#Dido Husband and information

[eshpanova-oksana4932w9x]

Dido husband Photos Information and their life details Pop Singer

Dido husband Photos Information and their life details Pop Singer

Dido Husband

Is she married?

About Dido :

About

English artist lyricist whose debut collection No Angel won numerous honors, including the MTV Europe Music Award for Best New Act.

Prior to Fame

She was always harassed, as most kids at her school were new to the legendary Queen of Carthage who shares Dido’s name.

Random data

Her melody “On the off chance that I Rise” was named for an Academy…

[pointnumbersixteen]

What I Think Might Be Going on with Kitty and Her Sister

A few things: 

Kitty always mentions her sister, but never her parents, which makes me suspect that the two of them are living with distant relatives. Like a distant, elderly great aunt or something. That happened a lot in ye-oldy days, particularly if the mother was dead. Gentlemen didn’t think they could bring up young girls on their own, so they sent them to live with respectable female relations, preferably relations with more advantageous circumstances. 

I hear Dido Belle associated with Kitty by various people a lot in speculation and reading about her, I think it fits. Essentially, Dido Belle’s father was a naval officer in the Caribbean and he had a daughter with an enslaved woman named Maria Belle he met after capturing a Spanish slave ship (Is meaningful consent pretty much impossible in that situation? I suppose it depends on the specifics of the situation, and the mother’s disposition afterwards, which are unknown, at least to Wikipedia, but I’d say probably.). He took the daughter back to England with him when she was a small girl and then sent her to live with distant relationships to be raised as a free gentlewoman while he continued his naval career. The daughter, Dido Belle, despite being both illegitimate and of African descent, both of which were significant social handicaps at the time, was treated well by the family she lived with, was properly educated, became best friends with a cousin, Elizabeth Murray, a great-niece that was also being raised by said relations, and became notable because various relatives left her respectable inheritances, making her a minor heiress. I see Kitty’s situation as a twist on Dido Belle’s life. Instead of a cousin, she has a sister, and that sister seems to hate her, and certainly treats her terribly. 

What I think happened was this: Kitty’s father had a marriage to some white Georgian gentlewoman, who had a daughter and then promptly died, as happened commonly enough in or after child birth at the time. The young daughter was sent to be raised by relatives, while the father went off to the Caribbean for the reason of your choice: maybe he was a naval officer, maybe he was a plantation owner, pick your poison, it probably was not a good situation for the African-born mother. He met the mother, though, she caught his interest, and they had a daughter, Kitty. Maybe this poor woman also died. Anyway about it, when he went back to England, he decided to take this daughter with him, and sent her, too, to live with the relations he’d sent his first, several-years-older daughter to live with.  

Dido Belle was notable because her outcome of acceptance within her family was what was not expected at the time. Georgian times were hella-racist. And Kitty’s sister was not Elizabeth Murray. Kitty did not get Dido Belle’s outcome. I personally theorize that they were both living with a doddering, elderly great-aunt and uncle, who took only a distant interest in the young girls living in their household, which is why they never intervened in Kitty’s sister’s treatment of her; they probably just weren’t paying that much attention to either of them. And Kitty’s older white, legitimate sister hated sharing her position in society with her illegitimate (which would have been intolerable enough to certain kinds of people in Georgian times) black half-sister, and treated her awfully because of it. Kitty has so little life experience and exposure to the outside world that she doesn’t know any better and thinks of her sister as just her sister, because that’s the only female companion her age she has. 

Going a bit further, I think Kitty’s sister might have been directly or indirectly (but hoping for it) responsible for her death. The way I see it is this: Kitty is seventeen (various people have speculated this and I once said I agreed and would later expound on why, here is the expounding), and her father or the great uncle or some male relation with money has died within the last few years. Eighteen is an age I see frequently cited (in slightly later periods, but social customs get harder to research the farther back you go) where girls have their inheritances bestowed upon them. Dead-relative left both sisters respectable sums of money. But Kitty’s sister, who has always been cruel and entitled (stealing her Christmas presents and such) is furious that as the legitimate sister, she didn’t receive EVERYTHING. If Kitty lives to eighteen, she gets her inheritance and can potentially have the means to make her way out into society or attract a husband, escaping her sister’s clutches forever. But if she dies before eighteen, her sister as her closest relative gets Kitty’s share as well. So, either the sister tricks her into some situation where she dies of exposure, or, as I think fits a bit better with her ghost-vomiting, poisons her, so that she gets the full inheritance for herself. 

I see it like this: Kitty is usually left out of the big parties hosted at the house, because she’s illegitimate and a lot of rich Georgian snobs would be offended at the idea of socializing with an illegitimate child. Her sister, however, tells her that she finally gets to go to this party (hence being dressed up) and offers her some poisoned wine or some such to fortify her before hand. Then she goes down to the party and her sister has her eat some shellfish or some such that she doesn’t normally get but that is known to cause allergic reactions, so that the sister can fake that the poisoning is an accidental death by food-allergy and oh-so-tragic. That’s why her ghost-vomiting is linked to being included in the bridal party, her sister finally ‘including’ her was actually just a cover for poisoning her. Kitty doesn’t realize this, but still the subconscious association is there. Kitty dies, the sister gets away with it and gets everything, marries and moves away, leaving Kitty behind as a lonely ghost. 

Is this all conjecture? Yes. But I think it fits with what we know about Kitty and with Georgian society/historical precedent. The main objection I can think of is that the sweetest character on the show being murdered by her elitist, probably racist half sister for her inheritance is a really dark way to go for a soft comedy show and would make them have to touch on some sensitive historical issues. But I think they did a good job touching on sensitive historical issues with having Fanny come around to the idea of gay marriage. And I think they’re saving the darker stuff for the later seasons (Mary’s witch trial, most everything having to do with Cap, the details of Kitty’s death) precisely so they can set the tone as a soft comedy before touching on the heavier stuff later. 

Anyway, as always, my theories could be crushed by writers eventually, finally (please?) giving us some new information about the characters we’re being left in the dark about, but until then, or until I read a theory that fits better, this is what I think. 

[shyanonimousunicorn]

Why the Bellona house is better than Augustus.

First disclaimers: I love the Augustans. Adrius is my all time fave villian. How great Mustang is, simply can’t be described. And Nero is one imposing ass dude.  However speaking of connections and love between the family members and even number of actual normal human beings, the Augustus family can’t really step on the Bellona. ( and Mustang can’t carry the whole house on her back) Lets look at the proud Lions for a second so i can make comparisons. Nero may be the most powerful man on Mars however his love is the most conditional love ive seen in a parent. And considering the fact he made his brilliant son a monster and drove his wife to suicide, he is a man you wouldn’t want as a husband or father. Adrius despite being one of my faves in The Red Rising series, is beyond doubt a monster, as a male ( since Nero was obviously so very set on having a male heir) he was supposed to be perfect in ways he wasn’t and he tried and succeeded in becoming more ruthless, more power hungry, more monstrous, merciless and vicious than his father at the end.Only Mustang was spaired the same fate, partially to the fact her father didnt have the same expectations from a girl ( yeah Nero was sexist, you can’t deny that) AND because in the end, she had friends like Pax and Daxo and was raised by the Telemanus family ( technically speaking from all the Gold families, The Telemanus are the healthiest Gold house in the books)  Now as I said, Mustang can’t carry the weight of a whole house on her back but you will ask, okay but then Cassius won’t be able to carry his house on his shoulders either, no matter how wide and huge they are. Well, he doesn’t. The Bellona unlike Augustus family have 50 members and Cassius wasn’t the kindest of them all ( despite being good natured and kind hearted), Julian was. Julian was kind, compassionate, gentle and lovelable. We didnt get to see much of Cassius’s twin but we were given a very clear description of who he was as a person, both from Darrow and from Cassius. In fact he was so beloved by his mother ( yes, Julia is very vengeful, spiteful and full of hatred, but then again, ask any mother...no matter the circustances, how would they feel towards a person who killed her child) she is more than willing to abandon any pride, any justice and all honour to have her revenge. But hold there, contrary to Nero’s cold and absolutly terrifing parenting and conditional love, Tiberius au Bellona, leader of House Bellona and father to Cassius, Julian ( and 8 more kids) is honorable, loving father who taught Cassius to be what he is today - basically the knight in shining armour, a man of honor. During the duel at the Gala, Tiberius saw his brightest child being inches away from death and yet he accepted the fact these are the grounds of the duel.BUT WHAT OF KARNUS, the monster you will ask. Firstly, almost every house seems to have them ( except the Telemanus ) Well I am here to say, I see a lot of people like Apple,well Apollonius is not that much different than his best drunking buddy Karnus - violent, monstrous, ruthless, decandent and excessive in his desires, albeit he is more flamboyant and dramatic in his presence. But the fact he was a monster, but he was quite fond of Cassius ( and resentful of Julian) so he too has depth but this post is mostly not about the individuals rather the house manner - The Bellonas are obviously are family family, they support, they love, and stick together. In fact, their connection rings very similar to that of the Raa - Romulus being the honorable father, Dido being the vengeful scheming mother, Diomedes, the favorite son and AN olympic knight ( and we even have an even worse family monster in Atlas’s face). Cassius, who changed and grew a lot over in the years, never stopped loving his family as we saw in IG. I understand a lot of people tend to villify the Bellona family because Darrow was on the side of the Augustans and they targeted him ( and Darrow is ofcourse our beloved hero) but their reaction was a natural one. One of theirs was killed by Darrow and everything was staged by their biggest enemy the Archgovernor. Later their most beloved son was almost killed in a duel by the same man ( and yes Cassius tried to be mean with words but its normal to taunt the enemy and try to make him less concentrated, after all Darrow - for the drama - yelled at Tiberius face and tried to rile up the Bellona even more to start a civil war, this doesnt make Cassius a bad man) So the Bellona aren’t worse than the Augustus there. Even Darrow senses it, but he had no other choice but to become their enemy in order to fullfil his mission Thus my verdict is final ( at least for myself, everybody is allowed an opinion) the Bellona were technically a greater and healthier family than the Augustus. Nero would never match Tiberius and even Julia as a parent because their love for their children was genuine and uncondional ( Julian whom by Nero’s standarts would be weak and undeserving of care was beloved by his parents ) p.s @jasmin-au-bellona just cause u love to be informed about everything in regards to Cassius au Bellona, your husband :D

[lynchgirl90]

@Newsday: #TwinPeaks: The single greatest pleasure of 2017 TV season

‘Twin Peaks’ review: Kyle MacLachlan leads an electrifying season

REVIEW

THE SHOW “Twin Peaks: The Return”

WHERE | WHEN Series finale airs Sunday at 8 p.m. on Showtime

WHAT IT’S ABOUT FBI agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) is flying to Spokane, Washington, and then on to Twin Peaks, accompanied by the brothers Mitchum, Bradley (Jim Belushi) and Rodney (Robert Knepper), who are also owners of the Silver Mustang Casino. Cooper is no longer mild-mannered, semi-comatose insurance salesman Dougie Jones, but a lawman on a mission — to vanquish the “Evil Coop” (also MacLachlan) once and for all. This is the 17th and final episode of the Mark Frost and David Lynch sequel to “Twin Peaks,” which aired on ABC from 1990 to ’91. The finale was not made available for review.

MY SAY Some years ago, a soon-to-be-famous novelist and self-confessed Lynch freak, David Foster Wallace, tried to make sense of the currently fashionable term “Lynchian” over the course of a long essay before finally conceding that it’s like “one of those [Justice] Potter Stewart words ... you’ll know it when you see it.” Indeed, we sure knew it when we saw it over these 16 episodes.

Lynchian was in the colors (smokey blues, deep reds) and in the various bands that played the Bang Bang Bar — a wondrously surreal mix of fringe indie rock acts that seemed to drift in on a moonbeam (like the Veils or Au Revoir Simone). Lynchian was in the countless images — psychedelic non sequiturs that defied logic (the woodmen...Senorita Dido...The Evolution of the Arm... "This is the water, this is the well. Drink full and descend.")

Lynchian was in the background music — occasionally just a long, low whine, like the soundtrack to a nervous breakdown.

We certainly knew it when we saw it in the humor and violence, often conjoined. Recall the climactic scene last week when the aggrieved accountant shot up the van carrying the husband-wife hit squad. Cue to the Lynchian Mitchum brothers who witnessed the bloody mayhem from a safe remove. “People,” explained Rodney, “are under a lot of stress, Bradley.”

But primarily we knew it from the story. “The Return” was the tale of one Dougie Jones, who existed in a semi-fugue state in Las Vegas for most of the series before finally locating his inner Agent Dale Cooper just last week. He did this by sticking his finger in a wall outlet. Electricity is very Lynchian. As it turns out, Las Vegas is too.

Now that we’ve established that “The Return” was Lynchian, what did all this mean? You’re on your own there, friends. These past few months, countless web posts have followed various clues like crumbs to various rabbit holes, down which other crumb trails have been laid. For example, Evil Cooper and Diane (Laura Dern) are likely “tulpas,” or emanations from another mind. Depending on your familiarity with Tibetan mysticism, this is either helpful or maddening: What then does all that mean?

For true-blue fans, in fact, the great joy of “Twin Peaks: The Return” was in the act of submission. Only after realizing that the pursuit of meaning, logic, or even solid information was a fool’s errand could you then settle back to enjoy the countless pleasures this had to offer. For example, there were over 200 speaking parts here, most as fleeting as a scream in the night. At least one mostly comprised a scream in the night. Each was flawless. There were callbacks for at least a dozen original characters, each as welcome as the return of an old friend, and in a couple of instances, as melancholy as a departed one. (The Log Lady’s Catherine E. Coulson and Agent Albert Rosenfield’s Miguel Ferrer died after production ended.) The omissions were perplexing (most notably, Michael Ontkean’s Sheriff Truman) but hardly destabilizing.

And even with those detours through the dreamscape of its co-author, the story did make sense. Credit there must go to Frost, who is the hedgehog to Lynch’s fox. He knows that TV series need plots, and gave this an engaging one.

There was some fan blowback early on about Dougie, to wit, when would the beloved Cooper return? But Doug had his own charms, while 16 episodes of Cooper’s coffee-loving Dudley Do-Right would have strained fan patience. In any event, MacLachlan pulled off Dougie and Evil Coop brilliantly. Credit for this triumph also belongs to him.

BOTTOM LINE The single greatest pleasure of the 2017 TV season.

Link (TP)

[theaeneidnyuad-blog]

Character Descriptions

The Human Characters

Character List and Descriptions Sourced from CliffsNotes

Acestës (uh-sehs-teez) The king of Drepanum, in western Sicily, he gives refuge to Aeneas and his people in Books III and V after storms drive them off course.

Achaemenidës (a-kuh-mihn-ih-deez) A Greek crewman of Ulysses, he is accidentally abandoned on Sicily, home of the Cyclopes, when his companions flee from the angry one-eyed giants. The Trojans rescue him in Book III.

Achatës (uh-kay-teez) Known as "the faithful Achatës," he is Aeneas's armor-bearer and a devoted follower of the Trojan hero throughout the epic poem.

Aeneas (uh-nee-us) Romans regarded Aeneas as the ancestor of Augustus — the emperor for whom Virgil wrote the Aeneid — and of the entire Roman state, since Romulus and Remus, Rome's legendary cofounders, were believed to be descended from the race of kings established by Silvius, Aeneas's son by his second wife, Lavinia. Aeneas became the object of exceptional veneration by the Romans, the embodiment of all of the virtues that they prized most: steadfastness, courage, patience, obedience to the will of the gods, and reverence for ancestors. As such, he was not only the ancestor of Rome's first emperor but also Augustus's moral prototype, or model, exemplifying in his heroic person all the qualities that loyal Romans attributed to their first emperor.

As a result of this patriotic role assigned to him, Aeneas sometimes appears too good to be true. He possesses a superhuman excellence that makes it hard for us to believe he is a man and not a symbol or a god. Still, Virgil endows him with his share of human qualities: He is subject to discouragement in Book I when his fleet is struck by Aeolus's storm; in Book II, he is uncertain as to what course of action to take on the night that Troy is invaded by the Greeks; and in Book IV, he is torn between his love for Dido and his need to fulfill his mission. Only gradually does he obtain heroic stature, but he is all the more believable because of his initial weaknesses.

Amata (uh-mah-tuh) The wife and queen of Latinus, her name — Latin for "beloved" — ironically contradicts the actual nature of this highly disagreeable character. From the moment of her first appearance in Book VII, she is an obstacle to the harmony that Latinus and Aeneas seek. Her influence is always negative: Favoring Turnus rather than Aeneas as the husband for her daughter, Lavinia, she is easily swayed by the fury Allecto, sent by Juno, and becomes a human agent of that goddess's campaign against the Trojans.

Anchises (an-ky-seez) As the father of Aeneas by the goddess Venus, Anchises is a venerable figure of wise counsel and instruction, above all in Book VI, when he reveals Rome's future to Aeneas. Aeneas's respect for Anchises exemplifies an important aspect of the Roman virtue pietas, the appropriate deference one shows to parents, gods, and country. Virgil strongly implies that the respect paid by Aeneas to Anchises, especially in Book V in the form of funeral games, foreshadows the pietas shown by Augustus to his father by adoption, Julius Caesar.

Andromachë (an-drah-muh-kee) The widow of the Trojan prince Hector, and later the wife of his brother, the prophet Helenus. She and her husband are visited by Aeneas in Buthrotum in Book III.

Anna (ahn-nuh) The warmhearted and impulsive sister of Carthage's Queen Dido, Anna has little importance as a character in her own right, but with her unwise counsel she initiates a series of actions and events that have overwhelmingly important consequences. Good-intentioned, she disastrously encourages Dido to give in to her love for Aeneas and forget her vow to remain chaste and faithful to the memory of her dead husband. Anna's only wish is to see her widowed sister find happiness; ironically, she puts Dido in jeopardy and prepares her to become the victim of two overpowering goddesses, Juno and Venus.

Ascanius (as-kay-nee-us) Also known as Iulus; the son of Aeneas and his first wife, Creusa.

Camilla (kuh-mihl-uh) A female warrior of the Volscians and Turnus's ally in his battle against Aeneas's forces. In Book XI, she leads a courageous but doomed cavalry attack against the Trojans and their allies. Slain by the Etruscan Arruns, she is avenged by the goddess Diana, who sends the nymph Opis to slay Arruns in turn.

Creusa (kray-ooh-suh) Aeneas's first wife, Creusa is a one-dimensional, colorless character, whose sole function is to appear as a sacrificial victim to the great cause of the future Roman Empire by exhorting Aeneas to escape Troy without her.

Dido (dy-doh) Unlike most female characters in the Aeneid, Dido is a strong woman who possesses heroic dimensions and a will of her own. Leading her people from Tyre after her brother murders her husband, she founds the new city of Carthage, whose construction she is directing when Aeneas arrives there.

Virgil portrays Dido as Aeneas's equal and his feminine counterpart. Her hopeless passion for him is not a flaw in her splendid character: She is forced by Juno and Venus to become his lover, a role that she cannot play for long because fate wills otherwise. Her decision to commit suicide gives her a tragic stature.

Diomedes (dy-oh-mee-deez) A Greek hero of the Trojan War. In Book XI, he refuses, via a messenger, Turnus's request to fight against the Trojans and their allies.

Drancës (dran-seez) A Latin nobleman, in Book XI he acts as an ambassador between Latinus and Aeneas, decrying Turnus's aggressive stance and calling for a peaceful settlement with the Trojans.

Euryalus (yu-ry-uh-lus) A young Trojan warrior and the inseparable companion of Nisus, in Book IX, he is slain by the Rutulians while attempting to inform Aeneas of Turnus's attack on the Trojan camp.

Evander (ee-van-duhr) Pallanteum's king and Pallas's father, he allies himself with Aeneas, who visits him in his city, built on the site of the future Rome. Related to Aeneas through their common descent from Atlas, Evander is depicted as a benevolent ruler who favors the Trojans's mission.

Hector (hehk-tuhr) A son of Troy's King Priam and Queen Hecuba, and the first husband of Andromachë. Hector's ghost appears to Aeneas in Book II on the night Troy is invaded by the Greeks and warns the Trojan prince to flee the stricken city.

Hecuba (heh-kyoo-buh) Priam's wife and Troy's queen.

Helenus (heh-lay-nus) The ruler of a group of Trojan exiles living in the city of Buthrotum, and Andromachë's second husband. In Book III, he warns Aeneas of the dangers along the sea route to Italy and advises him to consult the sibyl of Cumae.

Laocoön (lay-ah-koh-uhn) In Book II, suspecting trickery on the part of the departing Greeks, Laocoön warns his fellow Trojans against bringing an immense wooden horse, left behind by the Trojans's enemy, inside Troy's walls. He and his two sons are slain by two giant sea serpents sent by the goddess Minerva.

Latinus (luh-tee-nus) Because the civilization of Rome was supposed to have arisen from the cooperation of the Latin natives with the Trojan newcomers, Virgil found it appropriate to depict the Latin king, Latinus, as a man of moderation and goodwill, ready from the very start to marry his daughter, Lavinia, to Aeneas.

Although Latinus is an admirable character, he is rather ineffectual. He has little place in the action after Book VII, in which he makes his futile bid for peace after having experienced supernatural portents that dispose him in favor of the Trojans. In Book XI, when it appears certain that the Trojans will win, he is again eager to make peace with them, and his terms are generous.

Lausus (law-sus) Mezentius's son, killed by Aeneas in Book X.

Lavinia (luh-vihn-ee-uh) This sole surviving child of Latinus and Amata is probably the most passive and one-dimensional character in the Aeneid, even more so than Creusa, Aeneas's first wife. Destined to become Aeneas's second wife, Lavinia has no will of her own, no personal expression. In Book XI, she is designated as the prize that will be awarded either to Aeneas or to Turnus, depending on who wins their personal battle.

Mezentius (muh-zihn-tee-us) The former king of the Etruscans, he was deposed by his own subjects because of his cruelty toward them and becomes Turnus's ally. Virgil portrays him as a complex character: Villain though he is, he is devoted to his son, Lausus, who is slain by Aeneas while defending his father. Mezentius's attempt to avenge his son's death by killing Aeneas endows him with a tragic nobility.

Nisus (ny-sus) A Trojan warrior and Euryalus's inseparable companion. In Book IX, he is slain while trying to rescue his friend from Rutulian troops, who waylay the two young Trojans as they are crossing enemy territory with a message for Aeneas.

Palinurus (pa-lih-noo-rus) Aeneas's steadfast and loyal ship's pilot, whose life Neptune exacts as the price of the Trojans's safe crossing from Sicily to Italy in Book V. Murdered by savages as he swims ashore after Somnus, the god of sleep, induces him to fall overboard, Palinurus, more than any other character in the epic poem, dies as the result of a god's mere caprice.

Pallas (pal-luhs) The son of Evander, Pallas resembles Lausus, Mezentius's son, in his youth, bravery, beauty, and pietas. Pallas's death at the hands of Turnus in Book X is avenged when Aeneas kills Turnus, who brazenly wears Pallas's swordbelt slung unceremoniously over his shoulder.

Pandarus (pan-duh-rus) A courageous Trojan warrior slain by Turnus in Book IX while defending the Trojan encampment.

Priam (pry-am) Troy's aged king, who is cut down in his palace by Pyrrhus in Book II during the Greeks's siege of the city.

Pyrrhus (pihr-rus) One of the warriors who hide in the wooden horse, he slays Priam's son Politës and then the king himself.

Sinon (see-non) The Greek warrior who cleverly persuades the Trojans to bring the wooden horse inside Troy's protective walls.

Sychaeus (sy-kee-us) Prince of Tyre and husband of Dido, he is already dead at the time of the Aeneid's action. His spirit is united with Dido's in the underworld, where Aeneas sees them together in Book VI.

Tarchon (tahr-kahn) The leader of Aeneas's Etruscan allies.

Turnus (toor-nus) A prince of the Rutulian tribe and the leader of the Latin forces who oppose the settlement of the Trojans in Latium, Turnus is the only male human character in the Aeneid whose stature is comparable to Aeneas's. However, unlike the Trojan hero, who always tries to act for the good of his people, Turnus is motivated by intense pride and a desire for personal fame. His doomed future, sealed by fate, signifies the triumph of the ideal of civic virtue embodied by Aeneas.

[baoanhwin]

Lamenting Dido*

Today I am announcing that we are forming the National Institute for Health Protection. This will have a single & relentless mission: protecting people from external threats to this country’s health, bringing the UK’s world-class science and scale into one coherent organisation. pic.twitter.com/v27UhhCT8Y

— Matt Hancock (@MattHancock) August 18, 2020

Since 2006 there have been, on and off, 7 anti-corruption champions, many of them well-known former Ministers in the twilight of their careers (Straw, Clarke, Pickles). It’s not clear what they have actually done or are meant to do, beyond fine words.

Some clarity has since been provided here. The focus is on supporting the government’s international strategy – teaching others how to be as incorruptible as Britain – and reviewing what departments and agencies are doing here. It is infused with the usual British complacency that this is something that largely happens elsewhere not here. But corruption is not simply rulers and their lackeys looting a country’s resources, stashing the proceeds in property and accounts in places like London or in one of Britain’s many offshore tax havens through shell companies and trusts (as Ukraine’s and Nigeria’s former rulers have done). Nor is it just the payment of bribes or granting of favours to unscrupulous public officials in less developed countries overseas. As Transparency International has pointed out, corruption can also be “politicians misusing public money or granting public jobs or contracts to their sponsors, friends and families”.  Nothing as grubby as money changing hands need happen for corruption to exist. 

There are ways to stop or minimise this happening: declaration of actual or potential conflicts of interests, Ministers recusing themselves from decisions involving friends and family, robust procurement policies so that contracts are awarded on the basis of publicly known criteria and standards, open advertisements for roles, transparent hiring processes, independent decisions, transparency about the terms, scrutiny by Parliament or other independent bodies and the ability to impose penalties for misbehaviour or to claw back monies which have been misspent or misused. These are necessary, no matter now small the sums at stake may be, no matter how urgent the need, because they are essential to maintaining trust between rulers and ruled (especially during emergencies). People have to trust – not just that their money is not misused – but that the process of awarding roles and contracts (and all the advantages that go with them) is fair and genuinely open, that it is not kept to a closed limited circle, that it does not become simply a mutual back-scratching exercise among those already closely connected. 

Above all, there needs to be trust that the most suitable and competent people will be appointed – and for the right reasons. Corruption inevitably leads to incompetence and at all levels. If those at the top are there for the wrong reasons, how can anyone be confident that they will make tough decisions or speak truth to power or have good judgement or have the backs of their underlings? Or, above all, that they will be good at their job?

Matt Hancock should know all this of course, having been one of those anti-corruption champions back in 2014. So why is it that he has appointed Dido Harding (made a Tory Baroness in 2014 by David Cameron, with whom she studied at Oxford) as the new Head of the newly created National Institute for Health Protection without any of these steps having been taken? There has been no advertisement for candidates, no setting out of the job specification or the technical qualities, skills and experience wanted and needed, no interview process or assessment by reference to published criteria. No-one else has had the opportunity to put themselves forward. Everything has been done behind closed doors, quickly, without transparency or accountability or scrutiny. Nor does anyone seem to have wondered whether their financial interests in racing (Harding is on the Board of the Jockey Club, Hancock, Newmarket’s MP, is financed by numerous trainers) might possibly have made it unwise for Hancock to have made the decision to appoint her.

This new agency has been created in order to protect the country against a pandemic, this aim announced with a straight face by the Minister who a year ago agreed to the abolition of the committee set up specifically to prepare the country for a pandemic. Beyond that its precise scope, specifically, whether it will take over all of Public Health England’s previous functions (which went beyond pandemic preparation) is unclear. The government has suggested that it is modelled on Germany’s Robert Koch Institute, as if to show that it is sensibly seeking to copy a country which has had a much more effective testing system and, consequently, fewer Covid-19 deaths. It is a superficially plausible – but disingenuous – claim. Germany’s institute is headed by specialists in microbiology and infectious disease epidemiology with considerable experience in their fields and in public health generally. Harding has no such experience or expertise, her only prior NHS experience being the Chair of NHS Improvement since 2017. In that, she was notable for rejecting the advice of the Health Select Committee to sit as a crossbench rather than a Tory peer in order to avoid any conflict between her NHS role and her political leanings. Not much chance, then, of her speaking hard truths to Ministers.

What is there in her career justifying her being given such a critical role? Her experience ranges from McKinsey (the consultants invariably brought in by those CEOs and others too unimaginative to think for themselves, too scared to make their own decisions or just looking for someone else to blame) to various posts at a travel agent and supermarkets finally ending up at Talk Talk. 5 years after she became CEO, it suffered a sustained cyber-attack, for which it was woefully unprepared, resulting in the personal and banking details of 4 million customers being put at risk. Her responses to this were painfully embarrassing; the attack cost Talk Talk £60 million and the loss of 95,000 customers. This failure matters in a role which will necessarily involve the handling of sensitive medical and personal data. It’s not as if her time in charge of the NHS’s Test and Trace system since April has exactly been a success either or suggests that she’s learnt any lessons at all from her previous failure. Still, McKinsey has just charged £560,000 to come up with a “vision, purpose and narrative” for the new body so she’ll have some help. Phew!

So is this really the best person in the whole of the country to run this vital new body? How can anyone know or judge? Transparency and accountability mean little in reality when appointments are made on the basis of knowing who might be interested or happens to be in the building at the time rather than on objective criteria independently assessed against an organisation’s purpose.

What might the anti-corruption champion have to say about any of this? Nothing. John Penrose MP is Dido Harding’s husband. He’s conflicted on any number of levels. Some have noted his membership of the Advisory Board of the think tank “1828” which, long before Covid, recommended abolition of PHE and the NHS’s replacement by an insurance system, and wondered whether this is the agenda behind Harding’s appointment. This might be so or it might be 2 + 2 = 5. In the absence of a transparent recruitment process, it’s hardly surprising that such concerns are raised. 

Not least because, in addition to trousering half a million quid, McKinsey get to use everyone’s personal, family, medical, financial and biometric data for 7 years after their work on this project has ended. This is not just extremely sensitive data. It is also very valuable. Why? For what? And we get a say in this how, exactly? Why would anyone sensible hand over sensitive data to an agency led by someone provenly unable to safeguard it and advised by a company which will use it for its own purposes? This cosy agreement privatising our data risks making the new agency ineffective in its ostensible purpose. No wonder some think there may be another agenda at play.

Dido Harding is another member of the “Failing Upwards” club (joining such luminaries as Williamson and Grayling). Concern at her appointment and the manner of it will probably not trouble the government much, if at all. It appears to think that the more it enrages its enemies, the better a decision is. It’s a childishly superficial approach to government.

More importantly, it is not calculated to result in good governance. It is government by an elite, a chumocracy, a group of like-minded friends and acquaintances, recycling the same small group of people, on the basis of who is known, who is part of the group, who one is comfortable with, a network of people with similar educations, social backgrounds and connections. This is how one chooses companions for a villa holiday not competent experienced people responsible for the health, lives and information of millions. 

And those of us outside this charmed circle? Well, we’re the creatures wanting a change for the better now looking “from pig to man, and from man to pig” and finding it increasingly impossible to see the difference.

*Or why Hancock doesn’t know his Aeneas from his elbow.

Cyclefree

from politicalbetting.com https://www2.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2020/08/19/lamenting-dido/ https://dangky.ric.win/

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Coronavirus: Dido Harding and her meteoric rise

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption Baroness Harding rides to victory at a Goodwood charity trip

The series of Dido Harding to speed the UK’s unique public health agency cements her region as one in every of the most extremely efficient unelected officers fascinated by the fight against coronavirus.

As chair of the Nationwide Institute for Correctly being Safety, she is going to grab preserve watch over of a enormous scientific, technological and bureaucratic empire which ministers hope will play a truly grand role in indirectly defeating the virus.

As successfully as continuing to supervise the powerful-criticised NHS Test and Price machine, which she helped launch in May per chance well, she is going to lift accountability for all local public health security teams following the abolition of Public Correctly being England, as successfully because the Joint Biosecurity Centre.

It caps a meteoric upward thrust via the Whitehall ranks for the excessive-achieving businesswoman, whose time as chief executive of Talk about Talk about used to be marred by a massive files breach which landed the firm a fable £400,000 splendid.

A a success newbie jockey whose ardour for horses is shared by her boss, Correctly being Secretary Matt Hancock, she has an impeccable Conservative pedigree.

She is married to an ex-minister, John Penrose, and represents the Tories in the Condo of Lords. Her fleshy title is Baroness Harding of Winscombe, a reference to the village in her husband’s Western-Gigantic-Mare constituency where the couple are residing.

While the coronavirus outbreak has thrust the 52-One year-primitive into the national highlight – she has appeared a total lot of times at televised No. 10 briefings – she used to be already an influential backroom figure within the NHS.

Image copyright PA Media

Image caption Traditional appearances at No. 10 coronavirus briefings raised her profile

For the past three years, she has been chair of NHS Enchancment, a body first created in the Unusual Labour years however which used to be reconstituted by the coalition authorities to present attention to driving up standards all the plot in which via the health provider one day of a length of business austerity.

As someone who had spent the majority of her business profession in the retail business, starting up out at Kingfisher and Thomas Cook dinner earlier than shifting to Sainsbury’s and Tesco, she used to be viewed as being successfully positioned to profit power prolonged-timeframe transformation and integration whereas asserting affected person provider and security ranges.

Cyber attack

The appointment used to be no longer uncontroversial, given her lack of information in health issues and coming because it did correct six months after she stepped down as boss of Talk about Talk about in the wake of 1 in all the most excessive-profile and detrimental files breaches in UK telecoms historical past.

A sustained cyber attack in October 2015 ended in four million customers having their private files build at chance. Some 157,000 had their critical functions stolen, including 15,000 whose bank critical functions were compromised.

Her handling of the crisis used to be strongly criticised, seriously her admission that she did now not know whether or no longer the suggestions used to be encrypted or no longer, an oversight she described as an “unpleasant truth”.

The firm used to be fined £400,000 by the Data Commissioner for wretched online page security however the board stuck by her, in spite of the episode costing the firm £60m and 95,000 customers.

Image copyright PA

Image caption A spell as head of the telecoms firm resulted in controversy

It used to be a enormous blot on a hitherto unblemished blue-chip business profession, which had begun two a long time earlier when she joined administration consultants McKinsey & Co after graduating with an MBA from Harvard College.

Baroness Harding’s grandfather, Self-discipline Marshal John Harding, commanded the successfully-known Military division the Barren build Rats one day of World Battle Two. Her father used to be also an Military officer, as successfully as a hereditary witness.

Born and privately expert in Dorset, she studied politics, philosophy and economics at Oxford at the identical time as David Cameron. Every were taught by the prestigious constitutional historian Professor Vernon Bogdanor.

It used to be the historic top minister who nominated her for a peerage in 2014. And it used to be under Mr Cameron that her husband made it into authorities, serving as a culture minister and authorities whip.

Dido Harding blazed a slump for girls in the most regularly unforgiving world of the City. She is one in every of an exclusive club of girls to bask in speed a FTSE-100 firm, whereas she would possibly per chance per chance be a non-executive director of the Bank of England.

But since coming into public provider, some counsel she has benefited from a net based of professional, tutorial, social and marital connections which bask in reignited claims of cronyism at the stop of the Conservative Event.

Cheltenham winner

She is an achieved horsewoman, owner and patron of the horseracing business, one in every of whose finest supporters happens to be the health secretary.

Throughout her profession in the saddle, she used to be runner-up in a prestigious trip for amateurs at the Cheltenham Competition, whereas her horse Frosty Rupture of day won the Blue Riband match of the Nationwide Hunt season, the Gold Cup, in 1998.

Image copyright PA Media

Image caption Dido Harding’s horse Frosty Rupture of day won the 1998 Cheltenham Gold Cup

While Mr Hancock’s exploits on the racecourse are much less famed – he won a charity trip in 2012 – he represents the constituency of Newmarket, where the UK’s most costly bloodstock is stabled.

He’s the business’s unofficial champion in the Cabinet, despite the truth that some bask in raised eyebrows at donations he has obtained from powerful figures and companies in the sport, including equine auctioneers Tattersalls.

Questions bask in also raised in regards to the authorities’s plot to award Covid-19 testing contracts to Randox Laboratories, a part of the Randox Correctly being business which sponsors the Tremendous Nationwide at Aintree.

Every the racecourse and the firm bask in links with the Conservative Event.

Dido Harding sits on the board of the Jockey Membership, which owns Aintree, and the MP and historic Conservative cupboard minister Owen Paterson’s slack wife Rose used to be chair of the racecourse.

And Mr Paterson himself has been an adviser to Randox Laboratories since 2015.

Mr Hancock has been lavish in his praise of Baroness Harding one day of their appearances together at Downing Avenue, rejecting criticism of the delayed take a look at and tag app and even describing it because the “cherry on Dido’s cake”.

Every can seek files from intense scrutiny in the approaching months as Mr Hancock’s “relentless mission” to present protection to people from the virus and the belief he has positioned in Baroness Harding is build to the take a look at.

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