Thanks for joining. We're delighted to welcome back to the IIEA, Mark Wolf, chief economics commentator at the Financial Times, who today will discuss the topic of his forthcoming book, The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism. Martin needs a little introduction, so let me be brief. He's been writing for the AFT since 1987. He's written numerous books and received numerous awards. I suspect that many of the hundreds of people who signed up to today's presentation share my view that there is no columnist in any newspaper anywhere in the world whose analysis has been as valued as Martin's over the years. A few quick details before the talk. Martin will speak for about 20 minutes or so, and then we will move to a Q&A with the audience. Both the talk and the Q&A are on the record. You'll be able to join the discussion using the Q&A function on Zoom, which you should see on your screen. Please feel free to send your questions in throughout the session as they occur to you adding your name and affiliation. Please also feel free to join the discussion on Twitter using the handle at IIEA. So with that, Martin, thanks again for joining us. We look forward to your talk. So thank you very much. It's a great pleasure to be with you again if only virtually, which at least has the advantage that the traveling is less of a burden. So I'm going to try, and I probably will fail to summarize my overall view of where we are with our democratic capitalist system, what I think of as the core operating system, systems of the modern west, and I use the west very broadly. As you can imagine, clearly includes countries like Japan and South Korea and many others. What has gone wrong? And it seems to me pretty clear something has. I'm going to try and stick to 20 minutes, so it will be really very cursory. And for the full details, you will probably have to read the book, but we can go into some of it in the Q&A. I was thinking it's useful when one is talking to explain what one's going to talk about. So I'm going to divide my conversation into three parts, where we are now. Second, why are things going wrong? And what is to be done? Third, so let me start with the beginning. Liberal democracy, which is defined as democracy, a law-governed democratic system which protects individual civic and personal rights and has fair elections with a suffrage, which is universal or near universal among all adults, did not exist two centuries ago anywhere. And one can argue that it really didn't exist anywhere until the end of the 19th century. New Zealand was the first country to give men and women equal political rights. But broadly, we can say that something more and more democratic emerged in the 19th century. This became increasingly common form of government in the 20th century with fits and starts. And by about 2005, roughly 60% of the world's 200 countries had plausibly democratic systems, though very, very imperfect ones. Since 2005, 2006, there has come what Larry Diamond, a very famous scholar, a very authoritative scholar of this, working at Stanford and the Hoover Institute, calls a democratic recession with the rise of populist autocracy across emerging economies. The backsliding, quite obvious in former countries, the countries that used to be part of the Soviet Union and its wider empire, particularly in Eastern Europe, and worst of all, a clear erosion of trust in democratic norms in core Western countries, including European countries, but particularly the US. And in my book, I provide lots of evidence from the World Value Survey of a progressive devaluing of democratic norms among our citizens and particularly disturbingly younger citizens. 2016 finally was a sort of anus, a sort of anus horribilis with the election of Donald Trump, who was pretty clearly not very interested in what we would call liberal democracy and has made it even clearer since then, how little interested he has in its fundamental norms. And of course, there was the Brexit referendum, which in some ways one can think of as democratic. But the history of referenda, alas, is very clear that they are so often used as a tool of tyranny and tend to exacerbate profound conflicts among citizenry. Because essentially of the disintermediation of the central intermediating institution of modern democracy, which are parliaments, and these weren't created by accident, they perform a very valuable function in forcing the sort of discussion, negotiation and permanent compromise necessary for democratic stability. And of course, this has got much worse in my view, particularly in the US, we can discuss later where we are in the UK, and with the US in what was in my judgment and certainly not only mine, and attempted coup by the president, the then president, who insisted long before the election even happened that it was going to be stolen, continued to insist that it was stolen, fomented a riot designed to overturn the results, which didn't happen. But then some certainly got essentially all of his party to agree that the electoral system was so profoundly tainted and corrupted that essentially it had to be modified to make sure that Republicans won. And I think that's where we are now. So why has this happened? Well, to answer that question, we need to I think go back to first principles or at least both first principles and history. And perhaps the most obvious point is that a liberal democracy, a system in which people genuinely respect the rights of others, respect the legitimacy of opposition, insist on fair elections and accept the results of those elections willingly and happily in the knowledge that their opposition is or are also legitimate members of the political community. This is a very, very fragile structure. Indeed, sort of the first great book of political theory in Western history, Plato's Republic, describes in great and unfortunately, rather sobering detail how demagogues are able to manipulate what was then, of course, a mass democracy with voting by all citizens, but still the basic principle apply, how a demagogue can easily manipulate the passions of the people to persuade them to make him a dictator. And of course, that has happened many, many times since and it's happening today. One can think of plenty of examples today of people who have turned or are turning democratic systems into dictatorships by essentially eroding all the norms and institutions that make a democracy possible. Then let us look so that that's the fragility point. We should always be aware of this. The second point is how did our universal suffrage democracies emerge? And the interesting thing about this is that they emerged out of market economies and particularly they emerged out of the rather brutal market economies of the Industrial Revolution. As I said, in 1800, there were no democracies and of anything that we would regard as democracies, even in the U.S., the franchise was so fantastically restricted as essentially to be a pure oligarchy. Why did the Industrial Revolution generate this massive impulse towards democracy, towards the insistence that all citizens or at least an increasingly wide proportion and ultimately all adults should be citizens, full citizens? I think there are a number of reasons for this. One was prosperity. As people became richer, they moved beyond just trying to survive day to day to demanding more sense of value from society in themselves. Partly because of the social conflicts, mass industrialization engendered and particularly the emergence of the industrial labor force and the unionization of the industrial labor force. Partly because of the need to educate the population, became central for the economy and also increasingly for the polity and of course educated people demanded more of a say. But I think even more fundamentally, part of the market economy is the end of the old tradition of ascribed status of a society in which your position economically was ascribed, essentially by the position you were born into. And of course, the industrial market economy ended all that and made it impossible to sustain that. And once you've got rid of ascribed status in the economic system, it's really hard to maintain it in the political system in my view. So what emerged then is a strange sort of marriage, what I call the marriage of complementary opposites between a democratic political system and a market economic system with of course mixed economy but essentially a market driven economy. And as I suggested historically and in certain crucial respects also ideologically, they're mutually supportive. But they also of course have quite obviously and that's why I say they're complementary opposites. They need each other but they are profoundly different in crucial respects. First of all, and these are very important, democracy rests on a core egalitarian idea, everybody has one vote. The say of people should in principle be the same, I stress in principle, but of course capitalism doesn't pretend to generate egalitarian outcomes, though it gives a promise not so much the reality of some degree of equality of opportunity. And of course democracy is rooted in a national community, it's inherently local and exclusive. It is for the citizenry who are defined body of people in law. While capitalism, if it's given a chance and Marx himself has some wonderful things to say about this, is global. I mean if you allow capitalism to go, it will go abroad. It always has done, sometimes it's dragged armies with it and created empires, sometimes it hasn't, but it isn't naturally purely national. And that creates part of these things that I've just said are part of the profound tensions between a democratic system and a capitalist system. And so the tensions can be absolutely destructive if we have too much democracy and demagogic politics of the most irresponsible kind, we tend to generate a failing economy. But if you get unbridled capitalism, you're likely to emerge with an immensely wealthy plutocracy, which essentially controls the political system through its money and influence. You get a clientelist sort of political system and that's also not a democracy. And so they are functioning liberal democratic capitalist system depends on getting the balance between these various elements right. And in particular, I've come to the view, and this echoes a very famous remark of Aristotle's, if you allow the middle class to be eroded too greatly. And the polity increasingly becomes one with a large mass of relatively poor, relatively poor and embittered people on the one hand, and a small number of immensely wealthy and powerful people on the other, the democratic system is very unlikely to survive. That's, I think, that's what Aristotle thought. And I think the experience of Latin America over many, many decades, or indeed centuries, strongly underlines this. And you then get these cycles of demagogy, autocracy and plutocracy I've mentioned. Now, I never thought any of that analysis was likely to be relevant to Western countries, Western European countries, America or Britain. But it seems to me that that is indeed what has happened. In the analysis of what's gone wrong, a lot of emphasis has understandably been put on the cultural war symbolism of social conflict. And I have no doubt that the cultural war symbolism is to a degree real. But I also think that in very important ways, it's not so much superficial as the consequences of the loss of the sense that people have of being part of the same community, which has come from profound economic transformations, some of which we had no control over, like the massive deindustrialization and with it, the associated transformation of the position of labor in our societies. But some of them were clearly choices, choices. And another thing was more broadly the impact of technology, which clearly generated very big shifts in demand for skilled labor as against less skilled labor. So for a long period, these things had an important effect. But I also argue in my book that we've allowed the emergence many of our economies of a form of rentier capitalism, diminished competition, financialization of our economies, which has exacerbated greatly the trends towards inequality. And that has meant that very large proportions of our population over long periods have really not enjoyed rising standards of living. And that's been dramatically true in the US. And it's been very true in the UK now for quite a long time. Then in that context, along came the financial crisis. And we now have a lot of evidence, a lot of political science evidence, that big financial crises are immensely politically destabilizing. We saw it in the 1930s. And we've seen it again on a lesser scale, because it was much better managed in our economies in the last 15 years since the financial crisis. Because one, there are shops that everybody can see. And two, because it is so obvious that the people in charge, particularly some of the wealthiest and most powerful people in charge, didn't know what they were doing. And they were rescued. And this is, of course, immensely embittering for the population. And I think it's pretty easy to see why a figure like Donald Trump should have emerged as the Republican candidate after that, although it took a little while for that to happen. And the danger of all this is that we get trapped too in a Latin American cycle of instability with autocratic demagogues emerging and destabilizing our political systems. And we are seeing this pretty clearly in some significant countries in the West, not just in emerging and developing countries. So finally, my last three or four minutes, what is to be done about these trends, which I suggest are very deep. It's much easier to define, I think, what needs to be done than to explain how we get there. Broadly speaking, we need to go back to what was understood in the middle of the 20th century, and I think has been perfectly obvious reasons to some degree forgotten. We need a form of democratic capitalism, which delivers both what are seen to be competent and responsive governments, democratically accountable governments, but also widely shared prosperity. And I stress both the prosperity and the widely shared. And this will require, I think, changes in policy and politics, but changes that are really going to be very, very difficult to achieve, which is why at the moment I'm somewhat pessimistic, at least in some places, about how easy it will be to rectify the problems we so obviously see. In economics, my sort of idea is we have to provide basic security to everybody. We have to work very hard on, much harder than we have been, I'm thinking, particularly in the US and UK, on equality of opportunity, where there's lots of evidence that rising inequality has tended to make a quality of opportunity weaker to diminish it. We need to be able to sustain steady growth of productivity, of output per head. It's not possible, I think, to sustain democracy without a sense of prosperity, but I don't think the zero growth economy is really politically feasible from this point of view. And we are clearly going to, when I talk about security, an crucial part of this, we're going to have look at things like the gig economy, the precarious, to some call it, and think about how we can make jobs more secure and make people feel that they can actually plan their lives. These economic policy changes are going to be very difficult to do, particularly in an environment in which basically in most countries, the possibilities for significantly rising tax revenues are very limited and we are going to have to continue to trade with one another because for most of our economies, the possible exception of the US, but even there it's true, prosperity depends so much on maintaining international commerce again, maintaining international commerce. And politics, we all, we need to look very carefully at how we fund politics. I think that's a crucial element. We need to look at the role of social media and whether some characters of social media can be managed and attenuated. I like the idea of citizens' juries to examine important controversial issues, as I think you did in Ireland with abortion. I think that's a very important contributor to potential success, bringing people together. And the final thing I would say is all this has to be done while we have international cooperation because we face these huge global challenges above all climate change. And we have to do this in the context, partly because of the things I've talked about, of a cumulative breakdown in relations between the Western world and China, which represents, if you like, a polar opposite version of capitalism, what I call bureaucratic, autocratic capitalism. So this is a very brief overview of the way I think about where we are and where we've got to. And I think the challenges are here right now. And in some cases, really quite daunting and frightening. I should probably have been aware of how real these dangers were long ago, but I became really worried about six, seven years ago. But I think we have to recognize that our system of governance is under enormous challenge. And we have to respond to that challenge if liberal democracy and market capitalism are continued to function well, individually and collectively together, that is to say. And that's what I have to say. Thank you.


3. The Trial for Murder I have always noticed a prevalent want of courage, even among persons of superior intelligence and culture, as to importing their own psychological experiences when those have been of a strange sort. Almost all men are afraid that what they could relate in such a wise would find no parallel or response in listeners' internal life, and might be suspected or laughed at. A truthful traveller, who should have seen some extraordinary creature in the likeness of a sea serpent, would have no fear of mentioning it. But the same traveller, having had some singular presentiment, impulse, vagary of thought, vision, so-called, dream, or other remarkable mental impression, would hesitate considerably before he would own to it. To this reticence I attribute much of the obscurity in which such subjects are involved. We do not habitually communicate our experiences of these subjective things as we do our experiences of objective creation. The consequence is that the general stock of experience in disregard appears exceptional, and really is so, in respect of being miserably imperfect. In what I am going to relate, I have no intention of setting up, opposing, or supporting any theory whatever. I know the history of the book cellar of Berlin. I have studied the case of the wife of a late astronomer royal as related by Sir David Brewster. And I have followed the minutest details of a much more remarkable case of spectral illusion occurring within my private circle of friends. It may be necessary to state as to this last that the sufferer, or lady, was in no degree however distant related to me. I must take an assumption on that head, might suggest an explanation of a part of my own case, but only a part, which would be wholly without foundation. It cannot be referred to my inheritance of any developed peculiarity, nor had I ever before any at all similar experience, nor have I ever had any at all similar experience since. It does not signify how many years ago, or how feel, a certain murder was committed in England, which attracted great attention. We hear more than enough of murders as they arise in succession to their atrocious eminence, and I would bury the memory of this particular brute if I could, as his body was buried in Newgate jail. I purposely abstained from giving any direct clue to the criminal's individuality. When the murder was first discovered, no suspicion fell, or I ought rather to say, for I cannot be too precise in my facts, it was nowhere publicly hinted that any suspicion fell on the man who was afterwards brought to trial. As no reference was at that time made to him in the newspapers, it is obviously possible that any description of him cannot at that time have been given in the newspapers. It is essential that this fact be remembered. Unfolding at breakfast my morning paper, containing the account of that first discovery, I found it to be deeply interesting, and I read it with close attention. I read it twice, if not three times. The discovery had been made in a bedroom, and, when I laid down the paper, I was aware of a flash, rush, flow. I do not know what to call it. No word I can find is satisfactorily descriptive, in which I seemed to see that bedroom passing through my room, like a picture impossibly painted on a running river. Though almost instantaneous in its passing, it was perfectly clear, so clear that I distinctly, and with a sense of relief, observed the absence of the dead body from the bed. It was in no romantic place that I had this curious sensation, but in chambers in Piccadilly, very near to the corner of St. James Street. It was entirely new to me. I was in my easy chair at the moment, and the sensation was accompanied with a peculiar shiver which started the chair from its position. But it is to be noted that the chair ran easily on casters. I went to one of the windows. There are two in the room, and the room is on the second floor, to refresh my eyes with the moving objects down in Piccadilly. It was a bright autumn morning, and the street was sparkling and cheerful. The wind was high. As I looked down, it brought down from the park a quantity of fallen leaves which a gust took and whirled into a spiral pillar. As the pillar fell and the leaves dispersed, I saw two men on the opposite side of the way, going from west to east. They were one behind the other. The foremost man often looked back over his shoulder. The second man followed him at a distance of some thirty paces, with his right hand menacingly raised. First, the singularity and steadiness of this threatening gesture in so public a surroof air attracted my attention. And next, the more remarkable circumstance that nobody heeded it. Both men treaded their way among the other passengers, with a smoothness hardly consistent, even with the action of walking on a pavement. And no single creature that I could see gave them place, touched them, or looked after them. In passing before my windows, they both stared up at me. I saw their two faces very distinctly, and I know that I could recognize them anywhere. Not that I had consciously noticed anything very remarkable in their face, except that the man who went first had an unusually lowering appearance, and that the face of the man who followed him was the color of imperial wax.  My occupation is in a certain branch bank, and I wish that my duties as head of a department were as light as they are, popularly supposed to be. They kept me in town that autumn, when I stood in need of change. I was not ill, but I was not well. My reader is to make the most that can be reasonably made of my feeling dated, having a depressing sense upon me of a monotonous life, and being slightly dyspeptic. I am assured by my renowned doctor that my real state of health, at that time, justifies no stronger description, and I quote his own from his written answer to my request for it. As the circumstances of the murder, gradually unrevelling, took stronger and stronger possession of the public mind, I kept them away from mind by knowing as little about them as was possible in the midst of the universal excitement. But I know that a verdict of willful murder had been found against a suspected murderer, and that he had been committed to no-gate for trial. I also know that his trial had been postponed over one session of the central criminal court, on the ground of general prejudice and want of time for the preparation of the defense. I may further have known, not I believe I did not, when, or about when, the sessions to which his trial stood postponed would come on. My sitting-room, bedroom, and dressing-room are all on one floor. With the last there is no communication but through the bedroom. True, there is a door in it, whilst communicating with the staircase, but a part of the fitting of my bath has been, and had then been for some years fixed across it. At the same period, and as a part of the same arrangement, the door had been nailed up and canvassed over. I was standing in my bedroom late one night, giving some directions to my servant before he went to bed. My face was towards the only available door of communication with the dressing-room, and it was closed. My servant's back was towards that door. While I was peeking to him, my side opened, and a man looked in, who very earnestly and mysteriously beckoned to me. That man was the man who had gone second at the two along Piccadilly, and whose face was of the color of impure wax. The figure, having beckoned, drew back, and closed the door. With no longer pause than was made by my crossing the bedroom, I opened the dressing-room door and looked in. I had a lighted candle already in my hand. I felt no inward expectation of seeing the figure in the dressing-room, and I did not see it there. Conscious that my servant stood amazed, I turned round to him, and said, "'Derek, could you believe that in my cold senses I fancy that I saw a—' As I there laid my hand upon his breast, with a sudden start he trembled violently, and said, "'Oh Lord, yes, sir, a dead man beckoning!' Now I do not believe that this John Derek, my trusty and attached servant for more than twenty years, had any impression, whatever, of having seen any such figure until I touched him. The change in him was so startling when I touched him, that I fully believe he derived his impression in some occult manner from me at that instant. I bade John Derek bring some brandy, and I gave him a dram, and was glad to take one myself. What had preceded that night's phenomenon, I told him not a single word. Reflecting on it, I was absolutely certain that I had never seen that face before except on the one occasion in Piccadilly. Comparing its expression when beckoning at the door with its expression when it had stared up at me as I stood at my window, I came to the conclusion that on the first occasion it had sought to fasten itself upon my memory, and that on the second occasion it had made sure of being immediately remembered. I was not very comfortable that night, though I felt a certainty difficult to explain that the figure would not return. At daylight I fell into a heavy sleep, from which I was awakened by John Derek's coming to my bedside with a paper in his hand. This paper, it appeared, had been the subject of an altercation at the door between its bearer and my servant. It was a summons to me to serve upon a jury at the forthcoming sessions of the Central Criminal Court at the Old Bailey. I had never before been summoned on such a jury, as John Derek well know. He believed, I am not certain at this hour whether with reason or otherwise, that that class of jurors were customarily chosen on a lower qualification than mine, and he had at first refused to accept summons. The man who served it had taken the matter very coolly. He had said that my attendance or nonattentance was nothing to him. There the summons was, and I should deal with it at my own peril, and not at his. For a day or two I was undecided whether to respond to this call, or to take no notice of it. I was not conscious of the slightest mysterious bias, influence, or attraction, one way or other. Of that I am as strictly sure as of every other statement that I make here. Only I decided, as a break in the monotony of my life, that I would go. The opponent morning was a raw morning in the month of November. There was a dense brown fog in Piccadilly, and it became positively black and in the last degree oppressive east of Temple Bar. I found the passages and staircases of the courthouse flaringly lighted with gas, and the court itself similarly illuminated. I think that, until I was conducted by officers into the Old Court, and saw its crowded state, I did not know that the murderer was to be tried that day. I think that, until I was so helped into the Old Court with considerable difficulty, I did not know into which of the two courts sitting my summons would take me. But this must not be received as a positive assertion, for I am not completely satisfied in my mind on either point. I took my seat in the place appropriated to jurors in waiting, and I looked about the court as well as I could through the cloud of fog and breath that was heavy in it. I noticed the black vapor hanging like a murky curtain outside the great windows, and I noticed the stifled sound of wheels on the straw or tan that was littered in the street. Also the hum of the people gathered there, which a shrill whistle or a louder song or hail than the rest occasionally pierced. Soon afterwards the judges, two in number, entered, and took their seats. The buzz in the court was awfully hushed. The direction was given to put the murderer to the bar. He appeared there, and in that same instant I recognized in him the first of the two men who had gone down Piccadilly. If my name had been called then, I doubt if I could have answered to it audibly. But it was called about sixth or eighth in the panel, and I was by that time able to say here, now, observe. As I stepped into the box, the prisoner, who had been looking on attentively but with no sign of concern, became violently agitated and beckoned to his attorney.  The afterwards had it from that gentleman, that the prisoner's first affrighted words to him were, at all hazards, challenge that man. But that, as he would give no reason for it, and admitted that he had not even known my name until he heard it called, and I appeared, it was not done. Both on the ground already explained that I wish to avoid reviving the unwholesome memory of that murderer, and also because a detailed account of his long trial is by no means indispensable to my narrative. I shall confine myself closely to such incidents in the ten days and nights during which we, the jury, were kept together, as directly bare on my own curious personal experience. It is in that, and not in the murderer, that I seek to interest my reader. It is to that, and not to a page of the Newgate calendar, that I beg attention. I was chosen foreman of the jury. On the second morning of the trial, after evidence had been taken for two hours, I heard the church-clock strike. Happening to cast my eyes over my brother Juryman, I found an inexplicable difficulty in counting them. I counted them several times, yet always with the same difficulty. In short, I made them one too many. I touched the brother Juryman, whose place was next to me, and I whispered to him, oblige me by counting us. He looked surprised by the request, but turned his head and counted. Why, says he, suddenly, we are third, but no, it's not possible. No, we are twelve. According to my counting that day, we were always right in detail, but in the gross we were always one too many. There was no appearance, no figure, to account for it. But I had now an inward foreshadowing of the figure that was surely coming. The jury were housed at the London Tavern. We all slept in one large room on separate tables, and were constantly in the charge and under the eye of the officers sworn to hold us in safe keeping. I see no reason for suppressing the real name of that officer. He was intelligent, highly polite, and obliging, and I was glad to hear, much respected in the city. He had an agreeable presence, good eyes, enviable back whiskers, and a fine sonorous voice. His name was Mr. Harker. When we turned into our twelve beds at night, Mr. Harker's bed was drawn across the door. On the night of the second day, not being disposed to lie down, and seeing Mr. Harker sitting on his bed, I went and sat beside him, and offered him a pinch of snuff. As Mr. Harker's hand touched mine in taking it from my box, a peculiar shiver crossed him, and he said, Who is this? Following Mr. Harker's eyes and looking along the room, I saw again the figure I expected, the second that the two men who had gone down Piccadilly. I rose, and advanced a few steps, then stopped, and looked around at Mr. Harker. He was quite unconcerned, laughed, and said in a pleasant way, I thought for a moment we had a thirteenth juriment, without a bed, but I see it is a moonlight. Making no revelation to Mr. Harker, but inviting him to take a walk with me to the end of the room, I watched what the figure did. It stood for a few moments when the bedside of each of my eleven brother juriments closed the pillow. It always went to the right-hand side of the bed, and always passed out crossing the foot of the next bed. It seemed, from the action of the head, merely to look down pensively at each incumbent figure. It took no notice of me, or of my bed, which was that nearest to Mr. Harker's. It seemed to go out where the moonlight came in, through a high window, as by an aerial flight of stairs. Next morning at breakfast, it appeared that everybody present had dreamed of the murdered man last night, except myself and Mr. Harker. I now felt as convinced that the second man who had gone down Piccadilly was the murdered man, so to speak, as if it had been borne into my comprehension by his immediate testimony. But even this took place, and in a manner for which I was not at all prepared. On the fifth day of the trial, when the case for the prosecution was drawing to a close, a miniature of the murdered man, missing from his bedroom upon the discovery of the deed, and afterwards found in a hiding-place where the murderer had been seeing digging, was put in evidence. Having been identified by the witness under examination, it was handed up to the bench, and then sanded down to be inspected by the jury. As an officer in a black gown was making his way with it across to me, the figure of the second man who had gone down Piccadilly impetuously started from the crowd, caught the miniature from the officer, and gave it to me with his own hands, at the same time saying, in a low and hollow tone, before I saw the miniature which was in a locket, I was younger then, and my face was not then drained of blood. It also came between me and the brother juryman to whom I would have given the miniature, and between him and the brother juryman to whom he would have given it, and so passed it on through the whole of our number, and back into my possession. Not one of them, however, detected this. At table, and generally when we were shut up together in Mr. Harker's custody, we had from the first naturally discussed the day's proceedings a good deal. On that fifth day, the case for the prosecution being closed, and we having that side of the question in the completed shape before us, our discussion was more animated and serious.  All the three impaneled from a district so delivered over to fever that they ought to have been upon their own trial for five hundred murders. When these mischievous blockheads were at their loudest, which was towards midnight, while some of us were already preparing for bed, I again saw the murdered man. He stood grimly behind them, beckoning to me. On my going towards them, and striking into the conversation, he immediately retired. This was the beginning of a separate series of appearances, confined to that long room in which we were confined. Whenever a knot of my brother Jureman laid their heads together, I saw the head of the murdered man among theirs. Whenever their comparison of notes was going against him, he would solemnly and irresistibly beckon to me. It will be borne in mind that down to the production of the miniature on the fifth day of the trial, I had never seen the appearance in court. Three changes occurred now that we entered on the case for the defense. Two of them I will mention together first. The figure was now in court continually, and it never addressed himself to me, but always to the person who was speaking at the time. For instance, the throat of the murdered man had been cut straight across. In the opening speech for the defense, it was suggested that the deceased might have cut his own throat. At that very moment, the figure, with its throat in the dreadful condition referred to, this it had concealed before, stood at the speaker's elbow, motioning across and across its windpipe, now with the right hand, now with the left, vigorously suggesting to the speaker himself the possibility of such a wound having been self-inflicted by either hand. For another instance, a witness to a character, a woman, deposed to the prisoners being the most amiable of mankind. The figure at that instant stood on the floor before her, looking her full in the face, and pointing out the prisoner's evil countenance with an extended arm and an outstretched finger. The third change now to be added impressed me strongly as the most marked and striking of all. I do not theorize upon it. I accurately stated, and there leave it. Although the appearance was not itself perceived by those whom it addressed, its coming close to such persons was invariably attended by some trepidation or disturbance on their part. It seemed to me as if it were prevented, by laws to which I was not amenable, from fully revealing itself to others, and yet as if it could invisibly, dumbly, and darkly overshadow their minds. And when the leading counsel for the defense suggested that hypothesis of suicide, and the figure stood at the learned gentleman's elbow, frightfully sewing at its severe throat, it is undeniable that the counsel faltered in his speech, lost for a few seconds, that straight of his ingenious discourse, wiped his forehead with his handkerchief, and turned extremely pale. When the witness to character was confronted by the appearance, her eyes most certainly did follow the direction of its pointed finger, and rest in great hesitation and trouble upon the prisoner's face. Two additional illustrations will suffice. On the eighth day of the trial, after the pause which was every day made early in the afternoon for a few minutes rest and refreshment, I came back into court with the rest of the jury some little time before the return of the judges. Standing up in the box and looking about me, I thought the figure was not there, until, chancing to raise my eyes to the gallery, I saw it bending forward, and leaning over a very decent woman, as if to assure itself whether the judges had resumed their seats or not. Immediately afterwards that woman screamed, fainted, and was carried out. So with the venerable sagacious and patient judge who conducted the trial, when the case was over, and he settled himself on his papers to sum up the murdered man, entering by the judge's door, advanced to his lordship's desk, and looked eagerly over his shoulder at the pages of his notes which he was turning. A change came over his lordship's face. His hands stopped. The peculiar shiver that I know so well passed over him. He faltered. Excuse me, gentlemen, for a few moments. I am somewhat oppressed by the vitiated air. And did not recover until he had drunk a glass of water. Through all the monotony of six of those interminable ten days, the same judges and others on the bench, the same murderer in the dock, the same lawyers at the table, the same tones of question and answer rising to the roof of the court, the same scratching of the judges' pen, the same ushers going in and out, the same lights kindled at the same hour when there had been any natural light of day, the same foggy curtain outside the great windows when it was foggy, the same rain pattering and dripping when it was rainy, the same footmarks of turn keys and prisoner day after day on the same sawdust, the same keys locking and unlocking the same heavy doors, through all the verisome monotony which made me feel as if I had been foreman of the jury for a vast period of time, and Piccadilly had flourished covally with Babylon. The murdered man never lost one trace of his distinctness in my eyes, nor was he at any moment less distinct than anybody else. I must not omit, as a matter of fact, that I never once saw the appearance which I call by the name of the murdered man look at the murderer. Again and again I wondered, why does he not? But he never did. Nor did he look at me, after the production of the miniature, until the last closing minutes of the trial arrived. We retired to consider, at seven minutes before ten at night. The idiotic vestibule and his two parochial parasites gave us so much trouble that we twice returned into court to beg to have certain extracts from the judge's notes re-read. Nine of us had not the smallest doubt about those passages, neither, I believe, had anyone in the court. The dunderheaded triumvirate, having no idea about obstruction, disputed them for that very reason. At length we prevailed, and finally the jury returned into court at ten minutes past twelve. The murdered man at that time stood directly opposite the jury-box, on the other side of the court. As I took my place, his eyes rested on me with great attention. He seemed satisfied, and slowly shook a great gray veal, which he carried on his arm for the first time, over his head and hold for him. As I gave in our verdict, guilty, the veal collapsed. All was gone, and his place was empty. The murderer, being asked by the judge, according to usage, whether he had anything to say before a sentence of death should be passed upon him, indistinctly muttered something which was described in the leading newspapers of the following day as a fear-rambling, incoherent, and half-audible words in which he was understood to complain that he had not had a fair trial because the foreman of the jury was prepossessed against him. The remarkable declaration that he really made was this. My Lord, I know I was a doomed man when the foreman of my jury came into the box. My Lord, I know he would never let me off because, before I was taken, he somehow got to my bedside in the night, woke me, and put a rope around my neck.


Well back with the breakfast in Plos TV Africa, time for us to look at the next conversation which is about the statement and the broadcast from the DSS talking about a plan to forestall an interim government. It might also interest you to know that following the highly contested general elections there have been several concerns before today that some misguided political actors are planning to bring an interim government to power. Now spokesman for the department of the state services that's the DSS, Peter Afunaya confirmed the plot on Wednesday which was yesterday that the DSS according to that statement which was made you know via a tweet he stated that it has identified some key players in the plot for the proposed interim government in Nigeria. Now most of the planners are politicians and they have had several meetings to this particular effect. Now according to the DSS those planning and plotting to bring an interim government are weighing various options by which their goals can be achieved and this includes sponsoring of endless violent mass protests in major cities of the country as to around a declaration of state of emergency. Now another is also to obtain a frivolous court injunction to forestall the inauguration of a new executive administration and also the legislative houses at the federal and state levels. Now the department of the DSS has also is quoted to say that they are strongly warning those planning the interim government move to retract from these deviators you know schemes and orchestrated plan saying that the DSS is going to monitor development closely and will not hesitate to take very decisive actions which some people are saying what time is it to take a decisive action if you have identified people and necessary legal steps against those that want to frustrate the system. The DSS has also stated that it supports the president and commander in chief in its various you know statement and will to ensure that there's a hitch-free handover and will ensure that that happens. Now Nigeria in the past if you look at our history as a country we have experienced an interim government you know which followed the June 12th 1993 presidential election it was won by Mosheud Abiola and it was also annulled by you know the former general Ibrahim Babangida that actually led to a serious crisis as soon as that crisis seemed to have been abated in the beat the general Babangida handed power over to Enes Shonikhan as an interim head of state that happened on August the 27th you know 1993. Now Shonikhan's government was adjured largely as powerless and was dissolved when you know the late general Sanya Bachar seized power on the 17th of November 1993. Now with all that's been said let's have a guest join us at this point Nika Guley thank you so much he joins us right here in Lagos. Nika are you in Lagos? We are in London the United Kingdom. It probably would have been in you know an oversight thank you so much for joining us this morning but I mean briefly how did you react was your response as soon as you saw the statement and you read the tweets and saw the story that's making the rounds? Well my first reaction when I saw the statement was the way we do things in Nigeria it doesn't just align with the way things are done elsewhere and I always say that if it is Nigeria's avowed commitment to join the ranks of the developed world we simply can't do differently from what they do to be able to be developed. I mean if you if you want to catch up with someone on a race and he's racing with a motor car and you think you can use a bicycle to catch up with him I wonder how that's going to happen and the reason here is because the DSS or the Department of State Services formerly called SSS their job is intelligence gathering that is their main job intelligence gathering they are not a law enforcement agency of government their job is to be all over the country in the communities plant their people in offices in markets everywhere to gather intelligence and once they gather this intelligence they are expected to now hand over this intelligence to law enforcement agencies the first of which is the the Nigerian police force and then the law enforcement agencies are now expected to act on this intelligence and then begin to take the necessary actions to protect Nigeria and so if the DSS as they have confirmed in their statement that they have identified they are not suspecting they are not thinking or they are not just you know postulating in their statement they said they have identified people who want to usurp our democracy and so what you expect as it will happen elsewhere is for the DSS to now hand over this information this intelligence quietly to the law enforcement agencies and then the next move is for the law enforcement agencies to begin to arrest these people who have been identified who are working against our democracy and that arrest will lead to their interrogation and that interrogation will lead to a collection of evidence and that evidence if it is verifiable it is substantial will then lead to charging these people to court and that court process will lead to incarceration and incarceration means these elements will be picked out of society and put away in jail so that our society can function very well this is the process that you expect but here the DSS is coming out to make a public statement I'm trying to understand the importance of this statement is it us Nigerians no but I was hoping that Mika Goulet you as an expert I was hoping you would help me understand the rationale behind this and what this statement you know sets to achieve I know that you're not of the security extract but maybe you have an idea what this would actually do for the Nigerian people this information you are very correct messy that I'm not a security expert I'm a public affairs analyst I look at things that are happening and I have opinion over there people can accept or agree with my opinion or not that's fine now from my own perspective I think let me try to read the mind of the DSS to read the mind of the DSS is the DSS are coming out to make a public statement so that those who are behind any plot as they have seen it will desist that is those people will now know that oh their plot is already known by government so that we now discourage them from going ahead with their plot I think in the mind of the DSS that is actually what they are intending to achieve I'm just trying to read their mind but on the other side the DSS is totally wrong to come public with information like this because number one it will tip off those who are behind this plot that oh the government understand their current move what now stops them from taking other moves that they believe the government will not see number two it it just sends the wrong message into the polity already the polity is heated up we have had an election which is disputed people are protesting there is all sort of anger in the system you know and then the DSS now comes to drop something on the table to say hey people are planning international government that is to even scare us more scare mongering now you know people are now people are being pushed over the brink because when you would have thought that oh what they are saying is a lie you know nothing is going to happen in Nigeria we are saying we are okay the DSS now confirms that yes it's true international government is coming there will be chaos there will be all sorts of things it just it just it's not good for our democracy it's not good for economy people who are trying to book flies to come to Nigeria and do business and are advising themselves that don't bother to go to Nigeria or because the DSS is not saying things are going to happen back there so at the end of the day you discover that whatever advantage that the DSS thought they were going to gain by making the statement public has been totally obliterated by the downside of making the statement public so I don't really understand the importance of the DSS coming forward if they gathered intelligence by the law setting them up they know where to channel those intelligence so that action will be taken and not just to come and be making these kind of statements to the public all right but I'd like to ask you you know if you look at the crux of the conversation an interim government there's a plan to have an interim governments installed despite the fact that there's been a lot of assurances from you know the government boss muster for recently was his been on the news and he said oh we're going to ensure presidential uh you know transition handover smoothly but do you think that as an interim government is possible without the approval of the executive arm of government it's totally impossible I mean when I read that bit in the DSS statement I even tried to understand if the DSS even knows the workings of government even if they have an idea of our democratic structure who can go and sit in Asu Vila and form an interim government without the government of the day handing over to them now is that possible I mean aside from the DSS saying there's going to be a cool guitar here is that possible that Nika Gule will just call on Messi and some other people and we match to the federal capital and set up an interim government is that possible it is totally impossible the only person who can take the reins of power in Nigeria to form a government is as handed over to him by the incumbent president or Nigeria president Wari as sworn in by the chief judge of the federation that is the only constitutional way that you can form a government so perhaps perhaps the media needs to quiz the DSS and ask them now possible the plans that they have unraveled who lead to the formation of an interim national government without president Wari doing a handover without the chief judge of the federation doing the swearing in then maybe the DSS can tell us the plans they say they have unraveled on how this nettering government can be formed without going through the constitutional way of doing it because if you look at the statement the DSS says oh they are trying to force an interim government through two means two means number one that they are going to be doing protests all over Nigeria and these protests are going to lead to a declaration of a state of emergency now you ask yourself how would a declaration of a state of emergency lead to the formation of an interim national government and is that possible if the the president declares a state of emergency in Nigeria it only means that the president has assumed the emergency pass and he can bypass some some of the democratic structures that we have and begin to act to be able to bring the situation to normalcy it's not going to be some other element coming in to form a government the second route that the DSS the second route that the DSS says that this interim government will be formed is by saying that these people are going to court to obtain a frivolous injunctions stopping the inauguration of of the incoming government but then you ask the DSS if you go to court now maybe all the way to the highest court the supreme court says President I mean president president-elect Bola Tinibu should not be inaugurated how then would that mean Nika Gulek cannot go to Abuja and form an interim national government it only means that president Buwari will be in office until the day that the the the supreme court says this is the person who will be president of Nigeria so whatever it is said there is no link between what the DSS says these people are planning to do to interim national government so I think the DSS just dropped interim national government to their statement to to just to just go in line with what some people are suggesting that there should be formation of an interim national government something that the DSS should have dismissed with a wave of hand because it's impossible yeah but but Nika Gulek I mean if you look at the suggestion or you know the options or some of the statement that the DSS has put out it talks about court injunction it also talks about the fact that protests now all of this is trickling down from the elections there's a trickle down effect now because too many persons have been displaced with the outcome of these elections and we've seen pockets of protests across you know little you know gatherings of people in different parts where women and NASA were you know dealt I mean you can't even begin to mention but not simultaneously in the entire federation but in different parts of the country and so what does this really mean that those who are protesting the outcome of these elections or those who are saying we're going to court and we're challenging the entire process of the outcome is this what the DSS is referring to as a plan to have an interim government so the the the activities that the DSS says in their statement that are happening are really happening and protests are happening all over the place you will see that in a democratic structure when the election results aligns with the will of the majority of the people you will see jubilation so you saw jubilation in apia state you saw jubilation in bainway state you know they were jubilation in some other places where the results as announced or declared by INEC was in line with the majority of how the people voted but there you will not see in states where that is not the case there are protests like in nasa hour state there are protests in nasa hour state protests in kaduna state there are protests in enougu state you know these are areas where the outcome of the election was not in tandem with what the people thought they voted so those things are happening and it is perfectly fine i mean in in a democracy you must allow protests because the protests that make democracy to thrive i'm speaking to you now uh in london uh here in the united kingdom if you go to parliaments square which is the seat of government of the united kingdom as i speak to you now you are going to see at least 20 to 30 different groups protesting to parliaments for members of parliaments for one reason or the other so we must allow people to express their their their grievances publicly through protests so long as the protest is not violent so long as it's not destructive the role of the security should be to ensure that there's no breakdown of law and order you know so that is happening yeah then the other thing that is happening of course is court cases there are all sorts of court cases at all levels right from the presidential to the house of assembly elections in agiria so all those things are happening but there is no link whatsoever between these two happenings that is protest and judicial processes to the formation of an ethereal national government who can go to abuja and then the service chiefs will begin to report to the person you know then the all the permanent secretaries in the in the federal government will begin to report to the person without the person formally taking the powers of office either from a handover by the president or from a judicial pronouncement or anything like that is that possible the media needs to ask the dss to tell us how is it possible that some elements can form an interim national government in agiria without taking power from president buwari or being a uh uh a lapsu either by by by the national assembly as as we had in the in the other the other time when when president vice president vice president uh gulo genata through the doctrine of necessity was handed over the reigns of governance in agiria or through a judicial pronouncement okay but but but we have to go in no time but it's important that i ask you this question and part of this time i have tip to whether you think that history repeats itself now and if you we cast the minds back to what had happened in 1993 the uh you know moshuda biola elections june 12 and the fact that you know after the crisis had you know reduced to some extent then you had general baban ghida at the time handing over power to an accession account do you think that you know this probably might just be the case because it's if you look at the similarity we've had an elections people are displaced with the outcome of the election some peasants uh and then you have a president elect and one of you and people are thinking that hey this was not the wheel of the people some others have taken to the street uh there's a lot that's going on so do you see you know uh history repeating itself there are similarities are you thinking that what we had experienced in 1993 might just be you know playing back where there is i've heard people talk about history repeating itself i even read something on on the internet that had so many similarities between 2023 and 1993 actually 30 years ago but there is a key ingredient there's a key element that is not the same between 1993 and 2023 in 1993 we had a president ibrahim baban ghida an army general who was not willing to leave office he didn't want to leave office uh he was looking for any means to to to stay in power and uh that an international government uh was a way of he's saying i'm stepping aside probably with the idea that in in due time he's going to come back so that was a different situation in 2023 we have a president uh Muhammadu Buhari who has repeatedly told us Nigerians that he is going to hand over and live on the 29th of May 2023 so these two scenarios are different if president Buhari is king and i mean i'm not a suzerain so i cannot go and read his mind to say what he is telling us is different from what is in his mind then i can say that 2023 is different from 1993 because in 2023 president Buhari has evolved that he's handing over and if he's going to hand over then we're going to watch on 29th of May 2023 uh president Buhari handing over to president elect uh bola uh tinuble yes we know that there's been different you know uh assurance i mean you want to say that the government has been very big in it this government has said that we're going to ensure free credible elections uh you have the presidential transition council uh transiting and that has been commented in prior to the dss revelation of having an interior government which we know that it's not possible to have an interior government without you know the government of the day being involved in it and so what exactly is the dss saying is it that this government is planning to have an interium government uh you know too many questions uh begging for answers just like you've stated we hope to have you know conversations with members of the dss or those who are in the service you know to answer although this has been made probably contrary to all of the conversations but nika gule you can also not take out the fact that uh when someone says they will do a thing and do not do it that's when you say the lack of integrity and over time we've had several promises from this government from president mohamad wari himself he said i belong to everybody and i belong to nobody but over time for the past seven years plus and counting almost eight years uh you can't really say that this being a coherence in that statement of the president saying he belongs to everybody and he belongs to nobody now if he was like over time if you look at the action it's contrary to what he stated and so what exactly is the thing that nijuans can hold on to to say hey if the president is saying i would hand over uh you know to the next uh uh governor a president elect then that would be a thing should nijuans take that with a pinch of salt or should we keep our fingers crossed too many questions to answer but nika know that you have some things to say we're being prompted to leave now maybe just in a second yeah i was actually going to praise you for raising a matter that probably didn't even think about because you know you did say that the only reason the only way we can have an international government is if uh president wari who is in unseat proclaims it and who knows uh is that what the gss have seen is that why they cannot even order an arrest is that why they are just wanting those who are involved to desist from doing this and all of that but uh time we tell and i agree with you that this government has failed on so many promises so many uh even the election that they said we're going to have electronic transmission uh that has failed uh just a few subsidies and all of those things so uh we are we are right to take whatever they say with a pinch of salt but uh fingers crossed let's see what the next few days we hold thank you nick we have to go now and that's the size of a conversation for this first you know uh topic we take a break when we return we'll be looking at the issue of the scarcity of denier the availability of it following the direction from the cb and the supreme court ruling and whatever you stay with us


Greetings to all. The commemoration of the International Day of Girls in our Cities continues to be of crucial importance to the International Telecommunication Union and, more specifically, the Telecommunication Development Bureau. Women continue to be critically underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, commonly referred to as STEM careers, where they are really found in leadership positions compared to men. While inequality exists in every industry, this gap is most pronounced in STEM fields, where less than one third of STEM roles globally are held by women. One of the main reasons for this gender divide is the lack of encouragement and mentorship to empower girls and young women to pursue leadership roles and develop the necessary skills and networks to successfully achieve their objectives. Addressing such challenges is a priority for the International Girls in our City Day. It is with pride that I note the fact that since 2011, nearly 380,000 girls and young women have taken part in more than 11,400 International Girls in our City Day celebrations in 175 countries, featuring role models who inspire girls and young women to pursue STEM education and careers. In order for us not to lose momentum and to also keep our eyes on the ball, the Girls in our City Day has become a global movement seeking to achieve digital gender equality. Dear friends, I am strongly convinced that change is not a title, change is a mind set, a habit. This can make invaluable contribution to society and deliver change, capable of profoundly impacting the community they live in, especially through digital. Forstalling a greater presence of girls and women in the tech sector generates much-needed inclusivity in the design and development of digital tools and platforms. That's why the Telecommunication Development Bureau has launched numerous initiatives to encourage the participation of women and girls in our City at all levels. Under the theme leadership, this year's Girls in our City Day will be celebrated on the 25th of April. I invite and encourage everyone to organize in TechBot in the countless different events to celebrate this special day. Feel free to get your inspiration for ideas from our website or by following us on hashtag Girls in our City. Thank you and happy International Girls in our City Day.


I want to know what is the difference between surrendering to the Guru and to the Antarathamani. I have seen the videos, but still I want more clarity into this aspect. For example, is the Atma or the Atma Tattva is saved as other Tattva? So, in worshipping Guru or Krishna or other God, isn't it leading to the same thing? And if it is so, then won't surrendering to one lead to other? Why is the difference between surrendering to the Antarathman or surrendering to the Guru? It's something which I need some clarity upon. I want to know about this. Well, the traditional approach to Guru Vada or the system of Guru Shishya Parampara, the system of Guru and disciple, bases itself on the idea that a human being, after the socialization process that a human being goes through, finally has to face the master within. So, the steps are traditionally in the Indian subcontinent that a child is trained right from the start to be in a state of humility. While the socialization is going on, which is to serve society, there is also the training of the child to bend, to bend in humility. And it starts with bending to the parents and literally actually touching their feet. And you see this a lot still in India and in all parts of Asia. After that training, the parents then show the child the gods. And then the child does that with the gods. And it's quite funny to see that in the churches, it's even with Jesus, that extreme importance given to submission, to surrender, to bending and so on. And once that happens, then the saying goes that the gods then show you the Guru. The Guru in physical form.  And then the Guru shows you yourself. And by then you are ready actually to face that state of being which is required of you, which is the ultimate humility, the ultimate surrender to the master within, which then is almost antithetical to what society is demanding from you.  So in that context, the devotion to the Guru is not meant to be the end. It is the beginning of that final journey to the self. And it's training. It's like the training wheels. At one point, you kick off those wheels and you're riding your bicycle on your own. It's not that the Guru is not there for you, but the Guru is not the final destination. That is something which is important to realize as a seeker and it's also for some Gurus important to realize that because they may forget that along the way. And sometimes the Guru will come and kick off those wheels and send a seeker away and create situations and dramas and everything so that they can send the person away because otherwise they're not going to go away. Those are the challenges and also the interesting dynamics and the drama actually of the whole Guru Shishya story. Why should a seeker not just treat the Guru as the Antar Guru because the Guru is not the Antar Guru. The Guru is in human form, a reflection, a mirror of the Antar Guru. The Guru has failings. There's no single Guru on this planet and has never been who doesn't have the failings that a human body will actually bring with it. So the Guru is your training wheels and at one point you have to turn inward and you have to start listening to the truth of your being. The Guru trains you to do that, which doesn't mean that you don't respect the Guru after you've found the Antar Guru. In fact, the way it goes is that the more a student, a Shishya disciple is tuning in to the truth within themselves, the more loving and respectful and free that they feel with their own Gurus. It's not like a battle and now the Guru is out of the picture. No, it's not like that. But yes, the Antar Guru is the final destination, the real master within the soul, the source, the truth, that impulse actually that impulses your whole system to live in this world, to live in the truth, living in the truth, meaning that all actions that result in joyousness in your system so that you go through this life in a joyous state and not suffering. If I may ask, then what about the Tattva, the Atma Tattva which is in Guru or Krishna? Is it the same thing firstly? Is it the drop of the main ocean? So then what is the difference in why? One has to also make attempts not to mix up everything in one big pot. Of course in each person there is that drop of cosmic truth and certainly if you're looking at the Guru and you're responding to the Guru's instructions or the Guru's guidance, certainly the soul which is within the Guru is the same soul as that which is within you and that which is within everyone else but you also have a body that is at play here. There's not just a soul, there's a body as well and your body is very different from the body of your Guru and from the body of everyone else around you. So we're not talking only about soul here, we're talking about the Leela, the play between the soul and the body, the embodied soul. So one embodied being is different from the other embodied being. Certainly if you go and penetrate beyond the materiality of what's going on you'll find that there is cosmic space in each person because you're made out of matter and the matter is atoms and you go inside those atoms and it is an absolute mirror of the universe outside which is largely empty or which is largely ether, Akash. So you have to be able to distinguish between these various parameters, these various paradigms. When you're on a spiritual path, you're actually on a path of self-realization. What that actually means is to be able to distinguish between what is impulsing you in a given moment. Is it the impulse of the ego which is a result of your socialization or is it the impulse of the truth which is that essence within you which guides the system towards joyousness, towards increasing joyousness which is increasing self-realization. So you can't mix up everything and put it in one big pot and have it for dinner because if you do that it's also a way of escaping, taking responsibility for relating to the source within the body that you are. It's like saying no I think I'll just focus on the Guru and then everything will be okay and what the gurus do they get so frustrated because they know that everything will not be okay if the student doesn't take things in their hand so then they just say okay everything will be okay unless you are responsible for your own self-realization. So I think what you're trying to do somewhere is to put the responsibility onto the spiritual master and say okay that's where my story ends now I'll stay in devotion to the spiritual master life long and everything will be fine that is nice it's a good thing it's not a negative thing but it's not the end of the road it's not it isn't


I was trapped in Yuma, Arizona recently at a free dump station for 3 hours because one dude was jamming up the line. There were RVers coming in from every direction and after a while people started to lose their minds so after about an hour I started filming. I'm going to tell you guys the dos and don'ts that this guy absolutely messed up so you don't end up being that guy and ways to make your dump experience not that bad and quick, quick, quick. Happy Sunday everybody. It's Robin with Creativity RV. I hope you're doing well out there. I am doing great but recently when I left Yuma, Arizona I went to the Speedway there which a lot of RVers know about because it's free and it seems like when the dump station is free people take liberty to do things maybe they wouldn't do other times like dispose of their gloves on the ground and not spray after themselves if they leak a little bit or flush out their tanks with the water while other people are waiting or just take their time and be really slow. Let me tell you why I was trapped for 3 hours. I wasn't even in line. When I first pulled in I pulled past the dump and I saw this guy in a truck camper and I saw that he was facing the wrong direction but you never know maybe his freshwater tank or something was on the other side didn't think a thing about it. I went over to the side of the parking lot which was sizable when I got there because I wanted to use the last of my water and take a final shower and then dump my tanks but then a van pulled in the other direction and this woman looked so confused and she didn't understand why he was pointing the wrong direction so she kind of went sideways and blocked people but then she turned around somebody else got behind her somebody else got behind that person and the line started to go down to the street but then two people got behind the man at the dump station the other direction because they thought that's where the line started because of the dude and pretty soon all hell broke loose. Now I was just in there chilling waiting for my hair to dry so I wasn't paying a lot of attention until I heard the first person start to yell at the dude and that's when I realized he had been there almost an hour at that point I looked outside and there were all of these RVs this lady has yelled at him this lady's gotten out and talked to him this lady from the truck yelled at him I don't know what's going on maybe he's having a problem there was a lady complaining to another lady right outside my window so I called Rover and I said what's going on is that guy broken down. Hi there I'm just curious is that guy broken down or something? No he's got a 60 gallon tank he's using a filter on to fill up. Are you kidding me? Oh my god I've been watching the drama unfold. The water at this place was slow it was potable everybody wanted to use it but still that doesn't account for the time that he took to do it I think maybe he was washing out his tanks after people had gone up to yell at him he just kind of meandered around to the other side coiled up his hose real slow and put it away took it back out coiled it again maybe he was doing it on purpose to prove a point he's still putting his stuff away oh my god I would pull over and put all my stuff away later and he's just taking his time oh my gosh what a jerk so slow this is why if she went inside to pee or something so slow they're walking slow they're going slow their hose had to be perfectly curled up they know like seven people are waiting now unbelievable this guy and I think at this point at least two or three people have gone over and had a talk with them and they still don't care oh my god he's still doing it okay right now on my video I'm at two minutes and 30 seconds and I started filming this when I saw him putting his hose away and he's still there so so far it's taking him I don't know almost three minutes oh he's backing it up it took him two and a half minutes to put away his water hose and his sewer hose that is some poor dump station etiquette oh my god this guy unbelievable I hope they see all the campers that are pulling forward now that they have blocked in here coming in the wrong direction and insisting on using a filter to fill up their water that is so slow I mean seriously they need to watch this video I was a guest personally if I'm at a dump station and anybody pulls up behind me I feel a responsibility to go quickly dumping is not that fast and listen if you can do it get a composting toilet I've had them in almost every rig I've had different brands I recommend Ogo I have a discount link for them below because then you never have to deal with this nightmare you can just go somewhere that has water I'm working on getting an Ogo in my airstream now because I have a pipe that sticks out so I actually have to have that reconfigured and then I'm gonna have an Ogo like I did in my truck camper and my fifth wheel when you have a composting toilet you only have to dump it like every five weeks if you're one person maybe every three weeks if you're two people and it doesn't smell it's like soil and it's easy all you do is pull out the bucket dump it into a bag add new compost material and you're done that's it so you don't have to deal with any of this chaos and it actually ends up paying for itself in about a year for me that's what I calculated but unfortunately I did not have that in the airstream for this trip I got trapped over there I couldn't turn around anymore and I had to wait for everybody to get through so why not I went ahead and timed about four people including myself to see how long it really takes for people to dump their tanks and I found that the time it takes changes wildly of course it depends on how big your tank is and how big your freshwater tank is if you're getting water but it really depends on if you feel a responsibility to go fast if you have all of your stuff lined up so you can do it with a quickness and you get out of other people's way when you're done yay okay guy number one took 13 minutes and 32 seconds I can't see the R pod now and I'm gonna have to shut my window again but let's go ahead and start the timer for her right now here goes RV number three this one should have some pretty big tanks and a pretty good freshwater tank if he's filling that let's see how long it takes now the difference here is that this guy in the big class a is moving with a quickness he's gotten in and out a few times but he looks like a guy that has been waiting a long time wants to get out of here or understands that there's a bunch of people waiting you know the other thing that I think is really funny about free dump stations is that people love the idea that it's free so much that they'll go way out of their way to use that dump station like I know a couple of people that drove 1720 miles to go to this dump station because it was free when they get nine miles to the gallon when they could have paid $5 to dump down the street if the potable water is there and it's slow like it was for that first guy there are plenty of water sources I went to a circle K just down the street and there was a spigot there are spigots in Arizona a lot of times just at the salt free water kiosks where you fill up some drinking water you don't have to get the water right there at the dump there's lots of other places and especially if it's slowing you down just move on and get your water somewhere else so really quick let me give you a few tips about dumping whether you're new or not that's going to make it a lot easier for you first of all have it ready to go people personally I have a bin at the back of my Jeep that makes it really easy to go I do not store my hose in the hose receptacle in the side of my airstream because I was sick of putting that end on and off that curves and it was always dripping and it always delayed me so now in that bin I have my hose I have my gloves I have a couple of bottles of water and soap because sometimes at dump stations there is not a place to wash your hands and some antibacterial wipes just in case I hope you guys found this helpful if you're the quick guy at the dump station not only is it quick for everybody else behind you but it's also quick for you and this trip and this experience has sealed it for me I'm going back to a composting toilet again the link for that is down below and I've also linked a video I did showing you installation in two of my rigs of the composting toilet and how it works I'll see you guys in two weeks with an all-new video until then everybody out there have happy travels and be free


What is going on guys welcome back to the channel critical overlord here, so we're just gonna hop right on into it We have an update regarding Halloween kills and the trailer and a new image that just came out today courtesy of Empire So jumping on into where this trailer information or this trailer update on when we can expect the trailers coming from It's coming to us from Dave McCrae. Those of you who follow Dave McCrae. I know I am one of his followers I love his content love his Halloween updates love his thoughts and opinions on all things Michael Myers He shared this regarding a trailer and he stated I have it on good authority from a trusted source that there will be no Halloween kills trailer in May or June you're looking at in July He has also done an updated video throughout this topic where he has made it clear that It's sounding like what this trusted source of his is saying is that the trailer will be released in July now Of course that can always change just as he has mentioned in his video Anything that comes out from him usually when it's evolving a trusted source as I've seen many times before with his patterns It's because he has it on 100% Authority or 100% reliability and what they're saying is now actually correct Versus if they're not 100% positive He won't put out something like this and on the occasion where he's done this in the past It's ended up being correct and it's ended up happening or it's ending up being something that was right on the spot So he also touched on what day it could possibly release the day that it could be released according to What he was speculating could be July 8th because July 8th last year. I think he's correct I was trying to find it. I couldn't really fact-check it So if one of you guys could that be great if you were able to find something I couldn't find it for The amount of time I was trying to find it but on July 8th, apparently that's when we got the announcement that the film would get delayed So maybe they want to do a special little nod to that and honor that by releasing the new first trailer on that same date They could also release this with the purge the forever purge Which is supposed to come out in July on the 4th of July weekend. That's the most likely time frame We should expect to see the Halloween kills trailer if its plan is to come out in July. That's also not a far-fetched Thing to be hearing about coming from this person Dave McCrae saying it's coming from that's not a far-fetched idea Given that the forever purge will probably be the most sought-after horror film for people that are wanting to go back to the theaters in July since the purge is a very well-known Franchise it has Blumhouse attached to it as well as universal pictures So I would expect the first trailer for Halloween kills to be attached to the forever purge when it releases during the fourth of July Weekend later this year that is when we'll have our first look at Michael Myers at these newer Not the new but the new characters involved and the returning characters that we haven't seen since Halloween 1978 per this new timeline they've set up of course We know that we've seen Tommy Doyle if you want to look at other timelines like the Thorne timeline, so it's all Just based off of this time by this would be the first time we'll see these characters since that timeline and the trailer itself Honestly, I don't know what more else they could show us just other than some more gore That we haven't seen in the other teasers and show us some other things that we can some other sequences to get as excited Maybe something involving Allison and the shape maybe Karen and her interaction with the shape because again I think Karen will personally not make it out of Halloween kills I think that'll be the last thing that we see this character Unfortunately falling victim to Michael Myers to now let the playing field be even for what comes in Halloween ends And then we also got our first look at Michael Myers in the film today from Empire another newly released image not necessarily our first look but I guess our first nice look at him and this bloody knife that he has in his hand his Very much now part of his DNA knife Awesome shot here of the shape. He looks amazing. The mask is very on point in terms of what I would expect Given what happened at the end of the 2018 film. He looks amazing this mask honestly Rivals what they gave us in the 2018 film in my opinion depending on how this looks on screen in the final product once I see this I would say that this mask is going to be better than what we got in the 2018 film now Of course if everyone's probably thinking about what Buster Rhymes would think about this This definitely goes in line with his comments towards Michael at the end of Halloween resurrection He looks definitely a little crispy here. So nice little image of Michael Myers there So that's really all I have to say about Halloween kills There's been not much that's come out other than this new image and then Dave and Craig giving us this update about when we can Expect the trailer. I know it's been a while since I had done a video on the channel about this film I cannot wait for it to come out I am expecting to see the movie before it's released as I do plan to see with all the major Poor movies that come out this year and then what I'll do is this would be one of the other Many films that I plan to do a review for later this year on the channel since I did a review for the first time And who knows how long on this channel for spiral. I'll be doing reviews for just like I did for spiral Halloween kills A quiet place to the conjuring three definitely screen five So I can't wait to see this film can't wait to put a review out on the channel regarding it Definitely excited to see how this bridges into Halloween ends because I know that Whatever happens in halloween kills, it's gonna be something brutal. I expect this movie to end on an emotional level I don't expect it to be something happy nothing as kind of up in the air as with Halloween 2018 not to say the Halloween 2018 wasn't in it of itself kind of like an open in the up in the air Ending since we don't really know for certain if Michael Myers is dead or not but it's also just like with halloween kills what I expect is for The movie to end on an emotional level That has to do with someone's suffering some sort of heartbreak Because of what the shape has done Michael Myers has done to a character that we have been with or been following since either The last movie or maybe even someone from the 78 film that's returning in this movie as well And again my thoughts on that is that it will be Karen strolled falling victim at the very end to bridges in the Halloween ends Where we will see Allison strolled carry on the legacy of the strolled women And she will be the one to take out the shape at the very end kind of like just saying This is her way of taking back not only the the lives that were destroyed from her Grandmother who suffered from it who suffered from the events of the 78 film But she's kind of going to be taking back her narrative This goes back to what kind of how Jamie Lee Curtis promoted the 2018 film Allison will be the one to end all of this for the strolled women She will be the state she will be the angel for their for their legacy. She will not remain Tortured by these nights. She will come out a hero. She will end the shape She will get justice for not only herself, but her mother and her grandmother are like Jamie Lee Curtis His character of Lori Stroll will most likely bite the dust in halloween ends Honestly, if If someone's gonna bite the dust, it's gonna be her. It's not gonna be Allison But let me know what you guys think about this about the trailer update and what it might come out in july If you haven't already she subscribed turn on post notification in this video in description I've links on my social media accounts on my Facebook Twitter and Instagram You can message me there of course limiters in movies news or reviews I'm gonna cover in the future But in mind guys, I will see you in the next video


making massive waves in public safety in the last few months. Only recently I went to the FRSC by the Delta State Government for the training of core personnel of the Inspectorate KEDA under strategic partnership between the federal and state governments. I think also there is somehow the federal safety corps is able to arm-twist everybody to support it because here we also find that they somehow have managed to persuade some of the stingiest government agencies to support them fully in this enterprise. And here we are barely a month later to conduct the official inauguration of the National Traffic Radio 107.1 FM established by the federal safety corps. Congratulations to you. For travelers by road across the country, this station will also serve as a crucial feedback mechanism that would help the FRSC improve its operations. I think that it's also an important strategic initiative in several respects. The first is that it takes advantage of the most widely used medium of information dissemination in our nation, the radio. Second, the service will enable effective dissemination of relevant information on road safety and the provision of up-to-date information on road conditions as well as traffic status and security to the public. And because people are keen to have information of this kind as they travel, this service is bound to become very popular very quickly. Thirdly, I think the station can take advertisements and earn revenue to maintain itself and extend its services. And fourthly, because of the very extensive reach of this radio, and I'm told that there are the arms that can be downloaded across the states of the Federation, it will be useful in broadcasting information on safety and security. It can even be used to reach far-flung areas for teaching and dissemination of public health advisories and information. So I really think that the vision and the resourcefulness of the leadership of the FRSC ought to be commended. And you can be assured that the Federal Government and all the stakeholders for their support towards the success of this project. Indeed, road safety is a shared responsibility. And I join you all to sustain your support and goodwill towards the core and the station in the collective desire to restore safety on our nation's highways. So on this note is my privilege to inaugurate the National Traffic Radio 107.1 FM today for the education, enlightenment and entertainment.