Hello and welcome to NewsClick, I am Poranjoy Gohatakurtha and I am sitting at the residence of the former Finance Minister and External Affairs Minister of India, Yashwant Sinhajee. Thank you Yashwant Sinhajee for giving us your time and it's not been very long, the 21st of April on your older son Jan's birthday, you decided to quit a political party with which you have been associated for about three decades and you said you don't want to have anything more to do with the Bharti Janta Party, you've launched a front called the Rajatriya Manch and you're saying you're not only are you going to join any political party, you will not accept any post. Now why did you choose this specific occasion to quit a political party with which you have been associated, correct me if I'm wrong, since the late 80's, soon after you left the Indian administrative service and joined politics in 1986. I joined politics just a factual correction in 1984, end of 1984, but I joined the Janta Party of Mr Chandrasekhar at that point of time, it was after some years in 1993 that I joined the Bharti Janta Party, so it has been an association of over two and a half decades. My longest political association with any political party in my career has been with the Bharti Janta Party. So it was hard-wrenching to tell you quite frankly, I chose 21st April not because it was Jan's birthday so much, but because we had planned a program in Patna and it was a Rajatriya Manch program, national forum that I set up in January, it was a program of that organization or association and I had been thinking about this for quite some time, you know, you're aware of the fact that I have been critical of the government. I'm aware of that, I'm going to ask you a few questions. Yes, on a number of issues, but when I found that there was no response, then I made up my mind that there was no point in continuing this sterile association. You know sir, if I can interrupt you, you have been a critic of the present government for quite some time. What I'm trying to find out is what really made you realize on the 21st of April or soon before that that, to use your words, democracy was in danger under the Narendra Modi government that somehow the government had so undermined democratic institutions in the country that you felt that its restoration would be a long, long time. So you didn't want to be associated with the party with which your son is associated who continues to remain a minister of state for civil aviation. Yes. No, it is, let me tell you, the first feeling that things were not all right within the Bharati Yantapati came from friends that I met across the board, members of parliament, even ministers, others. And I realized that there was within the party a very strong sense of fear. People were scared, they were scared to talk to me, they were scared to talk about what was happening. And you know that gave me, members of parliament told me that in our time when I was a member of parliament we had free exchange of views in our parliamentary party meetings. They said it has become one-sided, they speak, we listen. We don't get opportunity to put our point of view or our problems before the leadership. You know, Nana Potole who was the MP from Maharashtra, he left because he did not get... You openly said that my views are not being listened to. He was not being listened to. So, you know, some people have taken the extreme step but others are leading a life of fear within the Bharati. In fact on the 27th of September 2017 in the Indian Express the article that they titled, I need to speak up now, you said you'll be failing in your national duty if you do not speak up now and you said that you're convinced that what you're saying reflects the views or the sentiments of a large number of people in the BJP who are not speaking up because of fear. You think that atmosphere of fear is continuing? It is continuing and I tested it for the first time when I wrote that article in the Indian Express last September and then more recently, before I left the party, you'll recall that I had written an open letter to BJP MPs and especially requested senior most leaders like Advani Ji and Murali Manohar Joshi Ji to do something about the prevailing atmosphere of fear but again there was no response and then in the meanwhile Patna was coming up on the 21st of April and therefore I decided that there is no point in appealing to people within the party. They will perhaps not have the courage just now so I must appeal to a wider audience, must appeal to the people of the country. This is one part. The second most important part of this is that all the institutions of democracy in our country are under threat. They are, their effectiveness is being eroded and that is something which bothers me. You know, so just to name parliament, Supreme Court, Election Commission, media, Reserve Bank of India, agencies, investigating agencies of the government. You name them and they are all being compromised. So let's talk about these in a little while from now but since you mentioned the name of Shti L. K. Advani, Dr. Murali Manohar Joshi, there's also Shantakumar Ji, there have been many others including Mr. Arun Shuri, Govindacharya and in fact sometimes you are described as the angry old men of the BJP and everybody says you have a personal grounds. I remember you even said that do people stop thinking when you are 70? The whole idea was that it was suggested when your son became the Minister of State for Finance that you know Mr. Modi didn't like you know this familial connection because he was very critical of the Gandhinairu family. So he said if your son Janji has been made a minister, Minister of State for Finance, why should you also aspire for a post? And throughout the narrative has been Yashwant Sinha is unhappy because he hasn't been given a job, all kinds of suggestions were made that there was a brick spank, you were thinking of the brick spank and if you recall after the Indian Express article of the 27th of September, soon thereafter Mr. Arun Jaitley the Finance Minister sarcastically without mentioning your name said there are people who have become a job applicant at 80. So it has been painted out that you have a personal grouse and that's why all your anger is a that of a personal nature against the present government. I mean this question must be answered. I have answered it in the past but I'd like to answer it because you've asked me this question. In 2014 when the Lok Sabha elections were taking place I personally decided that I will not contest that election okay. You can ask anyone senior leader of the party and I told everyone that I would not be contesting the Lok Sabha elections because I wanted to opt out of this kind of electoral politics. So they gave the nomination to my son who contested and won and from Hazari Bagh and became a Minister of State in the government. Now I knew quite well even at that point of time that there can't be two people in government from the same family and I opted out I did not contest the elections therefore when I did not contest the election it was quite clear to me as it should have been to the others that I was not aspiring for any post okay but you know not aspiring for any post is not the same thing as not getting some respect from the government or the party to which I had belonged. And even Mr. Modi when he took over as Prime Minister he had I must say to his credit invited me to a meeting in which we discussed the replacement of the Planning Commission with Niti Ayok. Why did he invite me? I was not a member of the government but he thought that maybe I had something to say on the on a subject like this. After that I wrote him letters after that I made suggestions to the government on a number of issues because as you recalled becoming attaining the age of 75 does not mean that you have stopped thinking so I thought about things especially about national issues and I wanted to tell the government about some of those issues but that opportunity was denied to me and it was said as if what is it that they could do to me they they can't bring and I'm saying it with a challenge they will not be able to bring charges of corruption against me nobody has brought charges of corruption against me. There have been controversies we can talk about. No forget the controversies a controversy can be raised by vested interests about you me anybody but because that is closed therefore what else what what other charge can there be that other charge can be that I'm interested in a job opportunity I am looking for a job as Arun Jaitly said I have replied to that I am not interested and that's why in Patna I made it very clear that I will not join another political party and that I am not a claimant for any job in future. Now what could be more straightforward than this and how can this charge then stand against me? Yeshwant Srinaji you have been very critical of the government as you've said you've described the present government as a one-man show run by the Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi you've gone to the extent of suggesting that the current atmosphere of fear that is prevailing is worse than that what that was prevailing during the emergency in the mid 70s when Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister of India you've gone to the extent of suggesting that even there's been some sort of a surveillance operation taking place with even attempts to you know put in chips in in set of boxes are you not overreacting that this government is sort of scared everybody and spying on everybody conducting some sort of mass surveillance operations and isn't the analogy with the Indira Gandhi's emergency a bit stretched that you know that then the civil liberties the civil rights of the country were completely abridged and you know the media was completely censored barring a few people who protested how can you compare the situation prevailing in the mid 70s till now to what is happening today Indira Gandhi's emergency was to borrow a Hindi phrase a Jhatka operation suddenly one day or one night it was announced that emergency has been imposed many people were put behind bars and restrictions are imposed on a number of institutions including the media now this is something which everyone felt that here is you know emergency which has been imposed in this case in the present case it is slow poison it's not a Jhatka it's not a sudden operation it is slow poison which is being injected into the system liberties freedoms are being taken away and we are not conscious of it because it's not hitting us as much as Indira Gandhi's emergency hit us but I had told you earlier that if you look at any of the institutions with democracy you will find the very sorry state in which they are and if you give me the time I'd like to begin with the Parliament of India okay I have spent a lot of time in the Parliament of India you first became a Rajasabha MP in 1988 am I correct yes and almost continuously almost continuously in Parliament and tries in the Lok Sabha right now what is the most important function of Lok Sabha the most important function of Lok Sabha is to determine whether the government of the day has majority or not isn't it one of the one of the important point but the most important I'll say because it's also to enact laws to do a lot of other things okay but the most important constitutional responsibility of the Lok Sabha is to determine the majority of the government because once that majority goes even by one vote then the government goes right okay you remember April 1999 at the Hari Vajpayee's government one vote one vote so that is the that is the strength that is the power that is the majesty of democracy and this time you have a government who's not even willing to admit a no confidence motion filed by a number of parties in the opposition there was not allowed to come up and every day the speaker will get up but just say I can't count 50 people and therefore I'm unable to admit the motion then why should there be a Lok Sabha because it failed to perform in the din she got the budget passed including the finance bill with very important amendments but she could not count 50 people because it was being deliberately disrupted parliament was being Lok Sabha was being deliberately disrupted by the ruling party people why would they do it they have a comfortable majority they had but there was no issue right there was no question of the government losing a vote of confidence and the floor of the but that's where you're making a mistake paranjai jay there would have been a discussion that's right in the discussion a whole host of issues would have been raised the failures of the government would have been pointed out the media despite all the curves would have carried some of it it would have reached the people of the country that this is how the government is functioning they did not want that discussion I don't believe in rumors that some MPs or the BJP would have voted against the government but the government would certainly have been criticized severely by the opposition even though the opposition is weak even though the opposition is weak and even though the government would have one majority but where does it say in the rules of Lok Sabha that a vote of confidence no confidence can be brought only when you have a majority to prove that the government does not have a majority where does it say that so Lok Sabha has not been allowed by the government to perform its most important constitutional responsibility I stop you here there we will discuss this I mean there are a number of things to discuss let me take on one issue and because it is topical and that is this whole issue of don't call it corruption call it sweetheart deals I want your opinion on what you think the media reports concerning the Minister for Railways Mr. Piyush Goyal and his wife now we've recently had a rejoinder coming in from the Pyrimal group and because it has been alleged in that article that there was some sort of a quote unquote sweetheart deal between the two and the Pyrimal group has said there's no conflict of interest and on issues of valuation they can be a dispute but the more important question is why is it that Mr. Piyush Goyal did not disclose these facts and the transactions and the sales of these assets and come of the companies where he and his wife are controlling these firms to the public at large you know the Prime Minister has made it clear that all the ministers have to disclose their assets the election Commission of India has certain rules about affidavits what are your views on the recent controversy my view is very clear and it's not only about Piyush Goyal case it's about a number of other things other cases also you know some facts come to the notice or come into the public domain they raise a doubt now the the policy of the government has been that if it is going to be inconvenient the truth coming out is going to be inconvenient then let's kill it at that stage itself so that truth does not come out and I'm sorry to say that where there has been very strong prima facie reasons for a further inquiry or investigation they have been stopped the government just says no no I recall when your son's name appeared in the the Paradise Papers you said that please investigate his involvement just like you said if the son of the Bharti Janta Party president Mr. Amit Shah his son Sugesh Shah if their companies have done something which is irregular or illegal that should be investigated it was never investigated Jay Shah's case but it was not alleged that there was any corrupt practice it was merely what you might call a sweetheart deal where the his company's business is suddenly shot up and then closed that that's what the official records then then you know it burst into flames and and and closed no the point I'm making it in his case as in Jansina's case if anybody felt that there was a case for further inquiry in Justice Loa's case if there was a case for further inquiry in Piyush Goyal's case you think that fact should suggest prima facie that there should be an inquiry why are we running away from that inquiry why can't we have an inquiry or an investigation and bring out all the facts in public domain and then let the public decide whether there was conflict of interest why is the government because government is trying to conceal something which will cause embarrassment to the government you mentioned just as as clear as that you mentioned Justice Loa but before I come to the Justice Loa and the controversy relating to the Supreme Court of India while you were writing you wrote an article in NDTV on the 20th of February where you laid out you asked for about 10 questions from the government on the scandal on the the scandal in the Punjab National Bank pertaining to companies controlled by Mr. Neeraj Modi and his uncle Mr. Mehul Choksi now you have there pointed out that when you were the Finance Minister there were Ketan Parik scam and when Dr. Manmohan Singh was the Finance Minister there was a Harshad Mehta scam and both of you appeared before the joint parliamentary committee to explain your position you also in your own biography which I read and reviewed you yourself described the the scandal pertaining to the unit trust of India as something that you know you feel you are regretful that you acted in the way you did I'll read out the exact sentence the whole UTI affair is a very sorry chapter of my tenure as Finance Minister and you conceded that you made a mistake in not cancelling a meeting you had with Mr. Vajpayee so I'm saying here in the case of the Neeraj Modi scandal do you think also the government is deliberately suppressing information it finds out how quickly the valuation of the goods that have been seized but it's not mentioning whether the letters of undertaking which year when it went a lot of information is not the most important question there is how did he run away from the country how did Neeraj Modi how was he allowed to leave India how did he get photographed in that Hall of Fame photograph in the Davos meeting in the Davos meeting with the Prime Minister you know because these things don't happen in a jiffy they build up over a period of time and his scandal was building up over a period of time mehul choksi Neera Modi and then he runs away from the country after some time we'll forget about it because some police investigation will take place and let me tell you here and now that I have lost faith in even CBI enquiries so you think the same story with Mr. Lalit Modi Mr. Vijay Malia is going to be repeated it has been repeated it has been repeated and other there would there could have been I would have demanded a joint parliamentary committee enquiry but after the 2g joint parliamentary committee unfortunately have lost faith in the JPC system also but when the Harchad Mehta scam took place we had a congress chairman of the JPC Mr. Ramnivas Mithra and he was a gentleman to the core and we were in the opposition and he allowed us not only to ask any question that we wanted to ask little those people yes but also asked us to write various chapters of the report where he thought that we had more knowledge and expertise no no but is that happening now but why are you holding the finance minister responsible I read out from your article you said it is not possible for any finance minister to personally supervise the day-to-day functioning of every organization and institution under his control which includes a whole host of organizations yet under our parliamentary system the ultimate responsibility will rest with the minister who is responsible for that ministry so the finance ministry cannot be absolved of his constitutional and democratic responsibility are you being fair to Mr. Jaitley let me explain you mentioned UTIC crisis which took place 2001 yeah did we have did the government of India have a representative on the board of the UTI no we had nothing to do apart from the fact that LIC and certain other public sector institutions had share holdings in the UTIA the government had nothing to do with the UTIA absolutely nothing in Chidambaram's time UTIA had been released from all controls from from from the from the government now I was held responsible for whatever happened in the UTIA there was an adjournment motion on that issue in parliament wasn't it yes so if I can be responsible for Ketanparek or UTIA or Manmohan Singh for Harchad Mehta how can Jaitley not be held responsible constitutionally and morally and legally for what happened with the Punjab National Bank which is a public sector bank therefore we have to make a distinction between the day-to-day functioning of an institution organization within the ministry and the overall constitutional and moral responsibility for that who is responsible to parliament the finance minister who takes complete responsibility the finance minister so parliament has to hold the government generally and Jaitley in particular as responsible okay now Mr. Sinha you know the whole when you have been critical of the government the issues have been muddied again and again by personalizing the issues for instance when you wrote that article in the Indian Express in September 2017 the response came from your son you had made a series of remarks about what you felt was mismanagement of the economic affairs of the country by Mr. Jaitley the finance minister the response came from your son Jain Sinha so you've been said that you're at best being hypocritical your own son is very much a part of the government and yes of course he's he's an independent person so what if he's your son he's educated he's studied in eminent or well-known educational institutions Indian Institute of Technology Delhi high Harvard Business School he's held important positions but this whole attempt that your son is made to refute the I'll tell you why I'll tell you why first of all that article which I wrote in the Indian Express created ripples which were quite unexpected even I did not expect that you know it will cause that kind of waves in the system but it did for whatever reason must because must be because it touched a chord somewhere the other is that after that this the the success of that article let's put it that way the government adopted a two-pronged strategy to counter it one was to reduce it to the level of a father-son duel a debate between a father and a son so Jain Sinha wrote that piece and everybody you even today you're asking me Jainth wrote that piece and you know he's your own son and how do you explain it number two they tried to they tried to trivialize it by gently making that personal allegation that I am a job applicant at 80 apropos nothing there was no provocation in that function for him to say that but he said it because he wanted to trivialize the whole thing my contention all along and even today is please reply to the issues that I have raised you've raised a whole set of issues again demonetization yeah please services that is job creation, accreditation, etc. please please reply to those issues why make it a father and son debate why make it a personal debate between Arun Jaitley and me no I'm not interested in that and I must tell you that because of the reply that I gave on both counts that that attempt of the government did not succeed and people did not believe that it was a father-son debate only or that I was really looking for a job I want to take you a little bit back in time and then come back to the present you know it is said that after you worked with the Indian administrative service the IAS for about 24 years and then subsequently you joined politics you were at that point of time fairly close with among other politicians Karpuri Thakurji and that there were certain socialist leanings in you and that you were at times not so happy with Ayodhya movement that your relationship with Elki Advani Ji has been sort of blow hot blow cold love hate if you like you were critical of his visit to Pakistan and some of the points you made but now you're seen as the same side also critical sometimes thing I want to ask you two points what is your association with Mr. Advani and why do you think Mr. Advani has not publicly endorsed the points that you made and secondly I want you to talk about the second part of the question is the the allegation by the opposition that our society has become excessively communalized the Hindu-Muslim divide has worsen for a variety of reasons including cow the whole cow slaughter business, garwapsi etc and you yourself I think you were arrested briefly in Hazaribagh on April 2007 for holding a religious procession I'm linking up many things sir you start with Mr. Advani and then the communal issue you know I worked with Karpuri Thakur as a civil servant then I joined the Janta Party which was headed by Mr. Chandrasekar he was another socialist as a civil servant I did not have an ideology and that's a point which I have made very clear from time to time I studied socialism as part of my teacher of political science yes so it's not that I'm unaware of the philosophies political philosophies whether of socialism or communism or market economy or whatever but as a civil servant I did not have a pronounced ideological leaning one should not have and I also did not have but because of my association with Karpuri Thakur and with Chandrasekar it was assumed that I had a socialist leaning and I am not going to contradict that yes I believe in socialism I believe in equality of opportunity and I believe in a society which which is which takes everyone inclusive society that is I have absolutely no problem with I was critical of the demolition of the Babri Masjid there is a speech of mine in parliament in Raj Sabha which is often quoted which was not very praising which was not praise worthy of praising the BJP including Mr. Advani in particular yeah but the point I'm making is when I joined the Bharti Janta Party Mr. Advani was very very very nice to me all along and that enabled me to move from one position of responsibility within the BJP to another. Do you remember I'm sorry I'm jogging your memory a little bit in July 2002 when you switched sides with Mr. Jaswant Singh external affairs and finance portfolio it was said this was done at the instance of Mr. L. K. Advani because it was felt that you know at that point of time there were too many contributions. No you're absolutely right I had told Mr. Advani that if I am moving out of finance and if I don't go to external affairs which the only other ministry that I'd like to accept then I'll be out of the government I'll be a member of parliament he must have spoken to Mr. Vajpayee and it was external affairs where I got shifted so there is no doubt that Advani played a role and a very important role in that the only difference that I had with Advani was on not his Pakistan visit but a certain statement that he made about Jinnah being secular and I did not agree with that statement because it was he quoted one of speech of Jinnah and I did not think that that absolved Jinnah during his visit to Pakistan. Yeah the communal role that he had played in our history so there was that difference okay but we made up I met him subsequently explained my point of view to him he explained his point of view to to me and the issue was forgotten between him and me now I have always been and I'd like to say it specifically on record I have been a great admirer of Advani just as I have been a great admirer of Atalji in the BJP these were the two tallest leaders of the party under whom or with whom I had the opportunity of working and I enjoyed every day of that so why has he not so it has not been no let me tell you okay it has not been an off and on hard and soft relationship with Advani it has been consistently except for that Jinnah remark it has been a consistently cordial relationship that I've enjoyed with Advani J. To the other question I'll say yes during the last four years the polity has been communalized much more so than one minute sir Mr. Advani also has not endorsed you you want you said one of the reasons why you left the BJP on the 21st of April was because you did not get any get any support from within the party and you mentioned Mr. Advani's name in that context yeah so that's a fact so he hasn't he hasn't he has not criticized me he has not supported you okay now coming to the communalization of Indian society in the recent past what are your views on that my view is very clearly that communalization is taking place and I'll go back to the old thesis that if there is communalization of the majority community then in response there is a greater communalization of the minority communities and if the reverse is also can also be true that if the minority community is communalized more than acceptable levels then there will be a response from the majority community so this these forces have been playing I mean there are leaders in the Muslim community who are as or even worse communalists than anyone in the Hindu community but when you look at the government today Mr. Modi has completed four years as the Prime Minister almost four years and he talks about Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas but do you believe in these last four years the tensions between Hindus and Muslims in India have widened and what you might describe as the majoritarian view the view that the majority view will always prevail has become even more magnified intensified in the yes yes I'll agree with that that there has been much greater communalization of the majority community in the last four years they have become more assertive and the minority community has been at the receiving end of this growing communal feeling among the majority community okay let me ask you to gaze into your crystal ball a little bit and see where we are going to move this country is which direction is going to move in the coming say year or thereabouts we have the Karnataka assembly elections that are going to take place in we'll know the outcome by the on the 15th of May around the the 12th of May is when the elections will take place would you like to make any comments on how you see the whole campaigning that has been going on in Karnataka in the recent past I will not only confine myself to Karnataka you can go back to Gujarat say that in recent in recent elections whether they are elections for the state assemblies or even by elections you're talking about Uttar Pradesh and and wherever elections have wherever elections have taken place the discourse has been very coarse you know the political level of political discourse should not be reduced to this level certainly not by people who are occupying highest positions of responsibility for instance in the Gujarat election you know talking about Pakistan talk accusing a former prime minister of being in cahoots with Pakistan in conspiracy with Pakistan to defeat the Bharti Janta Party in Gujarat was I think absolutely uncalled for on the part of the prime minister so similarly in in in Karnataka the level of discourse has been brought down so considerably that it is not it's not civilized anymore that should not be the level and that is not the level to which Vajpayee ever descended to win an election you know losing an election is not a sin but spoiling the discourse reducing the quality of discourse is a sin okay if you look ahead in the I'm going to come back to you with a few points on institutions and some of the issues which I haven't been able to touch on including demonetization but before on the issue of politics in the next 12 months the standard talk is among certain in certain circles is that the opposition is deeply divided the country doesn't want one more of ragtag coalition whether it be of the janta party type or the united front type and the the congress is extremely weak and therefore we are in a situation where the the opposition can't come together there are no personal there are no tall personalities also it is alleged that Mr Rahul Gandhi as the leader of the congress will not be able to put together that coalition what are your views do you believe just as once upon a time anti-congressism became the glue that ensured that whether it be the bharti jant sangh or the BJP with the left with the socialists coming together the time has now come to form a kind of a front where the only common factor is anti-bjpism if you like or anti-modeism if you like no first of all let me tell you you use the expression the country does not want the country would not want no i'm i'm seeing in certain circles that have been claimed no how do we know how do we know what the country wants all right i mean for us to sit 12 months before the election and say the country will not want this country would not want this to the answer to your question is if the janta party had not won the 1977 elections loxabai elections do you think democracy in this country would have survived if the the government might have fallen apart it may not have survived it may not have served its full term but they rendered a historic service to this country by saving its constitution and saving its democracy and it was 1989 and uh which was 1989 i would not say that democracy was in danger as it was in 77 or is it today so it didn't work out but you know that is that apart the very fact in suppose in 2011 in 2012 we were talking would you have predicted that Mr. Narendra Modi will be the prime ministerial candidate of the BJP none of us would show because he emerged leaders emerge leaders are not made they're not created they emerge out of circumstances and therefore i don't despair i don't despair that oh opposition will not unite congress is leaderless Raul Gandhi will not carry any conviction that they have no program except anti-modeism anti-bjpism no maybe they'll put together a program okay maybe they'll have a better program would you would you work towards putting together such a problem i i if given the opportunity i most certainly will a sort of a common minimum program that we discussed more than a common minimum program we should have a more than a common minimum program and the the parties in the opposition you know look at the indian political scene today there is the congress party which is the all india challenger to be it's the weakest it's ever been historically but but but it is weak but then there are regional parties that's correct which are dominant parties in their own respect respect the states fridamul congress, biju jantadal, dmk, ai, dmk, telangana, judeesh timiti that's right so there are a whole lot of regional political forces and then there is the congress party they'll have to at some point of time discuss all these things and come together if they want to put up a fight would you like to yourself facilitate such a process through the irashtriya manj? let's see let's see i am not making any commitment at this point of time but i certainly would like to advise political parties in the opposition okay all right uh you know i want to take a step back and he one of the reasons you've talked about you said i don't know whether you how you would compare that with the 70s and indira gandhi you called the present government as a one-man show mr. Arun Shuri called it a high vektika sarkar but the centralization of power that we see today would you say it's unprecedented and i want to link this to a second part of the question which is demonetization but let me start with no let me answer the first question first you know we have been talking about the gujarat model what is the gujarat model as i have been able to understand it gujarat model is the chief minister the chief minister's office controlling everything through the bureaucracy not through the ministers through the bureaucracy so the secretary to chief minister will be in touch with the secretary of the department or a ministry and they'll be working out future programs or whatever has to be done by the government that gujarat model has been imported didn't indira gandhi do something similar no she she did not completely marginalized marginalized the political personalities you know so you still had important political personalities even during the emergency so it was not the gujarat model the gujarat model is now being implemented has been implemented in delhi where the ministers have become irrelevant it is the pmo pm pmo and the ministry officials who are doing everything so the pmo is directly in touch with the secretary of the ministry often without the knowledge of even the minister in charge can you give an example no i'll not like to give examples because they they the examples will hurt but i'm sure i have personal knowledge and not necessarily from my son that they this is what exactly is happening and therefore ministers have been reduced to nil responsibility in this government this is the pattern now in november of 2016 the sudden abrupt disruptive decision to demonetize 86 percent of the country would you describe this as a manifestation of this as the most whimsical decision of one man it was the the most important it is the most important example to date of that gujarat model that i was describing was anyone in the cabinet taken into confidence he went through the motions of a cabinet no no that there was a reserve bank of india that meeting was held rbi according to my information that meeting was held and he left the meeting in the middle the prime minister and said i'll make a speech and come back and he announced the demonetization measure as far as rbi is concerned we have now uh raghuram rajan on record to say that he had opposed it the new governor did not resist not only did not resist but acted as a rubber stamp with his board of governors and approved of this suggestion so everyone was steamrolled into into into accepting this muhammad bin tughlak decision tell me there is speculation that raghuram rajan might even head the central bank of uk but let's forget that do you believe that the rbi governor and the rbi as an institution has been undermined terribly and and and this decision of the gst and and we are seeing the impact of gst still happening the automated telemissions are going right this has done a lot of damage to the institution of the central bank the apex monetary authority absolutely absolutely it has done a lot of damage and nobody today believes in the autonomy of the rbi probably not even the governor about job creation what are your views you know we are getting all kinds of data that is coming up different people interpret data in different ways uh they what comes out from the employee's provident fund what is done by the labor bureau but there is an attempt being made to show that the present government's track record in job creation has not been as bad as the opposition has tried to make it out to be what are your views my views are that job uh data is not does not become available anytime soon you know it takes it has a long lag now having said that i'll make one general point you talked about the labor bureau that general point is that if the present system of job data collection does not uh bring the government to project the government in in a good light then we'll change the system and that's exactly what is going to happen same way as the gross domestic gross domestic product numbers yeah you have said because of changing the methodology you artificially inflated that figure by roughly two percent yeah that is one the second is that in our system of collecting data as has been pointed out by a number of economists we don't get organized sector data for almost three years so you don't have the impact of GST and demonetization on the unorganized sector which was the worst affected it's only the corporate sector data which is suggesting that we are growing at seven point three percent or whatever so that apart the point i'm making is as far as jobs are concerned now the government is referring to the um employees proven from data that is being challenged by people and where you know it must be seen we we have not referred for instance to the telecom sector i saw a report in the media we said that 80 90 000 jobs are going to be lost in the telecom system sector alone we know the problems in the IT sector where job creation leave that apart job losses are taking place sector after sector of the indian economy is in dire distress isn't it construction which is the biggest employer what is happening under the circumstances to revive the economy because you yourself have said no it is not revived i'm saying that seven point three percent would perhaps be four point three percent even less there is this famous economist called Arun Kumar a former teacher of the Jawaharlal Nehri university who believes that we are going at minus rate but we are claiming it's seven point three okay if the economy is in such a terrible shape as you and others have made it out to be what is the way forward i mean i want you i mean since we are running out of time and i've been talking to you for almost one hour i want you to outline what needs to be done and i go back to how i started your rashtra manj and other people who are as critical of the present government as you are what do you think should be the way forward a the youth of this country they are the suffering the most because of job losses half the population of this country is today below the age of 25 26 we have presumably one more year to go before the next general election the concern what according there's nothing which can be done in this last one year this government has exhausted all its options and all its opportunities there is nothing that one can expect from this government we are already in the electoral mode after karnataka will have the other state elections and then the parliament elections so no major decision is going to be taken especially in popular decision and you are aware of the fact that in order to move the economy at times you have to take unpopular decisions so they will not do that so i don't expect anything from this government in the next 12 months but what should be done to rev up the economy there are a lot of things which have to be done up done i used to say before this government came into position as they spoke person of the barchi and tapati before the elections that we should hit the ground running when we came into government and it was you had the bonanza of low oil prices low oil prices and we should do two things one is deal strictly with the problem of bank nps and two you know clear all the stalled projects how would the country move forward if projects are not there so clear the stalled projects which have been held up for various reasons and deal with bank nps how have we dealt with bank nps the government will tell you about more than half a dozen initiative that they are taking no but why has then it gone up to nine lakh crore they are saying because it's now coming out into the open no it is not it's it was always there and if the economy had improved real really then the problem would have then would the problem would have been automatically solved so you think that the the the rise in the unpaid loans of the banks and most of them are big business houses yes yes i mean the total amount in about nine lakh crore which is bad debt as far as the agricultural sector is concerned is only sixty thousand crore rupees only sixty thousand crore and why is there a gradient distress you know as i said in that letter if the we are the fastest growing economy of the world why a bank nps growing year by year quarter by quarter by why is there a gradient distress why is there so much unemployment why are sector after sector of the economy failing so clearly the picture is not what the government would like us to believe. Mr Sena you know last question positively last one political funding you know when you you have also had your share of people who have been accusing you that you were didn't play it straight correct me if i'm wrong there have been specific allegations leveled against you about the way you your expenditure details to the rajasabha while you were finance minister i remember your association with an industrialist also came up and you do mention all of these things also how do i conclude the conclusion is has this government no no but let me let now that you have raised that issue which is a long settled issue as i'm concerned let me clarify that i had reflected all these expenditures in my election return expenditure return and that's how i was able to convince parliament but be that as it may election funding is a very important issue and the government has made it more opaque through these new bearer bond schemes so you are saying you made it public about the posters getting printed by mr ashok chaturvedi of flex industries his employees staying in your house all those you said you made public completely employee took my this house on rent okay now there was no quid pro quo as had been alleged what could be the quid pro quo that he sent me a few pamphlets printed some election material i stood up in luke sabha i stood up in raj sabha and said whatever material he supplied has been accounted for in my expenditure return i paid for them all right and i explained it to the election commission finished okay this government mr jetley said i'm going to make the election funding system more transparent there's the issue of electoral bonds then using the money bill he does retrospective events twice to the foreign contribution regulation act has election funding become more transparent has no nexus between big business and politics has not it has not it has it has become between big business and the the government of the day the political party in power you know it has become a much more cozy relationship than it was it is not transparent is transparent only in the sense that government will know everything others will not okay i got you positively the last remark i want from you would you urge the people of india to vote out this government yes without doubt without blinking an eyelid i'll say when you get the opportunity please vote out this government thank you very much mr yashwant Sinha for giving us your time you've been very patient you've done a lot of research i must thank you sir my pleasure thank you


Hi there, this video is going to show you how to edit your name badge at ICSD 2021. Once you access the program, you will land on a page that looks like this, and up in the top right corner is where you're going to edit your badge. You'll click this dropdown here, click edit badge. Now this information is going to be available to everyone at the event, so only fill in details that you want to share. On the right, we'll show you a preview of what it will look like. So here we'll want to upload a photo. You can see that I've already done that. You can change crop to lead it. You do need to include your first and last name, but the rest of the information is voluntary. So I've added my role and my affiliation. You can select, if you would like to be available for a chat, we will have the option to direct message individuals or chat in a larger event chat, where you can chat with anyone at the event. If you select no, it'll just remove that chat option from your badge. If you select yes, it'll be there and people can easily chat with you. Same for online availability, you'll see I've got a green dot right here next to my name and that's showing that I'm online. You can remove that so that people do not know if you are online or not. And then lastly, you can include other social networks so that people can get in touch with you in other ways. You're welcome to add your email. For example, if I were to type in my Twitter user, it would just pop up like this and the same for all the others. And that is how you update your badge. It'll save automatically. You can also edit your notifications and you can edit how often you receive those all up here on the right.


What's up everybody? Jason here for jazzybiscasebrakes.com. Last weekend night guys, 2022, Pnini impeccable WWE one box break, random number block, number 14. And Michael bought out all those spots. He's like, I want that gold Troy Allen's Hulk. So, wants the Hulk open. There we go. So again guys, solid day of breaking today. You know, like I said, I got here a little after two o'clock, more like two 30. So been breaking since two 30 after midnight, successful day. I'd say. All right, so there's the metal. Now I don't know how late I'll be breaking tomorrow, but at least today, we got to do a little late night. Tomorrow might be just like a normal schedule. But, I mean, if you guys keep me busy, I can't really deny you guys, so. All right, Otis to start us off to 10. So again, all these hits will be yours Michael, so good luck buddy. Happy Corbin to 49. We got the American Nightmare, Cody Rhodes. Ooh, a little Tristratus. 52 out of 99. Iron Chic to 99. Jimmy Uso. Brotherly, or Brother Love, sorry not Brotherly. Brother Love, 51 out of 99. We're gonna end it off with a little Ray Mysterio. That's 88 out of 99. Arguably the greatest little child to ever step in, the WWE ring. All right, let's go to the metal car, baby. Let's do this. Come on. Give me gold, baby, give me gold. Give me gold. Not gold, but it is Bayley. Triumphs of fine, fine silver. And that is out of 35. Although I will say, man, there's like this huge crease going on right there. You see that? I don't know if you'd like to submit stuff to Panini, but I feel like they should be able to fix that, right? That's a huge crease right there. You can kind of feel it too. So I'll send you the wrapper and, I mean, I guess we can send you the box too, but I think you just need the code, this little code right here. So if you want that, I can send that to you. If not, then it's all good, but the box is in case. Want to slide our boxes here? I guess not. All right, man. Well, thank you and appreciate it. I guess that we have another one. I'm gonna store out post of another one later tonight. Appreciate it, man. Jaspy's casebricks.com.


Prinhawn Dha, ddweud i chi'n gweithio i mi ddweud. Felly ydym yn y meddwl o'r cyfrifiad ar gyfer yn ymwyaf. Y reddylch yn ddwyCHI yn gweithio'r cyfrifiad ar gyfer yn gyfrifiad. Mae gennymau ar weld yw'r gweithiau a'r ddweud yn gyfrifiad yw'r cyfrifiad yw'r gweithiau. Mae gennymau ar weld y gweithiau i gweithiau ar gyfle mae'r gweithiau yn gweithio ar gyfer ddweud. Mae gennymau ar weld yw'r gweithiau am y ffordd o gweithio'r gweithiau a'r ddweud. Ond oes y gallwn gyfnod hynny'r llwyso'n cerddiad yn ymdweithio'r gwaith o'r lefnod o'ch chi i'ch gael mewn oed, a oed o'r llwydd o'r llefnod. Yn y rhai cyfnodd o'r pethau sydd yn y gweithio'r llwyso'n cyfaint, rwy'n credu'r hyffordd o'r llefnod. Dyna'r llwyso'n cyflosion sy'n hyn yn ôl. Mae Gweithio Llywodraeth yn ymdw'r ysbryd yn April, oedd yn ogylched gyda chi'n gwithio'r bobl. mae'n cael ei ddigonwch yn hyn. A'i gweithio'n gweithio'n meddwl yng nghymru o'r fforddau ar y cyfnodau o'r fforddau ar gyfer o'r fforddau ar gyfer o'r fforddau ar gyfer o'r fforddau. Ond y cyfnodol ymlaen fel y Gweithredu UK, yn hynny ymbrill y gallai gwerth o'r horddoddau o ddau'r cyffredig o'r ymddangos yma, oherwydd mae'n amlwg cyffredigol o'r cyflodau o'r gennym o'r gwnaeth ymgylch ar gyfer o'r gweithredu, Mae'r ffocusio gwahanol yn ei gael'r prifysgol y Prifysgol. A when they've acted, they've made problems worse. They cut the universal credit £20 uplift, which was such a vital lifeline during the pandemic, helping working people and those on low incomes. And just when this help is needed the most, it's gone. And now the UK government is putting in place a new complex system of rules for people on universal credit. The way to work campaign will mean job seekers face sanctions instead of support into work. It's a short cut to slash spending on welfare while driving people into insecure short term work and we've seen the huge damage that sanctions can cause and the government wants to apply sanctions before people even receive the first universal credit payment. Earlier this month my colleague Julie James, the Minister for Climate Change and I wrote to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Relations to highlight our serious concerns about the increase in domestic energy prices and the impact they're having on households in Wales. We're very worried about the risk of more people falling into fuel poverty. We've called on the UK government to consider introducing differentiated domestic energy tariff cap or social energy tariff which can be targeted to better support lower income households and this would help protect lower income households against unaffordable price increases. These are the families who spend the largest proportion of their budgets on energy and once again we echo the words of the devolved governments, charities and people across the country when we call on them to listen and act. I want to turn now to what we're doing in Wales to support people through the cost of living crisis. While most of the powers lie in Whitehall there are a range of actions we're taking to ease pressure on households here. Earlier this winter we launched our household support fund, a £51 million package of support targeted at families in the most vulnerable. The biggest element of that was the winter fuel support scheme. It's providing a one off £100 payment for eligible households towards their fuel bills, helping them to keep their homes warm this winter so people don't have to make that choice between heating and eating. We know this scheme is working and helping to support the most vulnerable in our society so today I am pleased to announce that we will be doubling this support. We will be increasing the £100 payment to £200 and this will be available to new applicants and will be retrospectively paid to all those who have already received support. Applications are being processed through local councils. If you've already made an application or had a £100 payment you don't need to do anything else, your local council will send you the additional £100 payment before the end of April. Councils have contacted households which they believe are eligible for the payment. The scheme is open to households where one person is in receipt of certain welfare benefits. You can submit your application via your local council's website by the 28th of February. We are determined to do all we can to support our people with the bills they are facing and this will go a long way to do just that. I want to pay tribute to all the councils across Wales for their help in swiftly processing these payments. They've been under tremendous pressure during the pandemic but time and again they've delivered for our communities and further support is available through the Discretion and Assistance Fund which provides emergency support for people and families if they need it. Last year we delivered the first national benefits take up campaign in Wales which helped people claim hundreds of thousands of pounds in benefits they are entitled to and we are now running another claim what's yours campaign which will run until March 2022. Our single advice fund also helps people navigate the benefits system to better understand what they're entitled to and how to claim and these are just some examples of how we're stepping in to help support families across Wales with this cost of living crisis. We're doing all we can with the resources we have to support Welsh families and communities through these difficult times. We will continue to call on the UK government to act to help us to alleviate the pressure and pain faced by so many across Wales so we can work to address this cost of living crisis. Thank you. I'll now take questions from journalists and all the answers will be broadcast live on our social media channels. Felicity Evans BBC Minister thank you very much. Do you accept that given the scale of energy bills that people will be facing this spring what you're offering here that a one off £200 payment won't really touch the sides? Well I think the doubling of the £100 payment is a very important step towards trying to help those households who are so are going to be faced with those rising bills but you know as I've outlined it's more than that that we're doing we have our take-up campaign income maximisation there are a lot of benefits that people aren't entitled to but also importantly our discretionary assistance fund which is this is something where we have been paying our payments our emergency payments individual assistance payments during the pandemic we continue to do this and because of the cost of living crisis even more important and of course that discretionary assistance fund is available for example to off grid those who've got oil energy users so it's very important that we do all we can but clearly I would say it's the UK government who've got to respond to this cost of living crisis they've got the powers we've written to the Secretary of State why aren't we getting a response to them why aren't they saying they will reduce the tariffs they will increase the warm homes discounts they will extend eligibility for cold weather payments why aren't they doing that I mean that's why it is you know what we're doing we're stretching everything in all my powers in my portfolio tackling food poverty it's not just fuel poverty supporting and and indeed responding to the needs that are coming to us in Wales but the UK government why don't they reinstate that 20 pound cuts to universal credit which is crippling families now thank you and something that is in your control the health service and social care people facing records times on waiting lists and part of the problem we're told is that there are people in hospital beds right now who are fit to be discharged but there is nowhere for them to go the UK government is planning to impose a national insurance rise in April the money for which will help to be directed to their NHS waiting lists and then subsequently to social care what is the Welsh government's plan to increase capacity in social care well clearly we want to ensure that those people who are now in hospital beds can then uh go transfer of care as we call it into not just to social care some of them back to their homes for domiciliary care packages that's obviously why the Welsh government the health and social services minister and deputy minister for social services are working week by week with the local authorities with the health boards as we do in partnership to ensure that we can move that forward but also making sure that we have a resilience and robust social care workforce playing the real living wage working with the providers I mean we are playing our part but you know we need to make sure that we get the funding the spending review wasn't good enough in terms of recognising the needs the national insurance increase not the right tax at the right time we need progressive general taxation to help us meet those needs but we will do as in our draft budget is quite clearly shown we will do what we can with our powers and levers to support those in need of social care and make sure that our partnerships work together effectively thank you very much Felicity can I turn to Ruth Masalski from Wales online thank you minister can you tell us how many homes are going to actually receive this extra funding and how much the scheme is going to cost in total because the jersey frantry foundation said that even before the pandemic 700,000 people will live in poverty in Wales so is this is this some today going to go anywhere near helping enough people well thank you very much Ruth and just to say you know I've already indicated the ways in which within our powers and levers we are meeting the needs of people who are now facing fuel poverty I mean yesterday the Minister for Climate Change and I Julie James met with national energy action they reminded us as a result of the last uplift hike in terms of the cap on fuel it was 22,500 people in Wales are in fuel poverty more of course will be when that cap rises again in April so we are doing what we can we're doubling the amount of money for our winter our bespoke winter fuel support payment and what's important about that is that local authorities are managing it so that people yes we want people to apply we want you and it's really great that we get the sort of media support and publicity we want people to promote this scheme we're extending the period for application till the end of February but local authorities are reaching out all our assistance advice services all the single advice services that we that we fund they're all reaching out as well so £200 will make a difference but also our discretionary assistance fund as I've already said there's other key ways in which we can help people in terms of tackling the rising food costs so we're putting more money through our household living fund into supporting food banks just as one example I'm going to out to visit projects this week to see what they're all doing people across Wales are responding but it is the UK government who are really the ones who are responsible for making a real difference in terms of energy prices they have got to respond what you know what are they doing now they are not responding to our call to to reduce the tariff I'm not also I would say not only have we written to the Secretary of State for Business Energy and Industrial Relations I've written to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to say she must uplift benefit rates from April with inflation running us at the levels it is you know at the moment they're only going to be uprated by 3.1% now inflation running up to 6% I've asked her to raise it to 6% no response of course no response from either Secretary of State's lack of respect for the Welsh Government we are asking them to recognise this is a cost of living crisis that should be at the forefront of their agenda but we will do what we can to support our families in Wales thank you if you are able to give us that number for how many homes we'll receive it would be grateful but can I also ask what you're going to do for people that aren't on benefits this scheme is limited to families receiving benefits but there's young people who are in work who for example rent a flat and whose bills will you know be creeping up there's families who are already stretched and don't want to see their bills rise even more so how are they going to be helped by Welsh Government well thank you very much Ruth for that and yes I think well up to 350 000 people would be eligible for our 200 pound benefit I think I'm very encouraged by the take up so far I think we've had 40 40 uptake I think<PHONE_NUMBER> payments have been made already and you know we're extending this to the end of February we've had applications from 146 000 people so household so it is it is getting out there and those numbers of course will give you an indication who's eligible but also we we need to recognise that this is something which is is going to make a difference to those household eligible who are eligible but I'm very conscious of the fact that there are other benefits that that can be taken up and that's why we are working with our single advice providers to ensure that they advise those who are in debt or running into debt because they could apply for the council tax reduction scheme for example I mean as far as our young people is concerned I mean this is so important I mean you know we kept our educational maintenance allowance in Wales for those those young people who are going into further further education we are also supporting them in in many different ways we also in our letter to the UK government said they should be doing something about local housing allowance as well which have been frozen by the UK government we've got such a social wage in terms of helping households with free free school meals and extending that free school breakfast free script prescriptions there's many ways in which we can support but we need to recognise our young people as well that's why the youth guarantee is so important as well as helping them in the ways that I've described so back to what is the UK government doing in terms of the cost of living crisis that's where we need to hold them to account they need to respond to us they need to play their part they've got the key levers in tax in terms of tax and benefits and that's what we will expect of them but this uplift today is helping families it's helping families with the cost of living crisis and it is available to a lot of people so look at the website go to your council and they'll advise you thank you Ruth can I move on to Richard Morgan ITV wells thanks minister yes we know that people with disabilities and people with illnesses chronic illnesses are disproportionately affected by the cost of living increase we spoke into a number of people with cancer at ITV Cymru Wales who have a particular need for for heating and for energy and what particular support can you offer them and what would you say to them if they find that today's £100 increase isn't enough thank you very much Richard and it is very important that we are working with all our our charities and organisations who are supporting vulnerable people and particularly reference the the cancer charities many of whom also work with us in terms of ensuring that people they're working with supporting and indeed their carers as well as themselves are accessing the benefits that they're entitled the UK government benefits that they're entitled to and ensuring that for example pensioners are getting pension a credit that's pension credit that's another benefit which isn't taken up enough in Wales and may affect many of those you are to have been talking to so our winter fuel support scheme is is available to households where one member of the household it just has had to be one member who is entitled to working age benefits and we you know with 350 000 there's a lot more to who could take up this benefit and I heard you know I know that you will help us get the message over discretionary assistance fund payments are important there's two routes to that the emergency assistant payments and individual assistant payments again you can apply for those um go to to contact with your citizens advice but and so many of our local authorities in Wales are helping as well but I think it's working together in terms of you know if this is this is a crunch time every day and through your channels as well we see what it means where people are saying heating or eating where we hear of a grandmother who says I only put the heating on when my grandchildren come to the house this is a time where you know we have we will do our bit we will help in the ways we can with our winter fuel support and reach out to as many as possible and maximize take up campaigns but we also need to see the UK government responding to our calls done uh you know in terms of what we are responsible what they're responsible for they need to deliver in terms of that to help those very people who are vulnerable that you are referring to Richard. Thank you minister and uh also Pleid Cymru has suggested that you should go further with this policy perhaps extending support to those in fuel poverty already and those who face a debt due to the cost of living cost of living increase what would you say to that? Well I think it is very important and again working in partnership and responding to the equality and social justice committee who did a very powerful cross party committee of course in the senate very powerful report recently on debt I responded in support of all of the recommendations that came from that cross party committee which particularly looking at ways in which we can enable as many people as possible to not only apply for these this particular fuel support scheme eligibility is crucial but also to all of the other grants that are available so I'm looking forward to the fact that that committee is doing another inquiry now particularly focusing on fuel poverty we have a fuel poverty advisory panel who work with us who support us in terms of policy direction uh national energy action yesterday as I said meeting with the minister for climate change so we will do everything to stretch I will do everything to stretch within my powers within the levers of the Welsh government to get money out into the pockets of people who need it in terms of fuel poverty but I think particularly my point about tackling fuel poverty in rural areas do people know that they can apply for a discretionary assistance fund payment if you have you know if you have if you have an oil energy user um can we make sure that you know people see that energy efficiency is also part of this and we've got a 30 million pound in in the draft budget for next year for the next you know for the next budget um for energy efficiency so you know as well as targeting getting them funding out UK government should be reinstating the 20 pound universal credit cut uh they should be expanding the warm homes discount and winter fuel payments and reducing the tariffs for lower income households and I know um that colleagues imply can we support those points as as well we in the senate there's all very much strong support for the direction we're taking the UK government has to play their part thank you Harry Hansen that's TV thank you minister um of course the Dublin of winter fuel payments is going to help thousands of people across Wales it goes without saying but there are many local families who still rely on food banks who won't be eligible for these payments because of their income so what support is available for those families well we also within the household living fund which I launched in last year before Christmas we had funding for supporting our food banks we already put money into supporting our food banks via our local authorities but it's not just the food banks the trustal trust has seen across the UK a 33 uplift in uh in the need for call on food banks the fact that we have food banks in Wales we should not be in this position where we have people have to rely on food banks but there are also some very innovative projects in terms of tackling food poverty and I'm going to be visiting some uh this week in Wales there's very uh a pioneering project led by the school uh Caddoxton school big box Boyd and this is going to be with it now um in all the valleys and valleys communities and schools they're going to be taking this is about actually being able to make food available fresh food available at affordable costs bringing in fair shares as well which is another partner as well as trustal trust and the food banks it's about actually having our free school meals extension which of course is part of our corporation agreement with Plaid Cymru and making and also you know we're the only government who said that they would provide free school meals right through into the summer as well as this as this year recognized by Marcus Rashford we've got to get food for our children and fresh healthy food for our children as well so this is all within my portfolio of responsibility it is about tackling poverty it's about social justice and working with communities and schools to make sure that we can and local local resourcing use may ensuring that also food pantries that are developing across Wales with schools um that they're also engaging with the local supply chain for our communities and our farming communities particularly thank you for that a bit more on that really I suppose you know food banks are under a huge amount of pressure of demand um because of the pandemic and because of things like rising supermarket prices what is the government you know actively doing to really support food banks as we move away from the pandemic well we do provide funding and local authorities and directly partnerships with food banks not just at a local level but with trust or trust and all those charities involved across Wales in supporting I've mentioned them already I'm looking forward to to visiting splice on Thursday in Pile and also Dusty Forge in Ely where there is a very powerful community effort to support people I mean a lot of supermarkets are part of fair shares so there is access to food which is crucial in terms of of tackling food waste and the circular economy but also working with our farming communities as well so this this has got to be about you know our community food strategy and how we are addressing this in the whole it's a very much across government issue myself of course in terms of the sharp end of fuel poverty emergency access and meeting with the child poverty action group last week meeting with families who are trying to access that healthy food for their children and young people so you know this is this is all part of our our work and role but does it go back to the UK government are they going to play their role are they going to rise to the challenge people are seeing this cost of living crisis and challenge on their doorstep and they are not dealing with it in Westminster thank you Harry now on to Tom from Caerys World thank you very much indeed minister looking down your list of responsibilities by my reckoning there's 29 headings must be hard to keep across all of those so concentrating on what's in your control leaving the UK government to one side of the measures you've mentioned so far what is your absolute top priority for immediate action to help unpaid Caerys this is the single measure if you like that people can look out for to check they are truly being helped well thank you very much Tom and I mean Caerys and particularly unpaid Caerys have to be at the forefront not just of my portfolio very much so with my colleague Julie Morgan the deputy minister for social services you know who is who has engaged not just engaging with unpaid Caerys but also ensuring that more funding is made available to unpaid Caerys and to the organizations that support unpaid Caerys as well but I would say Tom that actually many of the things that I'm responsible for in my portfolio are about trying to assist directly unpaid Caerys with the sort of financial support that I've mentioned today and we we've gone over it a number of times the 200 pound winter fuel support scheme will help unpaid Caerys maximizing access to pension credit and I know that you you also promote that as well because we know that it's not been taken up to as full an extent as it can indeed including council tax credit reduction as well benefits I mean I do we haven't really mentioned other things that we should be doing which is not just in my portfolio but is in the minister for climate change portfolio as well in terms of more investment for our warm homes program into energy efficiency also supporting people who are at risk of homelessness or in housing conditions where you need that retrofit that is now in our 30 million pound draft budget so you know I think in terms of my role it's part of a Welsh government response particularly to supporting unpaid Caerys who are so often invisible invisible and do not have the kind of able and certainly through the pandemic to have the kind of support that we would want them to have just in terms of social support and contact I'm responsible as you know Tom for the third sector and I very much value our Caerys groups and organisations that really do work together and support unpaid Caerys in such an important way perhaps that's my second question I can ask you the question that many viewers asked me daily weekly monthly and that is how come politicians of any party earning salaries that are paid are well above the sort of typical income for a family how can you understand the the daily hourly stress of having to struggle like this well as a constituency Senedd member for the Vale of Glamorgan for the last 22 years I am absolutely committed living in and working with and walking around the down the street with and going to visit my constituents are they you know they show me what life is like for them you know they this is where if this is where trust and integrity is so important to to be a to be a politician to listen to the people you represent and serve thank you very much Tom thank you


I didn't want much from this film. I just wanted somewhat of a decent story with some cool shots of bow and arrow action and that's it. Well, that the film delivered, let's find out. My name is Brandon Keith-Avery and this is just my opinion. Hey, what's going on guys? Thank you so much for tuning into my Epin slash review for Robin Hood. I really do appreciate him. Now I'm serious with what I said in my intro. This film right here is directed by someone I've never heard of before by the name of Otto Badhurst or Badhurst. We look at his filmography. He does not have any experience other than a few TV directing jobs and some couple of short stares. So this is his first full length feature and to be honest with you, excuse me, it shows. Now the first thing about this film, well, let me just go ahead and say this. I didn't enjoy this movie. It wasn't horrible. It wasn't terrible.  I believe last time I checked it had like a 15% on rotten tomatoes. So it just wasn't just trash, but I didn't enjoy it either. I'm not going to recommend this film. Well, why is that Brandon?  It takes place in the 16th century and you know, he's he's an outlaw. He's a vigilante. He robs from the rich and steals from the poor. There's been many, many iterations of Robin Hood over the past 100 years. And this is the latest incarnation of it. But the film assumes that you already know the story of Robin Hood and like what the description I just gave you, that's pretty much all I know. But it decides to skip over that whole narration or that whole plot synopsis as they're narrating and just leaves it up to you to figure out everything. I mean, it's pretty lazy.  But we're not going to tell you the story. You're just going to have to kind of figure it out for yourself. I'm like, OK, I kind of wish you would have reminded me of the story of Robin Hood, maybe give me a little backstory that I've never heard before, especially since the last Robin Hood film that was directed by really Scott that came out in 2010, which I believe starred, what's his name, Russell Crowe. You know, the guy that we all know from from Gladiator. I'm not going to look that up or whatever. But that film wasn't that good. It didn't do well financially. It wasn't, you know, received well critically. It just was not a great film.  And you're assuming that everybody in the world or this country in the states, you know, just in love with the with the IP. That's just a big mistake right there. And initially just kind of clocked me out. My next graph about this film was the editing. While the cinematography and all that was is fine. And I like the look and the feel of the film. It clocked me in and out with the editing sometimes, because when there were some hand to hand fights up close, I like the camera to be pulled back just a little bit so I can actually see what's going on and comprehend the choreography. I was not able to do that in this film right here. Oh, also there was a love story between, of course, Robin Hood, Robin of Loxley and made Marion, who pretty much just goes by Marion in this movie as well. That love is not earned either. I mean, we just don't know anything about the relationship. We're just supposed to assume that they're in love. And again, this is this film is just lazy, you know, assuming that you know all the material from the past. And that's just something that I did not like. My biggest gripe about this whole movie comes down to the score and to the soundtrack. I love a good score. I love a good soundtrack. If it's used properly. And I've never in my entire life seen a misuse of music composition in the film ever like this before. It's times to where you're supposed to be sad and it's supposed to be a dramatic scene and you suppose to feel all the emotions on the character on screen. They have the completely wrong tone of music like we're about to go on a battle. I'm like, no, this is a sad scene, a daunting scene. This is not music to where, you know, this is a charge on the front line in the middle of a war in an open field or something like that. It doesn't make any sense. So just imagine like any type of material that you like.   You know, doom, doom, doom, doom, doom. As Batman is putting on his clothes. Doom, doom, doom, doom, doom, doom, doom, doom, doom. Doom, doom, doom, doom, doom, doom, doom, doom, doom. I mean, it's that type of music is supposed to get you pumped. They're playing this type of music when people are dying and crying and suffering and in pain and can't pee straight and they have no food to eat. I'm just like, what is going on here? Like, this is just weird. It was an experience that I've never had before. So now let's go over to some of the actors. Okay, Taryn Edgerton, who was in the sequence of the movie, I like those. I like part two as well. Not as much as part one, but I liked it. He's fine in this movie. He's not great. He's not horrible, but Jamie Foxx, I don't know what the hell the director was thinking when they had Jamie Foxx in this movie. Or I blame all this on the directing. Jamie Foxx played like three different characters in this movie. Some type of personality disorder. I thought he was related to James McAvoy in the movie that's about to come out. Glass and all that good stuff. I don't understand where it's coming from. I think that was trying to portray Jamie Foxx as like a more or they have some moreish content in here which was a little interesting and weird on top of them. But Jamie Foxx, it's like, I was actually thinking this when I was watching the movie. That the director took Jamie Foxx over here and then took Taryn Edgerton over here. And when he told Jamie Foxx, okay, hey Jamie, we're gonna, he described the scene to Jamie. This is a one out the scene. This is your lines of dialogue when I say action, go I want you to get it, man, you know, use your stuff. But then went over to Taryn Edgerton and told him a completely different story. Like, okay, hey man, right now they're seeing right here, you're in space. Okay, and you're trying to find milk for your dogs. Okay, because if you don't find milk for your dogs, they're not gonna burp dogs, they're gonna burp cats. And that's weird, especially in space.  And then decided to put these two actors together and play out a scene. And then it's like not magic. I'm like, are y'all talking to each other? It just doesn't make sense. Imagine if somebody comes up to you and be like, hey, you know what, hey, what did you do yesterday? And they reply back like, I didn't like it. You know, when I bit into it, it was hard. I don't think the customers are gonna like this sample that we created for them. No man, I asked what you did last night. Yeah, you know, I looked up in the sky and there was a rainbow. And I was like, okay, if there was a rainbow, it's not gonna last there forever. It's gonna sometimes come down. And then they replied like, oh, for real? Yeah, when I got that red curtain there, Ross or whatever, I came home and picked it up. I mean, it just doesn't make any sense. It doesn't match. And that's exactly what these two characters was going through. And then like, when they introduced Jamie Foxx, they introduced him as somebody that was extremely vulnerable in a timid position. And then the next time you see it, he turns into some superhero with motivation that just came out of nowhere.  I mean, just, I didn't like the way he talked. Just like, dude, calm down. Like it is not this serious. It was like, or just give me another example of some dialogue right here. Just like, okay, hey man, you know, we gotta have dinner tonight.  How are you gonna do it? I gotta go to the store and get some hot dogs. Okay, why do you need to get some hot dogs? Because we already got the hot dog buns and we need some hot dogs to go with the hot dog buns. Okay, what else is gonna go with the hot dog buns? We're gonna get some chips, laze, and Doritos, yeah.   Exactly, it just doesn't make any sense and that's what Jamie Foxx's character is doing in here as little John and it just didn't make any sense to me. As far as all the characters are concerned, I didn't care about them at all, whether they lived or survived. It just really didn't matter to me. It really just felt like there was no stakes in the whole movie. Now, one thing I will kind of say is I did kind of like the training montages with the bow and arrow and things like that. That was pretty cool, pretty nifty, the way they did that, you know, I did like it. It was entertaining, but at the same time, it was unearned. It just came out of nowhere. There was no buildup to it. You know, I did not see Taryn Edgerton as Robin Hood in a fallen, broken place and, you know, he needed some type of motivational uplift of empowerment to make him go on to the next job. And then when little John and Robin Hood are completing this job, there's no plan of action. I mean, it just cuts over in the middle of the action scene and I don't know the depth of it. I don't know how hard or difficult this job was. There was, like I said, there was no plan in the beginning, like, okay, there's gonna be 50 men or 100 men here. We have to hit it at this point and this time here. And if we miss this point right here, we're gonna miss our window and da-da-da-da-da. There was none of that. It was just action, action, action. I mean, imagine a movie that you like. You think it's okay. You like all the action scenes in it. And so when you rewatch it at home, you just kind of fast forward to all the good parts. That's kind of how this movie was. It was just nothing but the good parts, but the good parts had no weight to it because there was just no buildup.  Now, kind of towards the end, the third act things did kind of pick up a little bit and, you know, it got better. But overall, this was a huge disappointment in a film that I will not recommend to anyone. Even though there were a few little elements here and there that I enjoyed. If I had to rate Robin Hood out of a one out of 10, I would give this film a five out of 10. Yes, a five out of 10. But guys, that is just my opinion, okay? I mean, you may like the film, I didn't, okay? Do you wanna see it or have you already seen it? Have I turned you on? Have I turned you off? Do you agree with me or do you disagree with me? Let me know down in the comment section below. Let's get this conversation going and keep it flowing. If you liked this video, go ahead and give it a thumbs up. If you don't, that's fine.  You can also check me out on social media, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, all that good stuff. It's right there at the bottom of your screen and I made it very easy by providing links to all that good stuff down in the description box below. But guys, I just wanna thank you again for tuning into my opinion slash review for Robin Hood and before you go, don't forget that my name is Brennan Keith-Avery and that's just my opinion. Peace.


Week 2 of football is in the books and now it's time to review the tape and get ready for week 3. There's no better place to get in on all of the action than with DraftKings Sportsbook, America's top rated sportsbook app. If you don't like football, they got UFC and MMA. You can bet this weekend on UFC 253. DraftKings is safe, reliable and secure and they allow you to withdraw your money at your convenience. That's what I like the most because I win all the time. Download the top rated DraftKings Sportsbook app now and use promo code Johnboy when you sign up to get this can't miss offer. Pick any team during week 3, bet $1 on them and win $100 if they win. That's $1 to win $100 when you use promo code Johnboy during sign up. For a limited time, only a DraftKings Sportsbook. Must be 21 or older, New Jersey only. Eligibility restrictions apply. See DraftKings.com slash Sportsbook for details. Gambling problem, call 1-800-GAMBLER. What's up everybody? Welcome back to sequence. I'm your host, Trevor Plouffe. This episode is brought to you by DraftKings and back for a bat number two, our guy Chris Archer. Chris, what's up my man? Man, I'm enjoying this so much. I'm looking forward to going through this next AB. We were just saying we're sending you a bat up. You said seven pitches in and I'm in a jam and I got one soda in the box. We got eaten on third, rendone on first. We'll get to the abat. Okay. But everyone that watched the first episode, they realized how in depth, whenever we have pictures on this show, it really surprised me just how in depth the thought process is. And hitters are the same way. But there's a lot of guys that will just rather see the ball hit the ball. And I don't know, maybe there's some pictures that do that too. I'm just going to throw what I throw. But the game is moving towards knowledge and technology and grasping that part of your development. So my question to you to start this episode off is, have you found one piece of technology, whether it be the slow-mo cameras, the analytics, maybe even in your training, what do you think has benefited you the most of all the things that have come about and say, ah, last three, four years? Yeah. I'll say the biggest thing for me is what we touched on earlier is being able to say all I want to see are fastballs similar to mine because there's a database of everything that profiles similar to yours with movement and velocity. And how does this hitter do against those pitches? I mainly look at the fastball just because my slider, it does different things and it's hard to put it in one category. I usually check, okay, how does this guy handle the ball? My fastball, fastballs like mine, end zone, out of zone, up, down, in, out, whatever it may be, so that I know where I can go with one of my best pitches. And if I know that if I establish that, everything else is going to play. The changeup is going to play underneath it. The slider is going to play underneath it the other way. So for me, being able to extract the exact fastball that I throw and then see how it does against one through nine. And that just gives me just like, okay, if I need to get this person on the ground, this is what I need to throw them. If I need to get a swing and miss, this is what I need to throw them. If I need to get, you know, whatever I'm looking for to get, I know what I can get before the game even starts. That makes it so tough for a hitter.  That makes it really tough. Rendon's on first, Eaton's on third. You got one out in walks, you know, one of the best players in the game, one of the best hitters in the game. And he's only 21 years old, Juan Soto. Yeah. And look, so you can, you can run it. I'll talk to you about what I'm thinking as he's getting in the box. I'm thinking I need a pop up or a strikeout. So I'm going, I'm going straight 0-2 mentality out the gate. I throw a change up. Yeah.  It's a little down, but I feel like I'm okay walking him in this situation. That's a good, but there's, yeah, there's a change up again. Let's see. Like, it didn't work because I didn't throw a low fastball prior to it. You know what I'm saying? He might have been taken all the way there too. Maybe. Yeah.  Because you don't get the feedback. You don't get the feedback you're looking for. But yeah, I'm straight 0-2. I'm trying my, I'm 0-2 mentality this whole time. So again, I try to go change up just below the zone. That's a good one. That one works. Yeah. That one worked. It started a little higher, so he had to respect it out of my hand immediately. I don't know why it wasn't called a strike to begin with, but it's a totally different topic. He goes too. There you go. Oh my goodness. He's asking to check that. I love that.  Come on. Hey, Miguel Cabrera started that.  He started that a few years ago. So now, yeah, you got a 1-1, two combos in a row. Yeah. Go back to that, man. I can't remember what I do here, but I do know that I'm not trying to throw it in the zone. So I tried to go elevate a heater, and he budged, but it was pretty much ball out of hand, because it was so wide.  And now you see on this pitch also little up, made it look worse because he was coming out of his crouched there, but now Rendon's on sec, he got open base. Exactly. Exactly. So the whole time I'm okay walking the best hitter in their lineup, even I think it might have been Matt Adam or no, it's Astruble Cabrera right after him. So I'm like, I'd rather face Astruble Cabrera at this point in time, although Astruble was really, really hot in the month of September last year. I'd rather face Astruble than face Juan Toto. So now, this could be for you like mentality wise, this could be like strike out or walk, like that's about it, right?  I'm going to throw a pitch that I can get that result, but that's one thing before we keep going, like I feel like as a young pitcher, you have to know A, who's in the box, B, what you're capable of and C, what the situation dictates. So if the situation says, I need a ground ball, you have to know what you throw to get a ground ball and what the hitter hits to get a ground ball. That's one thing that I learned from Jose Molina. Again, I'm 24 years old, my rookie year. And he was talking about intent behind your pitches. So for me, I know a pitch gets guys on the ground. I know a pitch gets guys who pop up when you miss XYZ. So any kids at home, when you're going through situations, know what you need in that specific situation. Love that. And you know as a hitter, when you're on deck and a pitcher looks over you, the catcher looks over you and they throw a 3-1 off-speed pitch, that's disrespect. Yeah, I know. That happened to me a lot. It's all right though. You just go up there and try to get them.   Yeah, I don't remember. So let's see. I know how they have that. So that's the pitch right there. I tried the backdoor slider. Juan Soto knows it. That was the one pitch he was going to get to hit. And you guys talk about all the time, a guy like Juan Soto only gets probably one or two pitches all game that he can actually hit. I tried the backdoor, came over the middle. Fortunately, it had enough movement to get him off of it. Yeah, I was going to see how if we could get where it started and see if it was started off the plate. But that one kind of started on the plate and then right over the middle. So yeah, a little mistake pitch, but still 2-1 slider is not a, I mean, you're not exactly just sitting there on that. So right, right. He's giving you the long walk. Oh, look at you. Oh, my goodness. Okay. I didn't see that. I was looking good at that. Made it our episode, baby. My goodness. Okay. Oh, that's great. Between you and Juan Soto, that's a lot of energy right there, man. A lot of good energy right there. Hey, but see, that's the best part about baseball, man, is like they are those individual battles out there. Yes. So look, I still have the same options. I can get on a pop up or swing a minute or walk. That's what I'm trying to do right here. What I see here, and this is just a hater talking, and now I can see it visually.  So I'm looking at the only quadrant you haven't hit yet, and it's in. Yeah. So as a hater, you're kind of like, all right, like, is he going to go there? Is he going to stay away? But you know, that's kind of what I would be thinking about. So 2-2 here. Yeah, okay.  Yeah, I didn't know that was the pitch. Yeah, but see, you know, this is kind of lame, but Jim Hickey used to say this all the time. Pitching is just like real estate, location. It's all about location, location, location, location. So, you know, he did kind of look like he was looking in, but it was one ball up and one ball in just out of where he anticipated that pitch, because look, he almost got to it. Oh, yeah, that is the honey hole right there for you. Exactly. And again, if he was going to make contact with that pitch, he was going to pop it up. His barrel is under that, and it's not even his barrel, it's closer to his handle, but he's going to get under that ball weak contact. So it's going to give my outfitters the ability to throw him out. Hopefully it'll pop up from the infield, or the most desired result where runners on second and third, no outs with a swing and miss. So, hey, it's funny that you said that. You hadn't seen it yet, but yeah, I hit that quadrant. And again, fortunately, I hit that quadrant because of that pitch. Yeah. Now, see, if that's a two seamer, then it's more likely to leak back over closer to the barrel, have a little downward action, a little leak. But, you know, I scrapped my two seam after they had like a 600 slugging percentage on it. That was a wrap with that one. Hey, let's see. So last thing before we get off, technology can tell you what you don't need to throw off though. And, you know, last season, the first half, I was, I tried to implement a two seamer because I felt like I needed another pitch to get guys on the ground. And after about 12 starts, that won the pitch. Like, the slugging percentage was just way too high. I had given up probably 10 or 11 home runs on that pitch alone and 12 or 13 starts. I had a really good discussion with my agent and he's like, hey, like, you know, this might be a little late, but you need to, you need to understand like most of the damage is happening on this one pitch. You even need to make that pitch better, which is hard to do during season or you need to scrap it. I said, I'm scrapping that thing. I love it. Yeah, but it goes both ways. What should you throw? What shouldn't you throw? Exactly. We got you, we got, you're not pitching this season.  You got a team option for 2021. I believe the Pirates are going to take that option because it's a sweet deal for them. If they, some for some weird reason, don't take that option up.   And I think anybody that's watched these is seeing that. So we're all on the Chris Archer hype train. I've been on it. You see right here, man. Wait, there it is. My guy.  And here's to, you know, a successful offseason and then another big year in 2021, man. I appreciate you coming. Yeah, sir. Trev, thanks for having me on. And I'm looking forward to your future too, man, because you have a lot of knowledge and insight that you can bring to the baseball world. And I'm looking forward to your next chapter in life, man. Appreciate that, dude. All right, guys. Thanks for joining us.