2022 was a stellar year for anime, hundreds of diverse shows, some pushing boundaries with great stories, diverse characters, and wonderful animation. This year I tried to watch as much as I could with the time available to me. I was pleasantly surprised with the wide selection of titles, even with the not so great ones. All in all, I still celebrate the effort to bring fun and entertainment into people's lives. As is tradition in this channel, I'm here to give you what I think are the top 10 anime of 2022. Now please do keep in mind before I get some comments, this is just my opinion, a list about fictional shows and fictional characters. In no way does this invalidate your list and personal taste. With all of that said, here are the best anime of 2022. The night can be a terrifying place for many. Some may perceive it as dangerous and scary, but others will see it as a time of jubilation to break free of the shackles of the day and let themselves go through parties and vices. I know I make most of my YouTube content in the dead hours of the night. There's something comforting about the quiet and peaceful state you can find yourself at late hours. Sometimes it may feel like the night time is free of obligations from everyday life and we may not want to lose that by sleeping early. There's an allure to being out at night and basking in the opposite side of society. In Call of the Night we explore these themes, but through the lens of a teenager, young Ko Yamori, a boy that has grown disillusioned with everyday life, his obligations with school, friends, and family. Suffering from insomnia, he decides to venture out into the night and on a particular night encounters a girl called Nazuna who is very different than him. Free of inhibitions, she enjoys the night and the freedom it provides. And to help with his problem, she ultimately reveals herself to be a vampire. Yet they don't behave as we might think. Yamori is fascinated by the idea they represent and desires to be turned into one. However, the catch is you have to fall in love with the vampire in order to become one. Call of the Night is a stylized coming of age story for Yamori as he deals with wanderlust, adolescence, and finding true love. Yet he's an unconventional person that isn't into the normal things we like. He's yearning for the freedom of the Bondane, something we could all relate to at some point in our lives. Hell, some of us are still going through that, right? This desire is reflected in his affection towards Nazuna and the vampires. At first the story is mostly focused on the budding relationship between the two leads, but as he learns more about her world, danger starts to peak its ugly head. Visually, this was my favorite show of the year. A phenomenal job by Lydon Films and Tomoyuki Itamura, a director that's no stranger to vampire stories. There are some fantastic set pieces in this series with really eerie, beautifully colored renditions of the night sky as it illuminates the city. The character designs contrast well as they emulate Kotoyama's distinct manga art style. If you are in for an unconventional romance with fun out-of-the-norm characters, great ambiance, and visual direction, then look no further than Call of the Night. Akiba made war. There's always a surprise hit every year, and this time it was the maid's turn. Akiba made war is a violent action comedy parody of many things, but at its core it's a story about friendship and the passion for the work that you love. An anime original from one of my favorite studios, Progressive Animation Works, this show cleverly blends the stylish world of maids and otaku culture with the violence of Yakuza films, while also being influenced by Japanese exploitation films from the 70s and 80s to tell a story about maid cafes of Akihabara and the rampant violence that occurs. We follow young Nagomi who dreams of stardom as she becomes a new maid for the pig hut or the Ton Tokoton Cafe. However she quickly realizes everything is not as it seems. This show is packed with goofy characters that are highly enjoyable and you will immediately love and care for them, Ranko being one of my favorite anime characters of the year. This show definitely throws you for a loop. Some viewers are not accustomed to the over the top violence and the genre clash may put some people off, but do give it a shot. The show is very creative with its storytelling. Aside from the initial shock of its premise, the story takes its time by developing the relationship of the Oinkidoink Cafe members while also throwing them in episodic violent adventures as they do their best to keep business afloat. Showing the peaceful Nagomi in a sea of violence was for the best as she is that shining beacon of what could be and her peaceful ways cause a ripple effect in a city drenched in the blood of countless victims. I admire and like stories with characters that want to change violence through peace, positivity and optimism and you get that here with our main character. Visually the show does a fantastic job of showing the parallels between the gore, blood and violence with the colorful glitz and glamour of maid and otaku culture all while presenting some awesomely choreographed shootouts and fights. Akibe main war and knows how to have fun, it's a hyper violent fun time and is fully aware of its absurd premise even when its characters are deadly serious. Spy Family was the very definition of wholesomeness in 2022. A highly enjoyable slice of life with spy themes throughout, a collaboration between wit studios and cloverworks, in it we follow Twilight, a spy investigating the movements of Donovan Desmond, the chairman of Ostania's national unity party who is threatening peace efforts between Ostania and Westalis. Infiltrating enemy lines as Lloyd Forger, Twilight puts together a pretend family so he can send the child to the school Desmond's son goes to.  That in a nutshell is the wacky premise of Spy Family, but where the series excels is in the interactions between the family. At first we know they aren't linked by blood, but as the episodes go by, we feel that emotional bonds start to form. The dynamic between the main cast is the greatest thing about Spy Family, from Lloyd trying to balance his work as an elite spy and avoiding suspicion as a father and husband. To Anya's mind reading abilities leading into some comedic moments and you're secretly working as an assassin for a mysterious organization while navigating the responsibilities of being a parent. Part of the fun here is knowing Lloyd nor Yor are unaware of each other's true identities or that Anya knows their true professions. Wonderfully animated by two titans of the industry, Spy Family crossed genres from action and espionage to comedy and slice of life, balancing the action packed scenes with the heartwarming family moments. While the main plot may seem simple at first glance, it is that very balance between missions and family time that makes the show so endearing. You find characters that are lonely and distraught, but through fateful circumstances are placed together under one roof and experience the warmth and love that only a family can provide. A full decade passed, but we finally saw the return of Bleach in 2022, a triumph for the fandom as we get to see the final arc of Kubo's manga adapted into animation. During ten years of experience since the last batch of episodes, Studio Pierrot tackled this revival with great force and conviction. You really see the growth of their artistry. The stylish battles, sense of style, great lore and trusty shonen tropes are all back. The animation staff really poured their artistic vision on this, beautifully enhancing Kubo's penchant. Episodes with big epic fights and moments are greatly enhanced by the scenery and remixed score for the great Shiro Sagisu. Finally enough, the nature of the thousand year blood war arc really lends itself well to a ten year wait as the urgency of its subject matter made the story resonate more with audiences that grew up with Bleach and are now revisiting their favorite characters. In this final story, the Soul Society is invaded by the Wundenreich, setting in motion a path of chaos, destruction, death and rebirth. The enemy's assault is brutal and shocking. Their main hero, due to some cleverly placed plot devices, is unable to assist, leading the Soul Reapers to confront their past in a bloody history that is now brought to light. Most importantly to this story is Ichigo's growth. Yes, he was pretty overpowered in previous arcs, but this opponent is unlike anything faced before and in classic shonen fashion, our main hero has to dig deep and break free of that rainfall of sadness to choose the right path and unlock his true potential. A lot of lore gets thrown around in the first set of episodes, things are revealed that were on audiences minds since the very beginning of the series and it was honestly so gratifying to see. Backstories and motivations behind certain characters take the spotlight and really expand on an already large world. This new thousand year blood arc is off to an amazing action packed start that I hope will be able to stick the landing and provide the epic conclusion fans have been clattering for. Love it or hate it, the series knows how to shock its audience but also tell a wonderfully dark, twisted and impactful story. I think by now we can all move past the craziness and initial shock factor of season 1 and just admit we are in for some craziness right out the gate. This time around the story is divided into timeframes. We follow the main trio of Reg, Riko and Nanachi as they arrive at the sixth layer, the capital of the unreturned. The second story takes us back in time to the first adventurers who ventured into the golden city and their harrowing journey. The city is home to a village which has their own culture, currency and language. It is also protected from the curse of the abyss. However, its inhabitants cannot leave. Our main trio discovered that Riko's white whistle has been stolen from them. So they move into the city to learn more about it. In it they meet a whole cast of characters that have been living there for many years and provide some clues as to the dangers of the sixth layer and how it leads back to the story of the first settlers, the ganja squad. The art on this season is just as great as the first one and the movie. The scenery and character designs are great and it of course features that emblematic darkness that the franchise is known for. This time featuring some truly spine chilling moments that reflect the true nature of man and what we're capable of doing. I won't spoil the fun with what happens, but this season's writing and story is leagues above the first. It shows a maturity in its narrative and characters. Yes, the struggle is still there. So is the grotesque imagery, but to turn away from it would be a disservice to one of the core lessons from the show. We move forward, not back. Like the kindhearted Riko, we have to find the courage to tackle what life throws at us. No matter how hard life gets, we persevere and find new ways to improve and continue marching forward. Dance Dance Danzur. Been of a warning here, I know very little about the world of dance and could have cared less for a story like this, but I was intrigued to pick up the show. Chainsaw Man may have gotten everyone's attention this year, but this was the underrated show of Mapa's catalogue. In it we explore the world of ballet, the topics of toxic masculinity, child abuse, first loves, and finding of one's true passion in life, regardless of circumstances. Dance Dance follows Junpei, who is fascinated by ballet, yet when he tries to practice it, he faces a lot of prejudice from his school friends. After the tragic death of his father, Junpei is now expected to be the man of the house and decides to pick up martial arts like his father. It isn't until meeting Miyako and her finding out about his love for ballet that it awakens Junpei's passion for the art form. This show is a wonderful introduction to that world of ballet, expertly animated by Mapa, with great attention to detail on dance routines and human anatomy. The story is well done, evenly paced, and filled with great characterizations. One of the biggest takeaways, however, was the discussion on masculinity and the prejudice ballet faces from the mainstream crowd. Junpei's journey towards finding himself is riddled with insecurities as he's constantly pushed back by his friends and his own worries over what people might think of his passion for ballet. As the story progresses, we get introduced to another character that has suffered from past trauma and abuse. He eventually becomes a rival to our protagonist as they bud heads while navigating their adolescence. Honestly, it takes some time, but Junpei's behavior changes throughout the story and his determination to succeed lead to some great moments in the series that I highly recommend watching. Give Dance Dance Danzure a try and you'll be pleased at how human of a story it really is. Back in late spring to early summer, I was sick with COVID. It just so happened that as the new season was popping up, one show stood above the rest. With its intriguing mystery, I tuned in week after week and it sort of became my comfort food to help ease the sickness. Summertime rendering is the type of mystery show that keeps you on the edge of your seat, each episode answering your questions while presenting new mysteries at the end. A great mash of of tropes, mixing horror and supernatural elements with a good mystery thriller. Summertime rendering is about the strange happenings in a small island where Shinpei's childhood friend Ushio has died. As he returns to his hometown for two years for her funeral, he starts suspecting that something's off in regards to Ushio's demise and that someone else might be in danger. The mystery that soon unfolds will shake the island to its core and for us, the viewer will lead to many rewatched episodes to uncover all the details and theories explored. What's great about this anime is that it took its time telling its story across 24 episodes, dividing itself into two parts. One with the comprehensive theories and mystery elements while also having another part of the plot while also having the other part to be more visually stimulating for the audience with more action-packed scenes. The characters in Summertime rendering are all greatly written. The characterizations are phenomenal on this one. Shinpei is a smart, main character.  He's not without flaws, however. The character learns throughout the series and tries to correct himself in order to solve the mystery at hand. The main antagonistic force has some pretty straightforward motivations, but the way they weave through the cast and narrative is expertly done in my opinion. To bolster these claims of mine, we gotta mention the fact that OLM Studios did their best work to date. The whole scenery, background art, character designs, animation and more are all top-tier work and beautiful to look at. You really felt immersed in this world and wanted to cheer along the cast in a very exciting yet horrifyingly emotional ride. If for some reason you enjoy conversations of anime and manga on social media, for better or worse, Chainsaw Man was unavoidable this year. Ever since the trailer dropped a year before, a hype has been brewing for this series. A chaotic, dark masterpiece from the mind of Tatsuki Fujimoto, we follow the adventures of Denji as he was transformed into a human devil hybrid with Chainsaws coming out of his arms and heads, an ability he will use to fight other devils plaguing the world. In exchange, he will finally get a shred of humanity as he now has food, housing and the foolish hope of a romance with the high-ranking official that took him in, Makima. The story of Chainsaw Man is one with a lot of stylized action, violence and the darkness of humanity. Denji's bad luck and inexperience with life is reflected in the plot's usage of fan service. Him being offered some kind of sexual reward for fighting and nearly dying for it highlights the insanity of this series. That world is unlike ours, there is a constant dread looming in the air. Each character in this series is rather unhinged and dealing with the devastation brought upon by devils. Visually, this is Mappa's finest effort to date. They truly stepped up their game to bring us a beautiful adaptation in all its fun goriness. Using their vast talent pool, the show's animation is incredibly detailed and fluid. The devil creatures are all grotesque and deformed. The CGI used in this show is quite excellent as well, giving the action a kinetic and dynamic feel while also appearing more realistic with great lighting and shading. The director for this adaptation mentioned how well they wanted to honor the original source material and I can't help but feel like they poured their hearts out for every scene. The shots and compositions, even the most minute detail is rather impressive to behold. In a sea of shonen and isekai action, Chainsaw Man stands above its peers with its stellar production, memorable character designs and a unique vision that blends horror, comedy and the supernatural to bring an unconventional story that will stick with you long after you're done. Mob Psycho returned for an emotionally jam-packed series finale. Bones did a phenomenal job all throughout the series. The pacing, direction, dialogue, character designs and amazing choreographed fighting sequences, providing us, dare I say, Bones' best work to date. You could really see the love and effort in producing the series. The final season of Mob Psycho 100 contains a little bit of everything. We continue seeing Mob's progression as he faces challenges that aren't strictly limited to the supernatural, instead things that normal teenagers face. And when the focus wasn't strictly on him, the show had time to examine its supporting cast, all unique in their own way. It was great to see Shigeo's journey from a wholesome but frail boy at the start of the series to a much more confident young man towards the end. Even in his bleakest moments, he never lost faith in himself and the friendships forged. Mob's wholesome personality was infectious and influenced those around him to be better people, as well as help out our main character to the best of their abilities. The highlight of this final season definitely going towards Dimple and Regan. Their respective relationships are wonderful and while Regan can be a bit of a trickster to most, we all know that he's a good mentor to those he genuinely cares about. Mob's journey may be over but what a great ride it was, masquerading a boy's journey into adulthood with the supernatural, superpowers, psychics, and other shenanigans definitely made for quite the experience. Before we go into the number one spot, you might be upset already that a certain show was not mentioned. Fear not, if it were up to me, this video would be a top 20 instead. So here are 12 shows that barely made the list. These are still fantastic and highly recommended. These are your honorable mentions. Bochi the Rock, a wonderful mix of comedy and compelling character growth. Hitori Gotu's journey from a shy, socially awkward teenager within men's talent to the guitarist of a band was the hilarious and moving journey of 2022. Cloverworks knocked it out of the park in a story that resonated with me in unexpected ways. As someone that suffers from social anxiety, seeing Bochi's growth filled me with joy. I was constantly rooting for her to succeed. However, the series strength doesn't just fall on her shoulders. The rest of the band all provide great moments as well. It was heartwarming and wholesome to see the formation of the Kesuko band with members that are just as unique and greatly written as our main character. Sometimes you have to take a leap of faith and blindly trust that new experiences will be good for you. As the other bandmates embrace our main character, we see her becoming less shy and more expressive of her feelings, but not without some withdrawals. It isn't a magical blink or you'll miss it achievement. In that aspect, Bochi the Rock does a great job of using social anxiety as a device for both introspection and comedy. Artistically, the series is a home run. Cloverworks' visual direction shines as they are able to take what should have been a mundane slice of live premise and elevate it. The comedic transitions for Hitori are marvelous. The band performances are meticulously crafted and taking cues from real life locations, the background artwork really does make you feel like you're there in the city and towns with the cast. While it may not be as action packed as some safer entries this year, the emotional resonance is there, the character work is also there. This is a relatable story with great visuals and a fulfilling narrative. There was never any question that this would be my favorite anime of the year. So that was 2022 in anime. I truly loved watching all these shows and making this list, a year-long labor of love that I don't mind taking part of. I hope it was your liking and piqued your curiosity to check them out. Here's to another great year and that 2023 is filled with even greater content. Thanks for watching guys! If you enjoyed this list, hit the like button, share the video, and subscribe to the channel to keep up with my seasonal anime reviews, manga content, and much more. So for one final time, thank you for a wacky and wild 2022.


I'm delighted to be here to discuss the Investment Gap in Europe and how to address it. The EIB, as the EU Bank as we like to be called, was created to do just this, was to address Europe's Investment Gap. And indeed our own President of the Bank, Werner Heuer, gave details on how the EIB achieves its objectives in a speech here actually in March 2014. Since then, the investment plan for Europe has further raised the involvement of the EIB in the European economy, but prevailing economic conditions indicate that more needs to be done. I'll also talk a little bit about how the new challenges of Brexit are facing, how we intend to address those. Given the clear threat to stronger economic recovery and the added uncertainty of the unique impact of Brexit on Ireland, action needs to be taken now to ensure that a lot of the infrastructure bottlenecks here in particular are addressed. No one knows exactly what Brexit will mean for Ireland, except that uncertainty will increase. Challenges will need to be overcome, and new opportunities for Ireland will emerge. In the short address, and I will try and get through the address as quickly as possible so we can get to the more interesting part, I'll explain the role of the EIB and how we contribute to addressing the investment gaps that hinder economic recovery across Europe. I'll turn my attention to the investment plan for Europe, how that's working, how it was designed, and kind of give that state of play on that. And in closing, I'll try and consider some of the opportunities and challenges facing Ireland in particular. The good news, obviously, is that the overall economic recovery across Europe, as we know, is looking ever healthier as it gains resilience and spreads more evenly across member states, markets and different sectors. In line with the global economy, the EU economy continues to gain resilience, and after a period of often severe adjustment towards export led growth is increasingly driven by domestic demand, obviously, which is more sustainable. GDP growth continues to improve in nearly all member states, and Ireland's economy in particular continues to bend ahead. I won't bore all of you or Dan with the statistics, you know them better than I do, but I think what's particularly encouraging about Ireland is that unlike the strong economic growth of a decade ago, it spread more evenly across a number of sectors. Labour markets across Europe continue to improve too, with employment figures picking up and the unemployment rate declining. Unemployment in Ireland has fallen below the EU average. Financing conditions across the EU appear to be improving. At a fundamental level, sovereign yields remain uncommonly low, even for longer-term and lower-rated issuers, and obviously some questions about the sustainability of that. Beyond that, bank lending rates across the EU have fallen, and lending volumes are picking up. This underlines the strength of accommodative monetary policies, which have guaranteed liquidity and low refinancing rates, as well as boosting asset values. That being said, considerable imbalances on certainties and challenges remain, especially within the euro area. The economic outlook, indeed, as President Draghi has indicated, do remain fragile. Investment in particular has sustained a severe and sustained shock, and though recovering lingers some 6 percentage points below pre-crisis levels as a percentage of European GDP. With investment gaps accumulating, long-term competitiveness is being undermined, which does little to improve this fragile outlook. As an additional constraint, policy space does remain limited, with monetary policy highly accommodative, and as we all know, as easy as it's going to get, and fiscal stabilization policies remaining dominant. Infrastructure investment across the EU has taken a major hit, as public capital expenditure was pared back successfully in the wake of austerity measures. To illustrate the point, public investment to GDP has declined across Europe from 3.2% of GDP in 2007 to 2.7% in 2016, the lowest level since data are available. In 2016, public investment levels in Italy, Portugal, Ireland, Spain, Croatia, on the periphery, if you like, and a few core countries, France and the Netherlands, are at their lowest point since 1995. Ireland in particular suffered harshly in this regard when during a period of drastically reduced GDP, the share of infrastructure spending in GDP has been more than halved and in fact is now the lowest in the European Union. Beyond infrastructure investment in the EU faces considerable challenges with important socioeconomic consequences. Let's take the labour market, for example. By historical standards, unemployment in most member states remains highly elevated. High youth and long-term unemployment rates are a particular concern, as they can give rise to, as we know, hysteresis, permanent losses of potential output. Indeed, this is particularly challenging in a time of swift global and technological change when adaptability and up-to-date skill sets are as important as never before, including as compliments to ever more sophisticated capital investment. Let me say a few words about the role of the EIB. In the Treaty of Rome, the European Economic Community committed to create a European bank. This was achieved in 1958 with the establishment of the EIB, the only bank commonly owned by the member states, and Ireland is a shareholder since its own accession to the European community in 1973. In furthering the EU's goals, the bank's current priorities are to support growth and employment, cohesion, and the fight against climate change. As a public financial institution, we distribute our funding advantage throughout Europe. In doing so, the EIB seeks to crowd in other sources of financing, particularly from the private sector, in support of high-quality investment projects, typically with a long-term orientation, looking for public good and productivity-enhancing effects of investments, such as areas such as transport networks and R&D. We enjoy a AAA credit rating, so obviously we fund on the capital markets, not through budgets, but through paid-in capital from the taxpayers of €61 billion. We've abound-shifed about €570 billion. That's about doubled, effectively, over the last decade during the crisis years, from about €300 billion. We are, in fact, the largest multilateral lender and borrower in the world. By volume, it's not well known. We do about twice the lending volumes of the World Bank every year. In 2016, the contribution of EIB Group activity to investment across Europe rose to €83.8 billion. In other words, that's our total lending volumes and investments through the European Investment Fund came to just under €84 billion last year, which, in turn, is supporting and mobilizing well over a quarter of a trillion euros, about €280 billion according to our calculations of total investment in a single year. This is a key point for us. We measure our success not just in how much we lend, but how much we, in turn, capitalise and capitalise, consistent with our philosophy that we're a crowding in bank, not a crowding out bank. Over recent years, the effect on overall investment has been growing. The results from a smarter deployment of resources, in other words, combining EIB financing with private capital, EU funds and grants, as well as national resources, as well as advisory support from the EIB's in-house experts to maximise economic effect. This is making a difference. The bank's engagement in this period, which follows the Member State finance capital increase granted in the summer of 2012 when there was a £12 billion capital increase, is expected to generate, according to our analysis, hundreds of thousands of new jobs and add an additional 0.8% to Europe's GDP once the projects are operational. As a long-term investor, the measurable effects will continue to accumulate over time. By 2030, we estimate that the EIB financing in 2015 investment will have supported 1.4 million additional European jobs and an increase in GDP of 1.1% at that stage. Earlier, I mentioned the importance of prospects for young people in particular. I just want to say one thing about our financing impacts on opportunities for young people. Since its launch in 2013, the EIB's skills and jobs investing for youth programmes provided more than 30% to projects that support jobs and skills improvement for young people. Most of that deployed in southern European countries, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece, which were particularly affected by the crisis and where youth unemployment levels were particularly elevated. Let me say a word about the investment plan for Europe. The investment plan for Europe is another crucial element in the EU's response to the poor investment climate. The EIB as the central cog, if you like, is actively implementing it. The current aim of the plan is to leverage an EU budget guarantees of about 16 billion and 5 billion of the EIB's own resources to generate a total of 315 billion euros worth of investment by financing projects in line with EU policies. Plan rest and tree pillars. The European Fund for Strategic Investments or FC, which I'll come back to, the European Investment Advisory Hub, which is basically a center of expertise within the EIB for supporting and advising member states in the preparation of investment projects and then reductions in barriers to investment across the member states themselves. So in other words, the regulatory and legislative agenda to open up new investment opportunities. But FC in fairness is the core of the plan, the Fund for Strategic Investments. It was created to finance the projects of large corporates, SMEs mainly in the areas of strategic infrastructure, digital and transport, research and innovation, education, development of renewable energies and resource efficiency, including energy efficiency. As of April 4, which is the latest data we have for our last board meeting, total approved EIB group financing stood at 34 billion euros for 477 FC projects of which the EIF, our subsidiary fund represents about a quarter. Total associated investment activity amounts to about 184 billion euros. So this is the additional investment that we mobilized, which is well over half of the original aim of 315 billion. Reflecting the perceived investment needs in Europe, but also reflecting its confidence in the EIB's capacity based on progress to date. The commission has now proposed to expand the plan to deliver investment of 500 billion euros by 2020. Now, I have to say they proposed that in Brexit, but the number 500 billion, so we just have to see to what extent the removal of the UK from those figures means the 500 billion remains intact, probably not. As I have already mentioned, lack of risk appetite and sharing are important factors underlying the poverty of the current investment climate. And in order to address this, FC eligibility requires projects to have an elevated risk profile. The EIF, our subsidiary of the European Investment Fund in particular, increasingly provides equity and quasi-equity financing to address this market cap. It's a strong focus on innovation and innovative finance and has made highly effective views of the FC support, channeling financing to where it counts the most. That is to say, into youth unemployment and innovative startup companies. Let me say a word about the opportunities and challenges for Ireland. I mean, obviously Ireland has rebounded manner and has re-established its reputation as an attractive location for business with good governance structures and strong capabilities both in the public and private sectors. In the coming years, however, I believe sustainable expansion cannot be taken for granted, particularly without more robust investment that recognises the growing bottlenecks and indeed the unique exposure of Ireland to the impact of Brexit as outlined in the government's own detailed preparation plan published this week. New investment in infrastructure in Ireland remains the lowest in the European Union. Moreover, in many parts of the country, infrastructure bottlenecks, as we all know, are already threatening recovery and holding back growth, particularly in regional locations. The EIB can help address these challenges. Since joining the EIB as our first Vice President, 12 years, have been privileged to see and hear at first hand how the EIB is financing, for example, the transforming of the campuses in UCC and Trinity. In fact, we've done loan agreements with every single Irish university in the last three to four years with the exception of one, which we will sign with, I hope, within the next five weeks. These are the first loans the Irish universities have ever taken. In fact, we're negotiating our third loan now with Trinity. All the work you can see, we'll go on and is being financed by the EIB. We're financing the improved healthcare and the availability of social housing across the country. In fact, I hope we can announce the first ever social housing PPP that we've done in any European country ever in the coming weeks. We're backing the transformation of the Port of Dublin. We're ensuring more sustainable management of the Irish forestry sector and the expansion of the Irish forestry sector. We're also supporting innovation with companies like Malin and allowing small companies to expand in cooperation with the Strategic Bank and Cooperation of Ireland. These are just some examples. In addition, our subsidiary, the EIF, has supported a number of equity funds for high tech sectors. It's also supported 20 million business angels co-investment instrument with Enterprise Ireland and a guarantee in favour of support for the smallest businesses. To support Ireland's strong economic recovery, even further, particularly in the context of the growing infrastructure bottlenecks in Ireland, as well as out of recognition that Ireland is uniquely exposed to economic effects of Brexit. The EIB hopes to increase its level of support for Irish projects even further. With this aim in mind, as well as opening a permanent office here in Dublin, headed by Cormac Murphy, who is here with us today, we have established with the Irish government last December an Ireland EIB financing group. The group, which is chaired by Minister Noonan, includes senior management from the EIB, led by the President and myself, along with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Pascual Donut and other ministers from the Irish government, as well as senior officials from relevant government departments and agencies. To support the financing group, a number of thematic working groups including three areas in particular, financing connectivity, in other words, road, rail, airports, broadband, energy networks, financing social infrastructure with a particular focus on housing, health and education, and financing enterprise through the European investment, including through the European Investment Fund that includes our support for the VC and private equity markets here, our co-financing with the Irish banks and the SBCI, without prejudging the outcome of the detailed and constructive discussions currently taking place, there are five areas in particular where we've signaled the potential for greater EIB financing. First of all, we can do more in terms of lending directly to the Irish sovereign for ex-JECR capital projects, particularly those that are to be identified in the upcoming midterm review of the public capital program. We can also do more to mobilize private finance for infrastructure, including under PPPs and similar structures for investment in roads, public transport, social housing, as I mentioned, and other areas, consistent with the government's need to expand infrastructure investment while staying within the EU fiscal rules. We can do more direct lending support for the investment programs of the Irish semi-states, and obviously these have been very long-standing and strong partners of the EIB in Ireland, notably the ESD, DAA, and others, all of whom are obviously off the government's balance sheet, and we can finance them directly to expand their own capital programs. We also want to do increased direct investment in mid-sized Irish corporates, including with equity-type products. So one area where Ireland has not benefited as much under the investment plan for Europe and EIB as other European countries is direct lending to corporates. Obviously the EIB is normally associated, rightly, with sovereign-backed infrastructure lending, but less well-known is the fact that we will do direct lending to corporates, and that's something we're able to do now under the investment plan for Europe because of this guarantee we have from the European Commission. We also want to do more credit guarantees to Irish commercial banks to increase their own lending into key sectors, such as agribusiness, residential and business energy saving projects, and the SME sector, consistent with the bank's own needs to preserve scarce capital and supporting those sectors most exposed to Brexit. And to have maximum effect in this area, these initiatives will often combine EU and national budget resources, as well as EIB and funding and capital, as well as funding and capital from the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland. And finally we can do more increased project finance for areas like the renewable energy sector, including solar, which is an area that's very well developed and beginning to make an appearance in Ireland. This Ireland EIB financing group has committed to meet at least twice a year, although the subgroups are meeting an awful lot more often. And the next meeting for the main group is planned for later in May in Luxembourg to be led by Minister Noonan. And that'll review progress with the objective to produce a much stronger pipeline of projects across multiple sectors in Ireland.


Alright guys, so today we're gonna be talking about the Lucid Dream Academy Whiteboard Course. And now, this is another review, so if you're not interested in this review, just skip this video, you know, watch Home About Tomorrow. And with these review videos, I might try and stop notifications so they don't annoy the people that don't want reviews, but this is for people who are like searching for a review of this thing. So the Lucid Dreaming Academy is a comprehensive online whiteboard course for Lucid Dreaming. Now, this is different to most online courses in that you do get a lot of actual content in this course. It covers various different topics and ideas and techniques. But the really cool thing about this is that it's actually presented in the form of loads of animated whiteboard videos. And this makes it so much more engaging. You've probably seen these types of videos before, right? Where it's just some guy explaining or some girl explaining a concept and showing you the concept visually at the same time as them explaining it with an animated whiteboard thing where they'll sort of like write things out and draw things at the same time as you listening to what they're saying. So the course itself is really well put together. It's beautifully illustrated. You know, there's a lot that I like about this course. There are several different sort of stages to this whiteboard course. So you can start at the beginning and then work your way through. It saves your progress. You can log in online. So yeah, overall it's a very good course for beginners. Now, if you're probably wondering like which course you should get first. You know, there's loads of courses out there. I have a few courses for example. I have, you know, e-books and things like that. If you're looking for a more visual approach to lucid dreaming, meaning if you're looking for someone to like physically write and draw things out for you and explain your sleep cycles and write everything in front of you, this is what you should get, okay? Because it's visual, it's very easy to watch. It's very engaging and so they can explain like a complicated concept to you in this course. And it won't seem as complicated as if they were just talking to you like I am to you now. It would be very much easier to grasp and that's because if you're a visual learner like I am, you need that visual stimuli at the same time as the auditory stimuli. Meaning you need to see something drawn or shown in a picture format at the same time as hearing what you're learning. And it's very good at doing that. There's a lot of content. There's hours of videos actually included. There's several free, there's several optional bonuses. There's also a few extra things that they throw in there as well. So you do actually get a fair amount of value in this course and it's created by something called Sean Kelly, the owner of the Lucid Dreaming Academy. There are some optional extras that say if you were to buy this course and then go through the checkup process, there are a couple of extras at the end which I would advise you to add just because they are great value. You know, they add a lot of value and they give you extra content for this course which you otherwise might not be able to actually get. I don't know if they're sold separately. They might be, I don't know about. Yeah, definitely, if you like to look at them, add them to your order. That's what's good about the course, right? There's lots of things to work through. I don't want to give away too much because I don't want to show you exactly what's included because then it won't be a surprise when you get it. And it's definitely worth going through. The only thing that I would say is slightly negative about this course is the price. Obviously, it's a very high quality course. There's a lot of work and time that has gone into producing these animated whiteboard videos and synchronizing it all and editing it all properly. And so therefore the price is quite high compared to other courses. That being said, I still think it's worth it, you know, including, especially when you include the bonuses that you get and the knowledge that you're gonna gain from Sean Kelly. You know, he's spent a lot of time researching his stuff. You know, he's got a website, he does retreats and events and things like that.  If you're not a visual learner or if you would prefer to read something or use something more practical, then maybe I would advise to go with my course, which is the Bootcamp. Again, the links are in the description. But that being said, I think this is still a really good option for a lot of people. And yeah, like I said, if you're a visual learner, this is great. So some tips for using the whiteboard course or the Lucid Academy course, I would get a dream journal. You know, you're gonna be learning a lot of stuff here. The learning curve is quite steep. So although it's visually animated with whiteboard videos, you are gonna learn a lot of complicated things quite quickly. So I would advise you to get a notepad and take notes.  So maybe have the back section, just as a space for taking notes on the course and then have the dream journal at the front. So everything's all together and you can read it easily and refer back to it and that sort of thing. Last thing I should mention is obviously it is an online course. You do need to be able to log in somewhere online.  So in most cases, you can just use whichever device you're currently using. But just bear in mind that it's easier on a desktop or a laptop. There's a certain element of complexity to these videos and I find that it's quite difficult to watch them on a smartphone because you need to be able to see the whole screen in detail.  So if you only have a mobile phone, then I don't know. You can still get a lot of value from it and you can obviously still hear what he's saying. You can obviously still hear what he's saying, but I would say that you get the most value when you can clearly see the whole screen in a big format, you know, high quality and you can just immerse yourself in this course and learn what he's gonna teach you. So that being said, if you would like to go and check out this course, learn more about it, click the link in the description below and I'll see you next time. Thanks for watching guys, this video and this channel were supported by my Patreon followers. Please consider giving just a dollar a month to support this channel or just click the links in the description. You'll find links to various Lucidream products, articles, techniques and tutorials. If you did enjoy this video, please click the notification bell and subscribe and I'll see you next time. Why are you still watching this? You should have clicked one of my related videos by now, right? Or subscribed or gone onto my website or something like that.