Future Infrastructure Systems Symposium identifies challenges to delivering integrated infrastructure systems. New workshops announced
As part of the KTN‚Äôs Complex Systems programme, 4 workshops have been announced to address challenges to delivering integrated infrastructure systems.
The KTN‚Äôs Complex Systems programme got off to a flying start at our Symposium featuring Complex Systems at the heart of Future Infrastructure, held in March at Digital Greenwich. Since then we have been developing a follow on programme of workshops and activities that will culminate in a series of events early in 2018.
There will be two events featuring case studies from successful Infrastructure Systems competition winners. These workshops will allow delegates to learn more about the process of developing a strong proposal using live examples from previous competitions. There will also be an opportunity to network and seek possible collaborators with the view to strengthening the proposition and consortium to deliver it. They will be held in January and February.
At the Future Infrastructure Systems Symposium, several challenges to delivering integrated infrastructure systems were identified. We have taken these on board and are planning 4 workshops in the areas of Business Models for Infrastructure Systems Innovation; Applying Artificial Intelligence in Infrastructure Systems; Data Management in Infrastructure Systems and Security and Resilience of Infrastructure Systems. Dates have been set for 3 of these events, as follows:
Business Models for Infrastructure Innovation is on January 16th 2018. This workshop will focus on identifying the key contributions and value added by investment in an Infrastructure System development. Critical for public sector officers looking to evaluate and justify their proposals for change and innovation in Smart Cities, Smart Energy and Connected Transport services. Professor Alan Brown from the University of Surrey will be leading the workshop, which allows delegates to raise their challenges and issues, and will seek to provide a tool kit to be applied in developing a justification for business investment.
Security and Resilience in Infrastructure Systems is scheduled for February 7th 2018. This session will centre on the application of the new EU Directive on Network and Information Systems to Infrastructure Systems including Utilities, Connected Transport, Future Cities. Professor Chris Hankin of Imperial College will lead the exercise with support from experts Robin Bloomfield of City University and Siraj Shaikh of Coventry University, all leading academic/practitioners with solid theoretical and application experience close to our National Cyber Security Strategies for Critical National Infrastructure. Again the event will encourage delegates to raise their concerns and discuss them with colleagues and the experts present. This event will be held in London.
The Digital Transformation using data in public services and utilities workshop is scheduled for March 20th as part of The Data Lab Data Fest 2018 to be held in Scotland. There are many issues related to use of data in delivery of information services and this session will seek to highlight strategies for success in data aggregation, cleansing and analytics. We are delighted that Professor Dave Robertson from Edinburgh University will be able to join us for this event and we plan to include several local organisations with an interest and experience in using data to develop and deliver services.
Finally, we are pioneering a special event in the Application of Artificial Intelligence in Infrastructure Systems; we will look at tools for machine learning, pattern recognition, guidance for optimising routing and augmenting decision making in control centres. Colleagues from the KTN Robotics and AI Special Interest Group will assemble a cast of experts, case studies and opportunities to get your key questions answered. This event is planned for January/February and will take place in London.
The events will shortly be confirmed and registration will be opened up. There will only be space for up to 40 people at each event, to ensure that there is time to respond to queries and get involved in working through challenges to find solutions.
Events will be listed here when registration opens.


UK possesses impressive regional diversity in unicorn generation — report
London posseses more unicorns, but there's a strong showing also for a handful cities with populations below 500,000.
Callum Cyrus 21 December 2022
It may have been cut off from the EU's common market but the UK's tech ecosystem has a lot of positives to take away from 2022.
A new study from Dealroom, prepared for the UK government's Digital Economy Council (part of the digital, culture, media and sport department), suggests UK tech will this year retain its command as Europe's leading innovation ecosystem in terms of venture dollars.
The authors of the report believe £24 billion in venture funds was poured into UK tech companies, just shy of its biggest haul on record and more than fellow economic powers France (£11.4 billion) and Germany (£9.1 billion) combined. Over the last five years, UK growth companies raised almost £100 billion and the valuation of its startups soared above the $1 trillion mark earlier this year.
The UK's ability to get funds flowing into cities away from London is another highlight in the report.
A total of eight British cities are said to now possess at least two unicorn companies. Provinces away from London have fostered 42 unicorns since the turn of the century, versus four provincial $1bn+ startups in France and 30 in Germany. The UK's overall unicorn tally since 2000 (of 144) also surpassed that of France and Germany (36 and 63 respectively).
London still possesses more unicorns, but there's a strong showing also for cities with populations below 500,000, like Bristol, Cambridge, Nottingham and Oxford, together with London, Manchester, Leeds and the Scottish capital Edinburgh.
Cambridge was recently named by Dealroom as the world's best university for producing successful tech founders, stealing a march on US innovation factories like Harvard and MIT. Dealroom's figures show Cambridge has produced over 500 alum founders who have raised at least $10 million in funds.
Oxford's university came third while universities in Bristol, Nottingham and London all made the top 20, on the back of deep tech and science-led programmes.
Yoram Wijngaarde, founder of Dealroom, said: "The UK's startup ecosystem is unignorable. UK startups are worth over a trillion dollars collectively, with over 130 unicorns, and many of the world's most important investors use London as a logical launchpad into the rest of Europe.
"While the lofty rounds and valuations of 2021 are long gone, healthy startup ecosystems with strong fundamentals don't disappear overnight.
"We're now seeing a "return to normal" in startup markets, which for the UK's startup ecosystem means returning to its roots of ambitious, outward-focussed, open entrepreneurship.”
DCMS
2022 by the numbers: the Baltic startup ecosystem
It should come as no surprise that 2021 was a banner year for investments in Baltic startups.…


New AW119Kx “Koala” Helicopter Now Providing Service for Northern Idaho and Eastern Washington from Life Flight Network’s Sandpoint, ID Base
Life Flight Network, the nation’s largest not-for-profit air medical transport service with headquarters in Aurora, Oregon, announces one of the first AgustaWestland 119Kx “Koala” medical helicopters developed for the company has been placed into service at its Sandpoint, Idaho base. This top-of-the-line helicopter provides the fastest air medical transport for critically ill or injured patients in the region and is perfectly suited to meet the area’s unique weather conditions and geographic terrain. The Sandpoint base regularly provides emergency critical care air medical transport throughout northern Idaho, eastern Washington and western Montana.
Michael Griffiths, Life Flight Network’s CEO states, “Our new Koala helicopters are designed to assist our critical care teams in delivering the highest quality air transport care in the nation. Life Flight Network employs Flight Nurses and Flight Paramedics with a minimum of five years’ experience, the highest experience level required in the region. These Koala helicopters provide our teams with the finest suite of mobile critical care medical equipment available and have a spacious medical cabin capable of transporting two critical care team members and two patients with full-body access.”
Acquisition of these state-of-the-art aircraft began in February of 2012, when Life Flight Network signed an agreement with AgustaWestland. Prior to deciding on the Koala, Life Flight Network conducted substantial research in order to ensure the new platform would meet and exceed the needs of Life Flight Network’s Pacific Northwest and Intermountain West service area. A decision was made early in the process to incorporate the high-tech Garmin G1000H avionics package with synthetic vision and satellite weather reporting. These navigation and monitoring systems provide the pilot with greater situational awareness, which is so important with the changing terrain and weather conditions found within Idaho, Oregon and Washington.
Life Flight Network’s Koala helicopters went through extensive testing and a FAA certification process prior to being put into service. The first nine helicopters are scheduled to be in service throughout Life Flight Network’s service area by the end of July; three more will be in service by the end of the year.
Highlights of Life Flight Network’s Koala helicopters and critical care teams:
Ability to transport a two-person critical care team and two patients with full-body access
Speeds up to 175 miles per hour
State-of-the art Garmin G1000H avionics package with synthetic vision, enhancing safety and situational awareness
Night vision goggles, satellite weather and tracking, and a Helicopter Terrain Avoidance Warning System (HTAWS)
Appareo video and data cockpit recording system
A fully-equipped emergency medical cabin, including a LTV 1200 ventilator, blood products, Zoll Propaq MD cardiac monitor and a C-MAC PM video laryngoscope
Critical care Flight Nurses with a minimum of five years of ICU, ED, and Trauma experience and Flight Paramedics with a minimum of five years of experience
Life Flight Network’s highly-skilled critical care teams have the ability and resources to provide a multitude of essential medical functions during transport of pediatric and adult patients
15 bases throughout Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, all dispatched from Life Flight Network’s Communications Center in Boise, Idaho
The Koala helicopters will be providing emergency air transport in conjunction with three of Life Flight Network’s AW109E “Power” twin-engine helicopters in western Oregon and southwest Washington. The AW109E aircraft have advanced avionics and are capable of flying under Instrument Flight Rules, making them ideally suited to take advantage of Life Flight Network’s low-level route structures currently under development.
← Late Night with Life Flight Network: La Grande (6/2/2016) Life Flight Network achieves Medical Transport Accreditation - NAAMTA →
Life Flight Network Announces New Base Opening in Hermiston, Oregon in Early 2023
Pacific Northwest-based Life Flight Network Neonatal/Pediatric Transport Team receives prestigious Neonatal & Pediatric Transport Award of Excellence from the Association of Air Medical Services
Aurora, Ore., 10/24/2022—The Life Flight Network Neonatal/Pediatric Transport Team has been selected as the winner of the Neonatal & Pediatric Transport Award of Excellence by the Association of Air Medical Services. This award, sponsored by International...
Life Flight Network to Expand Fleet with 4 Additional Bell 407GXi Helicopters
Aurora, Ore., 07/13/2022—Life Flight Network, the nation’s largest not-for-profit air ambulance provider, has signed a purchase agreement for four (4) new Bell 407GXi helicopters for its air medical fleet. Delivery of the aircraft will begin in May 2024 and will bring...


Atorvastatin Efficacy and Safety in Patients With Ulcerative Colitis
Statins exert numerous pleiotropic effects including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant properties, endothelial function improvement, and immunomodulation independent of their basic lipid-lowering properties.
Atorvastatin in Patients With Ulcerative Colitis
Ulcerative colitis (UC) is an idiopathic, chronic inflammatory disease characterized by diffused inflammation of the colon and rectum mucosa; however, the exact underlying mechanisms of UC remain poorly understood. Statins exert numerous pleiotropic effects including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant properties, endothelial function improvement, and immunomodulation independent of their basic lipid-lowering property.
Broccoli Sprouts for Mild Ulcerative Colitis
The goal of this study is to determine the number of servings of broccoli sprouts sufficient to (1) increase sulforaphane levels in the stool and blood and (2) reduce inflammatory markers in patients with mild ulcerative colitis. This is a pilot feasibility study to prepare for a larger randomized controlled trial.
Budesonide Multimatrix(MMX) Versus Prednisolone in Management of Mild to Moderate Ulcerative Colitis
My study aims to directly compare the efficacy and safety of Budesonide MMX versus Prednisolone in the management of mild to moderate cases of ulcerative colitis.
Can Intermittent Fasting Induce Weight Loss and Improve Gut Health as Compared to Standard Medical Care in Patients With Obesity/High BMI and Crohn's Disease.
Diet is a determinant of gut microbial diversity and composition and is recognized as a potential environmental trigger for IBD; for example, high-fat diets are associated with increased risk of CD in pre-clinical models, with effects mediated through dysbiosis and altered gut permeability. Diet is also a potential non-pharmacological therapy for weight loss and for reducing the occurrence of disease flares and the reliance on dose escalation of biologic agents. Indeed, there is accumulating evidence for the role of diet in the treatment of CD, and diet-induced improvement of microbial dysbiosis is associated with induction of...
Clinical Study of Human Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stem Cells in the Treatment of Moderate and Severe Crohn's Disease
This is a prospective, single-arm, open-ended study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of human umbilical cord MSCs in the treatment of refractory moderate-to-severe Crohn's disease. The study protocol is either MSC injection into the patient's diseased intestinal mucosa or intravenous MSC injection + MSC injection into the patient's diseased intestinal mucosa. Follow-up time points were pre-treatment (week 0), week 4, week 8, week 12, and week 24 post-treatment, and the primary evaluation at follow-up was the number of subjects with clinical and endoscopic response or remission.
Clinical Study on the Distribution of Digestive Tract Microbiota Before and After Ileocecal Resection in Crohn's Disease
In this study, the microbiota sequencing was used to investigate the changes of microbiota in the terminal ileum and the middle part of ascending colon, the mesenteric adipose tissue of ileum and ascending mesocolon, and oral cavity of patients with Crohn's disease before and after ileocecal resection, so as to further explore the role of ileocecal region in inducing remission of disease.
Combined Application of EEN in the Induction of Remission in PUC
The role of exclusive enteral nutrition (EEN) in the induction of remission in pediatric patients with Crohn's disease had been well documented. But the role of EEN in children with Ulcerative Colitis (UC) was not clear. In this study, EEN will be combined with corticosteroids or infliximab in the induction of remission in pediatric UC patients with moderate to severe disease activity. The mucosal healing rate at week12 will be compared between the two groups (combine with EEN group VS non-combine group).
Comparative Study of Intestinal Color Ultrasound and Capsule Endoscopy in Monitoring Crohn's Disease
The disease activity index under intestinal color ultrasound was evaluated by SUS-CD, and the disease activity index under capsule endoscopy was evaluated by CECDAI. All subjects underwent intestinal color ultrasound and capsule endoscopy at baseline and at the third month of treatment. To compare the correlation between SUS-CD and CECDAI before and after treatment, and to compare the role of intestinal color ultrasound and capsule endoscopy in monitoring Crohn's disease in small intestine.
Comparing Hand-sewn (END-TO-END or Kono-S) to Stapled Anastomosis in Ileocolic Resection for Crohn's Disease
The aim of this multicenter randomised controlled trial is to compare the handsewn (end-to-end and Kono-S) to the stapled side-to-side ileocolic anastomosis after ileocolic resection for Crohn's disease with respect to 6 months endoscopic recurrence, functional outcome and health care consumption.


How School Choice Is Lifting Thousands of Kids Across America
COMMENTARY Education
Lindsey M. Burke, Ph.D. @lindseymburke
Director, Center for Education Policy
Lindsey Burke researches and writes on federal and state education issues.
Five states have adopted education savings accounts to give parents new options for their kids, and several other states are considering them. Klaus Vedfelt/Getty Images
Today, 65 private school choice options are operating in 29 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.
The innovation afforded through education savings accounts can put children on an entirely different educational trajectory.
This National School Choice Week, let’s renew our work to extend those benefits to every single child in America.
It’s amazing how far school choice has come since the first National School Choice Week was held in 2011. That year, 18 states and Washington, D.C., offered 31 school choice programs (vouchers, tax credits, and education savings accounts) enabling some 212,000 students to attend a private school of choice.
Today, 65 private school choice options are operating in 29 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. More than 482,000 students across the country are exercising private school choice—more than double the number of programs and students since National School Choice Week first launched in 2011.
It’s why this week, we’re celebrating the ninth annual School Choice Week to keep the progress going.
Innovative Options Across the Country
Not only have the number of schooling options swelled in recent years, but so has innovation within the education sector. Education savings accounts, also established in 2011, enable families to direct the funds that would have been spent by the state on their child in the public system.
State funds for each pupil are deposited directly into a parent-controlled account, and families can then use those funds to pay for private school tuition, online learning, special education services and therapies, private tutoring, and a host of other education-related services, products, and providers.
Take the story of one Arizona woman, whose son was diagnosed at 18 months with autism and a severe sensory and auditory processing disorder. Although the district system said he would need to be in the maximum restrictive environment in school, this mom wanted something different.
She entered Arizona’s education savings account program, and uses her son’s account to pay for personal tutors, specially tailored curriculum, and art and music specialists. Thanks to education choice, her son is getting a customized education that is helping him reach his full potential.
A total of five states—Arizona, Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee, and North Carolina—currently have education savings account options in place, and several other states are seriously considering them this year.
Federal Spotlight
National School Choice Week is also a great opportunity to consider possibilities for federal policymakers to advance education choice. Although education is primarily a state and local issue, the federal government does have a constitutional warrant to advance education choice options for a few special student populations: children from military families, children living in Washington, D.C., and Native American students on tribal lands.
Last year, Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., and Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., introduced a proposal to provide children of military families with education savings accounts. Providing education choice to military families is sound education policy and meets a critical national security need.
In 2017, the Military Times conducted a survey of its readers in which 35 percent of respondents said that dissatisfaction with their child’s education was a “significant factor” in their decision to remain in or leave military service. And in a nationally representative survey of active-duty and veteran families conducted by EdChoice last year, three-quarters of active-duty respondents supported the idea of providing their children with education savings accounts to ensure they can find education options that are the right fit for them.
Making 2019 a Record Year for School Choice
Across the country, states like Texas, West Virginia, Oklahoma, and Indiana are considering establishing education savings accounts to provide education flexibility to as many families as possible. And at the federal level, the Trump administration’s support for parental choice in education bodes well for federally appropriate options, such as education savings accounts for military families.
We Americans experience choice and customization in nearly all aspects of our lives—from food delivery and television to transportation and even tele-medicine—so choice and customization in education should be the norm, rather than the exception.
Education choice improves academic outcomes, leads to more satisfaction among parents, enhances school safety, reduces criminal behavior, and can have positive impacts on later life outcomes, such as earnings.
This article has been modified since publication to remove the names of two individuals, after a request from one of the individuals.
Breaking the K-12 Education Monopoly
DeSantis Deals Blow to Woke Takeover of Education
Iowa Marks National School Choice Week by Enacting Students First Act


BRANDY MCDONNELL
Interviews, photos and video: National Cowboy Museum showcases Native American pottery traditions with 'Colors of Clay' exhibit
A version of this story appears in the Sunday Life section of The Oklahoman.
'Colors of Clay': National Cowboy Museum's exhibit showcases diverse Native American ceramics
In 2009, Oklahoma artist Chase Kahwinhut Earles literally began lighting a fire under one of his tribe's recently rekindled traditions.
"I got help from Jeri Redcorn, who revived the Caddo pottery tradition out of nothing. No one was doing it anymore. And I kind of went from there and really researched in-depth and furthered what she was doing by learning how to dig my own clay and pitfire in the old ways without a kiln," Earles said.
"I wanted to really perfect the old traditions so that we could have that reconnection to the past. I felt like that was really important so that way we can kind of know where we came from as far as our pottery and where we can go in the future, in the evolution of our tribe's art."
The Caddo pottery tradition, including examples of Earles' work, is part of the multihued history of Native American ceramics featured in the exhibition "Colors of Clay" at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.
"We highlight not only the American Southwest - which is really known for their ceramic traditions - but we also talk about the Great Plains and the American Southeast and Eastern Woodlands. We talk about the different types and styles of ceramics that were created in North America, as well as the different uses," said Eric Singleton, the museum's curator of ethnology.
"In each region they do a different type of clay, and each of those clays has a different color. That's why each of these pieces are typically multiple colored. It really depends on what clay you're bringing to the occasions."
Since the museum was closed for two months due the coronavirus pandemic, the museum has extended "Colors of Clay" through June 21.
Diverse uses
The exhibition showcases 60 vibrantly colored, intricately adorned clay pots, bowls, pitchers, jars and figures skillfully sculpted by hand.
"In this digital world that we live in, with these patterns and things, it's hard to remember that this was not laid out in Photoshop," said Seth Spillman, the museum's chief marketing officer. "It's all done by hand, and the precision on all of that is just incredible."
The exhibit includes a timeline that puts the ancient North American pottery traditions in the context of the ancient Mesopotamian, Greece and Egyptian cultures.
"We have a timeline that goes back to the first ceramics found here in North American in Georgia - that's about 3,000 years," Singleton said.
"In this exhibition, our ceramics go back a thousand years, and the point of that is to show this ongoing cultural continuation that's occurred. It's really an unbroken line of ceramic tradition that goes back thousands of years. So, the goal here is to see the ceramics for what they are, which is these beautiful, utilitarian works, but also today, works of fine art and comparable to any other tradition anywhere in the world."
The uses for the ceramic vessels were as varied as the tribal peoples, he said.
"In the American Southwest, typically a lot of these are being used as water vessels, so they're highly stylized on the exterior but they're water tight. When you get into the Eastern Woodlands and Great Plains, a lot of times they're not fired as long, but that means they're also being used in a different capacity. They're being used in a much more ceremonial way or they're being used for storage for seeds and other products," Singleton said.
The exhibit includes work from the late Margaret Tafoya, who was the matriarch of the Santa Clara Pueblo potters in New Mexico; Joel Queen, a ninth-generation Eastern Cherokee potter from North Carolina; and Oklahoman Richard Zane Smith, a respected Wyandot potter based in the small Oklahoma town of Wyandotte, and others. Images by famed 19th-century photographer Edward J. Curtis decorate the bright orange gallery walls.
"Color just adds so much depth and richness to the artwork - and sets the tone," Singleton said. "There is a stunning artistic tradition in ceramics here in North America. It's very varied but it's wonderful. ... And we should be proud of that."
Tribal culture
Earles comes from a long line of artists, and growing up, he admired Pueblo pottery.
"I finally realized, 'Hey, I need to look at my tribe and my culture,' and I was just blown away by how huge, prolific, skilled and just incredible our pottery tradition is compared to any tribe - period - and nobody knew about it anymore. ... And I found my calling. I found my purpose," said the artist, who is based in southeast Oklahoma.
"When I started, it was really daunting. ... I really got obssessed and really dove headfirst in and learned everything I could. I talked to elders, researched, talked to archeologists and all kinds of stuff to kind of bring this forward ... and get our Caddo pottery known again."
Although the tradition had nearly faded away before Redcorn set out to resurrect it, Earles said he learned how vital it was to his ancestors.
"Pottery for the Caddo was part of their way of life. ... There's little tiny pots you can see in museums that little kids made and played with, and then when you passed away, your pots went with you. So, from birth to death, pottery was part of every single part of your life as a Caddo," he said.
"One of the reasons why Caddo pottery almost disappeared is because of the culture. ... When you die, your pottery's supposed to go with you as part of the ceremony. Because of that, all ancient pottery that's Caddo is actually a burial item. There's hardly any that are found above ground. Most all Caddo pottery is found underground in graves, so it's not supposed to be viewed. So, the public doesn't really see it ... because it's locked away in the back rooms of all the museums in this state and Texas and Arkansas."
Rather than making ceremonial or utilitarian pots, he and Redcorn are creating fine art pieces that can be sold so that others can share in the rich, renewed Caddo ceramics tradition. Earles has recently had pieces added to the permanent collections at the Dallas Museum of Art, Tulsa's Gilcrease Museum and the National Cowboy Museum. In the latter's "Colors of Clay" exhibit," photos and videos document the traditional way he crafts his works.
"It's a pretty big deal for me. I'm very excited about it and very appreciative," Earles said.
"I'm doing everything I can to get our tribe's pottery back ... and in front of collectors and museums. It's just a beginning, but we gotta start somewhere."
"Colors of Clay"
When: Through June 21.
Where: National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 NE 63.
Information: nationalcowboymuseum.org.
-BAM


INSIGHT: Why the time was right for Andretti to pursue Sauber
Charles Coates/Motorsport Images
By Edd Straw November 1, 2021 1:38 PM
By Edd Straw | November 1, 2021 1:38 PM ET
When the proposed takeover of the Sauber Group, which runs the Alfa Romeo Formula 1 team, collapsed, some might have felt it was a good thing for Andretti Autosport. After all, grand prix teams are notorious money pits and Sauber hasn’t exactly set the F1 world alight in recent times, so what possible sense did this deal make for an organization that’s thriving, with teams involved successfully in six categories around the world? Why would it need F1?
That view might have held water a few years ago, but F1 has been transformed recently. The very fact that Andretti was eager to acquire an 80% stake in Islero Investments, the Sauber holding company, and that the ownership – effectively low-profile Swedish billionaire Finn Rausing – ultimately wasn’t willing to do a deal on workable terms confirms this. For the first time in the 21st century, F1 teams are on the brink of existing as consistently profitable and stable companies rather than being reliant on continual shareholder cash injections or hand-to-mouth struggles to survive.
Looking at the big picture, F1 teams now have to operate to a cost cap. That first appeared this year with a baseline level of $145million (that’s based on 21 races, with adjustments up and down should that number be different), and will drop a further $5m in each of the next two years. The cost cap doesn’t cover everything, with driver costs, the pay of the three highest-paid team executives and myriad other things excluded, but crucially it does cover the design, build, development and operation of a couple of F1 cars over a season.
The cost cap is a hard line, enshrined in a 49-page document that sits alongside the technical and sporting regulations that F1 runs to. And while it has yet to be challenged by a test case, a chunk of those financial regulations are devoted to the procedures for punishing transgressors with draconian sporting sanctions. As F1 managing director Ross Brawn said when it was first announced, the cost cap “has teeth”, and could cost you a championship or worse.
The cost cap means that outgoings are far more under control than they once were. Teams will spend every dollar and cent they can on making the car go faster and this is the mechanism that has driven costs ever-upwards in recent decades, for a period creating a system where only the three biggest teams – Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull – could realistically aspire to sustained success. Now, if you are running an F1 team, you have a good idea what you will have to spend.
The income is also better structured thanks to the new Concorde Agreement, the document that binds together the FIA, F1 and the 10 teams commercially, agreed last year. A more equitable split of the chunk of revenue shared by the teams means that all the entries will get a fairer slice of the pie as opposed to under the previous commercial terms, whereby the biggest teams were paid disproportionately purely based on what they could negotiate under the pretense of historic success.
Prior to the arrival of F1’s current commercial regulations, teams like Ferrari negotiated advantageous terms on the basis of their historic value to the sport, regardless of their recent performance. Glenn Dunbar/Motorsport Images
This means all of the F1 teams should be viable and sustainable. And although it’s fanciful to imagine that there won’t still be a hierarchy based on resources, facilities and expertise, over a long enough timeline things should even up. Potentially, this means it won’t only be the biggest teams that can aspire to a valuation of well over a billion dollars. NFL franchises are often used as an aspirational comparison, and you won’t get much change from $2.5 billion even for the lowest-value one of those.
So for Andretti, or any aspiring F1 team owner, the long-term incomings and outgoings were not only more predictable, but also more realistic. This is dramatically different to the past, where even measures such as the resource restriction agreement agreed in late 2008 proved impotent and preceded a period where the likes of Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari stoked the spending rises ever more aggressively.
This explains why owning an F1 team might be appealing. But why Sauber, a team that has finished eighth, ninth or 10th in every constructors’ championship since the switch to 1.6-litre V6 turbo hybrids in 2014, and that has only won a single GP in its 28 years in F1?
The simple answer is that it’s a privately-owned team that just might have been willing to sell. Those with manufacturer ownership, even Mercedes (one-third owned by each of Mercedes, Toto Wolff and INEOS), are not for sale, and even if they were, many would be prohibitively expensive. That doesn’t leave many options, especially given two teams that have been available in recent teams are now owned by a Lawrence Stroll-led consortium (Aston Martin) or New York private investment firm Dorilton Capital (Williams). As for Red Bull’s second team, there have been times that AlphaTauri (formerly Toro Rosso) has unofficially been open for offers, but it now suits the company very well to have two teams.
So that realistically leaves Sauber and Haas. The latter, despite some suggesting it would make sense, would not have been a sensible option. It’s a team that has enjoyed some success since joining F1 in 2016, finishing fifth in the constructors’ championship, before its current slump. But it falls far short of Sauber in terms of appeal given its dependence on Ferrari for the supply of the majority of parts that make up the car – effectively, it’s a partial F1 team. What’s more, despite owner Gene Haas’s publicly aired concerns about F1 a couple of years ago, the changes in the financial basis of F1 that have already been discussed and the financial injection from Russian company Uralkali, owned by Nikita Mazepin’s father Dimitry, mean it’s currently not for sale.
So too, it turned out, was Sauber. It’s understood that Rausing was uninterested in selling but eventually acquiesced and at least formulated some basic terms that meant the sale of 80% might be possible. This was the point when the Andretti side seemed confident a deal could be concluded, potentially over the United States Grand Prix weekend, before the amount that needed to be pumped in rose. The bottom line is that now is not a good time to sell a grand prix team.
Alfa Romeo, Andretti Autosport, Michael Andretti, Sauber, Formula 1, Insights & Analysis
Edd Straw
Edd Straw is a Formula 1 journalist and broadcaster, and regular contributor to RACER magazine. He started his career in motorsport journalism at Autosport in 2002, reporting on a wide range of international motorsport before covering grand prix racing from 2008, as well as putting in stints as editor and editor-in-chief before moving on at the end of 2019. A familiar face both in the F1 paddock, and watching the cars trackside, his analytical approach has become his trademark, having had the privilege of watching all of the great grand prix drivers and teams of the 21st century in action - as well has having a keen interest in the history of motorsport. He was also once a keen amateur racing driver whose achievements are better measured in enjoyment than silverware.
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Mars Will Be the Closest to Earth This Week Until 2035
You'll have to wait another 15 years for another chance.
By Paolo Chua | Oct 5, 2020
IMAGE WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
If you've been looking up a lot, then you've probably noticed that Mars has been getting brighter and brighter. No, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you. And, it's going to get even brighter this week.
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That's because, on October 6, Mars will be 62 million kilometers away from Earth. It will be unusually close, and you'll get to see all of its brilliance—dazzling yellow-orange glow and all—better.
It's common knowledge that Earth takes 365 days to orbit around the sun, but what's less known is that Mars takes 687 days to do the same. Every 26 months and some days, however, Earth catches up and, as a bonus, we see Mars better.
With Mars being our second closest cosmic cousin, you'd think this wouldn't be that big of a deal. But, this is the last time the planet will be this close for the next 15 years. In fact, the last time the same phenomenon happened was 2003... ah, better days.
How close will it be actually? Well, you can easily see Mars with or without a telescope. The only thing you need to do is to make sure you check a sky chart to figure out when it will be in your area.
Paolo Chua
Associate Style Editor
Paolo Chua is the Associate Style Editor at Esquire Philippines, where he writes about fashion and grooming. Before joining Esquire Philippines, he was a writer at Town & Country Philippines.
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COVID-19: Trump threatens to freeze WHO funding, accuses it of being ‘China centric’
By Press Trust of India on 10:44 am April 8, 2020 No Comment
Washington: President Donald Trump has threatened to put a “very powerful” hold on US’ funding to the World Health Organization, accusing the UN agency of being “very China centric” and criticising it for having “missed the call” in its response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump slammed the global health agency for its early guidance aimed at countering the international spread of the coronavirus.
“We’re going to put a hold on money spent to the WHO. We’re going to put a very powerful hold on it and we’re going to see. It’s a great thing if it works. But when they call every shot wrong, that’s no good,” Trump told reporters at his daily White House news conference on Tuesday.
The Geneva-headquartered World Health Organization (WHO), receives vast amounts of money from the United States.
“We pay for a majority or the biggest portion of their money. They actually criticized and disagreed with my travel ban at the time I did it. They were wrong. They’ve been wrong about a lot of things. They had a lot of information early and they didn’t want to – they’re very – they seem to be very China centric,” Trump said.
The president said his administration was going to look into the US funding to the WHO.
“We give a majority of the money that they get, and it’s much more than the USD 58 million. USD 58 million is a small portion of what they’ve got over the years. Sometimes they get much more than that. Sometimes it’s for programs that they’re doing, and-it’s much bigger numbers. If the programmes are good, that’s great as far as we’re concerned,” he said.
“But we want to look into it, WHO, because they called it wrong. They (WHO) called it wrong. They missed the call. They could’ve called it months earlier. They would have known and they should have known and they probably did know. So, we’ll be looking into that very carefully, and we’re going to put a hold on money spent to the WHO,” Trump said.
Meanwhile, Senator Jim Risch, chairman of Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called for an independent investigation into the WHO’s handling of the COVID-19 response.
“The WHO has failed not only the American people, it has failed the world with its flagrant mishandling of the response to COVID-19,” said Risch.
WHO Director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’ apparent unwillingness to hold the Chinese Communist Party to even the minimum standard of global health and transparency hindered the world’s ability to blunt the spread of this pandemic, he said.
“It is completely unacceptable that the world’s global health organization has become a political puppet of the Chinese government,” he alleged, adding that “an independent investigation into the WHO’s handling of the COVID-19 response is imperative.”
The United States is the largest contributor to the WHO.
“Our valuable tax payer dollars should go towards investments to prevent the spread of disease, not to aid and abet cover-ups that cost lives and isolate portions of the world’s population on political grounds, as has been the case with Taiwan,” Senator Risch said.
A bipartisan group of nearly two dozen lawmakers announced Tuesday to introduce a resolution to defund the WHO until Ghebreyesus resigns and an international commission investigates the organisation’s role in covering up the Chinese Communist Party’s failed COVID-19 response.
“The WHO helped the Chinese Communist Party hide the threat of COVID-19 from the world and now more than 10,000 Americans are dead, a number that is expected to rise dramatically in the coming weeks,” Congressman Guy Reschenthaler alleged.
“The United States is the largest contributor to WHO. It is not right that Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars are being used to propagate China’s lies and hide information that could have saved lives. This bill will hold the WHO accountable for their negligence and deceit,” he asserted.
The United States’ intelligence community has reported that the Chinese government hid the threat of COVID-19 and, as a result, made it difficult for the rest of the world to respond early, appropriately and aggressively, said Congressman Fred Keller.
“For reasons beyond understanding, the WHO acted as a silent partner in this effort instead of protecting the lives of millions across the world, including hundreds of thousands of American citizens. Our hard-earned tax dollars should not go to a global organization more concerned with not offending the Chinese government than providing accurate information and protecting innocent lives,” Keller said.
Senator Marco Rubio accused the Chinese Communist Party of using WHO “to mislead the world.”
“The organisation’s leadership is either complicit or dangerously incompetent. I will work with the Trump Administration to ensure that WHO is independent and has not been compromised by the CCP before we continue our current funding, he added.
According to Johns Hopkins University, there are over 1.43 million confirmed coronavirus cases across the world and over 82,000 people have died due to the disease. The US has nearly 400,000 infections, the highest in the world.
COVID-19: Trump threatens to freeze WHO funding, accuses it of being ‘China centric’ added by Press Trust of India on 10:44 am April 8, 2020


Latest News / Headline
FIA post-race press conference - Spain
Lewis Hamilton Spain Sebastian Vettel Nico Rosberg
DRIVERS: 1 - Nico Rosberg (Mercedes), 2 - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), 3 - Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)
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Lewis Hamilton (GBR) Mercedes AMG F1 and Nico Rosberg (GER) Mercedes AMG F1 in the Press Conference at Formula One World Championship, Rd5, Spanish Grand Prix Race, Barcelona, Spain, Sunday 10 May 2015. © Sutton Motorsport Images
Sebastian Vettel (GER) Ferrari in the Press Conference at Formula One World Championship, Rd5, Spanish Grand Prix Race, Barcelona, Spain, Sunday 10 May 2015. © Sutton Motorsport Images
L to R): Lewis Hamilton (GBR) Mercedes AMG F1, Tony Ross (GBR) Mercedes AMG F1 Race Engineer, race winner Nico Rosberg (GER) Mercedes AMG F1 and Sebastian Vettel (GER) Ferrari celebrate on the podium at Formula One World Championship, Rd5, Spanish Grand Prix Race, Barcelona, Spain, Sunday 10 May 2015. © Sutton Motorsport Images
Race winner Nico Rosberg (GER) Mercedes AMG F1 celebrates with Lewis Hamilton (GBR) Mercedes AMG F1 in parc ferme at Formula One World Championship, Rd5, Spanish Grand Prix Qualifying, Barcelona, Spain, Saturday 9 May 2015. © Sutton Motorsport Images
Race winner Nico Rosberg (GER) Mercedes AMG F1 celebrates in parc ferme at Formula One World Championship, Rd5, Spanish Grand Prix Race, Barcelona, Spain, Sunday 10 May 2015. © Sutton Motorsport Images
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PODIUM INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Maria Serrat)
Q: Well, Nico, first win here in Barcelona and first win of the season.
Nico Rosberg: It was a prefect weekend. Great to be on pole and great to win the race like this. Very, very happy. Also thanks to the team, the car has been awesome, all weekend perfect, so yeah, really great.
Q: You looked very strong, especially strong in the first stint and at the start, where you held onto [the lead].
NR: Yeah, finally I got a great start as well. It's been a while coming but today it worked out really well.
Q: Congratulations. Lewis, the biggest chance was at the start, what happened there?
Lewis Hamilton: I just clearly got a bad start. I had lots of wheelspin. But as Nico said, it was a good race, he did a fantastic job and I'm grateful that I could get back up to the podium for the team.
Q: You're on the podium, your 75th podium, and also looking at the championship you're still leading the championship.
LH: Yeah, but there's a long, long way to go. This was a difficult weekend for me, I'll definitely take it… looking forward to Monaco. It's going to be a very tough race for sure but I'm looking forward to it.
Q: Congratulations. Moving on to third. Sebastian, once again on the podium this season. Was the second position and option?
Sebastian Vettel: I think it was. Obviously we were hanging in there pretty well. We had a good start, we were able to get past Lewis and then we did the right thing, covering him at the first stop. But then unfortunately they switched to a three-stop and they were just too quick. So we couldn't really keep up with the pace they had today, third is the best we could do and very happy. The car is great and it's great to see the fans, all the Ferrari flags, so very happy.
Q: You didn't mirror their strategy and also you were complaining a little bit about traffic. Do you think that maybe a three-stopper would have given you a chance?
SV: I think as a racing driver you always complain about something, especially if you're German! I think we tried everything we could. Obviously going through traffic is never easy but in the end it's the same for all of us – sometimes you're a bit luckier and other times you lose a little bit more.
Q: Thanks and congratulations. Nico, last question for yourself. Now you're bouncing back. Turning point here in Barcelona and we're going to Monaco. Home race, pole last year and victory last year.
NR: Yeah, but I'm just enjoying the day today, you know. Winning here in Barcelona was great and just enjoy that with the team tonight and then we look towards the next race.
Q: Nico, many congratulations on this first victory of 2015 and just tell us what this win means to you really and where you go from here?
NR: Just a fantastic weekend. Everything worked out on Saturday and Sunday. It all came together. I'm very happy and that's it.
Q: Closing in a bit on the points?
NR: Yeah, of course, seven points. At one point I thought maybe, who knows, maybe Sebastian can keep Lewis behind, which on the one side isn't good for the team, but in terms of my points… it's always a compromise, for my points that would have been better. But that's the way it is. Seven points is better than nothing and a fantastic team result today to be first and second, especially after the two-and-a half-week break. Everybody brought upgrades here but still we're dominating in such a way and that's fantastic to see and more than at the last race.
Q: A 45-second margin between you and Sebastian at the end there. Lewis, coming to you, a lot of talking points from your afternoon. Essentially you ended up where you started but the work you had to put in to get back to that second place was pretty phenomenal. Tell us about your race, your start and then the decision to switch to a three-stop strategy.
LH: Yeah, obviously I had quite a poor start. It's been a long time since I've had such a poor start. I tried my best to recover – I nearly dropped back to fourth at the start so I was very fortunate to keep third – and then it was just trying to fight… Unfortunately, this track isn't very good for overtaking. Actually it's the worst for overtaking. It's impossible to follow here, which is a shame. I don't know how it was further back but for the guys at the front it's just… it doesn't matter what you do you cannot get close enough even with the DRS, which is a shame. Nonetheless, I did everything I could behind Sebastian and did enough, I think, in the first stint but then I had a very long pit stop and then had to kind of do it all again. But fortunately towards the end it was enough to get it done on a three-stopper, I was able to get by. Yeah, if I was behind him in traffic I wouldn't have got past. I'm grateful I could gain those points for the team and it's kind of damage limitation for me, so it's not bad.
Q: Very well done. Coming to you Sebastian, obviously the good: you're on the podium again. The bad: the 45-second margin back to the race winner, which I'm sure you didn't probably expect through here. Did you think it was on to keep Lewis behind you or did you feel that once he started to gain pace on those harder tyres that it was getting away from you?
SV: To be honest I thought it would be tricky to keep him behind because they were a fair amount quicker, as we saw, at the end of the race. Obviously we were a bit lucky with the first pit stop – Lewis had a problem – so we were able to stay ahead, I think we reacted well and we did everything we could. Then obviously they decided to pit very early, go for a three-stop. I think it was our best chance to stay out, which is what we did. Unfortunately then I came out a bit in traffic after the second stop and lost maybe a couple of second, maybe two or three seconds, which would have been maybe just enough to stay in front but arguably with the speed they had you have to be fair and accept that they deserved to finish in front of us today, so well done to both of them. For us I'm pretty confident we will get closer again pretty soon, so hopefully in two weeks' time it's a different picture. I think we have done a step forward as a team in terms of performance. Obviously it doesn't really show here but I'm quite confident that in the next couple of race we'll be stepping up our game again and I'm looking forward to that.
Podium ceremony viewed form the grandstand with fans on track at Formula One World Championship, Rd5, Spanish Grand Prix Race, Barcelona, Spain, Sunday 10 May 2015. © Sutton Motorsport Images
Nico Rosberg (GER) Mercedes AMG F1 celebrates in parc ferme at Formula One World Championship, Rd5, Spanish Grand Prix Race, Barcelona, Spain, Sunday 10 May 2015. © Sutton Motorsport Images
Race winner Nico Rosberg (GER) Mercedes AMG F1 W06 celebrates in parc ferme at Formula One World Championship, Rd5, Spanish Grand Prix Race, Barcelona, Spain, Sunday 10 May 2015. © Sutton Motorsport Images
Race winner Nico Rosberg (GER) Mercedes AMG F1 celebrates with the trophy at Formula One World Championship, Rd5, Spanish Grand Prix Race, Barcelona, Spain, Sunday 10 May 2015. © Sutton Motorsport Images
Sebastian Vettel (GER) Ferrari SF15-T at Formula One World Championship, Rd5, Spanish Grand Prix Race, Barcelona, Spain, Sunday 10 May 2015. © Sutton Motorsport Images
Race winner Nico Rosberg (GER) Mercedes AMG F1 W06 crosses the line at Formula One World Championship, Rd5, Spanish Grand Prix Race, Barcelona, Spain, Sunday 10 May 2015. © Sutton Motorsport Images
Q: (Livio Oricchio - GloboSport.com) Sebastian, you think the big gap you have, for example, to Nico, you have on the same strategy, is it related to the characteristics of the track or maybe the reality now between Ferrari and Mercedes?
SV: I don't think it's the reality. If you take the average of the first five races, then you have your reality. I think you have to be fair and expect that on some tracks you're a bit more competitive than on others. It seems that for some reason we were not that competitive here - even though I think we have improved our car. So, not happy with the gap, to be honest. Not happy at all. Obviously they had a pretty easy race at the front, controlling the gaps, controlling the tyres, which then obviously allows you to push when you need to. Whereas for us, we are pushing as hard as we could and that's where we were at the end. So, not happy with today's result in terms of the gap to the front - but in terms of points scored and global result, I think we can be very happy. It's nice to be back on the podium.
Q: (Heikki Kulta - Turun Sanomat) Nico, congratulations. Is this the best Mothers' Day gift you have given to your mother - and all in all, was this a so-called ‘perfect weekend' for you?
NR: Well, I hope my Mum is happy - that would be great. And I'm sure she is, and I'm sure they're having a good time at home now. So that's nice. And then, perfect weekend? Yeah, it was a perfect weekend. Everything worked out: the car was great, nailed the setup for the race, for qualifying. Everything came together so very happy with that.
Q: (Peter Farkas - Auto Motor) Sebastian, do you think it would have been worth to cover Lewis when he went in for his second stop? It was a bit strange that you went in about seven or eight laps later. And, considering this gap, which is pretty big, do you still think you're fighting in the championship?
SV: The fact that we stayed seven- or something laps longer is obviously due to the fact we were on a different strategy: we were on two stops, Lewis was on three stops, so I think covering him would have been difficult. Obviously in the first stop, I guess we reacted because Lewis has such a poor stop - I don't know what happened to him - so we were able to cover him. That was a nice invitation and we took it. After that, as I said earlier, him pulling in so early was clear he's diverting, or going on a three stop, which was not our plan today, so we stayed out. All in all, they were probably a little bit too quick to really put more pressure on them.
Yes, I think I'm in the fight. We are able to improve our car. I think there's some good steps coming. Obviously our opponent is the favourite for the whole year and was untouchable last year to be fair, so I think the way you need to look at it is not that Mercedes is so strong, the way you need to look at it is that Ferrari was able to close the gap more than anyone else. I think we can be proud of that and we are very much willing to take our chance. Obviously we need to start turning things around very soon - but we are pushing to our maximum, trying to beat them soon.
Q: (Barna Zsoldos - Nemzeti Sport) Nico, in terms of preparation, is there anything significant that you did otherwise in the past period - because in the whole weekend you were so much more dominant than in the past few weeks.
NR: No, no, nothing different. Sorry. Just the same approach, keep on going, and this weekend it all came good. That's all.
Q: (Andrea Cremonesi, La Gazzetta dello Sport) Question for Nico. How important is it to break the domination of Lewis until now - and how did you manage the situation after Bahrain? In Bahrain you seemed a little bit upset. And how do you think now in having Monaco next race… you won last year and were quite strong.
NR: So, Bahrain was a long time ago and I'm not really thinking about the past too much. Bahrain was an exciting race, which gave me a boost and the only thing that was wrong as the result - and I wanted to change that for this weekend. Now the result came as well so I'm very happy with that today. We're just going to enjoy this win as an individual race. It's great to close up seven points to Lewis, great to go to Monaco next - I really like that track - that's it. Early days.
Q: (Michael Schmidt - Auto, Motor und Sport) Lewis, what exactly happened at the start? Was it just the worse line you were standing on, that left you out to Sebastian? And then, theoretically, would it have been possible to finish the race on the third set of tyres - the hard one - if you wanted?
LH: Wheelspin off the start - nothing different just wheelspin. I don't know if the inside line got worse but mine definitely wasn't good. And it wouldn't have been good to stay out, no. We chose to do a three stop quite early on.
Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Seb, at the end of the weekend, can you judge the updates you've had on the car as really a step forward or in your opinion do you have to reconsider them or change them a little bit?
SV: It's a good question. Obviously, if you look at the gap in the race it was the biggest gap we've had so far so your conclusion might be that it's not so good, but I think we're quite confident that we're going in the right direction. For some reason, I don't think we were so competitive here which explains the gap. Now we're obviously trying to understand and find the reasons. Either this track didn't suit us or the conditions really suited Mercedes. I think it's more likely to be one of the two, because if you take the average, obviously we've been closer in the last couple of races, so I'm looking forward to Monaco and looking forward to being closer to them again.
Q: (Chris Eichenberger - Motorsport Aktuell) Nico, what exactly did you change on the clutch?
NR: I just went to a different spec, back to last year's one.
Q: (Sebastian Scott - racedepartment) To you all: the next race is Monaco - Nico your home race - what do you particularly look forward to for this Grand Prix?
NR: It's the most legendary race in the calendar and it's the most exciting track to drive on and the most challenging track. The whole weekend, the atmosphere is very very special, everything very unusual, so all these things come together. And of course, sleeping at home is an awesome thing also, and also very strange to be home and then walking or taking the scooter to the racetrack. It's very cool. Those are the things
LH: The girls!
SV: He stole my answer, there. Just really the event as a whole, I think, mostly enjoying the track, as Nico says, it's quite challenging and you have to be quite brave and take low risks to get the reward. I hope that we are able to have a very very good qualifying, otherwise it could be quite a boring race if you're stuck behind another car, it's not so exciting, because overtaking is not really... it's not the best track for overtaking, let's put it that way.
Q: (Peter Farkas - Auto Motor) Lewis, when did it become clear to you that you were in fact not racing Nico but only Sebastian and did you think in the last stint that it was still possible to catch Nico?
LH: Well actually, I think Nico was quite far up ahead. He was 22 seconds ahead by the time I got onto my last stint and I had 15 laps to go so that was a huge amount of time for me to try and catch up. I pushed very hard to see if I could have the pace on him in order to close it but it was than less than a second really - on occasions sometimes a second so I think I pushed right until there was like six laps to go and I still had 13 seconds to go so after that I kind of realised that I should bring the car home and live to fight another day.
Q: (Peter Farkas - Auto Motor) Nico, did you fear that you had to push or even before Lewis's last stop, you were just cruising for the victory?
NR: From the team, it was pretty clear that my position was very safe because the gap was so big so it was comfortable but of course you never know, so I still tried to keep my pace up in some way and then I could see the gap, that it was under control so it was good.
Q: (Flavio Vanetti - Corriere della Serra) To both Mercedes drivers: we know you are running a dominant car but in some ways the advantage you had today is surprising you or not?
NR: Well yes, because it's much more than we've seen recently, much more than Bahrain, much more than Shanghai, Malaysia, so it's really a big step in the right direction for us. That is a bit of a surprise but it just shows that we have an awesome team at the moment, everybody's doing a fantastic job and in the development race, again we won the development race this weekend, compared to Ferrari so that's an important indication for the rest of the season.
LH: Nothing to add, really. Good question, good answer.
Q: On that subject, they always say the final sector here is a good indicator for the Monaco Grand Prix. Looking at yesterday's qualifying, you were half a second faster than the Ferraris. Is that giving you a lot of encouragement, the performance in that final sector?
NR: I don't know how... well, yeah, for sure it's not a bad thing definitely. I don't know if it's 100 percent representative but it's definitely looking good, yeah.
Q: (Christopher Joseph - Chicane) Lewis, you spoke yesterday about tinkering quite a lot with the set-up of the car for qualifying. Are you now very conscious that you have to do something like that in qualifying for the rest of the season? Is it something that you approach differently?
LH: Well, you can't change the car in qualifying but throughout practice I was tinkering, trying to get it ready for qualifying and ultimately it wasn't ideal. It wasn't bad in the race but yeah, today was a very very tough day, obviously, because I had to make up from the bad start and perhaps my true pace... I wasn't really able to show it compared to Nico, as I was further behind.
Q: (Christopher Joseph - Chicane) So are you then, in Monaco, looking at practice to aggressively...
LH: No, I'm just going to do what I did in the previous times. This is just a hiccup, I guess, this weekend.
Q: (Vanessa H Rado - Revista Enki) Hamilton, I wanted to know if you have been able to adapt to all the changes that have been made this year in the regulations?
LH: Well, not very much changed in the regulations. The things that we have... the front nose changed and the rear tyres. What else? Otherwise it's pretty similar to last year so this year is really trying to improve on last year. We had such an amazing year, kind of record-breaking as a team. For us it was hard to imagine trying to do that again or trying to beat it and that's our goal this year and I think we're definitely on the right route to doing that so I'm proud of everyone and very much enjoying the car.
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In quotes - Sunday in Barcelona


Apple TV+ Review: 'The Banker' is a well-mounted historical tale
Stephen Silver | Mar 20, 2020
Following multiple delays, The Banker, the first Apple TV+ prestige dramatic film, has finally arrived.
Anthony Mackie, Nia Long, Samuel L. Jackson and Nicholas Hoult in The Banker (Apple)
If there's such a thing as a cursed movie, The Banker would appear to be just that.
The film, a star-studded prestige drama about two black men who established a small banking empire in the '50s and '60s, had its distribution rights acquired by Apple in the summer of 2019. The acquisition was made with an eye towards a streaming future on the then soon-to-launch Apple TV+, along with a late-2019 theatrical release that would give it an outside shot at awards season consideration.
Then, last November, about 24 hours before The Banker was set to premiere at the AFI Fest, the film's debut was abruptly cancelled, upon news that the half-sister of Bernard Garrett Jr., a producer of the film and the son of one of its subjects, was accusing Garrett of sexual abuse.
The controversy scuttled the film's release and pushed the film out of awards season. Then, in January, two different ex-wives of the elder Garrett made a public request of Apple to not release the film.
The Banker was eventually re-scheduled for a two-week theatrical release beginning on March 6, to be followed by a March 20 streaming release, with Garrett Jr. removed from the credits and from profit participation. But then the theatrical bow, of course, ran directly into the coronavirus pandemic, which closed the majority of the nation's movie theaters. The film made so small a dent at the domestic box office that it doesn't even have a page on the box office analysis site Box Office Mojo.
A delayed arrival
Now, The Banker has finally arrived on Apple TV+. And it turns out the film is a fine dramatic effort that combines elements of the fact-based civil rights genre with the feel of a heist movie. With much of North America quarantined in their homes and looking for entertainment, The Banker has a chance to get some significant viewership.
The Banker debuts as just the third feature film of the Apple TV+ era, after the nature documentary The Elephant Queen and the family drama Hala, which arrived in the service's earliest days. But The Banker has prestige elements, as well as star power, that those earlier efforts lacked.
Directed by George Nolfi, best known as the director of the 2011 Matt Damon thriller The Adjustment Bureau and the 2016 Bruce Lee biopic Birth of the Dragon, the film stars Samuel L. Jackson and Anthony Mackie, a pair of prominent actors who, among much other work, are mainstays of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Nick Fury and the Falcon
The film stars Jackson and Mackie as Bernard Garrett and Joe Morris, a pair of African-American entrepreneurs seeking to make a fortune in the real estate and banking businesses, and ultimately break the regime of racial segregation in Los Angeles neighborhoods. Faced with racial barriers, they pull a Cyrano de Bergerac and bring in a white guy (Nicholas Hoult) to serve as their frontman. Later, Morris and Garrett pose as a chauffeur and janitor in order to watch the heist play out.
Eventually, the two bring their scheme to Garrett's Texas hometown, where they acquire banks and make loans to the area's underserved black community. But there they run into even more resistance than they had in California, leading to attention from the federal government.
It leads up to a climactic scene in which Anthony Mackie testifies before a Congressional committee, much as he did at the climax of Spike Lee's notorious 2002 film She Hate Me. Although this movie, and scene, are far better.
Jackson is charismatic and funny, as usual, with Mackie serving as more of a straight man. There's also a strong supporting cast, including a welcome Nia Long as Garrett's wife and Colm Meaney as an early partner. It's a handsomely photographed picture, full of period detail, and the costumes are outstanding too, including some beautiful vintage men's suits.
The film, though, doesn't break a ton of ground. If you're looking for a movie about a duo of black men and the legacy of mid-20th century California real estate, last year's The Last Man in San Francisco, directed by Joe Talbot, is a much more revolutionary film. That movie is available for rental and purchase from Apple.
There's not much competition, but The Banker is pretty clearly the best original film of the three in the Apple TV+ era. While it's likely not going to end up in the awards conversation for 2020, it represents exactly the sort of adult-oriented drama that Apple should be pursuing as they built out the original movie section of their streaming service.
sacto joe
said about 2 years ago
“While it's likely not going to end up in the awards conversation for 2020...”
Boy, do I disagree with that! Heck of a movie! Well done, all involved!
And for Apple+ users, no extra charge.
sidrictheviking
Just watched it. Best thing on TV+ so far. Excellent! Keep ‘em coming, Apple.
Is it just me or is it slightly ridiculous that every Apple site has decided they’re qualified to review tv and films now that Apple are producing their own content? I mean, there are places I’d go to find an honest opinion and critique of the Banker, or the Morning Show, and it’s not AppleInsider..
petri said:
It's not the same authors on every article. This one is by:
https://screenrant.com/author/silv/
https://muckrack.com/stephen-silver
This site and others aggregate articles from multiple sources. Having a film critic review an Apple produced movie for an Apple fan base, a significant amount of whom likely have the service seems quite appropriate.
Mike Wuerthele
Given that Stephen Silver has been a media critic for decades (and so has William Gallagher), this is off-base, and frankly, insulting.


Home → Articles → California → Rounding Up
Mark Burton was on the team that won the first jury verdict—$285 million—in the Roundup cases against Monsanto, and he’s not done yet
Published in 2021 Northern California Super Lawyers magazine on July 7, 2021
For years, Dewayne “Lee” Johnson worked as the groundskeeper for Benicia Unified School District, spraying Monsanto’s Roundup—“the juice,” as he called it—to kill weeds. When he was diagnosed in 2014 with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, he called Monsanto to find out if Roundup caused cancer. The company said someone would call him back.
No one called.
So Johnson found a lawyer and made history.
His case, claiming the weedkiller causes non-Hodgkin lymphoma, was the first Roundup verdict against Monsanto. The $285 million verdict brought out all the evidence for the first time. Mark Burton, with Audet & Partners in San Francisco, was the Northern California member of the six-attorney trial team for Johnson, and he has continued to represent plaintiffs suing Monsanto. The flood of other lawsuits included a class action, and a single case—which Burton also helped handle—that resulted in $2 billion in punitive damages.
“To see Monsanto held responsible is very satisfying,” says Burton.
When the Johnson case was filed in 2018, thousands of cases already had been filed against Monsanto in state courts, as well as a federal multidistrict litigation. Because Johnson was gravely ill, the court granted the trial team’s motion for the case to be given preference.
With the plethora of existing cases, discovery was already in the works. “There were many videotaped depositions of Monsanto employees that the trial team combed through for the Johnson case,” says Burton.
The team filed two claims against Monsanto: failure to warn of the danger, as well as the consumer expectation test—a law unique to California—which asks if the product performed as safely as an ordinary consumer would expect.
“Both of these claims rely on causation: Does Roundup cause cancer?” says Burton. “And that’s where the main battle of the trial took place.”
Timing is everything. When the Johnson case was filed, science had finally caught up. In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, which is part of the World Health Organization, made a determination that glyphosate was “probably carcinogenic to humans.” Dr. Christopher Portier, former director of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, served as a consultant to IARC, and was a critical expert witness for Johnson.
“The International Agency for Research on Cancer is the gold standard,” says Burton. “Top experts serve on the agency’s panels, and everyone is cleared of conflicts. It was the first time Dr. Portier testified in a case against Monsanto, and he was probably motivated to do so because Monsanto tried to publicly discredit him.”
The link between Roundup and cancer was further strengthened by a report from Dr. James Parry, a toxicologist whom Monsanto had hired as a scientific adviser. Burton says Dr. Parry had told the company its past testing was insufficient because glyphosate was tested in isolation and recommended further studies.
During the trial, Burton says, the trial team introduced internal Monsanto memos that established these studies were never done.
In addition, Burton says, his team introduced into evidence that Monsanto’s company employees “ghostwrote” scientific articles about Roundup’s safety and compensated outside scientists to publish the articles under their names.
While the experts were critical to winning the case, so was the jury.
“We wanted a well-educated jury that could understand the science,” says Burton.
Since Monsanto is a well-known company that evokes strong views, at least 200 prospective jurors were brought in, and Burton and his team managed to secure a jury that included several members with PhDs in science. This would be a strategy repeated in subsequent cases. In the second Roundup case to go to trial, Edwin Hardeman v. Monsanto, this time in federal court, prospective jurors were sent a questionnaire to help with jury selection. “Monsanto wanted to strike the jurors with advanced degrees in science,” says Burton, who assisted with jury selection. “The judge was shocked when we tried to save them.”
The Johnson trial team used a mock jury to ensure the arguments it was making were clear. The judge allowed the opening statements to be videotaped, and the mock jury watched the tapes and told the lawyers what seemed important.
“We had an email from one of the Monsanto sales reps that called Californians ‘zombies’ and ‘liberals,’ a real derogatory tone,” says Burton. “We thought it was a great piece of evidence, but the mock jury didn’t care about it at all. They wanted to hear about the science.”
On August 10, 2018, the jury awarded Johnson $39 million for economic and non-economic losses, and $250 million in punitive damages. The trial judge subsequently reduced the punitive damages to $39 million to match the compensatory damages; on appeal, the total of both was reduced to $20 million.
For Burton, the battle against Monsanto didn’t end there. On March 27, 2019, the Hardeman case in federal court resulted in a verdict of $80 million (later reduced, and upheld by the 9th Circuit Court this May). In April 2019, a class action was filed for future cases, but this May, a proposed $2 billion settlement was rejected by U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria in San Francisco. In May 2019, Burton was part of the trial team that represented Alva and Alberta Pilliod, husband and wife, and won a verdict of $55 million in economic and non-economic damages, and $2 billion in punitive damages, the ninth-largest verdict in American history.
Roundup is still on the shelves, but Burton hopes the class action settlement will result in a cancer warning on the product’s label. “That would be a silver lining,” he says.
August 10, 2018: Dewayne Johnson wins verdict against Monsanto: $39 million in economic and non-economic damages, $250 million for punitive damages.
March 27, 2019: Jury awards Edwin Hardeman $200,967 in economic damages, $5 million in future and non-economic damages, and $75 million in punitive damages.
April 24, 2019: Audet & Partners files first class action against Monsanto based on the established link between Roundup and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
May 13, 2019: Jury awards Alva and Alberta Pilliod $55 million in economic and non-economic damages and $2 billion total in punitive damages against Monsanto.
2020: Bayer, the parent company of Monsanto, announces $11 billion in settlements for 80,000 cases involving dozens of law firms.
Mark E. Burton
Top Rated Class Action & Mass Torts Lawyer
Audet & Partners, LLP
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