There is an economic and demographic backdrop to the differential policies towards asylum-seekers of Germany and the UK - to Germany's relatively open door, that compares with the UK's heavily fortified portal (which will be opened just a bit by David Cameron later today).
The two relevant points (leaving aside moral ones) are that:So to put it another way, it is arguably particularly useful to Germany to have an influx of young grateful families from Syria or elsewhere, who may well be keen to toil and strive to rebuild their lives and prove to their hosts that they are not a burden - in the way that successive immigrant waves have done all over the world (including Jews like my family in London's East End).
- the UK's population is rising fast, whereas Germany's is falling fast;
- the dependency ratio (the proportion of expensive older people in the population relative to able-bodied, tax-generating workers) is rising much quicker in Germany than in the UK.
Here are the European Commission's projections from its Ageing Report that was published earlier this year.
It projects that Germany's population will shrink from 81.3 million in 2013 to 70.8 million in 2060, whereas the UK's will rise from 64.1 million to 80.1 million.
As you can see, what is striking is that the UK is set to become the EU's most populous country, ahead of Germany and France, as a result of a relatively high fertility rate and greater projected rates of net migration.
It is probably relevant that the Commission forecasts that the proportion of the German population in 2060 represented by migrants arriving after 2013 would be 9%, compared with 14% in the UK. So Germany would be a lot less multicultural than the UK.
As for the dependency ratio, the percentage of those 65 and over compared with those aged between 15 and 64, that is forecast to rise from 32% to a very high 59% in Germany by 2060.
Or to put it another way, by 2060 there will be fewer than two Germans under 65 to work and generate taxes to support each German over 65.
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Here is the thing. Wherever you stand in the debate on whether immigration is a good or bad thing - and most economists would argue that immigration promotes growth - right now immigration looks much more economically useful to Germany than to the UK.
That is perhaps one of the unspoken reasons why Germany is being much more welcoming to asylum seekers from Syria and elsewhere right now.
That said, some business leaders and a couple of Tory ministers gave me what can only be described as an off-message critique of David Cameron's approach to the migrant crisis over the weekend.
They said that Angela Merkel is creaming off the most economically useful of the asylum seekers, by taking those that have shown the gumption and initiative to risk life and limb by fleeing to Europe.
Precedent suggests they will be the ones that find work fastest and impose the least economic burden on Germany or any other host country.
By contrast, David Cameron appears to be doing what many would see as the more morally admirable thing - which is to go to the Syrian camps and invite children and the most vulnerable of refugees to Britain....
If public-service broadcasting, one of the best thing we've ever done creatively as a country...if it was a car industry, our ministers would be out championing it overseas, trying to win contracts, boasting of the British jobs that would bring.
If the BBC were a weapons-system, half the cabinet would be on a plane to Saudia Arabia to tell them how brilliant it was.
And yet, it's quite the reverse: They talk of cutting down to size, of reining in imperialist ambitions, of hiving off, of limiting the scope, and they do it with all the manic glee of a doctor ever so reasonably urging his patient to consider the benefits of assisted suicide.
US cinema chain Regal introduces bag search after attacks
One of America's largest cinema chains, Regal, is now searching bags of film-goers following several attacks on movie theatres across the US.
Regal's updated policy says it wants customers and staff "to feel comfortable and safe" in its cinemas.
It is not clear when it began, but reports say some people had their bags checked at some of the company's 570 cinemas this week.
Earlier this month, a man attacked cinema-goers in Tennessee with an axe.
He was shot dead by Nashville police, but no-one else was killed.
"Security issues have become a daily part of our lives in America," Regal Entertainment Group's admission policy now reads on the company's website. The company has not yet commented publicly on the new regulations.
"To ensure the safety of our guests and employees, backpacks and bags of any kind are subject to inspection prior to admission," it continues.
Last week, police were deployed outside the Regal cinema in Los Angeles ahead of the premiere of the film Straight Outta Compton.
Two weeks before the Nashville attack, two people were shot dead and nine others injured when a man attacked a cinema in Lafayette, Louisiana.
The change in policy also comes the same month Colorado theatre killer, James Holmes, was given a life sentence for killing 12 people and injuring 70 others at a screening of a Batman film in 2012.
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How NSA and GCHQ spied on the Cold War world
American and British intelligence used a secret relationship with the founder of a Swiss encryption company to help them spy during the Cold War, newly released documents analysed by the BBC reveal.
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Crypto AG sold its machines around the world, offering security.
But what customers did not know was that Hagelin himself had come to a secret agreement with the founding father of American code-breaking, William F Friedman.
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The relationship, initially referred to as a "gentleman's agreement", included Hagelin keeping the NSA and GCHQ informed about the technical specifications of different machines and which countries were buying which ones.
The provision of technical details "is a revelation of the first order," says Paul Reuvers, an engineer who runs the Crypto Museum website.
"That's extremely valuable. It is something you would not normally do because the integrity and secrecy of your own customer is mandatory in this business."
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In one document, Hagelin hints to Friedman he is going to be able "to supply certain customers" with a specific machine which, Friedman notes, is of course "easier to solve than the new models".
Previous reports of the deal suggested it may have involved some kind of backdoor in the machines, which would provide the NSA with the keys.
But there is no evidence for this in the documents (although some parts remain redacted).
Rather, it seems the detailed knowledge of the machines and their operations may have allowed code-breakers to cut the time needed to decrypt messages from the impossible to the possible.
The relationship also involved not selling machines such as the CX-52, a more advanced version of the C-52 - to certain countries.
"The reason that CX-52 is so terrifying is because it can be customised," says Prof Richard Aldrich, of the University of Warwick.
"So it's a bit like defeating Enigma and then moving to the next country and then you've got to defeat Enigma again and again and again."
Some countries - including Egypt and India - were not told of the more advanced models and so bought those easier for the US and UK to break.
In some cases, customers appear to have been deceived.
One memo indicates Crypto AG was providing different customers with encryption machines of different strengths at the behest of Nato and that "the different brochures are distinguishable only by 'secret marks' printed thereon".
Historian Stephen Budiansky says: "There was a certain degree of deception going on of the customers who were buying [machines] and thinking they were getting something the same as what Hagelin was selling everywhere when in fact it was a watered-down version."
Among the customers of Hagelin listed are Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Pakistan, India, Jordan and others in the developing world.
In the summer of 1958, army officers apparently sympathetic to Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser overthrew the regime in Iraq.
Historian David Easter, of King's College, London, says intelligence from decrypted Egyptian communications was vital in Britain being able to rapidly deploy troops to neighbouring Jordan to forestall a potential follow-up coup against a British ally.
The 1955 deal also appears to have involved the NSA itself writing "brochures", instruction manuals for the CX-52, to ensure "proper use".
One interpretation is these were written so certain countries could use the machines securely - but in others, they were set up so the number of possible permutations was small enough for the NSA to crack.
I think this is a very difficult subject and I think um, it's a dangerous one for a Prime Minister to dive in and come up with an instant answer...I think, y'know, a big conversation needs to happen about this, and frankly I think the people we need to listen to are, y'know, people who really understand this issue...and the potential effects that it's having...We do have a problem. And I was listening to the MP's about this last night, and I think it's the start of a conversation about something needing to be done.”
BBC Radio Cornwall Breakfast Programme, 17/07/2015, from 2'44'26.
David Cameron has said he wants to start a “big conversation” about a recent spate of seagull attacks on local people in Cornwall.
MPs called for a change in the law which would allow the protected status of seagulls to be axed so that their population in urban areas could be better controlled.
One MP suggested that the scavenging birds should be sterilised to stop them reproducing, while another said their eggs could be removed and swapped for moth eggs.
In the March budget, £250,000 was pledged for a research project into "aggressive" seagulls. However, following the general election, this was judged to be “low priority” and funding was axed.
The Prime Minister said that he wanted to take action after learning about an increase in attacks from the aggressive birds.
This week seagulls killed a dog in Newquay, Cornwall leaving a sight “like a murder scene” while a tortoise was pecked to death in nearby Liskeard.
The commitment comes despite his own Government axing a £250,000 fund research into aggressive urban gulls which was scrapped because it was a "low priority".
The Prime Minister told BBC Radio Cornwall on Friday morning that the issue came up at a dinner with Cornwall's six Conservative MPs on Thursday night. One of the problems is that seagulls are protected and so a cull is not possible.
He said: “I think this is a very difficult subject and I think it is a dangerous one for the Prime Minister to dive in and come up with an instant answer with the issues of the protection of seagulls, whether there is a need for a cull, what should be done about eggs and nests and the rest of it.
"I think a big conversation needs to happen about this and frankly the people we need to listen to are people who really understand this issue in Cornwall, and the potential effects it is having.
"Reading the papers this morning about how aggressive the seagulls are now in St Ives for instance - we do have a problem. I was listening to the MPs last night I think it is the start of a conversation about something needing to be done.”
Leader of the House Mr Grayling said he was "not warm" to the idea of relocating."My very clear view is this building is an important part of our national heritage and our democracy, and it must remain as such," he said during Business Questions in the Commons.Can't have change now, can we ? National heritage !
There must be no “self-indulgent” reforms to parliamentary procedures as part of the expected refurbishment plan for the Palace of Westminster, Sir Alan Duncan has said.
The Conservative former minister told the Times: “What would be catastrophic is if self-indulgent people who know little about parliament say ‘let’s have electronic voting’ or ‘let’s have a semi-circular chamber’. I’m absolutely with Churchill after the place was bombed who said ‘let’s keep the traditions’. The institution is bigger than anybody in it.”
A report and accompanying statement from the House of Commons Commission will be published tomorrow laying out the options to renovate Parliament.
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| http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/queens-speech-snp-told-clapping-5772809 |
The film, set in a dystopian America between 2017 and 2019, is about a television show called The Running Man, where convicted criminal "runners" must escape death at the hands of professional killers.2017, huh. Two year away now.
Plot [edit]
In 2017, after a worldwide economic collapse, American society has become a totalitarian police state, censoring all cultural activity. The government pacifies the populace by broadcasting game shows where convicted criminals fight for their lives, including the gladiator-style The Running Man, hosted by the ruthless Damon Killian, where "runners" attempt to evade "stalkers" and near-certain death for a chance to be pardoned.
