So, welcome everybody to another Deep Adaptation Q&A with myself, Professor Jem Vendell, the founder of the Deep Adaptation Forum. And this month joining us is Sister Jayanti, who's the European Director of the Brahm of Kumari, which is a spiritual movement globally that started in the Indian subcontinent. Sister Jayanti has been working with them as a spiritual teacher and also as someone who engages politicians in the United Nations system on their behalf, doing that for about 50 years. So, it's wonderful that Sister Jayanti is joining us now from Rajasthan in India. Thank you for joining us.  Thank you. And I say I'm really grateful that you're able to still join us because obviously it's been quite a momentous few weeks. So the leader of the Brahm of Kumari, Daddy Janki, has just passed aged 104. And so I presume there must be quite a lot of reflection and celebration about her. I was wondering, just to begin with, what are your memories of her that really feel important for you at this time? Because it's such a worrying time globally, what with the COVID pandemic and it's so uncertain. She was a giant of a person, even though she was four feet 11, but her personality was just amazing, radiant.  And so that's most of my life that I knew her and lived with her for 40 years. And she would always say, don't think. And that's an interesting comment to me. And what she would mean is that keep your mind very peaceful and quiet. And then the right thoughts will come. If you let your mind go worrying around in a spin, then you won't be able to see or understand clearly what's going on. Things will get muddled and jumbled and confused. And so here's a woman who had spent a lifetime going deep into herself to explore what is inside our own inner world, thoughts and feelings and conscience and consciousness and how to be able to purify the mind to have nothing but clean thoughts, noble thoughts, elevated thoughts. And so this is Summary's daddy and she had been a world server. She's been serving all her life right until the very end. That's lovely. I didn't know she had said, don't think. I thought you said... It's perfect because there's a lot of thinking right now about yeah, not just to make meaning of what's happening or to try and reduce the vulnerability we face, but also it's almost like people want to narrate what does this mean for the future and what comes next. And there's some anxiety in all of that. And I found myself drawn into that. So it's a lovely message for me. Thank you. I felt that would be the most appropriate thing that she would be saying at this moment. I love it. I love it. Just let your mind be peaceful and calm so that then you can even know what to think. Otherwise, there's too much information, misinformation, all sorts of things are happening and you can't think clearly. And so creating space in here is very, very important. And if I can do that, then my own inner inspiration will be guiding me in the right and my connection with the one above is going to be clear and strong. And I'll be able to take that guidance also. So there is a lot of anxiety, both where you're based in the UK, but also now in India and then even the policies that are taken to try and reduce the risk, then obviously have further consequences with more anxiety, more suffering. So I know I was looking back at some of your interviews and teachings and that you said the power of love can be a protection and that when we feel anxious about what's happening in society, we can connect with that feeling back to that feeling of love and act from that place. And I think that's also when you're saying about stilling the mind and allowing that reconnection. I was wondering as not just with the pandemic, but also with the anxieties around climate change and the anxieties around the direct impacts on climate right now in terms of on harvests and livelihoods and so on. What can you say about that? How do we go about connecting to that power of love? My experience and my understanding both together tell me that the natural state of the human spirit is of love and compassion. And when we lose touch with ourselves because we're so occupied with all the externals of life and lockdown has meant that some of those distractions have been removed from our life. And so it's given us a bit of space. But of course, it's all the other things inside ourselves that come up. But if I can connect with the deeper inside, the being that I am within, then in that awareness, there is pure love and there is compassion. And so if we see lockdown as an opportunity, not as a punishment, but as an opportunity to be able to go within, I can feel that love that's there within me and allow it to emerge and be expressed. But it's not your romantic love of candle lights and things, but it's a love which is all embraced and all inclusive so that I see you as my brother and I see every person of the human family as my family. And when there's this interconnectedness that I feel and that pure love is going to stimulate me to be able to go beyond my own selfish desires and I want I need to something which is much higher. Then I can see how we can all of us cooperate together and carry the whole of humanity forward to the next step of our evolution. And I offer a ray of hope, not just a little ray, but in fact, I sense that what's happening now is a very dark period. And in India, they would describe it as the Iron Age. And beyond that, the darkness comes the day, the light. And that we would say is this transition period. And there's a huge amount of upheaval on all levels inside ourselves and externally also nationally and internationally upheaval everywhere. But it starts from inside. But if we deal with the dark forces, the negativity within ourselves and allow the goodness to be expressed, then together we can create a better world for all of us. Yeah, I'd like to to come back to that, but also I'm really interested in this. The inner upheavals. As people begin to see that the future won't be what they thought. Perhaps their their income and their job isn't what they thought and. And new fears as well that arise. I was wondering, meditation is is offered by the Brahma Kamaris and indeed with many, many spiritual traditions as a way of settling those thoughts, connecting to that sense of universal love that you've described and connecting some or aligning one's own will to some divine will. I was wondering if you could say something more about meditation because some people see it as and some people offer it as a way of perhaps turning away from the pain and suffering of the world rather than finding a way of being more calmly with and engaged with the pain and suffering of the world and calmly with the pain and suffering that we feel inside as we think seem uncertain. I was wondering if you could say how how you see meditation. Given the fact that so many people have all these different ideas about it. It's become a spiritual supermarket and you can pick up the shelf what it is you you're looking for maybe. But the meditation I practice is Raj yoga meditation and the word yoga means union connection. And what we're talking about here is the awareness, the identity of the self as the inner being and through my thoughts connecting with the divine so that yoga that union connection happens and I experience that relationship and what's normally happening is that the mind is functioning and it's nonstop through the day through the night just usually very, very fast and in meditation what we're doing is learning to have mastery over our thoughts so that we're able to slow down the mind and it happens in a very natural way. If you start that inner journey and look at your thoughts, your thoughts generally then tend to slow down and then you can select the thought that you want to focus on. Maybe the thought of peace, maybe the thought of love and you connect with your own inner goodness. I know that I carry a mixture of good and things that are not so good at the moment and I can deal with the things that are not so good a bit later on. But at this moment, let me focus on that inner goodness that lies in every absolutely every human being. So I'm connecting with that purity, that peace and in that higher consciousness I can be aware of the presence of the divine. When I'm struggling with my jealousy, my envy, my fear, all of these things I'm very far away from that level of consciousness in which I can be aware of the presence but when I clear my mind and learn to focus on the goodness within then in that way I'm raising my consciousness, my energy and I'm able to feel the presence of the divine and with my thoughts I make contact. So it's not stopping thoughts, it's not saying go into silence, make your mind go blank. Externally I'm not speaking but internally I'm now beginning to have a conversation with the divine and so there's a relationship that I'm building up and that means I'm getting two things. I'm getting the additional love, peace and strength that I need but I'm also receiving the power I need to deal with all the human frailties that we all have that keep holding us back, our egos, our anger, all of this and so that means that I'm actually preparing myself to engage more fully with other individuals but also with the world at large so it's not a meditation that leads to escapism or denial but rather it's a preparation to be able to engage more fully with the highest that there can be within myself so that now instead of always being one who is needy and wanting and taking and I'm not talking about money and food, I'm talking about the inner thirst of the soul I need love, I need this, I need happiness and so I'm wanting somebody or something to provide me with that but now in that higher awareness in which I've been able to fill myself I can actually start giving and so that changes the dynamic of the relationships I have around me very very quickly but it also widens my horizon so that my family is not just my limited nuclear family or a community to which I belong but truly I'm able to go above those limitations and see the family of humanity as my family, I belong to this bigger family I, it's only, thank you for that, it's only since I started practicing meditation more fully about a year ago and particularly doing a vipassana insight meditation that the power of it became clear to me previously I thought it was about just calming the breathing, slowing the thoughts and then therefore somehow just being a bit more relaxed but actually then I realized it's brought this awareness of sort of thoughts and feelings, emotions, sensations happening to me rather than defining me and therefore I can watch them a bit more and so for example in the past months of different times I felt a bit panicked about the situation living here in Indonesia and not being able to leave Indonesia now and yeah I realized that that ability to watch what's happening in my body and not act from it to not act from that immediate fear is something which I've gained and I can, I have even if I'm not meditating it's actually just sort of stays with me every day I know with Brahma Kumara you meditate with your eyes open, is it something to do with how you try and then bring it into everyday life? You've hit it on the nail because say for example now as I see you and we engage together if I'm seeing you as that inner being that light that shines within our connection is a very different one than it would be you're the professor and I'm the one without any science background without any of this education there would be all sorts of tensions in our relationship but as it is you're a meditator and I am too and you're connecting soul to soul and so there's a very easy and natural rapport I mean we met for a couple of hours a year ago and we haven't met since but it's a very natural and easy connection and that's because of this open eyes meditation I think because if I close my eyes in meditation it might be easier temporarily but I'll open my eyes and I'll get distracted and my consciousness from being up there is going to come crashing down with you but if I can train myself to see and not be distracted keep my thoughts on a higher level then I continue with my action my responsibilities we call karma yoga action and yoga together yoga in action or action in the higher consciousness so then I can engage in speaking eating walking driving whatever it is but it'll be with that awareness of being able to see the soul brilliant thank you and it can change the world if there's a recipe for changing the world I think it could this right so I'm I'm really interested because I think you you live in community both in London but also now where you are at the the base of Mount Abu and there's a benefit from that in terms of lockdown but perhaps there's also a sense of increased vulnerability because of possibilities of transmission I'm wondering so many of us are feeling vulnerable to infection disease and so on I was wondering how your perspective on the true nature of yourself influences how you feel about your own vulnerability your own sense of mortality I think in the Brahma Kumaris you talk about soul consciousness and the soul identity I was wondering if you could tell us a bit about that thank you and yes it's absolutely a fact that if I'm aware of my own inner identity as that being within and you talked about the mastery of thoughts and feelings but it extends also to mastery of my physical senses and so I learned I learned more and more that it's I the soul that lived here not on the skin but deep inside I am that inner being in charge of this physical body and my thoughts and feelings are going to impact what's going on in this body being more used to experiencing it the other way I hurt my finger I feel the pain and it really shifts my attitude to somebody who caused me that pain maybe my finger got stuck in the door because you slammed it something like that and I'll blame you and this pain is impacting the way I now see you and so usually the body is in influencing the soul and I spoke about a very little thing but in big ways also our thoughts and feelings get impacted by whatever it is our body is going through and now we're reversing the process we're ensuring that the soul takes charge of the body which means that if I can be filled with faith and love and hope even my immunity is enhanced that is a fact it's not just spiritual stuff but it's been proven to be so when there's hope in the heart the immunity goes up and when there's fear then the immunity goes down negativity is going to bring my immunity down so at this particular time having this awareness of the inner being means a I'm keeping my immunity level high but also I'm very very aware that the quality of my thoughts is going to make me feel better if I'm sick it's my thoughts that are going to make me feel better more quickly but also if I'm not sick but I'm not afraid that's going to be protection in itself anyway and so I think it's a time when people recognizing that apart from washing your hands and maintaining social distance and all of those things the way we think the way we feel is going to help us stay well or it's going to allow us to succumb to viruses or even if the body is fragile and the virus has come I'll be able to recover more quickly if I have the right thoughts and the attitude and perception of what's going on yes I've come across quite a lot of news and studies around how what the connection between mind and body in terms of immunity yeah and including even altruistic feelings and the power of one's immune system obviously some of those messages some of those some of that evidence and some of that philosophy can can sometimes be taken out of context and need to some strange sort of you know you've got ill because you've got ill because you worried too much type of stuff so it can be misused perhaps but I'm interested in your neck you mentioned hope if you have hope in the heart now hope is a concept which is in means different things in different spiritual traditions it even means very different things within Christianity if you compare different different bits of different debates within Catholicism or within Protestantism and so my understanding of hope in relation to soul doesn't really mean much in terms of a hope for my own future in this body and therefore by extension doesn't mean too much really in terms of a hope for how societies will be in the sense that the hope is more about how we will be how I will be how people interact with can be no matter what's happening whether it's an asteroid hitting us from outer space or a virus sweeping the world that we can't control or climate change becoming a runaway phenomenon so I was wondering how you talk about hope is it a hope for the soul's journey or is it is it a hope more made manifest in the material plane and and yeah I'd be very pleased to hear you the whole drama of this word in which we are living in and it's a stage people come people go people play their roles on the stage and so it's the interaction of soul and matter it's never that the soul is there on its own but it's in matter and in the body playing its role on the stage so yes I'm talking about hope that the soul is going to feel strong and bright and beautiful and it's going to come to that original state of joy and love that I used to know at some point and now it's again possible for me to return to that but it's also very much connected with the physical dimension but yes there's a time when there's darkness and there's a time when there's light and we've gone through the period of darkness and what we're approaching now is a world of light and so yes we're seeing huge upheaval but beyond that upheaval we see that the world will be a better place and human beings will be experiencing their own higher state and they'll be sharing those qualities with each other so that when people interact it'll be with kindness and love when people speak it'll be words that are supportive and loving and encouraging instead of the harshness that's happening today in the world. So I'm really interested in this because obviously when the Brahma Kumaris were founded and the founder Dada Lakaraj in 1937 he had that great vision of suffering with war with natural and technological disasters and so that sense of sort of future cataclysm which is in many spiritual traditions as well that sense of apocalypse and rebirth but rebirth in different traditions means different things it could be non-material it might not be for for humanity but for consciousness here or in another part of the cosmos but the Brahma Kumaris you've had this in your cosmology in your in your religious stories and outlook since the beginning I was wondering what we could learn from that and as the as many people on this planet are waking up to multiple crises which may be uh irresolvable at least things may get much much worse there may be huge death and suffering and there's uncertainty about how we get through it or what comes next um what could people waking up to that predicament learn from how the Brahma Kumaris have lived with this expectation of a form of of of collapse of the Iron Age we've always kept that vision of a better world in front of us but also more than that what we've done is make sure that living in the world we don't get trapped by the possessiveness and the attachments that are connected with this world and so that's been a very very important part of the whole story um if I get attached to even a little thing that's going to distract me and pull my attention and energy towards itself but if I can hear in a human form know that this is a fantastic instrument this body of mine is very precious but I also know that I have to be the one that's detached from that limited consciousness that the body imposes on me because this is what leads to when I think I'm gently I'm so and so I am this this this and this there's a whole big track that I'm falling into yes yes that's that sounds right for for me as well the the letting go the incredible letting go of realizing that life as we know it right now is not as it always will be um and I think that that that creates as some distance um which allows allowed me to really think well what do I most value rather than just live from habit and from sort of yeah my my acculturation in this society yeah and in that in that state when I'm in that limited consciousness of this identity then the color of my skin the gender the age the possessiveness of relationships the position I hold in society the tradition I'm supposed to follow all of these things are really a cage in which I put myself into and connected with all those limitations is also um the ego the anger the greed the materialism that we are seeing currently and so all of these things are the traps and spirituality teaches us to go out of that trap and be free and so when I can be free in the awareness of spirit I am here in the body but now this isn't master I am the master and so I use this in the best possible way can my mind be filled with pure noble elevated thoughts altruistic thoughts that you shared earlier can I make sure that my heart isn't tiny and concerned only for I and me that my heart can be open and big and generous and compassionate and my hands the ones that can give and heal and share with us so I'm using this physical body but now I'm using it in a very conscious way instead of being just in the past um bondage of habit because this is what others are doing this is what I have to do also and I have to compete with them and in that competition of course sometimes there's also conflict that arises and so can I go out of all of these things to that higher state of awareness um which is the original human state the love the peace the truth now can I go back to that and the more I maintain that awareness of the inner being the easier it becomes to access these qualities which are there within me and of course when I think about hope for example I'm thinking about the one up above who's always always benevolent and then I begin to see that life is also benevolent there are things that I go through which are not comfortable not pleasant but there are lessons that I have to learn from all of these things to be able to come to that understanding of what is the benevolence of all of this we mentioned people having the possibility and the time of thinking more deeply about what's going on so I see that this is the silver lining of COVID-19 I see giving us that opportunity I have a couple more questions but also just want to tell the people who are joining us from the deep adaptation forum please do now start sharing your questions in the chat box especially of course if you are on video so we can invite you in in a few minutes sister Jayanti the Brahma Kamaris the world's largest spiritual organization run by women and leadership by women's been central uh central part of your organization and how it functions I was wondering what do you think other religions could learn about women's leadership or even even actually because deep adaptation now is becoming a movement of sorts and what we could perhaps learn as we we have a forum we're we're organizing things what can we learn in terms of why leadership from women is really important I think women have more awareness of what it is to nurture and sustain and so sustainability is a big word but a natural feature of women is that ability to nurture and sustain and so and the founder wanted women to take on this role that was part of the thinking yes it was also that women should be given their equal right in society so that there's balance in the future in society so I would recommend definitely but within your own leadership that you make sure that you have women who have that innate sense of sustainability and nurture but also of course they bring a situation in which they're not just thinking ever for themselves alone they are always thinking of others around them and so that spirit of service is again inborn within women and it's a maybe I should say it's a feminine aspect that men can also have and develop within themselves but I think that that's another part of the thinking about the collective thinking about the home thinking about the people rather than just the facts and figures of money and finance and logistics but to be able to have that right side brain come in yeah it's interesting you say that because I do find that I can sometimes accidentally get into squabbles with other men of my age or older about who's more right I don't I don't really seem to have those squabbles with women and so yes it's not just to do with logistics and money it's to do with sort of categorizing labeling defining as part of this desire to have agency and control and oversight perhaps and and the the spiritual dimension the all is somewhat ineffable or actually ultimately unknowable and so that kind of whole process of trying to label describe is is is is is somewhat futile even though interesting I want to ask you about oh sorry yes I was just going to say that control and power games have determined the whole period of the last thousand years and have created wars and conflict and so it's time to get away from just that external side of power and control and know that um spiritual power is the power of love is the power of compassion definitely and um I want to ask you about some lifestyle choices because it's been coming up in debates about about um if you're concerned about climate change whether it's cutting carbon emissions or drawing them down or just preparing for ongoing disruption to our lives and which is more what deep adaptation forum and movement are about um people talk about diet and I think most Brahma Kumaris are vegetarians um so I was wondering could you explain why do you choose the vegetarian life um including from a spiritual perspective and um so that I think that would be really helpful for for people to hear um let me start with the immediate factors that people can notice health many people now switch to vegetarian diet because it's a healthier diet if you think about the sort of antibiotics and the fact that 70 percent of the antibiotics that are made um are actually being used in the animal in the industry for food um because they keep them in such close quarters that they just couldn't survive if they didn't feed them on antibiotics and I'm eating that food stuff what is it doing to me and so that's one little example but of course generally speaking um health and diet and plant-based diet is absolutely the right thing to have in terms of our own human growth and development and then the second thing is the ecological aspect and in terms of ecology you know how much land space is required you know how much water is required in terms of um I'm sorry we're getting um some unmuting going on Matthew sorry could you just yeah just thank you sorry sorry sister Danty so the first is my own personal health the second is ecology and the need to to move to plant-based diets so that we are releasing land space and water and so on for um everyone rather than just for a handful of people and then the other aspect is spiritual and if my food comes from non-violent sources then that's going to be enabling my mind to be more peaceful and so the spiritual side of it is where we take life um for the sake of feeding ourselves and so um do unto others what you would have them do unto you it's a golden rule in all traditions and generally for humanity to live with and so if I'm killing for the sake of my own food my own taste basically my mind is going to be a state of upheaval in which there's never going to be peace and so if you want to have peace in the world our sources of food have to be peaceful also yes of course there's with what was factory factory farming um there's so much unnecessary unnecessary suffering in the animal supply chain now um so that's really helpful um to to think about um because some people faced with so the people in the deep adaptation space generally anticipate a collapse of this way of life this way of life being the industrial consumer way of life where we have full supermarkets and and so some people respond to that by thinking they want to become more self-sufficient and live closer to the land and and so there can be a reason for having some sort of chickens and such like pigs and so on in that other people say well because I feel that um um there's so much suffering ahead uh that all my old stories of um my what I believe in and who I am are crumbling I just want to live as lovingly and kindly as possible and not contribute to any suffering of any sentient being as much as is possible and so then they're more drawn to the to the vegetarian route so it's it's really interesting to see how people respond in different ways to this awareness absolutely of of a an upheaval in our way of life that's coming and that's already upon us of course in many cases what with what with the coronavirus and so I think that the more information we can share people can make their own choices ultimately it's each individual making choice but the more information I have the user it is for me to make the choices that I feel comfortable with um in a year's time five years time so I'm going to come to Sasha in the moment but I was wondering before we go to questions from others um what's Brahmikamari doing now in response to the coronavirus pandemic either where you are or worldwide um in India of course we have a huge community and we're able to look after many others in a physical way and so yes we've got um space given to the government for um bringing people if they want to be put in quarantine or if they're patients then we've provided through buildings in our um in one part of our campus where there's doctors and nurses who are there to be able to care for people so on that level it's a very external help that they're providing um on another level wherever there are vulnerable people from within our community who are in quarantine or isolated or vulnerable you're providing food for them and so forth but I think the most important thing we're doing is helping uplift spirits and providing that sense of community that can come through Zoom um staying in contact with them being able to reach out to them and so I think every single center around the world now has of course um our community classes where they come together has stopped um a month ago maybe six weeks ago and so we've been engaging in all the online activities right from meditations online, teaching online, our regular daily classes online, public events online and the numbers we're getting is an indication that people are appreciating all of this greatly valuing it a lot. Is that the that can be found through brahmakamari.org or the meditation that's right okay and can people can people make donations for your humanitarian work through yes indeed yes indeed super all right thank you sister so I'm gonna hand over now to uh we're gonna have a question from Sasha if you could say where you are in the world as well that'd be interesting um Matthew if you could unmute Sasha or form Sasha unmute yourself yes thank you um I live in the center of the United States in a rural area called the Ozarks and thank you it feels so good to to hear you talk today what I wanted to ask you is you know there's a lot a lot of knowing how we want to be or how we should be but that we're not achieving that so for instance wanting to have a more quiet mind even when circumstances are tumultuous and but but not meeting that ideal then sometimes I come into conflict with myself and it just seems to make things even worse like the comparison of where you want to be to where you wish you were and I wonder if you have any comments on working with that thank you for your question I'm sure it's one that many others also have um if I can develop my own inner power then I'll be able to achieve the things that you shared um and just me on my own might find it difficult but if I can connect with the higher source then I'm able to draw that power into myself and dramatic changes can happen more than I believe it's possible maybe at this moment but yes it can give me greater love it can give me greater peace and give me an awareness of joy and I'll be able to fill myself with that spiritual energy and power and start using it in my life and so even a short practice of meditation every day can bring a huge amount of benefit and of course when we feel that something's bringing benefit we want to increase it and enhance it and so it becomes a natural incentive to continue with that like Gem was saying that since practicing in a more regular way there's been very visible results that have been experienced yes at least I can claim that I don't know if my partner would agree I still got to keep trying but yes there's an aspect of self-acceptance isn't there that there's no in the in a sense that that um we'll never get this right and that's okay you know keep returning keep returning to that that's that effort and that state of love keep returning falling away and then keep returning back it's in the deep adaptation forum we don't we have some principles for how we dialogue about these difficult issues of anticipating preparing for transcending collapse but we don't just say that we're interested in compassion curiosity respect we talk about returning to compassion returning to curiosity returning to respect because it's it's inevitable these are stressful stressful situations stressful times some people say that humanity is having to have conversations that we've never had because individual civilizations have faced demise but this is a the awareness we have of the threat to the whole of whole of humanity at this time it's quite a quite unprecedented so so of course we're going to get a little bit stressed and naughty with each other so it's that returning again and again it's good because I like that because that is what it is it is there within us and so we forget and so we have to remind ourselves and return to that yeah yeah actually remembrance remembrance of our our soul's unity with the all is is obviously a very big thing in Tsinsuka's and the lots of different different spiritual traditions quite like that so we're going to go to Ono now I don't know if I pronounce Ono's name right question if you could say where you're from and unmute yourself no you're still muted there we go I'm in New York and my question is about the transformation that humanity will need to you know go through and that is that we're much too wealthy and that's just wealth is creating all of the problems that we're having and I see it the only path forward is a much greater love is is that and so I'd like to hear about the connection between spiritual fulfillment and being content and happy and satisfied with one's being and have that have the actual practical effect of reducing our wealth and also our carbon footprint it's our wealth that makes this carbon this massive carbon footprint possible and you need to go beyond thank you and I I would say that maybe it's a question of the imbalance of the distribution of wealth and so there's a tiny tiny proportion maybe 20 percent of the world that is wealthy and within that a 4 percent that is hugely wealthy but 80 percent of the world isn't wealthy and I'm not just talking about lacking in this spiritual wealth of love and joy but actually physical survival and okay so some of the 80 percent might have some things some of the time but not everything all the time so you're talking about distribution and how inequality really rules the world at this moment and so if I can take it on a very personal level first myself and if I can learn to make that connection and allow my own love and joy and truth and purity to increase what I can then do is to be able to be content and know that my happiness doesn't come from a bigger car or a better house or any of these external things and that is a reality once you've got a certain amount of wealth to just maintain physical needs then anything that comes beyond that beyond that beyond that isn't adding to anyone's happiness and there's a lot of research that's telling us this and so yes I need a certain amount for my physical needs but beyond that what I need to do is to develop my own inner treasures and to know that my happiness is within and on a very practical external level it then means I can simplify I just don't need all the external trappings that are available in materialistic societies today and so I can simplify all of that and reduce my carbon footprint considerably by doing that and there's more available for others to benefit from to share but I also become more free whilst I'm trapped by wanting and needing a lot of things externally I'm trapped by those things and I feel very distressed and very unhappy if any of those things are missing in my life if I've simplified my life and learned to have the happiness within that comes from that inner state of contentment then I'll be able to manage my life in a much better way thank you thank you yes and I found myself loosening my um loosening my habits of consumption I think a lot of the consumption I was doing was just sort of out of out of not being you know just normal life without thinking and so that I think uh definitely I'm not going to go back to the same habits of consumption I want to go to Katie Carr she has a question for you and then Sanel and then we'll be coming up to the hour so um Katie if you could unmute yourself yeah thank you hi Mr Janti um my question uh is that say where you are by the way oh I'm in Indonesia I'm from the UK um the spiritual path for me is just as much about being able to stay with really really live with the pain and devastation of what humanity is creating continues to create and not just having a way of returning to the love and the beauty which is essential to being to all every being so how do we avoid spiritual bypass and consequently the risk of not addressing in our own lives and in the outside world really really tough decisions and actions um as a spiritual spiritually aware person I'm very much here in the world and so I'm not in denial of the world on any level and I know that the world is going through a lot of pain and suffering and I'm part of that world and I've been through that pain and suffering but what I've now done is to be able to look at myself from the inner perspective as a soul and so if the body is unwell I won't let myself go through suffering in a way that I used to before but what I'll do is I'll say okay let me detach and let me give good vibrations to my body so that the healing process of the body takes over and yes I'll take the medication I need to take but I'll use the power of my mind and the power of love and truth to go through my physical body so that I'm not suffering as I used to before otherwise you know we tend to wallow in self pity well who is me why did this happen to me and I wish it hadn't happened and we're struggling with a fever we're struggling with a cough whatever it may be but now I'm able to send vibrations of peace through my whole body so I'm learning to deal with whatever is a suffering and pain in a different way and when I see another person who's suffering maybe I can say to them okay just for a moment come back to that inner awareness of peace that you are and see if holding that awareness of peace can make you breathe more easily and probably it would help them at that time and so it's a very practical thing that meditation is teaching me it's not a denial of the pain and suffering but how do I deal with it differently and so that I've given you just one simple example of what might happen with breathlessness or whatever um somebody used this technique just a little while ago and she said I felt as if I wasn't going to be able to live because I couldn't breathe and I remembered I'm a soul and I could feel my body relax and I could send those vibrations of peace to my body so there are different ways that we can learn about dealing with pain and suffering in different ways I'm hearing a real is it a paradox or is it a balance it's it's how do we tune into that how do we develop equanimity which isn't necessarily serenity it's being able to be with whatever is without craving without wanting to always be peaceful and always to help everybody else be as peaceful as quickly as possible um you know to be to be present to the suffering and present whatever suffering is happening in us as well as well as in the world um but not it not wallow in it not be averse to it it's it's it's some kind of stillness to be fully present rather than lost in our own cravings and aversions and it's a it's a difficult one maybe it comes really quickly if you don't think we just don't need to think well I actually have had a brilliant master and teacher and daddy because I saw her go through so many different illnesses and so it's it's not that you know she was up above and uncaring um she knew what is physical ill health she'd gone through so many things herself another story for another time now I see so we just want to quickly end sorry sister with Sanel because we've got to finish now we've only got um we've got about three minutes before it comes up for an hour so one one question Sanel we're in the world are you and what's your question this is the jam the final question before we close yes thank you for this opportunity thank you for all your work amazing I'm here in Edinburgh Scotland and my question is to help my my partner who's listening to us and so um how do you do when you don't have a habit of meditation when you don't have experience meditation in a developed way yeah but you'll find yourself in a situation that is difficult a one month of isolation in your room you've been caught by the virus and not many hopes are there for you but maybe meditation is one although you don't have that experience and it's difficult to to embrace it because yeah you don't know actually much about either how it works and it's yeah your motivation gets lost over time how do you do to thank you into that thank you a simple way to start on that inner journey is to read things that are uplifting and things that are inspirational for you and if you've got things like that share them with the ones you love so that then they can also read those things technology is amazing and there's yes the dark side of technology that I'm very aware of but the good side of technology is kicking in at present time share beautiful thoughts inspirational thoughts and whoever reads these things then just takes a moment to just run them through their mind it's a beautiful idea and there you go you've started to meditate to allow your mind to reflect on things of beauty of truth of love and joy is meditation don't make it a mystery don't make it complicated just make it very simple and so when you reflect on higher things things of truth and joy then you're moving in that direction which is meditation so shared with things with each other that's interesting to hear that I was rather than just you know how to cross your legs on a cushion no all right the brilliant thank you very much for joining us today sister Jayanti and I hope that you're all that you're safe and well over the coming weeks in in a difficult situation in India and I have to say that your questions have been beautiful Jen really very deeply spiritual it's an indication of your um returning to that love and truth in yourself thank you thank you thank you very much and uh I'm wondering uh I've still I've still got that wonderful don't think thing maybe I need more days where I just don't think it's difficult is a habit of a lifetime trying to be clever and try to small doses after a few hours of overthinking say okay stop stop yes all right blessings and to everyone from around the world joining us and uh if yeah see you in a in in a month's time those of you at the deep adaptation forum for our next Q&A and thank you again sister Jayanti bye bye thank you Jen bye bye


Alright, straight into this battle, one of the main events of the day, it is a very special part of my battle, so please make sure you tweet us on at, don't flop, D-O-N-T-F-L-O-P with all your opinions. Alright, MC on my right hand side, do you know the man, Harry Baker, make some noise for the audience.  And MC on my left hand side, make it feel welcome, make some noise for Palfit. Alright, he's just on my man, Palfit on the left, round number one, let's go. I've got the nice rounds, resting piece, rowdy, rowdy, Callum, why'd they put the pipe down? The future's mapped out, you're past stay level, you're past A level, stay level, even God made me, you know he broke the mould to keep me rising, when he made you dough, he sold the mould to Easter Island, like I've just been to Ryman's. He's inspiring as a piece of writing titled My Secret Eating Diary by Lisa Riley. He says he does three gigs for charities, I find that quite baffling, cos you charged him for your fine dining, nice cabins and flight back again. He was supposed to go to Canada to incite action and inspire happenings, you just went there to try battling, but you was billin' Ted like you was time travelling as the wild stallion, next he wants to go to Australia, on a pretence he's going there to bear inspire, ten minutes after landing, he'll find himself stuck in some kind of Larry Seifer wearing light crime. In Australia they call you Harry Biker, published dude, his book's available on Amazon right now, and that's true, when an average of five stars, from one review, this bed has got me so purely proud, I'm talking louder, cos I'm with an author, like Pauline Fowler. How old is the man, man, I'll be damned if Harold isn't, even if he is going to lose his match like Harold Bishop, let me add like a line of figures I haven't yet, Jack's Pacific, Jack's Pacific, bigger the fans that get it. People talk about powerful action figures but poetry slams are for massive bitches, you're getting slammed so hard, the poetry slam sounds like the genius is finishing manoeuvre on a Hasbro card, Hasbro, I'm making mixtapes at the minute, I've got that brand new sound that will slam you down with the ghetto blaster, like it's bad news, brown. Pamphlet said he wanted to battle me, I felt way special, that he would even consider me on the same level than I realised your last battles were Hulk and Craig Chendall, all of a sudden I couldn't really give a fuck, asexual, but maybe you wanted that big J treatment, you know confidence and rattled that he had a lapse and lost to Danny Jack, but after that he's had four international clashes back to back or maybe you wanted that old Shae treatment, but truthfully I do believe you can keep slew of me and five months time I promise they will let you battle lunacy, or maybe you wanted that Stowaway treatment, where he couldn't resist return into the platform but by and large it wasn't really worth coming back for, I do get it though, I am the perfect kind of opponent, I mean I write clever and I never dig deep to try and expose them, I have a face like this and I am known for writing the poems, basically there's quite a lot to go on, to begin with I'm convinced that is why it was booked by Rowan, but now I'm rapping greater, you only took this battle mate Kai, is easy to rhyme with Harry Baker, will you know what rhymes with Pam flip, damp squib, as most people aren't really sure what that is but they know it's underwhelming, because for every classic with Pam there's ten battles he's had that are decidedly average, so the general consensus is that most have decided his average, I mean 73 battles, I couldn't even name 73 battleers, once a team is up there between O'Shea and Pedro with qualities there between Col J and Bloodstroke, his writing is lacklustre, saved by the fact that he can free okay so you're a mutant, that's just another version of DNA, plus you look like a mutant, I mean your body type is genetically modified, you're so ostracised because your torso is ostrich-sized, it doesn't put you in the top half of the league just because you've got the biggest top half in the league, when people say they're getting wedged it means they're smashing the weights, when people say he's getting wedged that is his actual shape, your diet, your diet is promoting Arab leaders, it is protein shakes, but that doesn't change the fact that you are lonely mate, get a life, I'm going to wrong this fellow, he's like a transgender rousy or something, Manchester's Bowsky is humping, it's a pal on the button and looks like a clan member bowing at someone, they say ministry is sound now no wonder the London crowd isn't buzzing, Harry they bounce a second, they found out you was coming because your mouth is disgusting, his teeth look like a couple of clouds that are hugging, it's key if he was less than sexy, random pamphlet multigenerator for Greg Bozetski and Orhexki, other beefcakes real name is Edward Leslie, random pamphlet multigenerator for Harry Baker, a rapid grater, Bodger's budger mate has made a plate and mashed potato, Adam's actual name is Adam Taylor, sense of humour hasn't wavered, pay a stack of paper to a Spanish waiter for a snack to save a receipt, make it snappy, make just like an alligator, Channing Tatum Angus Day and Darren Day and Gareth Gates, Samantha Janus, Alan Davis, Gareth Gates, Samantha Janus, Alan Davis, Carrot Cake and Arthur Rates and Francis Bacon, Randy Quaid and Frankie Fraser, women's champion Jackie Gader, an adult age because it's phallic shaped and it's apple flavoured, his tooth run teeth look like they came straight from a pack of Quavers, that's how you know I wrap it greater because I just did a multi rhyming Channing Tatum with Adam Taylor, Channing Tatum can thank me later. Hospital got beds, you've got less rhymes than an octopus got legs, the only time he honestly got sex if he not accidentally vomited on breasts it would have probably cost less, how is this an even comedy contest, you're so inadequate you give inanimate objects a superiority complex. Bacon wrap it greater, I'm saying the same, my teeth are like cloud hugging and I'm making it rain. Chocolate biscuits for starters, went back, watched the fifth birthday clips of disaster, went out to the country to visit a farmer just so I could take ticks from Islam as I started smoking, about about 50 cigars can fill that phlegm visibly mixing with tar, glass of red wine, unabit of licorice after all in an effort of spitting it darker. Spitting it darker, then crushed bandicoot lights out getting hit at the start, I need an next checkpoint to be given a mask but you can't really see so it's pretty damn hard you just end up jumping and spinning regardless. I am spitting it darker, then Simba on the cliff as he listens to Scarra about killing his father and thinking that he'll never be forgiven by Nala. Pigman side watching as Jane begins to die, barely blinking right because by now he's a bit of a bastard. Whatever's embedded in venom whenever he's clinging to Parker, now I'm spitting it darker than I might have ever seen with the bit in the Parker. Look deep into the Parker. I've got a few more so you may as well join in. I, Anakin's he turns to a sit in the lava, I am triggering blast of singer guitarist in the Voboski sitting with Satan. I must envisage Obama.  Because after 73 battles of spitting it dark, maybe you should pick a more whimsical craft. This won't end well for you. Like eating crisps in the bath.  I'll be honest, this last year I've been rhyming it like, but I've travelled the world with it having the time of my life, I fell in love, got a degree, it's excitable times I make a living out of what I used to write on the side, something called Barcruise.  Tired. He says he makes living off of what he does. Get a different job. He said he did a gig and he got paid in popcorn. It's the start of the third verse and his first one's a good one. He got his woman with the same pill, Bill Cosby puts in pots of pudding. Like a skirt rabbit.  He's so obsessed with education that he learned magic and tricked his dimples into thinking his lips were written verse and it really is a word bracket. Body language. It garms their spell check.  That nose could double up as a weapon. It's so deep a nosebleed could cop in my hospital bed in a couple of seconds. It once independently came topping a test in a college professor's geography lesson. In 1992 it nearly won an election. Who knows, it's like it's in a sleeping bag and it's got an erection. And that nose it was just his. But then I've got a massive spot of mine. I guess that's poetic justice. It's not very easy to emuse him.   Them shits look like that igloo thing where frigging pingoo leaves. They look like paving slabs made of plaque. Plus there's been great amounts of them. I went from battling the calcium kid to a kid made of calcium.   Harry Bakers are known of slurping loads of clubs. The boys love him because they say that he got blowjob gums. That's why this battle is the best stuff ever done. Let us hug. I mean, this shit's special, bruv. It's not every month you get to touch Ed the duck's love child with Elma Funk.  If at the start I thought you'd go four heads because your four head could cover four heads. I mean imagine that cap size. That wide berth iceberg is making ships cap size but it does seem familiar and I'm wondering why. It's because you look and sound like Jermay from Summer Heights High. Oh my God, I'm wrapping it darker. Basic jokes and basic flips. You're stuck in 2012. No wonder Harry Styles beating Taylor. Swift. Mate, you need to change the script. Take the scene and play with it. It's great when O'shaded it but you're left in his shade with it.  You ain't Soul-tier. You're Hulk-tier. A little Soul-tier. Oh my God. I'm not forgetting it, yes. Just getting a text. How many times have you left before deciding to keep writing? Because you re-tiring is getting very tiring. I mean I wouldn't trouble me if you were doing other stuff but you'd pop up in other leaves claiming you'd do it for a little love. You haven't been chosen or cast for promoting the art form. Panflits are throwaways that nobody asked for. I mean pamphlet, leaflet. That's just semantics. But you can see the insecurities he's wrestling. Figures is this or going home to his wrestling figures.   That's why his jealous of the love I get from the crowd. They know it's magic the way that Harry potters around.  So myself put you forgotten what it's about.  I think that Taylor's old and shite. Wish this old man acted smiley, tinker Taylor, soldier spying. Are you happy pamphlet? Yes, very. Do you feel like a room without a roof? Yes. Or is this just some way of trying to cope without the truth? I mean I hope somehow you do the fact you're holding out as quickly as possible. I mean I hope somehow you do the fact you're holding out as quickly but no amount of views you can take that lonely out of you. Chin up. When you were kids, Linesland was grown up. After this battle, you're going to be our biggest fan. When I left it, D.E. Breastley was our biggest fan.


Fy hoi. Na'r eivw ymddir wrth gwrs, mae na'n ei wneud am unrhyw o'r Gwylten MacGregor. With the Scottish Government on how it supports care experience for young people into higher and further education. Minister Richard Lochhead. The Scottish Government provided additional investment of over £5 million in 2018-19 and 2020 to increase the care experience bursary across further education and higher education £8,100 per year. The additional investment funding increase in the previous level of £7,625 at 8G and £4,185 in FE, providing a significant increase in the financial support that is available to care-experienced students. We are, of course, continuing to work on improvements and focus additional support funding on those students who are most in need. Fulton MacGregor I thank the minister for that response. The minister might be aware that I recently wrote to Sass on behalf of a constituent who has been told that she does not qualify for a care-experienced bussory because her period in care was not in the UK. I suspect that this is an anomaly in the system and will affect only a small number of students. Will the minister commit to looking into this matter further so that to ensure that all care-experienced children have the same and equal rights regardless of where in the world they experience being in the care of the state? Thank you for the question. I will certainly undertake to look into the circumstances outlined by Fulton MacGregor. I am sure that he will appreciate that there may well be anomalies in the system and that they should be investigated and sorted if necessary. Clearly, we have to lay down some kind of criteria as to who qualifies for student support in Scotland, but I do agree with the premise of the member's question and I do hope that he gets a satisfactory reply, but I certainly will investigate the circumstances. 2. Liam McArthur Thank you. Do you ask the Scottish Government what guidance it provides for college students regarding fees encountered for starting a course and then withdrawing? The majority of colleges do not apply a fee to full-time students at higher education level who withdraw early from their course. As colleges operate independently of governments, it is ultimately the decision of individual colleges as to whether they apply charges to students who withdraw early and before the fee cut-off date of 1 December. Students are advised by the Student Awards Agency Scotland that they could be charged a fee by the institution who should do withdraw before the fee cut-off date. However, I expect institutions to take into account the personal circumstances of individual students when applying any fees. Liam McArthur I thank the minister for that helpful response. I was contacted by a constituent forced to drop out of an HNC course after a deterioration in her mental health. On returning to Orton, my constituent's mother then passed away suddenly, adding further distress to an already anxious and difficult time. Almost simultaneously, I am without warning, my constituent was informed by the college that she would face a charge of over £400 and even the threat of court action. I am in touch with the college principal who helpful has agreed to look into the matter. Does the minister believe that clearer guidance could be provided to colleges about using discretion over levying charges and such circumstances? Does the minister accept that that reflects the duty of care colleges of their students, including those who have left no option but to drop out early? Liam McArthur First, I am very sorry to hear about Mr McArthur's constituent's personal circumstances. I absolutely understand why he is raising this case. I would expect colleges to understand the reasons as to why any student may be withdrawing from a course early. It is very important that they therefore take any decision about asking for fees to be paid in the context of the circumstances that led to that withdrawal. I shall certainly ask my officials to look into the case highlighted by Mr McArthur, but I am pleased to hear that Paul Little, the principal of City of Glasgow College, is looking into the matter. I am hopeful that he will give a satisfactory response. Oliver Mundell Thank you, Presiding Officer. Can the minister clarify if Scottish Government statistics on positive destinations take into account those young people who start a college course and then withdraw after a short period of time? Well, there is a range of different circumstances that are taken into account of the statistics, so I do not think that that is a simple answer to the question, because there are different cut-off dates and different ways in which they are calculated, but I will certainly drop a note to the member just to elaborate on that point. 3. Peter Chapman To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of children in the NHS grampian area who have mental health issues are being seen within the 18-week referral to treatment target. Minister Joe FitzPatrick In the latest quarter for which statistics are available, which is January to March this year, 43.3 per cent of children and young people were referred to the grampian camps that were seen within 18 weeks. Peter Chapman I thank the minister for that answer, although I am very disappointed with it, as he rightly says in the first three months of this year, only 43 per cent of young patients were seen within 18 weeks. NHS Grampian has said that it has some of the longest waiting times. It is the lowest staff board and it is also the lowest funded health board in Scotland. The consistency of missed targets at NHS Grampian shows that there is a real problem. Can the minister stop with the excuses, accept that this is unacceptable, and tell me how the Scottish Government plans to address that? The Minister for Mental Health has been absolutely clear that this is unacceptable. That is why we have taken a range of measures to help support health boards reach the standard that 90 per cent of patients are seeing within 18 weeks. The Scottish Government is currently working with health boards, including Grampian, to agree their annual operation plans, including how they will deliver on the standard. To help boards and integration joint boards achieve that ambition, we have outlined a package of measures to do more to support positive mental health and prevent ill health, which includes a quarter of £1 billion of additional investment. That comes in addition to the £54 million that has already been invested to help boards to improve their performance against waiting-time targets by investing in workforce development, recruitment and retention and service improvement support. Our investment has allowed the CAMHS workforce to increase by 75 per cent with the number of CAMHS psychologists more than doubling under this Government. 4. Gil Paterson To ask the Scottish Government how it helps families to meet the cost of child starting school. Cabinet Secretary John Swinney We have delivered a wide range of initiatives to help families to meet the cost associated with starting school, including the pupil equity fund and improvements to both free school meals and the school clothing grant. Our best start grant has already provided more than £3.5 million to families on low incomes at key stages in their children's early years. Since 3 June, it has also provided a £250 school-age payment when a child is due to start primary school. It can be used for anything from school clubs, travel costs, days out or clothing. 4. Gil Paterson I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. Cabinet secretary, I raised this with you before, and you will see a motion in my name in a similar vein on universal credit awareness. Can the Scottish Government say what it is doing to promote and inform the public on the new best start payment? We really need to make sure that those who need the support know exactly where they can get it. Cabinet secretary, Mr Paterson has made this point to me a number of times before on the awareness of measures of this type to try to support families. A co-ordinated communications plan is being implemented working with local authorities, health boards and third sector organisations that support applicants. We have also provided, as we did for the launch of the previous best start grant payments, a range of guidance, promotional materials and media content for stakeholders. We hope that that will explain the eligibility criteria and encourage applications. 5. Julian Martin To ask the Scottish Government how it is ensuring that there is a skills base to deliver the transformational change required to address the climate emergency. We have established the Just Transition Commission, which is expertise in the labour market and skills. The advice ministers on the move to net zero economy, the commission's work plan, has identified skills as a key topic. Analysis of current and future labour requirements, including skills, will form an on-going part of its considerations. Julian Martin I thank the minister for that answer. The Just Transition Commission will be key to ensuring that Scotland's transition from burning fossil fuels to a low-carbon economy is one in which assistance will not be disadvantaged in terms of employment and will have the opportunities to gain the skills for the future. Can I ask if the Just Transition Commission will include representatives from Scotland's colleges and universities as the work continues, and what roles, skills development Scotland will play in ensuring that our workforce is ready for the transition? The commission membership was laid out in December of last year. There are representatives of academia in there, Professor Jim Skees, the chair, and Professor Karen Turner from Strathclyde University, so there are representatives of academia. Skills Development Scotland of course are our national skills agency. They undertake skills planning on across all sectors, across all areas of the country, which supports assessment of current and future skills needs. They are the Government's skills agency, and where we set out our ambitions, we expect them to respond in this area is no different. Jamie Halcro Johnston It's now been two years since the Scottish Conservatives first called for the establishment of a circular economy education and skills academy, a move that could boost skills based across to tackle climate breakdown. Now that the First Minister has declared a climate emergency, does the cabinet secretary agree that such an academy should be established as a priority? We will give consideration to all the reasonable propositions made in good faith, but I would observe that we have a well-established skills system already. We invest a considerable amount in it already. We expect that skills system to be responsive to our needs, including in this area. We will shortly be publishing our national skills action plan, which will set out how we intend to make sure that we have an ever more responsive skills system to all the requirements. I will always be willing to consider any proposition, but candidly right now we have a skills system in place, and I expect it to be responded to the task at hand. To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the potential impact on glass recycling rates of including glass containers in its planned deposit return scheme. As outlined through our stage 1 full business case that was published on 8 May, we anticipate that a DRS will increase glass bottle recycling rates from the existing 64 per cent towards 90 per cent. As bottles make up the bulk of glass packaging used for food and drink, that will drive up the overall glass recycling rate. The Scottish Government remains committed to supporting local authority collection arrangements for a range of packaging materials alongside DRSs under our proposed reforms of wider packaging producer responsibility arrangements. The costs to local authorities of delivering those services will in future be met by producers. Ruth Maguire I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. Ardar glass is an important employer in my constituency. They have raised concerns with me that in other countries an unintended consequence of including glass in deposits was that manufacturers switched to plastics. Can the cabinet secretary provide reassurance that the matter of glass is being considered carefully with both industry and consumers being consulted? Will she join me on a visit to Ardar glass in Irvine to see first hand the contribution that they make to recycling? Ruth Maguire I am committed to working closely with industry as we progress with the implementation of our proposals. In fact, I am already meeting Ardar glass on 26 June to discuss our plans in more detail. I recognise the concerns around the inclusion of glass. However, I believe that those factors are more than offset by the significant increase in glass recycling and the reduction in carbon emissions that that will deliver. There is also the potential for the glass industry to directly benefit from the higher quality recyclable glass that we expect to capture through DRS. Maurice Golden I refer members to my register of interests. The inclusion of glass in a deposit return scheme is a risk to local authorities and key sectors such as the Scotch whisky. For example, over £3 million of funding has been withdrawn from Aberdeenshire council for their new waste collection system, and industry have warned about the viability of the supply chain. Will the cabinet secretary pledge to ensure that no council job losses are resulting from the scheme and that all resources collected via the scheme are recycled here in Scotland? I had understood that the Conservatives supported the inclusion of glass in the scheme. I just hope that, by the tone of Maurice Golden's question, they are not beginning to renaig on that support. Special advisers and officials have recently met with other glass industry interests, so we are aware of the concerns. I think that I made that very clear when I made my statement that we understand some of the issues that are around the inclusion of glass. However, I made it clear in my earlier answer to Ruth Maguire that the issues that are connected to local authority recycling are not just as straightforward as Maurice Golden suggested. We will, of course, continue to keep all the issues related to that under consideration. That is what the implementation advisory group is for. 7. Edward Mountain To ask the Scottish Government on what date it was first made aware of bullying in NHS Highland and what action it took. As the member will know from the response that he received to the same question on 23 May, a search of all records available from 1 January 2011 shows that the earliest correspondence on file relating to NHS Highland, which mentioned the term bullying, was received on 16 March 2014. That was correspondence, addressed to a trade union and copied to the Scottish Government for information only. The Scottish Government has proactively engaged with the individual concern and continued to engage to this day. Edward Mountain I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. I understand that the board of NHS Highland knew of serious bullying allegations in 2010. As you have pointed out, the Scottish Government knew about bullying in March 2014. If the issue had been dealt with properly then, it would not be the crisis that it is today. Does the cabinet secretary agree that it was a serious failure by the Government that has allowed the situation to develop as it has? Cabinet secretary No, I do not agree. Despite Mr Mountain's best efforts, I think that we have handled this situation very well since the commissioning of the Stuart report, which was prompted by allegations of a culture of bullying, not individual cases, a culture of bullying. I think that we handled that swiftly. We handled it well. It was an independent report, which has been well received, I am sure to Mr Mountain's chagran, by staff and others in NHS Highland, on which we continue to act. Indeed, a week today, I will visit NHS Highland myself to understand exactly how they are progressing their action plan. I think that it behoves members, particularly those who claim to represent those in the Highlands, to get behind this report and give it their absolute support. David Stewart Thank you, Presiding Officer. Has the cabinet secretary considered the Francis review, which looked into bullying in the NHS in England? Its recommendations included early support of whistleblowers, cultural change and prevention of isolation containment. Will the cabinet secretary incorporate those recommendations into NHS Highland and beyond? I am grateful to Mr Stewart for that supplementary question. As he knows from the statement that I made on the publication of the Stuart review, I made clear that I understood well that some of what was in that report applied as lessons across our NHS. That is why one of the actions that I have taken is to bring together a leadership group from across our regulation bodies, our royal colleges, our staff and trade union representatives and our boards to meet with me over the summer to look at what more we need to do across our NHS to ensure that we have a positive working culture. That, of course, responds in many ways to the recommendations of the Francis review. Tavish Scott To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made in developing coach park facilities at the Yarlsoft site in Shetland. Minister Ben Macpherson Cabinet Secretary Fiona Hyslop explained in a letter to Tavish Scott on 2 May that discussions remain on-going regarding the proposed improvements to visitor facilities at Yarlsoft. Legitimate questions have been raised regarding best value for money for the public and taxpayers. Ministers await further advice that this position has been addressed. The cabinet secretary has asked Historic Environment Scotland to ensure that matters are expedited in so far as is within their control. Tavish Scott The Sumbra hotel, local bus businesses and the cruise line industry have been told for three years that Historic Environment Scotland and the agencies and the Government would sort out these coach park facilities, but all that we have had is endless buck passing. Why? Minister For clarity, Historic Environment Scotland is aware of the vital need that has been expressed for facilities at Yarlsoft and the need that the current provision for those facilities is not sustainable. Historic Environment Scotland has been considering their options and I have been keeping ministers informed with developments. However, as I am sure Tavish Scott is aware, there are legal sensitivities around current negotiations that relate to their proposals to improve parking and visitor facilities. As such, it would be inappropriate for me to go into any detail on those on-going discussions at this time. What is more, as would always be the case in any process of this nature, is the responsibility of ministers to ensure that best value for money can be evidenced. However, I will ensure that Historic Environment Scotland is asked to make contact with the member to further discuss those matters and to inform Tavish Scott of any updates as appropriate. Thank you very much. Apologies to Jenny Gilruth and Bill Kidd.


Everybody Matt here for late in sports cards ripping four boxes of 2023 tops chrome breakers delight. These are for Chris G Good luck Chris You're done. Well, Michael Massey a rookie refractor. There's a jewelry of Ray you count Mitchell rookie refractor and This is 31 of 50 gold youth quake Jeremy Pena. You go nice Astros Gold I'm gonna try to get it in today Matthew Yeah, good luck with it. There's Brett Bady rookie Aqua Lava to 199 Joe Ryan Negative refractor Kerry Carpenter rookie Otto and Brewer Hicklin rookie refractor Otto to 499 Oswaldo Cabrera youth quake rookie We go box two. Yeah, you bet rookie refractor Nelson Velazquez No, but Pagaro rookie refractor India Herrera rookie Whit and Josh young rookie refractor Luis Arias That's negative refractor Byron Buxton green wave to 99 Ezekiel Tovar rookie gold Youth quake to 50 Bryce Johnson rookie Otto and Gold Wave Michael Bush rookie Otto to 50 was wander Franco youth quake Evan Longoria refractor Legend Sosa rookie That's rookie refractor other refractors Machado Brera wit and Josh young rookie This is youth quake Red refractor rookie three of five Asturi Ruiz There you go. Nice red youth quake. Let's see some more red. Let's see some red off red auto Gold wave to 50 say a Suzuki and Aqua refractor to 199 Joey Vado rookie Otto steel Walker That's a rookie purple speckle Otto to 299 G Juan Bay Corbin Carroll rookie youth quake. Here we go last box Schwerbert and judge Strowman Oscar Gonzalez Jayrod and Maggie. It's Corey seager purple to 50 And Ken Waldechuk youth quake rookie green to 99 a's color match Simeon Woods Richardson rookie purple to 250 That is rookie Otto Lenion Sosa Drew waters. This is rookie orange refractor Otto to 25 You go Chris George Kirby youth quake rookie on the back. That'll do it for your boxes. Appreciate it, Chris We'll get these right out to you


The West's plan for destroying Russia is prevented by China. The United States of America and its European satellites are making tremendous efforts to keep the reins of world government in the hands of the collective West. However, the situation changed a long time ago. The hegemony of a limited circle of countries is coming to an end. German analysts came to curious conclusions about this. Observers of the authoritative publication Spiegel assure that the People's Republic of China managed to thwart the insidious plans of Western states for the Russian Federation. The U.S. and its satellites seriously hope to isolate Moscow and deprive it of the support of its powerful allies. However, the behavior of Beijing has confused all the cards for them. The author of the material, George Farion, believes that the G20 summit has become a symbol of the failure of Western countries. The event demonstrated that China is absolutely not going to turn away from Russia. Things are exactly the opposite. Beijing is clearly ready to support Russia and condemns the assistance of the North Atlantic Alliance to the Kiev regime. Moreover, the Chinese press constantly emphasizes the responsibility of the United States of America and the military bloc in the escalation of the conflict on the territory of the Ukrainian state.


divided by the total and then I want to copy that down so I'm going to say F4 so I can copy it down and then enter and then I will percentify that home tab numbers group percentified add a couple decimals possibly double clicking on the little fill handle copying it down so there's the percentages of the total so when we did our when we sat there with our stopwatch we counted for every one minute you know for a thousand one minute time intervals 62 times zero people showed up which is 6.2 percent 171 times one person showed up which is 17.1 percent 243 times out of a thousand minutes we sat there with our stopwatch 2243 showed up and then three people showed up 232 times which is 23.2 of the total and so on and so forth so now that we have our data then we can say okay well what if I was to plot this data you know what what would it look like if we were to plot it and notice I could plot either one of these so I could say let's take the actual numbers and I'll bring it down to here and so I'm gonna say let's say insert and then go to the charts and then I'm gonna make this a bar chart and we'll say bar chart and there it is so I've plotted the frequency and let's go into my data I'm gonna go into my data up top I'm in the chart design data and then the frequency looks good I'm gonna adjust this one however to pick up the range that I want which is from zero here down to the 29 control up I'm sorry control shift down shift up to pick up just down to 29 okay and then okay so so there we have it and I can look at that and say hmm I could see it you can see it's kind of skewed to the right here and it's got that distribution that looks like it might be you know a poisson distribution I can also do it this way with the percentages if I select all the percentages and I insert a bar chart right I can go hmm let's do this with the percentages and I'll do the same thing data tab this looks good I want to make the data over here on G3 control shift down shift up enter and okay right so you've got now you've got it in terms of percents versus the the whole numbers and so that's one indication that if we start looking at our data and say hmm that you know it looks kind of like it might fit a poisson distribution why might that be useful because the poisson distribution will allow me to have an even line that will allow me to make predictions more you know more easily because now I can stunt now I can make predictions based on you know a function as opposed to you know just randomly generated numbers right if this if I did this and it came up to some jagged landscape looking thing then I wouldn't be able to plot any kind of curve on top of it with a nice fairly relatively simple equation I know the poisson equation doesn't look you know really simple but it equates to a nice smooth line as opposed to you know a jagged landscape looking thing which would be much more difficult or a complicated type of thing you need calculates to do it right okay now I'm also I'm gonna move this to the right now I'm gonna move these to the right so that's gonna be an indication for us that we might be able to use poisson another if I I'm gonna make column J a little smaller and I could say okay what's the mean of the data so now I can calculate the mean now if I was to do a poisson curve then I'd have to know what the mean was remember that we took the mean in order to generate the data but in real life I wouldn't know the mean possibly and I would have I could guess it right I have an idea maybe but then I now I can calculate the mean based on this data right so now that we sat there with our stopwatch so I can say the mean is going to be equal to the average brackets of the data control shift down and enter so now we just took the average and if I add some decimals home tab number group adding some decimals


अगर हम देखें तो सुजना का अदिकार कानूं जो 2005 में पास हुए पारित हूँ हर साल हमारे देश में 40-60,000,000 RTI अप्लिकेशन लगाई जाती हैं तो की पूरे विष्व में शबसे जाड़ा पूरे विष्व में RTI जैसे कानूं लुज होरे हैं तो सुजना का अदिकार कानूं आया और हम बस्ती में गये जाड़ा हम काम करते हो, हमने लोगों को काब इसका अस्तमाल करी है, बहुती बडया कानूं आया है, तो कुछ लोगों ने खड़े हो के कास राषन तो मिलता नहीं है, सुझना का क्या करेंगे सुझन ऐन बोत असी आंगरी, हम करेंगे आप गयया आप्टीकासि आप एक गपातूर atya application file and their filed applications to access the records of the ration shops to access the stock register of the ration shop. And as soon as they filed these applications within a few days, they started getting these visits from the goons of the area, from the rations mafia to their homes saying that we've heard of me information mangi hai अआप यह पनी इनफरी मेंग़ी की रेखोंगरू करतीजें because, अगर आप नहीं करेंगे, तो हम आप को दिलि में तो नहीं रहीं दे डगी हैं। many of them landed up at their homes, got blank, affidavit signed & said that, अब अब अप सुच्ना लेंगे, भी लिग देंगे क्या आपने जुगी अपनी बेज दीए हमें और आपको हम यहासे निकलवादेंगें बकोस अच फीट लिए ख़ेच्टिप एफ़ट देशिजन वस देखें कलेक्तेडिग लिए परसिस्टिप अदर देखाईः की राइट का जो हनान होरा है उन सब चीजों का परदा फाष करने के लिए उपरसुषना निकलने के लिए सदिकार का अईच्टिमाल होँ है लोगोन इस सबाल पुच आए खे जो हमारी जुटिशरी है एक जजिस है है हमारी सुफरुम कोडके राइ कोडके उनके अस्छिट्स और लायापिलितीख की हमें कोपीच चेगी है लोगोन इस सबाल पुचे आए अगर हमारी मिनिस्टर्स है प्राई मिनिस्टर है उनकी एजुकेशनुल कोलिटिकेशन वो केते है कि यहे है, तो उसकी हमें कोपी दीजेए, तो यह तरेके कि सारे सबाल लोग पूच रहे हैं, और आम नागरे किस देश के पूच रहे हैं, वो एक तरेके अकाुन्तिबिलिटी जो लारा है यह कानु, वो पसन्द नहीं है, उन लोगों को, आप दुसरी ताएब का जो हम, जिसको हम कहते है, कि बिल्कुल जो हमारे साम्ने आख्डे भी आते है कई बार, और नजर भी हम सब के और जहन में भी आता है, वो है जब आतक्स इतने गंभीर हो, के वहापर हत्याए भी हो रही हो. तो जैसे वेंके टेशने का सब तर से जाडा लोगों की, मोर दें 70 पीपल, हाँ भीन किल्ड में आग्ड्डे नहीं, लासक 13 नहीं आख्सेसें इंप्रमेशन, विच दे है आख्डे लिए, मुस्थ of these cases, these are people, who have not just accessed information, they have then gone on to blow the whistle on corruption, file complaints using that information. So, I am now making a slight distinction between those attacks that happen, when people are just asking for information, and then when that information is being used, the attacks that then happen, which we find are many a times far more serious, and also result in what we typically see as murders of RTI activists. और इसके अंदर, बहुत लंभी लिस्ट है, और बहुती शरनात लिस्ट है, बहुत लंबी लिस्ट है, और बहुती शरनात लिस्ट है, but I think we have people here, who have first hand experience of losing their family members, of facing these kind of attacks on themselves. लोगोंके उपर भे बुन्यादी जुटे मुकद्मे जारी किये जाते है, जो सालो साल चलाये जाते है, किसी पे हत्या का मुकद्मा होगा, किसी पे अलगलक तरीके के केसिस तोके जाते है, So these people are going to, we have panellists who are going to talk about this, but very briefly, these are people who are using the information that they have access to, to expose corruption from the lowest to the absolute highest level, because it is really about the nature of corruption in our country, which goes down to the lowest level, where without asking for a bribe of Rs. 1000, your ration card will not be made, you will not get pension, you will not get water connection, whose struggle people are fighting with the law of thinking.  Our belief is that the law of thinking has created a total of 1.3 billion people's whistleblowers in our country. Because till now, traditionally whistleblowing was done by people who were privy to information within the government. They had files, they used to see that there is corruption, and they would go out and wake up corruption, they were government officials. Since the law of thinking has been passed, every citizen of our country has got access to that file. So one way, each and every one of us is a potential whistleblower today. And what we are seeing by way of the attacks on RTI users, is also that we need to look at it in the larger context of attacks on whistleblowers. And this is the reason that there are two types of requests for whistleblowers. We feel that there has to be a remedy for some of this. There are at least two kinds of things that are necessary. The first is that if we analyze how people are asking for a whistleblower, most of the people who are attacked are actually asking for information which the government should have provided proactively. The law of thinking of whistleblowers has written that the government is responsible for its statutory responsibility that it should reach people. Such a thought which is in public interest which is related to larger public resources. So if we look at the thought of public distribution system, of pensions, we see that many other contracts are being given by the government. All this thought has to be provided by the government itself. Now section 4 of the RTI Act is perhaps the worst implemented section of the law. In our country, Dharachar's Trianvan is a very big mess. It is absolutely correct that any government is not paying attention to it. And the reason for that is that when someone should go and think about it, they have to come in front and apply the application. So if I wanted information about what is happening which should have been provided under the RTI law, it is not being provided. I have no choice but to actually file an application. And the moment I do it, I am identified and I am targeted. So the first demand that is coming from the RTI community is that section 4 of the law needs to be implemented properly without which we will continue to see these attacks happening on people. The second thing is that we are telling the information commission that if someone comes to you and says that there are attacks on us, then immediately look at the information. If it can be public, then make that information available. Make the information available on websites. Dharachar says that information has to be made available in the most accessible ways. You can apply boards, you can apply wall paintings. So we are saying that if there are attacks on people and they reach the commission, then at least the commission says that make that information public immediately. The reason behind this is that the reason why people are being attacked is that they are not asking for information. This will be a deterrent. People will think that we will attack them on the RTI applicant that we should not ask for information. So it will be a deterrent for attacks that RTI users are facing. The other thing which is also necessary and we are very cognizant of the fact that anonymity is not an option for an RTI user. If you apply for an application and you have to give your name, you have to reach a place where you can prove that you are a citizen of the country, then there is no question of anonymity. But what is it that can be done to protect those who even use information to expose corruption. And this is why RTI users and the national campaign for people's right to information has been at the forefront of also demanding and effective whistleblower protection law. And the whistleblower protection law is a long process of law. It started with the murder of Satendra Dubey. But finally when the law was passed in 2014, there was a great demand from RTI users. Because in that law for the first time there is a statutory definition of a whistleblower. And apart from the many other things that the law provides for and there are of course like in all other legislations there are also drawbacks. But one of the very powerful things is that it gives the competent authority the power to give protection to someone who is being victimized or who is being threatened and whose life is under threat. Now if you see one after one cases where RTI users have been murdered every person I think 90% of the cases people have gone and actively sought police protection. People have not been killed in the first attack. If you see Nandi Singh's case which was hacked 40 times in Assam if you see Balmiki Yadav's case Rajendra Singh's case which has been killed in Bihar recently you see Bhupendra Veera's case that all these people have been attacked before they have sought police protection and the police have refused to give them full impunity Now we believe that itself is wrong and like any other citizen they should have got protection and here we have to be cognizant of the fact that these people are stepping beyond their own personal interests and they are in a sense conscience keepers of society they are coming forward because they are looking at the picture and therefore in the law there is a recognition that if someone is a whistleblower and they come and say that they are being attacked and they feel that threats are real then they will be given protection unfortunately in the last four years more than four years since the law has got passed this law has not been implemented by our government so I am going to just take two minutes Venkat if I may to really talk about the current context of what we are seeing by way of protection of whistleblowers and I think that the story is rather dismal what was the need that the government specially such a government which came in power on this that we are against the law and we will not let them eat so one aspect was that this government will accept all such laws and such frameworks through which this anti-corruption and grievance redress that all the legislations will be properly implemented in which we thought that the law has an important part of whistleblower protection unfortunately what we have seen through words and through actions the government has really been pushing back on the entire decentralized framework of anti-corruption that we all have been fighting for for the past many decades so if you see our MOS home is Kiran Rijiju when in Bhopal six semi-operatives were linked to the encounter people asked questions so they stood up and said that the worst thing in this country is that the culture is bad that people have to ask questions you let the authority do their work you don't need to ask questions we will take good control what sort of a democracy is that and what kind of a signal does that send out and this is not just by any one person we have seen this happening across the board which really gives out the signal in either encouraging or protecting people who are questioning the government asking inconvenient questions and who are putting the government in trouble and who are putting the wrong people in trouble the government tried to change the rules of the law in the last year and if you see in those rules the two most worrying clauses one clause is that if you want then you can take it back from your appeal commission till now when people were being threatened and were being told to take back your case people used to say that this is not a law what will you attack on us now the case is gone now the appeal has gone to the commission the government has made the rules that if you want you can take back your case that means you are leaving the door open for people to pressurize you that you go and take back your case the second thing which is more dangerous than that is that if you die then the case will be closed this is providing a perverse incentive because you are basically saying that if I am asking for inconvenient information and I go up to the commission if my murder happens then I will not even be able to hear my case that means I am not getting justice even that case will not be heard and taken forward the government like I said has not implemented the whistleblower protection law the whole demand was the whistleblower protection law and the grievance redress law that was because if you analyze the RTIs then most of the RTIs are about such people who should have been not getting it then there should have been a proper grievance redress mechanism so that they don't have to roam they should complain they should not go to a cool box and they should immediately get the whistleblower protection law and if someone takes a big whistleblower and exposes it whether it is 2G whether it is a human rights violation or corruption then there should be a fair and independent probe that is why the demand for the whistleblower protection law the whistleblower protection law is 4 years old the RTI activists that we take so many jokes we go and find this information then we use it to file complaints and then nothing happens on those complaints remains today as well because whatever the government comes with their political opponents suddenly their cases start to increase and their cases start to fall down so that is really the way in which corruption and many other kinds of criminal offenses are also being tackled with in our country and I think that none of that has seen any improvement in the current context if we look at the current government and the grievance redress law which was brought into parliament which would have helped a lot of people who are today being attacked has not been reintroduced there was a promise by the current government that last time when the law, the bill was kept in parliament it was lapsed so we will bring it back it was the law of people's power and it has not been reintroduced so I will stop my presentation here actually just one last thing I think what we needed to do was to see information commissions being strengthened their hands being strengthened because they have the power to direct the government to give information and also to protect whistleblowers but we have seen that recently there are amendments that have been proposed to the RTI law which actually will compromise the independence of information commissions and I think that we will have to see this too in this presentation