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Sanctuary Advisors LLC Lowers Position in Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (NYSE:CM)There is a war in Europe. There is a desperate dictator looking to expand conflict to avoid scrutiny of his mission failure, a petty buffer country warlord pressed into service at the frontier of Poland, a propaganda machine silencing voices at home, convicts thrown at cannons, a neighbouring country being razed everywhere his forces tread, hundreds of thousands of casualties, a clear menace to global peace and rule of law festering 11 time zones across with a rogue mercenary army and leader sometimes fighting with the king, sometimes against. I listened to Spandau Ballet's Through the Barricades yesterday, and it's becoming an anthem of the moment when I think (as I do daily) about the destruction and slaughter in Europe. The folly of internecine strife was sung about widely in the 80s, and the message is clear today, yet not a one of our artists can string together a message that can reach across the political propaganda the citizenry are fogged with. Even if the Russian youth aren't getting Truth on television, nothing will stop the music reaching them, it didn't in the Soviet era and it won't now. A token metro station busk from two ageing Dublin rockers who sympathised with "the Ukraine" is about all I've seen. No concerts, no concerted efforts, no piercing ballads, no words can't that be unheard, no message that won't be quieted, no thread for the oppressed to cling to and form a line against the forces of Putin's aristocracy. All I hear is how more weapons are needed. The rotten edifice of the Putin regime and his vast hordes of dependants, cronies and shills must totter, and it must from within and underneath. Getting the message to Russians that the world isn't how it is sold to them, that they are propping up and fueling a genocidal despot who will throw everyone to the wolves before he will back down, is necessary to stop the war, and its spread. Who will sing that song? Where is the collective spirit of the 80s, when political upheaval, now fondly portrayed through archive footage as a time of bad haircuts and denims, was characterized by an era when these unfashionable people united to overthrow oppressive regimes, when people lined an entire country with arms linked in the Baltic States, when walls fell and hope and optimism replaced xenophobia and paranoia, albeit only for the demon of Russian autocracy to crawl from under the toppled statue of Communist control, and a new form of xenophobia and delusion metastasized to seek to take away the threat of progressive society. An early video from a Ukrainian commander at the front stuck with me, he was asked by the reporter, what do you want? He said (and I approximate his accent) "Weepons, weepons, weepons". It's time for more weapons... weapons that reach the Russians in their homes, in their society, in their conversations, in their dreams. The only weapons that can do that are the songs we can't shut out, and that make us brave. Putin is not going away any time soon, even if he fails to conquer Ukraine. His fall has to be precipitated from within, as does that of Lukashenko, Medvedev, Prigozhin and all the petty warlords who move his chess pieces for him, and attack and threaten annihilation to preserve their power, and avoid their day of judgment. There's an arsenal of weapons, weapons, weapons out there, and they cost nothing to produce. Words are weapons, but no-one will use them. Where are the singers? Where are the songs? GrimReefer said: There is a war in Europe. There is a desperate dictator looking to expand conflict to avoid scrutiny of his mission failure, a petty buffer country warlord pressed into service at the frontier of Poland, a propaganda machine silencing voices at home, convicts thrown at cannons, a neighbouring country being razed everywhere his forces tread, hundreds of thousands of casualties, a clear menace to global peace and rule of law festering 11 time zones across with a rogue mercenary army and leader sometimes fighting with the king, sometimes against. I listened to Spandau Ballet's Through the Barricades yesterday, and it's becoming an anthem of the moment when I think (as I do daily) about the destruction and slaughter in Europe. The folly of internecine strife was sung about widely in the 80s, and the message is clear today, yet not a one of our artists can string together a message that can reach across the political propaganda the citizenry are fogged with. Even if the Russian youth aren't getting Truth on television, nothing will stop the music reaching them, it didn't in the Soviet era and it won't now. A token metro station busk from two ageing Dublin rockers who sympathised with "the Ukraine" is about all I've seen. No concerts, no concerted efforts, no piercing ballads, no words can't that be unheard, no message that won't be quieted, no thread for the oppressed to cling to and form a line against the forces of Putin's aristocracy. All I hear is how more weapons are needed. The rotten edifice of the Putin regime and his vast hordes of dependants, cronies and shills must totter, and it must from within and underneath. Getting the message to Russians that the world isn't how it is sold to them, that they are propping up and fueling a genocidal despot who will throw everyone to the wolves before he will back down, is necessary to stop the war, and its spread. Who will sing that song? Where is the collective spirit of the 80s, when political upheaval, now fondly portrayed through archive footage as a time of bad haircuts and denims, was characterized by an era when these unfashionable people united to overthrow oppressive regimes, when people lined an entire country with arms linked in the Baltic States, when walls fell and hope and optimism replaced xenophobia and paranoia, albeit only for the demon of Russian autocracy to crawl from under the toppled statue of Communist control, and a new form of xenophobia and delusion metastasized to seek to take away the threat of progressive society. An early video from a Ukrainian commander at the front stuck with me, he was asked by the reporter, what do you want? He said (and I approximate his accent) "Weepons, weepons, weepons". It's time for more weapons... weapons that reach the Russians in their homes, in their society, in their conversations, in their dreams. The only weapons that can do that are the songs we can't shut out, and that make us brave. Putin is not going away any time soon, even if he fails to conquer Ukraine. His fall has to be precipitated from within, as does that of Lukashenko, Medvedev, Prigozhin and all the petty warlords who move his chess pieces for him, and attack and threaten annihilation to preserve their power, and avoid their day of judgment. There's an arsenal of weapons, weapons, weapons out there, and they cost nothing to produce. Words are weapons, but no-one will use them. Where are the singers? Where are the songs? Click to expand... It's a good point to be fair. But there is a drought of politics in music in general, not just on this issue, and has been for the last twenty years. Most current musical artists tend shy away from polarizing sibjects for fear of causing offence. The result is a largely bland, sub X factor, anemic, plastic music scene. Rainmaker said: But there is a drought of politics in music in general, not just on this issue, and has been for the last twenty years. Most current musical artists tend shy away from polarizing sibjects for fear of causing offence. The result is a largely bland, sub X factor, anemic, plastic music scene. Click to expand... Yes, this was the underlying malaise I felt. This is no longer an era of political consciousness. Plenty of war pigs Every Ukrainian pop song ever: Sync said: Every Ukrainian pop song ever: Click to expand... Oh I'm sorry, was I not being funny? GrimReefer said: Yes, this was the underlying malaise I felt. This is no longer an era of political consciousness. Click to expand... So ironic that those who would pour the froth of derision or worse over any dissent either to the Right or the Left of the Neo-Liberal consensus, no matter how mild, find people's apathy around politics a malaise. Golah veNekhar said: So ironic that those who would pour the froth of derision or worse over any dissent either to the Right or the Left of the Neo-Liberal consensus, no matter how mild, find people's apathy around politics a malaise. Click to expand... Source? Carol of the Bells does it for me. It captures the peace and freedom Ukraine is fighting for. Yes a few ballads will repulse the Russians. Weapons, weapons, weapons. GrimReefer said: I listened to Spandau Ballet's Through the Barricades yesterday, and it's becoming an anthem of the moment when I think (as I do daily) about the destruction and slaughter in Europe. Click to expand... That was about the conflict in NI. The invasion of Ukraine does not directly involve an English speaking country, American soldiers etc so it might not pierce public conscious here, music, films etc in the same way as, say, the Vietnam War. Wars have always been the subject of song, There have been some in Ukraine for HIMARS, Javelin etc. Not yet English ones (except the HIMARS version of "Do it again") that I am aware of only in Ukrainian. US did a song with Pavarotti during the Bosnian War called Miss Sarajevo. In fact, a Ukrainian song indirectly about the war (or the 2014 period of it, with reference back to the Stalin's expulsion of the Tatars) won the Eurovision in 2016. Apparently the Russians were livid that the song was allowed to enter the contest, let alone win. GrimReefer said: There is a war in Europe. There is a desperate dictator looking to expand conflict to avoid scrutiny of his mission failure, a petty buffer country warlord pressed into service at the frontier of Poland, a propaganda machine silencing voices at home, convicts thrown at cannons, a neighbouring country being razed everywhere his forces tread, hundreds of thousands of casualties, a clear menace to global peace and rule of law festering 11 time zones across with a rogue mercenary army and leader sometimes fighting with the king, sometimes against. I listened to Spandau Ballet's Through the Barricades yesterday, and it's becoming an anthem of the moment when I think (as I do daily) about the destruction and slaughter in Europe. The folly of internecine strife was sung about widely in the 80s, and the message is clear today, yet not a one of our artists can string together a message that can reach across the political propaganda the citizenry are fogged with. Even if the Russian youth aren't getting Truth on television, nothing will stop the music reaching them, it didn't in the Soviet era and it won't now. A token metro station busk from two ageing Dublin rockers who sympathised with "the Ukraine" is about all I've seen. No concerts, no concerted efforts, no piercing ballads, no words can't that be unheard, no message that won't be quieted, no thread for the oppressed to cling to and form a line against the forces of Putin's aristocracy. All I hear is how more weapons are needed. The rotten edifice of the Putin regime and his vast hordes of dependants, cronies and shills must totter, and it must from within and underneath. Getting the message to Russians that the world isn't how it is sold to them, that they are propping up and fueling a genocidal despot who will throw everyone to the wolves before he will back down, is necessary to stop the war, and its spread. Who will sing that song? Where is the collective spirit of the 80s, when political upheaval, now fondly portrayed through archive footage as a time of bad haircuts and denims, was characterized by an era when these unfashionable people united to overthrow oppressive regimes, when people lined an entire country with arms linked in the Baltic States, when walls fell and hope and optimism replaced xenophobia and paranoia, albeit only for the demon of Russian autocracy to crawl from under the toppled statue of Communist control, and a new form of xenophobia and delusion metastasized to seek to take away the threat of progressive society. An early video from a Ukrainian commander at the front stuck with me, he was asked by the reporter, what do you want? He said (and I approximate his accent) "Weepons, weepons, weepons". It's time for more weapons... weapons that reach the Russians in their homes, in their society, in their conversations, in their dreams. The only weapons that can do that are the songs we can't shut out, and that make us brave. Putin is not going away any time soon, even if he fails to conquer Ukraine. His fall has to be precipitated from within, as does that of Lukashenko, Medvedev, Prigozhin and all the petty warlords who move his chess pieces for him, and attack and threaten annihilation to preserve their power, and avoid their day of judgment. There's an arsenal of weapons, weapons, weapons out there, and they cost nothing to produce. Words are weapons, but no-one will use them. Where are the singers? Where are the songs? Click to expand... Great OP. Vietnam was the bloody womb in which so many songs of protest and reflection were gestated. From Dylan to CCR to Buffalo Springfield and The Animals, to name just a few. Since then? Lots of war but no memorable music. Not a solitary memorable song. The Cranberries' 'Zombie' became a classic but that war was local. But back in the 1960's and 70s, the rising generation of the time discovered that street protest (and campus protest) gave them a voice and made their elders reflect more deeply on the 'why' of the war in Vietnam. It also influenced voting habits, pricked consciences and forced the supporters of the war to explain events and crimes like My Lai and agent orange. The music moved them along, protestors and writers/singers feeding off each other's angst. This one summed it up for me; Dame_Enda said: Click to expand... The video built around that song is extremely moving. When Pavarotti broke into song on the stage Bono turned aside and shed a tear or two. This is an interesting read on the subject of music and the Vietnam War: Why the Vietnam War Produced Such Iconic Music Technology played a role time.com GrimReefer said: There is a war in Europe. There is a desperate dictator looking to expand conflict to avoid scrutiny of his mission failure, a petty buffer country warlord pressed into service at the frontier of Poland, a propaganda machine silencing voices at home, convicts thrown at cannons, a neighbouring country being razed everywhere his forces tread, hundreds of thousands of casualties, a clear menace to global peace and rule of law festering 11 time zones across with a rogue mercenary army and leader sometimes fighting with the king, sometimes against. I listened to Spandau Ballet's Through the Barricades yesterday, and it's becoming an anthem of the moment when I think (as I do daily) about the destruction and slaughter in Europe. The folly of internecine strife was sung about widely in the 80s, and the message is clear today, yet not a one of our artists can string together a message that can reach across the political propaganda the citizenry are fogged with. Even if the Russian youth aren't getting Truth on television, nothing will stop the music reaching them, it didn't in the Soviet era and it won't now. A token metro station busk from two ageing Dublin rockers who sympathised with "the Ukraine" is about all I've seen. No concerts, no concerted efforts, no piercing ballads, no words can't that be unheard, no message that won't be quieted, no thread for the oppressed to cling to and form a line against the forces of Putin's aristocracy. All I hear is how more weapons are needed. The rotten edifice of the Putin regime and his vast hordes of dependants, cronies and shills must totter, and it must from within and underneath. Getting the message to Russians that the world isn't how it is sold to them, that they are propping up and fueling a genocidal despot who will throw everyone to the wolves before he will back down, is necessary to stop the war, and its spread. Who will sing that song? Where is the collective spirit of the 80s, when political upheaval, now fondly portrayed through archive footage as a time of bad haircuts and denims, was characterized by an era when these unfashionable people united to overthrow oppressive regimes, when people lined an entire country with arms linked in the Baltic States, when walls fell and hope and optimism replaced xenophobia and paranoia, albeit only for the demon of Russian autocracy to crawl from under the toppled statue of Communist control, and a new form of xenophobia and delusion metastasized to seek to take away the threat of progressive society. An early video from a Ukrainian commander at the front stuck with me, he was asked by the reporter, what do you want? He said (and I approximate his accent) "Weepons, weepons, weepons". It's time for more weapons... weapons that reach the Russians in their homes, in their society, in their conversations, in their dreams. The only weapons that can do that are the songs we can't shut out, and that make us brave. Putin is not going away any time soon, even if he fails to conquer Ukraine. His fall has to be precipitated from within, as does that of Lukashenko, Medvedev, Prigozhin and all the petty warlords who move his chess pieces for him, and attack and threaten annihilation to preserve their power, and avoid their day of judgment. There's an arsenal of weapons, weapons, weapons out there, and they cost nothing to produce. Words are weapons, but no-one will use them. Where are the singers? Where are the songs? Click to expand... Great OP. For info, the Spandau Ballet song was about the murder by a British soldier of a Belfast man who'd previously worked for Spandau Ballet on tour: "We had a guy called 'Kidso' (Thomas Reilly), who worked for us on merchandise during the True tour. He went back to Belfast after the tour and was killed. Kidso's brother, Jim, who played drums for Stiff Little Fingers, subsequently took me along to see his grave and the song was inspired by walking down the Falls Road . I got to experience some of the emotion of that first-hand and it just stuck with me. I didn't expect it to come out in the shape of a Romeo and Juliet sort of song, but it did." Click to expand... Gary Kemp: When we played Through the Barricades in Belfast the reaction was incredible With their acrimonious split behind them, Eighties supergroup Spandau Ballet are back on the road and play Northern Ireland next month. Songwriter Gary Kemp tells Andrew Johnston how the band did a lot of growing up and finally found closure. www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk British soldier sentenced to life - UPI Archives The first British soldier to be convicted of murder while on duty in Northern Ireland has been sentenced to life in prison for the 1983 slaying of a Roman... www.upi.com On your general point, I think it's typical of the trend to turn us all into passive consumers of professionally-produced, or at least suitably filtered material that has no political comment that might annoy someone. Sex is grand for selling to people, but politics is verboten. Hewson said: This is an interesting read on the subject of music and the Vietnam War: Why the Vietnam War Produced Such Iconic Music Technology played a role time.com Click to expand... Really good, thanks. I note the reference to the music technology of the time, music played was music shared. A record player meant everyone got exposed. Now everything is personalised, and privately consumed. What I'm missing these days is something that can cause a connection between people who are remote from the war, and people who are in the v centre of it. A video was posted earlier in the thread of some amusing animations and soldiers celebrating HIMARS use. That means nothing to me. But Fortunate Son (also posted earlier) connects with everyone. The article, if I'm reading it right, implies that there's plenty of protest music being written, however it's not very viral (read : "good"). It's becoming difficult to protest through music, in a social network society where youth is chasing a mirage of perfection and seeking envy from their exploits. Equally, the West is buried in throes of dealing with gender obsession as a political and social priority that brooks no second place in discussion or importance. I recall reading about a decade ago in some CNN report, buried in a longer article about who gets to use which toilets in the States, how someone had claimed that the "greatest human rights crisis in the world today" was trans rights. I snorted, wondering whether the speaker was aware that women could not drive (then) in Saudi Arabia, or that girls were being mutilated in Africa. Cut to present day, and the Taoiseach is declaring that civil servants need training in personal pronoun use. And the media and education industries are piling into this, chasing a dollar. Technology, through personalisation of content and response to click / play trends just fans the flames of whatever bandwagon is in town (apologies for the mixed metaphor). Careers are built by clinging to this narrative. Academics get jobs and research funding, consultants spring up, talking heads with no discernible talent are given platforms and objectors are exiled. And this exact phenomenon plays into the hands of Putin and company, who point to the weakness of the "West". As long as the air is being sucked out of the room by this phenomenon - the combination of money, technology and manufactured crises - the war and the underlying menace to a rules based, connected global society thrives without its basis being threatened. Where are the singers? Where are the songs? The answer my friend is blowin in the wind. petaljam said: On your general point, I think it's typical of the trend to turn us all into passive consumers of professionally-produced, or at least suitably filtered material that has no political comment that might annoy someone. Sex is grand for selling to people, but politics is verboten. Click to expand... The right to offend isn't so much suppressed as it is entirely one sided. I'm offended by virtue signaling, I'm offended by toxic victimhood. And they're untouchable. Hewson said: The video built around that song is extremely moving. When Pavarotti broke into song on the stage Bono turned aside and shed a tear or two. Click to expand... This is a song that I do feel reached me, the story of a fight to preserve humanity and happiness in the hell of Sarajevo. It also started me wanting to learn Italian because i wanted to feel the lyrics the way they were expressed. Music moves us in ways that rationale just can't. It's how we express our emotional side, and it encourages us to make emotional decisions, often in forms of bravery that are really acts against rationale. The oppressor always uses the rationale of their oppressed wanting survival against overwhelming power, and so accepting the oppression. The music rewrites how we see our strength and gives us another source of power to act. Music shared is a basis for joint action and solidarity.
By Revin Mikhael D. Ochave, Reporter PHILIPPINE STOCKS ended 2024 on a cautious note following a tumultuous year for the market as many global central banks began their monetary easing cycles. The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) slipped by 0.15% or 10.23 points to close at 6,528.79 on Friday, the last trading day of 2024, while the broader all shares index gained by 0.44% or 16.73 points to 3,748.51. Week on week, the PSEi rose by 1.9% or 122.41 points versus its 6,406.38 finish on Dec. 20. Year on year, the PSEi was higher by 1.2% or 78.75 points from its end-2023 finish of 6,450.04. The index posted its highest close for 2024 on Oct. 7, ending at 7,554.68. On the other hand, its worst showing this year was its 6,158.48 finish on June 21. “We managed to end the year higher versus the previous year, our first yearly gain since 2019. It’s a small win, but a win nonetheless,” AP Securities, Inc. Research Head Alfred Benjamin R. Garcia said in a Viber message. “Monetary policy was the key driver this year, with an almost laser focus on interest rates.” The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in August cut rates for the first time since 2020, reducing benchmark borrowing costs by 25 basis points (bps). It made two more 25-bp reductions at its October and December meetings that brought the policy rate to 5.75%. Meanwhile, the US central bank began its easing cycle in September with a big 50-bp cut and followed it up with 25-bp reductions at each of its November and December meetings, bringing the fed funds rate to 4.25%-4.5%. Seven of the world’s 10 major, developed-market central banks cut rates this year, with only Australia and Norway still on hold, Reuters reported. Japan, the outlier, is in hiking mode. The Bank of Japan delivered its first rate hike in 17 years in March, ending years of ultra-loose policy. “It was a bittersweet culmination to a volatile year marked by steep rallies and corrections as hope turned into caution,” Chinabank Capital Corp. Managing Director Juan Paolo E. Colet added in a Viber message. “Just like 2023, this year again turned out to be fairly good for investors who were able to trade in and out of the major market waves.” Philippine stocks began 2024 on a positive note “because of falling inflation and optimism regarding the beginning of the rate cutting cycle,” COL Financial Group, Inc. Chief Equity Strategist April Lynn Lee-Tan said. “However, sentiment turned negative following the release of weaker than expected third quarter gross domestic product, disappointing third quarter earnings results, and concerns regarding the impact of a Trump presidency on Asian economies,” she said. Donald J. Trump is set to be inaugurated as the 47 th US President on Jan. 20. He has vowed to impose steep tariffs on goods coming from China, Mexico, and Canada and to raise levies on European Union nations. — with Reuters
Stock market today: Nasdaq hits a record as Wall Street drifts ahead of Federal Reserve's meeting( MENAFN - GetNews) Folsom Tech Week 2025: Northern California's Newest Innovation Event Announced, February 24-28, 2025 - Folsom, California FOLSOM, CA - The Granite City Entrepreneurship Foundation is thrilled to announce the launch of Folsom Tech Week 2025 , a four-day celebration of innovation, entrepreneurship, and technology. Taking place February 24-28, 2025 , in the heart of Northern California, the event promises to bring together thought leaders, technologists, entrepreneurs, government officials, and investors to explore transformative solutions for today's challenges. With the theme “Doing More with Less,” Folsom Tech Wee 2025 focuses on how technology, particularly AI, can revolutionize industries, enhance government efficiency, and empower entrepreneurs to innovate responsibly and effectively. Event Highlights Include: Matthew Loughran, Board Chair of the Granite City Entrepreneurship Foundation, expressed his excitement about the event's potential to inspire collaboration and drive innovation:“Folsom Tech Week is more than just an event-it's a movement to bring people together to tackle real-world challenges with creative solutions. By bridging the gap between public and private sectors, we're creating a platform where ideas become action, and innovation has a lasting impact on our communities.” The event will host some of the brightest minds in technology and innovation, including government officials, industry pioneers, and venture capitalists. Folsom Tech Week 2025 headquarters at Granite City CoWorking offers a rare opportunity for attendees to build connections, learn from experts, and contribute to shaping the future of technology and public service. Sponsorship and Participation Opportunities: Folsom Tech Week is currently welcoming sponsors, panel speakers, hackathon participants, and pitch competition applicants. About Granite City Entrepreneurship Foundation The Granite City Entrepreneurship Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering innovation, entrepreneurship, and community growth. Through events like Folsom Tech Week and TEDxFolsom, the Foundation empowers individuals and organizations to collaborate and create meaningful impact. MENAFN16122024003238003268ID1109000042 Legal Disclaimer: MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.
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I n June, Raman Bhatia walked into the fifth-floor office at Starling Bank’s headquarters in east London with a clean slate. It was set to be an antidote to a turbulent two years steering his former employer, Ovo, through an energy crisis and fines for overcharging customers . At the digital-only challenger bank, where he was taking over from the founder, Anne Boden, things looked more rosy, with a possible stock market listing on the horizon. He began his term by rubbing shoulders with new Labour ministers in No 10’s rose garden , and charming staff during a tour of Starling offices in Cardiff, London and Southampton. But autumn brought the honeymoon to an abrupt end. In October, Starling was hit with a £29m fine for “shockingly lax” financial crime controls , which the City regulator said had left the financial system “wide open to criminals and those subject to sanctions”. It threatened to take a hefty chunk out of Starling’s 2024 profits, and raised questions over the bank’s vehement defence of its customer screening process two years earlier when a former fraud minister challenged the bank’s handling of Covid loan applications. It meant that when Bhatia addressed a London banking conference at the start of December, one of the first questions he was asked was not about Starling’s bright future but its recent failings. Starling once seemed poised for unwavering success. It was part of a trio of online-only neo-banks, alongside Revolut and Monzo, which emerged in the mid-2010s to disrupt traditional banking. Boden, a former Royal Bank of Scotland executive, presented Starling as a grown-up among the upstarts, with 30 years of banking experience and £48m of seed funding from the reclusive Austrian billionaire Harald McPike. Not everyone agreed with her leadership style – as illustrated by a staff rebellion that led to a former colleague launching a rival, Monzo. But in 2016, two years after its launch, Starling clinched a coveted UK banking licence, allowing it to hold its own customers’ deposits and issue lucrative loans. It would take Monzo another year, and Revolut until 2024 , to do the same. And although the pandemic loomed, the government-backed schemes that followed would fuel Starling’s growth: it was among a number of smaller lenders that eagerly queued to distribute bounce-back loans (BBLs). Meant to support businesses during lockdown, banks offered companies loans of up to £50,000 at 2.5% interest, but carried little risk, with taxpayers picking up 100% of losses if borrowers defaulted. Large banks restricted BBLs to their own customers. But challengers such as Starling opened applications to new clients and experienced exponential growth as a result. The bank had only issued £23m of its own loans before the pandemic in November 2019, but had distributed £1.6bn in BBLs by the time the scheme closed in March 2021. Meanwhile, its business customer base swelled from 87,000 to 330,000: equivalent to onboarding 15,000 a month. High street banks, by comparison, were onboarding 1,500 to 8,000 on average. Starling – which had 1,245 staff at the time – credited the feat to its cutting-edge tech. , a feat that the bank – which had 1,245 staff at the time– chalked up to its cutting-edge tech. Within months, it was toasting its first annual profit. Not everyone was celebrating. In May 2022, Lord Agnew, a former Treasury minister with an anti-fraud brief, accused Starling of acting against taxpayers’ interests and using BBLs as a “cost-free marketing exercise to build their loan book and so their company valuation”. He added that the bank was “one of the worst when it came to validating the turnover of businesses or submitting suspicious activity reports”. Boden was incensed. She accused Agnew of making “defamatory statements” and threatened to take legal action against the Tory peer, and said the bank had reported his comments to regulators. She also insisted Starling was one of the “most active and effective banks fighting fraud”. In the background, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) had been raising serious concerns about Starling’s financial crime controls. In late 2020, during a sample review of challenger banks, the watchdog said it had “identified several issues” with Starling’s anti-money-laundering and financial sanctions controls, as well as its governance and oversight. But this would not have been news to some, at least, of Starling’s management. In 2018, an internal audit report had identified “several significant gaps” in Starling’s financial crime procedures. However, those shortcoming were not adequately conveyed to either Starling’s board or the regulator, FCA documents said. The regulator flagged “wide-ranging concerns” in a letter to Starling bosses in March 2021, just as the BBL programme was winding down, but further tests found problems in Starling’s client screening. By September, Starling had agreed to a VREQ – or voluntary requirement – that banned it from processing applications for any high-risk customers while it improved controls. Sign up to Observed Analysis and opinion on the week's news and culture brought to you by the best Observer writers after newsletter promotion Months passed. In July 2022, Starling realised that a key check was not working properly. It meant that nearly 300 customers who had previously been booted out of the bank for “financial crime reasons” had been able to reopen accounts. By November, Starling’s financial crime rating was raised to “red”. And two months later, in January 2023, it found that an automated screening system had only been checking against a partial list of individuals under sanctions since 2017. Starling ultimately breached the VREQ, opening 54,000 accounts for 49,183 high-risk customers between September 2021 and November 2023, earning £900,000 in interest and fees along the way. An external consultancy later chalked up the failings to an inexperienced management team that lacked sufficient anti-money laundering and regulatory expertise. Engineering teams, given responsibility for upgrading the systems and controls, were not told of the existence of the regulator’s order. It was only in April this year that Starling managed to go a full month without breaking the rules. The VREQ remains in place today. The regulator did not refer to the BBL scheme in its report. But Agnew revived his concerns in October. The digital bank has so far claimed £94m of taxpayer money through the BBL scheme on loans that were later flagged for fraud, a figure only surpassed by the four largest high street banks. “The government should consider the FCA’s findings and examine whether there needs to be a clawback on any of the taxpayer funds paid to Starling to cover fraud losses,” Agnew told the Times . The new revelations have undoubtedly hurt Starling’s reputation and kicked the prospect of a stock market listing – and payouts to investors such as Goldman Sachs and McPike – down the road. “It makes it harder to ‘sell the story’ to investors,” said John Cronin, an independent banking analyst and founder of SeaPoint Insights. “I would be surprised to see a successful IPO within the next two to three years,” he added. Boden stepped down as chief executive in 2023 citing a “conflict of interest” between being a boss and a large shareholder, leaving Bhatia to weather the storm. Starling said: “We fully accept and have apologised for the FCA’s findings. Their fine related solely to breaches of the VREQ and to sanctions controls. The loans issued during the Covid crisis were to a small proportion of our new customers. In line with other banks, we were supporting the government’s efforts to keep the economy alive and small business owners active. “We’re moving forward with plans for new products and services and are excited about the prospects for 2025.” Boden and the Treasury declined to comment.Kansas once required voters to prove citizenship. That didn't work out so wellWASHINGTON ― Former Rep. Matt Gaetz , who was President-elect Donald Trump's first pick for Attorney General, denies committing statutory rape in allegedly paying a 17-year-old for sex and other bombshell accusations in a newly released House Ethics Committee report. But some of the committee's damning allegations come from the former congressman's own words and actions, according to details within the long-awaited report made public Monday. Others comprise text messages, financial records, photos and interviews of people closest to him, the committee report said, including a former friend who's now in prison and an ex-girlfriend who both used a “sugar dating” site linking older men with younger women. Gaetz has denied wrongdoing, attacked the credibility of the committee and some witnesses and said on social media that he regularly gave money to his girlfriends and acquaintances when he was younger. A Justice Department investigation into Gaetz began in 2020 under then-Attorney General Bill Barr during Trump’s first term in office. The federal investigation of the Florida Republican resulted in no charges. In response to a Sept. 4 committee request for information, Gaetz strongly denied having “engaged in sexual activity with any individual under 18.” “The answer to this question is unequivocally NO. You can apply this response to every version of this question, in every forum," Gaetz said in a statement posted to his social media account. But in its report, the Ethics Committee said it received testimony that a then-17-year-old girl, identified in the report as Victim A, and Gaetz had sex twice during one July 15, 2017 party in South Florida, "including at least once in the presence of other party attendees." "The record overwhelmingly suggests that Representative Gaetz had sex with multiple women at the party, including the then-17-year-old, for which they were paid," the report said. Contesting payment for a 'drive by' Much of that evidence came from text messages by Gaetz and his associates, according to the report. In one text exchange obtained by the Committee, Gaetz balked at a woman’s request for money after he accused her of “ditching” him on a night when she was feeling tired, claiming she only gave him a “drive by,” the report said. The woman asserted to Gaetz that she was being “treated differently” than other women he was paying for sex, the report added. 'Customer appreciation week' The Committee also obtained text messages in which Gaetz’s then-girlfriend, who he initially met through the site SeekingArrangement.com, told a group of women that “the guys [Gaetz and a friend] wanted me to share that they are a little limited in their cash flow this weekend," the report said. "[M]att was like if it can be more of a customer appreciation week. . . .” A few months later, the report said, Gaetz’s then-girlfriend told the other women, “Btw Matt also mentioned he is going to be a bit generous cause of the ‘customer appreciation’ thing last time.” Gaetz, who has long maintained his innocence, attacked the credibility of the Ethics Committee Monday. He also published a series of posts on X with snippets of witness testimony that he said refute the committee's findings. “Giving funds to someone you are dating − that they didn’t ask for − and that isn’t ‘charged’ for sex is now prostitution?!?” he wrote . But the committee, citing financial records, said that between 2017 and 2020, Gaetz paid tens of thousands of dollars to women “likely in connection with sexual activity and/or drug use” including for cocaine and Ecstasy. 'Substantial evidence' Gaetz violated state and federal laws Based on its years-long investigation, the bipartisan committee concluded there was "substantial evidence" Gaetz “violated House Rules, state and federal laws, and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, acceptance of impermissible gifts, the provision of special favors and privileges, and obstruction of Congress.” A Trump ally, Gaetz was the president-elect's initial choice for attorney general , before withdrawing from consideration in the face of Senate opposition. The Florida Republican resigned from Congress last month and recently joined One America News Network, where he is scheduled to host a one-hour weeknight show starting in January. More: Matt Gaetz ethics report finds 'substantial evidence' of statutory rape, prostitution Financial records at the heart of House Ethics investigation At the heart of the investigation were payments it said Gaetz made to at least 12 women the report said in cash, by check or most often through online services like Venmo, PayPal and Cash App. The women were usually more than 15 years younger than Gaetz, in their early twenties, and many were found by a friend of Gaetz through the “sugar dating” website, which “primarily connected older men and younger women seeking ‘mutually beneficial relationships,’“ the report said. "Gaetz took advantage of the economic vulnerability of young women to lure them into sexual activity for which they received an average of a few hundred dollars after each encounter," the report said. It cited prosecutions against individuals for sex trafficking that originated with contacts made on "sugar dating" through SeekingArrangement.com or similar websites. Joel Greenberg, Gaetz’s friend who the report said procured women for them both from the "sugar daddy" site, is currently serving an 11-year federal prison sentence , in part for sex trafficking of a minor. The committee’s Republican chairman and ranking Democrat authorized 29 subpoenas for documents and testimony, reviewed nearly 14,000 documents, and contacted more than two dozen witnesses, it said. The committee said it also received sworn written responses from Greenberg, the former Seminole County tax collector. Citing “credibility issues,” it said it would “not rely exclusively on information provided by Mr. Greenberg in making any findings.” Gaetz for the most part refused to cooperate beyond stalling for time and giving non-responsive replies for requests for information and records, the committee said. More: Underage prostitution, rules violations and more: Key takeaways from the Matt Gaetz report In February 2023, the Justice Department informed Gaetz he would not be charged in connection with the investigation. It declined to share its investigative material with the committee, citing the lack of criminal charges against Gaetz. Although DOJ has not commented, news reports at the time said the credibility of some of the witnesses, including the alleged underage victim, played a part in its decision not to bring charges. A ‘general expectation’ of money for sex Many of the women interviewed by the committee said they understood why they were being paid, often between $400 and $1,000 for an event or encounter. “Representative Gaetz did not appear to have negotiated specific payment amounts prior to engaging in sexual activity with the women he paid,” the report said. “Instead, the women had a general expectation that they would typically receive some amount of money after each sexual encounter.” Financial records cited by the committee showed Gaetz paid more than $4,000 to four of the women. One, who received more than $5,000 from Gaetz between 2018 and 2019, said that “99 percent of the time” that she and Gaetz were together, “there was sex involved.” Text messages obtained by the Committee showed that Gaetz “would also ask women to bring drugs to their rendezvous,” in some cases requesting “a full compliment [sic] of party favors.” Gaetz did not return numerous requests for comment. He also refused to answer most committee questions while denying wrongdoing – especially with regard to allegations about paying for sex, the report said. “There was, however, evidence that he understood and shared many of the women’s transactional views of their arrangements,” it said. In one instance, the report said, Gaetz sent $400 to Greenberg with a note to “Hit up” one of the women, identified only as Victim A. “Mr. Greenberg then sent two women payments totaling $400, including Victim A.” None of the women are identified in the report. ‘It’ll be fun and very chill’ The report noted that, while Gaetz's spokesman denied Gaetz knew a woman he'd been photographed with in May 2017, the investigation showed that he had invited her and others for what he called a "fun and very chill" time in Key West with “2 guys, 4 girls. A very high-quality, adventurous group.” “Payment records reviewed by the Committee," the report said , "show that Representative Gaetz paid $600 to the woman the same day he was photographed with her.”
“You need to start dressing your age; you look like a skater,” a co-worker jocularly told me as I let out a whiny chortle to disguise my unease. I felt momentarily disarmed by the comment because the only skater I knew of was pioneering board rider Tony Hawk – and he dressed like a Mormon. Radical, dude: Brendan Foster was left puzzled after some unprompted fashion advice. Credit: WAtoday I wasn’t deeply wounded by the parting barb, but it got me marinating on what toggery was befitting for someone tumbling into their late 50s. Granted, there was something transparently pretentious about the outfit I was wearing that warranted a bit of ribbing: a $100 pair of Converse boots, designer shorts, and a check western shirt from the funky, clothing outlet Get Lucky in Fremantle. There’s a good chance I would punch someone in the ear if they called me an ageing hapless hipster, but if the shoe fits. But is there a cut-off point for men of my vintage when it comes to frocking up like a more sophisticated Dude (minus the bathrobe) from the brilliant Coen Brothers movie The Big Lebowski ? There was probably more symbolic value to my outfit than I was willing to admit, and most psychiatrists would have a field day with my wardrobe. But should I just ungracefully step into a pair of elasticated trousers as my body starts to betray itself? Whatever threads I cobbled together, there was a premeditated plan and that was to feel good. At the risk of sounding reactionary, it’s a pretty harmless way to elevate your style and wellbeing, regardless of your age. I doubt the people who created the labels I sport had my demography in mind when they were coming up with a new summer range. And I haven’t stumbled across any mannequins dressed in homeless chic. (Before I go any further, I just want to sincerely acknowledge the brutal, constant ugliness women have endured from online trolls for donning certain attire. I am nothing more than a non-playing character in the game of fashion cruelties). Loading So, what the hell should I be wearing as I reluctantly wobble into my autumn years? Remarkably, given the endless disappointing dross you can find online, there is bugger-all advice when it comes to age-appropriate apparel for chaps like me. Maybe the lack of meaningful information is because there is just an expectation, hat we decrepit dudes will morph into Alf Stewart from Home and Away . I mean, when you turn 65, does your WA Seniors Card rock up the mail with a free pair of brown sandals, grey supermarket slacks, white singlets, and handkerchiefs? The pants come with clear instructions on how to hitch them above your navel and an ankle bracelet that sets off an alarm if you attempt to enter any designer stores. There is a secret sect of khaki-dressed, police that re-educates Bohemian Boomers who dare rock a bucket hat, knee-length shorts, and old-school Puma runners. Or maybe men don’t grasp what sociologist Julia Twigg calls “the changing room moment” when it comes to us blokes realising we are too old for certain items. Professor Twigg interviewed men aged between 58 and 85 who were surprisingly comfortable in the kit they’d worn most of their lives. “It is clear men have a different relationship to dress from women, and the research shows that this continues into later life,” she said. “There is less in the way of age anxiety in their choices.” It’s not uncommon for the male species to adopt a certain look in their early 20s and be buried in the first suit they bought 60 years ago. If you disregard the nexus to money, which has allowed me to buy clothing that isn’t from charity shops, my style hasn’t changed since the early 90s. I still have an unhealthy amount of corduroy pants and jackets in my wardrobe and retro shirts and sneakers. There is something comforting and reassuring about finding your own style and a certain empowerment for not caring (and caring) about what you wear. We can delude ourselves that the rags we pluck from the cupboard are not calculated pieces of composition because the pair of tracky-dacks and favourite band T-shirt you just reached for, still make you feel content. The right duds give us confidence. No matter what our age. Hey, if you’re unconvinced, here are some scientific facts. Loading In a paper published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology , Adam Galinsky and his co-author Hajo Adam coined the term “enclothed cognition”, which describes the systematic influence that clothes have on the wearer’s psychological processes. The pair believed our garbs had the power to not only impact our mood but also influence the way we feel and interact with the world. “With enclothed cognition, the key idea is not just the wearing of clothes, but the symbolic meaning of the clothes one is wearing,” Galinsky says. I’m not sure the method worked on existentialist thinker John-Paul Sartre, who spent most of his life dressed as a Parisian bus driver. Adam and Galinsky’s theory could also be applied to the workplace, where our cognitive functions or moods shift when we see a person in certain professional attire. I, for one, would feel more assured about getting a rectal exam from a person wearing a stethoscope and lab coat than someone in high-vis. Despite our persistent denial, our clothes send out signals. They play a critical role in shaping our perceptions of who we are. Whether or not my clobber signified to my colleague that I may have missed the “changing room moment”, it didn’t matter. Whatever our generation, the get-up we choose to wear can make us feel attractive, stylish and jolly. As the Shakespeare saying goes, “apparel oft proclaims the man”. Even if that person chooses not to dress their age. Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter . Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. License this article Style Perth Workplace culture Opinion Brendan Foster is a Fremantle local, former Fairfax journalist and communication professional, with work published in Guardian Australia, The New York Daily, The New York Times, Crikey, WAtoday, News.com.au, The Irish Times and The Sunday Times. Most Viewed in National Loading
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