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sciencespies · 4 years ago

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How the 1996 Dunblane Massacre Pushed the U.K. to Enact Stricter Gun Laws

https://sciencespies.com/history/how-the-1996-dunblane-massacre-pushed-the-u-k-to-enact-stricter-gun-laws/

How the 1996 Dunblane Massacre Pushed the U.K. to Enact Stricter Gun Laws

In March 2018, less than a month after a school shooting in Parkland, Florida, left 14 teenagers and 3 adults dead, a letter of condolences addressed to the survivors arrived from across the Atlantic.

Penned by a group from Scotland who’d endured a similar tragedy 22 years prior, the missive offered both a show of solidarity and a vision for the future. Referencing their successful campaign for gun reform, the letter’s authors wrote, “Laws were changed, handguns were banned and the level of gun violence in Britain is now one of the lowest in the world.” Since the 1996 Dunblane massacre, they pointed out, “[t]here have been no more school shootings” in the United Kingdom.

The signees added, “Wherever you march, whenever you protest, however you campaign for a more sensible approach to gun ownership, we will be there with you in spirit.”

Twenty-five years after a local shopkeeper walked into Dunblane Primary School and opened fire, killing 16 5- and 6-year-olds and their 45-year-old teacher, the attack occupies a singular place in the British cultural consciousness. The March 13, 1996, tragedy wasn’t the first mass shooting in modern U.K. history, but as Peter Squires, a criminologist and public policy expert at the University of Brighton, explains, “The notion that someone would use handguns to kill children, like shooting fish in a barrel, was just so appalling that it provoked a reaction beyond that which had been experienced with Hungerford,” a 1987 massacre that left 16 adults in a small English town dead and 15 others seriously injured.

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Galvanized by a grassroots campaign led largely by the Dunblane students’ parents, U.K. leaders took decisive legislative action. By the end of 1997, Parliament had banned private ownership of most handguns, building on measures passed following the Hungerford killings, including a semi-automatic weapons ban and mandatory registration for shotgun owners.

Exactly how effective these reforms were is a matter of much debate. As scholars like Squires emphasize, the law must be considered in conjunction with factors such as more comprehensive policing practices (like mental health screenings for firearm license applicants) and evolving research. Still, the fact remains that the U.K. has experienced only one mass shooting—a 2010 attack in Cumbria that left 12 dead—since Dunblane. According to data compiled by the University of Sydney’s GunPolicy.org, the U.K.’s annual rate of gun deaths per 100,000 people was 0.2 in 2015, versus the United States’ rate of 12.09. In 2017, the site estimates, the U.K. had 5.03 guns for every 100 people. Comparatively, the U.S. had 120.5 guns per 100 people.

“Here in the U.S.,” says Jaclyn Schildkraut, a mass shootings expert at the State University of New York at Oswego, “we have this broken record cycle of what responses to mass shootings or school shootings look like. … Everybody demands action, and then absolutely nothing gets done. Whereas in Great Britain, they actually were able to get stuff done.”

***

Eleven-year-old Steven Hopper was sitting in a classroom next to the primary school’s gymnasium on March 13, 1996, the morning of the Dunblane massacre. “I looked over and saw the gunman,” he told the Guardian after the attack. “… He was coming toward me, so I just dived under my desk when he turned and fired at us.”

Hopper added, “The firing was very fast, like someone hitting a hammer quickly. Then there was a few seconds of a pause and he started again.”

The 43-year-old killer, a former Scout leader who’d been dogged by rumors of inappropriate behavior toward young boys, viewed himself as the victim of a “sinister witch-hunt,” according to the Independent. Though authorities never outlined a definitive motive for the attack, the Scottish Herald reported that the gunman had referenced Dunblane Primary School in a letter seeking to clear his name.

A young girl walks past a row of flowers honoring her murdered classmates and teacher.

(Photo by Mathieu Polak / Sygma via Getty Images)

Around 9:30 a.m., the shooter walked into the school with four handguns and 743 cartridges of ammunition, all of which he’d acquired legally. After firing two shots into the assembly hall and girls’ bathroom, he entered the gym, where 28 children had gathered for a lesson.

According to a government inquiry conducted after the attack, the gunman “fired indiscriminately and in rapid succession,” striking the three teachers present and killing one of them, Gwen Mayor, a 43-year-old mother of two, as she attempted to shield her students. This first hail of bullets killed one child and injured several others; advancing on the wounded, the shooter “walked in a semi-circle, systematically firing 16 shots” before standing over the children and firing at point-blank range. After shooting at students and staff in the hallway, a nearby classroom (where Hopper was sitting) and the library cloakroom, he returned to the gym and turned the gun on himself.

In just three to four minutes, the gunman had fired more than 100 times, striking 32 people and killing 17, himself included. Another injured child died of their wounds en route to the hospital, bringing the final death toll to 18.

***

Mick North, a biochemist whose 5-year-old daughter Sophie was killed in the attack, initially couldn’t bear to talk about his loss. But once he was ready, he found himself discouraged from speaking out about the broader issues underlying the shooting. “The initial reaction was: You can say how devastated you’re feeling and how you’ve lost your lovely child, but you couldn’t say anything about guns,” he told Buzzfeed News in 2018. “But I did.”

After the attack, North made a career change, leaving academia to partner with lawyers, scholars and other bereaved parents in launching the U.K.’s first organization dedicated to gun reform: the Gun Control Network. Around the same time, a parallel movement spearheaded by a group of Dunblane mothers prepared a petition to ban all handguns in the U.K. Dubbed the Snowdrop Campaign in honor of the only flower in bloom on the day of the massacre, the call to action garnered 750,000 signatures in just ten weeks and more than one million by the time it reached Parliament in the summer of 1996.

“It was the most successful grassroots campaign in the U.K. then and to this day,” wrote co-organizer Rosemary Hunter for New Statesman in 2018.

A petition started by bereaved parents and members of the Dunblane community garnered 700,000 signatures in just ten weeks.

(Photo by PA Images via Getty Images)

Squires says that the British gun lobby and shooting industry acted far faster—and more effectively—in the aftermath of the 1987 Hungerford massacre. “[They] were able to really thwart much discussion of gun control regulatory proposals,” he explains.

But when Dunblane happened, “the gun industry and gun lobby couldn’t say this has never happened before, it’s a one-off [thing],” says Squires. “All the arguments about knee-jerk legislation and overreaction … were swept out of the picture.”

Released in October 1996, the government’s inquiry into the shooting, the Cullen Report, outlined a number of relatively measured recommendations for gun reform, including stricter limitations on handgun ownership but no outright ban on the weapons. The findings also revealed that local authorities had questioned the shooter’s “fitness” to own firearms as early as 1991 but took no further action to revoke his gun license.

Under immense pressure from an increasingly pro–gun control public, Conservative Prime Minister John Major introduced the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1997, which banned high-caliber handguns like those used by the Dunblane shooter but allowed .22 rimfire handguns to be “used and kept” in licensed clubs, as they were “largely intended for target shooting,” not police and military use, as Home Secretary Michael Howard said in a speech given to the House of Commons.

Gun control is a somewhat partisan issue in the U.K., with the Conservatives and other right-leaning political parties tending to favor lifting limitations on sport shooting and hunting and the left-leaning Labour Party more often voicing support for restrictions. Unlike in the U.S., however, these debates are less about an intractable right to bear arms than a desire to ensure access to popular pastimes.

A few months after the passage of the initial 1997 amendment, the Conservative “Tory” Party—weakened by inner strife and growing public disapproval of unpopular policies—suffered a devastating loss in the U.K.’s general election and relinquished control of the government for the first time in 18 years. Tony Blair, leader of the Labour Party, came to power with a landslide victory over the Tories. As promised during his campaign, the new prime minister moved quickly to supplement Major’s measure with a proposal of his own: the Firearms (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1997. Enacted on December 17, 1997, the updated act—approved by a wide margin in the House of Commons—went one step further than the first, banning ownership of .22 handguns and, in doing so, effectively banning all handguns from private use.

To help enforce these new restrictions, the government established a £150 million buyback program that resulted in the surrender of 162,000 guns and 700 tons of ammunition. “Because there was such a huge public outcry [after Dunblane], there was also this come-togetherness that we don’t see in the U.S. because guns are so polarized,” says Schildkraut, “and so you actually had a lot of individuals who own firearms voluntarily surrender their weapons.”

***

Perhaps the closest American parallel to the Dunblane massacre is the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, which claimed the lives of 20 first-graders and 6 adult staff in Newtown, Connecticut. Though the 2012 attack led Connecticut and neighboring New York to pass stricter gun legislation, federal gun control laws have remained largely unchanged—an example of legislative inertia that many Dunblane residents struggle to comprehend.

Both Squires and Schildkraut attribute this inaction in large part to differences in American and British gun culture. As Schildkraut says, guns are “so ingrained in the very fabric of who we are as America that there doesn’t seem to be a lot of middle ground. It’s either you’re for or against the Second Amendment.” In the aftermath of Dunblane, meanwhile, many British gun enthusiasts advocated for responsible individuals’ ownership of weapons while also supporting regulations “to keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them in the first place.” (Members of the British public can apply for firearm certificates but must undergo thorough assessment to ensure they have a legitimate reason—including hunting and sport but not self-defense—for ownership.)

Squires, for his part, points out that target shooting and hunting in the U.K. have traditionally been pastimes of the “very affluent, landowning” elite, from the royal family to rock stars to bankers. When the government began instituting stricter gun laws, he says, “The deer stalkers and the pheasant shooters … were willing to sacrifice handguns because they were beginning to get concerned that the pressure for reform [would] impinge upon their freedom to shoot on their farms and on their land.”

Children and adults gather outside of Dunblane Primary School shortly after the shooting.

(Photo by Colin McPherson / Corbis via Getty Images)

Despite the deeply ingrained differences, the Dunblane massacre and subsequent passage of the Firearms Act amendments still hold lessons for the U.S.: “It’s about the mobilization of the grassroots,” says Squires, and “making progress where progress is possible,” which is often on a local rather than national level.

In the weeks and months after mass shootings, he adds, “the immediate pressure to do something recedes. … So this whole idea of the shooting cycle is that if you don’t act early on, you miss the opportunity to do anything.”

***

Schildkraut and Squires are quick to emphasize that banning guns is not, in and of itself, a definitive solution for ending mass violence. On the same day as Sandy Hook, a knife attack at an elementary school in China, which has some of the strictest gun control measures in the world, wounded 23 children and an 85-year-old woman. “The type of weapon certainly changes the outcome,” says Schildkraut, “but it doesn’t mean that mass violence is impossible.”

Another complicating factor is the protracted path from outlawing guns to actually getting them off the street. Though the number of recorded firearm offenses in England and Wales dropped 37 percent between 2005 and 2011, crimes involving guns have since experienced a slight uptick—a trend Squires attributes partly to the proliferation of illegal weapons, including modified imports and antiques, that are traded among gangs and used in multiple crimes. As the New York Times reported in August 2020, gun seizures by the U.K.’s National Crime Agency more than doubled over the previous year, with a growing number of illegal firearms smuggled in from the U.S. “Converted guns are much harder to get, but [they] still leave you with a violence problem,” says Squires. “… I don’t think we can tackle it on a weapon by weapon basis. We’ve got to understand the community drivers of violence [and] address the underlying factors.”

Effective policing and enforcement of existing gun laws, as well as ambitious research efforts aimed at pinpointing the drivers of mass violence, are just as essential as stricter regulations, the researchers argue. “It’s not this instantaneous thing where you’re just going to go pick up all the weapons and gun crime stops happening,” Schildkraut notes. “It just doesn’t work like that.”

***

Since its opening in 2004, the Dunblane Centre—built with donations that poured in from around the world after the shooting—has served as a site of community, celebration and remembrance. In 2013, locals gathered there around a television to cheer on tennis star Andy Murray, a Dunblane native who survived the massacre as an 8-year-old, as he became the first British man to win at Wimbledon in 77 years. Prior to the pandemic, the center hosted a range of activities, including fitness classes, a youth Lego-building club and a choir.

As the Scottish Daily Record reported upon the center’s opening, glass etchings honoring the 17 victims dot the building’s windows. (The 11 students and 3 teachers injured are recognized with a cluster of snowdrops.) Each gold leaf–adorned engraving bears an image that held personal significance for the individual represented: Sophie North’s shows a cat on a chocolate bar—a nod to her beloved pet Kit-Kat—while Ross Irvine’s depicts a fox from his favorite TV show. Brett McKinnon’s features a Power Ranger.

“It’s a nice feeling,” a parent present at the unveiling told the Daily Record. “Like a private message to all of us who love them.”

Reflecting on the Snowdrop Campaign’s success, Schildkraut concludes, “They did more than offer thoughts and prayers. And that speaks a lot to the power of collective action.”

#History

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berkeleyjobsite · 4 years ago

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Delivery Truck Driver – Recent Grads Welcome – Average $90,000/Year

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brianobrienny · 4 years ago

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LinkedIn Responsiveness Drops 44% – Why Businesses Are Losing the Social Selling Game

LinkedIn’s State of Sales Report shows that 44% of sales and marketing teams are seeing a significant drop in responsiveness to social and email messaging.

Many blame it on C-19. But buyers want to engage with experts and they want support for their current and future challenges.

So, why are sales and marketing teams challenged to build strong social relationships so they can overcome sales plateaus, sales drops, and sales troughs?

Michael Brenner (CEO of MIG) Says More “Social Content Campaigns” Are Just Adding to the Noise and Wasting Valuable Marketing Dollars

In a recent Stop the Sales Drop podcast with my partner Eric Gruber, Michael Brenner mentioned that we need to kill social content campaigns and adopt an always-on content approach. The challenge with campaigns is that marketing teams or agencies are defining a message, creating content – and then they hope that it will drive awareness and leads on LinkedIn. Then they’ll push out the content to the sales team in hopes that they’ll amplify the message. But in many cases, it just adds to the noise because there is very little relevance to the accounts that sales and marketing want to win.

Content should first be focused on the sales conversations that sales teams want to have with key accounts. It should be focused on driving revenue with new and existing accounts.

Matt Heinz (President of Heinz Marketing) Believes Sales and Marketing Teams Are Too Focused on Top-of-Funnel

In his video interview, Matt Heinz expanded on how you can ensure that your content and messaging results in sales conversations and revenue. Matt shared that most content that marketing pushes out through campaigns and messaging that sales uses on LinkedIn simply responds to what keeps prospects up at night. The issue is that there’s no differentiation because the competitors are responding to similar needs with similar content and messaging and no one is creating a buying vision.

The focus should not be on “what keeps prospects up at night.” It should be on “what should keep them up at night.” This means that social content and messaging should:

Reframe prospect’s thoughts.

Challenge the status quo

Show them their unconsidered gaps and needs

Prove to them the company, division, employee, personal and customer impacts for the identified gaps

Ardath Albee (VP of Marketing at Modus) Thinks That Sales and Marketing Are Misaligned with Buyers on Social

In the Stop the Sales Drop June 2020 virtual summit that you can still get on-demand, Ardath Albee told the audience: “Buyers are continually shifting their priorities as they try to adapt to the new environment. But sales and marketing are not shifting their content, LinkedIn profiles, and messaging.”

In reviewing profiles, content, and messaging during the past 4 months, I found that Ardath is 100% correct. In fact, 95% of sales and marketing teams on LinkedIn are irrelevant according to my recent study as I found little personal branding, very few business-relevant stories to connect with, and barely anyone is supporting prospects with their current challenges so they can invest later.

Lori Harmon (VP of Global Cloud Sales at NetApp) Says That Sales Teams Are Not Shifting to Stay Relevant

During Lori’s Stop the Sales Drop Podcast, she mentioned that virtual selling will not be temporary. There will be fewer live events and live meetings even when C-19 is in the rearview mirror. Sales teams will need to find ways to build strong digital relationships and trust that we’re used to forming face-to-face. However, as I shared in my recent Marketing Insider Group post, “95% of LinkedIn Profiles, Content and Messaging Are Irrelevant” most profiles are simply resumes that show prospects that the focus is on closing deals rather than building a relationship based on value. Marketing now has the opportunity to:

Help sales craft their own story and build a personal brand on LinkedIn that positions them as trusted advisors with the accounts they want to win.

Provide with sales with contextual content and commercial insights and a strategy on how to use the content to nurture relationships and transition buyers.

LinkedIn Ads Expert AJ Wilcox Agrees that LinkedIn Lead Gen is Not Enough

When I was talking to AJ Wilcox about being part of our virtual LinkedIn training, I shared my thoughts on how it’s not enough to fill the funnel with leads from LinkedIn ads. Most of the people downloading white papers, registering for webinars, and giving their names and emails for other offerings are mostly at the operational level. They are completing research for the decision-makers that then look at how they can get the most capabilities and features to fix their challenges at the lowest price.

Think about this: If the leads that marketing acquires with their top-of-the-funnel activities get stuck because value-added relationships aren’t built, then what good are those leads? How can you demonstrate a clear social media ROI with brand awareness metrics? You can’t! Because AJ Wilcox agrees with me, we are having a full-funnel LinkedIn marketing fireside chat where we talk about how to integrate LinkedIn advertising with organic LinkedIn outreach marketing.

I, Kristina Jaramillo, Think There’s Too Much Pulling & Pushing People on LinkedIn into a Buying Journey.

My clients have seen shorter sales cycles, higher margins, and increased client retention rates by allowing prospects to pull them into the next steps. By providing the “right” education, our clients are helping the client to come to their own conclusions about the value that can be delivered. The VP of Commercial for Schneider Logistics coined the phrase “Prospect Compliance Momentum” to discuss the pulling effect from buyers that she never experienced before.

What is Needed to Gain Prospect Compliance Momentum

In a first sales meeting, buyers are looking for sales to:

Demonstrate understanding of the buyer’s specific business issues & the “impacts”

Help the buyer to think differently about how to solve their business problems

Share insights to expose the costs and risk that were previously unconsidered

Because our clients are providing this information up front, helping the buyer to see their “gaps” and the “impacts” that they haven’t even thought about, the buyers are pulling them through the sales journey, rather than waiting to be pushed. Below, you’ll see real examples of how a prospect pulled Schneider’s VP of Sales into opportunities.

How Schneider Logistics Created a $2M Win with Sygma – An Account That Was Previously Unresponsive to Sales and Marketing for 5+ Years

Like many other supply chain & tech firms, the sales team at Schneider was looking to marketing for more leads as they were only advancing 1 out of every 5 opportunities toward revenue – a 20% win rate vs. our clients’ win rate of 75%+. They figured that the more leads that marketing can deliver – the more revenue they can produce.

However, in working with both the sales and marketing teams, I found that the issue was not that the sales team needed more, higher quality leads. In fact, in many cases, the sales team had the right connections. Rather than one-to-many campaigns, they needed marketing that supporting specific sales conversations with named accounts & personal contacts. For example, Schneider’s VP of Sales was connected to Sygma’s VP of Logistics however, the connection was inactive and unresponsive to all phone, email, and social contact for nearly 5 years. Because they were previously pushed through a long, drawn-out sales process that was unsuccessful because they did not realize the gaps in their current inbound processes or see a compelling need for change, they believed they had no reason to speak with sales.

As Sygma was a named target, profile content was designed specifically to drive a TMS win with this company. One-on-one messaging was changed to focus on stories of how gaps found in Sygma’s supply chain was uniquely filled for a similar customer and what the impacts would be to Sygma’s logistic ops & their customers. As a result, the Logistics VP joined Schneider’s LinkedIn group that was filled with discussions designed to reframe how mid-market supply chain leaders thought about their supply chains and supporting technologies.

He willingly participated in Schneider’s “State of the Mid-Market Supply Chain” survey, which was designed to have the supply chain VPs admit to themselves where gaps may lie. Within the survey, the VP identified process gaps, employee impacts, and future needs and gave Schneider the personal insight needed to position additional “real-time” articles & discussion points that proved that Sygma’s supply chain was being under-served.

Soon after, he requested a 30-minute conversation to better understand the ins and outs of Transportation Management Systems (TMS). The conversation was not about Schneider, but about the benefits of ‘network optimization’ and how it would impact his business, his team, and his customers. Because Sygma gained educational value rather than a pushy sales experience, they quickly requested to move forward with next steps to set up a conference between both operational teams. This second meeting prompted the customer to ask for a proposal – which they signed!

Creating Urgencies with Every Interaction

Because an unexpected urgency was created with the right education, the prospect pulled Schneider’s sales team through the process at a much faster rate than what the sales team was used to. Although they were previously unreachable and unresponsive, Sygma became a happy client because they could see a differentiated value and a compelling reason to consider a change. The insight shared online created questions in the customers’ minds that, in conversation, lead to answers about Schneider’s competitive advantages.

In my upcoming virtual LinkedIn training, you will find fireside chat and case studies that will help your sales and marketing teams go-to-market with relevant profiles, content, and messaging. Please join our team of 30+ experts in a 3-day training with 20+ sessions, a ½ day profile makeover workshop, and post-event masterclasses.

Click here to register now to receive select sessions for free or take advantage of a $100 early-bird savings on the complete training.

The post LinkedIn Responsiveness Drops 44% – Why Businesses Are Losing the Social Selling Game appeared first on Marketing Insider Group.

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jobhelpcenter-blog · 6 years ago

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Job Updates Saturday, May 26, 2018

Dispatcher, The SYGMA Network Responsibilities: • Communicate and cooperate with all supervisors and department heads • Assigns vehicles according to length, purpose of trip and freight requirements • Place and receive phone calls as needed, contacting drivers to fill in if necessary • Direct and coordinate all transportation employees with weekly scheduling • Issues keys, Trip reports and other related transportation documents Requirements: • High school diploma/GED; Proficient with PC • Must have excellent verbal and written communication skills Apply at http://bit.ly/2KTlQ3X

Patient Services Coord III, Novant Health Responsibilities: • Responsible for timely and accurate recording of patient demographics, insurance information, patient charges and collections • Scheduling patient appointments in a timely and accurate manner • Cross-training required in multiple administrative support functions Requirements: • High school diploma; One year of clerical experience in medical office setting • Knowledge of medical office software; knowledge of medical coding/terminology • High level of working knowledge of EPIC systems Apply at http://bit.ly/2GOJQmz

Sorter, Republic Services Responsibilities: • Sort and segregate recoverable materials from incoming waste • Deposit recoverable materials safely and efficiently into appropriate chute • Assist other sorters on an as-needed basis with heavy or bulky items • Inspect incoming loads for unacceptable waste; remove unacceptable items as required Requirements: • High School Diploma or GED • Previous experience working in a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) • One year of previous experience working around heavy machinery Apply at http://bit.ly/2LwSzNA

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pinlink-pr · 7 years ago

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Customer Service Representative – Northern California – The SYGMA Network – Stockton, CA JOB SUMMARY: Briefly state why this position exists. Maintains good will and effectiveness with customers and staff.

#find job in usa #job search usa #job vacancy in usa #us job search

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shouldlickit-blog · 7 years ago

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What i love doing working on Friday night!! lmao!! (at Sygma Network)

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helloworlddemo1122-yahoopar-blog · 7 years ago

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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Royal Wedding: All the Famous Guests to Expect

Royal wedding fever is well underway, as we're less than two months away from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's nuptials!

The lovebirds are set to tie the knot on May 19, with approximately 600 guests invited to attend the service at St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, along with a lunchtime reception hosted by Queen Elizabeth II.

The ceremony is expected to be a more intimate affair than Harry's brother, Prince William's, 2011 nuptials to Kate Middleton. Considering both Harry and Meghan have a myriad of famous pals, we're hoping to see a few familiar faces.

Kensington Palace revealed on Thursday that the invitations were officially sent out, issued in the name of His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. Approximately 200 guests have also been invited to the reception at Frogmore House, which will take place later in the evening and be hosted by Prince Charles. As we patiently await for what's sure to be the most regal event of the year, let's take a look at all the celebs who most likely scored an invite!

The Spice Girls

Laurence Labat/Sygma via Getty Images

When Mel B. was a guest on The Real last month, she dropped a huge hint that the Spice Girls may not only be attending the royal wedding, but potentially performing! She first confirmed that all five of the girls had been an invited with a "proper" invitation, and then threw her cards in the air when asked if they would also be taking the stage. "I'm going to be fired," she joked.

However, according to an interview Mel C. gave to The Sun earlier this month, she had yet to receive an invitation in the mail. "I’ve met Prince Charles lots of times. I’m going to ask him where my invite is because I haven’t got mine yet, obviously Mel B said she has hers," she said at the time. "I think Mel was just kind of having a bit of a joke. There are no plans to go to the wedding at the moment."

Well, guess we'll find out soon, Sporty!

David Beckham

Getty Images

If Victoria Beckham is invited along with the other Spice Girls, we can almost guarantee that David will be there, too! Plus, he and Harry have developed a close friendship over the years. David and Victoria were both guests at William and Kate's 2011 wedding, and Harry and David have been spotted out together socially quite a few times since. In 2012, the former soccer star told Esquire that he has a “very normal relationship” with William and Harry, and that the young royals were “very easy to get along with."

Additionally, Victoria was awarded an OBE (Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) by Prince William for her contributions in fashion and her charity work last April.

Elton John

Getty Images

Last month, Elton John rescheduled the concerts that were planned the same weekend as Harry and Meghan's nuptials, which caused many fans to speculate that the iconic singer may be making an appearance at the royal wedding. ET asked Elton at this year's GRAMMYs if he would be attending and/or performing at the highly anticipated ceremony. "I have no idea. No one's been invited yet," Elton said at the time, as his husband, David Furnish, added, "Crossing our fingers!"

In an earlier interview with ITV's Lorraine, Elton -- who was friends with Harry's late mother, Princess Diana -- opened up about the 33-year-old prince's engagement. "I spent some time with him at Google camp in Sicily last summer, and I could tell that he was totally in love," he gushed. "And I thought, 'Good for you.' When people get married, you want it to last. You want them to be happy. I'm happy for him. I hope they have a wonderful day."

Sarah Ferguson

Julian Parker/UK Press via Getty Images

There's been a lot of question over whether "Fergie" will score an invite. A source told ET in February, however, that Meghan and Harry are planning to include the Duchess of York in wedding activities, despite her rocky relationship with the royal family after her divorce from Prince Andrew in 1996.

Serena Williams

Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for DirecTV

Though Meghan wasn't present at Serena Williams' fairy tale New Orleans wedding to Alexis Ohanian, the two are still good friends. In September 2016, Meghan shared a cute photo of the two at New York Fashion Week, when she came out to support Serena's show for HSN. "My eyes are closed but my heart is so open!" she captioned the snap. "So proud of your new collection @serenawilliams. Happy I could be there to support you xx #NYFW."

Meghan and Serena have been friends since at least January 2015, when Meghan tweeted a photo of them hugging after Serena's win at the US Open. In her now-deleted blog, The Tig, Meghan once gushed about being friends with the tennis legend.

"She quickly became a confidante I would text when I was traveling, the friend I would rally around for her tennis matches, and the down to earth chick I was able to grab lunch with just a couple weeks ago in Toronto," she wrote.

Priyanka Chopra

Instagram

Meghan is also good friends with actress Priyanka Chopra. Meghan once Instagrammed the two attending a Hamilton performance together in New York City, and Priyanka previously posted a picture of her and Meghan having a girls' night out with filmmaker Mubina Rattonsey in Los Angeles.

When ET spoke to Priyanka in December 2016, she said she would definitely attend the royal wedding. "Listen, I love Buckingham Palace, so if the Queen invites me, I'm there," she joked.

Earlier this year, the Quantico star played coy when asked about her pal's bridal party in an interview with Harper's Bazaar Arabia, "If you see me there, you'll know," she teased.

Although she couldn't give the outlet too many details about Markle's upcoming nuptials, she did give her friend credit for how she's handled all the recent attention. "I don't think anybody else would be able to do it the way she will. She’s just right for it," Priyanka exclaimed. "She's an icon, truly, that girls can look up to, that women can look up to. She's normal, she's sweet, she's nice, she thinks about the world, wants to change it and this was even before any of this happened."

"So, I do think Meghan being a part of the royal family is a big step in the direction of so many things; of women, of feminism, of diversity, of race, of the monarchy versus everyone else," she added. "It's a beautiful step in the right direction."

Patrick J. Adams and Troian Bellisario

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It's no secret that Meghan is good friends with her Suits love interest, Patrick J. Adams. The two have always been supportive of one another, so we would imagine that Patrick and his wife, Pretty Little Liars star Troian Bellisario, were one of the first couples to receive an invite.

"Playing Meghan’s television partner for the better part of a decade uniquely qualifies me to say this: Your Royal Highness, you are a lucky man and I know your long life together will be joyful, productive and hilarious," Patrick tweeted when news first broke that Meghan and Harry were engaged. "Meghan, so happy for you, friend. Much love."

ET also spoke with Patrick at the 2017 ATX Television Festival in Austin, Texas, where he had nothing but good things to say about the royal romance. "Meghan and I have been such good friends for years now and to see her so happy is great. She's super excited," Patrick said. "I'm super happy for her."

The cast of Suits

Sending so much love to this beautiful and inspiring human on her birthday!!! ♥️ u @meghanmarkle

A post shared by Sarah Rafferty (@iamsarahgrafferty) on Aug 4, 2016 at 2:31pm PDT

Starring in seven seasons of the USA Network legal drama as the beloved Rachel Zane, Meghan obviously developed a close bond with her co-stars. In addition to Patrick, we're expecting stars like Sarah Rafferty and Abigail Spencer to watch their pal say "I do."

"The cast has been contacted in regards to invites from Kensington Palace," a source reportedly told HELLO!. "The cast and key executives from the hit U.S. show are on the invite list for the royal wedding."

The Obamas

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Harry has had a notably close friendship with former president Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama through the years. Barack and Michelle have been big supporters of Harry's Invictus Games, even engaging in some friendly competition with one another.

Even after the Obamas left office, the three have maintained their ties. The 33-year-old royal and the former first lady once surprised students at Hyde Park Academy together, a high school in Chicago, ahead of the Obama Foundation Summit. Clearly, Michelle and Harry were more than happy to reunite!

Justin Trudeau

Instagram

Harry isn't the only one with ties to the political world. Meghan is friendly with Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau. In September 2016, before she wiped away all her social media accounts, the bride-to-be even Instagrammed a photo of the two in Ottawa for the One Young World summit.

At the time, Meghan also shared photos of herself with Justin's wife, Sophie, as well as her close friend, stylist Jessica Mulroney (who helped her pick out her wedding dress designer!), enjoying some photo booth fun.

Rihanna

Getty Images

Here's hoping we see a glimpse of RiRi at the ceremony! In December 2016, she and Harry appeared to make fast friends when they took HIV tests together on World AIDS Day. Harry also joined Rihanna at the Barbados stop of his Caribbean tour to celebrate the island's 50th Anniversary of Independence with a concert and fireworks show, along with a ceremonial monument unveiling.

Getty Images

Cara Delevingne & Margot Robbie

Margot Robbie once revealed that her Suicide Squad co-star, Cara Delevingne, was good friends with Harry during a LOVE magazine interview. The three were also photographed partying together over the holidays in 2015 at a bash thrown by model Suki Waterhouse. "He's friends with Cara. He's the most normal guy ever," Margot said of Harry. "I didn't realize it was him [at the party]."

For more on what we can expect from the highly anticipated wedding, watch the video below!

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sygmasolutionsuk · 11 months ago

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The RD8200: What You Need To Know

Radiodetection has introduced its’ latest model, the RD8200, and at Sygma Solutions we can provide you with the Radiodetection training that you need in order to make full use of all its’ capabilities. The company themselves state that it is their most advanced and capable range of precision locators, designed with the operative in mind.

The RD8200 is easy to set up and use, and produces results upon which you can rely. The display is readable in full sunlight and has a high-performance audio system together with vibration alerts if working in a noisy environment.

It is suitable for use in congested underground infrastructures because it rejects interference from other signals and identifies the target power cable even though there may be several on the site. The RD8200 is rugged but yet lightweight and ergonomic. You can monitor field operations with the automatic usage logging feature and provide proof of work to differentiate your operations from your competition and add value to your clients.

Swing Warning

The RD8200 also has a swing warning system. It is necessary to keep the locator perpendicular to the ground for maximum accuracy, so the locator has a built-in gyroscopic measurement system which alerts the user if he or she has excessive swing.

The locator is also very lightweight which means that it can be used for long periods without any discomfort to the operative. In addition, it has Bluetooth connectivity, and you can also match it to a specific telecom network because you can programme up to five additional frequencies into it to match the signals on your target networks.

In addition, as it is GPS equipped, it will automatically log key locate parameters every second which will give you a complete picture of particular locates and allow you to assess usage patterns over periods of a year or more. This can also help to identify training requirements before poor work habits develop.

At Sygma Solutions we are fully up to speed with the excellent RD8200, and we can provide your operatives with the Radiodetection training that they require in order to fully understand all of the different functions. Training can be carried out at our site in Wigan or on your own site if you prefer. The latter may be the best option if you have several operatives who need the course because you will not need to pay for the costs of staying away from home.

#Radiodetection training

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investitoreintelligente-blog · 7 years ago

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Azioni americane da prendere in considerazione a partire da Ottobre

Molto spesso Settembre è stato citato come uno dei mesi peggiori dove acquistare titoli azionari. Statisticamente abbiamo sfatato questo mito, ma la leggenda metropolitana rimane, chi vuole andare contro il mercato? Noi non sicuramente, quindi prepariamoci per Ottobre, dove per magia, forse, tutto tornerà a crescere.

Spesso abbiamo segnalato titoli di lungo periodo, da tenere per anni che offrano un ottimo dividendo da reinvestire. Noi crediamo molto in questa strategia, che in effetti ha pagato e pensiamo continuerà a pagare nel tempo. I migliori titoli che abbiamo analizzato in questo periodo sono società con nomi familiari come AT & T Inc. (T) e Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), due società che hanno perso molto nei mesi passati ma sembrano pronte ad un bel rimbalzo a prezzi accettabili.

Diamo uno sguardo ad alcuni titoli che possono rientrare in quella parte di portafoglio difensiva sul lungo periodo.

Tucows (TCX) Tucows è una società di servizi Internet che si occupa della fornitura di nomi a dominio, e-mail e altri servizi. Funziona attraverso i segmenti Domain Services e Network Access Services. Il segmento Domain Services comprende servizi di registrazione del nome a dominio all’ingrosso e al dettaglio; servizi a valore aggiunto; e servizi di portafoglio. Il Network Access Services vende telefoni cellulari e servizi al dettaglio per privati e piccole imprese attraverso il sito web di Ting. Offre inoltre servizi sotto quattro marche: OpenSRS, YummyNames, Hover e Ting. L’azienda è stata fondata nel 1993 e ha sede a Toronto, Canada.

È probabile che tu abbia utilizzato un servizio fornito da Tucows Inc. senza neppure saperlo. La società offre una vasta gamma di servizi alle organizzazioni che operano sul web, tra cui la gestione dei nomi a dominio, la gestione di file digitali e il servizio clienti in outsourcing. Il reddito è cresciuto a un forte tasso a due cifre dal 2011. Prevede inoltre di crescere nei prossimi anni, le previsioni sono per un +72% di crescita già nel primo trimestre 2018. Certo, gran parte di quella crescita non è stata organica, ma piuttosto determinata dalle acquisizioni. Sta di fatto che nessuna altra società è stata in grado di fermare questo treno.

Dividendo: Non fornisce dividendi.

American Tower Corporation (AMT) La società svolge la propria attività attraverso le controllate direttamente e indirettamente, di proprietà e joint venture. Si tratta di una società che possiede e si occupa di trasmissione wireless e infrastrutture di comunicazione, gestisce e sviluppa siti di comunicazione. La sua attività principale comprende l’affitto di spazio e antenne multi-tenant di comunicazione ai fornitori di servizi wireless, società di trasmissioni radiofoniche e televisive, fornitori di dati wireless, agenzie governative, comuni e privati in un certo numero di altri settori.

Vi siete mai chiesti come il segnale del vostro cellulare si collega ad un altro cellulare in una città o in tutto il paese? La maggior parte delle persone non lo sa. Chi c’è dietro a tutto questo? American Tower, gestisce circa 40.000 torri cellulari, è uno di quei nomi che molti investitori non hanno mai sentito parlare. È un modello di business perfetto per distribuire dividendi affidabili indipendentemente dall’ambiente economico. Meglio ancora,la società è guidata da investimenti immobiliari (REIT), rendendola un mezzo molto efficiente dal punto di vista fiscale per passare tale reddito agli investitori.

Dividendo: 1.92% annuo in crescita negli ultimi 5 anni.

Sysco Corporation (SYY) Sysco Corporation (Sysco), insieme con le sue filiali e divisioni, è un distributore nord americano di prodotti alimentari riguardanti principalmente la ristorazione e l’alimentare. L’azienda fornisce prodotti e servizi a circa 400.000 clienti, comprese le strutture di ristorazione, sanitarie ed educative, istituti di alloggio e altri clienti sempre nel settore ristorativo. Ha aggregato le sue società operative in una serie di segmenti, di cui solo Broadline e SYGMA sono i segmenti principali. Aziende che operano Broadline distribuiscono una linea di prodotti alimentari e una varietà di prodotti non alimentari ai loro clienti. Le aziende che operano sotto SYGMA distribuiscono una linea di prodotti alimentari e una varietà di prodotti non alimentari alle catene di ristoranti.

Sysco Corporation non è esattamente un nome sconosciuto, ma di solito è parecchio trascurato. E’ un distributore di prodotti alimentari che si rivolge a qualsiasi tipo di attività, ristoranti, ma anche ospedali, alberghi e scuole. Non c’è niente di nuovo o interessante nel suo business, a parte il fatto che vende beni primari. Sysco difficilmente sarà una società di crescita elevata, ma è ancora un produttore affidabile, anno dopo anno. I suoi redditi sono cresciuti ogni anno negli ultimi quattro anni. Finché le persone continueranno a mangiare cibo, Sysco avrà un mercato a cui vendere.

Dividendo: 2.44% annuo in crescita negli ultimi 46 anni.

Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste (ASR) Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste è una holding che si occupa dell’operazione, della manutenzione e dello sviluppo degli aeroporti attraverso le sue controllate. Funziona attraverso i seguenti segmenti: Aeroporto di Cancun e consociate, Aeroporto di Villahermosa, Aeroporto di Merida e Servicios. L’azienda è stata fondata nel 1996 e ha sede a Città del Messico.

Un buon portafoglio non basta la diversificazione settoriale, è buona cosa pensare anche ad una diversità geografica. Un nome interessante quotato in America ma che opera fuori dai confini è proprio il Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste. Per coloro che non parlano spagnolo, gestisce nove aeroporti in Messico. Può essere un nome ciclico, anche se sorprendentemente i suoi ricavi e guadagni non sono solo stabili, ma crescono costantemente anche se non in modo esagerato. Recentemente abbiamo rinnovato il nostro interesse per l’aeroporto di San Juan a Puerto Rico e abbiamo aggiunto in watchlist Airplan e Aeropuertos de Oriente.

Dividendo: 3.20% annuo.

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