I ask those who are leaving the public gallery to do so as quickly and quietly as possible. The next item of business is a member's business debate on motion 6414, in the name of Michelle Thompson, on small business Saturday 2022. The debate will be concluded without any questions being put, and I would invite members to press the request to speak buttons now as soon as possible and invite Michelle Thompson to open the debate for around 7 minutes. I'm honoured to open this debate celebrating Small Business Saturday, and I encourage everyone to support their local small businesses. They are the heartbeat of our local communities. The Small Business Saturday initiative is a grassroots campaign. It's in its 10th year and is sponsored in its efforts by American Express. I'm sure that, like me, most MSPs will be meeting local small business owners and employees on Saturday. We should tell them that we will be increasing our efforts to give them a voice and support their endeavours in the coming year. I'll come to acknowledge their importance in economic and employment terms later in the speech, but I want to start by acknowledging their social impact. Indeed, before the term was invented, many small businesses have been contributing hugely to the wellbeing of society in general and local communities in particular. Whether supporting local charities, providing general advice to customers or just being that friendly presence willing to listen to those in need, the human face of small businesses provide incalculable support in local communities. As a member of the economy and fair work committee, I was pleased to see our committee report into town centres launched this week. Put bluntly, most town centres in Scotland would quickly die without the active presence of local small businesses, but far too often they're placed at a huge economic disadvantage in comparison with large businesses. I want to emphasise another point, often missed, while some large global businesses with a Scottish presence can move their money around, taking advantage of tax havens, local small businesses typically pay their taxes. It means that the proportion of income tax paid in taxes is often much greater for SMEs than for many global businesses. That places them at an added trading disadvantage. Like many, I'm sure, taking part in this debate, we all know of some small businesses that have struggled in recent years affected by the pandemic and where the owners have been taking out from their businesses significantly less than the minimum wage, yet they continue. In terms of the wider economy, some small businesses are part of a much larger critical supply chain. We often forget the breadth of small businesses that span a huge variety of activities, such as operating taxi services, providing private nursery and childcare services, being the local sparky and plumber, working their croff, providing specialist research services, being the local lawyer, the local accountant, and often making better and cheaper coffee than the big chains that don't pay their taxes. The list goes on. While small businesses often serve other large businesses too often, that is not reciprocated. Many small businesses face late payments from larger businesses and sometimes find it difficult to access affordable loans from banks to invest in their business. Too often, the relatively small sums that they need access to are just not on the radar of lending houses. Despite that, SMEs are critical to the economy. As the spice briefing entitled Scotland's business-based facts and figures has indicated, sole proprietors, owner manager or employee director companies accounted for 70 per cent of the 364,310 private sector enterprises in Scotland in 2020. They employ thousands of people in every constituency in the land and often they are long-serving in local communities, in some cases spanning generations of family-run businesses. Small businesses have also been critical in helping communities cope with the many privations created by the Covid-19 pandemic. Simple things such as delivering local groceries to old-age pensioners and, at the same time, checking to ensure that they are alive and well have more than an economic impact. We all face the cost of living crisis and this is no less true of small businesses than it is of individuals. Some people seem to imagine that business has easy in comparison to individuals, not true. Inflation is a common and deadly enemy. We have both a cost of living crisis and a cost of doing business crisis affected by the same enemy. Some other special small businesses are trying to support our economy by trading internationally, but finding things have been made immeasurably more difficult because of Brexit and the barriers that are erected to trading in Europe. The international reach of many small businesses has been critical in keeping open our window to the world. We need to ensure that our trading policies reflect the realities that are faced by small businesses. They do not have the luxury of saying that Brexit is behind us. It is not for them. They are living through the catastrophe that is Brexit to this very day and into the future. As parliamentarians, we always need to do more to support our SNP's SNEs and recognise their worth in our constituencies. We need to listen more to their problems and act to support them in difficult times. I am very much looking forward to hearing the contribution from others and I thank all the members who signed my motion. As I close, let me do so by sending out all of our heartfelt thanks to the thousands of small businesses in my constituency of Falkirk East and across Scotland who are so critical to the economic and social life in our local communities. I welcome this opportunity to speak in this debate on this weekend's Small Business Saturday. I echo my thanks and the thanks of Michelle Thompson to all small businesses across the country. I thank Michelle Thompson for bringing this important debate to the chamber today. I would also like to applaud the work of the Small Business Saturday campaign and its efforts to encourage us to shop locally and to support our small businesses. This Saturday comes at an important time of year for Scottish retail, falling between the now-embedded Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. This annual event, as mentioned in its 10th year, gives small businesses a chance to boost their revenue during the holiday chopping season, and it gives us all an opportunity to support our local communities. Small businesses are vital parts of Scotland's cities, towns and villages, from cafes to chemists and florists to fishmongers. They are the backbone of the Scottish economy, and it is right that we do everything we can to support their success. This is particularly true in my region of the Highlands and Islands where smaller businesses predominate. In remote and rural areas, it can be a particular struggle for enterprises to thrive. The high cost of fuel and limited transport options are barriers for both small enterprises and their customers. In island communities, some small businesses are hit both ways. Supplier costs are increasing at the same time as delivery costs to get finished products back to the mainland and beyond are going up. Many small businesses are struggling for recruitment, and this is particularly but not exclusively true in the hospitality and tourism sectors. Events like small business Saturday, as well as other initiatives, have also encouraged small businesses to embrace digital solutions to expand their customer base. At a time when traditional retail can be a particularly challenging environment, it is good to see help and support to diversify. While that can be seen as simply a campaign to go down to our local high street, we must recognise that not all small businesses are on the street corner. Across our regions, we are seeing new businesses start up in garages, spare rooms and on kitchen tables, often harnessing the power of an online presence. Many shops are now finding an online angle to complement their physical presence. We all know local businesses that enhance our sense of place. I am looking forward to visiting the Evadale Bistone Bakehouse in my home of Orkney this weekend. It is a fantastic example of a small business that spans across both hospitality and tourism, as well as providing a vital local service for a small community many miles away from the island's main settlements. It is not just the service that it provides to the public. I was in Café Gallo in Stockbridge recently, and this family runs a café run by Delita, Nassan's Oscar and Joe. As well as keeping other businesses refreshed, it also supports local businesses and their business community by sourcing many of their products locally. Popping in, you often notice other businesses coming in and those from other suppliers locally dropping off their supplies, but also using the café's services, too. Especially in rural communities, businesses are often not only about building a livelihood alone. They are about people. The closure of small businesses, and particularly on an island, can have a knock-on effect right across that community. We must not forget that many small businesses are still suffering from the knock-on effect of the Covid crisis and now face the prospect of an economic downturn amid a cost of living crisis. Recovery can feel distant, and increases in the cost of living are going to have a broad impact. Understandably, people are going to search for lower prices, but we should always remember that additional costs are faced in delivering services locally and the important local role that businesses play. It is also worth remembering in the midst of a pandemic the vital role that many small businesses have performed in keeping communities supplied and services running. I have pointed to a number of challenges. Many of them were considered in the economy and fair work committee that I sit on in its report, as Michelle Thompson mentioned, and I certainly commend it as a body of work to the chamber. However, we should also consider the positives that small businesses create, the opportunities of entrepreneurship and the ability to perform that social role contributing to our community. We must continue to support those setting out and starting up. This Saturday is a small business Saturday, but it is not just about this Saturday. It is about every day of the week, and it is about reminding us that our local businesses depend on us, just as much as we depend on them. Thank you, Mr Harcord Johnson. I can confirm that I will be available for Evie Dale pizza on Saturday if the offer comes in. Paul MacLennan, to be followed by Daniel Johnson again around four minutes. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I thank Michelle Thompson for bringing forward this motion today. A small business Saturday, as she said, is in its tenth year in the UK, and this weekend, like many others, I will be out visiting many small businesses in constituency. Michelle also mentioned that there are about 360,000 private sector businesses operating in Scotland, and she has always mentioned about the figure as well. About 70 per cent are other businesses with also proprietors or partnerships, so we can see that there is scope to support and grow our small business sector much, much more. The Economy and Fair Work Committee has just published its inquiry into retail and town centres in Scotland, which I think is relevant to this debate. The committee welcomed the Scottish Government's policy refresh and renewed focus on Scotland's town centres and the retail sector. It also welcomed the Scottish Government's retail strategy, which the minister announced a few months ago and obviously the establishment of the retail industry leadership group. As we know, retail is an extremely important sector for Scotland's economy, and particularly the independent retail sector is playing an increasingly important role. Many of Scotland's retailers are looking to diversify and embrace new channels for selling, and I will touch on that just in a little second. The inquiry also stated that there is a strong demand among Scotland's small retails for more and better support to build their online presence and be able to take advantage of platforms and expertise that already exist. I have seen that in my own hometown in Dunbar. It has launched its Our Dunbar website with support from the traders and community council. That has gone down really well and has seen increases in trade. The Scottish Government has committed £100 million to help business to improve their digital skills, capacity and capability. It has also committed to support and improved broadband capacity and mobile connectivity in towns and town centres to improve local digital platforms, and that is incredibly important. The committee has also mentioned that it is vital to see a broader range of opportunities being made available to upskill, strengthen and future-proof retail workforce. National and local government must do more to support that. Business gateways are also incredibly important in supporting businesses to establish and grow, especially in the first year or two, when they need a little bit of support. We need to identify measures both nationally and locally to increase uptake and consider how business gateways can be expanded and improved in its offering. Scotland's towns are individual. I know that there are six or seven main towns in my constituency. They all have their distinct identities, their communities, their histories and their future. Every town, as I said, has its story. Communities can be and are motivated by the expression of that unique story to drive forward that change and improvement. We know that that works when there is a common purpose in community drive to shape that town. There are lessons to be learnt from everybody in that regard. What is important is that every town and its community is empowered to create a vision to focus on achieving that through a long-term town plan. Again, I know that there are a few towns in my constituency that are looking to do that and take advantage of that. To support that, we have to remove barriers and try to support as best we can with appropriate advice. That is including financial support if it is available at all stages of development. The town centre's first principle in planning is key and will continue to be so going forward. Being a member of the local government committee, we have been discussing that on the NPF4 with the minister on a number of occasions and I think that that has been welcomed broadly across the spectrum. Any new proposed out-of-town developments need to demonstrate that town centre sites have been pursued and thoroughly evaluated, that development will have no adverse impact on town centres and will not compete with town centre provision. We welcome the Scottish Government's consultation on primitive development rights and intention to support the creation of a new general town centre use class. Again, that gives more flexibility, I think, to town centres to develop. We need to see more transparency of ownership of town centre property. I know that we have all had issues when we are trying to identify some land or properties that are in town centres, which sit there for a number of years because we cannot trace the owner, and that is a particular issue. Local authorities also have a range of powers to enable them to tackle derelict or dangerous buildings. Again, that was raised in discussions around the NPF4, but we need to encourage local authorities to do more around that area. In conclusion, small businesses are the heart of our communities. We all need to do more to ensure that they decide on our communities. Daniel Johnson is to be followed by Christine Grahame in four minutes. Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. I too thank Shell Thompson for bringing forward this debate. It always is a huge pleasure for me to speak in the debate on small business Saturday. As most members will be aware, small business, especially small retail business, is very close to my heart. I think that my declaration of interest barely does it justice, but just for the avoidance of debt, I am a director of a business with retail interests, although those are very residual. Before coming into Parliament, I ran a small retail business in Edinburgh, which is why I know how important it is. I also represent a constituency that I think is one of the most vibrant, most successful secondary high streets in Edinburgh, if not Scotland, in terms of what we have in Morningside and Brunsfield. This Saturday, I am really looking forward to a visit to Toys Glore and Caffe Zellig. I might nip into Edinburgh Bookshop and, of course, being south Edinburgh, I will have to go into Nordic living. I am sure that members would expect no less. In case I am not name-checking enough in previous years, I have visited O-Ruby Sews, who is a wonderful retailer for gifts of all types. I might even suggest that people nip into House Pride if they need to pick up one or two items for their Christmas day cooking requirements. I make those name checks, because I want to really emphasise how important it is that we use our local businesses, especially at this time of year. As Michelle Thomson rightly pointed out, we all became very clear about how important those sorts of businesses in our local communities are as local glue. They are the businesses that very much kept the wheels on the wagon, that kept us all fed and indeed allowed us to say ourselves through lockdown. That is how important they are. I agree with what Mr Johnson has just said and respect his experience in running his own business, as indeed I did, albeit in a different century from that which Mr Johnson did. On that end, could I ask you if Mr Johnson agrees with me that one of the success stories of devolution, which we should all be proud of and which has been maintained in the most recent emergency budget by John Swinney, is the protection of the small business bonus scheme, because it is the most generous scheme in the UK for small businesses in particular. It takes more than 111,000 businesses out of rates altogether, and that really has been a help to address the financial pressures in Covid and in the recession. I am grateful to the member for making the point that he is upsetting the order of my notes. We need to recognise that retail really depends on Christmas trade, and especially in times of such challenging. If we think that those businesses are valuable, we have to use them at this time of year. I was going to come to this, but the member is absolutely right. The small business bonus scheme is absolutely critical for many small businesses, but we need to look at it more broadly in the round. We are, as Michelle Thomson pointed out, in the middle of a cost-of-business crisis. Businesses are facing costs on a number of fronts that question and undermine their viability. On the one hand, I have spoken to local businesses who are seeing their utilities bills, and the UK Government's help is of some help, but their deals will miss it. Their deals come up in the spring, and they are facing seven or eight-fold increases, taking utilities bills going from £10,000 to more than £100,000. No business can survive that, but likewise on rates. I am glad that the member brought it up. There are many businesses now whose rates bills exceed their rent. On the basis of the way that rates are meant to work, with the poundage rate and the RIV, that should never be possible. There are issues with the small business bonus scheme. The moment you have more than three premises, you lose it. I think that we need to have a look at rates in the round. I think that we need to look at business costs in the round. I think that there are a number of those things that jeopardise the viability of businesses. I would just note the points raised about planning from Paul MacLennan. What can we do to ensure that there are a number of schemes to help small businesses to take up technology? We all have to acknowledge that they have not necessarily worked quite as much. We need to keep thinking about what prevents small businesses from maximising the use of technology. However, in conclusion, small businesses are at the very heart of our communities. They are vital to bringing in distinctive characteristics of many of the communities that we represent. If we value them, let us use them. Let us spend our money this Christmas time in local businesses on our local high streets. First, I congratulate my colleague on securing this timely debate. There can be no better time to focus on local shops and shopping than in the run-up to Christmas, although I must not admit trades and professions. I have used as many local trades as I can and small businesses include local pubs and hotels. Many of those small businesses are family-owned, often over the generations, so businesses and owners are embedded and committed to their communities. There are many great small businesses across Midlothian, South Tweeddale and Lauderdale, from the main streets of Lodder, Erlston, the town centres of Melrose and Gallashill, the high street of Peebles, and the pericook precinct, to the villages of Broughton and Oxton with their community shops, which I am pleased to say are doing well. I visited both, and community support is especially important there. I am additionally a shopper. This jacket just happened to have it on by the way, it did not mean it was a prop. Made in the borders, bought in Peebles. For the avoidance of doubt, I am not the Jamie Halcro Johnston on commission. All those businesses are key to the community that they serve. All depend on local patronage and their accessible year-round, when rural roads may be unpassable. Of course, there is limited public transport. Covid was tough on all those small businesses, especially retail and hospitality. Covid restrictions, movement curtailed, folk stuck indoors and ordering from the supermarkets and the likes of Amazon online. Shopping habits have changed and have remained to some extent changed to this day. They were coming back into their own small businesses, but now they have yet another double whammy that was mentioned before—the cost of living and the energy crisis. The Scottish Government has helped with its small business bonus scheme, I reference Fergus Ewing, which means that many local businesses pay no rates whatsoever. In borders—and those are the recent figures this year—5,820 get relief, of which 5,600 pay no business rates whatsoever. In Midlothian, the figures are 1,220, with some relief and 1,130, 100 per cent relief, no rates whatsoever. However, I accept some of the comments made by Daniel Johnson with his expertise. However, the pressure on family budgets has meant that many are cutting back as Christmas approaches. Some finding the choice is between heating and heating, and the rest is simply not on the agenda. Then there is the cost of energy to businesses themselves. I have had local businesses, particularly cafes, which now have sky-high energy costs and simply will not be able to stay open. The UK has, of course, the energy business relief scheme, which automatically caps the cost of unit per non-domestic energy, but you need not apply that scheme. However, that scheme ends in March 2023. The First Minister has written to Rishi Sunak asking that something be put in its place for those businesses still in need. The First Minister also requested an enhanced windfall tax, which would raise £93 billion, which could be applied to assist with energy bills, both domestic and non-domestic. The Deputy First Minister also wrote to the very, very temporary Chancellor Quasie Quartain that, mostly at 20 per cent of non-domestic bills to be reduced, replies are awaited. In Scotland there are schemes with grants to assist small businesses. If they have not already done so, they should check out Business Energy Scotland website and see what there is there. It may not be appropriate, but at least check it out. In conclusion, against the background of inflationary pressures on domestic budgets, the additional cost on local business is a time for us to do our bit, no matter how little, to support our local businesses. Shopping locally keeps the pennies and pounds local. It also leads to having a wee rest for weary feet with your parcels in the local cafe or pub. Yes, they need us, but we need them. Our town and village centres need them, too. We must not take them for granted, so shop local if you can afford to. I take a moment to thank Michelle Thompson for securing this important debate. The region that I represent, Scotland's Highland and Islands, is home to less than 10 per cent of the country's population, but accounts for 22 per cent of its social enterprises, many of which are thriving small businesses with a simple aim to keep wealth generated by the community within the community. Many of the people supporting small businesses Saturdays this weekend may well shop at or receive the services of a social enterprise, but not realise that that is how they are set up. Presiding Officer, I was honoured to host social enterprise Scotland's awards at the Parliament earlier this month. It was a fantastic celebration of the many social enterprises across Scotland working to enhance the lives of individuals, families, our communities and our environment through building community wealth. The sector contributes £2.3 billion to the economy and supports 88,000 jobs, while giving us all the opportunity to play our part in building community wealth. Those innovative businesses not only have a specific social or environmental mission but, crucially, for rural communities, reinvest their profits in the businesses and local economy. Those businesses are more likely to employ, buy and invest locally so that the wealth created through their business activity stays circulating in the local economy. To mark small business Saturday, I welcome the opportunity to mention just three of the incredible small social enterprises in the Highlands and Islands. Newstart Highland provides a range of services, including housing support, employability training, furniture provision and mentoring, to help people to get back on their feet. In Shetland, the creative visual arts workshop Gada is an artist-led community interest company. Their core activity involves sharing specialist art facilities and skills with Shetland's diverse communities through their Barra Isle workshop. In Inverness, Velocity cafe and bicycle workshop is a social enterprise that combines three worlds—vegetary and cafe, bicycle workshop and a range of projects to promote health, wellbeing and sustainability. As we have heard from across the chamber today, all small businesses and especially social enterprises are facing real challenges at the moment. Rising energy costs, inflationary prices for essential raw materials and difficulty recruiting staff are issues that are repeatedly highlighted to me by constituents. I was contacted by a small bakery in Fort William for whom the price of sugar is increasing to 128 per cent. This coupled with staff shortages has meant that the business has reached a crisis point. Those external threats to small businesses are having a disproportionate impact in remote rural communities, where small and medium-sized enterprises account for 79.5 per cent of private sector employment. The local authority with the biggest fall in the number of registered businesses pre-pandemic was the Highlands, despite it, along with Shetland, Orkney and the Western Isles being among the top five local authorities in terms of business density. That should concern us all. The Highlands and Islands enterprise business panel this summer showed that fewer than half the businesses in our region had confidence in the economic outlook for Scotland, with exports tumbling and almost all impacted by rising costs, especially in remote areas. There is support out there, whether through organisations such as enterprise agencies, business gateway and social enterprise Scotland, or through the Government's plans outlined in the Bute House agreement to develop procurement practices to support local economies and micro-businesses. The support that every small business most wants is that of customers. I urge any constituents to plan some festive shopping this weekend to make the most of the small businesses and social enterprises that bring vibrancy, bustle and life to their local high street. Thank you very much indeed, Ms Burgess. I now call John Mason again around four minutes, Mr Mason. Thank you very much and thank you to Michelle Thomson for bringing this debate on what I think is a really important topic. When I was younger, it was pretty well all small shops. I used to get sent for the messages and the butcher and minced the beef, as you watched, with the carcasses of the cows and the pigs and the sheep hanging all around the shop. And I think it was Cochran's that was the largest shop in our area until it was superseded by a Safeway supermarket, which seemed huge at the time, but nowadays would be seen as tiny compared to the big super stores that we have got used to. Is all of that progress? I am not sure. Shopping is now easier, quicker, certainly, as you go around, choose your own products rather than having to ask for things one at a time. I confess that, for much of the year, I do use supermarkets a lot. It is easy and convenient, especially if you are busy, to jump into a supermarket and buy a range of goods, including alcohol, as long as you are in and out by 10pm. Maybe that is one of the reasons that we have more problems today, with isolation and loneliness. Going into a smaller shop or a banker or post office for that matter has traditionally been a chance for folk to socialise and get a chat. Maybe we just have to accept that now we have a mix of the very large, as well as smaller stores, not to mention online shopping. Of course, online, as has been mentioned, can involve smaller businesses too, but we do not want to lose all of our smaller physical shops. So having a day like Saturday to remind us of the importance of both small shops and other small businesses is very important. I have tended to try and visit small businesses each year, usually meaning shops, as they are open on Saturdays. This year, I put it on Facebook and asked constituents for suggestions in case there were some small businesses that I was not aware of. One person suggested that there were 20 hairdressers in Shettleston itself, not counting the rest of the constituency. However, I do not think that my remaining hair could handle being cut 20 times in the one day. However, we do have some excellent butchers, bakers and coffee shops, and I will be aiming to visit some of them. However, it did strike me that we have very few fruiters left in the east end of Glasgow. One that I have used in the past for fruit and veg in Shettleston is now no longer there. More positively, I think that we are seeing an increase in independent bakers, as well as Polish, African and other shops reflecting Glasgow's much more mixed population nowadays. Sometimes it can be hard to draw the line between what is a small business and what is not. For example, Costa and McDonald's are huge chains, but as they often operate on a franchise model, the people operating the particular branch may actually be a small business. I had tweeted something about a local Costa and the next time I was in, the manager came over for a chat and was explaining how they really are a small business, and he also gave me a free cake. Just finally, to mention small businesses apart from shops and cafes, I guess there are positives as well as negatives. Daniel Johnson does realise that the positive of Saturday is not to get free stuff but to actually pay for stuff. I just want to confirm that. John Mason. Yes, I heartily endorse that, but if he wants to take me out for a coffee, I could be persuaded. I guess there are positives as well as negatives. For example, in my constituency, we no longer have any local newspapers at all, and that is a disadvantage in many ways. However, we have a local magazine now called The Hulet, which carries local adverts and supports the use of Glasgow and Scots words as a sideline, so times change. We should not hanker for the past and we should welcome local initiatives and new businesses. To end with a question or a couple of questions, do we think enough about how we shop? Of course, some of us are forced to buy the cheapest item, but others of us can ask ourselves questions like, is this produce fair trade so that the workers get decent pay and conditions? Is this food supporting farming jobs in Scotland? Am I shopping in a way that supports local small businesses? I now invite the minister to respond to the debate for around seven minutes. Thank you very much. I begin by thanking Michelle Thomson for bringing this important debate to Parliament. It is always a highlight of the parliamentary calendar to celebrate small business Saturday, as it gives us that opportunity to come together and recognise the immense contribution that small businesses make not just to our local and regional economy, but cumulatively to our national economy across Scotland, and a vital role to play. It also does afford us an opportunity to recognise those individual businesses within our own constituencies and regions and the contribution that they make. One of the things that Michelle Thomson touched upon, I thought very effectively, was the social impact that small businesses have. We can recognise that in certain commercial interactions that we process in our daily life, they can perhaps be somewhat impersonal. However, in the context of small businesses, we often establish very close relationships with the people that we work at, whether that be the cafe, pub, butchers, picture framers, whatever happens to be on our local high street. We often form personal relationships with those individuals. It is not just a transactional relationship, but it is someone who is a fellow member of our community and indeed a friend. That social impact is important, but it is also important in tackling a range of other issues, including for many people who are at risk of loneliness and isolation. That interaction is important. No more did we see the huge social impact that our small businesses have during the pandemic, something that members from across the chamber have recognised. I do not think that it is any exaggeration to say that many of our communities would not have been able to get through the pandemic in the way in which they did without the support of our small businesses. I want to join colleagues from across the chamber in recognising the immense contribution that our small businesses make, not just to our local economies, but to the social impacts that they have as well. Of course, as has been touched on by many members, we are… I will be certainly… Christine Grahame You bring me to mind the fact that when someone did not call it a local shop for a few days, the shopkeeper went to find out if they were all right, because he knew that there was something very wrong, elderly or informed person. That is another example of how important they are in the social system for a community. I agree. That is an excellent example. I think that it is a particular example of our local pubs, the small businesses and the impact that they have with their digital footprint as well in providing support to people. It is an incredibly important point that Christine Grahame has made. Of course, we cannot have this debate and ignore the significant economic challenges that not just small businesses but our wider economy faces. We are, for many of us, seeing the most challenging set of economic circumstances in our lifetimes, so it is absolutely imperative that we do all that we can to support businesses. Through that, I recognise the comments that have been made in the chamber both by Fergus Ewing and Daniel Johnson with regards to the small business bonus scheme, which I know is of immense support and is hugely valued by small businesses, and, indeed, the power and impact of the small business bonus scheme is articulated very effectively by the likes of FSB, certainly. Fergus Ewing. I agree that we must be mindful of the current challenges that small businesses face, and there is an end. Is the minister aware of concerns? I know that it is not his portfolio that the impact of the deposit return scheme, as it is planned to be rolled out, would impact pretty severely on certain small businesses, notably small craft brewers and distillers, because of the high upfront costs, the burden of labelling, and that many of the very small businesses that we have championed over the years have actually said that they may have to give up, or even stop—and if they do not give up—stop trading in Scotland, which would, if it ever came to pass, which I hope not, would really be very deleterious? Is this something that he might wish to discuss with Lorna Slater, who I think is the minister-in-charge? I thank Mr Ewing for his intervention, and I want to assure my half-ardy's discussions directly with my ministerial colleague Lorna Slater. I have also spoken about this in detail with the Scottish Retail Consortium and, indeed, the Scottish Grosses Federation, and I am assured that Ms Slater is having the closest engagement and consultation with stakeholders to ensure that, when DRS is launched, it is done so in a way that we can recognise and celebrate for the positive impacts that we will have on our net zero and waste reduction ambitions, and that it is something that we can ensure and work towards achieving the strongest buy-in in the support-form industry, remembering that this will be an industry-led scheme. I have made reference to the conscious of the challenges. Michelle Thomson also touched on some of the more long-standing challenges that businesses face. One, of course, is cash flow and late payment. I appreciate that it can be challenging to keep track of all the legislation that is going through Parliament, but I draw members' attentions to the moveable transactions bill, which is under consideration by the DPLR committee, and with the intention that it will shortly be considered by the Parliament as a whole at stage one. That is a bill that is a product of the Scottish Law Commission, which I am leading on, but it is a bill that has the potential to make a powerful and transformational impact for small businesses, particularly around being able to facilitate invoice financing, where the current legal structures in Scotland are certainly not optimal to do that, as well as allowing for securities to be achieved over moveable corporeal and, indeed, incorporeal properties, which will be of much benefit to the wider Scottish economy. I look forward to further engagement with members on that legislation as it progresses through Parliament. There were a range of comments from members covering many different areas that I do not think that I will have the opportunity to cover in detail, but I would want to go and pick up in the important points that Ariane Burgess raised around social enterprises and, indeed, community wealth building. Social enterprises are play a key role in our local economies. As we would understand and inherit within their model, they reinvest their monies back into their local communities very effectively and play a key role in delivering a range of services. They are a fantastic example of community wealth building, but so are our more traditional small businesses. I met earlier this year with the Federation of Small Businesses to discuss community wealth building. I know that this is something that they are passionately interested in, indeed of its FSB representation on the community wealth building bill steering group that I chair. Community wealth building is something that I will have a great deal more to say about in the new year as we take forward our commitment to a consultation ahead of legislation later in this parliamentary session. However, in its heart, community wealth building is about seeing more wealth that is generated within our communities and retained within our communities. That has many practical applications such as making more effective use of sustainable procurement, employment practices that recruit from our localities and, indeed, seeing more business models develop that are consistent with small businesses, whether that be employee-owned co-ops, community interest companies or, indeed, social enterprises, which can cumulatively help to go and create more sustainable and resilient local economies, which will be the bedrock for continued success for all our small businesses across Scotland. I am conscious that time is against me, so let me just conclude by once again thanking members for their contribution in this debate this afternoon and, indeed, to say to wish everyone a very successful small business Saturday. That concludes the debate, and I suspend this meeting of Parliament until 2.30.


France arming Armenia Hikmat Hadyev. The arming program of Armenia which we observed in France's actions inciting revanchist mood in this country has the opposite effect. Hikmat Hadyev, assistant to the president of Azerbaijan and head of the Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Presidential Administration said this in an interview with TRT World TV channel while answering a question about the delivery of military equipment by Paris to Yerevan against the background of confidence-building measures within the framework of the normalization of Azerbaijan-Armenia relations. According to the assistant of the president, it is difficult to understand the ultimate goals of the French government in the South Caucasus region. We stated that other states should not export their geopolitical intrigues and internal political agendas to the South Caucasus region. Hadyev emphasized. Hikmat Hadyev said that Azerbaijan sees no major obstacles for completion of a peace treaty with Armenia. He said the informal conversation between Azerbaijan president Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on the margins of the meeting of the CIS heads of state in St. Petersburg was assessed by the Azerbaijani side as a fruitful and constructive engagement to promote the peace agenda between the two countries. From Azerbaijan's perspective, we don't see any major obstacles for completion of a peace treaty between the two countries. Hikmat Hadyev said it is difficult to put any concrete timelines and further negotiations are still required between Armenia and Azerbaijan to finalize the process, he said.


If you guys remember, Martin Luther King was more successful than Malcolm X for instance in pushing his agenda because he didn't say white people stop being mean to us.  And part of maintaining your supremacy globally is convincing the world that you're its savior. Don't stop beating us because you like us because you don't, you don't, there's no reason for you to.  Oh, and then unfortunately the brother started talking about black economics and he had to, he had to go. You know, I was having a conversation a while back and it was about Ellen, Ellen DeGeneres.  I was like, you know, why are y'all surprised? She's so charitable. You know, her show is basically around poor people, black people giving them money, giving them opportunity in the whole nine. During the conversation, I realized that we conflate gestures for intention, right? Because using Ellen as an example, and I'll tie this into pearl, if it wasn't for her giving black kids a stage, if it wasn't for her giving black kids scholarships, if it wasn't for her giving black kids a black people money, she would have no show. So is she doing these things out of the kindness of her heart or is she doing these things for ratings? It should be clear to us that there is no incentive for white altruism for our community outside of number one, maintaining a brand. And number two, in some way exploiting the perception of their altruistic gestures and altruistic thought, this white evangelical missionary hood that we have grown to associate with whiteness.  So yeah, you know, those people could be good people. Those people could have a clear heart and a good conscience in the whole nine, but like they are being used by the greater powers that beat. Some of the quote unquote conservative black YouTubers, whose only claim to fame is the fact that they make white people feel good about themselves, whose only claim to fame is the fact that they parrot the things that white people wish they could say out loud in public. We need to evolve from thinking about racism as a micro interpersonal issue and thinking about it as a macro economic and structural issue. Again, going back to a global standpoint, how can a country like Nigeria or like Ghana, who are the size of Texas, maybe a little bit bigger, sit down at the same table and negotiate with the United States, sit down at the same table and negotiate with the United Kingdom, sit down at the same table and negotiate with China. It can't happen.  You realize that there was a Berlin conference where they strategically fractured Africa, so it would be easier to control. They pretty much shared it amongst themselves. The Spanish took this part, French took this part, the British took that part. Tangent real quick. I find it very interesting. I remember a couple years back, we were putting French flags in our profiles because of the bombing that had happened in France. And I find it very interesting that the French have convinced us, especially us, that they are the romance capital of the world. When if you study French history, particularly as it pertains to Africa, you would see Africa and black people, you would see that the French are some of the most ruthless, ruthless people that this planet has ever seen. Do we want to talk about Haiti? We want to talk about the Congo, but to the average person, and unfortunately, a lot of our women, our own black women, when they think of romance, they think of Paris. When something happens in France, it affects us all. It's the depth of our Stockholm syndrome is astounding. Shout out to a brother who watched one of my videos. He said something that I thought was brilliant. He said, stop pitching tents for clowns and there will be no more circus. And in the context that he was talking about, I got two things from me.  But the other context I understood it too was, you know, creating platforms, creating, creating a stage for clowns or spectacles, for personalities instead of people, or the loudest in the room, not the smartest, the loudest in the room, not the most thoughtful, the most considerate. If just pearly things, MTR lead attorney and obsidian did a stream, they would have more viewers than if minister Louis Farrakhan gave a state of the union address. I could be right now. It would have more viewers and more listeners than if Louis Farrakhan himself gave a speech. And we want white folks to take us seriously. Well, these are the figures that we prop up. That's where our economic propellant goes. Because I think sometimes I'm like, okay, and this is part of the reason why I'm such a big fan of Tia Son Johnson. Because even as a 29 year old young man, when I project out, okay, what happens if person A becomes the biggest thing since sliced bread? What is the consequence? What is the consequence of person B becomes the biggest thing since sliced bread?  Right? What's the consequence if Tia Son Johnson gains wealth and notoriety and is able to fund his research and is able to properly and thoroughly establish the Institute for Black Male Studies and establish that black men are worth studying past our utility and past the ways that we fuel the system. What is the consequence of that on a global historical scale? What's the consequence of if some white girl from the Midwest is the biggest thing since sliced bread?  What's the consequence of some old nigger who just gets on YouTube and acts like it's a radio show becomes the biggest thing since like, how does that affect the bottom line? How does that affect my son or my son son? And what frustrates me is that like we can talk about a space that claims to be pro black male, not being pro black, we can talk about that. But what frustrates me is any group of men who are not solutions oriented to me are wasted space because I thought I thought I assumed that was our advantage over women. I assumed that as women stood in the catharsis of their emotions and women stood in, you know, their feelings and their traumas that men were solution oriented. What I've seen in the past year being on YouTube, past couple of months with this conversation is that no, a lot of men, unfortunately, they are the women that they complain about. Hey, if you've made it all the way to the end, please click that like and subscribe button. Also share this with somebody that you think would gain value from it. Also shout out to our Patreon executive producers and VIP members. Make sure you head over to Patreon to check out some exclusive content. A lot more happens on Patreon that can happen on YouTube. So please consider becoming a member there. Click the thumbnail at the top. If you want the full video, click the thumbnail at the bottom. If you want a video that's closely related to this, again, like, share, subscribe. Appreciate you guys for watching. Check out some more of our content and I'll see you guys in the next one. Peace.


The Arts Council's mission is to promote, connect, and invest in the arts in order to stimulate creativity and vibrancy in Santa Cruz County. We are a resource for you, arts creators, and lovers across this vibrant community. From Shakespeare play on to the Open Studios art tour, we promote the arts to spark creative conversations, lift spirits, and increase public support. Beloved throughout the region, Open Studios is one of the ways we connect people to the creative process and each other. We invest in local arts and arts education, providing grants to artists, arts organization, and schools. Each year, through Spectra and Mariposa's art, 10,000 children paint, sing, explore, create, and beautify their lives in our community. Arts Council Santa Cruz County is celebrating 35 years of making art happen. Together, imagine what's possible for the next 35 years. Visit artscouncilsc.org to get involved.


Greetings. My name is Jerome Bernardino, and I will be tackling the dynamics and interactions of living systems with their environments. Just to give you a mental roadmap of the flow of topics, I would like to show you this brief outline of the discussion. As you can see, there are only three major salient topics that we're going to tackle, and all of these topics are mainly streamlined on the dynamics and interactions of living systems with their environment. So, first, we're going to take a look at the concept of the energy. And afterwards, we're going to tackle the concept of biogeochemical cycles. And finally, we're going to talk about the dynamics in populations, particularly the regulatory mechanisms. Based on this outline, the following objectives should be met by the end of the discussion. First is for you to describe and differentiate between the cycling of energy and matter in a given system. The second one is for you to demonstrate a clear understanding of systems and their regulations with respect to energy and biogeochemical cycles. And the last objective, which also happens to be the most important of all, is for you to gain a deeper sense of appreciation for the interactions of energy and matter with the dynamics of living systems. Let me begin with the discussion by showing you this introductory figure. Well, you must examine this figure by heart for everything that will transpire in this presentation will revolve around the concept depicted by this figure. In essence, this figure is one that depicts a living system wherein there are interactions between the different components involved. Essentially, there are only two of these components, namely energy and matter. The point that I would like to emphasize at this moment is the fact that in order for a system to be classified as a living system, it needs to be described as both an open system and a closed system. By definition, an open system is a system wherein energy is cycled and transferred within that given system to another system. In other words, energy is not compartmentalized in a given living system. This is what is meant by the open nature or property of a living system. In order for you to understand this statement, let us define what energy is in the first place. By definition, energy is defined as the capacity to do work. And in order for work to be done, there has to be an input and that input should be in the form of energy. This definition will only make sense if we know what is being pertained to by the term work. And so work, on the other hand, is defined as the displacement of a body against an opposing force. And if we're going to take notice of this definition, we can deduce that in order for work to proceed, a displacement or a movement within a system needs to take place. Hence, in a more technical sense, work is defined as the product of force and the distance displaced, meaning to say there should always be an input of force and this force alone should be the ultimate reason behind the displacement of that particular object. However, in our discussion of energy and work, we should only be limited to the concept of biology. And so in biology, work describes any displacement against a force that a living thing encounter or generate. Well, to understand this statement, allow me to give one concrete example of a biological phenomenon wherein work is done. One biological phenomenon wherein work is done is the process of osmosis, which is basically the movement of water molecules across a semi-permeable membrane down the concentration gradient. Well, in other words, it is the movement of water molecules down the concentration gradient or from a region of higher concentration to a region of lower concentration. Simply put, this displacement of water molecules to the other side of a membrane is an exemplification of work at play. In addition to that, you must take note that the process of work is facilitated by energy. Now, why am I saying these things? My point here is, this energy that is fueled or that fuels the work to be done in a given living system is not compartmentalized to that system alone. In other words, energy can and must be passed and transformed from one form in one system to another system. In order for that system to facilitate work and therefore essentially serve their purpose in the entire ecosystem. There is one figure that may help us understand this statement and that figure is this. This figure shows an energy pyramid in a given ecosystem. Well, basically, in a given ecosystem, several types of pyramids can be generated. In particular, there are three of these pyramids. The first one is the energy pyramid. The second one is the pyramid of numbers and the final one is the pyramid of biomass. But what I would like to emphasize at this moment is the fact that among these three types of pyramids, the energy pyramid is the only one that should be upright in form. In other words, both the biomass pyramid and the pyramid of numbers can be inverted in form. However, the energy pyramid should always appear to be upright. The main reason behind this lies in this particular figure alone. As you can see, beginning from the primary producers occupying the base of the pyramid, the percentage of energy decreases following the hierarchy of the trophic levels. For example, the percentage of energy contained within primary producers is 100%. This amount was then decreased to 10% in the primary consumers, which is the next trophic level. Again, that amount was further decreased to 1% in the secondary consumers and so on and so forth. As you may have noticed, there is a pattern with regards to this reduction of the percentage of energy across the trophic levels. We call this pattern the 10% rule. By definition, the 10% rule explains that only 10% of the energy is transferred from one trophic level to the next trophic level and this rule essentially underlies the open property of living systems. In addition to that, you must take note that the remaining 90% of the energy was not transferred to the next trophic level. At this point, you might be wondering what happened to this huge amount of energy that is not transferred to the next trophic level and there are two possible explanations behind this. The first one can be explained by the second law of thermodynamics, which states that the entropy of a given system always increases. In particular, the transfer of energy to another system always and will always entail the release of heat and this release of heat will correspond to the increase in entropy. In other words, some of the 90% of energy are released as heat to the environment. The second reason is this. A huge chunk of the energy that is not transferred to another system was used or utilized by the system to fuel its processes such as metabolism, for example. In order for you to understand this statement, I would like you to show this particular figure. This figure shows the correlation between the two types of metabolism in an individual. These two types of metabolism are number one, the anabolism and number two, catabolism. By definition, anabolism pertains to a building up procedure, meaning to say complex polymers are synthesized out of the simpler monomeric subunits. A classic example of an anabolic process is the process of photosynthesis. Well, the second type of metabolism is catabolism. By definition, catabolism pertains to the breaking down procedure, meaning to say a complex polymer is broken down into its monomeric subunits and a classic example of a catabolic process is the process of aerobic respiration. The point that I would like to highlight at this moment is the fact that a huge chunk of the 90% of energy that is not transferred is utilized by the organism. For instance, light energy coming from the sun that is utilized by plants enables the anabolic process of converting carbon dioxide and water to twice phosphate, which is a form of carbohydrate. And so, meaning to say, by virtue of the open property of living systems, light energy was converted from chemical energy, or it was converted to chemical energy rather in the form of carbohydrates. And so, these carbohydrate molecules will in turn entail and contain energy. However, you have to take note that plants will only pass 10% of the energy entailed by this carbohydrate molecules to the next trophic level. In retrospect, you must take note that organisms take in nutrients that contain energy and this energy is usually in the form of chemical energy. And so, these nutrients are then catabolized, meaning to say they are broken down into their usable forms of energy, which is the ATP. And eventually, these usable forms of ATP will then be utilized to build macromolecules or polymers necessary for organismal growth, metabolism, and reproduction. As a final point, you must bear in mind of the fact that these usable forms of energy that were essentially utilized by the system correspond to the majority of the 90% of energy that was not transferred to another system. At this point, it is now high time that we take a look back at this figure in order for us to transition to the next topic. I mentioned a while ago that in order for a given system to be classified as a living one, it has to be described as both an open system and a closed system. We are now through with the discussion of a system being an open one. Let me now proceed to taking a look at the system as a closed system. By definition, a closed system is one in which matter is cycled within a given system, meaning to say matter is compartmentalized in a closed system and not the energy. And so in order for living systems to do this, they must have a process in which the physical and the chemical components cycle within the system. We call this process the biochemical cycle. As the name suggests, a biochemical cycle is a series of interrelated events that cycle biological, geological and chemical components in an ecosystem. By definition, biogeochemical cycles are cycles that entail movement of chemicals from biotech, meaning to say from the organisms that utilize them to the biotic components. In other words, to the immediate environments we're in, these chemicals are to be deposited and vice versa. You must take note that essentially what are being cycled here are chemical elements. And so, since it is a cycle, these elements are used repeatedly in different forms, but they must return to their original form. And in addition to that, this cycle of elements presents a number of importances to the ecosystem, but we will only delimit the discussion to only three importances of these cycles. And so, the first importance is this. The biogeochemical cycles allow the transformation of matter to different forms that are useful for a particular organism. This particular importance is very significant because there is an involvement of the biological key players, which are the organisms themselves. Simply put, the organisms are involved primarily because they are the ones that assimilate or process these elements into other forms. The second importance is this, which has something to do with the interconnections within the ecosystem. Well, you know very well that these interconnections or interactions are vital to every given system. In effect, biochemical cycles or the biogeochemical cycles provide a linkage between the living organisms with their co-living organisms and these living organisms with their abiotic factors. In this way, the elements was transformed or are transformed rather from one form to another via these interactions. Finally, the last importance has something to do with the composition of the abiotic components of the ecosystem. Thus, this last importance of biogeochemical cycles is the enabling of the movement of elements from one locality to another. Eventually, whenever these elements move from one locality to another, they become part of the localities serving a particular purpose. Now, all of these three take part in establishing the dynamics in certain types of systems. And one of these systems is the population. And so, with these in mind, let me now proceed to the final topic in my presentation, which is all about the dynamics in population, particularly the regulatory mechanisms. Whenever we speak of the dynamics in populations, we simply refer to changes that take place in these populations. One encompassing concept may help us understand this concept and it is this one, the ecosystem feedback. In simplicity, the ecosystem feedbacks underlie the fact that the change in one part of a living system allows for changes in another system. In other words, the ecosystem feedback is a counter-bouncing effect that helps regulate the overall state of the ecosystem. And you must take note that this regulation can be of two forms, namely the negative feedback mechanism and the positive feedback mechanism. The difference between these two forms of regulation can be seen in the succeeding figures. These figures show the difference between the negative and the positive feedback mechanisms. The figure on top signifies the negative feedback mechanism, while the figure below represents the positive feedback mechanism. In both of these two forms of regulation, an input, process, output, and feedback take part in the regulation of the overall state of the ecosystem. However, the only difference between the two is this. The negative feedback mechanism negates the effect of the stimulus or the input, while the positive feedback mechanism further reinforces or enhances the effect of the stimulus or input. In order for you to understand and appreciate what I am saying, I would like you to bear notice of the concrete examples that I am going to provide. And these examples are the regulatory mechanisms wherein the negative and the positive feedback mechanisms are at play. To be specific, these regulatory mechanisms are the population regulatory mechanisms. This graph shows the dynamic relationship between the population sizes of the prey and the population sizes of the predators through time. And by merely looking at the graph, we may be able to conclude that the population size of the prey is highly influenced by the population size of the predator. Specifically, whenever the population size of the predator skyrockets, the population size of the prey in turn will take a nose dive, and this makes sense. But what I would like to emphasize at this point is the fact that this particular example of population regulation is a form of negative feedback mechanism wherein the population size of the predator serves as the stimulus or input that negates the population size of the prey. In addition to this, you must take note that the negative feedback mechanism serves as a source of stability for the entire population. This is not self-explanatory. Allow me to help and guide you in understanding this statement. The negative feedback mechanism serves as a source of stability simply because it maintains the population size of prey at a certain acceptable level or range that the environment can sustain. In ecology, there is one particular term that designates this maximum number of individuals in a population that the environment can sustain indefinitely. This term is what we call the carrying capacity, and so in reiteration, the negative feedback mechanism serves as a source of stability because it is able to sustain the carrying capacity of the environment. This figure, on the other hand, shows the dynamic relationship between grasses and shrubs through an ecological event known as succession. This evolutionary event lays the groundwork for exemplifying and showing a positive feedback mechanism. Initially, grasses predominate in this area because their roots penetrate the topmost layer of the soil. On the other hand, shrubs are initially outnumbered by grasses simply because their roots penetrate deeper into the soil, and so in effect, the roots of shrubs intercept minimal amounts of rainfall while the roots of grasses receive huge amounts of rainfall or water. Because of these, grasses outnumber shrubs in the initial stages of succession. However, a tipping point will be reached such that shrubs will set in motion a cascade of ecological changes that will lead to their fast rate of growth. This tipping point marks the onset of positive feedback mechanism wherein the shrubs will continue to grow larger than the grasses, eventually leading to the depletion of sunlight in grasses. Whenever this is the case, we can therefore conclude that the positive feedback mechanism serves as a source of instability. The reason behind this will also lie in the concept of carrying capacity yet again. Well, to be specific, in the example I presented, whenever the shrubs continue to grow indefinitely, in other words, whenever they exhibit positive feedback mechanism, the carrying capacity will be reached. In turn, whenever the carrying capacity is switched or exited or surpassed, there will be forces of changes that can drive the entire system beyond the normal operating parameters, eventually disrupting the populations. Given these concepts, we can now draw inferences based on this presentation. In conclusion, the dynamics and relationships of living systems with their environments, such as the regulation of the population level, are highly influenced by the interplay between energy and matter. Thus, the concepts of energy and biogeochemical cycles are indispensable tools that may help us understand the dynamics of living systems.


Hello everyone, this is Amit Dan of AmitDan.com. Today I'll have another episode of Razor Video and I'll be opening and reviewing the Philips One Blade Electric Razor or Trimmer, which I have it right here. If this is your first time or if you visit, thank you for your support on this hybrid channel. I'm always trying different ideas to take you beyond boundaries. If you're into thinking outside the box, this is the channel for you. If you're looking for more grooming videos, there will be links in the description box below. I have heard a lot of good things about Philips One Blade Electric Razor or Trimmer. I'm honored to give it a try, so I purchased a copy. This is with my own money, not a paid or affiliated review. There are no affiliated links. They have a variation of models. For example, this is QP2630, which is right here. Also, the model number is going to be another place, which is QP263021. Basically, this one can cut face and body here. If you're looking for another model like QP2530, then it would cut only, let's say, face, not body. Before you buy anything, just go through the Philips website and check which model you require. You don't want to buy the model you don't need. Basically, I purchased a cut both face and body here. I'm going to be opening this up, then I'll shave with it. I'll give you my opinion whether it is difficult to use or easy to use. I've never used this product before. I have never opened this product before. I'm going to be opening this for the first time and see if we're going to take a look at what we have inside. The packaging looks like this. It's a very eye-catching packaging, but the problem is that this has lots of plastic. It looks like there's lots of waste in it.  It looks like there's a little bit of technique to open the box. Let's see how you open this. I have a feeling that you have to just pull these towards the end and they might come off. Actually, you're right. It looks like that's how it works, but in this part, both of them came off. Let me see if it opens or there's something more here. I think this should be okay to open. I don't know why they make packaging like this, which is always hard to open. The thing is I cannot even open here, so I think I have to cut here. I'm just going to pick up a scissor and I'll just remove this part. I think this is the way. I'm not sure, but definitely one of the worst products I have seen in terms of designing. You have to be like, I don't even know how to open this. I'm going to stop the camera for a second just to figure out how to open this, then I'll come back to you. It's had to literally break the packaging. There's no way you can open intuitively. This is a very bad designing and I don't know why they don't make it simple. After opening, this is what we have here and it still looks like it's not out all the way. Even there's more things stuck in here. Let me see if I can open this. Definitely they need to do something about their packaging. You can see that you have to break these. They added a brochure or manual. I'm not going to go over it. Here we have a small card with usage indicator. Basically as you use your blade, the green bar starts to appear when highly visible. It looks like when you start using this, then there's going to be a green bar appearing. That means that time you have to change the blade. That's what I'm guessing. Here I see that there's one blade. I think there's another blade and these are combs. You can see here that even these are hard to open. That's very poor designing again. This one even doesn't come off. Let's see how it works. I was able to remove this and then we have another stubble comb. This one came off. I think these are just waste. The main thing we have is here. The razor or the body and then we have blade. I'm going to get used to how to use it. The next part of the video is going to be... I'll actually shave with this product and then I'll give you my opinion. I'm going to start shaving with the Philips 1 blade which I have it right here. It took me about 5-6 hours to charge it fully. I'm going to show you the different types of accessories which I was not able to know yesterday. These four are stubble combs. These are when you want to trim your stubble. There are four pieces and this is a skin guard. This one you just insert the blade here. This is when you want to cut your body skin. Then there's another piece which is right here. This one is already kind of installed. They gave one extra blade. This one is to cut sensitive skin where you don't want to use the full skin trimmer. This is for sensitive parts of the body. Then here, this is the regular skin, our regular face cutter.  I have my process of shaving cream right here. I have Omega S series brush. I'm just going to put some shaving cream in the bowl. That should be good enough. I'm just going to wet the brush and I'll just try to form it up. This is going to be my right side of my face. The left side I'll just keep totally dry. You can see that I have little foam. I don't have that much foam because this is just good enough. Let's do this side like this. It looks like I have some water coming out of the brush. Probably I didn't shake them properly. For now, this is good enough. If I need to leather up later on, I can just use it again. Here we have the Phillips. Let's start with the dry side first. I'm going to turn it on but pressing here. You can hear the noise. I think this can go against the grain but I'll try to do the grain way first. Actually, I can see that it's cutting perfectly. It looks like it. So far, so good. I even didn't go against the grain. I heard that you cannot cut your skin with this razor. That's the way it looks like. I'll just remove some hairs. I don't know how you can remove it other way. I have a feeling that you can see on my shirt that I got some hair on my shirt. That's the problem with dry shaving. You're going to get hair on your shirt. But whichever you should solve that problem. Let's just finish what we're doing. I'm not looking for the world's best shave. As long as it's something acceptable, that should be okay. So far, it looks good. This side looks okay. I'm just going to take a close look on the mirror. Although I think the camera cannot catch it. But my shirt is messed up with dry hair. So now, I'm going to switch to the right side. But it looks like my foam dried. So I'm just going to apply a little bit more foam. We're going to do the wet shaving right now. I washed it a little bit in the water. And then let's start with this part and see how it goes. I'm just going to clean up foam from here. It kind of sounds like barbershop sound. So I'm just going to wash it again. Because now the bare or stubble is accumulating on the blade. Rather than on my t-shirt. With this, you can actually apply pressure.  So I'm just going to wash again. That should be good enough. Let me just wash this. And I'm just going to wipe my face a little bit. And we'll see what's going on. So guys, I'm going to go off camera for 10-20 seconds. I'll just take a quick look on the mirror to see how I look like. So it looks like actually the dry shaving is better than the wet shaving. Because I have lots of stubble here. And I can see some hair. It didn't remove it. But this part, it's almost removed everything. But I see a little bit here. But honestly, I'm not trying to be perfect. Because this is the first time. It's just a review. I think that this works better when I try to do dry shave than wet shave. But overall, I'm happy with the product. I have nothing to complain about except the packaging. It's a terrible packaging. It took me a lot of time to open the packaging. And if I couldn't open it, I had to break the packaging. But in terms of price and functionality and everything. Definitely, I don't regret buying it. And I'm happy with the product. So the Philips One Blade. And on this channel, I have more review videos of double-ditch safety razor and regular cartridge or other razors. So I'm going to put a link on the screen. So I'll see you in the next video. Thank you for watching.


It might have something happened with that, but now we're not going to only connect it on one Which app it is if it's twitch or YouTube? Oh, no, there we go. Cool. All right. Sorry about that everybody. We had a little bit of an issue there with Restream, let me text for us Everybody jump in really quick. Sorry about that again. Let me grab our Personals we've got Nicholas T Zack S and then Jeff put it in order as well for some to war.  You're good. I like we're sitting here me and I were trying to figure it out And it just wouldn't work and then we're like, oh perfect now. It's good. I know I could tell all right I'll be right back. Give me one second, buddy 25 rays raided rookie black Wander Franco Congrats Tampa Bay. That is rookie gold to 50 Bobby wit Jr. There you go. Jake awesome card blue steel rookie Julio Rodriguez Congrats mariners. It evens out though. This is Orange refractor auto mom big hit these tigers 25 of 25 orange refractor auto Jayce young There you go tigers and the secondary color match Embachette and who what is this? That is white whale one of one Triple patch triple auto Walker Bueller Cody Ballinger and Max Muncie The logo patch on the Bueller awesome hit Congrats gray Redemption ooh, that's gonna be a black eclipse refractor auto that'll be to 10 Mike trowel awesome hit Congrats Jake be a redemption orange refractor auto to 25 Come on big hit how twins Brooks Lee orange refractor auto huge hit Minnesota That is awesome Robert G What an insanely good case. This is awesome Los and blue steel rookie Royals Bobby wit Jr Congrats KC Mag that one for you. How about that and wow rookie auto Julio Rodriguez There you go Jake green sparkle to 99 angels nice one is Mets huge hit that is orange refractor auto to 25 Jet Williams Congrats Mets big hit here that is pirates Redemption chrome prospect autograph black refractor parallel Tarmar Johnson Awesome hit Congrats Pittsburgh Nationals Orange refractor auto to 25 Elijah green Huge hit Congrats Nationals Big card. I think Brewers Purple refractor auto 219 of 250 Jackson choreo And anybody watching Michael Kennedy. Oh Jackson holiday That is That's far and away our biggest Chondi All right, sorry about that again everybody I do apologize Had some trouble with OBS there. It's like a typical thing. It always happens. All right Let me get I'll take the stick ease if you don't mind real quick There start with Nicholas here. Do you go by Nicholas or Nick? It does not matter. It was like Nick Nicky baseball It's not matter perfect Right, let me make sure I got all your right boxes here Nick. I'm assuming you want to go archives bowman dynasty That's what I'd assume but We'll get started I did What's going on everyone Sam here with late in sports cards, we are doing an eight box baseball mixer for Nick T We've got 122 dynasty 1220 bowman jumbo and at 623 archives sig series So let me So we're good on I know what we're doing now on well, so let's start with archives See a big one-on-one see a J rod one-on-one right up right off the rip Boom J rod one-on-one right there Matt Manning is gonna be one of one. We'll take it Bowman Chrome nice one there for the Tigers one of one Matt Manning No day, you know first hit so starting with a one-on-one Oops Didn't realize it wasn't it was too late like I was already mid throw and I realized it as the boxes in mid-air and dropped I was like, oh my bad You're good Will do Kyle Tucker 44 of 81 nice one there and 22 tops for the Astros I'll talk her Apache We've got Bobby Dalbeck on a bowman first 44 up 44 last one stamped 2016 Bowman For the Red Sox Bobby Dalbeck Feel I ran a hit a big card at a Bowman But we're gonna hit one of the big guys one of the big four at a Bowman. That'd be awesome We've got Logan Gilbert 87 out of 99 on a 2020 Bowman 2020 Bowman paper Logan Gilbert very very very underrated picture for Seattle Oh We've got a Chris Taylor 85 of 99 for the Dodgers on a 2021 tops Chris Taylor for the Dodgers and last box of the archives We've got Brian Reynolds 40 of 99 on a 2020 Bowman paper as well for the Pirates Trade candidate Ryan Reynolds All right, let's do your Bowman now good luck here Nick. Let's see it. We'll save of course your dynasty for last The big at the Mingas Bowl B wit Not too shabby not too shabby Ryan Reynolds definitely a very solid player. I would die So the big paper guys will ship none of the other paper will just the big first All your chrome will ship base base drink screwball shirts and Apostle Everson Pereira So all of your chrome first ie this Jeremy Pena first will ship of course Jeremy ran first Chrome we've got a James Beard base auto for the White Sox James Beard Nice one there Nick JD Gavin Lux Gonzalez Shortridge, there's the Dominguez first base chrome and base paper base a AJ Puck Sky blue paper to 499 this one there and Huff Bayo, there's a Nate Pearson to 299 for the Blue Jays on the white speckle Kind of amped for Bowman this year for Wednesday. I love it. I love a good Bowman release So he's a lot of fun. Yeah, I do and fan Mucks no first in there surprisingly and paper base be a big one be a big one in your gold Bobby with purple That is Bobby Bradley rookie auto for the Guardians nice one there Bobby Bradley, right first name. What's up, right first name. True. Oops. I'm too fast through that Tio Rara Jackson Rutledge paper There's base base base first they be red words Refractor Gus Varland to 499 for the ace the volley rookie Robert. What's all Volpe first The other yeah, there you go be the other room's problem Niño base base Bobby went first paper. I also realized this is a really bad table for sapphire Why? Yeah, I know I did when I was top one from out of the five boxer and I was out of brutal. Yeah over here Jesus dude Jarender and first paper Bayo first chrome and base Three packs to go still looking for one more auto Make it a big one make it a big one.  That is Joey Ken Tio 86 out of 100 first atomic auto for the Padres nice one there Nick Bobby Whit first chrome speaking of I need to grade mine I know I've been thinking about doing it. I'm talking about doing it hear me paying your first paper the equivalent of me Wanting to grade my Bobby Whitt is like Lane buying a new car That's the equivalent here at Kellan Nick to 499. I understand Very nice Brian first So as a right there's a first of it Dominguez paper and base chrome and base All right, I'll see something big out of dynasty We're due we're due here Nick we're due for something big out of dynasty.   Let's just see something. So it is live. That's good. No redemption Here we go That is gonna be nine of ten Mariano Rivera That is awesome enter Sandman three colored game use patch of Mo Hell yeah, Nick. There we go, buddy. There we go. I'm very jealous of this car. This is sweet That is awesome dude. Congrats, man We didn't get the big Yankee prospects. We got one of the Yankee legends very nice. Congrats on that one there, Nick Thanks again. Oh best signature in sports in my opinion. Thanks again for The support Nick as always we got those right out to you, buddy. Yeah, I think that's fine Yeah, take it for sure man. That was that was awesome. I mean Mariano's market is awesome as well. You got it. Nick Thank you, buddy. Thank you. So we're gonna have to like lock everything. Oh, I Keep forgetting since it's we don't have any like Kyle's not here.  That'd be cool. Yeah, say a man was sweet It's all your order to Steve. We should be good to go on. I don't see what the issue would be Let me run and grab at your gold labels really quick to see Yes, yeah, Jeff you're coming up right after this Yeah, you are up right after this Jeff Well, good luck here Zach, let's do it What's going on everyone? They I'm here with late in sports cards open two boxes of 22 tops formula one Chrome sapphire for Zach s. So good luck here Zach pull something big man see a big variation See a big numbered card Yeah, no problem Jeff. I'm pumped. I haven't written the war and God maybe a 10 box Tuesday here there But like a personal box when the war is like On its own, I've not done that in a minute, so I'm pretty amped for that Okay Can be a yellow Chen Bullock Bashee to 199 for Sheru Charle Lecler and Joe Guan you then it's how's your Sebastian Vettel Sebastian Vettel Sergio Perez But you're for sure. There's a green Clement Novilock future stars to 75 for MP Nice one there on the green Max Verstappen card number three is that variation never stop in 30 No, it is not evermind Side of an auto Can be right raking in total wolf Lance Stroll Chen Bullock Bashee Oscar Piazzari There's a yellow Kevin Magnuson for haws to 199 Kevin Magnuson Roy Nassani at Fernando Alonso in Ricardo tail for share Logan Sargent Charle Lecler I think we got a variation coming up. That is gonna be up card number five Louis Hamilton on the variation. I think 52 Don't know is that the variation? I can't tell to be honest. I don't know if that's a very I don't know why it was upside down if it's not There's definitely a possibility. It might not be we'll stand by on that one For Stappen Grand Prix Joe Guan Yu Kevin Magnuson, there's a sepia of Max Verstappen to 100 for Red Bull Yuki Sunoda Yeah, I think that is the variation is it and I can't remember if fit five two is the variation I think S mono console. I think that is the Lewis variation. So good. We did get a variation, which is good. It's nice Yeah, he has like eight very true Thousand variations in this product. So does Verstappen do Verstappen. I don't think I don't think I've seen every single Verstappen variation is unbelievable They're both Lewis's No, yeah Hamilton there's a yellow Joe Guan Yu to 199 for Alfa Romeo Dembo look Boschie at Max Verstappen. Look at Druga bitch Carlos signs Nicholas Latifi Lewis Hamilton Grand Prix winner Yeah, it's fine Williams green Carlos signs nice one there for Ferrari to 75 Carlos signs green Your ghastly and zoa fit a paul D That is negative Sebastian Vettel 96 out of 100 actually it's a sepia that literally looks dead on to a negative But nice one there's still a nice at Vettel for sure Lando Norris Liam Lawson That is yellow mix Schumacher to 199 for haas George Russell and Carlos signs Joe Guan Yu rookie Joe Guan Yu rookie Verstappen and Mike Crack Orange come on, baby. That is Max Verstappen on the orange car number two 16 of 25 There you go. Congrats. Not quite the pink, but an orange will do Congrats Zach. There you go, buddy We'll get that one mag for you my friend very nice on the Verstappen orange. That will work George Russell and Daniel Ricardo last pack That is a big one for sure Ricardo Druge of it signs and do hon. I'll do it for your break there Zach Thanks again as always for the support man on personals and in group breaks. I'll get it right out to you buddy Congrats on that orange max pretty sweet. All right, not too shabby there got Jeff coming up next Is it actually yes, oh damn I'm just time left Wow, no foul on jaw there. I could have been a call That was LeBron. It would have been called lay foul Shies getting slammed on those last two possessions, dude. I think a Jeff type or written out here That's that whenever you're ready for it to Yeah, that's good. No war 21 22 no war hubby 21 22 no war hubby. All right, Jeff. I'm ready for you are Good luck here, buddy. Let's do it What's going on everyone Sam here with late sports cards We're in one box of 21 22 putting in a war basketball hobby for Jeff M It's good luck here. Jeff See we got in here for you, buddy.  I love noir such a good product So clean see a sneaker spotlight see 101 pulled a one of two Nicola Yolk itch out of this While back that was pretty cool big sneaker spotlights in here, of course We hit one of the big like rookies hit like a big shack or somebody like that be awesome We've done some noir. So I'm excited. I know that These are not the easiest things Open though. Come on. There we go. Oh Okay, here we go Lamello ball base 17 of 99 for the points We've got Tyrese maxi 79 of 99 for the Sixers These base noirs are so clean and Yanis 28 out of 99 for the bucks as well nice base cards there We've got dual Cade Cunningham and Evan Mobley that is 20 out of 99 rookie at dual jersey Congrats on that one Jeff We've got rookie jumbo. That is James book night 64 of 99 There's some dings on that. We'll send you the empty box and wrap or Jeff just to be sure here There's a couple dings on that. Let me grab that for you really quick Yet Nice one here is going to be a Cameron Thomas on the rookie patch 16 of 25 For the uh nets like one shot off here you're lucky That is Jason Preston 52 of 99 for the Clippers on the rookie auto. Oh, yeah, for sure for sure. We're sending out at least one box per case break generally Jason Preston we've got five of 99 our Vita subbonus For the Blazers Our Vita subbonus the Montez's father Cool one here 79 of 99. That is Bones Highland Shadow signatures. It's such a clean design on these And really nice one here gonna be 42 of 49 freeze frame signatures hakeem the dream Elijah one There you go. Jeff that is on card, of course as I think everything in noir is hakeem the dream Elijah one very nice Make sure there's nothing left in there empty empty that is gonna do it for your break there Jeff thanks as always for your support my friend again, whether it's in group breaks or over here in personals I'll get those right out to you, buddy Yeah, not too bad for sure pretty solid overall. I would say fuck's just like reiterated. They're not trading deaf and white All right He wants to get traded Okay, yeah, never that's the middle linebacker, right? Yeah I was thinking of um severe what's the right next name? Uh your shod white. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I get the mixed up. All right. Got Steven j Last personal right now. I got nothing in queue guys Wait Gold lovelies lovelies lovelies two gold lovelies. All right, Steven Good luck, buddy What's going on everyone sam here with late in sports cards ripping two boxes of 2022 tops gold label baseball hobby for Steven j. It's good luck here, Steven. Let's see what we got Be a big frame come out of this There's your frame. We'll do that last Here we go brandon marsh Class two o'neill cruise class three. There's a joey vato purple 79 of 99 Last box luck. Peter Lanza. Let's hope dude.  There's a j-rod to 99 nice one there On the class two rookie very nice. Grats on that steep Bobby wit and willy mace pretty solid box so far. Sorry about that On a green class two super jones paul gulchman and cow Raleigh Yeah, great great great great card right there for sure. That's one shroud boz Scherzer mccutchen and brandon marsh class one Staple center. It's going crazy Steery andrae jackson. There's a torlson class three cow Raleigh class two and brine de la cruz Thomas jerinderan Thomas rookie buster posie and christine ellich All right, so I'll do it for the base portion. We got our framed auto coming up now base Cow Raleigh base and max muncie blue 47 of 50 nice one there on the color match for the Dodgers Max muncie's having a great year so far too. All right, I'll do it for box one of gold labor took those out to box two of gold labor And guys definitely check out the three box or three case Uh bowman break tomorrow at sgc headquarters mccutchen korea and yellich a couple of yelliches in there Shoiza CJ abrams shane beaver brandon marsh and paul gulchman there's erin ashby rookie buster posie machado and brison stath class one I have not what is it god? I can only imagine what it is rice harper Uh frank thomas there's a jake mayer's 10 of 50 blue for the astros water's newt bar and each year out one million on the drew jones super Lord dude dj abams hobby bias fed williams migel cabrera stop uh class two there's each year out purple to 75 for the uh mirrors on our green and no one on our notto And now the framed pack Is brison staths and shane boss good two framed autos we got adolis garcia 11 of 25 red nice one there two nice vets i would say overall congrats steve Here you go man adolis garcia That is going to do it for your break there steve. Thanks again as always for the support my friend