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Jakarta Post

Priorities, priorities

  • Editorial Board

    The Jakarta Post

Jakarta   /   Mon, September 28, 2020   /   08:16 am
Priorities, priorities Going home: A COVID-19 patient prepares to leave the Pademangan quarantine compound at the former athlete's village in Kemayoran North Jakarta, on Friday. A new tower in the Pademangan compound was opened as a quarantine facility after the temporary COVID-19 hospital became fully occupied. (JP/Seto Wardhana)

Indonesia continues to book record daily highs in new COVID-19 cases and shows no signs of slowing down. With infection far from under control, the government has said it is committed to flattening the curve, but does not have a clear strategy for testing, tracing and treating, as is advised by the World Health Organization.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said on Saturday that Indonesia’s number of cases remained lower than India and the United States, but failed to mention that the scale of testing in Indonesia lags behind these two countries. Jokowi also seems to be satisfied with Indonesia’s COVID-19 recovery rate of 73.5 percent, while the WHO says it’s best to ensure there are no infections at all because the long-term health implications of having been infected remain uncertain.

Read also: Govt consistent in prioritizing health in handling COVID-19, Jokowi says

In any case, the robust development of the healthcare system should be a top priority. Such investment will not only help to contain COVID-19, but will help the country achieve its long-term vision and centennial goal of becoming a developed country by 2045. Economic development requires a healthy society.

Still, the healthcare system is yet to see drastic improvements in this time of desperate need. In fact, a large chunk of the healthcare funds in the government’s COVID-19 budget remain undisbursed. As of Sept. 16, roughly six months into the pandemic, only 21 percent of the health budget had been spent.

The government seems to be betting on a vaccine to speed up the economic recovery. “Insya Allah (God willing) in January we’ll start vaccination so things can go back to normal,” Jokowi said.

However, the distribution of vaccines is likely to take time considering the country’s limited healthcare capacity and geographic challenges. Former finance minister Chatib Basri said for 25 million Indonesians to get the vaccine in a year, the government would need to vaccinate around 68,000 people a day. That compares with today’s COVID-19 testing capacity of less than 40,000 per day.

So, who will get the vaccine first? This raises the question of equality, as does the economic recovery. The big question is, what kind of economy will emerge out of the pandemic? The answer rests on what priorities are taken today. The greatest priority should be given to the most vulnerable segments of society, the sick and the poor. This is why health care and the social safety net need to be the ultimate priorities.

Read also: Jokowi must directly handle COVID-19 measures, epidemiologist says

Nearly 66 percent of the social safety net budget for mitigating the economic impacts of COVID-19 had been disbursed as of September, while 47.5 percent of the budget for assisting micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) had been disbursed as well. There are, however, concerns about the quality of the programs, as the country has yet to establish an integrated social safety net and reliable MSME database. This raises the risk of what economists call a Kshaped recovery, in which the economy improves unevenly, creating polarization.

Boosting healthcare spending and improving social safety programs will help to prevent the exacerbation of inequality and produce a more inclusive economic recovery. Improvements to health care and the social safety net must be the top priority — not just in words, but in practice.


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Showing posts from October 9, 2020

26 of the World's Most Highly Guarded Locations

26 of the World's Most Safe Areas We Can Never Get Access To
With today's cutting-edge travel technology, irrespective of the venue, it's certainly not that hard to discover a new mysterious spot. But there are still a lot of other mysterious places which, for different reasons, have either been locked up for good or can not be legally visited. You will be fortunate to take a peek at the world's most secretive nooks left in total desolation in today's post. Well, you may not be able to physically sense them, but at least you can imagine what it's like to be in barren places like this, rusting away into nothingness. Our exclusive list of abandoned military bases, delicate natural landmarks, banned islands and even rare locations that you never knew existed can be found below!
Well, you may have assumed that there is no greater mystery than what lies beyond outer space, but you may have changed your mind today for the better. And let us warn you before you get star…

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Our New, Temporary, Plan

We are part of your village, and we are committed to creating a clean and safe environment for you and your family to survive.

We understand this may not be the choice for everyone but for some that need a place, we are willing to try a new, short-term, approach during this time.

Beginning Monday March 16, we will be offering limited availability, by reservation only, co-working/e-learning/play space sessions. Keeping the reservations strictly limited to a small amount (10 or less) will help keep our area clean and sanitized.

We have converted our back party room into a co-working/e-learning space for families that need a place to continue to work. Each work station is it's own separate space and has it's own outlets. We have additional office and art supplies on hand as well for those that may need materials for school projects.

For the little ones, we will keep them out in the play area with additional activities and supervision, as well as provided snacks, juice and water for all children and adults. Our activity vendor's have been amazing and have all offered their support doing additional music, science and art activities during this time. While I can't promise what actives will be on what days...I do promise they will be kept busy! We want to create a safe space, where they can escape the talks of "the virus" and just be kids again.

Reservations will be able to be made on our website, via email or phone for either a morning session (9-12) or afternoon session (1-4).

text or call: 317.936.6191

We will continue to monitor the coronavirus situation and will adjust our plans accordingly. In the meantime, we respectfully ask that you continue to support your local businesses and we thank you for your support in this stressful time.

9850 N Michigan Rd

Carmel, IN 46032

Tel: (317) 936-6191

© 2018 by Little Village Playroom

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Topic: The Reserve
Message: Posted by: trey (Jun 13, 2008 01:20PM)
The Reserve with Ben Salinas is a really good dvd. I am not real big on money magic. But I got this for free with an order. And I really like it! It came with everything needed to perform the tricks. Except money, dang it! The TT it came with was not of very good quality. I want the reality TT from Magic Makers. Does anyone have one? I am really fair complected. And I need a TT that will match my skin tone better. In case I ever flash it wont be as noticeable.


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Mill Hill Inn

Woody Hughes

Woody Hughes is the owner of Bethel’s Mill Hill Inn. An acclaimed potter, he previously taught at Dowling College and Parsons The New School for Design. Hughes returned to Western Maine in 2001 to teach pottery and design at his … Continue reading

Healthy Eats

Cold weather triggers the desire for comfort food; mashed potatoes thick chowders, and fried seafood leap to mind. But comfort can come in other guises. Poached, seared, locally sourced meats, seafood, and vegetables prepared by chefs who spend as much … Continue reading

Falling West

October driving and hiking, crunching through fall leaves and crisp apples in western Maine, we join the leaf peepers in Lovell, Bethel, and the White Mountains.


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Due to the increased volume of federal estate tax return filings in order to make the “portability election,” the IRS has announced that estate tax closing letters will only be issued upon request by the taxpayer. This change in IRS policy started on June 1, 2015.

What is the “Portability Election” and How is the Election Made?

The “portability election” refers to the right of a surviving spouse to claim the unused portion of the federal estate tax exemption of their deceased spouse and add it to the balance of their own exemption. The portability election went into effect for deaths occurring on or after January 1, 2011.

To properly make the election, a surviving spouse must file a federal estate tax return within nine months of the date of a spouse’s death, although a six-month extension of time to file the return can be requested. Filing an estate tax return is required to make the election even if the value of the deceased spouse’s estate does not exceed the federal estate tax exemption.

A Portability Example

The easiest way to understand how portability works is through an example.  Let’s say Carol and Bob are married, all of their assets are jointly titled with rights of survivorship, their total estate is valued at $4 million, and neither spouse made any taxable gifts during their lifetimes.  If Bob dies in 2015, none of his $5.43 million federal estate tax exemption will be needed since Carol will automatically inherit the entire estate through rights of survivorship.  In addition, a federal estate tax return will not otherwise be required for Bob’s estate since it is valued under $5.43 million.

Nonetheless, if Carol wants to pick up Bob’s unused $5.43 million exemption and add it to her own exemption so that she can pass on up to $10.86 million when she dies, she can timely file an estate tax return for Bob’s estate and make the portability election with regard to Bob’s unused exemption.

What is an Estate Tax Closing Letter?

An estate tax closing letter is a document issued by the IRS after it determines that an estate tax return has been accepted as filed or that all required adjustments have been completed.  In other words, the closing letter provides written proof from the IRS that all federal estate tax liabilities have been satisfied. An estate tax closing letter is often necessary to sell or distribute property.

New Rules for Issuance of Estate Tax Closing Letters

Prior to June 1, 2015, the IRS automatically issued estate tax closing letters.  However, the IRS recently announced the following on its website in response to the increased number of federal estate tax return filings for the sole purpose of making the portability election:

“For all estate tax returns filed on or after June 1, 2015, estate tax closing letters will be issued only upon request by the taxpayer.  Please wait at least four months after filing the return to make the closing letter request to allow time for processing.  For questions about estate tax closing letter requests, call (866) 699-4083.”

The portability election provides another strategy that estate planning attorneys can use to lessen the burden of death taxes on your family. Like any other tax or legal strategy, you should seek competent advice to select the strategies that will work in your situation. If you have any questions about federal estate tax returns, the portability election, or the new rules regarding the issuance of estate tax closing letters, please contact our office.


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Our Specialties

Our portfolio of services is vast. Please continue further down this page to find out more.

Group Classes

Kathak & Salsa

Workshop & Events

What we offer

Performances & Group Classes

If you are looking for entertainment for your special event, we have the perfect package for you. Just call us to chat more about your need and what we can offer to make it special. It could be a:

  • Corporate function
  • Stage/Floor shows/Flash Mobs
  • Birthday
  • Wedding
  • Community events/Festival Performances
  • Any other Private function
  • We take Bollywood classes that are great if you are looking for some fun fitness class and give private lessons.
  • Bollywood class in the city- Boyd Community Hub, Southbank – every Tuesday 7pm
What We Offer

Other Dance Forms

  • Kathak – Kathak is one of the ten major forms of Indian classical dance forms. The origin of this dance form is traditionally attributed to the traveling bards of ancient northern India known as Kathakars or storey tellers. The term Kathak is derived from the Sanskrit word Katha which means story; wandering Kathakars communicated stories from the great Indian epics and mythology through dance, music and songs in a manner similar to early Greek Theatre. Karthika is a trained Kathak dancer with numerous performances across the globe and she offers both group and individually tailored classes.
  • Classes now at Craigieburn- get in touch for more details
  • Salsa – Salsa is a Hispanic dance style that draws heavy influences from many different regions in the world. Generally performed with a partner, the music is a regular recurring eight beat pattern and the basic movement in this dance is to step on the beat of the music. A trained Salsa practitioner and teacher for many years, Raphael can definitely help you master the fancy footwork and extravagant body movements associated with Salsa, on the dance floor.
What we offer

Workshops, Events, Choreography & Photography

If you are looking for an interactive workshop with your guests, then we have the perfect package to ensure your guests will not just learn some Bollywood – The Naach Box way but also leave with a big smile. Be it a wedding or a competition, we can choreograph your event.

All our website photos are taken by our professional photographer, Jay Nair. If you are looking for someone to capture your special day, whatever the occasion may be, we would recommend Jay Nair Fotografia


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Stranger than Fiction

Arts & Culture

Our friend Toby Barlow has written a novel, set in Paris in the 1950s, in which an expat literary magazine gets embroiled in a CIA plot. Naturally the whole thing is fiction … or is it? Here Barlow describes the genesis of Babayaga and his valiant attempts to erect a statue to our founding editor, George Plimpton.


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Organize your yacht event in 3 clicks

Find a boat, caterer, services: Online quote

The Party Yacht

Choose the Yacht

Choose the Yacht perfect for your event. We provide affordable luxurious yachts for parties or any event!

Choose the Food and Drinks

Choose the Caterer and Drinks for you and your guests. We serve only the finest.

Choose the Add-ons

Choose the Add-ons. Add more to the entertaiment by choosing some of the add-ons.

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Create a yacht event

How it works

Create your event

Create your event with The Party Yacht by choosing the type of yacht or boat you prefer, with added food and the drinks and then finally, choosing your add-ons. No need to manage relations with the different suppliers, we take care of everything!

Made and finalized

Once your event has been made and finalized, an event planner is assigned to organize your party and takes care of your desires of precise specifications. They will also the look after the constraints of our event service providers.

Summary of your event

In order to keep you at the heart of the preparations, we will send you a summary of your event including all the necessary information which includes; the event summary, contact details, location information, and e-vite for all your guests.

What they say about us!

I’m glad we found out about The Yacht Party before having my party. I just went to the website, chose my prefered yacht and everything else followed. Everything went so smoothly, I’m so happy of how everything else turned out.

- Gladys L.

Excellent! Celebrated my birthday on the cruise with friends. Great Music! Great Time! Everything was so organized, couldn’t thank The Party Yacht enough for this incredible memory.

- Alyssa H.

Overall I enjoyed my time on the yacht. Everything was reasonably priced. The weather was nice , the music was great, so was the food. All I had to do was go online and make my own package. Very convenient.

- John U.

My friends and I had a blast! Will definitely recommend this to people who want to have a great time without worrying about anything else, just party!

- Ed G.

Awesome party arranged by my event planner from The Party Yacht. So easy to communicate with and during the party, they had nice staff and everything you want was on the yacht! Thanks for this memorable party and I will surely have my next parties here.

- Jeni I.

About The Party Yacht

The Party Yacht aims to offer the best of the best luxurious yacht rentals in the metro.

We offer luxurious yachts and party boats for any type of event.

 Phone:      +63 02 7088 6070 | +63 917 162 7737

Website built by Neossia Digital


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Amanda's 18th Birthday Yacht Party

Event date: April 4, 2017

About The Party Yacht

The Party Yacht aims to offer the best of the best luxurious yacht rentals in the metro.

We offer luxurious yachts and party boats for any type of event.

 Phone:      +63 02 7088 6070 | +63 917 162 7737

Website built by Neossia Digital


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Part-Time Box Office Assistant – Vineyard Theatre

WHO: Vineyard Theatre

POSITION: Part-Time Box Office Assistant

DESCRIPTION: Vineyard Theatre, the non-profit Off-Broadway theatre company whose Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning hits include AVENUE Q, [title of show], and THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS, is seeking part-time a Box Office Assistant.

The Box Office Assistant reports to the Box Office Manager and assists in all box office operations including single ticket sales, subscription processing, and customer service. Ideal candidates must have box office/ticketing experience, a professional and pleasant attitude, an aptitude for detail and accuracy, as well as strong customer service skills. Experience with ProVenue is preferred. This is a part-time position and hours vary based on our production schedule – please indicate your availability in your cover letter.

To Apply: To apply submit a resume, cover letter, and three references via e-mail to Please type “BOX OFFICE ASSISTANT” in the subject line of your e-mail. No phone calls. The Vineyard Theatre is an equal opportunity employer.

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Supporting the future of art:
Rembrandt Club Summer Research Grants

One of the Club’s most important and long-standing traditions is our support for Pomona College Art Students. We began giving them small grants back in 1937 and have continued the practice (and enlarged the grant amounts) through the years thanks to funds raised through member dues, fundraisers, and gifts.

Currently we give Summer Research Grants to one or more Pomona College art students annually for research and travels to complete their senior thesis. Pomona’s Studio Art and Art History faculty recommend the students, and those selected describe their previous summer’s research in the first October Rembrandt lecture of the academic year. Their fascinating topics have ranged from Neon Sign Making, UK Sexuality and Visual Culture, Creating Social Space through Pie Making, Italian Baroque Images of Africans, and more.

Our 2019 Grant Winners:

Anamnesis in South Korean Art

by Nicole Choi, Studio Art

major. She adds, "Anamnesis is a lofty sounding word to describe an experience I think we all share– 'the remembering of things from a supposed previous existence.'  I am excited to use the Rembrandt grant to explore South Korean Art, in an attempt to understand if my own cultural roots are in fact possible to 'remember' or exist in what I find."

Exploring contemporary inclusive design

by Jordi Pedroza,,

Studio Art major.

Eroticism and gender politics in France’s “Golden Age of Gastronomy"

by by Ariane Xuan Lo, Art History and Politics double major.

Click here for a list of previous Grant Winners. A number of these students have gone on to become nationally and internationally famous artists and art scholars.


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Chateau d'Esclans

Whispering Angel Rosé wine - 75cl

Whispering angel rosé is an iconic, multi award winning Provence Rosé & adored by all rose wine lovers. Salmon coloured with aromas of red currant and raspberry.
Vineyard: As a negociant and vinificateur (winery), Caves d’esclans identifies vineyards, grapes and wines from château d’esclans as well as local growers to make what has reputedly become the world’s greatest rosé.
Country: France
Region: Provence
Grape: Grenache, Cinsault
ABV: 13%
Country: France
Bottle Size: 0.75l
Taste: Dry

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We will be discussing a variety of topics related to page rank (seo juice) and how it affects your rankings in Google and other major search engines. You will learn SEO and how to increase page rank to attract more visitors to your site.

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Call this number,484-589-1011 ( access code 223-974-217) and you will hear us talking about “Smart Things To Know About Search Engine Optimization”. You are encouraged to use the webinar Voiceover IP. The right way to join is to follow this link and register at

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A Jungle Trek in Thailand

Mark Stewart Destinations 8 Comments

We walked to the shop just after sunrise. The guides were waiting by an old pickup truck. The two other travellers joined us soon after. One, a Thai university student living in Bangkok, the other his German classmate. They were on vacation.

We climbed in the back of the truck and it drove us far outside of Pai. After some time, the truck stopped and the four of us hopped out. The two guides loaded their guns and told us it was time to start moving. It was a very strange feeling, one older man walked ahead of the group with a large shotgun, the other a little younger, followed in the back. He had a rifle.

Apparently the jungle isn’t a place you go without protection. Back at their shop, there were photos of some of the animals they’d shot in the past. Some fairly large cats, the type you wouldn’t want to encounter unarmed.

Two men sit in the jungle

Our Two Travel Companions

We marched on.

After several hours, we were chatting casually with the other two travellers. They were both soon-to-be architects. The guides mostly kept quiet.

Soon, we stopped for lunch. The younger guide started a fire and took some slices of pork from a sac. As the flies buzzed around the meat under the hot sun, our leader cut some bamboo, filled it with rice and water, and set it over the flames. He then grilled the incredible smelling meat over the coals.

We ate the hot, sticky rice and the spicy, salt pork with our fingers. There’s something so amazing about Thai food. This was so very simple, only a few ingredients, yet the flavour was so intense. Thankfully, the German was a vegetarian, so there was more pork to go around!

Cooling Down

Walking for several hours more, we soon took rest once again. This time near a small waterfall and swimming hole. The mid-afternoon temperatures were in the high 30’s. This cool-down couldn’t have come at a better time. Soon though, it was time to carry on. Camp was still several hours away.

Three men stand in a waterfall

Cooling down in the waterfall

The rain came hard and fast that afternoon. The thick canopy of the jungle offered some protection at first, but soon the water became too heavy even for it, and we quickly became drenched.

Following almost nine hours and over 15 kilometres into the jungle, we arrived at a small, bamboo shelter. No walls, just a roof over a raised platform and a small cooking area in the centre. As the sun began to set, our guide taught us construction techniques using bamboo. For walls, poles, roofing, water filtration, and cooking. Such an impressively versatile plant.

Another Fantastic Meal and the Guide’s Dessert

The two men prepared a stew of mushrooms they foraged as we hiked. We had no choice but to trust their judgement, there was little else to eat. Once again, the meal was outstanding, and once again, prepared completely with fresh bamboo. And once again, the food was mind-blowingly delicious.

Mushroom stew in bamboo dishes

I Wish I could Describe How Good this was!

The older guide set off after dark, hunting we were told, though not sure for what – or why he went alone. The other guide began preparing a mixture on some wood. He massaged the brown tar with flour of some sort, to thicken it into a gum. He asked if I knew what it was.

I assumed opium. I was correct.

We did not imbibe however. The man handed us a litre of rice whisky he had in his backpack. The four of us swapped travel stories under a clear sky, deep in the jungle. Our sole protector passing into unconsciousness in the corner, puffing away at the small bamboo pipe he crafted for himself.

As the opium went to work on our guide, the moonshine did to us. Soon things became more and more blurred, and any concerns of leopard attacks were either forgotten or left to fate. We slept hard.

The following morning, all were still alive. A breakfast of simple baked potatoes fuelled us for the long hike back to civilization.

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1 year ago

I really love treking in Thailand especially with the locals. You can see some amazing things that many other tourist haven’t seen. Plus that food you had looked incredible. Really making me miss Thai food! Great read!

1 year ago
Reply to  Divertliving

Yes! Such an incredible experience! Thailand is definitely one of our favourite places, especially for food! Thank you for reading!

1 year ago

What a story! Enjoyed reading about your Thai adventure (especially the moonshine bit!)

1 year ago
Reply to  Ankita & Mohit

Hahah Awesome! Such a crazy adventure life is! We are so lucky to have such a gorgeous planet.

1 year ago

What a great experience! 🙂 These are the kinds of adventures I love the most about traveling when you really have the time. Thanks for sharing!

1 year ago
Reply to  Linn

Yes, you definitely need the time to see a country in its whole! We were in Romania for 2 months and still have a lot left to discover!

1 year ago

That sounds like such an amazing experience. Wow!

1 year ago
Reply to  Janja

It was a crazy, fun weird experience and we wouldn’t trade it for the world 🙂 Thank you for reading!


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We considered ourselves lucky to find a restaurant in a hotel open for lunch. However there were no diners inside. One of my friends asked the solitary waiter if it was possible to order some food. He said they had only plain rice and a dish of meat that is dry and isn’t usually served with rice. I thought it was courageous of the owners to keep their restaurant open when there were no tourists around.

The situation in Kashmir was relatively peaceful towards the end of 2012 and many foreign governments relaxed the advice for their citizens about travelling to Srinagar, and Gulmarg was heralded by the BBC as a new Chamonix. A Polish colleague brought a newspaper from Katowice with him to show me a feature published in its travel pages on Kashmir. I visited Srinagar again in September 2013 when the then German Ambassador to India, Michael Steiner, hosted a concert by the Bavarian State Orchestra in the Shalimar garden on the outskirts of the city. Zubin Mehta performed at this concert. It created a controversy, resulting in a shutdown of shops and businesses in Srinagar and I decided to go to Gulmarg that day.

We drove through a ghost town to reach Gulmarg in a little over an hour. A friend had arranged for us to stay in a cottage owned by the Jammu & Kashmir government. We dropped our bags at the cottage and walked to the far end of Gulmarg, found a newly opened hotel there and stopped by to have dinner in its restaurant. A receptionist at the hotel told me that they had about 20 rooms out of 80 occupied that night. We were having dinner when I received a phone call from the friend who had arranged the cottage for us, informing us that the caretaker was worried because we hadn’t returned yet. It was 10 p.m.

When I returned to Srinagar on 17 August this year, the authorities had imposed a curfew for a continuous 72 hours.  An acquaintance of mine in London thought curfew in Srinagar meant that I couldn’t move around during the night but it was other way round – people in the town could venture out of their homes only in the evening.

I wasn’t sure if I had boarded the right flight from Delhi to Srinagar when I saw just a handful of Kashmiri people in the aircraft. The rest of the passengers were mostly moustachioed men in plain clothes who belonged to the security forces. A lone woman accompanying them had an Indian flag pinned to the lapel of her jacket.

A porter came rushing toward me with a trolley as soon as he saw me standing near the luggage carousel. I usually like to carry my own bags but I couldn’t bring myself to say no on this occasion. The main exit of the airport was closed and there was a row of uniformed military men who were perhaps waiting to receive one of their high-ranking officers outside a side door. When one of my relatives drove me to his home near the airport, I heard the crackle of gunfire again after a gap of two decades.

I had no access to the Internet or a phone line, which is ideal if you’re on holiday. But I couldn’t call my parents to let them know that I’’d reached Srinagar safely. The state government had cut off the Internet and most of the phone lines for more than a month to quell protest. I tried to make a call using a local SIM-card but the message that appeared on my phone screen read as ‘Congestion’.

A few hours later, my relative’s neighbour, who subscribed to a government-run mobile service provider and was able to make calls on his phone, appeared with his handset for me to talk to my parents. They had tried in vain to reach the airport to pick me up. It is such small acts of kindness that have kept the people going since the curfew was imposed in mid-July.

Knowing that shops in the town had been shut for many weeks, my friends and acquaintances in London were worried that I might starve in Srinagar if I travelled there. But a thoughtful relative had stocked up groceries for my visit. Visitors to Kashmir find that hospitality is usually elevated to a high moral principle in the Valley. Perhaps that is why an American head teacher in London suggested to me, when I was looking for a job, that I should work in the hospitality industry. I found that most of the people in the town bore their hardships with dignity and I felt guilty that my hosts had gone out of their way to arrange everything for my visit.

I borrowed a transistor radio from a neighbour of theirs to listen to Kashmiri folk music in the evening since the cable TV channels were scrambled. And I borrowed a book, The Veiled Suite by Agha Shahid Ali, from the bookshelf of my relative to while away my time in Kashmir.

It had been some time since I’d picked up the collected works of any poet – the last such book I had read was that of Czeslaw Milosz.

As soon as I started reading Shahid Ali’s book I began to relive the years I had spent in Srinagar in the early 1990s. He receives a neat postcard from Kashmir at his home in America and while holding the four-by-six inch card in his hand he gazes at the half-inch Himalayas.

He has a premonition that perhaps this is the closest he can now get to his ancestral home in Srinagar and the waters of the River Jhelum won’t be ultramarine by the time he returns to Kashmir. But he doesn’t mind if the idea he has of his birthplace is out of date because he knows that he can develop it into a fine portrait, like developing the negative of a photograph.

The current situation in Kashmir reminded me of Borges’ favourite theme of circular time in which things return to where they once were, as many things in Srinagar seem to have come full circle. Telecommunications were disrupted in the early 90s and sometimes people had to travel from Srinagar to Delhi to make an international phone call. I had to phone someone in Delhi to top-up a local SIM I was using. I could receive calls on it but couldn’t dial out. Shahid Ali witnesses the devastation in Kashmir during that time leading people first to despair and rage, then only rage, then only despair.

‘Srinagar hunches like a wild cat,’ he writes, ‘lonely sentries, wretched in bunkers at the city&’s bridges, far from their homes in the plains, licensed to kill’. Shahid has been dead for 15 years now and the scene he describes precedes his death by 10 years but it is a true description of the town right now. He quotes the Roman historian, Tacitus, reporting a British chieftain’s speech which includes the line ‘Solitudinum faciunt et pacem appellant’ – they make a desolation and call it peace.

The mood in Kashmir is one of resignation. However, having gone through the turmoil of the last quarter of a century, the people in the valley have become resilient. I found that socially it’s business as usual in Srinagar. I attended the funerals of an elderly relative and a neighbour and received an invitation to attend a wedding. Businessmen have become oblivious of their losses whereas those who are hard up are suffering in silence.

The groups of young men lurking in the back roads of Srinagar could easily get into trouble by throwing stones at the security forces to overcome their boredom. But it is very difficult for someone who is born and brought up in Kashmir not be troubled by the troubles in the Valley, no matter if the person is living in a faraway country. Shahid describes his émigré life as being like an Adam of two Edens, one who has lost paradise twice, and he has a nightmarish vision of being rowed through paradise on a river of hell.

I could get around in Srinagar on my pushbike. Rumour had it in the town that petrol supplies have been stopped. The petrol stations indeed remained shut and I saw children selling the tawny liquid in small water bottles by the roadside. I left my parents’ home early one morning to cycle to the house of a friend who lives on the slope of a mountain at the edge of Lake Dal and he showed me a stream which I had heard of but never seen before.  We took a walk along it to reach Shalimar garden, accompanied by a chorus of cicadas. It offered me a panoramic view of the valley with Lake Dal in the foreground and Koh-e-Maran hill in its middle. The fort built on top of this hill in 1808 was opened to the public again recently after more than twenty years and many people said that Srinagar was going to be the next big tourist destination in Asia.

The peace is always fragile in Kashmir. Before I booked my tickets I’d asked a friend if August was the right time to visit Srinagar. He said it was never the right time to visit the Valley and I could only hope for a peaceful visit. I would have liked to stay in a guesthouse called Dar-es-Salam (which means

House of Peace) overlooking Lake Nagin but I stayed at my parents’ home and, while there, Agha Shahid’s The Veiled Suite transported me to a House of Sorrow.

The poet accompanies the coffin of his mother, who died of brain cancer, in a Lufthansa flight from America for burial in his ancestral graveyard in Kashmir. Shahid’s grief for his dead mother turns into grief for his lost homeland in the elegies he writes on this journey. He has imagined that he is the only passenger on a flight from Delhi to Srinagar. I was awoken from a similar dream when I flew from London to New Delhi to catch a connecting flight to Srinagar.

While cycling in Srinagar, I passed the high-school I attended and came across a private house at its rear occupied by security forces personnel, one of whom was watching the residents of this neighbourhood from a bunker built on the front lawn. The gates of Badamwari, where almond trees blossom in the spring, were closed and a plastic tarpaulin hung over them so that no one could have a peek.

The nearby temple of Amar Koul was padlocked. It reminded me of a long-haired Englishman who worshipped at this temple from morning till evening during my childhood. The road leading to the top of the Koh-e-Maran hill, once the route of my morning run, was barricaded and an alert paramilitary man armed with a machine gun stood behind a bullet-proof van. I walked down the road and saw a signboard pitched by the Jammu & Kashmir Tourism Development Corporation pointing toward a boat club.

I thought perhaps this road would lead me to a Ghat on Lake Nagin but I saw the watchtowers of the Central Jail along it. The road was desolate. There was a small house at the bottom of the road but I wasn’t sure if it was occupied by the paramilitary troops and didn’t want to trespass and end up in hospital in my beloved Kashmir.

The Statesman Awards for Rural Reporting will be presented tomorrow (16 September) at Kala Mandir, Kolkata and followed by a panel discussion on “It will take a lot for Delhi to regain the Kashmir plot”.


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Lexus is bringing two concept cars to this year’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, the LC Inspiration Series concept and the UX 250h concept. This year marks the 21st year that Lexus has sponsored the event and both models will debut at The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering.

Lexus LC 500 Inspiration Series Concept

The Lexus LC Inspiration Series concept is painted in Flare Yellow and rides on unique 21-inch black alloy wheels. The exterior also gets a carbon fiber roof and active rear spoiler. The interior of the LC Inspiration Series also gets unique yellow door inserts made of Alcantara and the touring seats feature semi-aniline leather with yellow stitching. That same yellow stitching has also been applied to the instrument panel, console and glovebox.

Lexus LC 500 Inspiration Series Concept

The LC Inspiration Series concept is powered by a 471-horsepower, 5.0-liter V8 that’s mated to a 10-speed automatic transmission. The concept can reach 60 mph in 4.4 seconds.

Lexus UX 250h Concept

The Lexus UX 250h concept is based on the 2019 UX compact crossover, which is going to arrive in December. The UX 250h concept features an Oracal vehicle wrap and a custom bike rack that holds the Lexus F Sport Carbon Fiber Road Bicycle. The UX 250h concept also rides on Vossen VFS-1 wheels. To give it a sportier stance, the UX 250h concept gets an Apexi N1 EXV damper suspension and a NIA Auto Design ABS Lip Kit. Lastly the concept gets an Apexi N1-X full catback exhaust system.

Source: Lexus


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Court ruling could set precedent in disputes over assets on private land

A court ruling in favour of a claimant, resulting in the award of £1,000 in damages to a minor who was injured after falling through a Severn Trent Water manhole cover, is likely to set a precedent for disputes on the maintenance of private land, according to law firm Roythornes Solicitors.

Roythornes, who acted on behalf of the child against Severn Trent said “The conclusion of the court ruling in favour of the claimant clearly determines the responsibility of organisations, such as Severn Trent, in the maintenance of its owned entities, such as the manhole cover - regardless of being on public or private land, and is likely to set a precedent for similar cases in the future.”

The solicitor added: “Lessons should be learned from this case. A system hinged on a reactive response as opposed to proactive risk management is not an effective process. It goes without saying that injuries from a fall such as this could be catastrophic and it is fortunate the child was not more seriously injured.

Roythornes said the case was complicated because “reasonable proof was needed to show that despite the manhole cover being on private land, the liability did not lie with the landowner.

The solicitor said the manhole cover had rotted resulting in the young person falling into the open sewer below. It said Severn Trent promptly admitted responsibility for maintenance of the manhole cover but denied any negligent conduct towards its upkeep.

As the manhole cover was located on private land, Severn Trent claimed that it was the landowner’s responsibility to report any faults or defects said Roystones. It went on: “The crux of the legal argument was whether Severn Trent had reasonable systems of inspection in place. Severn Trent’s primary assertion was that they had responsibility for some 1,650,000 manhole covers across its region and it was too onerous a task to proactively inspect all assets.

“Secondly, by statute, they are entitled to delegate and rely upon the systems of inspection by the private land owners. Severn Trent also put forward an argument that they did not know the locations of all the manhole covers when they were transferred in 2011.

“If an organisation, such as Severn Trent, is to rely upon an external party – in this case, the landowner – to maintain utilities it is clearly accountable for, such as manhole covers, the success of that delegation lives and dies on the merits of the inspection systems of that external party.

“The reactive system which Severn Trent used is inconsistent with the positive duty that it owes to public health and safety.”


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MOSL gets green light for its 2020-21 business plan

Wholesalers and retailers in the business market approved market operator MOSL’s 2020-21 business plan on 31 January.

The plan includes a budget of £11.2m, up 4.7% on the current year, and is intended to make the market “easier to do business” in. Its five key themes are: service excellence, market assurance, market improvement, governance and building capacity.

MOSL said there will also be a strategic review of metering in the coming year, which was highlighted as a priority market issue at MOSL’s November CEO Forum.


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Contact for prospective students

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telephone: +49841 / 9348-1370.


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Why does the left hate Donald Trump?

In reply to the comments of Martin and Mark Webb (SA, October 6) concerning Donald Trump.

Whilst recognising that his behaviour can be at times unedifying, any president that will stand for the life of the unborn,de-escalate its military actions across the world,(gaining two Nobel peace prize nominations)-make a serious attempt at peace in the Middle East and move its Israel embassy to Jerusalem-(its rightful place) this president has my vote.

I do not believe him to be a racist,and although there is a tiny minority that are,the vast majority of white conservatives who will vote for him are not.

Please see Trump's full comments after Charlottesville and not the edited versions repeated by a cynical media.

In fact,white conservatives will have much more in common with a Black or Hispanic conservative than with any white leftist,and conversely of course Black or Hispanic conservatives will find much more harmony with a white conservative than any Black or Hispanic leftist.

Maybe the real reason the left hate Trump is because he represents a world that will not bow to the destructive leftist ideology that is increasingly dominating our culture,an ideology that seeks to suppress and even cancel those that dare to think differently - an ideology that breeds hatred and division through identity politics.

This "woke" nightmare thinking is a threat to everything we hold dear in our nation.

May people of all colours and ethnicities stand together against it.

Steve Jack,

Parsonage Court

Don't put fellow citizens' lives at risk from Covid

Bill Williams hopes, as I expect most of us do, to surpass the average longevity for his age group (SA, October 9). I hope he succeeds.

Why does he not understand that coronavirus represents the biggest current threat to his doing so?

He is quite wrong to say that it is less deadly than flu. Figures just published by the Office of National Statistics show that between January and August over three times as many people died of Covid in England and Wales than died of pneumonia and flu combined in the same period in any of the last 20 years.

We are fortunate that Swindon currently has a low infection rate. This can change very quickly.

Nottingham went from a similarly low rate to the highest rate in the country in the space of a fortnight.

Hospitals in the north of England are close to being overwhelmed with Covid cases. If that happens here any of us, including Mr Williams, who may need hospital treatment for another ailment might find there is no space for us.

The government’s handling of the pandemic has been shambolic.

However angry and despondent that may make us feel, we all owe it to our fellow citizens to accept that many things we would like to do are not possible at present without putting other people’s lives at risk.

Peter Gallagher

Folkestone Road

Do you want to air your views on our letters page and online? Email letters@swindonadvertiser.co.uk


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Civil / Site Development

Thomas & Hutton serves a diverse group of private and public clients, providing comprehensive solutions to complex engineering and design challenges. Our technical and professional experience allow us to provide innovative solutions to technical and permitting issues in the initial stages of the design process. This approach, combined with Thomas & Hutton’s willingness and desire to understand our clients’ needs, allows us to proactively resolve potential problems before they become critical issues.

By having a wide range of technical skills and abilities under one roof, Thomas & Hutton offers clients the convenience of working with one firm through inception to completion. Thomas & Hutton has the ability to deliver a project from inception to the initial design phase through permitting and construction. We take a collaborative approach with our clients, seeking to comprehensively understand specific goals, resulting in cost-effective design and on-time delivery of projects.

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About Us

Louvolite Perfect Fit With its stylish and contemporary appearance, window blinds look better, perform better and are more desirable when used with Louvolite Perfect Fit®. Perfect Fit™ is a revolutionary new system that fits UPVC windows and doors without the need to drill or screw holes into the frame. Quick and easy to install, Perfect Fit™ is available as roller, pleated and venetian blinds. Perfect fit advantages: A neat option for uPVC windows A made-to-measure frame clips in place - no need for drilling Works with Roller, Pleated and Metal Venetian blinds The blind becomes an integral part of the window Ideal for children's rooms as there are no cords to keep out of the way check our south cheshire blids fitting out on our product gallery page.

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Organic Shredded Coconut

Organic Shredded Coconut and Organic Coconut Chips are produced with no added sugar or additives. Tierra Farm uses the Organic Shredded Coconut as a base in our granola to add a delicate sweet flavor to every bite. Coconuts are part of the daily diets of many people around the world and are known for their great versatility. Coconut is a rich source of dietary fiber which supports a healthy digestive and immune system. For something different, try our exciting new product, Maple Toasted Coconut. This sweet and crunchy natural snack is the perfect balance of flavor, they are toasted to perfection and are a healthy snack that’s hard to put down.

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Medieval Capital

Buddha in Samadhi at Gal Vihara, Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka

Polonnaruwa was the medieval capital of Sri Lanka between the 11th and 13th Centuries. Strategically, it commanded all the crossings over the Mahaweli River, Sri Lanka's longest, guarding the increasingly powerful southern province of Ruhuna. In 993 AD, the Cholas, invaders from southern India, looted and burnt Anuradhapura and used Polonnaruwa as their military base for 77 years, resulting in an interesting blend of south Indian Hindu culture and Sinhalese Buddhist art and architecture.

The valiant Vijayabahu I, who defeated the Cholas in 1073, devoted his long reign to the development of irrigation and Buddhism. Civil war followed his death and in 1161 Parakramabahu I captured Polonnaruwa and assumed control of the whole island. Regarded as being the last great king of Sri Lanka, Parakramabahu's greatest contribution was his protection of the Buddhist faith. Nissanka Malla, his nephew and successor, also embellished the city with many new buildings. In its prime, the city was enclosed by three concentric walls, and was made attractive with parks and gardens. However, around 1293, Polonnaruwa returned to the jungle after the capital city migrated southwards.

…and now
Polonnaruwa owes much of its glory to the artistic conception of King Parakramabahu I, who planned the city as an expression and statement of imperial power. Its great artificial lake provides cooling breezes through the city, water for irrigation and at the same time, defence along its entire western side. The bund is over 14 km long and 1 m high, and the tank irrigates over 90 sq km of paddy fields. Fed by a 40-km long canal and a link from the Giritale tank, it is named after its imperial designer, the Parakrama Samudra (Topa Wewa). In 1988, it was designated a World Heritage Site.

Why visit Polonnaruwa?

Today, Polonnaruwa is a compact, walled city with many significant and well-preserved sites. You shouldn’t miss Gal Vihara, which is the most exquisite rock carving on the island and it still manages to be sublime despite being overshadowed by an offensive ‘protective’ roof. Polonnaruwa is an essential stop for those interested in the historical, cultural, artistic and architectural heritage of Sri Lanka.

Most of the principal sites of interest can be visited in a half day tour from Polonnaruwa, Habarana, Sigiriya or Dambulla.

Read More Trip Planner

Nearby Locations

Explore the Cultural Triangle and areas near Polonnaruwa.

“We enjoyed the variety of hotels in lots of different locations. In reality we enjoyed most things - the people, the diversity of landscapes and the wildlife.”

Brian & Margaret


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M449 (Grotto)

M449 (Grotto)

Colour cards in which the colour appears

Base paint: C

Price group: 1

The colours displayed on screen have been produced electronically. They are not a substitute for real colour samples, because our perception of colour is affected by the finish of the material, gloss, lighting conditions, and other factors. Always choose the final colour using standard colour cards available from your retailer. Remember the surroundings and conditions for which you are choosing the colour.

RGB values: 88, 91, 75 (585B4B)

LAB values: 37.82, -3.37, 9.15

Exact NCS shade: 7113-G53Y

Nearest shade as per the NCS standard: S 7010-G50Y

ΔE for the standard shade: 3.1


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Category / getting backyard chickens

April 14, 2014
We’ve been busy for the last few months. Dan and his team at Green Chicken Coop are helping us treat Tilly and the girls to a new home. It’s the least I could do for them. Afterall, they are responsible for my book. I am so excited to share with you my overall design that Dan…

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About me

Sharing an inspired life from the New England seaside. Chickens, Bees, Gardens, Art and Yummy Goodness.


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The Chattanooga Times Free Press building is located at 400 East 11th Street.
some text
Alison Gerber

America has never felt so fractured and frustrated, so very divided.

Last week, I was reminded of just how high tensions are — and how the media is often the flashpoint for igniting the flames.

On Monday, the Times Free Press published a stand-alone photo (a photo with no story) of two men using leaf blowers, fall leaves flying everywhere. It was a nice photo intended to capture the season. The page designer placed a headline on top of the photo that said, "Time to leave." He thought he'd used a cute play on words.

Unfortunately, some members of our community interpreted it differently. Some found the headline highly offensive, even racist.

The two men blowing the leaves in the photo were Hispanic, and some readers thought "Time to leave" was intended as a commentary on president-elect Donald Trump's promise to deport illegal immigrants. Trump's immigration policies received attention during his campaign, but coverage has continued since his election. Some felt the photo caption was deliberately placed as an insulting commentary to the Hispanic community and as an endorsement of Trump's policies.

"This kind of subtle ignorance and racism should not be normalized or even joked about," one person wrote.

"You should not be the source of hate," another person posted.

And another left a voicemail for one of my colleagues saying the photo was "the most infuriating thing I've seen in a long time." The caller told my colleague he was a "deplorable human being," "sick in the head" and didn't need to be in the gene pool.

That message, social media posts and emails underscored how offensive people found the photo headline.

I offered our apologies to those who wrote to the paper and tried to assure them that the page designer had not intended to make a political statement or give an opinion on the president-elect's immigration policy. In fact, the page designer was mortified when he realized how the headline appeared to some readers.

The lesson here is that we have to be careful about words and presentation. And that's true even in the most unexpected circumstances.

On Nov. 10, the paper ran a photo of newly elected Trump across the paper's front page. It took up the entire top half of the paper with the headline, "White House bound." One of the peel-off sticker advertisements that frequently are on the front page was placed at the top of the paper. It covered the "ouse" from "House" and the "b" from "bound." And a few readers insisted we'd placed the sticker there on purpose so the headline would appear to say "White Hound." They thought we were mocking Trump.

Sticker ads are placed by a machine; no human is involved in their placement, so there was certainly no calculated effort to cover up certain letters.

This was a reminder that not only are tensions high, some people believe the media is deliberately slanted — a belief that comes from both political sides.

Two days before the election, the paper's customer service department received two complaints from readers. One reader was disappointed because the paper endorsed Hillary Clinton. (The liberal Times editorial page endorsed her; the conservative Free Press page did not). The other reader said he was tired of how "right winged" the paper is. Also, he thinks our sports department ignores Auburn University.

So there's our dilemma. Some people read the Times Free Press and think we're right-wing Trump supporters; others read the same paper and think we're shilling for Clinton and the Democrats.

In these politically divisive times, it can feel like the media gets clobbered from both sides. It's our job to be in the middle, so I guess that's OK.

And sometimes you just have to stand in the line of fire and take the shots.

Contact Alison Gerber at at


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Me Jane, you verbal lizard?

Human Language and Our Reptilian Brain
October 12, 2001

Philip Lieberman's message is that "the theory that Charles Darwin proposed can account for the evolution of [human language]". Language is not biologically special or based on some single biologically recent development that defines a universal grammar and differentiates man from other species. Lieberman marshals neurophysiological, palaeontological and other evidence to argue that language exploits neural mechanisms that evolved to serve other functions (for example manual motor control), and some of which reside in the most ancient structures of the brain, the subcortical basal ganglia or the "reptilian brain".

Lieberman urges that language must be predominantly a learnt rather than innate ability. Such abilities as walking upright, which is shared by all adult humans, might be supposed to be uncontroversially innate. But, according to Lieberman, this should also be seen as a learnt skill.

All this contradicts the assumptions of the Chomskyan brand of linguistics. Lieberman criticises not only Noam Chomsky but his followers Derek Bickerton and Steven Pinker. Their claims that language behaviour is governed by special-purpose modules of brain structure are false, according to research cited by Lieberman, and owe more to misleading analogies with computer science than to empirical evidence. Lieberman sees Chomskyan linguistics as a "worldwide religion", rather than a scientific enterprise; it protects its standing by isolating itself from neighbouring disciplines that might come up with counter-evidence.

The irony is that Lieberman used to be a leading advocate of such unscientific ideology. In a 1975 book, he argued that the Levallois tool-making culture showed that early man had acquired the neural basis of transformational grammar, because the two-stage Levallois "core and flake" flint-working technique resembled the two-stage process of creating a deep sentence structure and transforming it into a surface structure. Lieberman now says: "The analogy, in retrospect, was forced" - surely an understatement.

Today, the trickle of apostates from the Chomskyan church is turning into a stampede, as people who managed to live with the logical flaws of nativist linguistics realise that techniques such as corpus research and Pet and MRI scanning are delivering hard data about language usage and neural processing that render redundant, and often contradict, the purely speculative premises on which that style of linguistics rested. Thus Lieberman wants to get his recantation on record before he occupies the undignified position of a priest without a congregation.

One consequence is that long passages are devoted to unconvincing defences of the line taken by Lieberman in earlier writings. He argued, from fossil evidence, that Neanderthalers lacked human-type language. He now describes this as a misunderstanding, saying that he made the more limited claim that Neanderthalers could not produce the full human range of vowel sounds. Yet he still wants to treat this as explaining the Neanderthal extinction. Lieberman cites findings that gene-pool boundaries tend to correlate with boundaries between languages. He argues that a distinctive Neanderthal accent would have made them an isolated population, vulnerable to extinction. But the explanation for the gene pool-language correlation is known to any young man: girls expect some talking. Contrary to cartoons depicting cavemen dragging women off by the hair, it seems that in the Stone Age as now, a man who could not communicate verbally with a woman was unlikely to mate with her. Lieberman's claim about Neanderthal vowels does not require dialect differences between Neanderthalers and anatomically modern man to have been much greater than those between northern and southern England nowadays, which are no bar to amorous relationships.

Other passages offer an idiosyncratic view of the history of phonetic science. Is it really true that 19th-century research on laws of sound change related to choice between articulatory and acoustic descriptions? Lieberman apparently believes that before Alexander Melville Bell's Visible Speech of 1867, nobody knew how to classify consonants by place of articulation - he wrongly attributes that book to Alexander Melville's son Alexander Graham, inventor of the telephone. (The book has a number of errors that a publisher's editor could not be expected to catch, relating for instance to proper names.)

Despite its shortcomings, the book draws together references to recent biological research having implications for linguistics. Lieberman rightly urges that linguists ought to be paying more attention to this work.

Geoffrey Sampson is professor of natural language computing, University of Sussex.

Human Language and Our Reptilian Brain: The Subcortical Bases of Speech, Syntax, and Thought

Author - Philip Lieberman
ISBN - 0 674 00226 1
Publisher - Harvard University Press
Price - £28.95
Pages - 221

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Poetry, insults and disdain

Ezra Pound
October 26, 2007

Most literary lives are uneventful: a writer is a man or a woman who sits at a desk. The life of Ezra Pound (1885-1973), crammed with incident and acrimony, is a gift to the biographer.

Pound travelled widely, associated with some of the most prominent writers and artists of his day (including W. B. Yeats, T. S. Eliot, Wyndham Lewis, Hilda Doolittle and Amy Lowell), wrote music and the epic Cantos , translated Japanese Noh plays, supported Mussolini during the Second World War, stood trial for treason and was incarcerated for 15 years in a mental hospital.

David Moody's critical biography follows his excellent study of Eliot, and he brings to Pound's poetry the same degree of sceptical intelligence he displayed in his earlier book. This is neither a hatchet job nor a hagiography. Working from letters, interviews, memoirs and the texts of the poems, Moody builds a substantial and properly informed picture of Pound and his intellectual world. His intention is to represent Pound as "a hero of his culture, a genuine representative of both its more enlightened impulses and its self-destructive contradictions".

It would have been profitless to conceal the extent of Pound's egotism and prejudices (as some previous commentators have attempted to do), and Moody's engagement with these monstrous qualities is admirably clear- headed.

There are some revelations. Pound's hometown of Wyncote, near Philadelphia, was notoriously anti-Italian and anti-Semitic, but Moody demonstrates that his parents were unusually well-disposed towards their Italian and Jewish neighbours.

Pound's career as a student, largely a series of disagreements with old- school philologists, led him to declare that "the university is not here for the exceptional man". Moody charts the development of Pound's "alienated superiority" from these early years, when he abandoned his doctoral studies. His "scorn" for professional academics was "born of disappointment".

Poetry is at the heart of the story, but politics is never far away. Having moved to London in 1908, Pound immersed himself in the revolutionary milieu of the Vorticist movement and contributed to Wyndham Lewis's avant-garde journal BLAST , in whose pages he declared war on "malevolent mediocrity and petrifying conventionality". He showed his talent for propaganda in 1915: "This war is not our war (...) A vicious mediaevalism,/A belly-fat commerce,/Neither is on our side:/Whores, apes, rhetoricians."

Yeats said that "Ezra Pound has a desire personally to insult the world", and Eliot confided to a friend that he found Pound's poetry "well-meaning but touchingly incompetent". Yet both Yeats and Eliot benefited from Pound's undoubted skill as an editor.

He was not abstract enough to be a true Vorticist, and his ambition to write at epic length drove him away from the Imagists. Moody argues convincingly that Pound's loose translation of the Anglo-Saxon Seafarer , written when he was struggling to get his poems into print, is an oblique self-portrait of a writer who believes the literary world to be against him. Homage to Sextus Propertius is a "refraction of the ancient poet through a modern intelligence, or the superimposition of the one upon the other". Such interpretations are genuinely useful to an understanding of Pound's literary and political evolution.

"Pound's lack of tact has done him great harm," wrote Wyndham Lewis. Herbert Read concurred: "He was not made for compromise or co-operation."

Yet the best of Pound appears in the pre-1939 Cantos , where he attempts a head-spinning fusion of the classical, the Confucian and the modern. He envied Dante, who had been guided by the "Aquinas map", and endeavoured, through wide reading in at least eight languages, to construct a provisional modern map of his own. Late in life, he said that the overall idea of the Cantos was "that European culture ought to survive, that the best qualities of it ought to survive along with whatever other cultures, in whatever universality".

His writing is still considered dangerous, driven as it is by a conviction that truth "may be perceptible only by genius and seem nonsense to common sense". His notion of himself as the cultural saviour of civilisation led him to reject democracy, with disastrous consequences for his literary reputation.

Moody is rightly alert to what he calls the "scandal" of Pound, and this exemplary biography illuminates and exposes him with his warts and contradictions intact. I am already looking forward to the second volume.

Andrew Biswell is principal lecturer in English and creative writing, Manchester Metropolitan University, and the author of The Real Life of Anthony Burgess (Picador).

Ezra Pound: Poet - A Portrait of the Man and His Work Volume I: The Young Genius 1885-1920

Author - A. David Moody
Publisher - Oxford University Press
Pages - 544
Price - £25.00
ISBN - 9780199215577

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text:
Scales of flesh sales

The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
June 16, 2000

James Walvin discovers a scholarly gold mine on the slave trade

Between the early 16th and the mid-19th centuries, the Atlantic slave trade was responsible for the enforced migration of millions of Africans from their varied African homelands to great swathes of the (primarily tropical and semi-tropical) Americas. Today the subject has become familiar to a wide audience, popular and academic, on both sides of the Atlantic.

Popular culture has disseminated an awareness of the slave trade round the world. Movies ( Amistad ), TV series ( Roots ), novels (notably Beloved ) and a public debate (in Africa, Europe and the Americas) about the rights and wrongs of the slave trade - and how best to deal with its consequences (if at all) - continue unabated. Indeed, the phrase, the slave trade, has come to signify the Atlantic slave trade, though there were plenty of other slave trades in history (across the Sahara, eastwards across the Indian Ocean - to say nothing of more ancient Asian slave systems, and slave routes in medieval Europe or the world of classical antiquity). It is, however, the Atlantic slave trade that sticks in the public mind. It is easy to see why. The black populations of the Americas are descended from the African victims of the Atlantic slave trade. So too are many of the recent black communities that have flourished in Europe in the late 20th century. Black societies in Europe and the Americas are, then, an obvious reminder of that historical process we call the Atlantic slave trade. And even the debates about the woes of contemporary Africa often return to the issue of the slave trade and its consequences for the development of sub-Saharan Africa. What happened to Africa and Africans in the course of the Atlantic slave trade has a resonance and significance that goes far beyond the scholarly arguments of historians.

In recent years there has been an astonishing outpouring of books, essays,collections and theses on every aspect of the Atlantic slave trade and especially on its consequences for the emergence of slave communities across the Americas. Occasionally, it is salutary to step back and see how far we have come in the space of a single academic generation. The work that has culminated in this CD-Rom, a quite outstanding achievement, began in earnest with the publication in 1969 of Philip Curtin's pioneering and masterly study, The Atlantic Slave Trade: A Census . Curtin, one of the great postwar Africanists, set out to find, as precisely as he could measure, the exact numbers of Africans shipped across the Atlantic into American slavery. His was a remarkable book that prompted a whole generation of scholars (some of them Curtin's own students) to refine and revise his initial calculations. It is a testimony to Curtin's achievement that, even now - when we know so much more, from many more sources, all analysed by a veritable army of historians (using technology that Curtin did not have access to) - the broad outlines of Curtin's arguments remain roughly correct.

There were, of course, some who bridled at the reduction of this human story to a statistical exercise, though Curtin could never be accused of that. It was as if the statistical analysis of slavery was itself a dehumanising process applied to a story that was structured on the deracination and reduction of millions to the level of inanimate objects. Yet who could argue with the basic premise that if historians are to have any informed discussion about slavery, it is vital to ensure that the facts - in this case the figures - are correct? It is a simple if sometimes misunderstood fact that the figures really are important. It matters to know the order of magnitude we are discussing; it is important that we are able to discuss African slavery as an informed debate and not just on the basis of hunches and guesses. No other area of historical research would pretend that data are not important. The problem with the study of slavery - and I have said this too often for my own good - is how that data have been used by some historians. The data have a sensitivity, a moral charge, which historians ignore at their peril. Yet the basic point is simple: the figures are critical.

One main obstacle to discussing the data has been its fragmented and dispersed nature. The Atlantic slave trade effectively spanned the period post-Columbus to the 1860s, though the great bulk of trade was conducted from the late 16th through to the early 19th centuries. All the major European maritime powers (Spain, Portugal, Holland, England and France) hurried to involve themselves. So did mercantile communities in North and South America. So too, of course, did a host of African communities. For much of the history of Atlantic slavery, Europeans had only the most tenuous of toeholds on the African coastline and were dependent on traders and merchants in the interior for supplies of African slaves. The consequent drain of humanity towards the European presence on the coast had fundamental repercussions for a host of African societies. Polities waxed and waned through the upheavals spawned by the white man's demand for ever more Africans destined for the plantations.

When we consider that the Atlantic slave trade spanned so long a period, and involved so many diverse communities on three continents, it becomes obvious that any overall analysis faces complex and daunting problems.

What we have under review is a triumph of enterprise, industry and imaginative reconstruction. It can be deceptively simple to describe this CD-Rom. But to say that it offers the data for ,233 slave voyages would be to mislead. First of all, we have in accessible (and relatively cheap) format all the known data on a great majority of the Atlantic slave voyages. The simple collection of that data (done under the auspices of Harvard's Du Bois Institute) is itself a remarkable achievement, not least because the material has lain locked in archives and papers scattered around the Atlantic rim.

As information technology has improved over the past 30 years, individuals and teams of scholars have committed themselves to the painstaking task of abstracting data from archives and transferring it to contemporary machine analysis. As the results of individual and team work began to materialise, a wider project took shape under the Du Bois wing and, with North American scholarly funding, this project flourished. But it could only be as good as the historians it attracted. Fortunately, it acquired a team of editors who are also remarkable historians. This whole project is an example of historical cooperation at its finest. No single historian could have achieved the results on offer here. And that in itself is testimony to Curtin's initial work in the 1960s.

It is worth looking at some of the detail. First, the data. This publication is a gold mine of information, most of which would have remained inaccessible to any single scholar. Now the raw data from thousands of ships, scattered in dozens of sources, are available at the push of a button. The CD-Rom is easy to use (if I can manage it, anyone can). Information about the ships -names, tonnage, port of origin, African destinations, time at sea, landfall, names of captains, owners - can be retrieved and reworked. It is possible to dip into the material, to ask questions of it, and tease out data of all sorts and conditions. And, of course, many of those questions are about the African victims: where they came from, how long they spent at sea, how many died, how many landed in the Americas, and where. The software enables users to create his or her own analyses and graphs. Similarly there is a complex of maps of the Atlantic world that locates the data in their more familiar geographical settings.

There has been nothing like this before. And, as the editors readily acknowledge, changes will emerge as more data comes to light. But the present study is as good as it gets: rooted in remorseless archival investigations, subjected to critical intellectual scrutiny and debate and rendered into manageable format by a publisher and its technical assistants who deserve the highest praise. There must have been times when the end product seemed distant and perhaps unmanageable.

The four historian editors are well known for their individual scholarly work, which runs parallel to this publication. All have secured their reputations as historians of the first rank. When we set their published scholarship alongside this CD-Rom it becomes clearer what a formidable team they make. It is worth recalling that (as they acknowledge) they have also been the beneficiaries of other people's efforts and ideas, none more important or readily given than those of Stanley Engerman. The major advances in historiography in this field have been secured by the effort and generosity of many historians pooling their information. But without this team of editors and the faith of their publishers, it is unlikely that this massively important project would have seen the light of day.

Historians will certainly use and rework this data in the coming years, trying to re-evaluate it, ask new questions, offer their own interpretations of what lies within it. It is a scholarly work with massive implications for our understanding not simply of the Atlantic slave trade, but for our grasp of the complex cultural and social shaping of the Atlantic world. Would David Eltis and company please step forward for a curtain call - they deserve a standing ovation.

James Walvin is professor of history, University of York.

The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade: A Database on CD-Rom

Editor - David Eltis, Stephen D. Behrendt, David Richardson and Herbert S. Klein
ISBN - 0 521 62910 1
Publisher - Cambridge University Press
Price - £125.00
Pages - -

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text:
Park omnibus for good in Clapham

April 6, 2007

As the student body becomes increasingly international, familiarity with UK popular culture cannot be assumed on courses. Curricula must instead become 'internationalised', as Harriet Swain reports.

Jokes about the old Tango ads fall flat. References to Porridge in criminology take hours of explaining, and nobody knows what a Clapham Omnibus is. Students don't seem to understand where you're coming from anymore.

But what about where they're coming from? As the student body becomes increasingly international, university curricula can no longer assume familiarity with British television, popular culture or even basic Western notions about economics, says Digby Warren, learning, teaching and curriculum developer at London Metropolitan University.

Before you launch into internationalising a curriculum, however, you need to ask why you are doing this, says Beatrice Merrick, director of services and research at Ukcosa, the Council for International Education. "Part of what drives this is making the curriculum more relevant to international students rather than being Anglocentric," she says. "But it is also making UK students more prepared for a globalised world."

Warren says it goes beyond internationalism too. Rethinking curricula has to consider the needs of increasing numbers of non-traditional students from within the UK. "They are not entering the system with the conventional middle-class liberal education on which, historically, university has rested," he says.

Merrick says you need to recognise that internationalising the curriculum will vary from subject to subject. But she says tackling the issue at an institutional level is a way of prompting action from people who may not have thought about it before. "It's an area where there aren't straightforward right or wrong answers," she says. Glynis Cousin, senior adviser at the Higher Education Academy, says it is a good idea to combine a subject-based approach with pressure from the top. She praises Leeds Metropolitan University, which has a strategy for every academic to look at their programmes and assess the extent to which they can integrate crosscultural capabilities into the programme. Elspeth Jones, dean of the Leslie Silver International Faculty at Leeds Metropolitan, suggests thinking in detail about internationalisation every time a course comes up for review, which means that every course will eventually get covered.

Guidelines for curriculum review issued by her university stress that internationalising the curriculum must be done in the wider context of students' overall university experience.

Among many other suggestions, these guidelines urge careful use of language - not saying things such as "Asians are..." or "In Africa..." for example.

They suggest displaying international materials in the faculty, rewarding intercultural perspectives in assessments, and encouraging students to question whether their work excludes any national or other group, and what its environmental impact might be. The guidelines also advise offering a wide range of learning strategies to ensure that the course responds to different learning cultures.

Alison Dickens, senior academic co-ordinator for the Higher Education Academy subject centre for languages, linguistics and area studies, says you need to ask yourself whether you are using case studies, examples and references to academic work from outside the UK, whether students and staff have opportunities to learn languages, and to spend time abroad.

"These are all things to think about rather than being gospel," she says.

But if you claim to be running a course that is international you need to check that it really is, in terms of offering study visits and language learning, for example.

Merrick says it is useful to establish links with partner universities abroad and perhaps develop a joint degree. This is a particularly good way of internationalising the curriculum because overseas partners can highlight differences in perspective that UK university staff may not even be aware exist.

David Pilsbury, chief executive of the Worldwide Universities Network, says students need to have opportunities to participate in a programme in a way that reflects and enables internationalisation. "The curriculum on its own is not enough to create an international programme," he says. "It is how students engage with the curriculum that makes the difference."

He says it is important that learning flows in both directions and not just from the developed to developing world and that you are aware of differences in students' learning expectations.

Merrick says it can be useful to make the most of the insights of your international students, although she warns against depending on them too much. "Expecting them to represent their country or culture can be too much of a burden," she says. "But be open to what they bring."

Don't be tempted to restrict your world-view just to the handful of different nationalities you have in your lecture room, she says. Make sure you are conscious of different perspectives between developed and developing countries and your curriculum recognises the different resources available to students coming from poorer countries.

Cousin suggests using both home and international students to inform you about their experience of studying on a multicultural campus - Coventry University is offering bursaries to students explicitly to conduct this kind of research - so that their findings can inform your curriculum.

But don't get too carried away about internationalisation, warns Dickens.

If your curriculum is too international your foreign students might start objecting that they are not receiving the UK education they have travelled a long way to receive.

Further information

Academy Exchange , a special issue of Higher Education Academy magazine, focusing on internationalisation,

Internationalising Higher Education by Elspeth Jones and Sally Brown, Routledge, is published in May Worldwide Universities Network,

Council for International Education, Ukcosa,

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text:
Director, Research AIBIL, Radiology Department

Pennsylvania, United States
24 Sep 2020
End of advertisement period
24 Nov 2020
Contract Type
Full Time

University Overview

The University of Pennsylvania, the largest private employer in Philadelphia, is a world-renowned leader in education, research, and innovation. This historic, Ivy League school consistently ranks among the top 10 universities in the annual U.S. News & World Report survey. Penn has 12 highly-regarded schools that provide opportunities for undergraduate, graduate and continuing education, all influenced by Penn’s distinctive interdisciplinary approach to scholarship and learning.

Penn offers a unique working environment within the city of Philadelphia. The University is situated on a beautiful urban campus, with easy access to a range of educational, cultural, and recreational activities. With its historical significance and landmarks, lively cultural offerings, and wide variety of atmospheres, Philadelphia is the perfect place to call home for work and play.

The University offers a competitive benefits package that includes excellent healthcare and tuition benefits for employees and their families, generous retirement benefits, a wide variety of professional development opportunities, supportive work and family benefits, a wealth of health and wellness programs and resources, and much more.

Posted Job Title

Director, Research AIBIL (Radiology Dept.)

Job Profile Title

Director D

Job Description Summary

Director, Research AIBIL

Artificial Intelligence in Biomedical Imaging Laboratory (AIBIL) at University of Pennsylvania, which is led by Dr. Christos Davatzikos, has been a pioneer in computational methods for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) processing and analysis, with a particular specialization on neuroimaging. AIBIL focuses to develop and apply advanced machine learning and image analysis methods towards establishing imaging signatures of various neuro-degenerative diseases and disorders. The lab’s long standing record on use of machine learning in neuroimaging includes imaging signatures of brain aging, Alzheimer’s Disease, schizophrenia, and brain cancer, as well as of functional connectivity. In recent years, AIBIL leads innovative neuroimaging research for very large scale analysis of multi-study and multi-modal MRI data.

Job Description

Director, Research AIBIL As a Director, you will oversee all aspects of neuroimaging research at AIBIL. You will establish processes for consistent processing and analysis of multi-modal and multi-site MRI datasets with very large sample sizes. These processes will involve data organization and consolidation, application of processing algorithms and methods, automated and semi-automated quality verification of processed data, and statistical and machine learning based analyses of quantitative values for biomarker extraction for translational research. You will supervise and manage a team of data and image analysts. You will collaborate with researchers and students in the lab for translation of their novel methodologies to existing datasets. You will also work in close collaboration with external collaborators for the management of MRI data processing in several ongoing consortium studies. You will also oversee development of novel deep learning methodologies towards preparation of the next generation of our image processing algorithms.  You should have expertise in computer science, with solid background in programming and data and image analysis. You should have expertise in neuroscience and neurodegenerative diseases, as well as experience in development of advanced MRI processing methods. The successful candidate will have extensive experience leading the processing and analysis of large multi-modal neuroimaging datasets with a strong record of high impact publications from these analyses. This position offers the opportunity to interface broadly internally & externally with diverse functional areas. Joining AIBIL offers scientific professionals the unique opportunity of seeing their research go from bench to bedside and discoveries that could one day lead to cures. Qualifications: - Master’s Degree required, Ph. D. strongly preferred in the field of computer science, mathematics or neuroscience; - A minimum of 5 to 7 years of direct laboratory experience using neuroimaging data or an equivalent combination of education and experience required; - Expert programming skills, preferably in Python, with solid knowledge in shell scripting, data visualization, algorithms and image processing; - Extensive knowledge of neuroscience research in neuro-degenerative diseases and conditions; - Very good communication skills to work collaboratively with a diverse group of researchers, clinicians and managers; - Success in roles requiring execution of multiple tasks while responding to multiple priorities; - Highly functioning, detail-oriented, and analytical candidate who can think strategically; - Excellent oral/written communication skills required. Responsibilities/Duties Estimated

  • Design, set up and supervise application of processes for consistent processing and analysis of multi-modal and multi-site MRI datasets with very large sample sizes in ongoing imaging consortium studies. Oversee the training of data and image analysts and assist them in decision making and solving problems encountered during image processing. Inspect integrity and data quality of final multi-modal MRI results, reproducibility of processing pipelines and deployment of software tools used for processing. – 25%
  • Manage data collection and analysis efforts within the lab in multiple ongoing studies. Address questions/requests related to further analyses of derived MRI data. Facilitate access to structured MRI data by other researchers in the lab and translation of novel methodologies to existing datasets. Participate in writing research papers to report results of analyses using clinical, cognitive and MRI data. – 25%
  • Oversee a group of researchers and students for developing the next generation of image processing pipelines, particularly using Deep Learning methods. Lead the development and application of novel tools, preparation of large datasets for model training, qualitative and quantitative evaluations, and reporting of methods and results in high impact publications – 25%
  • Oversee image processing, analysis and reporting of results in studies with external collaborators. Communicate with external collaborators and assist them in the interpretation of the MRI data and in further clinical analyses using MRI variables. – 20%
  • Other duties and responsibilities as assigned. – 5%

Job Location - City, State

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Department / School

Perelman School of Medicine

Pay Range

$88,861.00 - $168,837.00

Affirmative Action Statement

Penn adheres to a policy that prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, creed, national or ethnic origin, citizenship status, age, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected class.

Special Requirements

Background check required after a conditional job offer is made. Consideration of the background check will be tailored to the requirements of the job.

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