beautiful forest, guests will
feel fully immersed in nature all
while within walking distance
of the nearest village. The safa-
ri-style teepee tents with comfy
beds can accommodate up to
six people, ideal for families or
a group of friends. For a special
day out, visitors can take a sce-
nic drive to Plateau de Valensole
for a Lavender Fields Tour at a
family-run farm to invigorate
the senses. Back at camp, after a
peaceful sleep in the wild under
an exceptional night’s sky, fresh-
ly baked complimentary crois-
sants are on offer for breakfast.
Guaia Terra Glamping in
Pacho, Colombia
Cradled by the Andean peaks
in rural Colombia just north of
its beating heart, Bogotá, this
tranquil site features epic dome-
shaped tents each with a private
decked terrace and hot tub for
a truly luxurious stay. An in-
dulgent massage service from a
panoramic platform with views
of the luscious green valley is
❱❱ PAGE 30 Take Camping to
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2022
Plunger, espresso, filter? Just because your
coffee is bitter, doesn’t mean it’s ‘stronger’
BY EMMA BECKETT,
University of Newcastle
The Conversation
Coffee – one bean with many
possibilities. A big choice is
how to brew it: espresso, filter,
plunger, percolator, instant and
more. Each method has unique
equipment, timing, tempera-
ture, pressure, and coffee grind
and water needs.
Our choices of brewing
method can be cultural, social
or practical. But how much do
they really impact what’s in
your cup?
Which is the strongest
brew?
It depends. If we focus on caf-
feine concentration, on a mil-
ligram per millilitre (mg/ml)
basis espresso methods are typi-
cally the most concentrated, able
to deliver up to 4.2 mg/ml. This
is about three times higher than
other methods like Moka pot (a
type of boiling percolator) and
cold brewing at about 1.25 mg/ml.
Drip and plunger methods (in-
cluding French and Aero-press)
are about half that again.
Espresso methods extract
the most caffeine for a few rea-
sons. Using the finest grind
means there is more contact
between the coffee and water.
Espresso also uses pressure,
pushing more compounds out
into the water. While other
methods brew for longer, this
doesn’t impact caffeine. This is
Cost of living...
❰❰ 24 ic tenancy in England
and Wales, your land-
lord can serve a Sec-
tion 21 “no fault” notice. This
gives you two months’ notice to
leave the property without rea-
son for eviction.
If you stay beyond the two
months, the landlord can take
you to court – and if they have
done everything by the book, the
court has to grant possession to
the landlord. The UK government
Food
The French press or coffee plunger was actually invented in Italy, despite its
modern name.
because caffeine is water sol-
uble and easy to extract, so it’s
released early in brewing.
But these comparisons are
made based on typical ex-
traction situations, not typical
consumption situations.
So, while espresso gives you
the most concentrated product,
this is delivered in a smaller
volume ( just 18–30ml), com-
pared to much larger volumes
for most other methods. These
volumes of course vary depend-
ing on the maker, but a recent
Italian study defined a typical
final serve of filter, percolator
and cold brews as 120ml.
Based on this maths, cold brew
actually comes out as the highest
dose of caffeine per serve with al-
most 150mg – even higher than
the 42–122mg totals found in
finished espresso. Although cold
has announced plans to end Sec-
tion 21 evictions, but so far, there
is no date for these changes. ■
This article is not intended to
be in-depth legal advice. If you
have questions about your sit-
uation, talk to a housing advice
charity such as Shelter or Citi-
zens Advice.
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
brew uses cold water, and a larg-
er grind size, it is brewed with a
high coffee to water ratio, with
extra beans needed in the brew.
Of course, “standard serves” are
a concept not a reality – you can
multiply serves and supersize
any coffee beverage!
With the rising price of cof-
fee, you might also be inter-
ested in extraction efficiency
– how much caffeine you get for
each gram of coffee input.
Interestingly, most methods
are actually pretty similar. Espres-
so methods vary but give an aver-
age of 10.5 milligrams per gram
(mg/g), compared to 9.7–10.2mg/
g for most other methods. The
only outlier is the French press,
with just 6.9mg/g of caffeine.
‘Strength’ is more than
just caffeine
Caffeine content only ex-
Want to get...
❰❰ 25 an entrepreneur with
prior entrepreneurial
exposure is more like-
ly to take action because their
interest allows them to identify
and exploit opportunities based
on their experience.
4. Self-efficacy is the per-
ceived capability to perform
certain tasks. It influences an
individual’s choice of activities,
goal levels, persistence and per-
formance. For women entrepre-
www.canadianinquirer.net
plains a small part of the
strength of coffee. Thousands
of compounds are extracted,
contributing to aroma, flavour
and function. Each has their
own pattern of extraction, and
they can interact with each oth-
er to inhibit or enhance effects.
The oils responsible for the
crema – the rich brown ‘foam’ on
top of the brew – are also extract-
ed more easily with high tem-
peratures, pressures, and fine
grinds (another potential win
for espresso and Moka). These
methods also give higher levels of
dissolved solids, meaning a less
watery consistency – but, again,
this all depends on how the final
product is served and diluted.
To further complicate mat-
ters – the receptors that detect
caffeine and the other bitter
compounds are highly variable
between individuals due to ge-
netics and training from our
usual exposures. This means
the same coffee samples could
invoke diverse perceptions of
their bitterness and strength in
different people.
There are also differences
in how sensitive we are to the
stimulant effects of caffeine. So
what we are looking for in a cup,
and getting from it, is depen-
dent on our own unique biology.
Is there a healthier brew?
Depending on the headline
or the day, coffee might be pre-
sented as a healthy choice, or
an unhealthy one. This is partly
explained by our optimism bias
neurs it has been proved that
self-efficacy can be strength-
ened through prior experience,
having role models, receiving
words of encouragement, and
enjoying positive well-being.
5. Motivation refers to an in-
dividual’s desire for significant
accomplishment or mastering
of skills. So, the more motivated
a woman entrepreneur is, the
more vigorously she will pursue
her entrepreneurial endeavours.
29
(of course we want coffee to be
good for us!) but may also be
due to the difficulty of studying
products like coffee, where it
is difficult to capture the com-
plexity of brewing methods and
other variables.
Some studies have suggested
that coffee’s health impacts are
brew type specific. For exam-
ple, filter coffee has been linked
to more positive cardiovascular
outcomes in the elderly.
This link might be a coinci-
dence, based on other habits that
coexist, but there is some evi-
dence that filter coffee is health-
ier because more diterpenes (a
chemical found in coffee which
might be linked to raising levels
of bad cholesterol) are left in the
coffee and the filter, meaning
less make it to the cup.
The bottom line?
Each brewing method has its
own features and inputs. This
gives each one a unique pro-
file of flavour, texture, appear-
ance and bioactive compounds.
While the complexity is real
and interesting, ultimately, how
to brew is a personal choice.
Different information and
situations will drive different
choices in different people and
on different days. Not every
food and drink choice needs to
be optimised! ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
When women have the oppor-
tunity to watch each other grow
and succeed in business, they are
encouraged to do the same.
Policy makers must design
interventions that make use of
women’s prior entrepreneurial
exposure, and boosts the right
set of competencies. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
 30
What’s behind America’s
pickle craze?
BY KENNETH SYMSACK,
Colorado State University,
JEFFREY MILLER, Colorado
State University
The Conversation
Move over bacon and ranch
dressing. There’s a new hot fla-
vor in town.
A pickle craze is sweeping the
nation, with dill pickle toppings
and seasonings in such high de-
mand that they’re appearing on
popcorn, chewing gum, seeds
and nuts.
The pickle obsessed can now
order a pickle pizza with a side
of pickle potato chips and wash
it down with a pickle beer.
Need dessert? Choose from
pickle cotton candy, pickle ice
cream and pickle marshmal-
lows. Or you can head over to
your local Sonic Drive-In and
order a Pickle Juice Slush.
Yet for all the hoopla, pickles
remain an acquired taste that
some are never able to appre-
ciate. Part of the reason may be
rooted in your personality. But if
you’re able to get over that initial
aversion, pickles can become
perfect complement to any dish.
A cornerstone of civilization
In the U.S., pickles tend to be
associated with the cucumber,
but they can come from any
fruit or vegetable preserved in
an acidic solution or brine.
Having preserved food avail-
able regardless of the season
allowed populations to grow
and civilizations to develop.
With their long shelf life, pick-
les helped humans traverse the
world by foot, animal and boat;
Take Camping to...
❰❰ 28 available, and guests
can kick back and re-
lax at the cocktail bar
or restaurant, which serves up
delicious locally sourced food
with second-to-none service.
The property has a Booking.com
Travel Sustainable badge for the
impactful efforts it has taken to
offer a more sustainable stay for
its guests, and offers bike rental
so guests can explore the sur-
rounding area; the fascinating
underground Zipaquira Salt
Cathedral built deep in the tun-
nels of a salt mine, and the flora
Food
helped feed troops fighting in
wars; and were also touted for
various benefits such as pre-
venting scurvy.
The popularity of the dill pick-
le – which many in the U.S. con-
sider “the” preeminent pickled
fruit or vegetable – is attributed
to two sources. Dutch farmers
started growing cucumbers in
Brooklyn in the 17th century
that were eventually pickled and
sold. Then, in the late 1800s and
early 1900s, surges of Eastern
European Jewish immigrants
brought kosher dill pickles to
New York City.
Yet as chefs and teachers,
we’re not surprised that Burg-
er King’s famed jingle, “Have
it Your Way,” begins with the
omission of the pickle: “Hold
the pickles / Hold the lettuce /
Special orders don’t upset us…”
For all there is to love about
pickles – they can be crunchy,
sweet and acidic – they possess
certain qualities that can make
some people squeamish.
Sour and slimy can be a
turnoff
For one, they’re sour.
Most pickles are sour be-
cause they soak for a long time
in a salty brine. This long soak
causes acetic acid bacteria
known as acetobacter to grow
and multiply. In a sense, pickles
create their own vinegar, and
that makes them sour.
The ability to detect a sour taste
in foods likely came from our
aquatic ancestors, who acquired
the ability to determine the safety
of their environment by detecting
abnormalities in acidity.
There are also some evolu-
and fauna of Santuario Chiquito
park are well worth a visit. ■
*Research commissioned by
Booking.com and independent-
ly conducted among a sample of
48,413 respondents across 31 mar-
kets (2,000 from USA, 1,864 from
Canada, 1,999 from Mexico, 2,003
from Colombia, 2,005 from Bra-
zil, 2,002 from Argentina, 1,020
from Chile, 1,777 from Australia,
818 from New Zealand, 1,999 from
Spain, 2,002 from Italy, 1,998 from
France, 1,990 from UK, 2,005 from
Germany, 2,003 from Netherlands,
tionary advantages for enjoying
the mouth-puckering sensation.
The same lactic fermentation
necessary for early pickles also
served as a green light for omni-
vores that a food was safe to con-
sume, as lactic acid limits the re-
production of harmful bacteria.
This might explain why some
have developed a taste for it and
others haven’t.
In one study of children,
their mothers, their ability to
detect sour and their prefer-
ences for the taste, virtually all
could accurately determine and
rank acid levels in gelatin. How-
ever, some children preferred
the highest concentration of
acid levels – in other words,
the most sour foods. Others
blanched at it.
The authors indicate that it is
unclear why this phenomenon
occurs. They hypothesized that
an affinity for sour flavors could
be related to a child’s propen-
sity for adventure. And there
does seem to be a strong cor-
relation between the aversion
to sour in both children and
adults and their unwillingness
to try new foods.
Preservation methods also
change food textures, and food
aversions are rooted in texture
as much as flavor or smell. The
texture of a pickle can be off-put-
ting for some people; foods de-
scribed as “slippery” or “slimy”
are ranked at the top for adult
picky eaters. Both words could
be used to describe a pickle.
A ‘new dill’ for the Ameri-
can people
But if you can grow to ap-
preciate the texture and taste,
985 from Denmark, 999 from Swe-
den, 910 from Croatia, 918 from
Switzerland, 1,986 from Belgium,
998 from Russia, 953 from Israel,
1,999 from India, 1,990 from Chi-
na, 901 from Hong Kong, 1,775
from Thailand, 1,001 from Singa-
pore, 975 from Taiwan, 1,800 from
Vietnam, 1,757 from South Korea,
1,001 from Japan). In order to par-
ticipate in this survey, respondents
had to be 18 years of age or older,
had to have traveled at least once
for business or leisure in the past
12 months, and planning to travel
in 2022 and be either the primary
www.canadianinquirer.net
there’s a world of possible pick-
le pairings.
Pickles work well in so many
dishes because the leading fla-
vors in most main dishes are
fat, umami, salt, something
creamy and frequently some-
thing sweet. Pickles add acidity
and crunch and balance out the
dish. Burger King may sound
eager to hold the pickle upon
request, but a burger with a
pickle – from a sensory per-
spective – is a better burger.
Seen this way, the pickle’s in-
corporation into pretty much
everything starts to make more
sense. Take, for instance, its
surging popularity as a pizza
topping. Much like that burger,
pizza has yeasty bread, tomato
sauce for acid and sweetness,
mozzarella for fatty, rich, and
creamy textures, and then all
the other toppings you choose
to put on to suit your needs.
In the case of the pickle pizzas,
the most popular kind is served
with a white sauce or olive oil,
which adds even more fat and
richness to an already-cheesy
dish, giving the pie an unbal-
anced flavor profile. But pickles
decision maker or involved in the
decision making of their travel. The
survey was taken online and took
place in January 2022.
**Research commissioned
by Booking.com and conducted
among a sample of adults who
plan to travel for business or lei-
sure in the next 12-24 months. In
total 24,055 respondents across
31 countries and territories were
polled (including 501 from Argen-
tina, 1003 from Australia, 500
from Belgium, 1001 from Brazil,
500 from Canada, 1000 from Chi-
na, 1007 from Colombia, 1001 from
SEPTEMBER 2, 2022 FRIDAY
restore the flavor balance by in-
troducing acidity and adding a
texture that wasn’t there before.
You’re also adding the tempera-
ture contrast and flavors of gar-
lic, dill and subtle spice.
Dill pickle flavoring is versa-
tile because of the combination
of salty, sour and sweet, which
allows it to complement so
many items.
Take, for instance, potato
chips or sunflower seeds. These
are traditionally salty snacks
with a relatively neutral flavor,
which is why they so often have
flavors added to them. Pickle
flavoring adds sour and sweet
– which are a classic, balanced
duo – to the salty profile.
Pickle-flavored foods are ev-
erywhere because the profile
works well with almost any-
thing. But if you want to avoid
offending your friends with
your pickle breath, you might
want to avoid the pickle fla-
vored mints after dinner. ■
This article is republished
from The Conversation under a
Creative Commons license.
Croatia, 508 from Denmark, 1002
from France, 1000 from Germany,
1005 from Hong Kong, 1000 from
India, 502 from Israel, 1003 from
Italy, 1002 from Japan, 500 from
Mexico, 501 from The Nether-
lands, 501 from New Zealand, 500
from Peru, 1000 from Russia, 1005
from Singapore, 1002 from South
Korea, 1002 from Spain, 501 from
Sweden, 501 from Switzerland,
504 from Taiwan, 500 from Thai-
land, 1000 from the UK, 1002 from
the US and 501 from Vietnam).
Respondents completed an online
survey in August 2021.
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