My name is Christine Liebevecht and I received my PhD at Helberg University, Universite Nijmegen on the Department of Communication and Information Sciences and I particularly like to connect the field of Communication and Information Sciences with the field of artificial intelligence and this project that I'm going to present today is on Chattel's communication in the customer service industry. So conversational agents are artificial intelligence computer programs, oftentimes using natural language to engage the users and these agents are increasingly being deployed by organizations in customer service settings. So we see an increase in the usage of these technologies. So for example, according to the Gardner Technologies in Service Bullseye, 68 percent of these service leaders expect conversational agents will become more important in the next years. So there's a real grow in that area. So here you see such a chatbot and then you can see, well, there are certain tone of voice used in the communication and a customer can, for example, try to chase a delivery address. And that is why a topic that these kind of chatbots are really useful for these more or less frequently asked questions. So also with regard to trends watching, maybe you are familiar with the Gardner Hype Cycle for artificial intelligence. And as you can see here, chatbots are on the peak of inflated expectations, meaning that I will actually maybe the expectations on the abilities of chatbots or customer service chatbots is really a bit too high. So really complex questions, emotional questions are really hard for a customer service chatbots yet. But as I said before, frequently asked questions are kind of doable for this technology. So that is also, I think now chatbots is more in the form of disillusionment, meaning that now you can actually see for what kind of cases this technology is really useful for. And then it can actually grow in that specific area. That is also what we see in the field. So organizations train chatbots oftentimes on really specific topics, for example, with regard to delivery services, opening hours, all these easy questions that you don't want to bother your human employees with. So actually there are a few opportunities in using chatbots in this field. They are always available 24-7. They respond really fast. They can manage many clients simultaneously in contrast to human employees. And they can also answer specific questions about these specific topics. However, performance is something that can be improved oftentimes. So here you see for someone, someone is trying this IKEA chatbot, Anna. It's an old video already, but you can see that the intent recognition isn't that good yet. So that is something to improve and oftentimes also where researchers and also organizations spend many hours on in trying to improve the intent recognition, for example. But you also see here that the chatbot has a name. In this case, IKEA has chosen Anna.  Another example is this one. Maybe you are familiar with Microsoft Stay. Actually, the company tried to or the aim was to create a chatbot, so to say, or at least a Twitter account that automatically can respond to other people on Twitter. And the aim was to have a really personal interaction so that the tone of voice of Stay matches the tone of voice of the people on Twitter. That was the aim. And they launched Stay some years ago, 2015. But this is actually what happened on Twitter. And it was because they use machine learning approach. And you can see that they maybe did not learn the right sentences that that was Microsoft school. So you can see that machine learning approach, for example, can be, well, dangerous. If the input in the machine, of course, is not of high quality or not the type of quality that you aim. So, of course, you can imagine that Microsoft turned this one offline as soon as possible once they saw that this wasn't successful at all. But the aim to create more personalized conversations with people online, that is something that is desirable. So here, for example, you see that one of the reasons why people would stop using the chatbot is because they say the chatbot wasn't able to chat in a friendly manner. And also with regards to personalization, after feeling to being treated in a human-like way is something that is one of the barriers. So therefore, we see also some challenges for chatbot development, because chatbots could misunderstand the customer's language. Oftentimes, they cannot fix mistakes. They can activate feelings of resistance, and also they do not communicate in a human-like way yet. In our project, we particularly try to focus on the latter one, namely how to create more human-like chatbots. And today, I will tell you more about the tone of voice of chatbots. That actually connects to prior theories. So the idea is that people apply social rules to computers. That's what computer or social actors are about, and they actually treat them in a similar way as they do to other humans. And we thought, well, maybe if we give more social cues to chatbots, it can be possible to actually enhance that feeling that someone is talking to a human rather than a machine, because that is one of the disadvantages of chatbots at the current moment. So we thought, to what extent can we enhance the perceived social presence? So the feeling that you are talking to another person in the interaction, and we try to do that by adopting linguistic elements in chatbot conversations. We were not the first one who tried to do this. So Araujo already conducted a study in which two different versions of the chatbots were developed, one more human-like chatbots with a name, Anna, using a formal language, and also human-like greeting and closing compared to the machine-like chatbots. And he indeed did find some positive effects with regards to the human-like chatbot type. So a higher perceived social presence and also a higher emotional connection. However, there were also some similarities in his paper, but it was actually one of the reasons why we thought, well, maybe we can use our knowledge from communication information sciences, namely how do humans connect or chat with each other? So what tone of voice do they use when a company and a human employee is communicating with another human being, with the customer? And we tried to adopt the so-called conversational human voice from that field to the field of chatbots communication. And the conversational human voice is a personal and engaging communication style. And characteristics are cues of personalization, informal language, and also invitational rhetoric. And in business to customer context, we do see positive effects of this specific tone of voice. So for example, you see that the left is more personalized than the right one, because of the picture, but also because of the signature of Anna, for example. Here you see some elements of informal language. So for example, abbreviations, but also the usage of smileys. And here you see examples of invitational rhetoric. So for example, showing sympathy and empathy, asking questions to the customer, apologizing to create that environment that the customer is really welcome to ask questions to the company, and they are really welcome to help the customer out. So this is the example I showed you before, and that was actually one of the experimental materials that we used. And as you can see, there are some informal language cues in it. So for example, a smiley multiple, etc. And we compared such a version with a more human-like version in which internal voice was more formal. We conducted several studies, actually. So the first study we used several CHV cues, and we indeed found that the human-like chatbot enhanced the perceived social presence, which in turn enhanced the grant attitude. So positive effects of the human-like chatbot. We found similar effects when we only adopted informal language cues, so only focusing on that part. And in the last study, we also found it for informal language cues, but we also conducted a study in which we only focused on invitational rhetoric. And there we actually saw that invitational rhetoric effects actually depend on the familiarity of the customer with the grant. So if someone is familiar with the grant, so if you are a customer of IKEA, for example, then you did like the invitational rhetoric cues. But if you were not familiar with the brand at all, then it was considered as inappropriate. And we could explain that by means of the role theory, namely that it's kind of inappropriate to use such a language style if you are not familiar with each other yet. So then a more distant tone of voice, so to say, is more appropriate in that situation. These were, well, examples of tone of voice of invitational rhetoric that we use. So using humor, showing sympathy, empathy, asking questions, thanking, apologizing, et cetera. So these were the conclusions of this line of research. You were like, tone of voice generally has a positive impact on brand attitudes via social presence. But be careful when using invitational rhetoric, because then brand familiarity comes into play. And also be aware of the uncanny valley. We haven't tested it yet, but the idea of the uncanny valley is that maybe you can also be too human-like with the chatbots. It hasn't shown in the field of robots. And maybe it could also count for chatbots as well, chatbots communication. So if people have the feeling that it is too human-like, then they can also feel some kind of resistance. And that is, of course, not desirable in our context. So then I want to briefly also dive into new challenges that we aim to address in our project. So first of all, for example, how the chatbot is introduced by customers. So actually managing expectations. Sometimes you do see in practice that the chatbot says, hi, I'm your virtual assistant. You can ask me anything you want. And I'm really intelligent because I was trained really well. But oftentimes you also see another version, namely, hi, I'm just a chatbot in training. I don't know much yet, but you can ask me questions about a specific topic. And you can imagine that actually manages the expectations of the ability of the chatbots to the customer, which can be very helpful. Furthermore, we also want to address or focus on how to communicate in case of errors. So if the chatbot doesn't perform well yet on that topic, how do you communicate that in order to try to avoid negative feelings from the customer? And lastly, we're also interested in, well, if the chatbot is not able to solve the problem, how can you redirect the customer to a human employee? And especially in the customer service context, we do see oftentimes that handover. But you want to make that as smooth as possible for the user and also for the human employee. So these are challenges that we also aim to address in our study or in our project as well, besides next to other topics, of course. If you want to know more, please check out our websites. And these are the people who are involved in the project as well. So thank you very much for your attention.


Felly, mae'n dweud â gynlluniaeth ym Mhwyllgor i'r ystod, y cwestiwn i ddechrau i ddweud i ddweud, a ddechrau i ddweud dros, ddim ddechrau i ddweud i ddweud, ddatblyg i'r ddweud. Felly, mae'n gweld hwnnw y cyfleoedd Unifolus Unedig yn ymddiolio cwestiwn i ddweud i ddweud i ddweud i ddweud i eu ddweud. Efallai ddweud i ddweud i ddweud i ddweud i ddweud, ei ddweud i ddweud i ddweud i ddweud, strength general powers mountain all y 38 maen nhw is out of the European Union, I don't think will have any credibility whatsoever on matters European. I read the article in The Times this morning with interest, good journalism as always and as would be expected, but based on I think four unnamed sources, not saying they have no legitimacy, but I am going to give some named sources in the words of Douglas Ross, direct quotes. So here's the first one, not all countries in the European Union will join the euro. Former Prime Minister David Cameron, they are not going to force us to join the euro. Highly respected former Labour MP David Martin, no country has ever been obliged to join the euro. Graham Avery, former senior adviser at the European Policy Centre, just yesterday here is the deputy director at the Centre for European Reform. I'm not a Scottish nationalist, but euro membership doesn't get forced on member states. And lastly, well here we go, Douglas Ross doesn't want to listen to any of that. I know he often flip-flops on whether he agrees with Tory leaders or not, but clearly he's now disagreeing with David Cameron as well. But here is another one, Presiding Officer. There is an I quote, I'm quoting here, no intention of forcing countries to join the euro if they are not willing or not able to do so. That was the former president of the European Commission itself. Now if quotes are not enough, how about hard evidence, Presiding Officer? Many countries in the European Union still use their own currency. Sweden, well name them. Bulgaria, Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Sweden, a member state since 1995 still uses its own currency. So there you are, Presiding Officer. Direct quotes and hard evidence. Finally though, if Douglas Ross wants to have this debate, I welcome it. So here's my challenge to Douglas Ross. Let's have a referendum and have these debates with the Scottish people. Douglas Ross, desperate stuff from Nicola Sturgeon because of course what she didn't quote, well they're all applauding that point that it was desperate stuff from Nicola Sturgeon, because they know she didn't quote that it is a criteria for countries entering into, not currently in the European Union, to join up to the euro. Because Nicola Sturgeon has been pretending that her plan to break up the United Kingdom would mean Scotland rejoins the EU. But that's not true. The reality, according to these multiple European Union officials, is a Scotland separated from the United Kingdom would be refused entry unless it agreed to join the euro. So the First Minister's big plan is actually to break Scotland away from by far our biggest trading partner, the United Kingdom, with nothing to show for it in the middle of a global inflation and cost of living crisis. And she wants to put families and businesses through that in the next 12 months. First Minister, how can that possibly be your priority right now? Firstly, what Douglas Ross refers to as global inflation just happens to be higher in the UK than in most of the rest of the globe right now because of the economic and financial incompetence of the Conservative Government. But let's return to the matter at hand. The criteria that he refers to, which is actually the Maastricht criteria, was actually in place when Sweden joined the European Union 27 years ago. But Sweden is kind of proving the point that I am making. First Minister, if you could just give me a moment, please. I'd like to be clear that I would wish everyone in the chamber and beyond to hear the First Minister and indeed whoever should be speaking at any point. Douglas Ross is from a sedentary position shouting, but what about the euro? It is the euro position. I'm talking about Sweden is not in the euro. And of course, the president of the European Commission, when he said, and let me quote it again, there is no intention of forcing countries to join the euro if they are not willing to do so. That was in 2017, not 27 years ago. Unfortunately, the direct named quotes of the people that I have quoted today and the hard evidence from other EU member states disproves the point that Douglas Ross is seeking to make today.  But if he wants to put it to the test, if he wants to put it to the test, let's allow the Scottish people to look at all of these things and make a decision in a referendum. That, after all, is the democratic thing to do. Let's not forget, Presiding Officer, that the future, the vast majority of people in Scotland want, which is one inside the European Union, is now only available to Scotland if we become independent. Douglas Ross, what is utterly pathetic and desperate, and she's fiddling away through her folder, so if she can find this, this will be great, is a quote from someone that says, a country seeking to enter into the European Union doesn't have to join the euro because all her selective quotes have been about countries that are already in the EU. But when we need the focus on funding on our front line here in Scotland, the Scottish Government has poured resources and taxpayers' money into an economic paper that the EU rubbished in less than a fortnight. So let's just run through the facts of that flimsy plan. The First Minister has no idea how to tackle the deficit, not a word on all the taxes she'll have to hike, silent on all the public services that will be cut, and she wants to separate Scotland from our biggest trading line. The First Minister has no idea how to tackle the deficit, not a word on all the taxes she will have to rise, silent on the public services that will be cut, and she wants to separate Scotland from our biggest trading partner, bringing in, in her own words, a hard border, risking 500,000 Scottish jobs that depend on UK trade, abandon the pound, has no plan to pay for pensions and no security for people's mortgages. So let me ask the First Minister this. Why does the First Minister... Sorry, Mr Ross. I am not allowing this behaviour to continue. We will hear each and every member who is entitled to be heard. All voices should be heard in this chamber. I'm sure we would all wish to afford one another that Curtis. Please continue. So with your flimsy plan and the disaster it's going to create for Scotland, why or why do you insist on dragging our country through this when you should be uniting us to deal with the challenges our country faces? First Minister. All I'd say, Presiding Officer, I think Douglas Ross should perhaps reflect in the fact there that people across the chamber were not laughing with him. However, it is extremely serious. So let's just take point by point. Douglas Ross says we want to abandon the pound. Douglas Ross is from the party that over recent times has wrecked the pound. He talks about and he has the nerve, the nerve to stand up in this chamber and talk about security for mortgage payers. From the party that over recent weeks brought mortgage funds to security for pensions that brought pension funds within hours of collapse. He calls on security for mortgage payers, the party that because of its incompetence has sent mortgage rates soaring through the roof. That is the reality of Scotland within the United Kingdom. Then he's also got the nerve to talk about deficits. Deficits right now are created as a result of Westminster decisions and we are about to find out later in November the price Scotland is going to have to pay in the form of another wave of Tory austerity, probably in the form of tax rises to see how the Tories are going to deal with the deficit they have created. Independence is an alternative to the economic mess that the Tories have created. Finally, on the euro, I note that when Douglas Ross doesn't like the quotes and we don't like the countries that form the evidence here, he just calls for other quotes and for other countries. The fact of the matter is that this is where Douglas Ross also has a nerve because we are getting close to the point again because of Tory incompetence where the euro may well soon be worth more than the pound. Another example of Tory fiscal and economic mismanagement and incompetence, which independence gives us the only real alternative to. This is a First Minister who has the biggest ever block grant for the United Kingdom Government, £41 billion to spend and criticises every element on it. But the First Minister's plan to escape the temporary issues of the past month is to create permanent chaos with jobs, mortgages, pensions and public services. Rishi Sunak is fixing recent mistakes. The First Minister would wreck our economy for good. Nicola Sturgeon wants permanent austerity, Nicola Sturgeon wants permanent higher taxes, Nicola Sturgeon wants permanent economic chaos, and if she ever gets her way, we've heard today from European officials that she would leave us permanently isolated. Even if she won't admit it, the truth is that there is no economic case for the referendum that she wants to hold in just 12 months' time. First Minister, Scotland rejected your plans for separation in 2014. Now your new proposals have been torn up by the EU. Isn't it time to drop your obsession and focus on people, businesses and communities right across Scotland? First Minister, it is because I am focusing on people, businesses and communities and what is best for them, their wellbeing and their prosperity that I want to see Scotland become independent in charge of our own affairs and our own destiny, not continuing to be dragged down the wrong path by Westminster Governments. That is the reality. I want to have a referendum to give the people of Scotland that choice, because it is interesting that Douglas Ross is happy to come to this chamber and debate these matters, but he is not prepared to go and debate them with the people of Scotland. If Douglas Ross really believed that the Scottish people were going to reject independence, he would be clamouring for a referendum. The fact that he wants to block one speaks volumes. I am not sure that we should put much store at all on anything that Douglas Ross has to say. Let me reflect on the last few weeks in the life of Douglas Ross leader for now of the Scottish Conservative Party. He called on Boris Johnson to resign, then he U-turned, then he called on Boris Johnson to resign again, then he U-turned again. He demanded that I follow at the mini-budget, then he applauded Liz Truss for scrapping the mini-budget. He voted for fracking in England. Now I think he welcomes the fact that the fracking ban has been reinstated in England. Just last week or the week before he said that Liz Truss would win the next general election and days later he welcomed the resignation of Liz Truss. Today he backs Rishi Sunak, who knows what Douglas Ross's position will be this time next week. Across Scotland our hospital should be preparing for winter, but they are having to deal with a crisis right now. We have seen record-breaking waits in our A&Es, but freedom of information requests reveal the scale of the problem. The number of people waiting more than 24 hours in A&E over the last year is a shocking 4,069 people waiting more than 24 hours. It gets worse, 859 people waiting over 36 hours and 243 people waiting over 48 hours. That is two whole days waiting in A&E. First Minister, I have come here week after week asking you to take this crisis seriously. Do not point to announcements made last year. Do not tell us how much you care. Do not repeat how unacceptable you think it is. Tell us what you are going to do to fix it and by when. The situation is challenging in accident emergency, but it is because of the actions that we are taking to employ more staff to put more money into the national health service, the £50 million urgent unscheduled care collaborative, for example, that we will see progress in A&E waiting times. In terms of the last week's figures, for example, we saw a 14% reduction in waits over eight hours. We also saw the numbers waiting over 12 hours come down and performance against the four hour waiting times target increase. There is much, much work to be done. We are going into a very, very challenging winter period, which is why hospitals across the country, health boards across the country, are working hard to plan for winter, and this Government will continue to support them. Anna Sarwar is right to raise these issues, absolutely right to raise these issues, but what is always missing from Labour's contribution on these matters is any suggestions about what should be done differently, because we are taking the actions that require to be taken, and we will continue to do so to support our national health service now, over this winter and beyond. Anna Sarwar is taking the actions. The situation is actually getting worse. A year ago, when the health secretary was appointed, 86.6% of people were seen within four hours at A&E. Today, that figure stands at 65.3%. That is simply not good enough. The truth is that A&E waiting times are only one part of the picture. Thousands of people every week are seen in acute assessment units.  They wait hours for treatment, but many of their waits are not recorded. At the Queen Elizabeth, in one unit, in one night this week, 48 patients spent the night on trolleys in waiting rooms, in side rooms, in corridors, and some even had to sleep on chairs. None of them, not one of them, will be captured in waiting time statistics. First Minister, will you start recording all waiting times, including acute assessment units, so that waits like these are no longer hidden by this Government? First Minister, we will always look at how we report figures in a way, firstly, that is most transparent as possible, but also in a way that reflects the changing pattern of care. For example, as part of the urgent and unshilled care collaborative, we are looking at more scheduled appointments for accident and emergency. Of course, how figures are reported always have to take account of that, but we have not changed how accident and emergency waiting time statistics are reported. I will be corrected if I am wrong on this, but, from memory, I do not think that they have changed since we took office. Of course, we report them weekly, which is different from other Administrations across the UK, where I think that they are only reported on a monthly basis. There is transparency about this, and we will always look at how we improve this. It is a challenging situation, but if we look at the most recent weeks statistics, and those will fluctuate week on week, but in the most recent week that have been published, there were fewer people waiting over four hours than had been the case at any point over the last month. We also saw the numbers of waits over eight hours and over 12 hours come down, and that is a result of the hard work of those in the front line, but also the actions we are taking to support their efforts. As I said earlier on, if other parties think that there are actions that could be taken that we are not taking, we will always listen to that. We never hear that from Labour, and they put forward a motion in Parliament yesterday, a motion about the health service that did not even mention the fact that we have been living through a global pandemic. I am not sure when I listen to Labour that they are really interested in the health service, rather they are interested in just making political points. Anna Sarwar Well, the First Minister should reflect on the fact that we are talking about people's lives here. Lives are being lost because of the failure in our A&E and the failure of this Government. The First Minister says that she will look at the acute assessment stats and how they are reported. She said that back in 2018, long before Covid impacted on this country, so it is time to not always have the single transferable excuse of Covid and instead take some responsibility. This week, an email sent to doctors from management at the Queen Elizabeth hospital said that there is currently no space to assess any new patients in the medical receiving areas or in the emergency department. It went on to say, we are all being asked to perform the impossible in extremely challenging circumstances. Staff being asked to do the impossible, patients being asked to accept the unacceptable by this Government. Over 4,000 people waiting more than 24 hours in A&E in one year. 859 people waiting over 36 hours and 243 people waiting over two days in A&E.  How bad does it have to get? How long do people have to wait? How many lives have to be lost before this First Minister admits that this health secretary and her Government have no idea what they are doing? A raxiwnate emergency units, while under significant pressure, are still the best performing by a significant margin of any across the UK. Second point, I deeply appreciate the efforts of staff, which is one of the reasons that we pay our staff in the health service more than in any other part of the UK. I am offering a higher pay deal for this year than in any other part of the UK. Next, it is because this is so serious. Whenever we talk about the NHS, it is the lives that we are talking about. It is important to take this seriously and to look at all the factors here. It is reasonable to say that when Labour comes to the chamber and tries to debate the NHS and pretends that the pandemic did not happen and that that is not one of the main reasons why we are seeing so many of these pressures, it suggests that they are not taking this issue as seriously as they should be. We will continue to take the actions around staffing, funding and redesigning of care to support our health service through this. We will focus on that each and every day from the health secretary, me and the entire Government. That is what people have put their trust in this Government to do, and that is what we will get on and continue to do. Under the Tories, inflation has run out of control, mortgage rates are at their highest since the financial crash and energy bills have more than doubled. New figures from the ONS have clearly set out the stark pressures that this crisis is having on households across Scotland, showing the cost of basic essential goods have skyrocketed with the price of budget food in supermarkets rising by 17 per cent in the year to September. That is particularly stark in the Highlands and Islands, where many areas already faced a higher cost of goods and services. People need help and they need it now. Does the First Minister agree that it is urgent that the UK Government uses its upcoming fiscal statement to rule out a return to austerity, confirm an inflationary rise in social security benefits and provide the Scottish Government with an inflationary uplift to the 2022-23 budget to enable the Scottish Government to take further steps to support people with the cost of living crisis? First Minister? Yes, I do agree with that. I would be shocked if it was not the case that everybody across the chamber agreed with those points. People are really suffering from the impacts of inflation and the ONS statistics earlier this week really laid that bear in terms of the detail beneath the headline inflation figure. It is really important that action is taken. This Government is taking the action that we are able to take within the powers and resources that we have at our disposal. I very much hope that we see more action from the UK Government. I made this point directly to the new Prime Minister when I spoke to him earlier this week. Just to recap on the points that Emma Roddick made there, I hope that there is support for those across the chamber. There should be no further austerity. Our public services are still dealing with the legacy of the last period of Tory austerity and dealing with the impact of inflation right now, so no further austerity. Inflation increases for benefits. I think that that is something that is morally right and should happen. And yes, inflationary increases for the budget of this Parliament, so we can pass those on to public services as well. I would certainly hope that that is what we will see from the UK Government. I fear, though, that what we are going to see is another wave of austerity and further tax cuts, but I certainly hope to be proved wrong on that, and tax rises rather than tax cuts, I should say. Jamie Greene Thank you, Presiding Officer. Yesterday, our blue light services spoke to the Justice Committee about the very serious and dire consequences of what a real-terms cut to their budget might look like. Up to 4,500 police staff and officers lost, up to a quarter of our firefighters, police stations closing, fire stations closing—the consequences of that, First Minister, are dire. The only real winners in this are criminals and the real losers in all of this are the general public. Before the First Minister talks about this year's budget constraints, Audit Scotland has been perfectly clear that this is a decade-long chronic underfunding of blue light services. Does the First Minister now seriously regret breaking her own manifesto commitment to our police force to protect them and protect their budget? First Minister, this Government will always, as we have done throughout all the years of being in Government, protect our public services to the maximum that is possible. Within a budget, the size of which is largely determined by Westminster. That is the reality. That commitment can be seen in, for example, the fact that, right now, Scotland has a higher number of police officers that, at any time during the previous administration, we have more police officers per head of population at 31 per 10,000 in Scotland compared to just 24 in England and Wales. We similarly see that when it comes to the fire service. We have more fire officers per head of population than is the case in England and Wales. 11.8 per 10,000 population in Scotland, in England, is just 6.2 and Wales is 10. The budgetary position going forward is really difficult, and that is because of decisions that are not in my hands or in the hands of the Scottish Government but in the hands of the UK Government. If the Conservatives or any party across this chamber want, as we all want, to see more money invested in our public services, they have to see where they think we should take that money from, or they should join us in asking for much greater financial independence for this Parliament so that we are not dependent on decisions taken elsewhere. Colin Smyth Thank you, Presiding Officer. First Minister, dozens of women representing the hundreds of survivors of Farnethy House residential school are in Parliament today to highlight their plight. To bravely share with MSPs their traumatic, awful experience of physical, mental and, in some cases, sexual abuse at the hands of staff at Farnethy in the 1960s, when those women, as young, vulnerable children were sent supposedly for respite. Because they were in short-term residential care, they were ignored by the Government's redress scheme. Today, not one of the perpetrators of this abuse has been brought to justice and no one from Government has yet publicly acknowledged that this abuse at Farnethy even took place, despite the fact that hundreds of women have now publicly come forward. All they want is someone to listen to them. Myself and Alec Cole-Hamilton wrote to the First Minister in August asking if she would meet representatives of the survivors group. Can I ask the First Minister if she will do so, not necessarily today but soon and more importantly, will she listen to the plight of those brave women? I am aware that some of the Farnethy survivors are visiting Parliament today and I welcome them here, although they do not underestimate the difficulty in being here to press the case that they are here to press. I will consider any request for a meeting, but it is important to tell the chamber that the Deputy First Minister met them in June of this year and continues to engage and listen to the concerns that the group is raising about eligibility to the redress scheme and wider matters relating to justice and support. The Deputy First Minister has responded to a request from the Public Petitions Committee, which is considering a petition from the Farnethy survivors outlining the rationale for the eligibility criteria. The circumstances, obviously, in which individuals came to be at Farnethy will vary, so it is not necessarily possible to determine eligibility for the group as a whole, but we will continue to listen and to respond and to do everything that we can to address those concerns. First Minister will be aware of the major telecommunications failure in Shetland last Thursday, as the emergency resilience plan kicked in, supported by emergency services, to whom I extend grateful thanks, along with engineers fixing the problem. Islanders faced the prospect of being cut off from the world for several days. No mobile signal, no internet or digital landlines, banks shut, cash machines useless and residents asked to flag down an emergency vehicle where needed. All that points to the fundamental vulnerability of island communications infrastructure, something that I and many others highlighted during the now-junk proposals for centralised air traffic control. We need guaranteed connectivity and reliability. Will the Scottish Government agree to reviewing what happened to ensure those vital communication connections that most people take for granted are resilient? I know that that was a matter of profound concern to islanders last week. Obviously, the Government was very involved in making sure that all efforts were made to reconnect those services as quickly as possible. Of course, thanks to the dedication of everybody working on that, it was not the case that power supplies were interrupted by telecommunications and power works interrupted for several days. In fact, all supplies and services were reinstated around four o'clock on the same day. Throughout the Scottish Government's resilience room, we were monitoring the situation and lasing with partner agencies. The points about wider resilience are legitimate and important to make. I will give a commitment that we will review all that in light of this incident and consider what other steps might be required. I will undertake to keep the member updated on that work. This week, while most politicians have welcomed Rishi Sunak as the first British Indian Prime Minister, an SNP MP chose to attack him over his race and suggested that he is the wrong type of Asian. Does the First Minister think that those types of comments are acceptable, and will she wholeheartedly condemn this hate-filled rhetoric that seeks to divide communities across Scotland? I am sorry, but that is a mischaracterisation of what the MP in question said. I do not think that it serves the anti-racist cause, which all of us in this chamber are utterly committed to trying to manufacture divisions between us on the issue. The fact of the matter is that any decent person welcomes the fact that the UK has its first Hindu Prime Minister. However, the point that was being made is that, notwithstanding that, we will continue to have political disagreements. I disagree with much of what Rishi Sunak stands for as a Conservative. However, I was pleased notwithstanding my political disagreements to congratulate Rishi Sunak personally earlier this week on his appointment as Prime Minister, and I am sure that all of us do that. I also take the opportunity again here today. I hope that everybody, without exception across the chamber, will join me in saying that all of us should stand united and in solidarity against racism. That, I think, is what is called for, and that is what I will always do. Presiding Officer, to ask the First Minister when the Cabinet will next meet. Very grateful for that reply. Presiding Officer, there is a dentistry crisis in Scotland. It has been getting harder and harder to see a dentist on the NHS, even if he is registered with a practice. We have found people turning to DIY dentistry in pain and desperation. I have here a freedom of information request. It shows that one in 10 dentists have stopped doing NHS work since the pandemic. That is 400 fewer offering NHS treatment. Dentists have been warning the First Minister that Government funding no longer covers the costs. They say that Ministers have their heads in the sand. Presiding Officer, the dead hand of ministerial disinterest is at large once again. The centrepiece of the Scottish Government's response to this crisis six months ago was the creation of a dental advisory group, but it still does not have any members, and it still has not met. This is the group that was not there. So can I ask the First Minister when will it meet and what does she have to say to those patients still waiting in pain? First Minister. We will continue to work with and support NHS dentistry. The facts of the matter are the facts of the matter as follows. We have a record number of people registered with an NHS dentist in Scotland. More than 95% of the population are registered. We also see continued recovery in the numbers of people accessing NHS dentistry and getting dental examinations. The statistics show that examination appointments have been increasing, an increase of 80% in examination appointments per month, on average compared with the period of January to March this year, which reflects the impact of infection controls being reduced and the reintroduction of payments linked to seeing and treating patients. We will continue to invest in NHS dentistry. In total, we have provided over £150 million in additional support to maintain the capacity and capability of the sector. We lastly remain in a position of relative strength in terms of workforce numbers. The longer-term trend shows an increase of 32% in dentists providing NHS dental services. As with all parts of the health service, there are real challenges here, but we continue to support dentistry as we continue to support the NHS as a whole. To ask the First Minister what impact recent changes within the UK Government will have on the Scottish Government's emergency budget review. The chaotic series of UK Government announcements and U-turns on fiscal measures over recent weeks has led to economic turmoil, mortgage products being withdrawn from the market, the pound crashing and the Bank of England having to take emergency action to stabilise financial markets. Now we have another change in Prime Minister, another potential change in direction, along with the latest in a long string of U-turns just yesterday when the UK Government delayed its fiscal statement and independent forecasts from the OBR from 31 October to 17 November. In light of this unprecedented uncertainty and instability, it is prudent to review the timing for the Scottish Government's emergency budget review, which we will do. I thank the First Minister for that reply. This week's economist describes the UK as, and I quote, a country of political instability, low growth and subordination to the bond markets, blighted by regional inequality. Following the UK Government's great new turn on policies, Tory MSPs supinely urged the First Minister to adopt only a month ago, does she agree that everyone, particularly the most vulnerable in our society, will pay the price for Tory economic incompetence, necessitating the emergency budget review, and that, with the Westminster system utterly broken, Scotland's prosperity can best be secured through becoming an independent country? Whether it's through the Brexit impact, including the impact of Brexit on food prices or the impact of the mini-budget on mortgages, it's people across the country who are paying the price right now for Tory economic incompetence. Households and businesses will bear the cost of the former Prime Minister's mistakes for months, possibly for years to come, and we don't yet know what the current Prime Minister will do in terms of tax rises and spending cuts. So that is the reality for Scotland right now, and it's getting worse, not better. So, yes, I entirely agree that Scotland's prosperity can best be secured by Scotland becoming an independent country, and I think it is because the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats also recognise that, and recognise that the people of Scotland will see that, that they remain so intent on blocking the democratic choice of Scotland. Neil Bibby Thank you, Presiding Officer. Rissy Soonak was secretly recorded boasting how proud he was to have diverted the last Labour Government's investment in deprived urban areas to the wealthiest communities. Would the First Minister agree with me that money should not be diverted away from the most deprived areas in either the UK or the Scottish budgets? And if so, can the First Minister therefore explain why the Scottish Government is taking educational attainment challenge funding away from Scotland's most deprived council areas? The First Minister On the first part of his question, yes, I do agree with that. On the second part of his question, it's a mischaracterisation of the position. Perhaps evidenced by the fact that I think his colleagues on COSLA actually supported the change that we made to educational attainment funding distribution, actually making sure that it supported more young people living in deprivation. And of course, the budget to tackle the attainment gap is rising over at this Parliament and rightly so. Question number five, Tess White. Thank you, Presiding Officer. To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's responses to the Royal College of Emergency Medicine Scotland's reported warning that the NHS winter resilience plan will not be in place in time to prevent further harm to patients and staff this winter. Well, as we have just been discussing, A&E departments are working under significant pressure exacerbated of course by the pandemic. Pressures are also driven by delays in discharge elsewhere in hospitals, which is why the £600 million winter plan includes a focus on social care and actions to encourage integration authorities to help alleviate delays. Our £50 million unscheduled care programme is working to reduce A&E weights, including by ensuring that people are directed to the most appropriate urgent care settings and scheduling urgent appointments. The Royal College of Emergency Medicine is a vital partner in this work and the health secretary will be meeting them in coming weeks to discuss how further improvements can be made. Tess White, First Minister, the RCEM emphasised the urgent need to bolster the social care workforce to help with the discharge of patients from hospital this winter. This SNP Government is wasting precious time, money and resources on plans to centralise social care services in four years' time. Does the First Minister agree with the SNP MSP Kenneth Gibson that the national care service is like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut? Michelle Thompson said that the proposals are screaming a huge risk. Will the First Minister abandon those plans and focus instead on strengthening social care ahead of the looming winter crisis in the NHS? The National Care Service is about improving social care, and it is about better rewarding those who work in social care. It is about removing any postcode lottery in the provision of social care, so I think that the National Care Service is the right way to go. Obviously, the bill is in its early stages of parliamentary scrutiny. There are a number of different committees in Parliament that are scrutinising the legislation, and as we always do, we will listen very carefully to points made and views expressed in the course of that scrutiny. That is the right and proper way to proceed with any legislation. In the meantime, of course, while Parliament is scrutinising the National Care Service Bill and, as we are taking that forward, we will continue with the steps that we are taking in the here and now to improve social care, employing more people in social care, investing more money in social care and increasing the wages of people who work in that sector. One of the biggest constraints that we have right now—one of the biggest barriers to getting people into the social care workforce—is Brexit, and the ending of freedom of movement, which, I think, from memory is something that the member supports. While I will continue to listen to all points that are made, perhaps she would listen to people who say that we should reverse Brexit and restore freedom of movement to try to help her public services, as well as our economy. To ask the First Minister what assistance the Scottish Government is providing to those with complex disabilities to cope with the cost of living crisis. The child disability payment and adult disability payment, as well as the carers allowance supplement, are part of the package of social security benefits that we are providing. We are also funding new forms of advice and advocacy to help disabled people and those with long-term health conditions access the financial support that they are entitled to. We have also introduced child winter heating assistance, which is an annual payment to families with severely disabled children to help them to heat their homes. Like the carers allowance supplement, that is financial support that is unavailable anywhere else in the UK. Another new benefit, only available in Scotland, will begin in February. The winter heating payment will help around many low-income households with their energy bills. Of course, we are also doubling the fuel and security fund to £20 million. Jackie Baillie I thank the First Minister for her response. Freya Hunter is 12 years old and has cerebral palsy. She is cared for at home by her mum and specialist carers. Her condition is such that she requires oxygen constantly, relies on nebulizers and suction machines, a tracking hoist and a wheelchair. Her mum says that the level of care provided is on a par with what would be happening in an intensive care ward. The family are facing an energy bill from April of £17,000 to heat their home and to operate the life support equipment that Freya so badly needs. I am sure that the First Minister will agree that the UK Government needs to do more to provide targeted support for those with complex disabilities with their energy bills, but so too does the Scottish Government. The cost of Freya's life-saving equipment is more than a third of the bill. She is not recompensed fully by the NHS or by social care. If her mum does not get help, she faces the impossible choice of placing Freya in care or in hospital because she cannot afford to keep her at home. That is damning. I therefore ask the First Minister whether the Scottish Government specifically provides assistance to help Freya and those people with complex disabilities to cover the full cost of running their life-saving equipment. If memory serves me correctly, I made a similar point to this in FMQs a couple of weeks ago before the October recess. We will work with the health service to ensure that anybody in the position such as that just narrated there does get help. It would not be acceptable for any child, any adult to end up in care because rising energy costs made it impossible for them to use the equipment that supports them to stay in their own homes. We will work to ensure that that support is available as far as we possibly can. However, it is the case, and let's not gloss over this. Jackie Baillie was right to mention it. We need to see the UK Government provide targeted help to people with energy costs. That is one of the reasons why we need to see increased budgets for this Parliament so that we can pass that on to public services such as the national health service to help to deal with the inflationary pressures of what this is only one. However, we will do everything in our power to help people in the kind of situation that we have just heard about. I am going to return to supplementary questions, and I call Stuart McMillan. Energy costs are a huge concern for many, including businesses. Yesterday, the local newspaper, The Delaware reported that an award-winning restaurant in my kitchen is going to close at the end of the month. Thankfully, someone else is going to step in, but that will not be the case for businesses across the country. I would again encourage any business struggling to speak with Business Energy Scotland to see if they can offer any advice on how to lower energy costs. However, if she will again press the UK Government to fix their energy mess so that no business in my constituency or across Scotland needs to close as a result of the spiralling energy costs that they have little control over. Yes, I will give that commitment. We have already and repeatedly highlighted the urgent needs of Scottish businesses to the UK Government, and that includes the rising energy costs faced by many across the country. I pressed this point on the new Prime Minister when I spoke to him earlier this week, highlighting the pressure and the pain that has been felt right now by people and businesses as a result of inflation and other economic pressures. I hope that we will see further help from the UK Government in the budget statement that the Chancellor will outline in the middle of November. The Deputy First Minister, on 19 October, wrote to Jeremy Hunt making many of those points, and we will continue to make those points as strongly as possible. Yesterday, the Dutch Government confirmed their launching and investigation into the existence of undeclared Chinese state police bases across Europe, bases being used to track and harass dissidents and pro-democracy activists. The report that prompted the investigation confirmed that one of those bases is located in Glasgow. That comes just days after the Chinese consulate general in Manchester dragged a protester inside the gates of the consulate where he and his staff then assaulted him. After reports of students in Edinburgh who come from Hong Kong being targeted and intimidated by those associated with the Beijing regime, can the First Minister therefore confirm what action is being taken about the subparant Chinese police base in Glasgow and the wider intimidatory tactics of the Chinese Government? I agree that those reports are deeply concerning, and I want to be very clear that we take them extremely seriously. Any foreign country operating in Scotland must abide by Scottish law. The Scottish Government fully supports individuals' rights to freedom of expression, and that is an extremely important principle. Obviously, those matters require to be fully and properly investigated, and it would not be appropriate for me to go into too much detail, but I do know, and I know this as a result of a conversation that I had just yesterday with the chief constable, that the police are aware of those reports. Of course, the police are operationally independent and it is up to them to determine what investigations would be appropriate, but they are aware of this, and I would repeat that those reports do require to be treated extremely seriously.


Dear friends, As you are aware, postal services have always been an important engine of economic activity and growth in all countries. The very creation of universal postal union 140 years ago established a multilateral framework for the efficient exchange of goods and services across borders. It helped postal services pave the way to globalised trade and commerce. Posts continue to play a relevant role in the new frontier ashered in by the internet and calling for greater inclusion of citizens everywhere. Ladies and gentlemen, with half of the world's population living in rural areas, the postal network is well-placed to reach them. In Sub-Saharan Africa, for example, 80% of post offices are located in smaller cities and rural areas where majority of the people live. For postal services to reach these people and flourish, internet connectivity is essential, especially in developing countries where only a small percentage of the people have access to the internet. The global postal network is a tremendous asset for extending this digital reach. Not only for the benefits of citizens and businesses, but also for governments, government agencies and other stakeholders looking for solutions to many of the challenges our world is grappling with. According to the World Bank, post offices are the cheapest providers of remittance services ahead of banks and money transfer operators. Posts are also the second biggest contributor to financial inclusion after banks, with 1 billion people holding postal accounts. Today, we see new opportunities for posts in cross-border e-commerce. Although this business is still relatively new, global online sales are estimated to reach $1.5 trillion by end of year. More often than not, online purchases are delivered by the post. Postal activities stimulate the global economy and improve the global economy. And with 640,000 post offices worldwide, we find them where they can make a difference. By increasing internet connectivity in post offices, governments can make sure this fully contribute to bringing communication, financial, social and economic services to rural populations. As the communication landscape evolves, I see an important end for posts, especially in this new globalized world. I urge governments to carry on investing in their national postal networks so citizens and businesses can continue to benefit from our most essential and affordable public service. I wish you a happy world post day. Thank you.


Good morning, John. As it is getting closer to election time here in the U.S., expect to hear more about campaigns and candidates and finances and issues. And voting, of course, and I want to talk about that last thing today. Here in the U.S., we are, of course, 50 different United States, plus some confusing things. That is not just some symbolic thing. Most government happens at the state and local levels, and that includes election laws here. There are some weaknesses to that system. It increases the chances that some things might get done poorly, or even in bad faith to intentionally manipulate outcomes. And it makes it impossible to make one video saying how to get registered and vote in every state. Which is why some friends and I made dozens of videos about that so that you can look at your state and figure out exactly how it works where you are. But there is also a strength to this system, and it allows us to try 50 different systems in 50 different states. And when one of those systems works well, other states can adopt those systems. When one state tries something out and doesn't work, nobody else tries it. And while going through and making our YouTube series How to Vote in Every State, I did discover some strangenesses. So here are some of the weirdest election laws in the U.S. One in the state of Vermont, which a historical preservation society has declared in its entirety an endangered place. There is a suitably quaint law. You must be administered a voter's oath in order to register to vote. And it used to be that you had to have a notary listen to you say the oath. Now, you can administer yourself the oath. You still have to do it, but you can do it alone. Quietly just whisper, whisper the oath to yourself, and then sign the little form. It makes me suspect that a number of people don't actually self-administer the oath, but to all of the people who do, I just want to say I love you. That's great. In three of the United States, there are no polling places anymore. In Colorado, Washington, and Oregon, everybody votes by mail, which decreases the cost of elections and increases the number of people who participate in elections. Interestingly, and maybe coincidentally, all three of those states have legalized marijuana. Some people maybe don't want to go out. Number three, in North Dakota, you don't have to register to vote. If you live in North Dakota, you just vote. One assumes that this is because there's only a few dozen North Dakotans. Number four, in Nevada, there are pop-up early voting locations.  This is wonderful, and it's one of the reasons why over 60% of Nevadans vote early. Number five, online voting registration has exploded recently. Now more than half of states allow you to register to vote on the internet, as long as you have a driver's license usually. But in 2015, no states automatically registered you to vote when you got a driver's license or updated your driver's license. Now, just three years later, 13 different states automatically register you to vote, because why not? There are some people who think that if you don't register, you don't get jury duty, and that's not true. And finally, number six, there is one place where you can't register online, and you don't get automatically registered, and you don't even get to register by mail in New Hampshire. You have to take your physical body to your town clerk's office to register in person. Thank you, New Hampshire, for reminding us how bad it used to be for everyone. I think it's an important thing to note that over the years, it has gotten easier to register to vote and to vote. In some places, people are trying to push that back, and they have succeeded some. Having the right to vote and having the ability to vote in the elections that matter most to our local communities and also to the world is a wonderful thing to be able to do. And if you want to learn more about how to best get it done in your place, you can go to youtube.com. It's time to get it together in this exceptional, if peculiar country of ours. John, I'll see you on Tuesday.


Kevin, obviously, everybody knows the news. How did you guys find out about it? And how do you keep it from being another distraction?  Obviously, I got a lot of love and respect for John Robinson, the guy who drafted me out of Middle Tennessee State.  So I got a lot of love for John and respect. But obviously, in this business, Amy is our owner. She made a decision. And as players and as an organization, we have to respect that decision that she made to move on from John. But at this point, especially talking about today and this week, as players, we have a job to do. And as coaches, we have a job to do. And that's to guard here and put our best foot forward and attack this day and prepare for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Everything that we want to accomplish and that we set to accomplish this year during the off-season training camp is still right in front of us. To guard there and win a division and make a run in this playoffs and try to go win a championship. So that doesn't change. It's not going to change at all. So my main focus this week is to guard there and study as much as I can to prepare for a Jacksonville team who may be four and eight. But I think out of their six losses is a one-point game. So they're a really good team. So we have to make sure we're preparing for them as much as possible and not let any of this news and any outside distraction deter us from our goal. You know what I said, Mike said that he conveyed a message from John to you guys. What was that? I mean, pretty much what I said, is make sure that don't let this be a distraction. Try to guard and go win a football game. I shot John a text yesterday when I found out about everything. But yeah, he just wanted us to make sure that me personally and just continue to lead and, like I said, don't let the news become a distraction.  No, exactly. Visit GM, you know? Yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, nothing's really changed. I mean, I don't, as of right now, I can't say or not. But I mean, I'm still going to have the same guys out there on defense. Obviously, I have some injuries and stuff like that. Like I said, I mean, at the end of the day, these decisions, it's tough, you know what I'm saying? I don't want to see the guy who's dragging me get fired or whatever, but it is what it is. We've got to respect that decision. So like I said, I'm just trying to make sure I'm doing the best I can as a leader to just not let it be a distraction. Like, when we get to talking about this conversation, that conversation's like, hey, we got the Jaguars this week. Bottom line, we've got to find a way to get to 85. Seems to suggest a raising of the bar, maybe, you know, division wins of a nice playoffs. Yeah, right, right. But she said the roster construction, she aspires to be better. Is that maybe a carryover message that, hey, we're good. We win the division. We've consistently been in the playoffs, but it sounds like she wants more. Yeah, man, and it's understandable.  And so if that's how she feels, she feels like the roster isn't where it needs to be and she needs to move on, then I respect that, you know? Obviously, you know, I have a lot of love for the guys in this locker room today and I feel the same way that I feel, you know, in the beginning of the season that we can make a championship run with the team that we have. Obviously, we've had injuries. We have new guys coming to team and things like that. But, you know, the performance that we put out there in Philadelphia wasn't up to par. I'm pretty sure that, you know, she's probably not happy with that and maybe some other performers, I don't know. You know what I'm saying? Like I said, she made decisions, so that's what it is. But like I said, we're still in a great situation when you kind of look at it from a big picture vision that like I said, we can still win our division. We can still host a playoff game. We can still make a run. So that's the only thing I can focus on, just focus on that and not focus on, you know, what may be coming from that decision or focusing in negative. I can only focus on what's right in front of me. Kevin, since the day after, have you seen that sheep in at all? I'm not focused on it. I'm not concerned about it because it's always going to be noise rather if it's good or bad. You have to ignore all the noise. Obviously, losing too straight against some really good football teams isn't something that we want to do as a team and an organization. But we've lost two games before. Most notable, obviously in the beginning of the season, but like I said, we have the Jacksonville Jaguars coming this week and we have to find a way to get this thing turned around. Same thing I said in the locker room. We can't afford to drop any more games like that. So like I said, all the stuff that's going on around this organization, we can't allow that to affect this locker room because at the end of the day, this is a business. You know, we're football players. We got a job to do. Like, who cares about, you know, what can happen next year? Or, you know, with the direction that the owner is trying to go at the end of the day, we all got a job to do. And it's going to get evaluated every single day when they cut the film on it. Practice when they cut the film on the game day. So my responsibility and our responsibility is just trying to put the best things on that film. And so if you try to focus on anything else, you know, it's bad shape. Well, I just think that he kind of set a tone. And as far as the players that he brought in, obviously, you know, start with my draft class, the guys that he brought in. And I just think just his leadership and most important just for me, the person, just him as a person, him and his wife. They're, you know, his wife and my wife are close. He's just a great person. And just the conversations I have with him, like he's just a great person. But like I said, as an organization, we can look at, you know, obviously, Amy wanting to have, you know, more aspirations for this team or roster, whatever it may be. But I do think about, you know, all the positive he's done as far as bringing certain guys here and kind of help change the culture with him and Mike Brable. Not having a losing season. It's pretty great.  We're not in this thing just to win the division. We're in this thing to go win the Super Bowl. So something that we still haven't done yet, something that I aspire to myself. So like I said, I respect the owner's decision to do what she did. Yeah, let's go beat Jacksonville. I don't feel like it's just affecting us right now. You know, like I reached out to J-Rob and I know it's not just affecting him, it's affecting his family as well. But at the same time, we all have a job to do.  So our job is to keep and find a way to win the game. So I don't, like I said, the emotions might be there for a lot of guys, but you know, we can't let that get in the way of all goal. And that's, and I'm sure J-Rob, J-Rob would want the same thing. You know, like he's told me, go find a way to get a win. So like I said, our job, especially as leaders that these guys on this team is to find a way to beat Jacksonville Jazz award. He may kind of get it educated. Like week by week, you know, the roster's churning, but it's not often the GM gets moved. Like what, how do you take that, like what message does that send to you guys here? I mean, I don't know.   And that's the only thing I can, the only thing I can control right now is the way I approach my job. And I don't know, like I said, I don't know the ends or not of the reason why I happened to him, I can't speak on that. So my job is to, how can Jefferson do his job? So he can make sure where he's supposed to be. So think, like I said, when it comes down to that, we all have to just do our job. And I mean, that's all we control. And then that's what we need to be focused on. Jeff, Amy kind of indicated in her statement yesterday that, you know, paraphrasing here, but it's kind of like, you know, just winning the division and making the playoffs is not enough. We need to take that next step. That may or may not have been part of why this decision was made. Do you feel that amongst you guys in this locker room that, you know, that next step needs to be taken in terms of? I mean, yeah. And then let's start off with winning games. We have to win this Sunday. I mean, if we don't win games, we can't get to that big dance. And that's, that's don't, I mean, like I said, I can't control what they do upstairs. I don't know what's going on upstairs. I've never been upstairs. Like I said, what I control is my leadership, the way I approach each and every day and the way I try to lead this team. And like I said, we in this locker room got to win, we got to do better. And like I said, I don't want to be ruled, but I don't really want to keep talking about this, this J-ROF situation. You know, I'm focused on trying to, you know, help this team get a win this weekend. I mean, I'm not trying to be ruled, but that's kind of what I'm focused on. Like I said, I don't know the answer not about this firing, but my job is to help keep this team locked in. And I mean, especially on defensive side, because we have to play better. We have to, especially this weekend, stop that good quarterback that you have or good running back and, like I said, we have to make more plays. So that's kind of what I'm focused on. Thanks, Jeff. The parent keep trying to improve. Every improvement is a good improvement. And we'll take that. So just make sure that we just end the week one and no. Speaking of improvement, I mean, I know you haven't played them yet, but how much has Jackson improved from the start of the season to where they are now? Oh, they improved a lot. I mean, they got a lot of young guys who are flying around out there. They got a lot of fast guys. And we've got to make sure that we can be physical with them and then make sure we show up when we got to show up. What are you going to play for in the quarterback? Good quarterback. He can make all the throws. I think he's way better than he is last year. Also, the situation he was in last year is a little different too. So he can make all the throws and he also gave me some chances too. Do you appreciate, John, kind of giving you guys a final message there and sort of what sort of adjusted it. Try to focus as best you can. His main thing to me and for the team was to go out there and keep winning and keep trying to get improved. I mean, that's what we expect from John. No matter what happened, he was always going to be a top match guy and that's what he's been. Does this whole move, you know, I guess send a message is the phrase that comes to mind when I want to GM, gets let go 12 games into the season. Does that message kind of resonate with players and the locker room? I think so. I think guys see that it started up top. I mean, it could easily be anyone in here. So, you know, guys just got to make sure that we're preparing, make sure that you're improving and helping the team win. Was everybody kind of shocked or did you kind of see it coming? I mean, I'm pretty sure everyone was pretty shocked, especially, you know, where we're standing at and then the time of the year it is right now. So, but like I said before, it's part of the business and we just got to make sure we just prepare this week to win. How important is it to keep the outside noise, everything kind of outside in the game, outside as you prepare for the Jaguars? Very important. You don't want to mess up, you know, any chemistry that we have going on. You don't want pointing fingers or nothing like that. And we all just got to own it and understand that, you know, our position has to be better. Certain positions have to be better as well. Thank you. He's doing most, you know, I know he's re-signed you, John, but you know, when you think of what he did over the years, what are some things that first come to mind? I think he was just involved. Always seeing him at practice, you know, always hearing him at practice, you know, he's not just in the background in the skybox, just watching him. Like he's involved, he's hands-on, kind of how able his hands-on coaching.


This paper proposes a framework for global flood risk assessment for river floods, which can be applied in current conditions, as well as in future conditions due to climate and socioeconomic changes. It uses a global hydrological model, a global flood routing model, and an inundation downscaling routine to estimate hazard at a resolution of one square kilometer. Additionally, it combines these hazard estimates with flood impact models at the same resolution to establish indicators for flood risk. These indicators include annual expected damage, affected GDP, and affected population. The framework has been applied using the global hydrological model PCR GLOBWB, which includes an optional global flood routing model dinerout, combined with scenarios from the integrated model to assess the global environment, image. The framework has been tested in Bangladesh, where it was validated against the Dartmouth Flood Observatory Database. This article was authored by H. C. Wincenius, L. P. H. Van Beek, B. John Mann, and others. We are article.tv. Links in the description below.


What's going on guys got Kyle here with latent sports cards and we are ripping This is 2023 tops chrome breakers the light 12 box full case number 19 random team style Did it randomize for the break guys? I had Matthew be with the Giants blue jays down to kevin m with the astros Alrighty good luck guys can always find those results on our website latent sports cards.com Let's do some breakers delight. Alrighty box one Some breakers delight Justin you got the marlins and the tigers marlins and the tigers Yep marlins tigers box one. Hey, no problem. Justin. Good luck, sir Good luck. Good luck. Got mounty Ben and tendy got a rookie ryan nelson refractor Got miguel cabrera um evan herrera And bobby witt refractors First up we have the 350 sean murphy for the braves on the fuchsia speckle And gold youth quake is joey manasas on the rookie for the uh nationals there Manasas gold the 50. Yeah, they're fun. Andrew. They're fun They're kind of almost like a choice product You've seen those where it's less less cards, but uh more like hits in color. It's a 399. We gotta say it's a zuki cups fuchsia First auto is rookie autosimian woods richardson. Oh Haven't seen one of these We've got a redemption. It is a dual rookie autograph michael harris and von grissom Nice one there for the uh braves on the dual That's a sick one max t with the braves michael harris and von grissom on the dual auto I didn't see one of these yet. Very nice one there Solid and a youth quake cow mitchell rookie box two got the inl rookie the year there and local kid von grissom came from ovito right around here That's good Refractor matt shaman. I found enough in here. There's a vulpier refractor. They are everywhere. They are everywhere Uh grossians refractor rookie. We got carlos perez rookie Juan soto and tyler freeman rookie refractor aqua lobato 199 brice harper We've got uh fuchsia speckle to the 350 lubob white socks Got gold michael harris another nice one there for the uh braves And orange to 25 rookie auto for the red socks. We got tristan casas Boom nice hit there red socks orange wave to 25 Who's got the socks? That is derrick. Well mag this one for you sir casas to 25. That's sick The book in there 25 to 25 Got steel walker rookie auto base And a youth quake abrams Some fire so far guys box three Oh, I guess I could throw it away Refractor tray turner, um rookie jj bladet Stowers and oswaldo cabrera on the rookies We've got green to 99 youth quake rookie of max mire Yeah, peckle. Sockers. It's good stuff. We did a break earlier today. Um rookie to 399 simian woods richardson We've got purple the 250 Reese Hoskins Phillies auto to 499 jj bladet rookie auto marlins there marlins And mini diamond auto cody thomas for the a's that one is the exclusive breakers delight black and white mini diamonds And youth quake morrell riding box fort cori seager bellinger rasmussen verlander and wander We've got the 350 fuchsia speckle of tyler stevensson To 199 shame beeps Guardians and to 399 we got hunter green On the fuchsia reds Who auto to 150 we got brice johnson It's rookie auto for the giants and base auto is estre ruiz for the a's rookie base auto Corbin carol youth quake It's corbin get some uh finest and tribute going next Refractor of alec bone bow guards brice harper casillanos got a oscar ganzala's rookie refractor And julio native cj abrams Gold the 50 for the yankees. We got oswald cabrera Gold youth quake and mark strome into 350 um future speckle autos for philly there for uh the to 499 is mark apple phillies And base auto logan o hoppy nice one there angels on the base auto And cavalli box six Hey, thank you for joining angel righty box six guys refractor confordo Jordan story abrams and mcmann We've got a wave nice one there to 75 rookie of leova peguero orange 25 youth quake steve qualm guardians It's a really nice colors out of here man uh the 250 eloy And auto to 299. We got derrick hall on the philly's rookie auto a couple philly's autos here Got black and white mini diamond not numbered of codie thomas eights And gunner youth quake righty guys halfway box seven Yeah, I appreciate it. Andrew appreciate you hanging out my man See some fire Yeah, I Refractor hat got a wave to 75 rookie for the uh royals nick prado Greens and 99 god youth quake melendez Got swanson 199 aqua lava Cub standsby This one is the 199 brewers on the rookie auto brice terrang Solid rookie for the brew crew and michael massie base rookie Got a tovar youth quake rookie behind it Brandon lau Refractor got a michael massie rookie refractor Aussie albies logan web hermon marquez This one is blue sonar to 125. We got raffi devbers red socks And blue to 150 rookie matthew liberator cards Nice one here for the debacks to 99. We got youth quake corvin carol One of the better performing rookies so far this year got a germain palacio space auto And nice that's 250. We got masataka yoshida on the rookie auto for the red socks Nice hit there Lean masa auto clean looking one too Manasis youth quake. Hey nice angie.  We got a corvin carol refractor cunha Teosker Nice one here to 199. We've got a aqua shohei otani That'll be a good one there for the vibe back there for the angels To 99. We got a rookie eggy risario And to 99. We got youth quake o'neill cruise This one is louis varland on the base rookie twins and refractor rookie to 499 travis swaggerty Swaggerty high school, um josh young youth quake Come on come on, man Yeah, oh, yeah box 10. I sure did. I sure did Oh, I know I know it didn't even know, uh What's his name went there? Uh, not eucalyptus the other rookie, uh red sock One of them went there very tech. Yeah, old dillam didn't even know I had to tell him really rookie bret baby refractor You didn't know man. You didn't know jazz chism green to 99. We got john carlo Got blue pulsar to 125 michael massie rookie to 199 tailor ward And nice one here. We got the black and white mini diamond auto von grissom Braves on the auto got a nice one there. They have the uh redemption as well Got a tommy henry rookie And youth quake ruiz What's up on What's going on? I know man. I know it's uh, it's different for sure. It's throwing me off as well It's throwing me off as well I'm usually going left. I gotta go right. I gotta look left Really, I was telling uh shan son here dillam. He went to uh brantley and that was where um Who was it again? Veratek went. Yeah jason veratek He's pulling his arms a couple of them the other night and I was like dillam. He went to brantley and he was like, what? James outman rookie. I don't think so. I think so venesis bow nailer Robbie ray Another redemption coming to 199. We got danzby swanson We've got bobby witt to 250 purple Redemptions have been fun out of here We've got to 299 bobe shet purple speckle First auto is steel walker for the tigers And redemption is johnny bench on the tops chrome legend autograph refractor That one will go to the reds On the legend auto don't see too many of those and josh young youth quake Alrighty guys one more of the breakers delight Moneyball's a good movie. I haven't seen that one in a while That's a solid movie, man I think jake was watching the other day Walked by and he's watching money ball There's uh sorting in hat face refractors there wander We've got to 399 got a future rookie michael stafanik Got to 99 youth quake josh young. We got another um That's upside down. There it is. It is pita lanza 99 ultra violet all stars for the Mets Ultra violet all stars pita lanza. I can't avoid him He's everywhere Mets Got a hayden wasneski on the black and white mini diamond rookie For the cubs and another masataka Yoshida Nice one there red sauce got a purple and now we got the base Nice Yoshida And on the back we have youth quake steven kwan Alrighty guys, let's do a quick hit recap. We'll get moving on to finest and tribute mixer We had masataka on the base rookie steel walker base henry Varland palacios massy ohapi Ruiz walker woods richardson To 490 we have refractor autos uh swaggerty mark apple and jj bladay for the marlins We've got von grissom on the black and white mini diamonds. These are the uh breakers the light exclusive Hayden wasneski kobe thomas kodi thomas Got the 299 derrick hall the 250 masataka a nice one there We've got 2199 brace terrain to 150 brace johnson We've got um dual rookie auto. This is redemption michael harrison von grissom braves We've got johnny bench on the legend refractor and we had orange the 25 red socks tristan cossis on the rookie auto 25 out of 25 every nice one there guys Okay, so breakers the light we'll get those right out to you guys. Thank you. Thank you


There's nothing like talking to yourself without the camera on. We are back to working in the Four Faces Journal. We have a playlist for creating these faces in this journal. It started out as a quick and easy way to demo a new product I have in my Etsy store which is intended to help you create quick and easy faces. It's just a basic face. There's no hair or anything. It just has basic features. Just to get you started if you're unsure about putting faces in your journals, this is Four Faces One full on straight on face in different shapes and you can leave it as it is or you can cut it apart which I did here with this one. We do have a brand new one which now I have to untape because yeah the camera wasn't on. This is Four Faces Two and this is profile and three quarter face based on my face and my husband's face. There we go. So this is Four Faces Two. We're going to use this one today. I'm going to I mostly have been drawing with the stencils. You of course can do the traditional paint with the stencils. Of course you can. But I wanted to show you how else you can use your stencils especially this one. It's meant to be sort of a drawing slash painting guide. So what we're going to do with this one is we are going to watercolor with it. You could put it down here and then trace it with a pencil or a water soluble pencil or a crayon. I'm going to show you something a little bit different. The first thing I'm going to do is you're going to need some of this pixie spray which is a light tack repositionable adhesive intended for stencils. I got this from Amazon. I'll link it in the description below. I'm going to spray the back of this corner of the stencil and I'm going to leave it sit for just a second. First we're going to do a wash. Let's get a large flat brush and let's do a wash on the paper of... Let's do coral. I almost never use this coral color. It's such a pretty color which is why I have it. So we're going to put some of that on there and then we're going to put some water. Now this is 70 pound drawing paper. It is not watercolor paper so you don't want to scrub too much because it's going to do weird things to your paper. We're going to let that dry and I'll be right back. As it's 70 pound drawing paper it's going to do this when you watercolor with it. Some of the best watercolor paper on the planet will do that too. It doesn't bother me. If it bothers you use different paper. This is just practice. So now we're going to spray the back of our stencil over the garbage can dry for a minute and while it's drying we're going to figure out what color we're going to use next which might be... I don't know. It might do very contrasty color. I'll put this on here. It should stick fairly well. This would probably work with acrylic paint too. Just FYI. Okay so color color color while that sits there. I think I'm going to follow my instincts and go with this dark sort of navy blue and just because I use the adhesive doesn't mean that I really want to have my brush be dripping, sopping wet. So I'm going to make sure that there's not a lot of excess water on the brush.  Let's move zoom in. This just gives you an outline right? That's all we wanted. So then I'm going to take a smaller round brush. Let's see. Some other colors of paint. watercolor paint. I have this teal-y color here that's below the dark blue. If that part of the face is in shadow this right here would be in light. The warm color will suggest light. The dark color will suggest shadow. If you lose track of the light and the warmth don't feel bad about having to go back in with a white pencil or maybe even something that's more this coral color and barely barely barely touching the paper just FYI. Alternating between bringing in some more color and then cleaning the brush off and grabbing just water to spread the color around. I'm going to dry that. I'll be right back.  Because remember what did I just say about us being mixed media artists right? And the stencil is supposed to be a guide. It's not supposed to be something that's set in stone. So wherever you think there should be a highlight that it's too dark add some white gel pen and you're going to come up with something like that. I like that. I'm going to stop now. There you go. So four faces stencils. There's two of them now and I may at some point if the demand is there make them full size instead of just these small ones. I may make the face as full size. There are some other face stencils in my Etsy shop. In fact there's another basic face stencil. So take a look around. The link for the Etsy shop is in the description below. I hope this gives you some ideas of what you can do with the stencils and or with the supplies that you have on hand. Different ways that you can use the things that you already own because that's one of the points of this. Let me zoom out. Okay because that's one of the points of this is to do some different show me to have me show you some different things that you can do with the stuff that you already own to have fun with your art to practice in a little journal. Nobody has to see it.  Anyway that's it for today. Don't forget to like share and subscribe. Check out that video description for the links that I've mentioned along with other places that you can support the free content here on YouTube and over in the Facebook art groups including Patreon, YouTube membership, of course the Etsy store which I mentioned and also my PayPal tip jar. There's a lot of different ways. My happy mail address is down there in a bunch of other stuff so check it out and above all go out and have a great day. Don't forget to do something nice for yourself because you deserve it and I'll see you later. Bye guys!


Welcome to All Hands Update. I'm Petty Officer Jonathan Pancall. Now is the time to start planning for fall semester. If you're planning to take college courses, get your tuition assistance applications in as early as you can. Before you apply, contact your Navy College Office or the Virtual Education Center for Educational Counseling either in person, online, by phone, or email. Your academic advisor will help you determine a plan so you know which courses to take to complete your degree. Complete your application in WebTA, the Navy's TA Online Portal. List your courses and fees and submit it to your chain of command. Your application should be submitted at least 30 days before your class start date. For more resources, go to the Navy College website and click on the My Education Portal.


As the race for president draws closer, it's important to remember what we can and cannot say regarding political expression on social media sites. Petty Officer Lorenzo Burleson explains more. An article on Navy Live provides service members and DOD personnel the do's and don'ts for voicing our political opinions on sites like Facebook and Twitter. For service members, you can voice a political opinion on social media, but you should make clear that the views stated are your own and not those of the DOD. Remember, as service members, you cannot post or make direct links to a political party or candidate, but you can like or follow the page of a party or candidate. Read more on the do's and don'ts in the blog on Navy Live. They also provide a link to the Public Affairs Policy Guidance Navadmin. For more information on what you can and cannot say, visit ah.mil.


Good morning, John.   It's like calling a journalist a newspaper subscription salesperson. Yeah, they sell newspapers. It is not, however, what they produce. On the other hand, the question of what you and I and people like us do produce is complicated. We produce value for ourselves in the form of affirmation or status or income or creative joy. And hopefully we produce value for others as well in the form of education or insight or connection or just entertainment. And actually we started doing this at a time when income or status, like, weren't part of the equation.  How impressive. Even now, to me, that sentence sounds ridiculous, though, YouTuber is, we have ended up in this world, a high status job. People want my job and I don't blame them and I don't think they're wrong. It's a good job. But I started to see the problem with this back in, like, the early 20 teens when, like, it became clear that it was gonna be really crowded at the bottom. To get noticed, you have to be better and you have to do more. Like, Epic Mealtime was a show and the Gregory brothers were, like, mixing amazing music with viral videos. Like, these things were hard to do, but there were also ways to get noticed that weren't as hard, they were just worse. Like, prank channels started to cross lines that were definitely immoral and also, like, illegal. People started to have hotter and hotter political takes and they were rewarded for that. One thing I think people get wrong about people who do what I do is that, like, when people start creating on the internet, it is never about money. The actual thing they want is to feel like they matter. They want validation, they want meaning, they want to be valuable. And they believe because of where their attention is that online creators are valuable and so they want to be one so that they can definitely matter. And when you're in a society that, in my opinion, has done a terrible job of appreciating many, if not most, humans, more and more people are gonna wanna push toward that feeling of mattering. In other words, for new creators, it's never about money, it's about affirmation and it's about status. There are a lot of angles to view this moment from and I think that they are all important. I am a creator. I make stuff on the internet. So that's my perspective. And when I see every other hand during a siege of the Capitol building, holding up a phone, like on a Facebook live stream, I see insurrectionists, I see terrorists, I see white supremacists, but I also see influencers, I see content creators. And not side by side. They are the same person. I see people who are both ends of the creator-audience relationship. Their ideas get more radical because that makes better content that gets more engagement. And then they consume more content like that to inform their content that they're going to create and also because it helps them feel righteous for making the stuff they're making. It's a feedback loop that can only radicalize. Now, this isn't 100% new. It's been happening in radio and TV for decades. If you can make more money by being more radical instead of spending more money on quality, people are gonna do that. But when it's crowded at the bottom and people are searching for meaning and attention and status are the only currencies, when more and more outrageous content is getting more and more attention, we end up in an arms race of radicalization. One that is pulling radio and TV and, yes, politicians along with it. I worry sometimes that understanding something can lead to excusing it, not what is happening here. Ways to feel like you matter include and often include white supremacy. They also can include believing you are an integral part of bringing down an international cabal of child murderers. If you feel like you're one of the only people in the world who understands the link between 5G and COVID, it's hard to deny that you are important, especially when you're getting a lot of engagement on your social media posts about it. And I'm not saying that they don't believe any of these things. I think that they do because it's very easy to believe things that make you feel good. That is true of them. It's also true of me. It's true of you. And it's also extremely hard to abandon ideas you are appreciated and loved for. So if I have insight here to add, it is this. The words social media influencer turn out to be representing a much bigger and much scarier thing than we thought. John, I'll see you on Tuesday.