We will do what we always do and act in the best interests of the people of Scotland. We now move to First Minister's questions. Question number one, Johann Lamont. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. To ask the First Minister what engagements he has planned for the rest of the day. First Minister. Engagements to take forward the Government's programme for Scotland. Johann Lamont. Thank you. In 2012 the then health secretary Nicola Sturgeon said that the Government's programme for Scotland is going to be a step forward. In 2012, the then health secretary, Nicola Sturgeon, proposed changes to mental health services in Lanarkshire. They were opposed by her cabinet colleague and local MSP, Alec Neil. She addressed his concerns and the professional medical advice was that the changes should go ahead. When Alec Neil became health secretary in September 2012, he ordered that the changes be reversed against medical and patient opinion. He then deceived the people of Scotland by saying that he would take no part in the decision that he had already made. If Alec Neil will not resign for deceiving Parliament, will the First Minister sack him? First Minister, we will not have members accusing each other of deceiving across the chamber. The answer is no. Perhaps the First Minister should look at the documents that my colleague John Pentland obtained through freedom of information. We now know that, on 26 September 2012, Alec Neil's office emailed this instruction to officials. Mr Neil is clear in his view that acute mental health facilities should be retained in both Wyshal and Monklands. The cabinet secretary has asked that you seek agreement from NHS Lanarkshire to reconfigure their plans accordingly. With that order, he reversed Nicola Sturgeon's policy, made on the advice of medical professionals and backed by patients. He then told this chamber, the head of the NHS and the head of the civil service, that he would absent himself from a decision on these services, even although Alec Neil had already made the decision. If Alec Neil will not resign because of this behaviour, will the First Minister sack him? That is the same question that she asked. I gave her the answer to the first question. Just because she says that deceiving instead of misleading, it does not remove the responsibility to give some substance to the charges that she is making. I looked at the issue on 14 February 2013. I gave a substantial reply to Ms Eamonn, the MSP, who raised it with me, on her request as to whether Alec Neil was breached the ministerial code. I pointed out, and I will read it to Johann Lamont. In the light of questions in the Scottish Parliament on 26 September, that is the date that she mentioned, but she forgot to say about the questions in the Parliament, about the proposed changes in the narrowing parliamentary focus on the impact of proposals from Munklands hospital, Mr Neil became concerned that there could be a perception of a conflict of interest. He agreed that day with the director general of health and social care, Derek Feeley, that all matters relating to mental health services at Munklands hospital should be dealt with by the minister for public health. Mr Feeley informed the permanent secretary on 27 September. That is exactly how ministers should behave under these circumstances. Order! I can say to the Labour Party that there is another aspect to this that they should bear in mind. The question of mental health services in Lanarkshire infects a whole area of a health board. As a constituency aspect, it has an aspect to all constituencies in that health board area, but to find it purely as a constituency issue ignores the fact that the health service affects and serves all of the population. I looked at the issue carefully last year. I came to the conclusion that Mr Neil had acted perfectly properly. I replied in these terms to the member concerned. If Johann Lamont likes to look at that reply and acknowledge the sequence of events, she will see that that reply is validated by the evidence. The First Minister needs to look at the sequence of events, because it is all about the timing. Let me help him. At 9.43 a.m. on 26 September, Alex Neil's office issued the order to reverse Nicola Sturgeon's decision. At 2 p.m., which is after 9.43 a.m., Alex Neil told his chamber that NHS Lanarkshire was reviewing its decision, but he had already ordered the board to change its position. On 19 December 2012, when asked about that decision, he told his Parliament and I quote, I decided early on in my tenure to give responsibility for that matter to my deputy Michael Matheson, as I did not want any perception of any potential conflict of interest between my role as MSP for air drain shots when Monklin's hospital resides and my role as Cabinet Secretary. The fact is that there was no perception of potential, there was the reality of the decision that Alex Neil had already taken and then tried to cover up. Let me ask the First Minister again. If Alex Neil will not resign, will the First Minister sack him? Asking the first question for the first time led to the same answer. No, I won't, because I reviewed the evidence and came to the conclusion that Mr Neil acted perfectly properly. All that Johann Lamont has done in citing is exactly what I said to her colleague all these months ago. I detailed the sequence of events at that time. That is the sequence of events that have been validated on 26 September. This great revelation that Johann Lamont brings to the chamber is merely a confirmation of the sequence of events that was detailed to her colleague last year. Of course that is the events. It was after the question time, as said in the letter on 26 September, that Mr Neil asked for advice and took the reckless action. I say in terms of the ministerial code. The ministerial code makes it quite clear how ministers should act. It also makes it quite clear of the First Minister's role in judging that. Unlike the Labour Party, we have the only administration who put in an independent oversight of the ministerial code. On six occasions, people like Johann Lamont have come to this chamber and said that it was an enormous scandal. Because it affected me and because I was under question, I have referred it to independent oversight. On six occasions, I have been cleared by that independent commission. Do you know what, hardly ever after clearing, have the people who were making allegations in this chamber of dreadful doings have been prepared to acknowledge the independent oversight? When I looked at Mr Neil's conduct and given an explanation to our colleague, said exactly what happened, then I think in reasonfulness, unless she's got some dramatic revelation to bring which she hasn't, she should accept that Mr Neil acted not just in the benefits of his own constituents, but in discharging his responsibilities as health secretary. That's why he took the action that he did and that's why the answer to Johann Lamont's question is no for the third time. That was just noise. It did not answer the question. Alec Neil made a decision and then extracted himself and said that if there were further decisions, somebody else would make that decision. He had already made it in the morning. Now we've established that Alec Neil has not been clear about what he did in relation to services in NHS Lanarkshire, but we do wonder how far up the Government this process went. Petyr Housden wrth i Siobhan McMahon, I would reiterate that should a ministerial decision be required, this will be taken by the Minister for Public Health. Clearing Alec Neil, the First Minister, as we've heard, wrth i Siobhan McMahon saying the same thing. But there was no need for a ministerial decision to be made by Michael Matheson because Alec Neil had already made his ministerial decision. So, were Petyr Housden and the First Minister in on this, or did Alec Neil play them? Or did Alec Neil play them? Or did Alec Neil play them for fools? I ask again, if Alec Neil won't resign for this behaviour, will the First Minister sack him? First Minister? Well, I suppose in the sense I'm First Minister of Scotland. I'm in on everything that happens in this Government. But all that Joanne Lamont's doing by asking something for the person that is making herself and her party look ridiculous. I have to say that Alec Neil has a long record of looking at campaigning for the health service in Lanarkshire. If Alec Neil hadn't campaigned as a candidate, there wouldn't be an accident and a emergency among us. Petyr Housden's interest in mental health in Lanarkshire isn't anything to do with facilities for the patients. It's just an argument to try and get at an SNP minister. Having had the detailed explanation from the permanent secretary and the First Minister all that time ago, will Joanne Lamont not accept that the answer to her question is no? Perhaps the next time she comes to this chamber, she'll start talking about the substantive issues that affect the people of Scotland. Question 2 with Davidson. To ask the First Minister when he'll next meet the Secretary of State for Scotland. No plans near future, as far as I know. I'm sure that the whole chamber is delighted to hear that Mo Farra is competing in the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. We want the world's elite to compete in Scotland. Glasgow's organising committee has worked hard to ensure that venues such as the Hydro, the Velodrome and the Emirates arena were completed on time and on budget and they should be given all due credit. However, their hard work has been undermined this week by the shambolic ticketing fiasco, which has seen tens of thousands of families spend hours on hold and still no prospect of tickets. Does the First Minister agree that it is outrageous that a hardened company paid handsomely for its work is now damaging the reputation of our games? What has he planned to do about it? Can I say first that the organising committee has apologised for the delay and frustration that people had when we were trying to get the last of these tickets which were made available for sale. They were right to do so. Along with our partners in Glasgow council, the Minister for Sport is meeting with the organising committee this afternoon and out of that, we hope, will come a resolution of the situation in terms of practical action. If we recognise the organising committee's apology and recognise the frustration that many people would feel, can we try to get matters into some sort of context? We are dealing with games that are almost uniquely among the games of the last generation on time and on budget, where every facility is complete, where the transformation of the city of Glasgow and the east end of Glasgow is absolutely amazing, where more than a million tickets have already been sold, and in terms of the last 100,000 or so, those are tickets that the organising committee tried to get back from sponsors and international federations in order to try and give the public more chance of getting to the games. Of course, the organising committee will enable to sort out the situation, which has caused frustration for people. Even the people who have been frustrated will recognise that there is an overwhelming demand for tickets, that the organising committee is doing absolutely everything that it can to make sure that every venue is full in those commonwealth games. They will sort out the problems and people will get that other opportunity to buy tickets. Can we please put this in the context that Glasgow and Scotland are going to enjoy and experience the most superb sporting and cultural event that Scotland has ever seen? I have acknowledged the great work that Dave Grevenberg and his team have done, great work in preparing for these games, both in physical infrastructure and in the way in which we have projected both my city of Glasgow and Scotland to the world. I welcome the fact that the First Minister says that Shona Robison is going to meet officials at the organising committee. I trust that, as a newly promoted Cabinet level minister, she will bring this problem to a speedy conclusion because it is not about patching it up and hoping for the best. We need to find out what went wrong, fix it and reassure families who are still waiting on tickets that the system is back on track. Can the First Minister assure us today that his Cabinet Minister will have this fixed by the weekend so that the ticketing site will open on Monday morning and, if not, will she take responsibility? I thank Ruth Davidson for her entirely supportive and collegiate remarks on the Commonwealth Games. The Cabinet Secretary and her partners in Glasgow Council for the last seven years have worked together to try to bring about these games on a cross-party basis. There have been many, many decisions that have had to be made in order to arrive at the excellent position that we are now in. Why did the situation arise? The situation arose because there was an overwhelming demand for the last 10 per cent of tickets because this is a game that is going to be a sell-out in every event. Of course, the organising committee has apologised for the breakdown in ticketmaster systems. That is a matter of great regret and frustration. Of course, the minister and our partners in Glasgow Council are with the organisation committee to sort out the issue. Given all of the success that the organising committee has had in delivering the venues, in delivering the games, in taking the big decisions and recognising that we are in this situation because of their attempts to try and get more tickets to satisfy the overwhelming demand, can she and her party not find it in their hearts right now to try and get behind the organising committee to help them to sort out the difficulty, as opposed to making the most party-political petty points about it? The First Minister will be aware of the very serious disturbance at HMP Grampian, which involves 39 inmates in a 14-hour siege overnight Tuesday into yesterday morning. While no-one was injured, I understand that significant damage has been caused to Ellen Wing of the new prison. What steps will his Government take to ensure that good order is maintained in the future? The substantial steps have already been taken. I should say to the chamber, as the member correctly says, that the issue was brought to a conclusion. Certain decisions have been made by the Scottish Prison Service in terms of relocating prisoners. Of course, it is not unknown for new prisons to have this sort of incident that has happened a number of times in the past. That does not make it acceptable. It does not make it permissible that action has been taken. However, the member can be reassured that the appropriate action has been taken to make sure that our newest prison in Scotland shall perform efficiently and properly. We should also deprecate this sort of behaviour in the prison service. As well as the action that has been taken by the prison service to sort things out, let us make no illusions about who is responsible for unacceptable behaviour. That is the perpetrator of the behaviour. John Scott The First Minister will be aware that GE Caledonian announced 170 redundancies last week at their plant at Prestwick, which will reduce their staff number to around 450. While specialist servicing of the CF6 engines is obviously a highly skilled job in a very competitive marketplace, what help can the Scottish Government through Scottish Enterprise and other agencies give to this high-quality company and its employees at this difficult time? As the member will know, GE Caledonian has already been under offer and received the RSA grant to try and safeguard the jobs. He will also know that we are dealing with a situation of a new facility opening in Taiwan, which is extremely competitive in terms of some of the functions and work that has been continued at Prestwick. The Cabinet Secretary met the company yesterday to discuss exactly these matters. The local PACE chair and team are available to provide support for the affected employees, and he can be absolutely assured that we will do everything in our power to maintain and to, hopefully, in the future, increase the maximum employment in the Prestwick facility. To ask the First Minister what steps Revenue Scotland would take to prevent tax avoidance practices in the event that Scotland had greater responsibility for taxation. The Scottish Government tends to take the toughest possible line on aggressive tax avoidance. We are determined to act decisively on avoidance, for example now, of devolved taxation. The Revenue Scotland tax power bill, which is currently before Parliament, contains powers that will enable Revenue Scotland to take that robust action to counteract tax avoidance, including the introduction, as Patrick Harvie will know, of a wide-ranging general anti-avoidance rule for devolved taxes. The Scottish Government will seek to replicate this approach in developing the Scottish tax system following independence. Patrick Harvie. Recent days have seen further revelations about the scale of the scandal of tax avoidance in the UK. From the members who have taken that and other wealthy individuals in the icebreaker scam to Amazon's corporate tax bill of £4.2 million after sales of £4.3 billion, while HMRC seems most concerned with selling citizens' tax data to the highest bidder. Will the First Minister join with the many calls that are growing for a boycott of Amazon until it starts paying its fair share? Does he agree that only Europe-wide co-operation between countries on corporate tax levels can stop the loopholes that disreputable companies like Amazon are so determined to wriggle through? First Minister. I won't join a call for a boycott. That would have an impact on Scottish workers and Scottish jobs, as Patrick Harvie should know. However, what I would say is that I deprecate aggressive tax avoidance. Tax evasion, of course, is illegal. While deprecating the behaviour, we should look for the solution of the tax system itself. A simple, transparent tax system reduces the opportunity for aggressive tax avoidance. You will find in page 121 of Scotland's future, your guide on independent Scotland, the actions that the Scottish Government and independent Parliament would seek to take. However, I also draw Patrick Harvie's attention to what we are already doing in this Parliament with the new tax powers that have been introduced. We have chosen not to ask HMRC to administer them, but instead to go and set up Revenue Scotland. Michael Clancy, the director of law reform from the Law Society, was giving evidence to the Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee on 19 March this year. What he said was, "...in the evidence that we are giving to Revenue Scotland in tax power bill, we are looking at the provisions of the Scottish general anti-avoidance rule. We have compared those provisions with the current general anti-abuse provisions in the Finance Act 2013, and we think that the Scottish provisions are much better. They are less complex and should prove to be more effective." I think that we have reason for hope and demonstration that what we are introducing with the new responsibilities that we are getting will provide a template for a tax system in independent Scotland that will secure and protect us against the sort of unacceptable, aggressive tax avoidance that is widespread in the UK tax system. Kenneth Gibson. The impact on Scotland will be of UK Government plans to raise their retirement age. Analysis published this week shows that a 65-year-old could expect a lifetime value of their state pension to be around 11,000 for women and 10,000 for men less in Scotland than the average for the UK as a whole. What is more, the UK is based its plans to increase the state pension age and increasing life expectancy. The reality is that Scottish life expectancy is currently the lowest of all of the UK countries. That looks to us like a policy that is made in London without consideration for fairness in Scotland. Kenneth Gibson. I thank the First Minister for that response. He will have welcomed UK pensions Minister Steve Webb, MP's admission that state pensions will be secure regardless of the outcome of this September's referendum, contrary to propaganda from the No campaign. The First Minister agreed that not only will pensions be guaranteed following independence, but given that Labour's shadow sector of state for working pensions Rachel Reeves MP announced that Labour would support Tory Lib Dem UK Government pension reforms, the only way to develop a pension regime appropriate to Scotland's particular circumstances is to vote yes in this September's referendum. First Minister. Yes, I do agree with that. I think that when Kenneth Gibson draws attention to the statement of Stephen Webb before the Westminster committee, he draws importance to an attachment to a very important point. That is that the No campaign has spent a good amount of time trying to tell people in Scotland that their pensions wouldn't be safe in an independent Scotland. The UK pension secretary, Steve Webb MP, has admitted in front of a Westminster committee that that is not the case. I think that we are entitled to say when are the better together, the Labour Tory, Tory Labour, leaflets, alleging something which is clearly not true, going to be withdrawn? Will the Liberal Democrats, because Steve Webb is a Liberal Democrat member of Parliament, insist that they are better together colleagues, stop trying to peddle myths and scaremongering to the people of Scotland? Jackie Baillie. First Minister, not myths, not scaremongering, independent experts tell us that pensions and pension-related benefits are £100 higher per head of the population in Scotland than they are in the rest of the UK. A good example of pooling and sharing our resources. Indeed John Swinney even set up a working group because of his concerns about the affordability of pensions in an independent Scotland. At the start of the week we had the Deputy First Minister telling us that pensions were affordable and that they would die younger. What an appalling lack of ambition. Surely the First Minister should be coming to this chamber telling us how to improve the health and wellbeing of pensioners now rather than basing their pensions policy on people dying earlier. First Minister. That's what we've been doing by freezing the council tax for pensioners, by protecting the bus pass for pensioners. All of things which would be at risk if they had their way. What Steve Webb said to the Westminster committee that state pensions would be secure, I'm quoting exactly, secure in an independent Scotland. Now how can we reconcile that comment made in Parliament with the sort of material that Jackie Baillie comes up with day and day and nearly chunkering away Miss Baillie will not alter the fact that your scaremongering has been confounded by your own sight. Question number five, Elaine Murray. Thank you, Presiding Officer, to ask the First Minister whether the Scottish Government plans to introduce a lower threshold than £150,000 for claims heard in the sheriff courts following the recommendation in the Justice Committee's report of the courts reform Scotland bill. First Minister. In 2007, the previous administration appointed Lord Gill to undertake a wide range of view of the civil court system in Scotland. In 2009, the Scottish Civil Courts Review published a report and recommendations which include raising the exclusive competence of the sheriff court to £150,000. Lord Gill, appointed by the previous administration, continued to strongly support this limit in his recent appearance at the Justice Committee. Now we consider that £150,000 is the appropriate limit. We are, of course, aware that while almost all stakeholders agree that the current £5,000 limit is too low, there are a range of views on what the new increased limit should be. We are happy to consider those views and, of course, the views expressed in the Justice Committee's report. Elaine Murray. I thank the First Minister for that reply. Does the First Minister accept that the proposed threshold for the exclusive competence of the sheriff court is over five times the average full-time annual wage and that for an employee who loses income through an injury at work, for example, a settlement of £10,000 or £20,000 can make the difference between penury and maintaining their standard of living? Will the Government also support amendments to the court's reform bill to ensure that people on low and average incomes are not disadvantaged by their case no longer being taken in the court of session and the loss of their automatic right to representation by an advocate? First Minister. I'm not certain that the member fully appreciates the aim that Lord Gill in putting forward this reform is to make justice more accessible to more people, to lower the cost of getting justice and not to disadvantage people. I think that the member seems to be taking it from the opposite point of view. Given that she quoted the committee, can I just point out to her that the committee's paragraph 8 says, the committee supports the proposal to increase the limit of the privative jurisdiction exclusive competence of the sheriff court in order, this is the committee report I'm quoting now, in order to free up the court of session to deal with the most complex and serious cases and to ensure that the civil court system works more efficiently and economically. The committee acknowledges the purpose of the reform. As I've said, we are now considering what the committee has said in terms of suggesting that the limit from 5,000 to 150,000 may be, as they said, too big a leap. We're looking at what other people have recommended. We'll take that into account in terms of coming to a final conclusion on the proposal. Can she just accept that Lord Gill's purpose in doing this is to make not just the administration of justice in Scotland more efficient, it's to make it more accessible to ordinary people to cut down the prohibitive costs of the court of session and make justice accessible to more people in the sheriff courts round Scotland? Question 6, Gavin Brown. To ask the First Minister who took the decision not to proceed with the Scottish Business Development Bank and when. First Minister. The banking strategy published on 10 May 2013 set out the plans to examine the creation of a Scottish Business Development Bank to provide additional borrowing to small and medium-sized businesses. The finance sector, John Swinney, gave it careful consideration and what emerged from that analysis is that without the powers of independence the banks' borrowing would not be additional to the Scottish Government's borrowing limit. In other words, if borrowing extended to companies it would have to come off capital investment in Scotland. It therefore decided on the 70th of March it would not be feasible to proceed until we have exactly these powers. Now I know that Gavin Brown is a reasonable man. And he will recognise that to get the additionality we were looking for from the business bank proposal we need exactly the powers that he has stated. So I know he'll join with his colleague Murdo Fraser in recognising that these sort of powers are essential if we are going to take some of the exciting initiatives we want to take in an independent Scotland. Gavin Brown. The First Minister said earlier that he is in on everything that happens. So he should know that his document says and I quote, this strategy should apply to Scotland's approach to banking regardless of Scotland's constitutional future. It also said that the money was going to come through accessing new opportunities through European funding streams. It was a good idea, Presiding Officer. Will he look at it again today and consider reopening the case as published in his document? First Minister. According to the entire banking strategy of which this was one proposal and in detail this proposal in terms of getting additional borrowing would mean that that borrowing would have to be deducted from other purposes. I know that Gavin Brown doesn't want to address this point because it comes exactly to the financial straight jacket that his Government and unionist politicians have been satisfied with the people of Scotland. I point to him in terms of accessing European funding. He may remember that in 2009 I launched the Scottish Investment Bank and it would be fair to say that some, not I don't think Gavin Brown himself but there were some colleagues in the Parliament at that time who were less enthusiastic about the potential success that that bank might have. I now tell him that during 2012-13 the Scottish Investment Bank equity and debt scheme invested £32.4 million in 106 companies which leveraged from the private sector £60.4 million from private sector partners. The Scottish Investment Bank now has a portfolio of some 237 investing companies employing some 4,000 people. The Conservative Party does not seem to acknowledge that this might be important given Ruth Davidson's call to Tories to not say anything unless they knew what they were talking about which I think is very pertinent. Can we just think that the companies who have benefited include Touchbonics in Livingston, Spark Energy in the Borders, All Things in Dundee and many companies across Scotland all of whom think the work of the Scottish Investment Bank is important and many of whom think that with the additional borrowing powers of an independent Scotland then we can bring about even more in terms of business development across the country. Thank you. That ends First Minister's questions. Point of order. Ken Macintosh. Standing orders clearly state that the purpose of the Public Audit Committee is to consider and report on any document laid before the Parliament or referred to it by the Parliamentary Bureau or by the Auditor General for Scotland concerning financial control, accounting and auditing in relation to public expenditure. Furthermore the guidance for committees states and I quote it is quite common for committee reports to achieve a high level of consensus between members and for findings and recommendations to be agreed without the need for divisions This has the advantage of adding weight to the conclusions and the likelihood of their being accepted more widely. Presiding Officer, this Parliament has for more than a decade proudly pointed to the work of its committees as an example of how we do things differently here in the Scottish Parliament. They have been a place for rigorous debate for all that time but never until the current session have they been a place for sheer government obsequiousness. Order. Mr Gibson. We have a point of order. Quiet. Mr Gibson. Mr Gibson. Mr Gibson. I am not arguing with you over the chamber. I will see you in my office after First Minister's question time. Mr McIntosh, please continue. Thank you, Presiding Officer. All members are expected to show loyalty to their own political party but each of us has a parliamentary duty and a responsibility to the public to hold the Government to account. If, in deliberately trying to downplay, obscure or simply whitewash evidence to any of our parliamentary committees, members are in danger of putting interest to the Government and their own party first. That does no one any favours. Presiding Officer, there is an expectation that all parliamentary committees most of all the public audit committee will be robust but fair and objective in its deliberations. I would appreciate your guidance on how we can ensure that the hard-won trust won over several successive parliaments is not lost. Could you advise if this is a matter for investigation by the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee? Can I thank the member for the advance notice of his point of order? Conducting committees and how each committee approaches any given issue is a matter for those committees and for their conveners. Where any member considers that there is a failing in parliamentary procedures, it is open to that member to write to the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee to request an investigation. Members may also write to the convener's group to ask that body to consider the issue. That ends First Minister's questions. A further point of order. I wish to clarify a remark that has just been made just so that no misunderstanding and mistaken identity has occurred. It was not Mr Gibson who called out during the previous point of order that it was myself and I would be happy to come and see you to discuss the matter. I don't want Mr Gibson to be blamed for something that I was responsible for. Mr Maxwell, I thank you as always for your honesty and integrity and I'll see you after First Minister's question time. We now move to First Minister's questions as we now move to members' business, members should leave in the chamber, should do so quickly and quietly.


Hi, I'm Pat Conroy, Australia's Minister for the Pacific and Minister for Defence Industry, and I'm here at USIP for a Pacific Roundtable. Well, because the Pacific Islands are critical to both our futures. They're our neighbours, both Australia and the both Australia and the United States are Pacific nations. These are some of our closest neighbours and our security and prosperity depends upon their security and prosperity. Acting on climate change, being good partners on economic development, lifting their countries out of poverty and supporting their aspirations around the globe. I think by turning up, engaging, listening and delivering on what we've committed to, ultimately we need to respond to the priorities of the Pacific and only by doing that do you show respect to the Pacific.


Greetings and welcome to the Astronomy Picture of the Day podcast. Today's picture for February 12th of 2024 is titled HFG1 and Abel 6, Planetary Nebulae. So, what do we see here? Well, looking toward the direction of the constellation of Cassiopeia in the northern sky, we see two examples of Planetary Nebulae. Now, a Planetary Nebulae is what happens at the end of the life of a star much like our own sun. And when we see the Planetary Nebulae, we're looking at the outer layers of that star which have expanded. Now, eventually our sun will expand, the core will begin to contract as it uses up its hydrogen, and the outer layers will expand outward. So, eventually it will fill much of the inner solar system up to and including our Earth. And at that point it becomes a giant and maybe later a super giant star. And as it becomes this, at the very end of its life it is unstable. It is not very hard for those outer layers to escape, so any instabilities can push that material out into space. And that's what we will see as the Planetary Nebulae is just the outer layers of the star expanding outward into space. They glow because the core left behind is emitting a lot of ultraviolet light which causes the area to glow and causes those gases to glow. Now that only lasts, that period only lasts a short amount of time. And that's because as that central core cools off and becomes a white dwarf star, it will stop emitting as much ultraviolet light and eventually will not be emitting enough to be able to energize the Nebulae. The material will still be there and will continue expanding out into space. We just won't be able to see it anymore because there is nothing to energize it and cause it to glow. In general, gases are clear. We can see straight through them much as we see through our own atmosphere. However, when they are excited, such as when you put gases in a neon in a tube and energize it, it can start to glow. So that's really what we're seeing here in these planetary Nebulae. Now in the lower nebula, the one known as HFG1 is actually part of a binary system and we can also see shock waves of the material. You can see that blue glow which is a shock wave as this moves through the interstellar medium. So it will pick up that, as it's crashing into that, we see the shock wave and it's moving incredibly fast. So this whole nebula is moving at a speed given here as about 300 times faster than the fastest train in existence on Earth. And that gives us that shock wave in the direction in which it's moving. And that, again, that is energized by the energy, the motion or kinetic energy of the nebula as it moves through space. So that's a different way it glows as compared to the nebula itself. So eventually we could be left behind as this cools off. If it's still moving through this portion of space, then the planetary nebula itself may disappear, but the shock wave could remain and still be visible around this since they are caused by two different processes. So here we get to see two different planetary nebulae in the same portion of the sky and get a little bit of a preview of what our sun might look like many billions of years from now. So that was our picture of the day for February 12th of 2024. It was titled HFG1 and Abel 6, Planetary Nebulae. We'll be back again tomorrow for the next picture. So until then, have a great day, everyone, and I will see you in class.


For more videos on people's struggles, please subscribe to our YouTube channel. Welcome to this edition of the People's Health Dispatch. This is a video interview where I, my name is Karju Mardwaj. I'm a lawyer based in India working on trade and health. And I'll be talking to Mark Haver, a social justice activist based in Johannesburg, South Africa, who is co-founder of the Treatment Action Campaign, as well as head of the AIDS Law Project, which later became section 27 in South Africa. I'm going to be discussing what 40 years of AIDS, which many of us have read about in the press, is being discussed in a bit of detail. So welcome Mark. So yeah, 40 years of AIDS. I mean, we're really marking it because there was a report in June of 1981 of the US CDC reporting five people who have been diagnosed with unusual pneumonia. Of course we're discussing pneumonia in this pandemic as well. This was considered the first documentation of HIV and AIDS I think for us in the global south, the virus came a lot later. And the habit that came with it was probably in the following decade in the 1990s. What the virus brought with it was not just illness and death, it brought stigma, it brought discrimination, it brought violence. And it took a long time to actually outlaw the stigma and discrimination associated with HIV, whether it was employment or housing, schooling, public access. Mark, I think you were at the forefront of many of those battles. Dealing with the stigma and discrimination, whether it was in the courtroom or outside the courtroom. And it would be great to hear from you about what those early years were like and what do you think has probably changed now? Great. Well, thanks, Partilman. It's lovely to speak to you. It's June the 16th in South Africa, well, all over the world, which for us is a very historic day because it marks the anniversary of the Soweto uprising in 1976, which began a struggle and a revolution that eventually brought democracy to South Africa. Yeah, look, I became involved with HIV as an activist in 1994, in fact, immediately after our first democratic elections. And in those early years, people already knew in South Africa, epidemiologists, people who were doing modeling, that HIV had the potential to become epidemic and to become a massive epidemic in South Africa. I remember in 1994, there was modeling that suggested that up to five million people could be infected with HIV. Today, there are seven and a half million people living with HIV in our country. But because of the stigma, there was a silence and there was a fear. And because in the 1990s, of course, we were still mostly in the period where people with HIV were largely asymptomatic. Warnings about illness, warnings about mortality and death didn't seem to take root to be heeded because people couldn't see this epidemic that we said was coming. And then later on by the early 2000s, when a lot of people, a lot of our friends, our comrades, our family members were dying of AIDS. Again, because of the stigma, the response of many people was to say that they didn't die of AIDS. It wasn't AIDS. It was because people were bewitched or it was because of tuberculosis or it was because of a whole number of factors. So really, in the first decade or 15 years of the epidemic in South Africa, we had a terrible struggle to overcome stigma. And we used several strategies. As you hinted, I joined the AIDS Law Project in 1994 with Zaki Ahmad and Justice Edwin Cameron was the head still at that time. And the AIDS Law Project used law to try to create a legal framework that was non-discriminatory of people living with HIV. We developed a charter of human rights and HIV and we used litigation in 1998. We had a groundbreaking case which we brought against South African airways because they were refusing to employ people living with HIV as cabin attendants. And people said to us, don't take that case. You'll never win that case. Everybody thinks nobody wants to be served on a plane by a person living with HIV. That was the level of stigma and prejudice. And we won that case. Eventually it went to the Constitutional Court and we got a very, very powerful, profound judgment about discrimination and stigma and not condemning people to economic death. That was the language of the court because of HIV infection. But as you know, law is one thing. Law doesn't change behavior. So we had to have another campaign that was led by the treatment action campaign to try to destigmatize HIV. And as you can see, we launched the treatment action campaign in 1998 on Human Rights Day 1998. And we launched it very quickly. We developed this t-shirt which became like our uniform, which was part of a strategy to destigmatize HIV and to say to people, if you have HIV, I'm going to be open about it. If you don't have HIV, understand what it's like to live with HIV in order to feel the discrimination and stigma. So it required various different strategies to run simultaneously. And as you know, as an activist, you don't end the problem like this even today. We now, as you said, 14 years since the start of the epidemic, we still live with stigma and discrimination, not at the same extreme level, but the problem is still there. Thanks, Mark. I think that t-shirt was so iconic and it remains iconic for many of us. And so many future health battles are actually on the back of that t-shirt. You know, the messages always change at the back of the HIV positive state in front. And that was a message that came to us in many other countries as well. Your South African Airways case was quoted by us in anti-discrimination cases over here. So part breaking at so many levels. But I think the other thing that sort of emerged over the years of working on HIV mark for many of us was that what we really realized was it wasn't the virus. The virus was a true marker of inequality. What it showed us was the gaps in society, those who have been marginalized, either by law or by social norms, when you saw who was vulnerable to it, when you saw who was most deeply impacted by it, and whose, which community suffered the brunt of the pandemic. And you see that even till today, whether it's in the developed world or in the developing world. 2021 is, it's an interesting landmark. It's not just 40 years of, you know, the first documentation of the cases. It's also 20 years of the first UN General Assembly special session on a health issue. It had never happened before and it was on HIV.  And I think that is really a place where so many activists have tried to push in the idea that if you don't deal with the violation of rights, if you don't deal with inequality, you're not going to meet these targets and goals. We just had the UN High Level meeting for 2021 on HIV in the last two weeks. And I was wondering what you thought of the outcomes of it and where do you think you really are in recognizing inequality as a drago of pandemics? Well, you're absolutely right, of course. In fact, you know, yesterday, these days, one of my jobs is to be the editor of a publication called Maverick Citizen, which is a social justice platform, human rights platform.  And inequality underlies AIDS, it underlies non-communicable diseases, it underlies COVID. Inequality is perhaps the greatest determinant of health and of access to healthcare services. And sometimes you feel like governments don't learn this most fundamental of lessons that we will not stop pandemics. Well, you might be able to stop them for rich people, but for poor people, these pandemics, these viruses will continue to run rife and cause suffering and loss. And so, you know, my question is, what I wrote in this editorial was to say, where's the plan to end inequality? You know, the targets that UN AIDS has set for 2025 are bold to the numbers of deaths, I think cut the number of deaths to 250,000 a year, cut the number of infections to 370,000 a year. You know, Kajal, with your and my memories that go back 25 years, 30 years on that, that's radical. We would never have dreamt that we could have got that close. So it's progress. But on the other hand, you know, you won't get there without dealing with this inequality. And what scares me is that COVID has just made inequality a great deal worse. Again, you know, I saw something by the World Bank yesterday, 150 million more people pushed into extreme poverty as a result of COVID-19. In South Africa, we've lost three million jobs. The people who've born the brunt are women, just as women bore the brunt of and continue to bear the brunt of HIV. So what's really maddening is that we know all of this, and we don't act on knowledge. You know, in the early days of the HIV epidemic, when I used to write on it, one of the quotes I used to use time after time was from some sociological research that was published, I think in about 1992 or 1993. So way before the HIV, when there was still time to stop HIV in South Africa. And these researchers pointed out to the fact that HIV epidemic had really started in amongst mine workers, or what were the first groups of people where the epidemic began. Because of the conditions of mine workers, because they were migrant workers, because they lived in hostels, away from families, away from communities. And it pointed out that the epidemic would move from mine workers to sex workers, because sex workers worked in those communities and through sex workers into larger communities back into the areas where people come from. And that was exactly the path that the epidemic followed. So, you know, knowing that social science, we could have stopped it and we didn't stop it. And now as we sit here today in South Africa, you know, we've had three and a half million deaths due to HIV.


Today, we're in 1 Peter chapter 2. We're going to look at verses 1 through 3. So let's begin by reading in 1 Peter chapter 2. At verse 1, we'll read verses 1 through 3 and we'll get into our study. 1 Peter chapter 2 verses 1 through 3. The Apostle Peter writes, therefore, laying aside all malice, all guile, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil-speaking, as newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby. If indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Now as we look at this, we need to remember something from verses 15 to the conclusion of chapter 1 at verse 25. The Apostle Peter has been writing concerning the characteristics of a believer in Jesus Christ. He's been writing concerning the character traits of a Christian and things that Christians will pursue and what Christians are to be known by. We realize that in our day Christianity being 2,000 years old, that there are many who have a misunderstanding of what it means to be a Christian. Many times they in their mentality of Christianity think in terms of certain rituals or certain church denominations and things of that nature, but in reality Christianity is much deeper than the outer appearances of religiosity. It's a transformed life. It's the power of the Holy Spirit working within somebody who at one time had been estranged from God, cut off from God due to their sin, who has been reconciled to God through faith in Jesus Christ and who has now been born again, born from above, by the Word of God which lives and abides through the Holy Spirit's work. They become the temple of the Spirit of God and they now have certain characteristics. They have certain attributes, if you will, and that's what we've been looking at in chapter 1. So from verses 15 to 25, the Apostle Peter was basically describing the character traits or characteristics of a Christian.  He said believers understand that they're sojourners and they're not attached to the things of this world that they have a reverential fear of the Lord, that they understand the cost of salvation, which was the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Believers no longer live aimless lives, but that they actually have faith and hope in God through Jesus Christ and believers have received the gospel and have obeyed and this has produced sincere and fervent and a pure love for one another and we've been looking at that in chapter 1 and then we noted that he concluded by contrasting man's glory with the Word of God and he had pointed out that the glory of man fades away, but the Word of the Lord, he said, that endures forever. In other words, God's Word can never be rendered ineffective and it is this Word that we have heard that has been revealed in the gospel of Jesus Christ that produces spiritual life in believers. Now because of that, because of these things, he begins this section with the word therefore. In other words, taking into consideration everything that he has said from verse 15 to verse 25, he can begin this section by simply saying therefore. In other words, seeing that all these things are true. This is what you're supposed to do and he says therefore laying aside all malice, all guile, hypocrisy, envy, and evil speaking, all evil speaking. Therefore, because you're born again, therefore because you understand who God is through Jesus Christ, therefore because you have a fear of God and live a holy life, because those things are true and the Word of God abides forever, because all of those things are true. There's something you need to do and that is you need to lay aside certain things. So what he's speaking about is the lifestyle of a believer, how Christians actually act and what we put away and he speaks concerning laying aside these things. Now when he uses the word laying aside, he's speaking to the fact that there are things that we are going to remove from ourselves. The way that you might remove some soiled clothing, there are certain things that you remove from yourself.  In other words, we've received the Word of God and that's going to be evidenced through a new way of life. That life that we live is going to be earmarked not by malice and things, but that life that we're going to be living now in faith in Christ will be earmarked by love, love for God and love for the people of God. It's like what it says in 1 John chapter 4 verses 10 and 11, in this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. Now I'm assuming that most of us in this room didn't use the word propitiation this week in common conversation. The word propitiation means to satisfy the righteous anger of God, that Jesus Christ came to satisfy the anger of his father because his father is portrayed in Scripture as being angry over sin. So what did God do? Well the Bible says Jesus came and satisfied the anger of his father and he did so by laying his life down voluntarily. And so he is the propitiation for our sins, but he goes on to say, beloved, if God so loved us we also ought to love one another. If God loved us in that dramatic fashion, in that powerful a fashion, that he actually gave his son in order that we might be reconciled to him, that he gave his son because anger had made a separation through the sin that we've practiced and the sin that we are by nature carriers of and producers of, if God so loved the world that he gave his son then obviously we ought to love one another and we've been seeing that love does no harm to a neighbor. Love is a fulfillment of the law, therefore we're to love one another. In 1 John 4 21 he said this commandment we have from him, that he who loves God must love his brother also. And so if we've been born again and we're becoming an entirely new person, well Peter now instructs and commands them about what it means to be born again. It's interesting when you look at these sins and these vices that these are the things that destroy community. These kinds of sins when practiced and found in the body of Christ actually divide churches. And he's saying in verse 1 that these are the sins that are to be laid aside. Now when he speaks of laying these things aside you might want to note something with me. He's speaking of personal decisions and the discipline that we must have as people of Christ. These sins are not automatically eliminated when you're saved, but they are forsaken voluntarily. They're things that you actually will lay aside with a mind to. I don't want this in my life anymore.  I need to remove those things. So that calls for a decision and that calls for discipline. It's the same kind of thing that the apostle Paul speaks about when you read the book of Ephesians in chapter 4 verses 22 and 23 when he says you were taught with regard to your former way of life to put off your old self which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires to be made new in the attitude of your mind. So you put off that old self. It's the same thing found in Colossians chapter 3 verse 8 when he says put off all these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Put those things off. Now what are the things that the apostle Peter speaks about on one? He speaks of malice. Again, malice isn't a word that we normally use in everyday conversations simply because it's not a typical word that we as Americans will use. And so sometimes we don't know what the word actually means. The word malice is really something that's a very strong word. It speaks of ill will. It's the desire to injure. Malice is this attitude of wanting somebody to hurt. It's that attitude that somebody has done you wrong so every day you read the obituaries hoping to see their name there. I mean that's malice man. I mean I want something bad to happen to them. And he's saying you put that off. You're not to have that.  Because if you have malice then love for others is going to be quenched. Paul said the same thing in Ephesians 4.31 where he said, let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. Now why would he have that bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking, malice? Why would he have that in such an order? When you look at it you see it actually progresses. Malice actually is the result of bitterness. Bitterness gives way to wrath which gives way to anger which gives way to clamor which gives way to evil speaking speaking of other people which gives way to malice. And he's saying you need to be careful because these things progress and get even worse over time. So we're not to be harboring malice for other people. Now that runs consistent with what Jesus said. Jesus in Matthew chapter 5 verse 44 said it like this.   You actually begin to demonstrate heavenly parentage.  He speaks of guile and he speaks of hypocrisy. Guile in hypocrisy. Guile speaks of that insincerity. Hypocrisy is putting on a mask. You're pretending to be one thing when in reality you're something else. He says put these things away, put away this insincerity, put away this deceit with an appearance of truth, this pretense. He says put it away because this is not something that the Lord would have us to have. Insincerity and hypocrisy can actually destroy churches.  Jesus in Matthew 15 verse 8 said these people draw near to me with their mouths. They honor me with their lips but their heart is far from me. And so he says put those things away. Then he speaks of envy. Lay aside envy. Envy. Envy is that discontent, that resentment that is aroused by a desire for the possessions of someone else. Envy is that longing to have what somebody else has. Wishing that you had it and they didn't. It's what can come up in your heart when somebody across the street that pulls into their driveway with a new car and they say hey look what I got.  I mean it's not something that you really like.  It won't even start when you want to start it. It's the car that you don't care if people bang with their doors when they swing the door open. You don't care anymore. And you're looking at this guy. He's got all this everything that you wish you could have and you're smiling at him saying oh praise the Lord brother.  Oh Lord may his four tires fall off while he's on the freeway in Jesus's name amen. Envy. People have envy and don't even realize it. It's desiring what somebody else has. Wishing you had it and it can go even deeper. Jealousy is the desire of somebody else's possessions. Envy goes a little deeper. It's more like desiring what they have and you're wishing they didn't have it themselves. It's really a deep thing. And by the way envy sells very well today in the United States because there are many people in a society that gives trophies for showing up to a game instead of winning the championship. We're all winners aren't we? And one way or another we at least been told that all of our lives. We get to the point where we actually believe that we should have anything that we really want. And that person has a nice car. I really want that. That person has a lot of money. I really want that. I deserve that. Envy is that mentality that they don't deserve it and I do. And I don't want them to have it. I should have it. Envy. Envy can be used as a tool. And it is used today as a tool. Definitely. We know that don't we? I mean you've got this fictitious battle going on that's been created between the one percenters and the 99 percenters. What is that? If that's not envious what is it? But that's what it is. You have sincere people on both sides but I have to be honest with you. It's really finding itself being fueled by envy. And that's a sin. And for us to wish that other people didn't have something because I wanted it. Well he says put that aside. In James chapter 3 verse 16 James said where you have envy and selfish ambition there you find disorder in every evil practice. Well envy gives rise to evil speaking. Evil speaking is slandering. It's backbiting. It's defaming people. It's been said the tongue is a ready and willing instrument to talk about our neighbor behind their back. Leviticus 19 verse 16 says do not go about spreading slander among your people. DeSalmos in Psalm 15 verses 1 through 3 said it like this. He said Lord who may dwell in your sanctuary, who may live on your holy hill and then he answers his own questions. He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellow man. People today seem to and I think it's been true pretty much always but it's more acceptable at least it appears more acceptable today are very prone to slander people. They're very prone to speak evil of them. You can see it in Facebook all the time. People just griping about this and griping about that and just putting it down and all of these social medias that we have you find a whole lot of people complaining quite often and sometimes talking about others and they have no problem doing that and when confronted when told you know that's really called gossip that's really evil speaking that's really not not right they'll say hey who are you to judge me I can say what it's on my heart and I'm being transparent and real and so they actually make a virtue out of a vice and so the Bible says you don't do that you don't slander people you don't speak ill of people it's not right. Now it's interesting Peter doesn't tell his readers to fight against these evils notice that what he says is lay them aside now how is that possible how can I lay these things aside well he's already been saying that we put off our old nature and we put on the new our new life in Christ we begin to recognize these things as sin and as we recognize this as sin and recognize that we can be guilty of them we confess and forsake them that's how you get rid of them and the way to do that by the way is just spend some time in the word the more you're reading the Bible and seeing the way that God is and what God wants from us and how we can live to please him well the more prone you are if you're a believer in Christ to want to do those things that please him to draw closer to Christ and and if I've got something in my life that keeps me from him then I need to forsake that I need to confess it if it's a sin and I need to move on to pursue him so he's saying we need to confess and forsake these things that's how you put them off that's how you lay these things aside but he goes on to say in verse 2 as newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby desire the sincere the pure milk of the word if these vices are to be destroyed it occurs when you hunger for the milk of God's word if you want to grow up in the things of the Lord a sincere desire for his word will accomplish this Peter's already stated that they're born again by the word of God he now speaks to them as believers he's referring now to changed lives so as Christians they're the desire food that is suited to their new nature spiritual food is required for spiritual maturity that he refers to as a pure milk of the word now what he's asking them to do is actually exhorting them to depend on God you see babies depend on their mother's milk believers are nourished by God's word the fact is hunger for God's word is a real good indicator of a person's spiritual life hunger for the word of God indicates that you have a relationship with God you see dead people don't eat I've never seen a hearse in front of a jack-in-the-box they may be in one because they ate a jack-in-the-box but that's something else but have you ever seen a hearse roll up in the coffin open up and the guy asks for a taco it doesn't happen does it why not because dead people don't eat a living person does one of the ways that you can determine your walk with God is your hunger for his word it's very simple do you have a hunger for the word of God if you do that indicates life if you don't it may indicate that you don't have life it may indicate that because living people are hungry people that's just the way it is I've shared this with you before it bears repetition as an illustration at this point when Marie gave birth to our firstborn Corinne Marie wanted to be a nursing mama and indeed she she became a nursing mother and Corinne well my daughter Corinne was a demanding baby I can still remember walking up to Marie while she was nursing our baby who was maybe three months at or four months old at the time and I walked close to Marie because I was telling her something as she was nursing and Corinne released herself from her mother long enough to turn and growl at me with that toothless angry little face I mean I still remember it she turned it she goes like that the toothless little thing and and and I got quiet and then she went back to nursing and so I said Marie and she turns away again and and and Corinne looks at me again like that I discovered oh my this little girl's got a temper and so that was just true with her and so I remember one day I was going to work and I worked only 10 minutes 15 minutes away from where I lived and Marie was downstairs and she was she was nursing the baby it was like 745 and I'm about to leave and I walk up to Marie to kiss her goodbye Corinne turns and growls goodbye to me and and I tell Marie I'll I'll see you later baby and I walk out I go to work now I lived close enough to come home for lunch and so I did I drove in and I walk into our apartment and Marie is in the same place that she was when I left and it's like 1130 or something she's been there for over three hours laying there and she goes she won't let go she won't let go I said really she says watch and she grabs her head and pulls her away and all of a sudden you hear ah she starts screaming she lets go boom she reattaches and I said I'll be back I went I made a sandwich I ate I went to work I came back around 4 4 30 whenever I got off work I walked in and I found Marie she looked like a giant spider had just taken all her juices she's just all sucked dry that baby was still nursing she wouldn't let go for eight hours she was attached so she's getting counseling now but so if there's anything that indicated beyond several other things is that she was alive and she wanted to nurse she was attached and wouldn't let go and a baby desires the sincere or the pure milk and so he's saying even as a nursing baby nurses receives nourishment from the mama through the breast milk even so you as one who's alive in Christ are to receive your nourishment from God's word God's word is sufficient to save you that's how you got saved you heard the gospel you realized that you needed Jesus you committed yourself to him you confessed your sin forsook them received Christ's Lord and Savior that's how you were saved but you now hunger for the word of God too it is something that you need to have in your life it's like Jeremiah 15 verse 16 your words were found and I ate them and your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart for I am called by your name oh Lord God of hosts the word of God's value is without estimate the psalmist in Psalm 19 verse 10 speaking of the word of God and God's commands says it this way they are more precious than gold than much pure gold they are sweeter than honey than honey from the honeycomb the psalmist in Psalm 119 verse 97 said oh how I love your law I meditate on it all day long or Psalm 119 verses 101 verse 101 I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word Psalm 119 103 how sweet are your words to my taste sweeter than honey to my mouth this this indicator that God's word is sweet and God's word orders your life and God's word produces blessing is something you find in the old as well as the New Testament and it indicates that you have a relationship with Jesus Christ you're a hunger for God's word and your desire to obey him interestingly enough though the apostle Paul writing concerning the times that would exist that are called the last days made it very clear that a lack of hunger for God's word would be typical he said in 2nd Timothy 4 verses 2 through 4 he said preach the word be prepared in season and out of season correct rebuke and encourage with great patience and careful instruction for the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine instead to suit their own desires they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths they will heap into themselves teachers having itching ears and will voluntarily turn away from truth that's the sign of the last days we are living in those days we know that don't we we are living in a day when people no longer put up with healthy doctrine they don't want to hear healthy doctrine they want to hear things that make them feel better about themselves they read their materials and they're not you know when we have a bookstore it's not the theological books that sell it's usually the self-help books that sell or how to have your best day-to-day kinds of books and that that's what that's what happened that's what people want they want to be victorious today they want to be blessed today they don't understand that that part of blessing is blessing is going to come when you get the whole council of god but they don't want the whole council of god paul said in the last days so they're open to be deceived because they're going to heap into themselves teachers that tell them exactly what they want to hear question has to be asked why listen to the word of god why should i hunger to read his word why should i meditate on the word of god memorize and why should i practice it well as that you may grow spiritually as a mother looks to see her child grow god desires to see his children grow you see birth is not the ultimate level of growth and salvation is something that you grow into marriage can be used as an illustration here you got saved some people think well salvation's just all i need so you get saved and you continue in the way that you lived before at least you went forward at least you raised your hand at least you prayed or whatever and so you think of yourself as being a saved individual and you think well that's it now that i'm saved i can go on with my life it's like marriage somebody's getting married here we are in the church there is the bride standing in the back there the doors have opened up the music is playing she's standing there in her beautiful gown and here i am standing with the groomsmen and the victim and as we're here together and she's walking up and that music is playing and all of that we're having a wedding it's a wedding celebration and everybody's excited about it but i wouldn't expect them to leave here go to the reception and have them stand up and give a lecture on what marriage is how marriage can be successful what god has done to demonstrate in their life so the marriage really is because what do they know they just got married they don't have any idea what marriage is they're now just excited because they went through a wedding ceremony and as they went through the wedding ceremony and all their guests are there they're very happy and they're moving on to their honeymoon and honeymoon's normally are a lot of fun and they spend time together and they're going to go places they normally wouldn't go and will never go again ladies am i wrong and they and they enjoy that i mean for them it's just a great thing see it's just the wonder of getting married but they don't have any advice to give how could they give it now five years from now 10 years from now 20 years from now 30 years from now they know misery i mean they know marriage they're able they're able to share they're able to say these are the things we learned in the first few years these are the things we learned in the first 10 years this is what we learned when we had our children should they have kids this is what we've learned as they've gone through the teen years these now you've got experience now you can talk about it but you can't talk with authority concerning those things not on your wedding day you have to live as a married person for a while to gain experience so a lot of people think well i got saved that's the end of the road that is not the end of the road that's the beginning of the road and that's why you hunger for the word of God that's why you stay close to the Lord Jesus Christ because getting saved isn't the whole journey it's the beginning in 2nd Peter 3 18 the apostle says grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Ephesians 4 15 says speaking the truth in love we will in all things grow up into him who as they had that is Christ so getting saved isn't the whole journey it's just the beginning but it goes on to say if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious again using marriage as an analogy many of you have done this you're going to have a reception you're planning on feeding a few people you're looking for a caterer you find somebody that sounds reasonable they have what is called a tasting so you go and you sit down with these people and they will bring a small portion maybe they'll bring a portion of fish they'll bring some chicken they'll bring some beef it's a small portion and then you'll taste those things then they'll bring in a salad and you taste the salad they'll bring in the desserts and they're all small portions and that's how you select what you want to serve to your guests right that's what you do so you'll taste the fish and maybe you like fish and you'll say this is great this is very very good or the chicken or the beef whatever it may be but the taste sometimes you'll say that's so good i'd like to try that again as a matter of fact i'd like to eat a eat a whole plate of that this is so good and that salad is so great and that desserts too much and that's what happens you see what what god wants us to do is not just take a sample he wants us to consume he wants us to to be filled with it if you've tasted that the lord is good is what he's talking about not sampled god the lord doesn't call me to give him a chance let me show you how good i am he says i want you to be complete in me i want you to have all of me i want to be in your life completely don't just taste of me in a sampling way but consume the reality of what it means to walk with god if you've experienced salvation you're going to experience a desire for more and more of the lord even as you enjoy a wonderful meal he's saying you need to enjoy the tasting and the goodness of the lord it's like what it says in psalm 348 taste and see that the lord is good blessed is the man who takes refuge in him taste and see that's an imitation by the way if you have tasted but if you haven't you need to you need to take of the lord and see that he's good you need to get away from any ritual that you're trusting in you need to get away from this concept that i can work my way into heaven by being a good person or at least better than the person next to me you need to understand as i have had to understand and we were believers have had to understand i'm a sinner cut off from god by my sin but god sent jesus who's the propitiation for my sin and jesus satisfied the righteous demands and the anger of his of his father by taking upon himself my sin and it's not that i just feel guilty about what i've done it's not that i have remorse over what i've done yes i have guilt and yes i feel bad but that's not repentance repentance is a radical change of mind i was going in one direction and i'm turning around and i'm going in a different one repentance is a mentality of seeing god for who he is and seeing myself for who i am and turning from who i am so that i might turn to who he is turn to him that's repentance it's not giving god a try it's not taking a sample it's committing myself completely and so if i have tasted and seen that the lord is good if i have if i have hungered for his word and i'm putting off these things like like malice and all that demonstrates that i understand that the word of the lord endures forever it demonstrates that i understand that i need to be born again by the word of god that lives and abides forever it demonstrates that i understand that my god is holy and therefore i'm to walk in a holy a separated life from the things that god has saved me from which demonstrates the reality of the saving knowledge of jesus christ transformed lives that's how it works so when somebody says oh i'm a christian i'm walking with jesus and they're telling you that while they're drunk you have a good reason to wonder whether they understand what jesus is all about because they haven't walked away from their old life at all they're living in it and they're probably deceiving themselves to think that they're right with god because they may have sampled something by hearing an invitation but they haven't consumed the reality of who god is through a transformed life and that's what peter is talking about he said lay these things aside because as a newborn baby desires the milk of the word you need to desire god's word if indeed you have tasted that the lord is good and if you've encountered his grace your life is going to change that's how the apostle is putting it here in first peter chapter two verses one through three


Welcome to Prague College, an English university in the heart of Europe that draws students from over 80 countries. Prague College was selected by the Cambridge University Students' Union as an educational destination for success for British graduates wanting to go abroad for a practical university education and career. Prague College is organised around three academic schools or faculties. The School of Business has close partnerships with major corporations both locally and around the world. The School of Art and Design offers subjects in areas like typography, 3D animation and sound design. The School of IT and Computing offers classes in areas like networking, security and multimedia design. The School of Business has programmes at the bachelor's and master's level in international management and now we're introducing a new programme in applied accounting and business finance. The School of Art and Design has programmes at the bachelor's level in graphic design and fine art experimental media. The School of Computing offers programmes at the bachelor's and master's level around general computing and multimedia and animation. With bachelor's and master's degrees awarded by T-side University, Prague College offers a truly international experience and our fundamental commitment is towards our students providing an excellent university education that can transform lives. Our growing number of graduates are finding significant success for their further studies and professional careers. Many of our graduates go on to work around the world in Germany, Spain, Slovenia, the United States, Singapore and the United Kingdom. Our research centre, the Humanities Society and our student council organise activities and events such as our annual conferences and our master speakers series where we bring in truly outstanding visionaries from around the world. You can be sure that during your time in Prague you will be connected on a global international level. Students tell us that they feel that studying at Prague College is like being part of a large family. We're a relatively small school but we're dedicated to working hard and achieving the best results and are very interested in how everybody is developing.


I never have my name on the back of a jersey So I wore a burger Guard dog, Guardi Yeah, that's probably it for me. I like it. I like it That was actually one of my little nicknames in the minor leagues by one of my hitting coaches First thing that came into my head was like little Chihuahua, so That's kind of I don't know why that just popped right into my head.  So that's that's what I'm going with I Never told anybody that he's always reminded me of a little Chihuahua. Oh man. Hey, that's that's still that's still a compliment I'll take that as a compliment, you know somebody that you know is always a pest out on the field Bugging the opposing pitchers and the opposing teams on the base path. So I like it


You went riding, I can't remember where, you left the car door open. I'm not sure if the car was running. To be honest, that happened to me not just once. That just happened last week.  They really blew my mind. Korea highlights and more with your favourite winter athletes. This is on the line. Hello Miss Anna Gasser, how are we doing? Hello Henry, I'm doing very well, thank you. What have you been up to in these crazy times? It's been the first summer I just spent at home. So it's been actually quite nice because normally I'm travelling all year around and now it's the first time in like 10 years that I didn't get on an airplane in a couple months. So it's a nice change and I actually enjoyed the time at home with my family and friends. You had lots of wake surfing going on with the crew? Yeah, preparing for my surfing career, which hasn't started yet but that's the little start I think. But hopefully I get to try it soon. What's your best trick on the old wake surfing so far? I'm just trying to do good looking turns. Damn, it's so hard on the water, you know. I'm actually just trying to work on my style, to not look like a doll cook. So what about the old acro yoga as well with your sister? I've seen a bit of that going on. Yeah, I love it. It's like such a fun activity to do in summer for me. And with my background as a gymnast, it's like natural. And like, I think we did some progress this summer. What's your best move? It's really like a trust game. So we're just trying to like do some like flips and she should catch me again. That would be the perfect scenario. One highlight of your whole snowboard life, career, what do you think it would be? I think it wouldn't be the Olympics. I think the triple wins for me. It's really sad, yes. Cab triple underflip, the first one landed by any woman ever. It was 2018. Time to do it again, I guess. You weren't planning on it at all, were you? No, I wasn't. It was like, of course, I've been thinking about it, but I was more thinking about doing it on a perfect spring day and not on an icy, glacier day. But it was it was just perfect. And I felt it and snowboarding is so much about how you feel that it felt right at that moment. I'm going to give you a little test now. Oh, no, I'm really bad in history, but I'll try. First female gold medalist at the Olympics in Nagano, 1998, for freestyle snowboarding. Nicole Toast. Nicola Toast, it was very good, very good. First ever 900 in women's freestyle snowball competition, not in the pipe. We're talking a big air or slope stuff. I know it. I just don't remember her name. It was a cap nine right from the Toast, maybe? It was a cap nine, yes. It was a legend of the school. A legend. I know. I should know it. And I like her like, I know. Should I give you the first? The first letter of her name is a J. Times up, Anna. I know, I don't know it. Ganna Mayan. Yes, I knew the story behind it. You knew the story and the trick. So we're going to give you like 0.7 of a point there. OK. Who landed the first ever back 10 double cork for female snowboarding? Katie Omratt. First ever cab triple. Well, me, I like, it's a boy, but boy I wouldn't know. The first ever cab double 12 for lady snowboarding. Well, that was me, too. I should know that. And I don't think anyone's repeated it, have they, so far? No, not even me. I should do that soon, too. This is now, I remember. Is that a promise? It's a promise. Would you rather have really long fingers or really long toes? Really long fingers. Yeah, why? You can grab easier. Land every single trick that you've ever dreamed of, but no one ever sees it. Or stay at exactly the same level that you are now, but never progress. But that's a hard one. Yeah, this is the hardest one so far, I would say. But I think I would like to do all the tricks at least once. Keep progressing. Keep progressing. But no one ever sees. No one ever sees. Except the people that are around me, maybe. No, not even them. Not even Clemens and Sani. I'll give you Clemens and Sani. But no footage is allowed to be seen. Yeah, I still would like to know how those crazy tricks feel. You're never allowed to ride a park again or never allowed to ride powder again. You guys know I'm a bark rat, but I've rode bark the last 10 years, so now it would be nice to ride bow for the rest. I can build my bark in the bow of myself, right? That's allowed. You can build backcountry jumps for sure. All the sole snowboarders out there just went, yes. End your career being known as the most stylish snowboarder that ever lived, but you never ever win a contest again. Or you win every contest that you ever enter for the rest of your career, but wax style. Oh, that's so hard. But I really hate when I do a trick with bad style. So even the cap 12, I did it as the first one, but I wasn't 100% happy with it. I think I rather go with like really good style and not win. Like, people wouldn't probably think that of me, but I actually really care how stuff looks. Is it true that once you said you would rather eat a bowl of poo than eat cheese? I once said that, but I don't know. Hearing- You did actually say that? I did say that once to Clemens as a joke, but I don't know, actually now thinking about it, I think I had, like, even though it would be one of the hardest things for me, I would have to go with the cheese. What's wrong with cheese? I just never liked it, I don't know. Is it true that for the first half of your career, while you traveled the world to all these wonderful places, you only ate pasta with tomato sauce? Probably five times a week, but not just pasta with tomato sauce. There's some bread in there and some- but they always eat it with cheese. What do you have? Blain good bread, yeah. Why, you'd love getting locked up in jail. You'd love it, here's bread and water. Perfect, thanks. Why don't you tell us the story about the time that you left your brand new Audi. I can't remember if it was running or not, but you left the doors open, completely open all day. You went riding, I can't remember where. To be honest, that happened to me not just once. That just happened- How many times? It just happened last week.  Yes. What we're gonna do is we're gonna blindfold you, Anna. First up, I would like you to draw, if possible, a can of Red Bull, a self-portrait of yourself doing a frontside 360, frontside grab. Henry, this is hard. I don't know, you can't see what I'm drawing. Finally, just write your name, Anna Gasser. Okay. We'll have a look, there we go. Hey, that's actually pretty good. Well, I think, Anna, you should have a look at it now. I don't know what the can of Red Bull is, but... Great. This should be the can. Okay. And this is a... It's a fish, or? This is a quark snowboarder. Yeah. Well, it's hard to tell. Not bad at all, Anna. But it's not easy to do it blind. Thank you very much for joining us. Yeah, thank you, Henry. It was fun. Bye.


Hey y'all welcome to What Chelsea Eats. Thank you so much for joining me today. In this video I'm going to be sharing with you a healing salad recipe. This recipe is not only good for helping you to heal from wound issues but it also will help support your gut and help heal issues that you may be having in your gut whether you know it or not. Most people who have fibroids or some type of reproductive issue their gut is a mess and this salad recipe will help you to overcome it. So if you want to see how I make it stay tuned. So let's get right into this recipe.  Red leaf lettuce is my absolute favorite lettuce. It is tender and that's why I like it so much. But you can use whatever type of lettuce that you would like whatever you can find on hand. This just happens to be my favorite. Next is one of my most favorite cruciferous vegetables which is good for estrogen metabolism and healing the gut. This is red cabbage but you can use any kind of cabbage you like. It just happens to be that red cabbage is my favorite and it adds so much color to the salad. That's another reason that I like it but it helps to sweep the junk out of your digestive tract and change your gut microbiome and that just means it changes the condition of your gut as far as the things that it likes to digest. So if you're eating a processed food diet it's going to be used to digesting processed foods and if you eat these types of foods it's going to get used to eating or digesting these types of foods. So I added some broccoli. You can add broccoli or cauliflower or whatever kind of vegetable that you would like. Broccoli, cauliflower, things like that are cruciferous vegetables as well. Next we're going to add our cucumbers. I love cucumbers. They're like my favorite vegetable in the salad but there are varieties of cucumbers. This is an English cucumber so use whichever type of cucumber you would like. So next we're going to add some red onions and I love to add red onions to the salad because they fight inflammation. They boost the immune system. They're healthy for your heart. They help with digestion. They fight cancer. They help enhance your hair growth but nonetheless they taste really really good in the salad. It brings the flavors together. So next we're going to add some carrots and one of the things about carrots that people don't know is that the vitamin A in the carrots helps to build red blood cells. So if you're somebody who bleeds heavily and you're having struggles with anemia or low iron, carrots are a good source of vitamin A that will help you to build those red blood cells so you can keep up with your iron stores. So next we have some orange peppers that we're going to add to the salad and the thing that I like about peppers is that they are full of vitamin C so if there are any iron-rich things in your salad that's going to help your body to absorb the iron in your salad when you add things with vitamin C. So sprouts take your salad up a notch. This is a living food. There's sprawl food and then there's living food and sprouts are living foods so that's just going to give you more micronutrients that you need for healing your body and I can talk about sprouts all day long but I won't and then we're going to add some cherry tomatoes. These are what I prefer in my salad versus regular tomatoes but you can add whatever kind of tomatoes you like and this is another living food. This is a fermented vegetable. This is ginger and carrots and I got this from this company called Wild Fermented Vegetables. It's a I think it's local here to North Carolina but I'm not sure but if you can find things like sour crowd fermented vegetables to put in your salad that's also going to be a healing benefit for your digestive tract. So here is your healing salad. If you eat a salad like this every day you cannot help but heal. The problem is is that most of us don't like to eat these vegetables and I am with you on that. When I first began to eat salads I did not want to eat a salad like this. It was totally disgusting. It's because I wasn't used to eating it. I was used to eating you know a standard American diet or a diet that is full of processed foods and so when I went to change my diet to eating salads it was torture but what I did was I found a good salad dressing that I could put on the salad and I still didn't do much until I just kept on eating it every day. Every day I just kept on eating a salad and then eventually I got to the place where I started to enjoy the salad. So I'm going to show you a salad dressing that you can make very easily within a couple of minutes that you can put on your salad right now. So here's the dressing recipe and I will put all the ingredients for this salad and the dressing down in the description box below so but we're starting off with some hemp seeds. We'll add some lemon juice and we're going to add some water. Start off with a little and then you can always add more. You can't subtract the water and then we'll add our spices and you may need to add more spices. Just taste it and then you can adjust the spices as needed but this was perfect for me and then you're just going to blend it until it's smooth. Look how creamy it looks. It almost looks like a little ranch dressing. It kind of tastes like it too but it depends on how much herbs you put in the in the dressing but all you do is you add that dressing to the salad.  Eat it every day. Watch your body heal. I hope you enjoyed this video. If you liked it please share it, like it and comment below. Lots of love to you and yours. Take care.