The final item of business today is a member's business debate on motion number 1257 in the name of Kenneth Gibson on hate crimes against Polish migrants. This debate will be concluded without any questions being put. Those members who wish to speak in the debate, please press their request to speak buttons now. I call on Kenneth Gibson to open the debate. Seven minutes, please, Mr Gibson. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I would first like to thank all those SNP, Green and Labour members, who signed the motion so that we can have this debate on a topic that is so relevant and important at this time. I am disappointed that none of the 31 Tory or five Lib Dem MSPs felt able to support it. Hate crimes of any type directed at any group of people should never be tolerated in our society. It is sadly transpired in recent months that a number of people find it acceptable to act out their dangerous and prejudicial views. As the European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance has pointed out, there has been a rise in recent years of alleged attacks on Muslims, while anti-semitism reached record levels for the UK only two years ago. The focus of hate crimes in recent months has been on East Europeans, who appear now to bearing the brunt of them, particularly our largest and most visible East European community, the Poles, as Polish migrants in particular have suffered at the hands of bigots. Only a few short weeks ago, a Polish migrant lost his life allegedly due solely to his ethnicity. As that case is subjudice, I cannot refer to it specifically today. However, I am sure that all our hearts go out to the family of the individual concerned. There are more Polish nationals in Scotland than any other group from outside the British Isles and our two countries share a deep, rich history that has been important for both nations. Those links go far back to at least the 1400s when trade agreements between Aberdeen and the old Hanseatic seaport of Danzig, now known as Gdansk, were signed. It is thought that around 30,000 Scots migrated to Poland over the following 250 years as they embraced those new opportunities. Scots integrated well, completely into Poland and often acquired great wealth. The relationship with the two nations was greatly strengthened by prosperity as numerous Scots contributed to the growth of charitable institutions in the new home, while still supporting their roots back in Scotland. Robert Gordon University, as it is known today, is a famous example, originally a hospital built by Aberdonian Robert Gordon himself, who earned his money in trading in Danzig. It was not until the Second World War, however, that there was a reciprocal arrival of Poles to Scotland. The two countries became more deeply intertwined as they fought a common enemy. In Ayrshire, there is a plaque on the Polish Monument in Prestwick to commemorate their service personnel who died in the Battle of the Atlantic. The majority of Polish soldiers based in the UK during the war were stationed in Scotland, and Wellsell Cemetery in Persia is the largest of the many burial grounds in Scotland where Polish soldiers are laid to rest. After the war, even stronger connections were drawn between Scotland and Poland as many Poles chose to stay on, and it is estimated that around 2,500 Polish Scottish marriages took place in the immediate post-war period. Those fruitful links between the two countries continue to this day and must be protected. Those range from the informal twinning arrangements between Cracow and Edinburgh to steps taken by local councils to welcome Polish migrants, such as offering English language lessons on both a one-to-one basis as well as through colleges and learning centres. The Polish community brings much to Scotland more often than people realise. The national records of Scotland show that 86 per cent of people of Polish ethnicity are economically active, and in the UK that rises to 92 per cent, making them the most economically active group in the country and significantly above Scotland and the UK as a whole. Similar figures can be found in terms of education, with Poles in Scotland having a considerably higher than average level of qualification. Indeed, 41 per cent of the Poles in Scotland are educated to a degree level or higher, compared to 22 per cent for those who define themselves as white Scottish. The work ethic of the Polish community is renowned and I have had personal experience of that, Presiding Officer. Many Poles came to Scotland during the recession and struggled to find an appropriate job despite qualifications. Polish migrants have therefore taken roles in many areas of society, particularly services of agriculture, construction and business, and boosted the Scottish economy with its skills and hard-working attitude. The fact that people chose Scotland as their country, they wish to call home, is something that we should be extremely proud of. The Polish community has brought so much to Scotland and should not suffer assault or insecurity that the recent surge in reported hate crimes has caused in other parts of the UK. Sadly, that is a matter that goes further than simply the Polish community, and in recent months hate crimes against migrants from all areas have risen, and reports of hate crimes increased by 42 per cent in the week before and a similar figure in the week after the EU referendum. Studies show that only around one in four hate crimes are reported to police until the real figure is likely to be significantly higher. A large part of that rise is undoubtedly due to poisonous irresponsible reporting by certain sections of the media. Patients at risk from EU doctors screamed a front-page headline by a particularly xenophobic newspaper only 10 days ago. It has sadly become the case that a small minority of individuals seem to believe that the result of the EU referendum is a licence to behave in a racist and discriminatory way. We must ensure that Scotland's reputation is an open, accepting and tolerant country continues. There is no room for complacency regarding potential attacks on our neighbours no matter who they are and where they come from. The aftermath of the EU referendum is more important than ever, that reputation endures and that Scotland's and indeed the UK's message of welcome continues. No one should be made to feel uncomfortable and unwelcome in the country they have chosen to call home. There is no place for prejudice or any kind of intolerance, be it racial, religious, sexual or any other kind. Recorded crime is at a 42-year low, and our country is an increasingly safer place to live. We must therefore work even harder to ensure that tolerance of any form is not accepted, and the latest social attitude surveys give cause for hope. However, while it appears that Scotland has experienced nowhere near the spike in hate crimes seen in England over the summer, one hate crime is one too many. It is the duty of us all, both in the Parliament and Scotland as a whole, to condemn those acts of hatred and bigotry, and all that we can to protect and welcome all who choose to live their lives here. In times like this, solidarity is more important than ever. Scotland stands by the people of Poland and will continue to welcome and support our Polish community in the months and years ahead. Thank you very much. I call Alexander Stewart. We have followed by Ivan McKee. Mr Stewart, four minutes please. Thank you, Presiding Officer. First of all, I will start by echoing the comments from made by Kenneth Gibson this afternoon in securing the debate on this important issue.  There has been a long tradition of migration from Poland to Scotland and the United Kingdom. Poland played a crucial role in the Second World War. The Poles were allies for the largest force and helped to secure essential victories against acts and ensured that victory came. The United Kingdom has a long history of our Polish friends. Between 1930 and 1940, over 100,000 people from Poland settled in the United Kingdom. Moreover, in 1947, the House of Parliament passed the Polish Resettlement Act, which recognised the outstanding contribution of Poles that were made in the war and offered British citizenship to over 200,000 Polish troops who had been displaced by the conflict. Many of the Polish Magans found new employment in Britain and played a vital role in re-establishing from the Second World War. Mr Gibson talked about Welsh Hill Cemetery. It was my honour and privilege to be the councillor for Welsh Hill from 1999 until 2007 until my ward was enlarged to Perth South. For the past 18 years, I have attended ceremonies at that and I look forward to on 6 November laying a wreath on behalf of the Scottish Parliament at that cemetery. Today, Polish Magans continue to engage fully in British society and in that economy. As is mentioned, 92 per cent of working-age Poles live in the United Kingdom have either higher education or employment, a level much higher than the average person in the population. In the terms of character and work ethic, those individuals from Poland have a huge contribution to make to our society. They participate, they engage and they become pillars of the establishment within any community that they represent and they live in. That has to be welcomed. There is no doubt that hate crimes against anyone in this country, wherever they are born here or they have chosen to live here, is totally and utterly unacceptable. It is my great belief that the perpetrators of such crimes are very limited and on the fringe, Deputy Presiding Officer, of society. The vast majority of people in Scotland and the United Kingdom recognise the information and the opportunity that Polish people have brought into our country and continue to do that. We must at all times ensure that we ensure that any perpetrator is challenged, is subjected to the law and is punished, because we cannot allow information of that nature to go out. You have commented, Mr Gibson, about the media. The media has a role to play very much in this process. The media has had a role to play in migration through the centuries and generations, but even more so today. The social media that we have, which instantly makes things happen across a network and things can go viral, can, without question and without doubt, create a big information, as we move forward, in concluding. All of us in this chamber must contend these acts and make it clear that the true values of inclusion and acceptance is what we in this country hold dear and send a strong message across from this chamber and outside that this behaviour must not be tolerated in any shape, way or form. I thank Kenny Gibson for bringing that motion to the Parliament and for allowing us the opportunity to speak on that important issue. As Kenny said, the links between Scotland and Poland are long and deep. In the 16th and 17th centuries, well-established transport links existed across the northern Baltic seas, offering opportunities for trade and migration in both directions. A sizable Scottish community grew up in Poland. By 1650, up to 40,000 Scots were living across the country, working as everything from travelling peddlers to officers in the Polish army. Indeed, Alexander Chalmers served as mayor of Warsaw in the 1690s. Many maintained links back to their homeland and then, of course, an independent Scotland. Many settled and intermarried with the local population, and those family ties occurred at all levels in society. Perhaps none more famous in the marriage of the old pretender, James Francis Edward Stewart to Maria Sowiecka, the granddaughter of one of Poland's most famous kings, Jan Sowiecki. Indeed, Bonnie Plinch Charlie was a pole. The late 19th century saw the wave of immigration from Poland known as a clebim for bread, escaping the starvation levels of poverty in a pole, which had by that time lost its independence. Many reached the USA, making Chicago the largest Polish city outside of Poland. France was another popular destination. Mariana Brzynska, from the district of Wood, my great-grandmother, found herself at age 14 in the melting pot of cultures that was Glasgow by the turn of the 20th century. A rather wave of Polish immigrants arrived in Scotland during the Second World War. The Polish club in Glasgow was named after Władysław Sikorski, Prime Minister of the Polish Government, and exiled during those dark years in Polish and European history. The immense contribution of the Polish air force pilots in the Battle of Britain is well documented. The adaptability of language plays an intriguing role in the integration process. I first met the great Scots language enthusiast and historian Billy Kaye in a restaurant in Warsaw. Billy was on a tour of Polish universities lecturing on the historical links between Scotland and Poland and promoting his fine book about the diaspora of the Scottish world. Billy spoke of the history of Polish nameplaces adapted from the original Scots names given to them by their 17th century Scottish founders. Interestingly, in my constituency recently I know that there are a couple of Polish surnames, perhaps a spelling mistake or maybe a creeping Caledonianisation. Mtsulewlewych, simply by capitalising the U, transforms into McCulloch and Mtskoviak, similarly to Machkoviak. It is a process that works well in reverse. Miki is read in the Polish language as Mtske, a small step to Mtskewlewych, surname of Poland's greatest national poet. To the most recent wave of Polish arrivals to Scottish shores, with budget airlines rather than steamships, now the transport of choice, many have been here since Poland joined the EU in 2004 and are well integrated with children born in Scotland, contributing immensely to Scotland, its economy and its culture. Many, my own wife included, have married Scots. Others are even more recent arrivals, still baffled by the unpredictability of the Scottish weather. However, recently, Polish friends in Warsaw brought my attention to an incident that occurred in Edinburgh, reporting the Polish press of a Polish family living in our capital city being the victims of racial abuse and vandalism, an unacceptable situation and unfortunately part of a recent trend and one that we might almost take steps to eradicate. We welcome all from wherever they come to contribute to the complex tartan that is more than Scotland. We do so sadly in a Europe that is unfortunately witnessing growing and dangerous levels of intolerance and xenophobia. Both Scottish and Polish societies need to be open to those of all faith, colours and creeds. Tolerance is a two-way street. Some 50 years ago, a politician stood in solidarity with her people and said, ëIgben Ein Berlinerí. Today, I want to send a message from this Parliament, the Scottish Parliament, across this country and beyond. If you should say ëYes, this is me, Paul Cammieí, we are all Poles. Vitamina Scotty, welcome to Scotland. Thank you very much. The call Mary Feed, followed by Annie Wells. Ms Feed. My goodness, we are awkward up to listen. Take your time. Can I start by thanking Kenny Gibson for tabling this motion and for the work he has done in raising awareness of the rise in hate crimes against the Polish community in Scotland? It is sadly the case that here in Scotland, as well as across the rest of the UK, we have witnessed a rise in hate crimes, motivated by race since Britain's vote to leave the European Union on 23 June, particularly aimed at Polish migrants. It has been acknowledged by many prominent politicians and journalists that the rhetoric of the leaf campaign during the EU referendum was divisive and dangerous. In the aftermath of that referendum result in the summer, the former Government Minister, Barnes Varsai, described elements of the leaf campaign as divisive and xenophobic. Barnes Varsai was correct then, and that remark still stands correct now. The leaf campaign was divisive and xenophobic. It was a campaign designed to scare people, divide communities and scapegoat European migrants as the root of all the problems that we face across the UK. Rhetoric like this is dangerous and divisive, as it simplifies the very many complex issues that we face as a nation by scapegoating European migrants for all of these problems. Scotland should lead the UK by ensuring that we are a modern, tolerant and inclusive nation that accepts people of all race, religion and nationality. Polish nationals in Scotland should feel safe, safe from threats, safe from abuse and safe from attack. The motion for this evening's debate makes reference to Scotland and Poland's historic and strong relationship. The importance of the historic links between Scotland and Poland stretch back, as we have already heard, as far as the 15th century and cannot be understated. In the late 15th century, trade agreements were agreed between Aberdeen and the former Baltic seaport of Danzig, now modern-day Gdansk, a city that I was happy to visit over the summer months. In the 250 years that have followed, more than 30,000 Scots moved and settled in Poland. Later in the 17th century, the Aberdonian merchant Robert Gordon would make his wealth from trading out of Danzig and settling in the city. In the early 20th century, after the fall of Poland to Nazi Germany, around 38,000 Polish soldiers came to be stationed in Scotland and took over the coastal defence of Fife and Angus as they were unable to return to occupied Poland. In 2016 Scotland, the links between Scotland and Poland are still as strong as ever, and Polish nationals continue to contribute to the diverse and rich fabric of our society. Recent figures from the national records of Scotland highlight the considerable contribution that the 55,000-plus Polish diaspora in Scotland are making to modern Scottish economy. Six hundred years after the first Polish-Gottish trade links were established. Finally, it is crucial that we unite against the dangerous rhetoric that aims to divide our society with xenophobic scaremongering. We must challenge, condemn and report all hate crime if we witness it. Scotland has to lead the way within the UK by ensuring that Polish nationals who choose to make Scotland their home always feel welcome, always feel safe and always feel appreciated. I understand that you have to leave early. Perhaps for a lie down in a gargle would be a good idea. I now call Annie Wells to be followed by Stuart Stevenson, Ms Wells. We all agree in the chamber today that hate crimes in Scotland and the wider UK should always be condemned, and that we should do our utmost to make sure that everyone living in this country feels welcome. I am proud that this country is one where we tolerate one another's beliefs and actively celebrate our diversity in a way that strengthens our society. Scotland and Poland share a rich history, as we have heard already, and it is estimated that nearly 80,000 Polish people were living in Scotland. In Glasgow alone, over 8,000 people identified themselves as Polish in the 2011 census, and I would like to also add that my great-grandfather was Polish and came to Scotland at the start of the last century as a navie helping to build Scotland's railway, and I support the sentiments of this motion wholeheartedly. However, the referendum has left us in a position where we have to increase our efforts to make sure that we come together as a nation and make sure that we curb the worrying increase in racist and xenophobic acts. I was shocked to see incidents of neo-Nazis stickers going up around Glasgow during the summer, and I was shocked to learn about the worrying increase of hate crime in the wider UK, including an incident where a Polish community centre was vandalised with graffiti in Hammersmith. The vote on the EU and exercising democracy must not be turned into something contemptible and racist, and I am pleased in Scotland that that has largely been seen as the case. More generally, the proportion of charges that specifically relate to racially aggravated harassment and behaviour in Scotland has fallen over recent years by over 15 per cent since 2008. Police Scotland reported that it has not seen an increase in the number of crimes reported over the referendum. Those must be reassuring figures indeed. Although that is very positive, I do of course acknowledge that 14 per cent increase in the number of hate crimes across the UK is a whole, crimes that affect not just the Polish community. I do not condone this and it concerns me as much as it would any other member in this chamber today. It is more than unfortunate that the increase is linked with her exit from the EU, but I am also reassured that the UK Government is taking decisive action to tackle the rise in hate crimes. The Government's new hate crime action plan has been implemented in England and Wales this summer, a plan that will increase the number of reporting of hate crimes, prevent hate crimes on transport and provide stronger support for victims. In addition to that, £2.4 million of funding will be made available to places of worship for extra help with security and installing equipment for mosques, synagogues and other religious institutions that need extra protection. The Government will continue to develop the fund national projects True Vision and Tell Mama initiatives that have set up to raise awareness of hate crimes and encourage victims to report them. In Scotland and closer to home, I welcome Glasgow's involvement this month in the national initiative Hate Crime Awareness Week, a week in which there will be a host of events taking place. Today's awareness about hate crime, how to respond to it and encourage victims and witnesses to report it. Initiatives such as those show to me that, ultimately, the UK is an inclusive and tolerant country and one that celebrates diversity. If we stand together, we can work to stamp out the racism that exists at the periphery and make all communities living here feel welcome. I thank Stuart Stevenson, John Finnie and the last speaker in the open debate. Let me start by thanking Kenny Gibson, as others have done, for giving us the opportunity to have this particular debate. When I was a minister in the Scottish Government, I found myself very regularly representing the UK in discussions with Polish ministers. I am never quite sure why that was the case. Perhaps they simply recognised the natural affinity that we Scots have with so many people in Poland. For my personal part, I first became aware of the polls through a friendship with the person who became my patrol leader when I was the Boy Scouts, that was Zbigniew Clymun Skroddski. He was a result of one of the 200,000 marriages when Janet Barkley married Captain Stanislaw Skroddski of the Polish cavalry, Zbigniew Clymun Skroddski and his sister Felicia, where he was the result. Bush, because that is the nickname by which people who are called Zbigniew are pretty universally known in Poland, was a terrific character, much admired by my friends and perhaps envied for the fact that he had a Vincent Black shadow motorcycle and many of the tales we could have of Bush. Bush continued the record of service that there was across the Polish community to Scotland and to the UK. Bush himself followed in the steps of many polls who came to fight against the Nazis after the war. Indeed, it is worth making the point that Polish squadrons, of which there were four based in Scotland, had a strike rate against the enemy, which was two and a half times greater than pilots in indigenous squadrons. Bush joined the Royal Naval Air Service, and perhaps not surprisingly to us, Bush managed to have three crashes in his first four years there. Unfortunately, the last of them was fatal. We still miss Bush to this day. However, he is just one of many polls who have contributed enormously to our community. Of course, the history of the connections between Scotland and Poland are very significant. To this day, there are many towns and cities in Poland that have parts of their city called Nova Scotia, New Scotland. Gedansk also has somewhere called Starrie Scotia, old Scotland. Warsaw has a similar place, and Cracow, which used to be the capital of Poland, similarly has a new Scotland. The links between us go deep, and they have been long established. Indeed, in 1585, the Polish Lithuania and King Stephen Bartery said that our court cannot be without them. They supply us with all that is necessary, their then being the Scots, and said that let there be a certain district assigned to them. The Scots were singled out in the 1500s for their contribution to Polish life. We also know that today the Poles are contributing enormously. In my constituency, each of the four secondary schools have Polish as one of the language that is represented in the people who go to these schools. At a local college whose graduation ceremony I attended only on Saturday, there were a significant number of people from Poland who were making the most of their potential and graduating from that college. Let me just close by perhaps addressing the more fundamental issue that has brought us here. That is the ill treatment and racism that too many of our Polish friends have been subjected to.  He was correct, and he was also correct in saying that that is unacceptable in a civilised society. Tonight we unite to send a message to our Polish friends. We are with you. Stay with us. I would like to add my congratulations to Kenny Gibson for bringing this highly pertinent debate to Parliament. It is an ugly term hate crimes, but at graphic other states I think of a noted Kenny correct to say that acting out danger is in prejudicial views. We must, and I am delighted to hear the unanimity across the chamber about how we address that. I am not going to rehearse all the historic references that have been made there. They are well established. The Second World War references resonated with me because of the affection my father and his brothers would have had for the Polish people who joined in the fight against fascism. We know that there were 16,000 families settled in the UK at the end of that war, and they contributed greatly to us. Who were those people? Those people were the parents of classmates, and similarly they were joined by many people from the Baltic states. The recent migration to Scotland in the UK, 7 per cent of the Scotland's population, was born out with the UK. Poland became a member of the EU in May 2004, and it is estimated that 44,000 Polish migrate each year to the UK. That was the case between 2004 and 2012, when the figures were available. The largest group of individuals born out with the UK and Scotland are Polish residents. It was interesting to hear from a professor of Polish studies at the University College London, Ann White, who talked about the pattern of Polish migration to the UK. It tends to be migration of young families, rather than young single migrants who returned to Scotland after several years. Many parents moved to the UK for a year or two, bringing over their children. As we know, many Polish migrants start their own business after a few years. She writes, and I think that that is very significant, that there are now a generation of Poles at home in the UK. There is certainly a great number at home in the Highlands and Islands, and long may that be the case. People have talked about the contribution that EU migrants have made to the UK economy. The figures that I have here for 2000 to 2011 are 20 billion, 20 billion the contribution. In EU migrants, 43 per cent less likely to be in receipt of benefits, 7 per cent less likely to live in social housing than the UK born. As has been quoted earlier, more highly educated. I think that there are some disturbing figures in a poll taken in 2015 in advance of the referendum. 23 per cent of Poles felt that they experienced discrimination. 23 per cent of that number felt in more than one occasion, and there is obviously under reporting. There is also the issue of workplace issues around fees for retaliation and victimisation and fees that presented people taking their employment cases there. Kenny Gibson talked about poisonous reporting, and the motion talks about irresponsible and shame for reporting. I would take issue with my Conservative colleague. I do not think that that was on the fringe, and I would ask to what end. We have all seen the collages of lurid headlines from the express in the mail. I do not doubt for one second that those pass some legal test, but they do not pass a moral test, and that certainly caused me great offence. It certainly does not offend Mr Diker, the owner of the Daily Mail sufficiently. The EU does not offend him that it stopped him claiming a quarter of a million pounds in EU funds for his sporting estate. The EU referendum was characterised, in my view, by lies, distortion and threats. Racine requires to be challenged at all times. We have heard about the stickers that have gone up, and we need to challenge graffiti. I think that we need to be cautious, not to be complacent about where we sit in Scotland. The far right is on the rise across Europe and Scotland is no different. As I said by many previous speakers, I stand in solidarity with the Polish people. I stand in solidarity with all people, in fact. To all of them, I would say that they are all very welcome. One part is on point that the Green campaign—European campaign—had a tagline, which I am sure everyone would now subscribe to. That is a just and welcoming Scotland, but I would add to that a safe and secure Scotland for our Polish residents. Thank you very much. I now call on Alasdair Allan to close for the Government. Minister, seven minutes, please. Presiding Officer, I first commend Mr Gibson for bringing an extremely important issue to the floor of Parliament and creating a welcome opportunity to talk about the important role of the Polish community in Scotland. Indeed, as he mentioned, the very long history of Scots who have settled in Poland—a point also made by Mr McKee and many others. As a nation, Scotland has a long history of welcoming people of all nationalities and faiths and of supporting their integration into the Scottish community. That is a two-way street because those who choose to make Scotland their home help to influence our own culture and for the better. It is with the Polish community who have chosen to make Scotland their home. There are more than 61,000 Polish people living in Scotland. Scotland has a close and enduring partnership and relationship with the Polish people and the Polish nation. We have strong cultural and historic links, as demonstrated recently when our Governments worked together to support the Wojtek the Bear memorial. That now stands proudly in Princess Street Gardens as a symbol of the enduring friendship between our nations. That memorial provides an opportunity to remember with respect all those Poles who fought to ensure their own freedom during World War II, as Mr Stewart, Mr Stevenson and others have rightly alluded to. Let me be clear when I say to all Polish people here and to anyone else who has come from elsewhere in the EU to make Scotland their home. Scotland is your home. You are welcome here and we appreciate your contribution. Indeed, Scotland would take a different approach to the issue of migration if we had the powers to do so. The relentless focus of the UK Government on reducing net migration irrespective of the value that migrants bring to our country is, in my view, harming Scotland's economic prospects. In Scotland, we welcome our important, established migrant populations and the contribution that they are making to our economy and our society. The outcome of the EU referendum has caused understandable anxiety within the Polish community, and I deeply regret that. Almost immediately following the vote, I took the time to visit local Polish communities and businesses in Edinburgh, and I needed to meet Poles in my constituency—and I am sure that other members did likewise—to hear their concerns and to seek to offer reassurances. That work continues. My ministerial colleague, the Cabinet Secretary for Communities, Social Security and Equalities, will attend the unveiling of the panels of history and sacrifice in Glasgow's Polish house this weekend. We remain committed to engaging with Scotland's Polish community to hear their concerns and to understand their priorities. However, the reality is that, even despite the UK Prime Minister's speech this weekend, we do not yet know what Brexit means. It is a disgrace that the UK Government has not yet guaranteed the position of EU citizens. I repeat again my call on the UK Government to do the right thing and stop using human beings as bargaining chips. To add to that, we have seen in other parts of the UK a sharp increase in reported incidents of hate crime against ethnic minority groups, including very sadly Polish people. We have seen, as Ms Wells mentioned, reports of a Polish cultural centre in London, Dobbin and Graffiti, and the toxic debate around immigration that so dominated the EU debate in parts seems to have created an environment where some feel that it is acceptable to show prejudice and target others on the basis of their nationality. Indeed, the recent report of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination held that the campaign was marked by divisive, anti-immigrant and xenophobic rhetoric, and that many politicians and prominent political figures not only failed to condemn it but also created and entrenched prejudices, thereby emboldening individuals to carry out acts of intimidation and hate towards ethnic or ethno-religious minority communities and people who are visibly different. The committee also noted that the surgeon hate crime was absent in Scotland. I think that that demonstrates that, despite political differences, the debate in Scotland was conducted in a different way. However, like Mr Finlay, I do not say that to be complacent, nor can we pretend that the toxic debate from elsewhere has not impacted either on EU nationals living here or on the views of those in Scotland who still believe that it is acceptable to be prejudiced. We will continue to work with Police Scotland and others to monitor the situation closely, and we will continue to engage with the Polish community on their concerns and issues. I encourage anyone who feels that they have been the victim of hate crime to report it to Police Scotland. They take all such reports very seriously and will conduct thorough investigations to ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice. We have published a race equality framework, which will run until 2030 to take a long-term approach towards improving outcomes for Scotland's minority ethnic communities. We will shortly announce the appointment of a race equality framework adviser to help to drive that work forward. Our independent advisory group on hate crime, prejudice and community cohesion has published its findings, and we will consider them carefully in informing our future work in this area. Through our Scottish approach to building community cohesion, we are focused on ensuring that fundamental principles of social justice, human rights and an inclusive national identity are woven throughout everything that we as a Government do. Let me be clear, there is absolutely no place for bigotry and prejudice in Scotland. The Scottish Government is committed to tackling hate crime, and we will continue to work with communities, not least the Polish community, to create a Scotland that celebrates diversity and creates equality of opportunity for everyone. Thank you. That concludes the debate. I now close this meeting.


Why narcissists treat strangers better than you? Narcissists are very unfair They're not morally right They treat people in an unequal way They treat other people better than you They will go out of their way for other people They will make a special effort to help them. They will help people who aren't significant They will do things for them, but when you first met the narcissist They would do nice things for you They love bombed you They did everything they could to impress you But when you start going out in public together Or when there's another person around They always have to impress the other person Without showing any regard or respect for you They will go out of their way to be kind and friendly to strangers People they don't even know They change the inherent qualities of their mind and character They change their body language They even change the way they speak But you are supposed to be something significant to the narcissist So you should expect some level of priority You should be regarded and treated as more important than other people You should expect some level of politeness and consideration Where they should come to you first But when the narcissist is around other people They just push you to the side Once you've been around the narcissist long enough Their politeness and cuteness is no longer the use of thought about Which is why you will see other people receiving this preferential treatment That you no longer get from them They will treat them better than you And it will feel like they have an advantage over you Because they're waiting on them hand and foot They're providing everything they want and need They're being extra warm and friendly They're not checking to see if you need anything But they're doing it for strangers Because they're just putting on an act Everything they do is an act Which is something you witnessed when they were trying to get to you Whenever there's someone new for them to impress They have to change their character completely And be whatever they think that person wants and needs They always have to overdo it They always have to give excessive treatment Until it looks disrespectful to you Because how can they treat a stranger better than you If you ask them to do a similar thing for you They would only give you their uncooperative attitude Because they're not living with a stranger They're not always around them But they're giving them better treatment than they give to you When it should never be that way If you're supposed to be important to them In a significant position in their life You shouldn't be getting lesser treatment Than someone they don't even know But you will see that when they go into the supermarket Or when you're at a restaurant They will be extra warm and friendly to other people To people they don't even know It should show you how fake and deceptive the narcissist really is And it should show you how insignificant you are to them Because otherwise they wouldn't be going out of their way And being too friendly with people they don't even know People who aren't even doing anything for them A normal person would never do that They would never let a person who is supposed to be significant And mean something to them Feel less than strangers But even if someone is in polite or bad manner towards the narcissist in public The narcissist will stop themselves from saying something They will remain friendly They will try to work things out But why can't they be that way with you? Why can't they give you the same courtesy and respect? They can never give you that kind of treatment But they can do it with a stranger When the narcissist is being extra warm and friendly to other people This is something you need to pay attention to Because it should reveal to you that you're dealing with a fake person Someone who is not being genuine It should reveal to you that you don't really mean anything to them Even though they may say that you do Their words don't match their actions Because they're deliberately going out of their way To be polite, respectful and considerate To people who don't mean anything to them It's a way of indirectly expressing negative feelings Instead of openly addressing them They're avoiding direct communication with you But they're trying to invalidate you By making or proving some argument or statement through their actions And making you feel like you're less than who you really are Or making you feel like you don't deserve their kindness like other people do They're trying to mess with your mind They're trying to make you feel like you have to do something to earn their kindness You can't just have it unconditionally But they will give it to other people People who don't mean anything to them It's very strange behaviour It's very different to what is usual Or to what should be expected But this is something you will see from the narcissist And it's something you've probably already seen Where they treat other people better than you People who don't mean anything to them Or doing anything for them People who are strangers They will behave in a silly and foolish way with you But they will be calm and composed And not really bothered by things with other people Which is a form of abuse They're mistreating you Because a normal person would never go out of their way for someone Who doesn't mean anything to them They would never agree with Or support the opinions or actions of a stranger Over someone who is important to them That is contrary to what is usual and normal But this is something you will usually see them do In public and around other people You will see that they treat other people strikingly different To how they treat you And if you do see it You should start making a plan to free yourself From this undesirable situation Because if someone is doing that to you There is something wrong with them Thank you for watching I hope this video resonated with you Please like, comment, share and subscribe If you would like to donate My payable link is in the video description Coaching inquiries You can email me at coaching.naxiv.uk Thank you for watching and I'll talk to you soon


Hello and welcome everyone. My name is Svetomir Sprijanov and I'm going to talk about containers, Kubernetes, Linux kernel tracing and how we can mix all these together. I'm an open source engineer currently working for VMware. During the years I have contributed to many different projects in many domains including Linux kernel tracing, both in the kernel space and the ecosystem around it in the user space. Also in some IoT and tech related projects and also recently started with my first contributions to some projects in the machine learning domain. Short agenda of what I'm going to speak today. First I'll do a brief overview of the currently existing approaches used to trace containers in Kubernetes cluster. After that we'll go briefly to the tracing capabilities so the Linux kernel how they work and how we can use them to trace containers in user space. After that I will introduce the container tracer, a project that I started at the beginning of this year. Until the end there is a short pre-recorded demo to show you how all this works. So let's start. A lot of tools and frameworks exist that are used to trace containers in Kubernetes cluster. There are two typical tracing scenarios. Tracing our application during the development and tracing in production. Usually during the development we want to verify that the application works in the way that it is designed. We do some functional testing usually on a single instance of the application. In that case usually the delays that are introduced because of the tracing are not so important. In the contrary, in production when the application is already deployed, for example we have to find some weird behavior because of some bug and we have to trace usually many instances of our application and here the delays introduced by the tracing are not desirable and should be as possible. Even a single if statement in the code which checks if to admit the traces or not can cause significant delays if it is in a place which is executed a lot of times per second. Currently there are two approaches that are used. The one is using a site container, how it works, a helper container is injected into the trace and the tracing, needed tracing and debugging tools are in that container and it has direct access to all tasks that are running in all containers in the context of this spot. We can directly attach to those tasks, debug them, extract local walks and even redirect the traffic in coming and going traffic to pass this through this helper container to analyze the traffic. This approach is very flexible because we have usually full control of this site car container and we can set up there only the tools that are needed for our specific trace case and also in this case no modifications are needed to the containers that are traced. This is very suitable for tracing legacy code. But there are some disadvantages. Usually the tools in that help container require root privileges in order to be able to attach to all these external tasks. That's why we have to run the entire pod under trace with root. As we do trace the site container, this is not always the case with the containers under trace. In some cases it's not desirable to run them with root privileges, it may be dangerous. Also if we are going to intercept the traffic to pass it through the site container it may reduce usually a big delays. And when we are going to trace a lot of containers we have to inject a lot of site cars which can lead to a big overhead. The other approach that we used when new applications are developed, open telemetry approach is to instrument our code to emit traces. Traces can be put directly into the code or some common libraries instrumented to emit traces can be used. The approach is powerful because we can put the logs in the very specific and important logic in our code and we can collect very detailed work about this important logic. Here no root privileges are required because the tracing is actually part of our application. But there are also some disadvantages. The obvious one, the containers must be modified in advance. So this is not suitable for tracing legacy code. It is applicable only for newly developed code. And this instrumentation code was implemented is always part of our application. When it is deployed in production we cannot remove it. It has also complexity during the development because developers have to design implement additionally all these tracing logic. And once deployed it is very hard to add additional logs. So we have to make another release of the application. Is there any other approach that can be used? In the majority of Kubernetes clusters runs on Linux operating system. All these containers that are running inside the Kubernetes node are actually obstruction on top of the main spaces of the kernel. Main spaces are used to implement some isolation between the containers but from the kernel point of view all these tasks that run inside are regular user space processes that can be traced using the existing tracing framework of the kernel. The framework for the tracing framework of the Linux kernel has evolved in the past 20 or 30 years from a simple set of print case in the beginning just to dump some information on the console to a highly optimized framework currently which has very well overhead. And that's why it is usually enabled by default in the kernels of the majority of Linux distributions. And it also can be used to test production systems in production. So this framework is already there in majority of Kubernetes cluster sitting in the kernel enabled and it's waiting to be used. But tracing in the kernel is more efficient than optimized than tracing in the user space. Let's compare typical tracing implementing in typical user space application and compare that with the existing implementation in the kernel. Usually in our code in the application there is some conditional check in most cases it is if statement which checks if to emit the traces is enabled. And if this don't look so heavy just a couple of instructions but if those instructions are in part of the code which is executed thousands sign per seconds then it can introduce some delay even in the tracing it is enabled. And when the tracing is enabled some lock function is usually called to give a string and the lock function has to write that string into a local file the string on the causal or send the string over the network. And depending on the implementation that lock function it can introduce really significant delays. I have seen implementation on the lock function for example opens that file for every read and after that causes the file so for each lock there is open file closed file or initiate a new network connection send the string and that causes the connection. But even the function is optimized in any case writing to a file that string over the network is very slow operation. Let's compare how it works in the kernel currently how it is implemented. First there is no conditional checks in the kernel. Instead of that there are few no instructions in the places of the code where the traces should be. These are similar instructions no operations just tell the CPU to do not. And in most recent CPUs these instructions are optimized and usually they take zero CPU cycles. So when the tracing is enabled in the kernel this is the only overhead that we have just a couple of no instructions that take zero CPU cycles. And when the tracing is enabled those no instructions are replaced with a code to a trace trampoline. That is the kernel code is modified run time one is reconstructed another. This trace trampoline it receives the same string that should be dumped somewhere and it arrives the string into in memory ring buffer which is optimized for walkless running writing. There can be multiple writers and readers of that ring buffer without the need to walk the buffer. So this is the overhead in the application context when the traces are walked. Compare that to writing profile or sending the string over the network. Of course there is limitations because this ring memory is limited inside it is in memory but from the application context the overhead is small and usually there is some external logic outside of the application which reads the ring buffer during the trace and expores the traces. So far so good but what can be traced in the kernel and how we can use it to trace containers in user space. First almost every function in the kernel can be traced. This is by design. When new function is implemented the kernel developer doesn't need to add any tracing specific logic around it. On compile time each kernel function is prepended by those no instructions automatically. Additional to that there are static events that kernel developers can put into the code and that can extract very detailed information about some important logic in subsystem in the kernel. Currently there are more than 2,000 events that works for almost any subsystem of the kernel. In addition to those static trace points there are dynamic trace points. During runtime trace point can be set into any offset any function in the kernel. The most interesting part for user space tracing are U props these are user props. Trace point can be set on any user space function. How it works? Before the some application the space application is executed it is loaded into the kernel context and on that point it is accessible to these tracing frameworks. The trace point can be attached to user space functions and when the function is called the trace is emitted. There is also U write props we can attach a trace point to the return the function that way we can track how many time the function takes to execute and more interesting we can track all nested calls inside that function. There is also synthetic events we can combine any existing static dynamic trace point to implement some more complex logic Also there is CPU performance counters these are hardware registers that exist in all the modern CPUs that can be used to track the performance of your application. To find what part of your application takes most CPU, most memory CPU network and to higher resources. And also there is eBPF using eBPF you can design your own trace logic and attach that trace logic to any of the existing trace points in the kernel. This is in the kernel but how we can use those from user space. There are tools and frameworks for that. Ftrace is the main framework that can use those libraries in some user space. This can be used to enable, disable those trace points in the kernel to set new dynamic trace points to configure different tracing stations and to execute those tracing stations in parallel. Each tracing station has its own dedicated ring buffer. So there can be multiple tracing stations. The other interesting tool is Perf. It uses the CPU performance counter to analyze the performance of your application. It can point you to the exact backtrace of your code which causes the most CPU usage using those CPU hardware registers. And if Perf and Ftrace are not enough BPF Trace can use to implement your tracing logic and to attach it to any of the trace points. So containers actually form the kernel point of view of your tasks. The idea of tracing time is just to use any of these tools and to attach these tools to the tasks that are running in those containers but we have to define them as the same way the kernel from the kernel point of view. The container tracing project is introduced for that to make that bridge between the tracing in the kernel and the containers running in Kubernetes cluster. It's going to be simple and efficient for all level system traces per container. It is a no process project originated by VMware at the beginning of this year. It leverages the existing Linux kernel tracing frameworks for tracing containers. It is designed natively for Kubernetes but can trace any containers running on a Linux system. It does not use site containers and does not modify in any way trace containers. How it works? The idea is very simple. There is a Tracer node which is running inside its own container. It can detect all containers that are running inside the system. In the Tracer node there is a set of trace hooks which are implemented using one of those tracing frameworks. Any of those trace hooks can be attached to any of the containers. There is a REST API which is used for the clients and the traces are exported outside of the Tracer node. As you can see on this picture there is still no Kubernetes. This is the minimum installation. It can just run that Tracer node on the system. It can detect all other containers. In that case it uses the information from the profile system to extract the list of the containers list of tasks for each container and files that are associated with that container or information which is needed for tracing. This is the brief overview of the architecture of the Tracer node. It has some in-memory databases which have meaning only for this instance of the Tracer node. There is a logic which periodically looks for containers and extracts for each container a list of tasks and files that are associated with the container and store that information in the containers database. There is a Trace Session database which holds the current and future tracing session on their current state. They can be running or stopped. Also the important part is set up these trace hooks that can be attached to any of the containers. An logic to read the traces that traces outside of the container. And also there is a REST API exposed to the clients which can be used to get the list of available ports in the system that can be traced, a list of trace hooks that can be attached to any of those ports list of trace session and post requests that can be used to create a new trace session to start and stop it and also can delete it. When running in Kubernetes the picture is a bit different. There is a Tracer node running on each Kubernetes node. There is a demo set which is possible for ranging all these Tracer node instances. There is one instance of Tracer API which exposes the same REST API to the clients and it acts as a proxy. Each request received by the client is forwarded to all active Tracer nodes in the system. Tracer session can run multiple nodes depending on where the containers are running. So each Tracer node is responsible for each local part of the Tracer session and the Tracer API has a global picture. In that case Tracer node uses the Kubernetes API to extract the list of containers and tasks on that information instead of the proxy system. This is the brief architecture of the Tracer API. There is a logic which periodically discovers all active Tracer node instances and maintains them in a local database. The same REST API is exposed and logic for API proxy, each request is forwarded to all active Tracer nodes. The replies for them are received in the Tracer API aggregated and sent to the client as one reply. The container Tracer does not store the traces internally, it only can read them from those string buffers. So there should be exported to some external database. Trace exporters are used for that. Currently there is only one trace exporter implemented that uses the open telemetry SDK to export the traces to external Jager database. So currently having Jager installed in the cluster is mandatory in order to be able to collect traces. In this short picture of the forward traces and the life cycle of Tracestation when a request is received on the REST API from the user, a trace session is created and in that request user can specify the name of the pots that have to be traced and name of the containers inside those pots that have to be traced. Well cart is supported so we can specify only the part of the name of the pot containers or pots. The session is created internally in the database in that time but the initial state of that session is stopped. A second request is to be sent to start the session. And when the session is started the trace which is specified by the user is attached to all tasks that are currently running in those containers. The trace in the kernel is enabled and the tracing is started. At the same time reader job is started which reads the ring buffer which is dedicated for that tracing session and exports all traces from there to external your database. The session can be started multiple times and each time the trace hook is attached or detached from the containers. Can be deleted. There is a short demo that I recorded to show how all this works. This is the list of the posturing in my development Kubernetes cluster. It has a lot of pots. Container tracer itself runs in its contrast name space. There is only one tracer note in my setup because I have only one note in the cluster and one tracer API instance. This get request can be used to get list of available pots that can be traced. This is the list of all these pots. For each pot there is a name of the pot and list of the containers that are running inside the pot. And also other information that is used for tracing. This get request returns the available trace hooks. Currently there is only one trace hook implemented. This trace is called system calls that are used by given container. This trace hook is implemented using the Ftrace framework of the curve. Here you have the name of the trace hook and short description of it. List request gets the all currently configured tracing session. Currently there is no tracing session configured in our system. We can create a tracing session using this session JSON helper file. Here we specified what we want to trace. All posgres pot will be traced in this session. All pos that has posgres in the beginning of their name. And all containers running inside those pots. The trace is called hook will be used for this tracing session. It's going to be attached to all these containers. And the name of our session will be demo OSS. OK. Our session is created. With this post request we are passing this session JSON file. The session has unique number that can be used to control that session. The container that is going to be traced posgres SQL running inside posgres SQL 0 pot. The initial state of the session is stopped running posts. We can use that helper JSON file to run the session. Just specifying run through and put that file to the REST API with the idea of our newly configured tracing session. Now the session is started. The trace hook system call trace hook is attached to the posgres SQL container. The state of the session is running. Currently it collects the system calls that are used by the posgres SQL container. We can stop the session using the stop.json file. Just specifying run false using the same API just passing the stop.json instead of run.json. The session is stopped. The hook is detached from the posgres container and the trace is disabled in the kernel. Let's see what traces are collected in this session. This is the user interface of the Jager. In my cluster the name of our session is demo OSS. There is a timeline in the top when you can see when those system calls were caught, list of all system calls. There are 400 system calls for 40 seconds collected. For each system call we have the name of the system call the time stamp in the kernel when this event happens. This is the kernel time space and input parameter for the system call. This is system call system break we see it got 2000 bytes from 5.2.8 This is a short overview of how it works. How we can use that information? Currently the project is in its proof of concept stage it is very limited it has only one tracing hook available and only one trace exporter to external database but even with this limited information a lot of interesting use cases can be implemented the system calls are actually the interface between the application and the kernel and all interactions between given container with the external world passes through those system calls. So observing the system calls we get some idea what given container is doing this is suitable for black box tracing if you have no idea of the container I want to get some idea of what is doing the other interesting idea is using the sequence of the system calls their frequency and the input parameters you can train some machine learning algorithm to detect some anomalies in our container for example for intrusion detection or for detecting if there is some abnormal execution due to bug for example The other interesting thing is for workload characterization based on the system calls we can detect if this workload ranking in the container is CPU intensive, memory intensive, network intensive or IO intensive based on that information to make some scheduling decision in the cluster this was my final slide this is the link of the project if you are interested thank you and there is time for questions it depends on what more b system means actually it is highly optimized and I tested it with millions of system calls per second in my laptop it works but it depends on the scale yes, all these frameworks can filter per process ID for example a lot of filters can be outpointed all the filter is by process ID so those tracing sessions implement in that way list of tasks are passed to them and only system calls for those tasks are recorded but it is only for the container tracer there is no requirement for the application to being traced to be rooted yes access to the kernel is only root yes, yes I tested it without Kubernetes in the proc file system there is enough information for that what containers running list of tasks in which containers files oh, this is in the proc file system yes, currently yes because it is proof of concept ok, there is no questions if you are interested let's see how it contributes


Hi everyone, I'm Jennifer Craig, Young Farmers and Ranchers Coordinator for Arkansas Farm Bureau. I'm here to share some exciting news with you. Earlier this year, young farmers from across the state competed in the preliminary rounds of the Excellence in Ag and Achievement Award Contest, and today we find out who the top three finalists are in each category. Both of these contests are designed to provide opportunities to give recognition for achievements in agriculture, business, and leadership to our young farmers and ranchers. So let's start with the Excellence in Ag. This contest recognizes the accomplishments of contestants that derive the majority of their income from efforts other than agriculture but are involved in farming. The top three finalists for Excellence in Ag are, Sarah Beth Johnson from Low Note County. Sarah Beth is a content and social media specialist for Filament Ag, an agricultural marketing company. Her and her husband own and operate Flying Pig Cattle Company, where they have a commercial cow-calf herd, a goat herd, and a registered miniature herffords. Our second finalist are Reed and Sarah Kelley from Faulkner County. The Kelley's have a commercial cow-calf operation in Conway. Reed is an agricultural instructor at Conway High School, and Sarah works at UAMS as a labor and delivery nurse. A third finalist for Excellence in Ag are Matthew and Chloe Martin of White County. Matthew is a diesel mechanic, and Chloe is a teacher at Concord Public High School. Together, they own and operate ridged raised farms where they raise cattle. They have three children, Ray Lynn, Riley, and Liam. Congratulations to these three for being named the finalist in the Excellence in Ag contest. Our next contest is the Achievement Award. This award recognizes young farmers and ranchers in Arkansas who have excelled in their farming and ranching operations and exhibited outstanding leadership abilities. The award is designed for those involved in full-time production agriculture. The top three finalists for the Achievement Award are Brittany Scott from Craighead County. Brittany is owner and operator of Smart Repro and Delta Livestock Diagnostics and co-owner of Smart Research Group. These businesses focus on the reproductive physiology of small, ruminant animals. Brittany has two children, Kendall and Red. Our next finalists are Brandon and Lauren Martin of White County. The Martins have six broiler houses, 55 head of commercial cows, and a small herd of registered herford heifers. They also custom bail over 600 bails of hay a year on 65 acres. They have two sons, Bray Lynn and Willie. Our third finalists are Brad and Tara Peacock of White County. The Peacocks rent 1,000 acres on which they grow soybeans, rice and corn. Brad also helps manage a 2,000 acre family row crop farm with his father. The Peacocks have one son, Silas. Congratulations to these finalists. Join us at the Young Farmer and Ranchers Conference July 22nd in Rogers to find out who the winners of the 2022 Excellence in Ag and Achievement Award are.


An important thing we'll need to be able to do is to raise a number to a very high power very efficiently and very quickly. Fortunately, there's an easy way of doing this, and in fact, this problem may have inspired the very first computer program ever written. And this was produced by an Indian mathematician by the name of Pengala, who lived in the 3rd century BC. Pengala's problem was to find two to power n, and so he described the following procedure. First, start with n. In modern terms, we might say that we initialize with our value of n. If our value is even, then have and record two. Else, if odd, subtract one and record zero. And it's noteworthy that this is the very first time the zero symbol ever appeared, though in Pengala's description, it doesn't mean anything other than an abstract symbol that will record if we have an odd number. This process of either having or subtracting one will modify our working number, and so we're going to repeat this process until we arrive at zero. What we end up with if we do this is we end up with a sequence of twos and zeros. To write the actual program, we're going to reverse that sequence of twos and zeros. And then the interpreter, which in Pengala's time was a human being, would follow these directions as follows. We're going to start with the number one. If we encounter a zero, we're going to double our working number. If, on the other hand, we encounter a two, we're going to square our working number. For example, suppose we want to find two to power ten. So we'll initialize with our starting value of ten. Ten is even, so we're going to have it to five and record two. Five is odd, so we'll subtract one to make four and record zero. Four is even, so we'll have it to two and record two. Two is even, so we'll have it to one and record two. One is odd, so we'll subtract to make zero and record zero. And now we have a sequence of zeros and twos, and we'll record them in reverse order. Zero, two, two, zero, two. And this is our computer program. So we can follow our program. We'll initialize with a value of one. The first instruction is zero, so we'll double to two. The next instruction is a two, which tells us to square our number to four. The next instruction is also a two, so we'll square again to get 16. The next instruction is zero, so we'll double to get 32. And our last instruction is a two, which says we'll square our number to 1024, which is going to be our answer of two to the tenth.