Good afternoon, Aspergis Legion. Welcome back to another video. So it's a little tiny little quick one today. I just thought it would be worth coming on and giving you guys a little bit of an update because there's been a lot, a lot of things happening these past two or three months and that's not considering the current global climate that we find ourselves in, if you know what I mean. I'm not gonna say it. I've had enough about something dawned on me a couple of weeks ago and I realised that a large considerable amount of people who are on YouTube do not actually follow my social media and of course when I was going through the process of making the Aspergis Society documentary I basically stopped putting out videos. I think I might have posted a video just explaining all of that and so I'm going to get back into it. You may have already seen some of the other videos that I've put up. I'm trying to get myself into the flow of it. When I started putting out those videos I was not particularly in the best place mental health wise so when you when you're on YouTube you sort of feel that pressure to constantly churn out and put out videos. It's something that definitely bothers me and one of the main things that coaches for YouTube and other video creators sort of highlight is consistency and putting videos at least out every week. So I've been trying to do that on top of podcasting, on top of doing things in my life. It's been it's been a bit tough and I've been going through a lot of bad spells of depression and anxiety and it's it's really been affecting me a lot in terms of sleep, in terms of weight, in terms of eating habits, hygiene, all of that kind of stuff. It's been quite difficult for me. I'm not gonna say it's not like a it's not a sob story video it's just me coming on and chatting to you guys because I know that although I do put stuff out on Instagram and Facebook and Twitter and stuff like that I know not everybody is on there and is up to date with it and sees it all the time so I just thought it'd be worth coming on here and having a chat. As far as developments for the actual channel I didn't get through to the short list for the national diversity awards and you know we did amazingly well with it like it far surpassed any sort of expectations I had for the awards so when the short list came out it felt just a little bit more punchy you know. I think we've got around 250 votes which is stupendous, it's amazing and I couldn't ask for you know better comments on my channel and the work that I do with it genuinely makes me feel good. The other people who have been shortlisted are like massively successful well-known people with like nighthoods and MBEs and OBEs and all that kind of stuff so it's definitely I think at the stage in my sort of advocacy career on media stuff it's not really attainable although we did get quite close and we got I think shared by the national diversity awards a few times which boggles my mind maybe it's just trying to show showing that they're sticking up for the little guy even though they're not gonna put me through. Showing it to the public they're supporting these small people I'm not small in physicality but in reach. The plan for the next few weeks is I'm gonna be putting out my podcast I've got it scheduled for the next week I've already produced this week which I'm quite pleased with myself because it's not really something that I do I usually leave it to the last minute and then rush and stress to try and put it out on a Friday so that it can go out on this Saturday. Didn't do that this week though I managed to get it done however I have not produced a video this week hence this video and I think for the next week I will not be putting out a standard YouTube video you know like this kind of thing where sitting talk to a camera so after that I'm gonna start putting out videos and I've got two videos which I'm quite excited to get started off because I'm producing this series based on relationships and dating I think at some point my girlfriend's gonna pitch in be on the channel you know give her experience from a neurotypical angle it's all very exciting stuff and just from looking at like the analytics and the metrics and stuff it seems anything to do with relationships and dating just seems to be like way up there with the podcast with the YouTube videos pretty much everything this doesn't mean that it's going to be turning into the Ashford of growth dating channel but it does mean that maybe every couple of weeks I'll be churning out another video it's something that I've researched quite a lot and have wrote about quite a lot and have a lot of experience with so it's only natural that I try and pass on that information so that's pretty much all from me if you want to as I said stay up to date with what I'm doing in my life you know what I'm doing in the media what I'm doing for recreational stuff just boring Thomas life stuff then there's a lot more than that just no just it's pretty cool you know do some posts inspirational stuff a lot kind of jazz but yeah like for the next couple of weeks that'll be the main place to stay updated with the work that I'm doing I've quite recently started working with a podcasting coach and they recommended that I not only sort of create like a poster and send it out to different companies and and the BBC and stuff to try and see if they want my podcast you know to be paid for it which would be crazy and there's other stuff like going for the independent documentary awards could possibly be a possibility who knows with the current money that I have I'll have to try and scrape it together just to try and keep up with it but if it's a good investment then I may consider doing it my social media accounts are at Asperd's Gryff for Facebook Twitter and Instagram very easy to find there's a lot of stuff on there if you haven't already seen it so you can scroll down and have a look at the stories that I've made and the highlights if you want to no worries if you don't but this is the I guess this is the reason why I put this video out just to just to update you with things that I've been putting on my social media but I haven't been on YouTube hope you guys are doing well and as I said before my inbox has always opened my email Asperd's Gryff at Gmail.com is always open if you want to send an email send a chat I will be starting to work on the comments more trying to response people a bit more because I've been a bit rubbish with that and it used to be something that I did quite a lot so I will attempt to pull up that deficit that I have it's been absolutely sweltering hot horrible day today it's been nice and sunny it's been good to go out for a walk and you know just get some ice cream and stuff but I'm absolutely sweating my ass off it's probably that's too much information but I just had a shower more fresh much love stay happy stay hydrated and I'll see you in another video in the future check out the podcast by the way see you later sound nice squeaky clean


Onw'r next item of business is First Minister's Questions, and at question number one I call Douglas Ross. Thank you, Presiding Officer. This morning, Audit Scotland released a damning report on the State of Scotland's NHS. Felly mae'r cyfnodd y ffordd o'r cyfnodd y pwysig, oedd yn dweud o'r cyfnodd yn llefnodd o'r ramion o'r cyfnodd, oedd yn ni'n dweud o'r 3,500 a 40,000. Mae'n croes 11 oedd, cion o'r 2019, dweud o'r rhan o'r cyfnodd, yn cyhoeddiadau. Apos ymddangos yn yr echyfl gwrthau, ymddangos hwnnw, ymddangos hynny yn yng nghymhwyddu cyfnodd, yn gweithio i gael i ddim yn gweithio. So, why, First Minister, are things getting worse, not better? First Minister. First and foremost, let me say that we take very seriously the comments and the report by the Auditor General that was published this morning. There is simply no doubt or, indeed, attempts by us to downplay the seriousness of the challenges that the health service is facing, as it recovers. From what is undoubtedly the biggest shock of its 75-year gyda'r cymdeithas yng Nghymru, ac wrth gwrs, there are challenges for every single health service right across the UK. To answer Douglas Ross' question directly, we are still facing the accumulative impacts of the pandemic. People are still, for example, winter suffering from Covid. That has an impact not just of course on IPC within hospitals but also of course on staff who are able to perform elective care and treatments and surgeries. Those are common challenges. I accept that they are my responsibility here in NHS Scotland as well as the health secretaries. Those are common challenges right across the country. In fact, if I look at some of the latest data in September last year, it did show that Scotland there was 123 patients waiting per 1,000 of the population for the treatment time guarantee and new outpatient appointments. That is fewer than in England where there is 137 per 1,000 on the referral to treatment waiting list. In Wales, that figure is 245 per 1,000. My point of making is that, of course, there are challenges that Scotland's NHS is facing. Of that, there is no doubt. Those are common challenges right across the UK, and what we will do is make sure that we fund the NHS. That is why I am pleased that, in the budget that was announced by the Deputy First Minister last year, we invested a record £19.5 billion in our health service. Dr Shaws? That is an Audit Scotland report into NHS Scotland. Please, First Minister, focus on our NHS here in Scotland. That shocking 11-fold increase in people waiting over a year is, of course, against a target that should be zero. There was a target for March 2023 for people waiting over a year to be eradicated. Instead, it is now over 40,000. Audit Scotland says that the latest SNP targets to reduce waiting times are unlikely to be met. Those are Humza Yousaf's targets. It was his recovery plan. When he was health secretary, he said that this plan will drive the recovery of our NHS not just to pre-pandemic level but beyond yet another example of Humza Yousaf winging it. That arrogant claim now rings hollow and patients in Scotland are suffering. Humza Yousaf sent waiting times in the wrong direction. Will he now finally admit that his plan has failed? Here is what we have managed to achieve. I accept, of course, the way to go and I accept, of course, the recommendations of the Audit Scotland report. We have seen, because of the investment that we have made in national treatment centres, an additional 20,000 procedures through the investment in our national treatment centres. That is why we have seen an increase in the last 12 months and an 11 per cent increase in performed operation over the last year. That is why outpatients waiting longer than two years has fallen by almost 70 per cent. In-patient day patients waiting the longest have fallen by over 25 per cent. That is why we are investing over £19.5 billion, a record amount, in our national health service. What makes that recovery, of course, more difficult is a 10 per cent cut to our capital budget, which means that we have less to spend on capital health infrastructure. What makes that job more difficult, Presiding Officer, is that it has only been provided £10.8 million of health consequentials in the UK Government's autumn statement, enough for five hours of NHS activity. So, while the Conservatives rightly will ask questions about what further we can do, let me say that this SNP Government will invest in our NHS, unlike Douglas Ross's party, who is cutting the funding to the bone. Douglas Ross. It's not just the Conservatives that are asking these questions. It's Audit Scotland and, crucially, it's our constituents who are suffering. But, as usual, Humza Yousaf promised the world and delivered very little. Just like the ferries he claimed he would build, just like the hate crime act that he said would be a success, just like the trains that he promised to get to run on time. Audit Scotland says that it can't even fully measure how badly his recovery plan has failed because the SNP has not been transparent with the public. This is what they say. Updates against her range of the ambitions are absent. Humza Yousaf is covering up just how bad it's been. But the reason for this failure is clear from the report. Audit Scotland states that there is no overall vision for Scotland's NHS. No overall vision. How can Humza Yousaf and this SNP Government have no vision for Scotland's NHS? We will respond to the Audit Scotland report in due course, but let me say to Douglas Ross that, when it comes to the SNP stewardship of our NHS, it has seen record investment in our NHS of over £19.5 billion. It has seen resource funding more than double. Members have increased by more than 100 per cent since we have been in power. It has shown record staffing in our NHS of over 31,300 whole-time equivalents. There are more nurses in Scotland per head than in England. We have the best NHS staff anywhere in the UK. We have the best performing A&E departments not for one year, not for five years, but for eight consecutive years. We value our NHS staff. We are the only nation in the UK not to have NHS staff go on strike. When it comes to the challenges that our NHS is facing, undoubtedly facing—I am not downplaying them—this Government is making sure that we invest in that recovery. However, the difference between the Tories and the SNP is that we will invest in our NHS while the Conservatives are cutting it right down to the bone. There is no vision for Scotland's NHS, not my words but the words of the Auditor General for Scotland. They make it very clear that the lack of vision has not just happened because of the pandemic and the issues that our NHS faced. There has not been a vision for Scotland's NHS since 2013. They say, and I quote, that there has been no unified vision for the future direction of the entire healthcare system that has been published since 2013. Hamza Yousaf has no vision for Scotland's NHS. He has been asleep at the wheel like every other SNP First Minister. There has been a lost decade of leadership in Scotland's NHS. Ten years of stalling and delay has had dire consequences for patients. How long are people in Scotland going to have to wait for the SNP to get their act together? Investing in that recovery now. That is why, for example, those outpatients waiting the longest has reduced by almost 70 per cent. That is why inpatients waiting the longest have reduced by more than 25 per cent. That is why operations performed in the past 12 months have increased by 11 per cent. That is why, through our investment, we have created additional capacity for 20,000 procedures. That is why we are investing a record £19.5 billion in our NHS, despite the fact that the UK Government in its autumn statement provided a less than £11 million for NHS health consequentials. That is enough to fund five hours of NHS activity. I will take not a single lecture from Douglas Ross about investing in our NHS when his party is responsible for a 10 per cent capital cut in our budget that is deeply impacting our health infrastructure. Douglas Ross, I am afraid, is presiding over a party that has taken a hatchet to our public services, so, while they cut it to the bone, we will continue to invest in the most precious institution in this country, our national health service. We are in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis where too many people are struggling to make ends meet. At the same time, oil and gas giants are making record profits. British gas is a tenfold increase in profits in one year to over £700 million. BP is a £11 billion profit. Total is £16 billion profit. Shell is £22 billion profit. Why does the First Minister think that those companies cannot afford to pay more tax?  I, of course, travelled to the north-east this week and heard the palpable anger from oil and gas and renewable energy sectors and industries, who spoke about Anna Sauer's plans, the Labour Party's plans, which would, in their words, not my words, in the industry's words, risk up to 100,000 jobs in the north-east. How does Anna Sauer think that, in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, throwing 100,000 workers in the scrap heap is going to help households up and down the country? So we absolutely believe in a windfall tax on energy companies. What we don't believe in is Anna Sauer's aggressive plans to raid the north-east so that they can build new nuclear power plants in England. So we won't allow it. We won't stand for it. We'll stand up for the north-east. Anna Sauer can't even stand up to cure Starmer, Presiding Officer. Anna Sauer. Thank you, Mr Sauer. Every time Labour has proposed a change to help working people, warnings have been made and they have not come true. In 1997, when Labour proposed a minimum wage and a windfall tax, they were warned that it would cost 2 million jobs. It didn't happen. It improved the lives of working people across the country. Humza Yousaf used to support Labour's windfall tax, but now he is siding with energy giants, making record profits, while today he is putting up tax for working people across this country who are struggling. Let's hear Mr Sauer. While Shell has brought in £22 billion in profit, energy bills have increased by 60 per cent and people are struggling to heat their homes. While BP makes £11 billion in profit, food prices are up 25 per cent and people are struggling to put food on the table. While British Gas sees a tenfold increase in profits, mortgages have increased by £2,000 a year and families risk losing their homes, why does the SNP believe that if you earn £28,500 you have the broadest shoulders and should pay more tax, but if you are an energy giant making billions in profit, you should pay less tax. First Minister, imagine taking a lecture about standing up for those in the lowest incomes from the man who has flipped-flop his position and now believes in lifting the cap on bankers' bonuses. Who would have thought the party of the few, not the party of the many? And it is astonishing that Anasawa has stood up in this chamber and called the energy industry liars. That is what he has done. Let me just say what offshore energy UK have said. They claim that Labour's proposals would lose at least up to 42,000 jobs and I quote, wipe out North Sea investment. Investment Bank Stifle has said that under a worst-case scenario, Labour's proposals would wipe up to 100,000 jobs out and put them on the scrap heap. So what you get with Labour's energy proposal is the worst of both worlds. You end up getting all the investment in oil and gas, which has been good for Scotland over the decades. That gets completely wiped out. Then what does Keir Starmer do? He dumps his £28 billion a year green prosperity fund. Scotland's energy should be in Scotland's hands because successive Westminster Governments have raided the north-east, have raided Aberdeen, have raided our oil and gas revenues and not a single penny has been invested back into the people of Aberdeen or the north-east. For that, Anasawa should stand up and apologise. I can't wait to present the choice at the next general election between the SNP and the Labour Party. Let's ensure that we can hear one another, Mr Sarwar. I can't wait to present the choice to the Scottish people to come to the next general election, because firmly the SNP is on the side of energy giants making billions and Labour trying to bring down people's bills and on the side of working people. But let's be clear what Labour's windfall tax on record profits of energy giants will be spent on. It will mean more jobs, lower bills, greater energy security and delivering a just transition for Scotland. It will mean investment in GB energy, a publicly-owned energy generation company headquartered here in Scotland. It will mean investment in our ports, in onshore wind, offshore wind, green hydrogen, carbon capture and storage, and strengthening our supply chains. It will mean creating 50,000 new jobs in Scotland. So isn't it the case that the Scottish people have a choice? The SNP increasing tax on working people while siding with the oil and gas giants or Labour creating jobs, bringing down bills and firmly on the side of working people? First Minister. First, I remind Anasawa when he talks about people in the midst of a cost of living crisis. He now has flip-flopped his way to being in a position where he believes on retaining the cap on the child benefits but wants to lift the cap on bankers' bonuses. It is utterly outrageous, and let me say to Anasawa that when I was in Aberdeen earlier this week, I cannot wait to go head-to-head with Anasawa in Aberdeen on the general election. In fact, he can debate the oil and gas industry and renew both of them in Aberdeen any and every single day of the week. Anasawa claims that the Labour and incoming Labour Government will make all sorts of investments. First Minister, just give me a moment. Let's ensure we carry on our proceedings with courtesy and respect. Anasawa claims that there will be a whole range and raft of investment from an incoming Labour Government. Of course, what is obvious is that the branch manager didn't get the memo that the £28 billion has been dumped, so not a single penny of that investment is going to be coming to Scotland. Successive UK Governments have taken £400 billion in today's prices and oil and gas revenue raided the North Sea as a cash cow, without investing a fraction of it back in the north-east and back in Aberdeen. With Anasawa's plans, he ended up with 100,000 workers on the scrap heap and no investment in our net zero ambitions. Isn't it about time that Scotland's energy was in Scotland's hands, Presiding Officer? Question number three, Maggie Chapman. To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's position is on whether successive changes to national taxation policy in Scottish budgets will support the redistribution of wealth and help to sustain vital public services. In short, our changes to income tax in Scotland has made it more progressive. That approach means that we have an additional £1.5 billion to invest in 24-25 from income tax compared to if we had matched UK Government policy—something like Douglas Ross, of course—advocated at the time. That £1.5 billion being invested in public services to try and offset the huge impact on the availability of public spending by Westminster austerity. With further powers such as those that are needed to tax wealth effectively, we could do so much more to build on our progressive tax system and, of course, further protect public services here in Scotland. I thank the First Minister for that answer. We all have too many constituents struggling with grinding poverty for whom public services are a lifeline. I am proud that tax changes, which the Scottish Greens have championed, mean that that £1.5 billion more is available for those services. Tax changes, which mean that the better off pay more and the people on lower incomes pay less. Those promising tax cuts must be honest about what services they would cut. The STUC has argued—the First Minister has just recognised that Scotland can and should do more to use tax powers to redistribute wealth and make the case that taxation is a public good. Can I ask the First Minister how he plans to build that consensus for progressive taxation as a force for good? The Government is absolutely committed, as I have said, to progressive taxation. I thank the STUC and others for the contribution that they have made in the Deputy First Minister engaged with a number of stakeholders in relation to our progressive taxation plans. We will continue to have that engagement with stakeholders, including the business community and the people of Scotland around our progressive taxation plans. After poll, poll tells us that the public support and public service investment is backed by progressive taxation. When Douglas Ross stood up in this chamber and urged the Scottish Government to follow the disastrous Liz Truss budget, it needs to have the humility to say how wrong he was. When Anna Sauer says that he will cut taxes for the highest earners, he needs to be honest about what public services will he cut. His tax plans in the round will reduce revenue by £561 million. Will that mean that he will scrap the Scottish child payment? Will it mean that he will scrap free prescriptions? Will it mean that he will scrap free bus travel? Or, as his finance spokesperson hinted just this week, will they end up scrapping free university education? We will continue our commitment to progressive tax nation to the social contract in Scotland, which provides tuition fees for higher education, provides widespread access to bus services, free prescriptions and a host of other benefits, and will, of course, seek common cause with others such as the STUC who believe in progressive taxation. Colin Beattie The Scottish Government's progressive tax plans helped to deliver a strong social contract, ensuring additional targeted funding to protect people and our vital public services. Meanwhile, Scottish Labour's priorities appear to be elsewhere, seeming to indicate last weekend that they now support cutting income tax. Can the First Minister provide any update regarding what assessment the Scottish Government has made of the impact that this could have on Scotland's public finances and the Scottish Government's ability to fund public services? From the Conservatives, if we would follow their budget proposals, we would have £1.5 billion less to spend. We know from Anna Sauer's tax policies in the round that we think that there would be about £561 million less to spend and invest in our NHS, in our education, in our justice services and in social security. Anna Sauer has made the point that those earning, for example £30,000, pay more here in Scotland. They pay £94 a month more. For that, of course, get free university education. Get the most generous childcare offer anywhere in the UK. End up not paying a single penny for their medicines. Ensure that they get free personal and nursing care and a whole range of other benefits. That is why poll after poll shows that the public are supportive of progressive taxation if it is used, as we are doing, to invest in our public services. If Labour wants to continue to give people like Anna Sauer a huge tax cut, which will end up, of course, reducing the revenue that we have to spend in public services, it has to have the honesty to say what public services he will be cutting. To ask the First Minister regarding the delivery of the Scottish Government's recently published depopulation action plan, what will be different about this approach, which is described as local by default national by agreement, particularly towards the approval of new developments supported by local communities? The addressing depopulation action plan does set out the Scottish Government's strategic approach, aimed at supporting local communities that are facing population decline and a noticeable issue that the member has a significant interest in. Of course, that is set against the very devastating impact that a hard Brexit is having on a rural and island community. In terms of what the plan will do, it will deliver a whole new programme of work that will support and empower affected areas through funding, new research, enhanced partnership working with those local communities. We do acknowledge, as Fergus Ewing has said, the importance of local leadership and that communities are best placed to respond to their own challenges. Fergus Ewing, young people leaving Scotland for other countries forever for their lifetime, has been Scotland's tragedy and our shame. Therefore, will he, where there is a chronic depopulation problem, now agree that economic developments, which would bring major jobs and major community benefits, will henceforth be treated as developments of national economic significance? More than happy to look at that proposal. Of course, when planning applications are called into the Scottish Government, the whole range of factors are considered. Of course, the natural environmental impact but also the economic impact is important. I will not comment on any specific live application, but Fergus Ewing is absolutely right. If we want to retain our young people, we have to ensure that we create the economic opportunities, we have to ensure that we invest in the housing that we are doing through our affordable housing supply programme in our rural communities and we have to ensure that we invest in the connectivity that we are also doing as well. Fergus Ewing makes some very important points, but what is devastating our rural communities undoubtedly is the hard damage that has been called by a hard Brexit foisted upon Scotland against it very well. Housing was mentioned 114 times in the depopulation action plan, yet homes for Scotland were not consulted on the plan, nor were they even aware of it, despite being advisers for housing to 2040. Does the First Minister accept the failure to properly consult the sector on this plan as a huge misstep, and what action will he take to rectify this? We engage regularly with stakeholders. If there has been an omission, of course, I am more than happy to look at that, and I will ask the appropriate minister to do so. I go back to the point that I made to my response to Fergus Ewing. Housing in rural communities is absolutely essential when it comes to retaining and indeed attracting people to rural and island communities. We published our rural and island housing action plan, which was published in October last year. It sets out a wide range of action that we are taking to support rural and island population. That includes continued investment in affordable housing and, of course, 10 per cent of those affordable houses being in rural and island communities. We continue to support communities through our rural and island housing fund to bring forward housing where they wish to do so—up to £25 million, of course, from the affordable housing budget over the next five years to support housing for key workers in a whole range of other action, which I am happy for the housing minister to write to Pam Gosol to give her confidence that we take seriously the issue of housing in our rural and island communities. To ask the First Minister whether the Scottish Government still has a policy of a presumption against any new oil and gas licences? Oil and gas continues to play an important part in Scotland's energy transition. Our focus is on meeting energy security needs, reducing emissions in line with climate goals and ensuring that just transition for workforces is north of the oil and gas resources inevitably decline. As part of that approach, our draft energy strategy and just transition plan consulted on a presumption against licencing of new exploration of oil and gas. We have never proposed a position of no new licencing at all.  We will work with the energy industry to accelerate that transition to net zero where we can. Presiding Officer, the First Minister makes one trip up to Aberdeen and then masquerades as the saviour of the oil and gas industry. He must think that the people of the north-east are buttoned up the back. He is against Cambo, he is against Roseback and his Government still has a presumption against any new oil and gas licences. Will the First Minister tell the chamber today why he is in favour of importing more oil and gas, stopping new investment, which, as the First Minister knows, means throwing away thousands of livelihoods on the scrap heap? Of course, if Donald Ross knew what he was talking about, he would know that the vast majority of oil that is extracted from the North Sea gets exported overseas, Presiding Officer. But what is clear to me, what is clear to the people of Scotland, what is clear to the people of the north-east is that Westminster is not working for Scotland for decades. The Conservatives have been telling the people of Scotland that Scotland's oil is running out. Now, all of a sudden, they are pretending that it is going to be lasting forever. Successive UK Governments have used the north-east as a cash cow, squandering £400 billion in today's prices of oil and gas revenues. Whether it is the Conservatives or Labour, whose policies, of course, can end up throwing 100,000 workers on the scrap heap, Westminster cannot be trusted with Scotland's natural resources. It is high time that Scotland's energy was in Scotland's hand, so we can ensure cheaper bills, so we can ensure that we unleash the economic potential of the Green Revolution and, of course, that we can help to tackle the climate crisis. I welcome the First Minister's visit to Aberdeen this week and the engagement that he has had with the oil and gas sector. I ask the First Minister if that engagement with the oil and gas sector will continue, particularly regarding retaining and increasing the vital investment needed to deliver a just transition following the deeply concerning warnings that Labour's aggressive plans for the North Sea will put 100,000 jobs at risk, which is really serious for my constituents in Aberdeen, the north-east and beyond. Many of those in the north-east of Scotland will have just seen the fact that Kevin Stewart is standing up for his constituents, not using Scottish Government figures, but using industry figures that say that Labour's plans could risk up to 100,000 jobs, and we will hear Labour laughing, laughing at Kevin Stewart, laughing at the people of Aberdeen and laughing at our oil and gas workers, who, of course, have done an incredible job for Scotland over decades and continue to do an excellent job for Scotland. Let me reiterate what I have already said in previous exchanges, is that we support, in the SNP, a windfall tax. Of that, there is no doubt. What we do not support is aggressive plans by Labour, not just to increase that windfall tax, but of course to raid the north-east so that it can pay for new nuclear power plants in England. That is unfair. That is not acceptable. We believe in accelerating that transition to net zero. The oil and gas workers, who are incredibly skilled, and who have incredible expertise, will be absolutely vital to that trust transition. I can promise them that, as long as the SNP is in government, we will protect them from those damaging plans by cure stammer, by Labour, which would end up seeing them thrown on the scrap heap. To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's responses to the analysis by Citizens Advice Scotland, suggesting that over 660,000 people are experiencing mental health problems due to increasing household debt. The Scottish Government remains deeply concerned about the impact of the cost of living crisis, especially on those who are already struggling with poor mental health and money worries. We know that that is leading to far more people seeking advice and support, which is why we support free welfare debt and income maximisation advice services, with funding of over £12.5 million allocated this year. Mental health remains a priority, and we have supported overall increases to mental health spend over the years. Through our 24-25 budget, the Scottish Government and NHS boards will continue to spend an excess of £1.3 billion for mental health. More widely, recognising the pressures on household budgets, since 2022-23, we continue to allocate around £3 billion a year to policies that tackle poverty and protect as far as we possibly can people during the on-going cost of living crisis. Paul Sweeney. First Minister, people increasingly have nowhere to turn when their mental health deteriorates. Patients in some health boards are waiting over 1,000 days to start psychological therapy, and one in four consultant psychiatry positions are vacant. What is his Government's response to cut £30 million more from the mental health budget, despite already being £180 million adrift from the target? First Minister, when will your Government start to take the crisis in mental health seriously and reverse the proposed cut to mental health funding in the budget? Let me just correct Paul Sweeney on some issues in relation to our funding. We have a good track record on spending on mental health. That has been in the face of 14 years of austerity under the SNP. Mental health spending by NHS Scotland has doubled in cash terms from £651 million in 2006-07 to £1.3 billion in 2021-22 up by almost 100 per cent. Expenditure on CAMHS rose from £88 million in 2020-21 to £97.6 million in 2021-22. Of course, we have had challenges in the budget that we have just announced, but we have ensured that we are doing what we can to invest in mental health. What I would say to Paul Sweeney was right to reference the citizens of Vice Scotland report earlier, the cost of living crisis is undoubtedly a source of deep mental health anguish for too many households up and down the country. We will continue to invest in that. What is worrying, of course, is that Paul Sweeney's party believes in retaining, for example, the two-child limit. The person who is likely to be the next chancellor of the UK has promised, and I quote, to be tougher than the Tories on benefits. Through our actions, we have lifted last year an estimated 90,000 children out of poverty, so the Scottish Government will invest in helping people with debt, reducing the cost of living. However, how much better would it be, if we did not have to continue to mitigate the worst excesses and harm of Westminster, but instead took all the decisions about Scotland here in Scotland? First Minister outlined how increased funding for discretionary housing payments, for example, the impact on mental health issues in Scotland, will help to make up for the chronically insufficient UK housing benefits funding and how we in Scotland maximise support for low-income households here in Scotland. Willie Coffey makes an exceptionally important point. The damage done by the UK Government's three-year freeze to local housing allowance has been considerable, with an estimated £819 million that has been lost. That coupled with the cruel bedroom tax policy is undoubtedly causing great harm indeed. While the Labour Party is failing to offer any change to those devastating policies, the Scottish Government will take action. We are investing an additional £6 million in discretionary housing payments, bringing the total to more than £90 million to mitigate all of those cuts. That is helping more than 90,000 low-income households to pay their rent and to keep their homes. We move to constituency and general supplementaries, and I call Jackson Carlaw. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Will the First Minister join me in offering his congratulations to my constituent, Henry Wuga? Henry escaped the Nazi Holocaust, travelling from Nuremberg to Glasgow in 1939, at the age of 15. Here he met his wife Ingrid, also a survivor, as a consequence of the Kindertransport, an event that was celebrated in the film One Life starring Sir Anthony Hopkins. Tomorrow, Henry turns 100 years of age. He has made a remarkable contribution to this country. I have tabled a motion supported by Paul O'Kane and Kirsten Oswald, MP, to tabling a similar motion in the House of Commons. Will he join me and I hope that the chamber in offering him many happy returns? I wish Henry Wuga a very happy 100th birthday. Indeed, I have written to Henry myself personally in order to pass on my personal congratulations to him. Jackson Carlaw is right. Henry Wuga is an absolute inspiration. It was just a number of weeks ago that Jackson Carlaw and I—many members in the chamber—were commemorating Holocaust Memorial Day. We heard very powerful testimonies from a number of those who were either survivors or families of survivors of Holocaust and, indeed, other genocides. The work that Henry has personally done over the decades in helping to remind and inform people of the horrors of the Holocaust, which should never ever be forgotten by any of us, is truly an inspiration for each and every single person in this country. I want to pass on my congratulations. The best wish is, of course, for his birthday, but I want to put on record my appreciation, the Scottish Government's appreciation. I think that the whole country's appreciation for the incredible work that Henry Wuga has done, particularly in reminding us of the horrors of the Holocaust and saying that we should never ever forget them, reflect on them and, of course, work together to ensure that we see peace right across the world wherever we see violence, wherever we see discrimination, be it here at home or, indeed, abroad. Jackie Baillie Scotland's NHS is directionless, risking patient safety and on the brink of breakdown. Not my words, Presiding Officer. That is owed at Scotland's assessment of the NHS under the SNP. In a devastating critique of the Government, it points to a health service at breaking point with extreme overcrowding and long waiting times threatening patient safety. It accuses the SNP Government of having no vision and calls for fundamental reform. The need for leadership is clear, but it is absent. After 17 years of decline under the SNP, what reforms will he bring forward to save our NHS? Of course, we will bring forward. Reforms in the health secretary will detail that. That will work with staff to ensure to see what we can do, particularly in the preventative space, to see what more we can invest so individuals don't have to go particularly to secondary care and primary care, but particularly secondary care, where we know there's intense pressure on our hospital sites right up and down the country. However, in 17 years, let me remind Jackie Baillie, of course, that we have record staffing in the NHS. We have record investment in the NHS. We have the best-paid staff in the NHS. Of course, we are the only country in the entire UK that has not lost a single day to strike action. I stand to be corrected, but I think that today there are junior doctor strikes in Labour-run NHS Wales, Presiding Officer. We'll continue to invest in our NHS. We'll continue to invest, most importantly, in the people who run the NHS—our nurses, our doctors, of course all of the NHS, the gender for change staff—who do an incredible job, and we promise to continue to work with them for the best possible outcomes for patients across Scotland. Thank you, Presiding Officer. First Minister, this coming Saturday will be two years to the day that Russia launched an unprovoked, brutal and illegal invasion of Ukraine. Putin's conflict still rages on. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed and maimed with vast areas of Ukraine in many of its towns and cities, devastated with millions displaced. Scotland opened its doors and hearts to Ukrainian refugees, but the war also costs energy price rises and economic shocks. What assessment has the Scottish Government made of the impact on households affected by poverty and the cost of living crisis of the on-going war against Ukraine? What message of solidarity will the First Minister send to the Ukrainian people, particularly the 26,000 who now call Scotland home? I'm very grateful to Kenneth Gibson for raising this remarkably important issue. I'll be joining others as I expect across this chamber on Saturday to commemorate that and reflect on the two-year illegal invasion by Russia into Ukraine, which we condemn in the strongest possible manner. We continue to be shocked. We continue to be appalled at the violence and the humanitarian crisis that is unfolding and continues to unfold in Ukraine again because of Russia's illegal action. Scotland stands by Ukraine, we stand for democracy, we stand for human rights, we stand for the rule of law at home and indeed abroad. We offer our unqualified support for Ukrainian sovereignty and we wish a speedy victory for Ukraine and a resolution that has to not just restore peace but ensure Ukrainian sovereignty, democracy, independence and territorial integrity. Since the war against Ukraine began, over 26,600 people sponsored by an individual in Scotland or the Scottish Government have arrived in the UK as of 22 February this year. I'm proud of how Scotland and the people of Scotland have responded to this humanitarian crisis. I'm grateful to all those who have opened their homes and their hearts to displaced Ukrainians who are fleeing the war and so long as those who have fled the war and come to Scotland for as long as they want to call Scotland their home, they will always be given the warmest welcome possible. The appearance of Clare Ingalls has spent more than two years desperately trying to get answers. Ian and Fiona still don't know why her killer was in five separate bail orders and they've now discovered that social workers tried to warn Clare about her violent new partner but no one answered the door and 72 hours later she was killed. A council review failed to answer critical questions and I'm not putting the first minister on the spot, this isn't about party politics, this is about violence against women but I urge them to please look again at Ian and Fiona's request for a thorough and independent review. I will genuinely look at that request again and see what further we can do in terms of any further independent review into this case. I can completely understand the deep sense of grief and anger that Ian and Fiona are feeling. Russell Finlay will know that I wrote to the Lord President, the Lord Advocate on the issue and I passed on those responses to Russell Finlay earlier on. Many of the decisions that were taken at the time would have been for the independent judiciary to determine on the questions and potential failures that Ian and Fiona Ingalls have articulated in relation to local authority action. I will look at what Russell Finlay has asked me to do and I will consider what further more we are able to do and if there is anything further that we can do in relation to an independent review and I'll revert back to Russell Finlay directly. Michael Marra This week, teachers in Aberdeen told the BBC that they were scared to go to work because of rising violence in schools. A recent survey carried out by the EIS in Aberdeen found that nearly 40 per cent of teachers had been physically assaulted by a pupil. Those statistics should shock us all, and they demand action from a Government that has taken its eye off the ball and allowed this problem to grow and grow. Scottish Labour is clear that we must take a zero-tolerance approach to violence in our schools. Can I ask the First Minister exactly how much violence is he prepared to tolerate before he acts? Most people will unfortunately see that this is an issue that Michael Marra was choosing to politicise and create as a partisan issue. As always, in his suggestion somehow that having a slogan about zero-tolerance will suddenly make the issue better, I'm afraid, is a complete failure of credibility on his part. What I would say is that we are working with the teaching profession because there are very serious issues that are being raised by teachers up and down the country. We take those issues extremely seriously. The Cabinet Secretary for Education has hosted a number of summits, again with educational professionals and teachers, in particular to see what more we can do. We've commissioned, as Michael Marra will probably know, behaviour in school, Scottish school research in order to establish the true picture, the evidential basis at a national level of teachers and support staff's experience of behaviour in publicly funded mainstream schools. The results of the 2023 research highlighted that most children and young people are well behaved in class in schools. It also tells us about that level of disruption that exists. It is clearly not good enough, and we are working with our partners in local government to bring forward a joint national action plan to drive improvements and to ensure that Michael Marra is kept up to date. Thank you. That concludes First Minister's questions. I seek your advice and understanding orders chapter 9, following the publication today of the stage 1 report of the national care service. The chamber has agreed a few weeks ago that the stage 1 debate should take place next Thursday. Members will know of my long-standing commitment to a national care service. Indeed, it is over a decade since I first proposed this, so what is currently happening troubles me immensely. I therefore seek your advice on two counts. Firstly, the conclusion of the report seems manifestly contrary to so much of the report's contents. Page after page of criticism appears to be ignored. It also appears that evidence given by the third sector and independent providers and those with lived experience is also ignored. Let's hear the member. The party whip has been imposed to get the bill over the line. Secondly, there is a question of the integrity of this Parliament's processes. Let me explain. Substantial changes are being made to the bill following a deal between COSLA and the Scottish Government. No evidence has been taken on this as it came too late in the process. It radically changes the governance of a national care service. I would be very grateful if we could hear the member. The reason I am asking is that I cannot address a comment or a contribution or a point of order if I cannot hear it. This is caused considerable disquiet in the care sector. Committee members of all political stripes have been trying to get the Scottish Government to bring forward their amendments so that they can be subject to scrutiny before stage 2 starts. They have written to, they have spoken to the minister, but the Government says no. One of the committee members even sought agreement to share the target operating model, which would have provided a direction of travel for the amendments. This, too, was refused. I am concerned that the Government does not yet have any amendments. Otherwise, why would they refuse to share them with the committee so that members can do their job and scrutinise them properly? There are unfortunate examples in this Parliament where the perception is that the committee did not do their job in scrutinising legislation. We should not let that happen again, as it is the integrity of this Parliament that is also at state. Can you, Presiding Officer, advise if there is an opportunity for the committee to reconsider their report in light of the arguments I have made and what would be the appropriate vehicle to achieve that? It is fair to say that I did not pick up all of the members' comments, so I will refer to them and refer back if required. However, I can confirm to the member that under the rule that she refers to, under 9.6.1, any member may by motion propose that the bill be referred back to the lead committee for a further report on general principles of the bill or on any particular part of the bill before the Parliament cites whether to agree to them. I seek your guidance on the appropriate conduct of members of this Parliament and your powers to safeguard members of the public, our staff, visitors in general, to be able to enter and leave this Parliament. Last night, members of the public seeking to enter this Parliament were obstructed and intimidated and all of that was orchestrated and trumpeted by a member of this Parliament, a Scottish Green MSP. That is surely an acceptable conduct for a member of the Scottish Parliament, to seek to prevent members of the public entering their own Parliament. I ask for your guidance on the following. What actions will now be taken in the light of last night's events to secure safe access for the public to enter their Parliament at all times, and what action will be taken against the member who I believe has brought disrepute to the Scottish Parliament because not only did he plan and conduct the obstruction and the demonstration, but he claimed responsibility for it. He sought to shut down this Parliament. We all believe in freedom of speech and the right to protest, but the right of the people of Scotland to come safely and securely into their Parliament and leave their Parliament when they choose to do so must also be safeguarded. I am not aware of all the circumstances that Mr Kerr refers to, but it is absolutely clear, I am sure to all of us, that the security of all building users and our guests is paramount. I can confirm that I am aware that there were extremely difficult circumstances last evening and that all our scheduled events were able to proceed. I am certainly grateful to our staff and to police colleagues who made that possible. I can assure all members that our procedures are very much kept under review and they are adjusted to where that is appropriate. I trust and I hope that we can all trust that, in your consideration of those issues, you will get a high priority to the absolutely essential role that the right of peaceful protest plays in our democracy and in the life of our Parliament. I have commented on the points raised. I am absolutely sure that all members here assembled understand the importance of the right of protest but also of the importance that we place on the rights of all building users and staff to do so securely and safely. We will now suspend this item of business before we move on to members' business. I will allow a moment for the gallery and the chamber to clear.


you're watching Beyond Grenades today and today I'm here at the factory and Sherman Oaks with my lovely bridesmaids and we're here to launch the Amplify Training Bridal Party Boot Camp led by Coach Mike G. So let's get fit! So first we started with a warm-up to get the blood pumping. My favorite parts of the boot camp was how Coach Mike G would incorporate workout games. That way your mind is more focused on the game and less on any pain. These little hand-eye coordination games were really fun and they almost made you forget you've been holding a squat for a couple minutes now. We had so much fun doing this Bridal Party Boot Camp with Coach Mike G and it's a great way to bring all of your bridesmaids together and get fit for the wedding. If you liked this video please give it a thumbs up especially if you want more workout videos. I post new videos every Sunday so I'll see you guys next week. Thanks for watching Beyond Grenades today. What's up everybody this is Mike G. Just want to let you know that Amplify Training and Lovely Sherman Oaks, California is offering a promotion. In the month of August 8 p.m. Wednesday nights and 9 30 a.m. on Saturday we have adult fitness classes running. You guys are more than welcome to join us. Come check us out. If you mention that you watched this video you'll get the first session for proof.


The Riot at Cougar-Paw, by Robert Howard. I was out in the blacksmith's shop by the corral, beating out some shoes for Cat and Kid, when my brother John comes sauntering in. He'd been away for a few weeks up in the Cougar-Paw country, and he'd evidently done well, whatever he'd been doing, because he was in a first-class humor with his self, and plumb spilling over with high spirits and conceit. When he feels prime like that, he wants to rawhide everybody he meets, especially me. John thinks he's a witt, but I figure he's just half-right. Are you slaving over a hot forge for that mangy, flea-bid hunk of buzzard meat again, he greeted me? That bruntail ain't what the iron you wastes on his splayed-out hooves. He knows the easiest way to get under my hide is to poke fun at Cat and Kid, but I reflected it was just envy on his part and resisted my natural impulse to bend the tongs over his head. I'd taken the white-hot iron out of the forge and put it on the anvil and started beating it into shape with a sixteen-pound sledge I always use. I've got no use for the toys which most blacksmiths use for hammers.  I calls your attention to a door right behind you which nobody ain't using at the moment. He busts into loud, rude laughter and said, you call that thing a hush-shoe? It's big enough for a snowplow. Here, long as you're in the business, see can you fit a shoe for that? He sought his foot up on the anvil and I give it a good slam with the hammer. John led out a awful holler and begun hopping around over the shop and cuss and fit to curl your hair. I kept on hammering my iron.  Always play in your childish games and sportin' in your innocent frolics. He's busted my toes, said John bloodthirstily, and I'll have his heart's blood if it's the last thing I do. Chips off the old block, bean-path. It takes me back to the time when, in the days of my happy childhood, I emptied a sawed-off shotgun into the seat of brother Joel's britches for tellin' our old man it was me which put that bar-trap in his bunk. He'll groove a day, promised John, and humbled off to the cabin with moans and profanity. A little later from his yells I gathered he had persuaded Ma or one of the gals to rub his toe with Haas-Leneman. He could make more racket about nothin' than any Elkins I ever knowed. I went on and made the shoes and put them on Captain Kidd, which is a job about like ropin' and hog-tyin' a mountain cyclone. And by the time I got through and went up to the cabin to eat, John seemed to have got over his mad spell. He was layin' on his bunk with his foot up on it all bandaged up, and he says, Breckenridge, there ain't no use in grown men holdin' a grudge. Let's forget about it. "'Who's holdin' any grudge?' I asked, makin' sure he didn't have a buoy-knife in his left hand. I don't know why they should be so much racket over a trifle that don't amount to nothin' know-how. Well, he said, this here busted foot discommodes me a heap. I won't be able to ride for a day or so, and they as business up to Cougar-Paul I ought to attend to. I thought you'd just come from there, I says. "'I did,' he said, but they as a man up there which has promised me somethin' which is do me, and now I ain't able to go collect. Why don't you go and collect for me, Breckenridge? You ought to, during it, cause it's your fault I can't ride. The man's name is Bill Santry, and he lives up in the mountains a few miles from Cougar-Paul. You'll likely find him in Cougar-Paul any day, though. "'What's this he promised you?' I asked. "'Just ask for Bill Santry,' he said. When you find him, say to him, I'm John Elkin's brother, and you can give me what you promised him. My family always imposes onto my good nature. Generally, I'd rather go do what they want me to do than go to the trouble of arguing with them. Oh, all right,' I says, I ain't got nothin' to do right now. Thanks, Breckenridge,' he said, I knowed I could count on you. So, a couple of days later, I was ridin' through the Cougar Range, which is very thick-timbered mountains, and rapidly approachin' Cougar-Paul. I hadn't never been there before, but I was followin' a windin' wagon-road which I knowed would eventually fetch me there. The road wound around the shoulder of a mountain, and ahead of me I seen a narrow path opened into it, and just before I got there I heard a bull-bellar, and a gal screamed, "'Help! Help! Oh, man, Kirby's bulls loose!'  I ran, Captain Kidd, between her and him, and knowed Captain Kidd to do the rest, without no advice from me. He done so by wheelin' and lamin' his heels into that bull's rib so hard, he kicked the critter, cleaned through a rail fence on the other side of the road. Captain Kidd hates bulls, and he's too big and strong for any of them. He would've then jumped on the critter and stomped him, but I restrained him, which made him mad, whilst he was trying to buck me off the bull untangled itself, and high-tailed it down the mountain, ballin' like a scared yearlin'. When I had got Captain Kidd in hand I looked round and seen the gal lookin' at me very admirantly. I swept off my stetson and bowed from my saddle and says, "'Can I assist you any farther, ma'am?' She blushed pretty as a pitcher and said, "'I'm much obliged, stranger. That there critter I had is hooks into my hide. Poor you, headin'. If you ain't in no hurry, I'd admire to have you drop by the cabin and have a snack of bar meat and honey. We live up the path about a mile. They ain't nothin' I'd rather do, I assured her. But just at the present I got business in Cougarpaw. How far is it from here?' "'About five mile down the road,' says she. "'My name's Joan. What's your'n?' "'Breckin' Ridge Elkins of Bear Creek,' I said. "'Say, I gotta push on to Cougarpaw, but I'll be ridin' back this way to-morrow mornin' about sun-up. If you could I'll be waitin' right here for you.' She said so promptly it made my head swim. No doubt about it. It was love at first sight. "'I-I got store-bought shoes,' she added shyly. "'I'll be awarein' them when you come along. I'll be here if I have to wait through fire, flood, and hostile engines,' I assured her, and rode on down the wagon-trace with my manly heart swellin' with pride in my bosom. They ain't many mountain men which can awake the fire of love in a gal's heart at first sight. A gal likewise, which was as beautiful as that their gal, and rich enough to own store-bought shoes. As I told Captain Kidd, they was just something about a Elkins. It was about noon when I rode into Cougarpaw, which is a tolerably small village sought up amongst the mountains, with a few cabins where folks lived, and a few more which was a grocery store and a jail and a saloon. Right behind the saloon was a good-sized cabin with a big sign on to it which said, Jonathan Middleton, mayor of Cougarpaw. They didn't seem to be nobody in sight, not even on the saloon porch. So I rode on to the corrals which served for a livery's table and wagon-yard, and a man come out of the cabin-niot and took charge of Captain Kidd. He wanted to turn him in with a couple of mules which hadn't never been broke, but I knowed what Captain Kidd had to do to them mules, so the feller gave him a corral to his self, and belly-ait just because Captain Kidd playfully bit the seat out of his britches. He calmed down when I paid for the britches. I asked him where I could find Bill Santry, and he said likely he was up to the store. So I went up to the store, and it was about like all them stores you see in them kind of towns. Groceries and dry goods and grindstones and harness and such like stuff. In a wagon tongue somebody had mended recent. They weren't but the one store in the town, and it handled a little of everything. It was a sign on to it which said, General Store. Captain Middleton, proprietor.  And they was a tolerable hard-looking gang. I said, I'm looking for Bill Santry, the biggest man in the store, which was sitting on a bench, says, You don't have to look no further. I'm Bill Santry. Well I says, I'm Breckinridge Elkins, John Elkins' brother. You can give me what you promised him.  There is nothing which could give me more pleasure. Take it with my blessing.  It was so unexpected that I lost my footing and fell on to my back. And Santry give a wolfish yell and jumped on to my stomach with both feet. And the next thing I knowed, nine or ten more fellas was jumping up and down on me with their boots. Now, I can take a joke as well as the next man. But it always did make me mad for a fella to twist a spur into my hair and try to tear the scalp off. Santry, having did this, I throwed off them lunatics, which was trying to tromp out my innards, and ribs up amongst them with an outraged beller. I swept four or five of them into my arms and give them a grizzly hug. And when I let go, all they was able to do was fall on the floor and squawk about their busted ribs. I then turned on to the others, which was assaulting me with pistols and buoy knives and the butt into quartz and other villainous weapons. And when I laid into them, you shoulda heard them howl.  He went to the floor under an avalanche of splintered staves and pickles and brine. And then I got hold of a grindstone and really started getting destructive. A grindstone is a good comforting implement to have hold of in a melee, but kinda clumsy. For instance, when I hoeved it at a fella which was trying to cock a sawed-off shotgun, it missed him entirely and knocked all the slats out of the counter, and I squashed four or five men which was trying to shoot me from behind it. I settled the shotgun fella's hash, with a box of canned beef. And then I got hold of a double-bitted ax, and the embattled citizens at Cougar Paw quit the field with blood, kirtle, and howls of fear, them which was able to quit and howl. I stumbled over the thickly strewn casualties to the door, taking a few casual swipes at the shelves as I went past and knocking all the cans off of them. Just as I emerged into the street with my ax lifted to chop down anybody which opposed me, a skinny-looking human bobbed up in front of me and hollered, HULT IN THE NAME OF THE LAW! Paying no attention to the double-barreled shotgun he shoved in my face, I swung back my ax for a swipe and accidentally hit the sign over the door and knocked it down on top of him. He let out a squall as he went down and let BAM with the shotgun right in my face, so close it singed my eyebrows. I pulled the sign-board off of him so I could get a good belt at him with my ax, but he hollered, I'm the sheriff! I demand you surrenders to properly constipated authority! I then noticed that he had a star pinned on the one gallus. So I put down my ax and let him take my guns. I never resists an officer of the law. Well, sell them ever, that is. He pointed his shotgun at me and says, I find you ten dollars for disturbing the peace. About this time a lanky maverick with side-whiskers come prancing around the corner of the building, and he started throwing fits like a low-code steer. The scoundrels ruined my store, he howled.  What do you think he ought to pay, Mr. Middleton? asked the sheriff. Five hundred dollars, said the mayor, bloodthirstily. Five hundred hell, I roared, stung the wrath. This here whole Dern town ain't worth five hundred dollars. Anyway, I ain't got no money but fifty cents I owe to the fellow that runs the wagon-yard. Give me the fifty cents, ordered the mayor. I'll credit that onto your bill. I'll credit my fist onto your skull, I snarled, and begin and lose my temper, because the butcher knife Bill Santry had carved my ribs with, had salt on the blade, and the salt got into the cuts and smarted. I owes this fifty cents, and I gives it to the man I owes it to. Throw him in jail, rave Middleton. We'll keep him there till we figures out a job will work for him to do to pay out his fine. So the sheriff marched me down the street to the log cabin which they used for a jail, whilst Middleton went moaning around the ruins of his grocery store, paying no heed to the fellers which lay groaning on the floor. But I seen the rest of the citizens packing them out on stretchers to take them into the saloon to bring them to. The saloon had assigned. Square Deal Saloon. Jonathan Middleton, proprietor. And I heard fellers cuss in Middleton, because he made them pay for the liquor they poured onto the victims' cuts and bruises, but they cussed under their breath. Middleton seemed to pack a lot of power in that their town. Well, I laid down on the jailhouse bunk as well as I could, because they always billed them bunks for ordinary-sized men about six foot tall.  It didn't seem to make no sense. I laid there and waited for the sheriff to bring me my supper, but he didn't bring none. And pretty soon I went to sleep and dreamed about Joan, with her store-bought shoes. What woke me up was an awful racket in the direction of the saloon. I got up and looked out of the barred window. Night had fell, but the cabins in the saloon was well lit up, but too far away for me to tell what was going on. But the noise was so familiar, I thought for a minute I must be back on Bear Creek again, because men was yelling and cussing, and guns was banging, and a big voice roaring over the din. Once it sounded like somebody got knocked through a door. And it made me right homesick. It was so much like a dance on Bear Creek. I pulled the bars out of the window, trying to see what was going on. But all I could see was what looked like men flying ahead first out of the saloon. And when they hit the ground and stopped rolling, they jumped up and run off in all directions, hollering like the Apaches was on their heels. Pretty soon I seen somebody running toward the jail as hard as he could leg it, and it was the sheriff. Most of his clothes was tore off, and he had blood on his face, and he was gasping and panting. We got a job for you, Helkins, he panted. A wild man from Texas just hit town, and is terrorizing the citizens. If you'll protect us and lay out this fiend from the prairies, we'll remit your fine. Listen at that. From the noise I judged the aforesaid wild man had splintered the panels out of the bar. What started him on his rampage, I asked. Aw, somebody said they made better chili-cun carney in Santa Fe than they did in El Paso, says the sheriff. So this maniac starts cleaning up the town. Well, I don't blame him, I said. That was a dirty lie and lowdown slander. My folks all come from Texas, and if you Cougar Paul Coyotes thinks you can slander the state and get away with it, we don't think nothing. Well, the sheriff, wringing his hands and jumping like a startled deer every time a crash resounded up the street, re-admits the lone star state as a cream of the west at all ways. Listen, will you lick this homicidal lunatic for us? You've got to, Dernet. You've got to work out your fine and— Oh, all right, I said, kicking the door down before he could unlock it. I'll do it. I can't waste much time in this town. I got an engagement down the road to Marr at Sunup. The street was deserted, but heads were sticking out of every door and window. The sheriff stayed on my heels till I was a few feet from the saloon, then he whispered, Go do it and make it a good job. If anybody can lick that grizzly in there, it's you. He then ducked out a site behind the nearest cabin after handing me my gun-belt. I stalked into the saloon and seen a gigantic figure standing at the bar and just fixing to pour itself a dram out of a dimmage on. He had the place to himself, but it warn't near as much of a wreck as I'd expected. As I come in, he wheeled with a snarl, quick as a cat, and flashing out a gun. I drawed one of mine just as quick, and for a second we stood there, glaring at each other over the barrels. Breckenridge Elkins, says he, my own flesh and blood kin. Cousin Bearfield Buckner, I says, shoving my gun back in its scabbard. I didn't even know you was in Nevada. I got a rambling foot, says he, holstering his chute and iron. Put her there, cousin Breckenridge. My golly, I'm glad to see you, I said, shaking with him. Then I recollected. Hey, I says, I gotta lick you. What do you mean, he demanded? Aw, I says I got arrested and ain't got no money to pay my fine, and I gotta work it out. Licking you was the job they give me. I ain't got no use for law, he said grumpily. Still, and all, if I had any dough I'd pay your fine for you. And Elkins don't accept no charity, I said, slightly meddled. We works for what we gets.  At this he lost his temper. He was always hot-headed that way.  What kind of kin folks are you, he scowled. I don't mind a friendly fight between relatives, but your intentions is mercenary and unworthy of a true Elkins. You put me in mind of the fact that your old man had to leave Texas a count of a hoss getting its head tangled in a lariat he was toting in his absent-minded way. That there is a cussed lie, I said with heat. Papp left Texas because he wouldn't take the Yankee Oath after the Civil War, and you know it. Anyway, I added bidingly, nobody can ever say a Elkins ever stole a chicken and roasted it in a chaperral thicket. He started violently and turned pale.  He hollered.    I wore just a yearling when I left it that there foul and edit, and I wore plum famished because a posse had been chasing me six days. They was after me a count of Joel Richardson happening to be in my way when I was empty in my buffalo rifle. Blast your soul, I have shot better men than you for talking about chickens around me. Nevertheless, I said, the fact remains that you're the only one of the clan which ever swiped at chicken. No Elkins never stole no hint. No, he sneered. They prefers hausses. Just then I noticed that a crowd had gathered timidly outside the doors and winders and was listening eagerly to this exchange of family scandals. So I said, we've talked enough. The time for action is a rift. When I first seen you, cousin Bearfield, the thought of committing mayhem onto you was very distasteful. But after our recent conversation I feel I can scramble your homely features with a free and joyful spirit. Let's have a snort, then get down to business. Suits me, he agreed, hanging his gun belt on the bar. Here's a jug with about a gallon of red liquor into it. So we each take on a medium-sized snort, which of course emptied the jug. Then I hitch my belt and says, which does you desire first, cousin Bearfield? A busted leg or a fractured skull? Wait a minute, he requested as I approached him. What's that on your boot? I stooped over to see what it was, and he swung his leg and kicked me in the mouth as hard as he could, and immediately busted into a guffaw of brutal mirth. Whilst he was thus employed, I spit his boot out and butted him in the belly with a violence which changed his haw haw to an agonized grunt. Then we laid hands on each other and rolled back and forth across the floor, biting and gouging, and that was how the tables and chairs got busted. Mayor Middleton must have been watching through a window because I heard him squall. My God, they're wrecking my saloon! Sheriff, arrest them both! And the sheriff hollered back. I took your orders all I aimed to, Jonathan Middleton. If you want to stop that double cyclone, get in there and do it yourself. Presently we got tired scrambling around on the floor amongst the cuspidors. So we rizzed simultaneous, and I splintered the roulette wheel with his carcass, and he hit me on the jaw, so hard he knocked me clean through the bar, and all the bottles fell off the shelves and showered round me, and the sealant lamp come loose and spilled about a gallon of red hot aisle down his neck. Whilst he was employed with the aisle, I clumped up from among the debris of the bar and started my right fist in a swing from the floor, and after it traveled, maybe nine feet, it took Cousin Bearfield under the jaw, and he hit the opposite wall so hard he knocked out a section and went clean through it, and that was when the roof fell in. I started kicking and throwing the ruins off me, and then I was aware of Cousin Bearfield lifting logs and beams off of me and in a minute I crawled out from under him. I could have gone out all right, I said, but just the same I'm much obliged to you. Blood stickered in water, he grunted, and hit me under the jaw and knocked me about seventeen feet backwards towards the mayor's cabin. He then rushed forward and started kicking me in the head, but I rizzed up in spite of his efforts. Get away from that cabin! screamed the mayor, but it was too late. I hit Cousin Bearfield between the eyes and he crashed into the mayor's rock chimney and knocked the whole base loose with his head, and the chimney collapsed and the rocks come tumbling down on him. But, being a Texas buckner, Bearfield rizzed out of the ruins.  This infuriated me, because I seen he had no intention of fighting fair, so I tore a log out of the wall of the mayor's cabin and belted him over the ear with it, and Cousin Bearfield bit the dust. He didn't get up that time. While Si was trying to get my breath back and shaking the sweat out of my eyes, all the citizens of Cougar Paw come out of their hiding places, and the sheriff yelled, You done a good job, Elkins. You're a free man. He is like hell! screamed Mayor Middleton, doing a kind of war dance, while sweeping and Cousin together. Look at my cabin!  Sheriff, arrest that man! Witchin, inquired the sheriff. The feller from Texas, said Middleton bitterly. He's unconscious, and it won't be no trouble to drag him to jail. Run the other now to town. I don't never want to see him no more. Hey, I said indignantly. You can't arrest Cousin Bearfield. I ain't gonna stand for it. Will you resist the officer of the law? asked the sheriff, sticking his gallus out with his thumb. You represents the law whilst you wear your badge, I inquired. As long as I got that badge on, both see. I am the law. Well, I said, spittin' on my hands. You ain't got it on now.  Get ready, for I'm coming head on and wide open. I whoop me a whoop. He glanced down in a stunned sort of way at his empty gallus. Then he give a scream and took out up the street with most of the crowd, streaming out behind him. Stop you cowards! screamed Mayor Middleton. Come back here and arrest these scoundrels. Ah, shut up, I said, disgustedly, and give him a kind of push. And how was I to know it would dislocate his shoulder-blade? It was just beginning to get light by now, but Cousin Bearfield wasn't showing those signs of consciousness, and I heard them cougar-paw skunks yelling to each other back and forth from the cabins where they'd forted themselves, and from what they said, I knowed they figured on opening up on us with their Winchester's, as soon as it got light enough to shoot good. Just then I noticed a wagon standing down by the wagon-yard so I picked up Cousin Bearfield, and lugging down there and throwing him into the wagon, far be it from Elkins to leave a senseless relative to the mercy of a cougar-paw mob. I went into the corral where them two wild mules was, and started putting harness onto them, and it warn't no child-play. They hadn't never been worked before, and they fell onto me with a free and hearty enthusiasm. Once they had me down stomping on me, and the citizens of Cougar-paw made a kind of half-hearted sally. But I unlimbered my forty-fives and throwed a few slugs in their direction, and they all hollered and run back into their cabins. I finally had to stun them full mules with a bat over the ear with my fist, and before they got their senses back, I had them harness to the wagon, and Captain Kidd and Cousin Bearfield's horse tied to the rear end.  I ain't stealing nothing, I roared as we thundered past the cabins, where spurts of flame was already streaking out of the winders. I'll send this here wagon and these mules back to mar. The citizens answered with bloodthirsty yells on a volley of lead, and with their benediction, singing past my ears, I left Cougarpaw in a cloud of dust and profanity. Then mules, after a vain effort to stop and kick loose from the harness, laid their bellies to the ground and went stampede down that crooked mountain road like scared jackrabbits. We went around each curve on one wheel, and sometimes we'd hit a stump and throw the whole wagon several foot into the air, and that must have been what brung Cousin Bearfield to itself. He was laying sprawled in the bed, and finally we took a bump that throwed him in a somersault, clean to the other end of the wagon. He hit on his neck and risen up on his hands and knees and looked round daisily at the trees and stump switches flashing past. And bellard, what the hell's happened? Where at am I, anyway?  Yippee-ki-yay! This here's fun, ain't it, Cousin Bearfield? I was thinking of Joan waiting with her store-bought shoes for me down the road, and in spite of my cuts and bruises I was rolling high and handsome. Slow up, roared Cousin Bearfield, trying to stand up, but just then we went crashing down a steep bank, and the wagon tilted, throwing Cousin Bearfield to the other end of the wagon, for he rammed his head with great force against the front gate. Expletive deleted, says Cousin Bearfield, glugged, because we had hit the creek bed, going full speed, and knocked all the water out of the channel, and about a hundred gallons splashed over into the wagon, and nearly washed Cousin Bearfield out.  But at that moment the mules stampeded up the bank, on the other side, and Cousin Bearfield was catapulted to the rear end of the wagon so hard, he knocked out the end gate with his head, and nearly went out after it, only he just managed to grab himself. We went plunging along the road, and the wagon hopped from stump to stump, and sometimes it crashed through a thicket of brush. Captain Kidd and the other horse was thundering after us, and the mules was braying, and I was whooping, and Cousin Bearfield was cussing, and pretty soon I looked back at him and hollered, Hold on, Cousin Bearfield, I'm going to stop these critters. We're close to the place where my gal will be waiting for me. Look out, you blame fool! screamed Cousin Bearfield, and then the mules left the road, and went one on each side of a white oak tree, and the tongue splintered, and they run right out of the harness and kept hightail in it. But the wagon piled up on that tree with a jolt that throwed me and Cousin Bearfield head first into a blackjack thicket. Cousin Bearfield vowed and swore, when he got back home, that I picked this thicket special on account of a hornet's nest that was there, and drove into it plum deliberate, which same as a lie which I'll stuff down his gizzard next time I cut his sign. He claimed they was trained hornets which I educated not to sting me, but the fact was I had since enough to lay there plum quiet, Cousin Bearfield was fool enough to run. Well, he knows by this time I reckon that the fastest man afoot can't no ways match speed with a hornet. He'd taken out through the brush and thickets yelping and hollering, and hopping most bodacious.  By this time I figured he'd wore the hornets out, so I came alive again. I extricated myself first and located Cousin Bearfield by his profanity. I laid hold onto his hind leg and pulled him out. He lost most of his clothes in the process, and his temper wasn't no better. He seemed to blame me for his misfortunes. Don't touch me, he said fiercely.  I'm as close to Bear Creek right now as I want to be. Hors my Haas. The Haas's had broke loose when the wagon piled up, but they hadn't gone far, because they was fighting with each other in the middle of the road. Bearfield's Haas was about as big and mean as Captain Kidd. We separated him, and Bearfield clumbed aboard without a word. Where you going, Cousin Bearfield, I asked, as far away from you as I can, he said bitterly. I've saw all the Elkinsons I can stand for a while. Doubtless your intentions is good, but a man better get chaud by lions than rescued by an Elkins. And with a few more observations which highly shocked me, and which I won't repeat, he rode off at full speed, looking very peculiar because his pants was about all that hadn't been tore off him, and he had scratches and bruises all over him. I was sorry, Cousin Bearfield was so sensitive, but I didn't waste no time brooding over his ingratitude. The sun was up, and I know Joan would be waiting for me where the path come down onto the road from the mountain. Sure enough, when I come to the mouth of the trail, there she was. But she didn't have on her store-bought shoes, and she looked flustered and scared. Breckenridge! she hollered, running up to me before I could say a word. Something terrible's happened.  Some men are bringing him home on a stretcher. One of them rode ahead to tell me. How come I didn't pass him on the road, I said? And she said, they walked and taken a short cut through the hills. There they come now. I seen some men come on to the road a few hundred yards away and come toward us, lugging somebody on a stretcher, like she said. Come on, she says, tugging at my sleeve.  I want him to tell you who done it so you can whoop the scoundrel. I got an idea. I know who done it, I said, climbing down. But I'll make sure. I figured it was one of Cousin Bearfield's victims. Why, who look? said Joan. How funny the men are acting since you started toward them. They've sought down the litter, and they're running off into the woods. Bill, she shrilled as we drawed an eye. Bill, are you hurt bad? A busted leg and some broke ribs moaned the victim on the litter, which also had his head so bandaged I didn't recognize him. Then he sought up with a howl. What's that Ruffian doing with you? He roared into my amazement. I recognized Bill Santry. Why, he's a friend of Iron Bill, Joan begun, but he interrupted her loudly and profanely. Friend, hell, he's John Elkin's brother, and furthermore he's the one which is responsible for the crippled and mutilated condition in which you now seize me. Joan said nothing. She turned and looked at me in a very peculiar manner, then dropped her eyes shyly to the ground. Now, Joan, I begun, when all at once I saw what she was looking for. One of the men had dropped to Winchester before he run off. Her first bullet knocked off my hat as I forked Captain Kidd, and her second, third, and fourth missed me so close I felt their hot wind. Then Captain Kidd rounded a curve with his belly to the ground, and my busted romance was left far behind me. A couple of days later a mass of heartaches and bruises, which might have been recognized as Breckenridge Elkin's The Pride of Bear Creek, rode slowly down the trail that led to the settlements on the aforementioned creek. And as I rode it was my fortune to meet my brother John coming up the trail on foot. Where you've been, he greeted me hypocritically.  I eased myself down from the saddle and said without heat. Joan, just what was it that Bill Santry promised you? Oh, says John with a laugh.  I'm glad you don't hold no hard feelings, Breck. It were just a joke, me sending you up there. You can take a joke, can't you? Sure, I said. By the way, John, how's your toe? It's all right, says he. Let me see, I insisted, set your foot on that stump. He done so, and I give it an awful belt with a butt of my Winchester. That there is a receipt for your joke, I grunted, as he danced around on one foot and wept and swore, and so saying I mounted and rode on in gloomy grandeur. Elkins always pays his debts. End of The Riot at Cougarpaw. End of Bear Creek Collection, Volume 1, by Robert Howard.


It's about tapping into what they know, not changing the way that our people do business, but actually learning from them. How do they do business and how can we work together? I'm Dr Kerry Bodle. I'm a Waka Waka woman from Sherbourg. I studied accounting at Griffith University and I'm currently a senior lecturer in the Accounting Finance and Economics department. When I first started here, I felt like I was a duck out of water. I can remember saying to myself, I'm a mature age student. If I ever became a teacher, I know how I would teach differently. My favourite thing about my job is the First Peoples, doing research, teaching and obviously interacting with our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander business communities. It's just been a journey for me to try and fill in that gap of where do I come from? Who am I? Where do I belong? I get emotional when I talk about the journey that my grandmother and my mother had to go through. I just wanted to make sure that, you know, they didn't do it for nothing. Embracing the First Peoples has given me a new lease of life in my academic career. The legacy I want to leave is that I want to be a disruptor to the traditional way of teaching, especially in accounting and in business, starting to disrupt the way that we develop our courses, curriculum development, the way that we interact with the Aboriginal communities in our research and also in community engagement. The students that I've learnt that I closely connect to are from different cultures. If I can show them my vulnerability, then they can feel that they can express their own vulnerability. Now, unless we're brave enough and put ourselves out there, we won't see change.


Hello, my mother's name is Anumavarkis and she's been working in Manipal for around 17 years as a nurse. We always knew that our mom was a superhero where she could do so many things but it is during this time that we realized the power she has and how she's doing such an amazing work working during these troubled times and we're very, very proud of her and her job. And even though we don't get to see her much now, we are able to work from home but she can't. We are extremely proud that she is doing everything to keep this world safe. So when mom is at home, we cook together, we watch a lot of movies together. I'm Jennifer, I'm a staff nurse at CCM, Manipal Hospital, Bangalore. When I was posted in the ICU, I made sure I took a picture of myself wearing my entire suit, the PPE. And I showed it to them so they were aware that we were being well protected at work. So they are very proud that I'm a nurse and that I'm working during these times. And we want to take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy nurses day. So, happy nurses day. I'm very, very happy that I'm talking to nurses and medical staff who are on the front line. It takes courage and love to put others before you and to serve others. Being a nurse is not an easy job. It requires a lot of dedication, hard work and sacrifices. And I'm proud to be a nurse. Because I fight against this battle for my country when the old world cannot fight against this nature. Hello, Namaskara. We are so happy to be able to do this kind of work during this corona time. My mom, Sumati Shetty, is working in the nursing department at Manipal Hospital, Bangalore, since November 1991. It's been 28 years. She works with a lot of dedication and is a very hard working staff. She's very proud of it. Working during this COVID-19 pandemic in a hospital is a very risky thing. She has taken this decision to work during this time on her own. And I really appreciate it. And I'm very proud of what she is doing right now. I would like to wish her a very happy nurses day. And I'm very proud of you.


surface treatment of fan-palm fibers with sodium hydroxide, silane, or a combined treatment improved their tensile strength and interfacial shear strength in unsaturate polyester, FPF samples by removing hemicellulose and lignin components. The alkaline treatment resulted in the highest tensile strength of 816 MPa and the highest IFSS of 4.1 MPa. This article was authored by Hendry Hestiawan, Jamashree and Kuzmino.