#maybe it's the eu anthem thing

[chenziee]

Whenever Ode to Joy plays in One Piece it's just so fucking funny to me for some reason

Like Jigoro and Inupeng jumping out of Moria's window is already hilarious. Buggy being the messenger of Gods when the gates of justice open is already hilarious.

But add Ode to Joy to it and I just fucking die

[greyias]

I really don’t want swtor to shut down it’s the only eu thing that’s active we have left

I knew these asks were going to start coming in.

So for those who haven't heard, it was reported, and then later confirmed by Keith Kanneg on the forums, that EA is "selling" SWTOR to another developer, Broadsword. For those who want to read the article discussing it, you can read here: https://www.ign.com/articles/star-wars-the-old-republic-development-third-party-bioware

TL;DR -- It's not shutting down. The servers are going to stay active for a while

There's a few points to note here:

If I understand things correctly, EA actually owns Broadsword. So EA is in fact not actually offloading a property, I think what's actually happening is BioWare Austin itself is being divvied out and would not be surprised to see if that branch is shut down

At least half of the SWTOR dev team is part of this move, so the key things to keep an eye on is which members of the dev team are moving. If the narrative staff is kept intact, then we have more story ahead of us beyond what's been written, and they've confirmed we're getting 7.3, 7.3.1, and 7.4. It's important to note that their production timeline is generally a year out from things being written, so story-wise, if they have narrative staff, we'll likely still have some story drops ahead of us

SWTOR is profitable (it hit over $1 billion in profit several years ago), and I will admit I don't have the best understanding of video game finances, but my impresion it was far into the black and maybe not an enromous cash cow, but a decent consistent revenue stream. EA is a publisher that is about profits, so as long as the game is profitable, even if there's not new story drops, the game will stay online

Disney has seemingly taken a recent interest in SWTOR after mostly ignoring it after its acquisition of Star Wars, even going so far as to finally acknowledge the general KOTOR/SWTOR era in their presentations last year at Celebration. Does this ultimately mean anything? I don't know, but SWTOR is one of the longest running current properties with a stable player base. They're just as interested in profit as EA. Probably another indicator that the game will keep running for a while.

Other properties that Broadsword operates, such as Dark Age of Camelot and Ultima Online, are old games. Ultima Online was released in 1997, and the servers are still active. So like, I think regardless of what happens in regards of the story, we're not losing the ability to log in and play the game

Long term subscriptions - I remember reading, and forgive me, because I've long forgotten the source, that a key indicator if the servers are going offline is to also keep an eye on the six-month subscription option. Basically, if suddenly the only option for subs goes down to one month, that's when to worry about being able to actually play the game.

This is probably not about SWTOR, but BioWare as a whole. It seems there's a leadership issue at the main Alberta office that's causing issues. This is likely an Anthem issue all over again, but Anthem this time happens to be the Mass Effect and Dragon Age properties. Unfortunately, BioWare Austin looks like it's going to suffer the consequences of that, even though they've been running a tight ship overall compared to the rest of the branches. I feel for them. This sucks.

Now I'm not an oracle, I have no idea if this is ultimately a good or bad thing for the game itself. There's a lot of evidence for both sides of the coin, so right now the best thing is to wait and see. We at least have the promise of the next two patches. Let's focus on enjoying that, and celebrating what we love about our silly space game.

If you love the game, keep playing it. Spend money on it, and keep it profitable and it will stay around. Be kind and supportive of the devs, who regardless of how this shakes out, are going through a major transition. But immediately decrying an active game's death and going into doom and gloom is not going to help things.

Will we get more story beyond 7.4? I do not know one way or the other. I hope we do, but it's hard to say for certain on that front. But I do believe we'll still have our toons and be able to replay all of the released content for quite a while to come. Again, for now I'm just going to enjoy my favorite game, and support it as long as I have it. Even if this inevitably means it's going to change.

[neutronstcr]

♫ + tiago

song meme.

Vou te copiar e fazer uma música por temporada, porque eu não sou original e porque é basicamente impossível colocar em três minutos o que esse homem passou em duas temporadas e meia.

season one — clocks, by coldplay.

The lights go out and I can't be saved Tides that I tried to swim against Have brought me down upon my knees Oh I beg, I beg and plead, singing Come out of the things unsaid Shoot an apple off my head and a Trouble that can't be named A tiger's waiting to be tamed, singing

season two — new romantics, by taylor swift.

'Cause baby, I could build a castle (castle) Out of all the bricks they threw at me And every day is like a battle But every night with us is like a dream Baby, we're the new romantics Come on, come along with me Heartbreak is the national anthem We sing it proudly

liberta, mini campanha — stand up by the cab.

They had tongues like guns I had nowhere to run Yeah, this world can get so lonely Yeah, the paper and pen Were my two best friends 'Cause the sad songs understood me

The irony and all my dreams were keeping me from sleeping Because there's something so fun being young and being dumb 'Cause you're not afraid of feeling

All of my demons are kicking and screaming But I'll never leave them behind Yeah, maybe I'm crazy but don't try to save me 'Cause I've never felt so alive

season three, the beginning — everybody's changing by keane.

You're aching, you're breaking And I can see the pain in your eyes Says Everybody's Changing, and I don't know why So little time Try to understand that I'm Trying to make a move just to stay in the game I try to stay awake and remember my name But Everybody's Changing, and I don't feel the same

[dgcatanisiri]

One of the things I think gamers haven’t adapted to is the patch system as it exists now.

Look, I’m never going to go all onboard the ‘since they’re gonna patch things anyway, no need to hold companies to standards on these things’ or anything like that, but... We’re at a point where these games are massive. Where there are enough places for things to go wrong that they can be fixing things still at the moment of release.

And like... Maybe my view is just colored by the fact that I lived through the debacle that was KOTOR 2, where Lucasfilm pushed that game out the door ahead of schedule and refused to let Obsidian release the patch they wanted, and feel that publishers do deserve a little leeway on the bugs and glitches that make it through the final process. 

Like, with Andromeda, people are still using footage from the release to condemn it, citing bugs and glitches - not the game breaking ones, just the animations, the “my face is tired” bit, which was changed after the fifth patch - as the reason it failed. And, okay, I concede that it’s the kind of word of mouth in the early days that can affect the game, but THEY DID FIX IT. Maybe not instantly, but they addressed it. They did something about it.

I will be irritated about bugs at launch, but actively trying to do something - anything - about them goes a long way with me, because I know I couldn’t replicate even a fraction of these games on my own, so these games are surely not easy to make. Things slipping through the cracks are pretty much expected. We may be used to more polish on the games, but, especially with publishers being more demanding of what and how much goes out and overall just demands that everything explicitly always meet the exact deadline no exceptions or extensions... Yeah, I’m willing to be more forgiving about bugs.

Not because I think they should be given a pass, but because games are a major investment. And, especially with publishers like EA embracing the lootbox gambling model, being less forgiving of anything that’s not constantly generating more money for them, yeah, I’m willing to forgive the developers saying ‘this works enough for now, we’ll patch the rest of it after release, let’s get it out the door.’

I’ll put the problems of Andromeda on corporate mismanagement, of a smaller studio being in over their heads, but honestly? This should have been reason to CELEBRATE BioWare Montreal - not only did this small studio manage to put out this game that, if judged purely on its own merits, not in comparison to the trilogy (because holding one game up against three is NEVER fair under any circumstances - even holding it up against just ME1 is hard because we know where those plot threads lead to, we can’t fully distance ourselves from that fact)... It’s really not that bad. It’s got issues, it’s got flaws, the fact that it’s a b-team sequel is kinda obvious all the same... But they DID THIS. Against all odds, this tiny studio got this accomplished while pretty much having to build all the things they genuinely needed for this game on their own - Frostbite wasn’t BUILT for an RPG, it was built for a FPS. Even the problems, they sat down and were making efforts to fix it - they didn’t get to everything, but a majority of the major issues were addressed, down to Jaal being opened up as a romance option, something that resulted in the actors being brought back into the studio, and this was released as a PATCH, not DLC, like the Extended Cut for ME3.

And their reward was unending blame piled on unending blame followed by dissolution. 

We should be looking at this as an underdog story, the deck stacked against BioWare Montreal, given a project too big for them, the Edmonton studio not able to provide aid, EA demanding more focus pulled over to Anthem at Andromeda’s expense, working with tools they had to stop and take time to build, and they still managed to put out this game AND try to shore up where it stumbled. Instead, so many people want to approach it as the death knell of Mass Effect as a franchise, BioWare as a studio, possibly even story-driven single player RPGs as a whole...

It’s ridiculous. And frankly, I think in a few years time, people are going to realize it. Hell, if Anthem crashes and burns (which, given the Battlefront release, and the fact that the EU managed to make the Pokemon games take out their gaming corners after Gen IV - Pokemon, one of the most popular video game franchises EVER, a behemoth if there ever was one, and that franchise was made to blink at the EU - and they’re the ones putting through an investigation about loot boxes as gambling... It’s entirely a valid possibility), assuming BioWare isn’t folded up out of existence, I think it’s reasonable to assume that people will return to Andromeda and say ‘this wasn’t so bad.’

Which is just gonna piss off those of us who have been saying so since it released.

[fangirling-throughlife]

This is so nice! I'm choosing Spain, cause it's the country where I grew up.

1. My favourite place is quite near to the place I grew up: la Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències, in València. Funny thing, I saw it get built.

2. I love both. Even though I'm not fond of the importance of Madrid in Spanish politcs, I LOVE the city. But, I love traveling abroad as well.

3. It does! I see the sea from my rooftop, actually. We have the Mediterranean sea (the sea I know), the Cantabrian sea, and the Atlantic Ocean.

4. Arròs negre or black rice.

5. In Spanish, Sentado en el banco by Auryn, in Valencian Catalan, Digne de recordar by Tardor

6. I don't think I have one... I do hate one song called "Eviva España", but it's in Dutch and they try (and fail) to say "Y viva España" (which doesn't make sense AT ALL).

7. Again, in Valencian Catalan, which is the main language in my region... Mascletà, amollar, mante (this is the PG version)

8. I'm half Spanish half Belgian and apparently I have Asian-looking eyes. So, yeah, people get my nationality wrong more often than not. I've been called Polish, German, Russian, Romanian, Dutch...

9. I've been to France a bunch of times, never been to Portugal or Andorra. I want to visit both countries. Maybe Andorra a bit more cause it must be strange to be in a non-EU country in Europe where they speak the same language as me.

10. Hòstia puta. Match made in heaven. I say it an average of 20 times a day, to express everything from the deepest disgust till euphoria.

11. In Catalan: Vicent Andrés Estellés for poetry (Valencian), Jordi Sierra i Fabra for fiction (Catalan). In Spanish: right now, Miguel Hernández for poetry, Laura Gallego for fiction.

12. I avoid translations at all costs. I have watched a bit of the movie "La casa de los espíritus", and had to switch it off.

13. I thought we didn't, but apparently, we do. We're not as chill Catholics as I thought. We like to thank God and the Virgin Mary for random stuff. I've been asked if I'm a strict Catholic because I wear a cross necklace, and I have prints of my favorite saints in my wallet. And dreading Tuesday 13th, instead of Friday 13th.

14. I mostly do. Our dramas are a bit too much, though, but there's nothing better than a Spanish comedy. I've tried to explain it, but those are the true LOL movies.

15. Thousands. The cool thing about Spain is that we're a "state of nations", so a joke that's funny to us in Valencia is not funny at all in Extremadura, for example. Or a saying may make no sense to someone outside a certain region. For example, I say "me vaig pegar un pet com un llegó" a lot (I got wasted, but more than just wasted. We're like the Irish, we have a lot of ways of talking about alcohol). My friends, who live 35 km away, didn't get it at first.

16. Don't agree: we're lazy. We're just not in a hurry. It's hot there, you don't do physical work when it's 40 from May till September half the afternoon.

Agree: we're explosive. With this, I agree 100% when it's about the South. I've been told the people in the North are way chiller (my father-in-law is from the North and fits the description).

17. Love it! I aced every history test, I wanted to study history initially. I'll go dropping facts everywhere, I look for an explanation from 500 years ago for some shitty thing happening now, and usually find it.

18. Those of us who are bilingual speak Spanish with un "deje", which means that we pronounce some words a certain way, and we use words from our other language and make them sound Spanish because we don't know the actual word. I speak Valencian Catalan with an accent called "apitxat" (x, j, g, tx, tj, tg... those all sound the same. And whenever there is an s or ss, nevermind how it should be pronounced, it's the same for us).

19. Spanish: hate it because of some shitty political connotations. They use the flag and anthem to make it look like the rest of the nations don't matter.

Valencian: I cry every time I hear our anthem, I have a flag hanging in my bedroom. So year, love them.

20. Football, mainly. But any sport where we excel we love (basketball, tennis, F1, MotoGP...). My dad actually joked that we don't get along except when our football NT is involved.

21. If it's for aliens to find, I'd send una traca (explosives we use for every celebration) and sand from the Mediterranean seashores. If it's to get rid of, Franco's body and Miguel Bosé.

22. We have some of the best universities for sciences, in spite of the horrible financing for young scientists, we still have a lot of intellectual power. I'm ashamed of the fascists in some of the governments.

23. Differs depending on the region, but in Valencia (at least in the province Valencia) it's cassalla.

24. All of them...? Nah, we joke about Germans, Dutch and Brits, who are (in our eyes) drunk pricks with too much money who come to litter our cities and beaches. And, Valencians make fun of Catalans (very cheap), Madrileños (idiots), and Vascos (very hermetic people, bad temperament).

25. I don't think so. I feel like I am who I am because of where I come from, and I wouldn't want to change that. Even more, I'd like to be as chill as I see my non-mixed friends are.

26. I'm not sure... Women are portrayed as sexy and that's it, there's a lot of bull-fighting (when most of today's youth is against it). And I hate they portray us as people who speak no English at all (I, for instance, don't have any perceivable accent).

27. I don't have one, really. I'm proud of David Ferrer (tennist, who is actually my neighbor, even though I've never talked to him cause I'm so shy), Gerard Piqué, José Luis Morales, Pau Gasol...

28. All of the above. There are still so many places I haven't visited, so I don't dare to choose a favorite. Montanejos enchanted me, though.

29. MADRID. The thing is, we were the capital of the Republic, and now they pretend we ain't shit. They say we survive thanks to them coming for two months to litter the sea. They tell us we're rude for speaking our own language. There's a lot there, and it goes back to the 18th century.

30. I have a different nationality. Mum's Belgian, and so is my closest family from that side. Then, we've got Dutch, French and Italians (both sides).

“hi, I’m not from the US” ask set

given how Americanised this site is, it’s important to celebrate all our countries and nationalities - with all their quirks and vices and ridiculousness, and all that might seem strange to outsiders.

1. favourite place in your country?

2. do you prefer spending your holidays in your country or travel abroad?

3. does your country have access to sea?

4. favourite dish specific for your country?

5. favourite song in your native language?

6. most hated song in your native language?

7. three words from your native language that you like the most?

8. do you get confused with other nationalities? if so, which ones and by whom?

9. which of your neighbouring countries would you like to visit most/know best?

10. most enjoyable swear word in your native language?

11. favourite native writer/poet?

12. what do you think about English translations of your favourite native prose/poem?

13. does your country (or family) have any specific superstitions or traditions that might seem strange to outsiders?

14. do you enjoy your country’s cinema and/or TV?

15. a saying, joke, or hermetic meme that only people from your country will get?

16. which stereotype about your country you hate the most and which one you somewhat agree with?

17. are you interested in your country’s history?

18. do you speak with a dialect of your native language?

19. do you like your country’s flag and/or emblem? what about the national anthem?

20. which sport is The Sport in your country?

21. if you could send two things from your country into space, what would they be?

22. what makes you proud about your country? what makes you ashamed?

23. which alcoholic beverage is the favoured one in your country?

24. what other nation is joked about most often in your country?

25. would you like to come from another place, be born in another country?

26. does your nationality get portrayed in Hollywood/American media? what do you think about the portrayal?

27. favourite national celebrity?

28. does your country have a lot of lakes, mountains, rivers? do you have favourites?

29. does your region/city have a beef with another place in your country?

30. do you have people of different nationalities in your family?

[dustedmagazine]

Joseph Burnett 2017 Review: Nostalgia for the Light

Back in days of yore (well, the 19th century), nostalgia was believed to be an illness so debilitating it could compromise the fate of an army were too many soldiers “infected.” One Russian general even threatened to bury his troops alive if they came down with nostalgia. It’s hard to imagine what the clearly charming general would make of our current times, so steeped are we in waves of competing nostalgia.  

I’m one to talk, of course. The below list of albums shows that retrenchment into the past has at times been a great escape for me, musically, as 2017 quickly resolved itself into a right shitter of a year both personally and in the grander scheme of things. I’ve found myself actually nostalgic for the tiny, damp and claustrophobic apartment my ex and I used to rent because we were at least — in my mind — happy then. But that’s the thing about nostalgia: it doesn’t allow for a very nuanced image of what reality was. We certainly did have some good times in said bolthole, but surely the problems that swam into heartbreaking focus only a year or so later (and in a much nicer flat) were already there?

In politics — and this doesn’t get mentioned enough — nostalgia seems to have become a driving force. Trump vows to make America great again, without really elaborating on when it was that America was great in the first place. If one is to believe Roy Moore, it was that glorious period when slavery was a reality and you could still kill gays. But at least there was cholera and high levels of infant mortality to offset the troublesome fact that people were owned as goods and chattel. A similar vein of nostalgia has animated the Brexit debate on this side of the pond, as right-wing Brexiters hit out at “political correctness” and the European Court of Justice’s human rights laws along the road to the UK leaving the EU. Again, one can’t help but feel that the glorious past they pine for mainly revolved around being able to use ethnic slurs and homophobic insults on their way to a packed church on the edge of the village green armed with a blue passport. As with my domestic situation and Trump’s supporters, this nostalgia conveniently ignores unpalatable truths: the fifties right-wing nostalgics dream of actually included polio, rationing and the threat of nuclear annihilation. So it’s not really that different to today, except the polio bit. In that context, I’d say a bit of opprobrium directed towards racism, homophobia, transphobia and antisemitism represents progress.  

So once again, as a wave of distorted nostalgia in part propels us towards an uncertain, even scary future, music has felt like a refuge. It’s becoming a tiresome leitmotiv, really. But the past is threaded through the below list, either as a nostalgic signpost or as a fictionalized unreality. Richard Dawson, on his superlative Peasant, reimagines medieval life in a series of epic, unfathomable and beautiful songs. The folk resurgence remains steady, despite the best attempts of lacklustre Mumford & Sons-like mainstream acts to dilute its potency. June Tabor’s Quercus released Nightfall, the most authentically “folk” album to have emerged in 2017, despite its jazz flourishes, with classic traditional songs echoing through the ages like ghosts. Similar phantasms crop up on Sarah Angliss’s Ealing Feeder to tell the hidden, murky story of London. Like the camera movements in John Sayles’ Lone Star, the past swirls around us listeners on these records, as well as on the crystalline chamber jazz of Tarkovsky Quartet’s Nuit Blanche whilst Elodie’s pair of superb instrumental albums are suffused with the nostalgic atmosphere of Proust. And there have been few more haunted albums of late than Áine O’Dwyer’s Gallarais.  

Over on the dance floor, experimentation remains a vibrant way to concoct new sounds, with some of the most exciting producers around taking their already impressive music to new levels. Lee Gamble, Jlin, Actress, Laurel Halo, Shackleton, Arca: all released superb albums in 2017 that dragged the field of electronic music forwards, even those that looked into the past (the Ghost Box label continues to fascinate as it mines old TV music, computer game imagery and found sounds, with ToiToiToi’s Im Hag successfully reinventing the label’s perpetual motion wheel).

 But in a world of Trump and rising right-wing populism, defiance has resonated most powerfully for me as an emotion. Irreversible Entanglements channeled the spirit of Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite and Jeanne Lee’s majestic invective on Conspiracy to deliver a monumental invective against white privilege and the mistreatment of African Americans throughout time. Jlin’s Black Origami maintained the politically-charged, hyperactive energy of her debut Dark Energy and Mhysa contorted notions of gender and sexuality with an inventive form of r’n’b.  

Even in such illustrious company, one voice seemed to soar out of the abyss most forcefully. A strain of disillusionment has always run through Gary Mundy’s work in Ramleh or other projects, but on his latest solo outing as Kleistwahr he has hit new heights of despondency and despair. Determined to champion his own outsider status, Mundy baptized his album  —a wondrous swarm of haunted guitar and seething electronics — Music for Zeitgeist Fighters. It’s a beautiful cry of rejection as the zeitgeist becomes the plaything Trump and Spencer, Farage and Murdoch, a call to arms for all who abhor the views seeping into the mainstream to scream “not in my name!.”  

The great Chilean documentary director Patricio Guzmán’s most celebrated film is called Nostalgia for the Light and it traces that country’s traumatic history through the prism of the Atacama desert being one of the best places on earth to observe the stars. In that context, nostalgia becomes a way to reconcile oneself with the past and, perhaps, start looking for new light in the future. Maybe all who oppose the rise of right-wing demagoguery, be they musicians, activists, politicians and even lowly journalists, can find ways to look backwards to build a better tomorrow. If the world is going to be swallowed by pernicious nostalgia, it must be fought with a hopeful variety of that Russian general’s bugbear in turn.  

Kleistwahr — Music for Zeitgeist Fighters (Nashazphone)

Jlin — Black Origami (Planet Mu)

Nadah El Shazly — Ahwar (Nawa Recordings)

Richard Dawson — Peasant (Weird World)

Áine O’Dwyer — Gallarais (MIE Music)

Elodie — Vieux Silence (Ideologic Organ)

Actress — AZD (Ninja Tune)

Tarkovsky Quartet — Nuit Blanche (ECM)

Irreversible Entanglements — Irreversible Entanglements (International Anthem)

Laurel Halo — Dust (Hyperdub)

Shackleton & Vengeance Tenfold — Sferic Ghost Transmits (Honest Jon’s)

ToiToiToi — Im Hag (Ghost Box)

Forest Swords — Compassion (Ninja Tune)

Félicia Atkinson — Hand in Hand (Shelter Press)

Saz’iso — At Least Wave Your Handkerchief at Me: The Joys and Sorrows of Southern Albanian Song (Glitterbeat)

Colin Vallon — Danse (ECM)

Lee Gamble — Mnestic Pressure (Hyperdub)

Elodie — La Porte Ouverte (Faraway Press)

Skullflower — The Black Iron that Fell from the Sky, to Dwell Within (Bear It or Be It) (Nashazphone)

Pan Daijing — Lack (PAN)

Arca — Arca (XL)

Quercus — Nightfall (ECM)

Dopplereffekt — Cellular Automata (Leisure System)

Aaron Dilloway — The Gag File (Dais)

Yair Elazar Glotman & Mats Erlandson — Negative Chambers (Miasmah)

Maleem Mahmoud Ghania — Colours of the Night (Hive Mind Records)

The Necks — Unfold (Ideologic Organ)

The Belbury Circle — Outward Journeys (Ghost Box)

Sarah Angliss — Ealing Feeder (self released)

Mhysa — fantasii (Halcyon Veil)

Reissues 

Tony Conrad — Ten Years Alive on the Infinite Plain (Superior Viaduct)

Anne Briggs — The Time Has Come (Earth

Lal & Mike Waterson — Bright Phoebus (Domino)

Henry Flynt — You Are My Everlovin’ (Superior Viaduct)

The Belbury Poly — The Owl’s Map (Ghost Box)

Battiato — Fetus (Superior Viaduct)

Akira Rabelais — Spellewauerynsherde (Boomkat Editions)

Luc Ferrari — Hétérozygote / Petite symphonie… (Recollections GRM)

Zos Kia/Coil — Transparent (Cold Spring)

Jon Gibson — Two Solo Pieces (Superior Viaduct)

[deadcactuswalking]

REVIEWING THE CHARTS 2020: 31/01

So, this is the first UK Top 40 after Brexit—we left the European Union the day of this chart’s release... and we’re clearly being punished for it already.

Top 10

Lewis Capaldi, Lewis, Lewis Capaldi. Somehow, due to a new music video, this bloody creature has got his second #1 with “Before You Go”, up four spaces to the top. This is France’s revenge, isn’t it? Sacrebleu.

Up two spaces however is “Blinding Lights” by the Weeknd, to the runner-up spot, which is never a bad thing.

At number-three, we have the slight one-spot drop for “The Box” by Roddy Ricch.

At number-four, unfortunately, there isn’t that big of a drop for “Godzilla” by Eminem featuring the late Juice WRLD, down three spaces from its #1 position last week. I guess sales are doing well enough to keep this at the top.

Down two spots is “Own It” by Stormzy featuring Ed Sheeran and Burna Boy at number-five.

At number-six, we have a slight one-space increase for “Don’t Start Now” by Dua Lipa.

“Life is Good” by Drake, then Future is down one position to number-seven.

Due to the Grammy’s performance, because, yes, they do affect the UK charts as well, probably because of 4Music’s pathetic coverage, as well as a long overdue video, “everything i wanted” by Billie Eilish is up three spaces back into the top 10 at number-eight.

“Someone You Loved” by Lewis Capaldi is up a spot to number-nine because of course it freaking is.

Finally, to round off the top 10, we’re seeing the end of the top 10 run for deteriorating TikTok meme “ROXANNE” by Arizona Zervas, down two to #10... just as it was starting to grow on me.

Climbers

Our singular climber this week is “bad guy” by Billie Eilish up six spots to #22. I’m as confused as you are.

Fallers

On the other hand, we have a handful of these due to a bigger story this week, probably the one that’ll occupy the most time of the three big chart stories here. So, outside of the top 10, “Ei8ht Mile” by DigDat featuring Aitch is down eight spaces to #17 off of the debut, “Ride It” by Regard featuring Jay Sean is also down eight to #29, “Circles” by Post Malone is down six to #31, and that’s not a lot, right? Well, no, but there are also the fallers from last week’s group of Eminem debuts, which unlike what happens with album bombs in the US, did not cause absolute chart chaos once dissipated, and instead just peacefully and rather slowly decreasing in chart points against the flood of the other album bomb. I’m of course talking about “Those Kinda Nights” featuring Ed Sheeran down 15 spaces to #27 and lead single “Darkness” crumbling down 20 spaces to #37.

Dropouts & Returning Entries

We have a couple dropouts here as well, but no returning entries. These are the songs that dropped off the face of the chart this week: “South of the Border” by Ed Sheeran featuring Camila Cabello and Cardi B out from #30, “Beautiful People” by Ed Sheeran featuring Khalid out from #32 (Not Sheeran’s greatest week), “Me & You Together Song” by the 1975 sadly out from #35 off of the debut – I thought this song would last, unlike “STILL DISAPPOINTED” by Stormzy out from #36, or even long-running hits like “HIGHEST IN THE ROOM” by Travis Scott and remixed by ROSALIA and Lil Baby out from #37, and finally, “Senorita” by Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello. Now, I figured I should mention some songs in the top 75 but not in the top 40 that we could see enter the chart in the coming weeks—I haven’t got a single one of these right yet (Well...), but regardless, here are the songs I picked. Not all of them are good, not all of them are bad. There is “Better Off Without You” by Becky Hill and Shift K3y at #42, “Suicidal” by YNW Melly at #44, “Say So” by Doja Cat at #45, “Power Over Me” by Dom Kennedy at #48, “Lonely” by Joel Corry at #61, “SUGAR” by BROCKHAMPTON at #62, “High Fashion” and “Ballin’”, both by Roddy Ricch and Mustard, at #63 and #64, “One Night” by MK at #66, and even the two new songs from M Huncho’s album that missed the Top 40: “Indulge” at #50 featuring D-Block Europe, and “Head Huncho” at #60 featuring Headie One... now for a bit of a different story that starts in the Summer of 1785.

BREXIT RUBBISH

German poet Friedrich Schiller published an ode in 1786 that he wrote the year prior. It was later interpolated by the legendary Ludwig van Beethoven in his 1984 Ninth Symphony. In 1972, quite ironically for a song composed by two Germans when Germany was still split into two (Although admittedly they were both born in western regions of Germany), Beethoven’s composition was adopted as the anthem for Europe as a whole, and the European Union. Does that sound familiar? In 2016, the most famous pig-adulterer in Britain commenced the Brexit vote, resulting in a slight majority to leave the EU. I don’t like getting too political on this show, so I won’t get into this in-depth, but all you need to know is that the Scottish party protested in Parliament in 2017 by singing this song, and that led to this two-party war: The Anti-Brexit and pro-EU song, “Ode to Joy”, the European anthem as performed by Dutchman André Rieu, and the pro-Brexit song, if you excuse my language, “17 Million Frick Offs”, a song by some right-wing comedian (Dominic Frisby) directed towards the 17 million people who proudly told the European Union, to, well, “frick off”, and praising them for doing so. Thankfully, the nation has spoken.

#30 – “Ode to Joy” – André Rieu and Johann Strauss Orchestra

Produced by André Rieu

Frisby’s song peaked at #43, meaning we only have to talk about the Dutch man here, and his first UK Top 40 hit, probably his only one. I would have preferred “Anarchy in the UK” personally, but I’ll accept this. I see how this works as a protest song too, as it’s a pretty triumphant composition, but really, I mean, what do you expect me to say about the European national (Continential?) anthem? Yeah, I think the Johann Strauss Orchestra guest verse kind of ruined the vibe for me on this one, but the beat slaps hard. I don’t like boring, patriotic squabble like this, and it’s not like Rieu does anything with it as this is rather trite, with some really gross mixing of the horns. In fact, the whole song is mixed pretty painfully. I appreciate the sentiment, though, guys, but this is pretty bad. Call me a Eurosceptic for not appreciating some Dutch dude’s rendition of a European historical motif, but really I’d say the same about “God Save the Queen” – and not the Sex Pistols song; that one’s awesome.

ALBUM BOMB: Big Conspiracy – J Hus

I haven’t listened to this album yet, simply because I haven’t had the time, but J Hus is a British rapper who released his first album since his release from prison, Big Conspiracy, on 24th January 2020, to immense critical acclaim and commercial success, debuting at #1 on the UK Albums Chart. These are the three biggest songs from it, and my thoughts on all of them.

#21 – “Repeat” – J Hus featuring Koffee

Produced by Jae5

Interestingly, all of these songs have features. Anyways, let’s get through these as quickly as possible, shall we? I mean, they will probably all sound the same. This was released the day before the album, and is J Hus’ tenth UK Top 10 hit, and Koffee’s first. Who is Koffee, you ask? She’s a Jamaican reggae artist who became the first woman to win the Best Reggae Album award at the most recent Grammy’s. I can see some of the reggae influence here as well, but it’s not actually that clear as it’s mostly a typical Afroswing song that J Hus would have made, with inorganic and pretty stiff drum patterns, and a non-existent atmosphere. Koffee puts way too much effort in, at least in comparison to Hus’ dire performance here, where he just literally mumbles somewhat off-beat for a couple bars and calls it a day, while Koffee is singing her heart out. It’s a really imbalanced ratio is what I’m saying. The strings towards the end are pretty cool but the final chorus is abrupt and overall, this song feels like a pointless meander for the sake of either filler or just landing Koffee a place on the album. I can’t hate it, because Koffee’s performance is great and the instrumental is tolerable, but for Hus, this is oddly flavourless.

#19 – “Big Conspiracy” – J Hus featuring iceé tgm

Produced by TSB

“Big Conspiracy” is the title track and the opening track on the album as well as J Hus’ 11th UK Top 40 hit, and Iceé tgm’s first – hell, she doesn’t even have a Wikipedia page and it’s seeming pretty likely that she debuted on J Hus’ album and she is in fact his sister. It’s pretty cool getting your family involved in the business. You know what else is pretty cool? This song; I like the guitar pick-up and the complimenting bassline, with some sweet vocal melodies and loops from iceé tgm, that seem to be scattered around the entire beat, which is an interesting idea. J Hus is still a tad lazier than usual here, with very little multi-tracking (Seems to be only one-take) or energy, but the chorus has some gorgeous harmonies, his rap verses are casual albeit memorable. I enjoy his (hopefully) sarcastic endorsement of Ronald Reagan in the first verse, and his point about underdogs rising in the second verse, which is a nice message. The bridge is pretty good, as it gives iceé tgm a bit of solo time, and she sounds decent but admittedly non-descript, and then there’s a smooth sax solo for seemingly no reason. Eh, I’m all for it. This is sweet, and it’s nice that an out-of-the-blue conscious rap song debuted in the top 20, but again, lacking a lot of the character I saw from the lead single.

#11 – “Play Play” – J Hus featuring Burna Boy

Produced by Jae5, Nana Rogues and Scribz Riley

Finally, also a pre-release single by about a day, is “Play Play”, J Hus’ 12th UK top 40 hit and Burna Boy’s fourth. We all know who Burna Boy is by now, although coincidentally Koffee happened to have covered Burna’s breakout hit “Ye” on the BBC Radio Live Lounge. I suppose that’s of note. I figured maybe the highest debuting single from the album would have that lively energy and bright comedy that I saw in “Must Be”, but no, there isn’t, which is exciting as that’s what I expected from this record, and the second single did try to confirm my suspicions. Much like “Repeat”, however, I feel this would easily be better if it were just a Burna Boy single, with his charming hook and cute steel-pans-based instrumental, but no, J Hus is here, and... did he forget how to rap? He sounds pretty awful here, with a dry flow that flubs rhymes and fits too many words into the meter, an uninteresting cadence and even awful mixing that makes him feel so distant from a song that should be warm and intimate. The reason I can’t dislike the song, however, is the concept, which both artists talk about in detail, especially Hus’ hilariously... bipolar verses, if that’s the best way to describe them. It seems to be about comparing women to guns, but also that women like him for his guns, and that he treats his gun like a woman? I don’t know, it’s a dumb concept that is messy in execution, but at least it’s unique. Pretty disappointed in these tracks, to be honest; maybe the deep cuts will be more to my fancy.

NEW ARRIVALS

#40 – “Roses” – Saint Jhn

Produced by F a l l e n and remixed by Imanbek

Hey, a song I actually predicted would reach the UK Top 40, just last week! I’m pretty impressed with myself, but admittedly I guess if you throw 70 stones at a bird, at least one will kill it, just as the old proverb says. Anyways, this is Saint Jhn’s first ever UK Top 40 hit and was mostly propelled by the Imanbek EDM remix, which I’ll be listening to as well. The original song “Roses” was released on the Guyanese-American rapper’s SoundCloud in July 2016 and was included in his 2018 compilation album. He had written for other artists like Jidenna before but his solo work went mostly unnoticed until a producer called Imanbek released an unauthorised house remix. Imanbek is a Kazakh producer, and his remix was released through a Russian record label, so there is a surprising amount of cultures involved in making this one song; it’s kind of interesting. Also, we never see anyone on the UK Top 40 chart from freaking Kazakhstan! That’s insane! By the way, Kazakhstan’s flag is my personal favourite flag of the world. I love the colour combination. The original song is one I’m generally not pleased with, personally, with a dull trap beat and hi-hats that somehow rattle too much, and a murmuring, unintelligible Auto-Tune drawl from Saint Jhn that’s just unpleasant, and for a song called “Roses”, is kind of eerie, and overall, the song is just kind of boring and underwhelming, although I’ll admit the vocal melodies and ideas are there, and I especially like the synths in the later parts of the chorus. What this needed to push it over the edge was a 19-year-old guy from Kazakhstan and I’m not joking; I love this house version. The pitch-shifted, almost chipmunk, rendition of the vocals could be obnoxious to some people but to me it adds so much energy and quirk to an otherwise dry performance from Jhn, and the beat in this version has such an infectious synth bass, despite otherwise being a pretty standard house beat, with some vague horn inflections, traditional pop-house drum beat, and pretty cliché vocal samples, but the melodies I liked are still here, in fact the trap beat is partially kept in during the chorus, and touches like that are pretty nice. The slog of the verses have a lot more groove to them sped-up too. Yeah, I enjoy this, and it’s a massive improvement over the original. Big up Kazakhstan.

#32 – “Pee Pee” – M Huncho

Produced by ADP

Honestly, if the form of protest against Brexit is only demonstrated into making songs chart, I’d like to think that the children all around Britain have all decided to make it clear that Brexit is pee pee, and I couldn’t be more proud. This is M Huncho’s third UK Top 40 hit and from his album Huncholini the 1st... this guy is a joke, right? He even wears  a mask to be anonymous, but it’s not for personal or even gang-related reasons. It’s just a cartoon mask that he says is supposed to accentuate the message of the music. What’s the message of this song then, Mr. Huncholini?

When I bust my nut, I go and take a pee pee

Inspiring. I’m tempted to just leave it at that, actually – can I? Yeah? Are you sure? Okay, well, that’s all, then.

Conclusion

Honestly, “Pee Pee” isn’t even that bad, and it’s not getting the Dishonourable Mention. That’s going to “Play Play” by J Hus featuring Burna Boy, with Worst of the Week going to that crap rendition of “Ode to Joy”. I don’t have much to praise here, but I might as well give Best of the Week to “Roses” by Saint Jhn, purely for the Imanbek remix, as if it were the original only, it could easily get the Dishonourable Mention. Honourable Mention goes to “Big Conspiracy” by J Hus featuring iceé tgm, just barely. Follow me on Twitter @cactusinthebank, I’ll see you next week!

REVIEWING THE CHARTS 2020

[bites-kms]

Once upon a time in Greece

Land of philosophers, birthplace of Western world, history can be breath in every corner you pass by. Athens, by excellence, is the center of this action and a compulsory stop while in Greece. Welcome to an epic journey to the past, you won’t regret it. 

After 9 hours and 15 minutes, in a direct flight from JFK I arrived at the Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport. You can already feel the language challenge bursting by trying to pronounce its name, but nothing easier than to get to the city center with the metro pass by 10 euros. And we were staying meters, I mean, literally 37 steps away from the Acropolis. My friend Mau was waiting for me, and as crazy as it sounds, I guess we’ve seen more of each other during this year in NY, Macau, Hong Kong and now Greece than what we actually hanged out in Singapore - what a beautiful turn of events ♥!

Pomegranate and lemon trees, fake jazmin scent, tons of adventurous and cute, street cats as well as few tortoises, and chirping birds are the beautiful scenery that frames your strolls by Athens. But of course, the beauty highlights are found in the absolute exquisite merge between all of the above with the IV century columns, archeological sites and historic details embedded in every single house at sight.  

It’s a great place to think - if you don’t believe me, then ask Aristotles, but jokes aside, each and every time that I sat down to eat by myself, the writer muse decided to join over for a drink or too, and she hardly ever missed the point. I actually told her “come, stay, make yourself comfortable and talk to me” as per Neil Gaiman’s recommendation. 9 double-sized notebook pages later, I think it worked.

We decided to have a powerful breakfast at Everest, a cute local chain with tons of flavor and delicious coffee and orange juice. Man, if there’s something that I truly miss about living in Asia and Europe is the facility and access one has to delicious organic freshly squeezed juices at an affordable price. They are sweet, tasty and thirst quenching perfect! And I must say, coffee in Greece was an absolute delight as well. Same as in Turkey, their beans are strong yet never burnt, with subtle flavor hints depending on your roast. They were, undoubtedly, a compulsory yet perfect way to start each morning. 

We kicked it off towards Aristotle’s Lyceum. It was quite striking to witness, live and walk around the same inspiration field where major World Philosophers established the Western way of thought. Being Peripatetic for a while - or walking around while wondering about the meaning of things, was quite strange. I had a Philosophy professor that said “the art of wondering is where the questions matter more than the actual answers, and it serves as a sieve for our thoughts” and right there, at the Lyceum, walking around practicing the togetherness of body, mind and soul, with the Greek sun bathing our cheeks, there was absolutely no doubt that this is a magnificent way to create. Surrounding by olive trees and training arenas, contemplation was a must during our stay. We later walked back via the Zappeion or Convention Center, the Olympic Stadium, the National Garden and ended up visiting the Olympion or Zeus Temple, complex which contains the Roman Baths and our beloved Hadrian’s Arch. 

It’s also impressive to acknowledge how long these stone pieces have been standing, and the crazy value they own for thousands of years until today. The same thing happens to me each time I go to a temple, monument or to a very iconic sight. Regardless of the culture or the place where it’s located, these “rocks” contain so much energy, people’s faith, wishes and wonder that is hard not to feel them and truly understand the symbolic attachment and meaning, transforming them into way more than just plain rocks. 

Mau got this amazing tip: checking out the Guard Change on Sundays, when the officials wear their festivity outfits, so beautiful and traditional. Luckily for us, it was Sunday and it was almost 11 am. So it happened that our walk by the National Gardens suddenly became decorated by the Greek Anthem chords, and that was when we knew it was time to approach the Parliament. We found a perfect spot, in the middle of the street, where to witness all the Guard Change and its following parade with the National Marching Band. 

After this dose of Greek nationalism, we decided to go where the action happens: Plaka & Monasteraki. These two are the neighborhoods that surround the Acropolis and where the majority of restaurants and stores are located. Highly touristy, yet beautiful, so it’s well worth to put your “I’m-a-traveler-not-a-tourist” pride inside your pocket, and wonder the streets of Plaka guilt free. The delicious Greek treats you find your way will confirm your decision.

We had a highly Greek traditional lunch by the ladder of the Acropolis, sigh-seeing all Athens at the Klepsydra Tavern. Our first (out of maaaany) delicious Greek Salad with feta cheese, cucumber, peppers, onions and tomatoes, some tzatziki, the delicious yogurt, cucumber, garlic and herbs dip and a spanakopita, the very best spinach pie. 

We had to make a decision: tackling the Acropolis and the Parthenon on the very first day, or leave it for the first thing for the following morning. We decided to go with the second option, having the whole morning to explore and to avoid the crowds - which so far, we’ve been tackling like pros. Hence, we went on and explored Anafiotika, the picturesque and artistic tiny neighborhood full of hidden alley and old houses around Plaka, by the northerneast side of the Acropolis hill.

I loved this house: on the background, a window to the past, where the Parthenon with its Greek and West heritage lays. Inside, the secret and the intimacy of a Greek family, with family portraits, Orthodox crosses, a coffee set and an old TV. And on the same window that allows you a glimpse of this family lifestyle, you can see the reflection of the “outside”, of us, of where we were standing, of today’s Athens, today’s possibilities and tomorrow’s chances in Europe and in the World. I absolutely felt for it.  

The good thing about this area, (not so much Monasteraki) is that no matter which or how many turns you take, you’ll always find your way back. It’s confusing at first, but later you’ll discover its actual pocket size, and start enjoying the joy of being lost, not depending on your map nor phone to figure out where you are (again, another philosophical question to occupy your -un-worried mind while strolling the streets of Athens). 

I don’t know if you had noticed it, but let me call your attention to the sky on all the pictures featured above and on absolutely most of the pictures taken during this trip. There was not a single day where the sky wasn’t entirely blue and without clouds in Athens. It was gorgeous and quite stricken. It’s a Greek clear sky, what I like call the “Gods’ Exodus” - they left their Olympus comfort to wonder around the street of Greece among us mortals, leaving the sky completely clean. Homer already wrote about it on the Odyssey and highlighted a concept that I truly like: the terrenal god, of divine dust and magic that blends, interacts and lives between men. I believe this is the way religion should be lived, felt and practiced, since when the encounter with one another and with oneself happens, it reflects that divinity spark that is walking around, ingrained in us, no doubt about it. 

After more food, learning the Greek traditional dance, having a drink in Athens’ oldest bar and a deserved night full of jet-lag yet some sleep, we woke up with one objective in mind: having a tet-a-tet encounter with the Acropolis. The Acropolis is the name of the ancient citadel and complex group of historic buildings and remains located on one of Athens highest points, hence its name. The most iconic one of all is the Parthenon, but there are a bunch of other meaningful and equally astonishing buildings around worth to check out.  First, the Parthenon is the “newest” temple dedicated to Athena, patron of Athens. It’s the biggest structure on site that remains standing and constant efforts to preserve it are done by the Greek Government and EU institutions. It’s formed by 17 standing columns (weird number, I know) and a smaller and smaller complex done inside with less and less number of them. Right next to it, with incredible goddess-like or nymphs style columns, is the Old Temple of Athena. The Erechtheum is on its right, dedicated to Athena and Poseidon. Then, there’s the famous Temple of Athena Nike, the one that served as an inspiration for the legendary sports brand since Nike is the Victory Goddess in battle and in friendly and athletic encounters. It’s a smaller and secluded temple, yet it’s wonderful and inspiring. The halo of “just do it” spreads around the whole Acropolis complex and inspires its visitor to accomplish and to dare every single desire they have on their bucket lists During sunset, in my mind the only song that was playing in loop while watching the shape of the Acropolis fade to black was “All the things I’ve done” by The Killers, since it played on a Nike commercial a while ago, stating that “All you need is already inside (you)”. Cliche? Maybe. Yet, empowering as hell.

Continuing the exploration of the Acropolis, there’s the Dionysus Theater as well as the Odeon of Herodes Atticus. The first one is small and a little bit ruined down in comparison to the magnitude and the preservation of the second one. Yet, the first one has a deeper and more meaningful connection with me. I used to have a literature teacher that went nuts about Greek Mythology and while teaching us Homer songs, he displayed his beloved fandom towards the Ancient World. We learned about the dithyramb, an ancient Greek hymn and feast dedicated in honor of Dionysus, the God of wine and fertility (my favorite kind of god ;) - so, what happened here, was a kind of old-style, all-in semi orgy with divine purposes where poetry, performances, dances, songs and goat sacrifices were done. Imagine my enthusiasm while witnessing the place my professor was so passionate about, describing it with high-pitched voice, almost like a politician, with emphasis and devotion, as trying to gain the Gods’ approval and grace with his lectures. Those classes were amazing, almost as good as walking and sitting on that same place IRL where comedy and tragedy, with often divine offerings happened.  

Many, many, and some more wines, cafe stops and dishes later, we needed to say goodbye to Athens, at least for now, in order to embark towards Santorini. Mau had left to the airport, and I had yet a night to go. I wasn’t going to bed, regardless of my early flight, at least not before enjoying my last night in Athens, where the sky was clear, the stars were shining and the streets of Plaka were bursting with delicious food and activities to mesmerize me one more time. What happened? I was walking searching for a nice rooftop to have a drink or two and I found Cine Paris - this al fresco cinema, where Joker was playing, right next to the Acropolis. It was a sign: few minutes after its starting time, I walked in, grabbed a blanket, a drink and a pizza -  yet traditional popcorn was available. I just came from experiencing all the tragedy and comedy offered to the Gods, and now I had the opportunity to watch this contemporary masterpiece in which these two elements are being portrait exquisitely by Joaquin Phoenix. It felt I was at the orchestra section while Athena, Dionysus and Poseidon where watching it from the main box. Loved it.  Taking the early train towards the airport the following morning, was also something God-worth it. October 15, 6:56 AM, with the moon setting on my left and the sun rising on my right, in between the Athens hills and the high tension cables, it felt like Apolo was driving his carriage, chasing the moon, bringing the sun. 

So now you know it, when in doubt about Greek plans, or for that sake, with everything you are questioning yourself to do, buy, travel or say, go with Victory’s Goddess wisdom and just do it, Niké already foresees your success ahead. 

[warninggraphiccontent]

25 October 2019

Have I got even more newsletters for you

A big thank you to the ever-excellent Giuseppe this week for a shout-out to Warning: Graphic Content in his 'in other news' newsletter. (And welcome to new readers from there as a result!)

It reminded me I never updated a previous list of the data-related newsletters I've signed up to, so in lieu in having time to pontificate on anything else this week, here is that list in full:

Giuseppe’s in other news

Sophie’s Fair Warning

The ODI’s The Week in Data

Azeem’s Exponential View

Elliot’s AI.Westminster

The Public Digital newsletter

Stefan's Strategic Reading

The Resolution Foundation's Top of the Charts

The Data Visualisation Society's Nightingale

The FFT Education Datalab's newsletter

For jobs, it has to be Jukesie

On Twitter, try David's feed of UK Gov Digital Blogs

Newsletters from:

Full Fact

Doteveryone

The ONS

Data & Society

The Alan Turing Institute

Centre for Public Impact

and The Institute for Government, of course.

I'm sure I've still forgotten loads, so please do get in touch with any other suggestions. And do forward Warning: Graphic Content on to anyone you think might enjoy it (email signup here, Twitter here, Tumblr here).

Finally, we've got a great line-up for our seventh Data Bites event on Wednesday, 6 November - join us! Previous ones available here.

Have a great weekend

Gavin

Today's links:

Graphic content

That was the week that was, part 94

The state of play, pre-Letwin (me for IfG)

Letwin amendment, etc (me for IfG)

Commons defeats and elections (me for IfG - some more here)

Withdrawal Agreement Bill Second Reading, Programme Motion (Ketaki for IfG)

Time taken on previous treaty-related legislation (Joe for IfG)

Government formation timelines (Aron for IfG)

Select committees (Marcus for IfG)

Boris Johnson’s bittersweet Brexit victory* (FT)

EU withdrawal deal: How did your MP vote on the Letwin amendment? (The Guardian)

British lawmakers switching sides (Reuters)

How members of parliament voted to delay Boris Johnson's Brexit deal* (Bloomberg)

Reading Boris Johnson’s mind: unique analysis reveals what the PM really thinks* (The Times)

How much of Johnson's 'great new deal' is actually new? (The Guardian)

Revealed: The digital divide between our politicians (Sky News)

Politics everywhere else

Canada Votes 2019 (CBC News)

Canadian Federal Election Cartogram 2019 (Wikipedia)

Canada Election Results: Trudeau Wins Re-Election—With a Minority* (Bloomberg)

Justin Trudeau is in trouble. Voters get to say how much* (Bloomberg)

Así se han movido las encuestas electorales tras lo sucedido en Cataluña (El Pais)

Why Aren’t More Democrats Endorsing Warren? (FiveThirtyEight, via Marcus)

The Historically Large Democratic Field Is Starting to Shrink* (New York Times)

UK

How old are our prisons? (Russell Webster, via Graham)

So what’s new in #socialcare? (Graham for IfG)

The State of the State 2019-20 (Deloitte/Reform)

A Tale of Two Countries (Dan Olner)

Public bill procedure (UK Parliament)

How Britain became socially liberal in just 30 years (King's Policy Institute)

At your service: Investigating how UK businesses and institutions help corrupt individuals and regimes launder their money and reputations (Transparency International UK)

Sport

Rugby World Cup - Saturday quarter finals, Wales v France (me)

How Widespread Is Your College Football Fan Base? (FiveThirtyEight)

Everything else

Kantar Information is Beautiful Awards 2019

Higher taxes and refinery outages have pushed up gasoline prices in California* (Wall Street Journal)

ECB vows to hold rates at historic low until inflation picks up* (FT)

The Kim Foxx Effect: How Prosecutions Have Changed in Cook County (The Pudding)

Alcohol firms promote moderate drinking, but it would ruin them* (The Economist)

Data Comics

Unified Terminology (Critical Reflections on Visualization Authoring Systems)

Meta data

ONS

Achieving a lifelong ambition: A message from the new National Statistician (ONS)

How exactly does the Census work?* (New Statesman)

Understanding highest educational qualification: The case for using Administrative Data (ONS)

Google

Google claims 'quantum supremacy' for computer (BBC News)

Google gets green light to access five years of NHS patient data (New Scientist)

Google has used contract swaps to get bulk access terms to NHS patient data (TechCrunch)

UK

GDS to reveal new “consider cloud first” policy in early 2020 (NS Tech)

Inside the messy collapse of the UK's unworkable porn block* (Wired)

Artificially enhanced? How policymakers are navigating the legal, ethical and technical challenges of AI (Civil Service World)

Ministerial correspondence... (IfG)

Everything else

Opinion: How Artists And Fans Stopped Facial Recognition From Invading Music Festivals (BuzzFeed)

Maybe It’s Not YouTube’s Algorithm That Radicalizes People* (Wired)

The What of Explainable AI (Element AI)

Public sector: the paper form consigned to history* (FT)

Just enough Internet: Why public service Internet should be a model of restraint (Doteveryone)

Audrey Tang for The New York Times: A Strong Democracy Is a Digital Democracy (The GovLab)

Policymakers need access to the metadata of trade agreements to facilitate international trade (ODI)

Events

Data Bites #7: Getting things done with data in government (Institute for Government)

Video: Power of Data 2019 (Swirrl)

EVENTS: #NationalDataStrategy team is testing having conversations about data & the 2030 we might want to be in with non data specialists (DCMS)

Jobs

JOB: Chief Technology Officer (NHSX)

JOB: Director of Regulatory Strategy (Domestic) (ICO)

JOB: Head of data and insight (Heritage Lottery Fund)

JOBS: Tech insights and agile working in the DaTA Unit (Competition and Markets Authority)

JOBS: Journalists (Full Fact)

And finally...

Maps

Map-based distraction nonsense (Alasdair Rae)

Map shows the first word of each European anthem (via Simon Kuestenmacher - though see the comments)

Food

Inexplicably redacted watermelons (Adiel Kaplan)

Time for some chocolate (Erik Brynjolfsson, via Tim)

Everything else

Now for the really important issue - When do the @RoyalMintUK have to start striking the October 31st special Brexit 50p in order to get 10 million promised in circulation by exit day? (Faisal Islam)

Wagileaks: an investigation* (Tortoise)

"Correlation is not causation" (Ameet Kini, via Aron)

John Bercow (Robert Colvile)

When was greatness thrust upon William Shakespeare?* (The Economist)

[timedecor]

Everything Now by Arcade Fire (2017)

I think the marketing gimmick thing was brilliant, snarky, mean, and bloody clever. It was just so hard to keep up, especially with that ever changing infinite content playlist. Anyway, on to the album now... A year before this album's release, we got our first tease into the next Arcade Fire anthem when at a festival Win asked the crowd to sing along the tune we'd all end up hearing as Everything Now. I absolutely adore the title track - Everything Now. I just can't stop dancing to the Dancing Queen inspired keys on this song, it's just so catchy! Mr. Butler goes onto to willfully remind us that all the world's an infinite scam. That we're endlessly consuming beautifully packaged nothing day in and out. The album has a few bangers like Electric Blue and Creature Comfort that'll make you dance, well at least in the style that Arcade Fire songs do. Then there's this song called Chemistry which is the most ridiculous thing I've heard on an AF album. This is a band that takes not being serious very seriously - that's pretty much all what Chemistry is, and I love it! The album ends the way it begins, and the outro closes with same Everything Now tune on strings. I'm a sucker for a good album closure that reminds us where we started - the band's done this before on The Suburbs. (Viva La Vida, Sgt. Pepper's, and Be Here Now do this nicely as well)

Best track: We Don’t Deserve Love

Favorite track: I've mentioned my love for the title track above, but what I dig just as much is We Don't Deserve Love.

You don't want to talk You don't want to touch You don't even wanna watch TV If you can't see the forest for the trees Just burn it all down, and bring the ashes to me

This generation, self included, is growing up with everything we want ready to load from our app drawers. Funny how we're already the most depressed generation in recent memory. Distracted by 'infinite content' and paying for yoga just to pay attention. We don't need the thrill of big picture love anymore - the Instagram comments will crowdsource this nicely. Maybe we don't deserve love.

Oh I  must mention to those gorgeous album covers - especially the Hindi and Arabic variants. Really appreciate the nod to fans who aren’t in the US, UK, or EU. Although it’s too pricey to ship to India, but I must figure out how I’m getting one of these babies in my collection one day.

[thefanandthecritic]

Top 10 Songs I Wish Were Talked About More - Part 2

And we’re back. Ready for round 2? If you missed part 1, it’s right below this on the blog, which is here. Otherwise, I hope that these picks take you on a bit of a journey, because they are much more serious than the previous ones. Which means that if you wanted light and fluffy stuff, then you will be disappointment itself once you’re through here.

With that said, the following songs need more exposure than they get, so I want to fix that. As much as an unknown on the internet can, anyway. If that makes you curious, then dive on in. You’re welcome, here.

5. Anathema - Lightning Song

This entry may as well be "Why don't more people talk about Anathema?" because this band is just great. I mean, I understand the lack of popularity in their early days, because they played doom metal, and that was about as fun as it sounded - no offence to doom metal fans. But you do know what I mean. Fun = popular, and doom metal is many things, but fun isn't one of them. These days, though, they make some damn good proggy, alternative rock and their last two albums - Weather Systems and Distant Satellites - are some of my favourite pieces of music in the last few years. 

A pity that they swim outside of our SONAR, then, because Weather Systems boasts a really great song that could have made it to the radio. Well, I think so. "Lightning song" is not the most complex of Anathema's songs by far, but it is as listenable as the babble of a brook. It is driven by twinkling acoustic guitars and the angelic vocals of Lee Douglas, (who, for the record, could sing the constitution of the EU and still sound like the bride of Christ) which is a combination so harmonious and soothing that I think I just drooled a little. It then builds itself up gradually until the entire band enters the fray in an extended climax that has drummer - and brother to Lee - John Douglas pelting his crash cymbal in a such a way that it actually mimics the frantic flashing of lightning, adding an extra layer of synchronicity with its title and theme that few bands ever reach for. The lyrics also do their job, describing the brief moment of awe as one stands in a thunderstorm and absorbs its primal beauty. Rather rare and fresh subject matter for a song, really.

Maybe I'm over-selling this one. Maybe it isn't what I think it is. I can't help but feel, though, that this song is beautiful and something special. I hope you will agree.

4. Collapse Under the Empire - A Riot of Emotion

Collapse Under the Empire is a German post rock band predominantly known for their complex composition and detailed layering of synths, so naturally, my favourite song of theirs is a straightforward rock track with the band's usual strengths downscaled.

It makes sense in my head, I swear.

This song, however, is a true beauty. "A Riot of Emotion" is exactly what it says on the tin. It's a song that stirs together joy, melancholy, exhilaration and serenity in a pot made of looped drums and soothing synths which, out of nowhere, explodes to life about halfway through, with the electric guitars roaring into the mix triumphantly and ending their run with a riff that - I kid you not - is what it would sound like if Blink 182 went pure post rock. Try it if you don’t believe me This song does not get enough attention. It needs more ears to appreciate it. End of story.

Why yes, I do like slow-build songs. How could you tell?

3. God Is An Astronaut - Post Mortem

Now for the song that started this list. For those who don't know, God Is An Astronaut - yes, you are reading that name for real and no, you are not high - are a post rock band with an ear for generating intricacy from simplicity and crafting immaculate melodies, and it earns them a fiercely loyal fanbase.

GIAA's self-titled album upped the tempo from their usual schtick, however, and the first real moment that we really tasted this was the opening of "Post Mortem", a rolling, thunderous cacophony of toms and crash cymbals that kicks down into a tight and bright rhythm that has a groove that's so effortless that it's a challenge not to be swaying to its beat.

That's not the best part, however. The best part is that the song is almost written backwards in a way. As the song progresses, it slows itself down bit by bit, rather than building itself up like most songs do. This culminates in an eerie, but beautiful denoument in which the song fades out with nothing but a resonant, haunting bit of synth. Picture the musical equivalent of drifting off into space, and you'll have some idea of it. To get the most out of it, though, you'll want to listen to it with the perspective one of my good friends has of it: The song is about a life cycle, beginning with kicking, thrashing and screaming, and mellowing out over the course of its existence until, eventually, you go gentle into that good night, and rest forever. If that isn't beautiful, I don't know what is.

2. Maybeshewill - Red Paper Lanterns

These top two entries are now officially my best foot forward in terms of my musical taste. Between this and number one, I could not possibly tell you which is my favourite song of all time, but I don’t have to. I just want you to hear these songs.

Red Paper Lanterns is a thing of immaculate beauty. Maybeshewill is one of the few rock bands which can use a piano correctly, and the way they do it in this song is nothing short of magnificent. This is pure concentrated melody and harmony, and it switches ably between huge, sweeping movements and the tiniest, most intimate of strains, delicate as cherry blossoms. If you would like to hear what being in love sounds like, then this probably gets close. Nothing else I know of captures the euphoria and warmth of being close to someone else. Nowhere else have I ever heard such gorgeously dainty sounds come out of a guitar. When the song gets huge, it gets MASSIVE. Not in a heavy way, but in the sense that the guitars start swirling and whirling around the piano, and the crash cymbal starts smashing itself in a visceral but expertly-controlled fashion. When this song climaxes, you stop. You listen.

Red Paper Lanterns is the best instrumental rock song you’ve never heard. It needs to reach all the ears ever, even if it's just so they can say that they personally aren't into it. If you listen to nothing else on this list, make it this one.

Or the next entry. Bugger me, I dunno.

1. Jimmy Eat World - 23

1. Here I am, breaking the most cardinal of top 10 music list rules: One entry per artist. Do I feel bad? Nope. Not at all. That's it. That's all I wanted to say.

I said there were two entries from the same band on this list and I meant it. Jimmy Eat World deserve it, as far as I'm concerned. Futures is flat-out my favourite record ever, and the final song of the record is the song which competes constantly with Red Paper Lanterns for top of the pops in my library: "23".

It's an anthem about making mistakes and wasting opportunities that has come to define everything that makes this band so special to me. It is the band's un-toppable zenith. The ultimate closing track. Every second of its sweeping, melancholic 7 minutes is pretty much perfection to me. The lyrics about regret and coming to terms with your choices are sharp and bittersweet. Jim Adkins' ambling lead guitar is measured, but deceptively intricate. Tom Linton's rhythm guitar and backup vocals blend with the background strings and fill all the sonic spaces on the outer edges of the mix. Bassist Rick Burch does what he always does, picking the most appropriate way to complement what everyone else is doing, adding a resonance that you don't always pay attention to, but is noticeable by its absence every time. Then of course, there's Zach Lind, one of my top five favourite drummers, holding the rhythm of the song together in a way that's perfect for what the song needs. He's no slouch behind his kit, but he knows what many drummers don't - sometimes it's essential to step back and keep everyone else on pace.

When it all comes together, tied in a neat little bow by Adkins' affecting, whispy, exceptionally emotive vocals and the killer, slow-tempo guitar solo at the end, this song becomes a masterpiece. This is Jimmy Eat World's "Stairway to Heaven", their "Bohemian Rhapsody", their "Dark Side of the Moon". Sure, it may not even be in the same parking lot as those songs on a technical level, but it represents for this band what those songs represent for theirs: What they can do when they shrug off the creative restraints and unleash their hidden potential. Jimmy Eat World did that here, and it won't get any better than this for them.

Maybe this will be an underwhelming pick for you. Maybe I'm too attached, and this is only middle of the road. I'll concede that if I must, but I don't think I'm wrong in believing that this song is something special, and I believe it deserves top billing on this list because all anyone says when you bring up this band is how “great” “Bleed American” is, and approximately zero people ever acknowledge anything else in this band’s discography unless they are devoted fans. I want that to change, and that’s why I put this song on this list.

That’s why I put all of these songs here. Because even if the only person talking about them in the world is a pokey little music critic with a dozen followers, it’d still be one more than there was before.

I leave you with this song where it belongs: at the end. Have a great day.

[latenightbotanist]

I have feelings about the ode to joy and im going to dump them on you

At the time i am writing this part i have suffered through twenty two (22) hours of “ode to joy” repeated in my brains so you are gonna suffer with me now. Srsly, ask @madgronkish i kinda lost it around noon.. Anyways. First thought when i heard it was literally" theyre not going to fucking reunite them to THAT SONG??!?!“ Whilst i was wrong about sherlock driving the car…they still did that. Thanks mofftiss.

Ok now down to business. First off, DISCLAIMER, i am in no way qualified to do this? I dont know much about music and have like half an experience at writing meta? so..sorry in advance, maybe just look at this as inspiration and well..gay feelings bc i have enough of those to go around rn.

I will also tag some lovely people who actually know how to do this whole meta thing, and who knows, maybe one of you actually reads this mess and makes somethin out of it? Possibly? Idk, i dont blame you if you dont, really. @quietlyprim @loudest-subtext-in-tv @joolabee @hudders-and-hiddles @love-in-mind-palace @teapotsubtext @beejohnlocked @kinklock @marcelock @gaytectives @ormondsacker @culverton

So.. for all of you who dont know, ode to joy (originally “freude, schöner götterfunken”) is part of beethoven’s 9th symphony, it is the first ever symphony to incorporate voices, the lyrics mostly come from schillers “Ode an die Freude” and the melody itself has been the european anthem since 1972 (1985 if you insist on EU).

Ok so lets have a quick look at the lyrics(and i really mean quick, these are my notes from this morning, not exactly coherent but enough to get a general idea of my feelings about this, we’ll get into more detail later) i also put both the english and german version bc i felt at some points things got lost in translation, but honestly i dont know what to do about that so yeah, if you speak german, good for you, if not and by the end if this youre not bored to death and still have questions dont hesitate to ask i will awkwardly but gladly try to elaborate (this applies not only to lyrics btw)

O Freunde, nicht diese Töne!


Sondern laßt uns angenehmere anstimmen,


und freudenvollere.

/

Oh friends, not these sounds!


Let us instead strike up more pleasing


and more joyful ones!

(Literally lets have happier stories, also the score.. yes lets get the johnlock theme back,please)

Freude!
Freude! / Joy!
Joy!

Freude, schöner Götterfunken


Tochter aus Elysium,


Wir betreten feuertrunken,


Himmlische, dein Heiligtum!


Deine Zauber binden wieder


Was die Mode streng geteilt;


Alle Menschen werden Brüder,


Wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt.

/ Joy, beautiful spark of divinity,


Daughter from Elysium, 

 
We enter, burning with fervour,             (Cant set the heart on fire if its

 
heavenly being, your sanctuary!              already burning w/ love, yall)


Your magic brings together 


what custom has sternly divided.               (Gayyyy!!!!!)


All men shall become brothers,           (Secret brothers,reunion…)


wherever your gentle wings hover.      

(Idk, mrs hudson is an angel?)

/

Wem der große Wurf gelungen,


Eines Freundes Freund zu sein;

 
Wer ein holdes Weib errungen,


Mische seinen Jubel ein!


Ja, wer auch nur eine Seele


Sein nennt auf dem Erdenrund

!
Und wer’s nie gekonnt, der stehle


Weinend sich aus diesem Bund!

/

Whoever has been lucky enough.         (Luckiest man in the world,


to become a friend to a friend,                 my only friend, … ) 

 Whoever has found a beloved wife,


let him join our songs of praise!               (Uh….how bout no?)


Yes, and anyone who can call one soul


his own on this earth!                                       (My john…..)


Any who cannot,

let them slink away
from this gathering in tears!   (Mary crying,then disappearing)

/

Freude trinken alle Wesen


An den Brüsten der Natur;


Alle Guten, alle Bösen


Folgen ihrer Rosenspur

.
Küsse gab sie uns und Reben,


Einen Freund, geprüft im Tod;*

(Like.. sherlock died and
 came back for john what more proof??)

 Wollust ward dem Wurm gegeben,

 
Und der Cherub steht vor Gott. 

Every creature drinks in joy


at nature’s breast;


Good and Bad alike


follow her trail of roses.                  (Good and bad, rosie, hmmmm)


She gives us kisses and wine,


a true friend, even in death;              (Or only in death?hey mary)


Even the worm was given desire,     (Mycroft? Nah,probs moriarty)


and the cherub stands before God.    (Sherlock, my lil cherub)

/

Froh, wie seine Sonnen fliegen

Durch des Himmels prächt'gen Plan,

 (Plans…ominous)


Laufet, Brüder, eure Bahn,

 
Freudig, wie ein Held zum Siegen.

Gladly, just as His suns hurtle


through the glorious universe,


So you, brothers, should run your course,             (the way it was always


joyfully, like a conquering hero.                                  meant to be…..) 

/

Seid umschlungen, Millionen!


Diesen Kuß der ganzen Welt!


Brüder, über’m Sternenzelt


Muß ein lieber Vater wohnen.


Ihr stürzt nieder, Millionen?


Ahnest du den Schöpfer, Welt?


Such’ ihn über’m Sternenzelt!


Über Sternen muß er wohnen.

/

Be embraced, you millions!


This kiss is for the whole world!             (,!!???? Like???????Yes pls)


Brothers, above the canopy of stars


must dwell a loving father.                                (Or two? Hey dads)


Do you bow down before Him, you millions?


Do you sense your Creator, o world?


Seek Him above the canopy of stars!


He must dwell beyond the stars.

Well that was……….. kinda gay. Yeah yeah i know its just a queer reading no i dont believe it was intended to be gay by either beethoven or schiller (or was it?? Irdk) but. in the context of the show. which is rather what were looking at. Pretty damn gay, right?

Ok lets have a look at my absolute favourite lines first:

Your magic brings together/what custom has sternly divided.

Well… i think we can all agree that society has, quite sternly indeed, divided holmes and watson, romantically. Homosexuality just simply wasnt a custom, or at least very frowned upon, mildly speaking. It is rather magical to watch this wrong being righted though, i should think. More specifically in bbc sherlock, the divide has come through a custom of not speaking to each other, and guess what?? Yeah hudders is friggin done with that bs these two are talking now!

And then…

Be embraced, you millions!/This kiss is for the whole world!

*shrieking* do i? Do i really need to talk about this? I think not. This just…. yeah. I mean really….. I would like to add at this point that, at least to my ears, embraced sounds like a rather tame option of translation. “Umschlungen”, to me personally conveys a certain vigour, almost as if the embrace might… idk.. come as a surprise to some extend? Take the air from some peoples lungs? Yeah dunno what that could be about……

If you still need more i guess i could just blubber some more about it all but tbh what is structure? so yeah, here we go, feel free to leave anytime i mean its already pretty gay and hurts my heart i wont blame you if you think 

•WE ARE NOW ENTERING THE REALM OF JOY… yep thats happening things are getting happy, please, god, let them actually. And this joy that we will feel when John and Sherlock ( finally) get together will mend all the wrong thats been done to those two, and us Holmes fans, during all these years of being kept apart by society and norms and customs, homophobia and heteronormativity. Were entering a sanctuary, we are literally save here!

•General message of schiller’s ode to joy is literally that HUMAN CONNECTIONS ARE THE CROWN OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE like wow yes thank you it is as if human connections were the stuff that…completes you as a human being. Say what? 

•Not only is this true for johnlock but also for our entire community, were bound together by the joy of this show, our joy will mend what heteronormativty destroyed, the joy of their kiss will unite us, we will embrace it and the joyfull gayness will embrace us! 

 •The fact that its literally such a groundbreaking piece of music. There have been symphonies over and over but this is new, this is different, he incorporated voices. Groundbreaking,earthshattering… u get it. Seriously if anyone who has even a slither of a clue about music wants to educate me on what the inclusion of voices could stand for please im begging enlighten me my brains too fried im already struggling to get this done(as you might be able to tell. I am so sorry)

 And now, onto some more shit i stumbled upon in the original poem that, sadly, didnt make it into the song but: 

•Have patience for a better world to come, god(mofftiss) is good and will give you what you deserve

•Forget hatred and revenge, forgive your (arch)enemy who shall not have to cry or be rueful (ahem mary. Also possibly mycroft to some extent who knows whats gonna happen) 

•Bravery even in agony,help where innocence is weeping (hi john) 

•Something about oaths and telling the truth to your friends as well as enemies and how lies will bring everything down…… 

•Narrowing the circle, making oaths with wine and staying faithful(keep believing!!) 

•Salvation from tyranns, hope to the dying, mercy in council, forgiving of sins and ENDING HELL well ok then yes to all! 

 No honestly theres a lot and im horrifically underqualified and have a headache so i’ll stop now. If you actually read this whole mess of a thing.. thank you. Bless your soul. I’ll make you an origami elephant or something

[d2kvirus]

Dickheads of the Month: July 2019

As it seems that there are people who say or do things that are remarkably dickheaded yet somehow people try to make excuses for them or pretend it never happened, here is a collection of some of the dickheaded actions we saw in the month of July 2019 to make sure that they are never forgotten.

To the surprise of nobody the first cabinet of Boris Johnson is a chamber of horrors, with pro-death penalty twerp Priti Patel being appointed Home Secretary, berk who didn’t appear to realise the UK was an island Dominic Raab as Foreign Secretary, the Grime reaper to all benefits claimants Esther McVey as Housing & Communities Secretary, leaker of sensitive information Gavin Williamson as Education Secretary, while Jacob Rees Mogg decided that correcting his underlings’ grammar was more important than anything else - and he also just so happens to have appointed the campaign director of the Leave campaign Dominic Cummings as his senior advisor, and by complete coincidence the data-mining ads started appearing on Facebook almost immediately after Cummings’ appointment

To the surprise of nobody, the second The Nigel Farage Ego Project MEPs set foot inside the EU Parliament they made complete twunts of themselves by turning their backs on a band playing Ode to Joy in “protest” of the EU anthem, which only served to give people reason to ask if they were going to protest by refusing their EU-funded salaries, while others were risking a Godwin’s Law violation by pointing out that A Certain German Political Party did the exact same thing at the Reichstag in 1926

Of course, on an individual level those same Faragist MEPs were capable of making twunts of themselves, be it David Bull howling about having to travel to Strasbourg to do the job he was elected to do while also complaining about having to catch four trains being an example of EU inefficiency…when his route involved two trains to get from Ipswich to King’s Cross for the Eurostar yet once in Paris he needed one change to get to Strasbourg yet apparently it was Strasbourg that was inaccessible and not Ipswich, while Ann Widdecombe dusted off the old Leaver tropes early by comparing the EU to slave owners while expecting to be taken seriously by anyone other than the most indoctrinated of Arron Banks’ cronies

A week or so later it was Robert Rowland taking his turn in the spotlight/sitting in the corner wearing a dunce cap saying that the UK should set up a 200 mile exclusion zone around the country and task the Royal Navy with sinking any EU-based fishing vessels, which manages to be a declaration of war, a tremendous waste of resources, and a painful inability to figure out that technically he;s advocating the Royal Navy sinking any riverboat in Paris or Amsterdam due to those cities being 200 miles from the UK

Of course don’t think I didn’t notice the Lib Dem MEPs walking around in their “Bollocks to Britait” t-shirts when they showed up, once again pretending the Lib Dems could in any way win a Parliamentary vote with their eight MPs while also hoping nobody asks what would happen if their new leader was a Hard Leaver

Milkshake enthusiast Tommy Robinson had a genius defence at the High Court: he didn’t know that him filming people entering court when there were reporting restrictions was a violation of his previous court order, even though a.) He said while livestreaming it he could get in trouble and b.) That means his defence was that he wasn’t listening when being sentenced in court the previous time he was arrested for doing the exact same thing

Arbiter of whether two legs are bad or better Tony Hall warned that the world is facing an assault on truth...the day after the BBC’s Panorama ran an episode about antisemitism in the Labour party where the evidence it provided was a heavily doctored e-mail from Seamus Milne and testimony from Louise Withers Green about an interview with Jackie Walker...that is ever so slightly tainted by the fact that Walker claims to have never met her - and a few days before an edition of Victoria Derbyshire featured David Collier’s loyal lieutenant Tracy Ann Oberman being allowed to give the usual bilge from Collier’s set without anyone to offer an opposing viewpoint nor any kind of challenge from Derbyshire herself

It would seem the selective amnesia of the years 2010-15 that blights most Lib Dem supporters has affected those behind the Amber Alert Twitter feed, judging by how they are so invested in spamming Twitter with accusations that a vote for Labour at a general election is a vote for Farage - somehow forgetting that a vote for the Liberal Democrats at the 2010 general election was an actual vote for the Tories as the Lib Dems ushered them into power, or that more recently the Lib Dems were caught forming a pact with Tory and UKIP councillors in Bolton to force out the incumbent Labour council

Then again, considering that the main actions Jo Swinson took upon being elected Lib Dem leader was to try and shut down all criticism of her voting record as “misogyny” and rapidly followed that with an outright lie stating that Jeremy Corbyn was on holiday for two weeks during the EU referendum period (and when admitting the lie she tried to turn it into another attack on Corbyn) she continued the Lib Dems’ bizarre determination to be the most untrustworthy party in Britain at a time where Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage are party leaders - but when questions about her voting record continued, she then claimed it was a “personal attack” to quote something that is freely available to the public

Swinson wasn’t the only one rewriting history, as Dominic Raab claimed he had warned people about the dangers of No Deal...apart from the fact there’s plentiful evidence of him doing the exact opposite for the past three years, or to put another way a myriad of reasons to call him a liar

According to Nick Timothy it's all the fault of those belligerent Irish who don’t know their place that the Irish backstop is a major issue for any No Deal Britait plans...and definitely not the Tory party, who he was writing policy for assuming they’d be compliant towards their English lords and masters so there was no reason to plan anything in advance, let alone consider the obvious issue itt would cause

Disney announcing Halle Bailey as Ariel for the pointless live action Little Mermaid film drew a response from the triggered little manbabies that bypassed predictable and went full-on cliche, because apparently only Caucasian redheads could ever play a mermaid…even though Hans Christian Andersen didn’t specify what colour her hair was, but apparently that’s not important right now

As if milkshake enthusiast Tommy Robinson hadn’t made himself look dunderheaded enough, he then had a complete irony bypass by pleading for asylum to the US while also claiming that he was maybe a couple of days away from being sentenced to death - or, to put it another way, after years of ranting about migrants and asylum seekers he wanted to run away from a country that doesn’t have the death penalty to one that does in order to avoid a prison sentence...which he can’t even run away to as he’s banned from entering the country due to being busted for trying to enter the country on a stolen passport

It says a lot that Geert Wilders not only swallowed Robinson’s version of events whole, but parroted his belief that the UK is becoming like North Korea...which is plentiful evidence that Wilders didn’t do the slightest bit of research before mouthing off

There’s a reason why nobody has ever accused Nigel Farage of understanding irony, and that reason became abundantly clear when his response to Ursula von der Leyen winning the vote to become President of the European Commission by 54% to 46% by saying it was no clear mandate...after three years of saying a 51.8% to 48.2% vote is a mandate that should be obeyed or be branded a traitor

On the subject of accusing people who don't agree with you of treason, Tory councillor Roger Patterson tweeted that Jeremy Corbyn should be executed for treason and that Corbyn’s supporters should be exterminated

This is not to be mistaken for Dan Hodges posting the usual “something something MOMENTUM ARE THE TRUE EXTREMISTS some thing something” drivel on Twitter

As if the visual of Boris Johnson brandishing a kipper during a speech didn’t make him look like he’d forgotten he is supposed to be a politician and not a Monty Python tribute act, the fact he was mouthing off about the packaging that the EU forces upon the poor unfortunate kipper-producers of the Isle of Man was ever so slightly undone by the fact that the Isle of man is not in the EU, so the packaging is forced upon them by the United Kingdom

Once again crawling out from a particularly dense rock was Priti Patel and her latest totalitarian message to keep the plebs in line, namely how the new government should prevent the general public from being able to take legal action against the government

According to Sarah Champion she voted against Theresa May’s Britait deal as it didn’t offer enough protections, but we should absolutely have No Deal because even though that has no protections whatsoever the UK has to leave the EU because of reasons and, when challenged, compared the whole situation to a game of poker.  Sadly, not one word of what I just typed was embellished...

It was predictably depressing that the sexless edgelords of the internet responded to the murder of Bianca Devins and the subsequent posting of photos of her mutilated corpse to 4chan was to say that she deserved it and were content to concoct any reason they could think of to say this was the case, just as it was predictably depressing that the clout-chasing knobheads of the internet were posting the photos to show off that, yes, they can use screengrab...just like everybody else

In a similar vein, it surprised absolutely nobody that Tory tribalists responded to Boris Johnson dropping the investigation into Mark Field assaulting somebody with sentiments such as “she wasnt (sic) assaulted, she certainly deserved to be”

It apparently didn’t occur to Ian Austin that, if he wants to portray himself as somebody taking a stand against racism and extremism, there’s better papers to write columns for than The Sun...

It was obviously a slow month for Rachel Riley throwing accusations of antisemitism around like a burglar throws bricks through shop windows, as the best she could manage was comparing a brass band playing Hava Nagila at the Durham Miners Gala to somebody screening Black Panther at a Klan rally

Remember how Theresa May said she would support the LGBT community on her way out of office?  Apparently she didn’t, given she didn’t bother to show up for the vote on allowing same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland

Congratulations to Jacob Rees Mogg for demonstrating the combined desperation and delusion of the Hard Leave mob by using England’s victory in the Cricket World Cup to say how it “proves” the UK will be better after Britait...while ignoring the team had an Australian coach, Irish captain, as well as players from South Afirca, New Zealand and Barbados, making him sound as clueless as David Vance did when making equally tone deaf comments about the Champions League final

Can somebody tell Lewis Goodall to let it go?  His banging on about how Labour are the only British party not to have a female leader (which ignores the fact Harriet Harman was interim leader of the party in 2010 and 2015, which is worth mentioning as he cites Catherine Blaiklock’s time in charge of The Nigel Farage Ego Project as evidence of TNFEP having a female leader, but inevitably degenerated into the predictable “WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY WON’T THEY LET JESS PHILLIPS LEAD THE PARTY??????????????” whinge we’ve heard from the centrist echo chamber for too often for the past two years

Somebody at Glumberland thought the best way to announce their game Ooblets would be an Epic Games Store exclusive would be to do so with a blog that opened by being exceptionally condescending to anyone who would read it before considering maybe explaining the valid reasons why they made this choice...and then went back to sounding like it was written by a complete arsewit by saying that people should be more outraged by climate change or human rights abuses than their game deciding to be an Epic Games Store exclusive, which for some strange reason led to a teeny tiny amount of backlash against the developer...

Bloody hell, did Nike really not think that putting the Betsy Ross flag on their trainers might not be a good look?  Because guess what?  It wasn’t a good look

You would think it would be hard for G2A to make themselves look even worse by the widely-known issue that their service is regularly used by scammers to the point where indie game devs actively encourage people to pirate their games rather than buy keys from G2A’s storefront, yet G2A responded first with a bizarre statement where they attempted to clear their name by...saying something about Amazon, eBay and Google ads without actually stating there was any oversight or fraud prevention, and if that didn’t make them look inept enough they were also caught out trying to bribe journalists for favourable press coverage

Just when you think WWE fanboys couldn’t get more obnoxious in their insecurities about AEW, they start howling from the rooftops because they booked Sonny Kiss vs Peter Avalon on the pre-show for Fight for the Fallen because...I legitimately have no idea, since those same obnoxious fanboys were saying AEW needed members of the roster with character yet the second two of them were booked together on the pre-show it was like Hulk Hogan poking Kevin Nash in the chest in the main event of an episode of WCW Nitro all over again 

As per usual Manchester United fans are quick to point accusing fingers when anyone fouls one of their players, in this case Moussa Sissoko trampling on Daniel James in a pre-season friendly...yet are even quicker to make excuses for when their own players commit nasty challenges, such as Andreas Pereira going for Harry Kane’s ankle with a studs-up challenge in the same game

Oh joy, it’s the annual return of the lunatic fringe of Spurs supporters and this time they have two hashtags, with PackPoch joining the usual LevyOut one - which in no way makes them look like entitled wankers who think that, as a transfer takes minutes in Football Manager, that is obviously how they happen in real life 

So not only did Paddy Power plaster their logo across Huddersfield Town’s kit in an absolute monstrosity that made the club a laughing stock, but a few days later they admitted it was some kind of publicity stunt...which made the club a laughing stock for a second time

And finally, as per usual, we have Donald Trump and his belief that airports existed in the 18th century, which is somehow the fault of the teleprompter not working and not him being so dense that he couldn’t think for himself about airports not existing in the 18th century - although for some reason he isn’t telling his Slovenian-born wife to use one of those airports to go back where she came from, but he does say that about any US-born congresswoman who disagrees with him while also happening to not be white

[simonconsultancypage]

Why Corporate America Needs a Strong D&O Insurance Market

Paul Ferrillo

In the following guest post, Paul Ferrillo takes a look at the current state of the D&O insurance market and provides his views on the importance of a healthy D&O market for corporate America. Paul is a shareholder in the Greenberg Traurig law firm’s Cybersecurity, Privacy, and Crisis Management Practice. I would like to thank Paul for his willingness to allow me to publish his article on this site. I welcome guest post submissions from responsible authors on topics of interest to this blog’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is Paul’s article.

  ****************************

  It does not take a psychic to understand the title of this article.  But maybe it takes one more phrase to make the title complete: “because of the increase in securities litigation, the increase in enforcement activity by the SEC, Cybersecurity issues (and their regulatory issues) and the general uncertainties of the political environment in the United States.”

What do all these things have in common?  They can cause Claims.  What do Claims cost?  Money, and lots of it, to defend and settle them.  And where does this money come from generally?  The D&O carriers.

Not so complicated, right?  Yet it is, as many of the above-mentioned elements can arguably double and triple the cost of Claims, meaning there is potentially a double and tripling of costs and expenses.  But what you say?  Aren’t the carriers making a fortune on premiums today because of these various factors?  Well, maybe, maybe not.  It depends upon who you ask and for what period you are asking about.  The bottom line is that both corporations and D&O insurers need each other to remain healthy and strong. In uncertain economic times, corporations depend upon D&O carriers to be especially strong, since the corporations and directors may call upon the carriers to pay their claims.  Market forces and heavy competition have not allowed this “balance” to happen for many years prior to the recent past.  We explain why below, and why that fact is a potential problem.

  Securities Litigation Claims are at record highs and have long tails

We won’t spend much time on this one.  D&O claims have increased over the last few years.  Securities litigation claims were at record highs in 2017 and 2018, with 403 new federal class actions being filed in 2018 (slightly down from 412 new cases in 2017).  See “Securities Class Action Filings, 2018: a year in review,” available here.  A continuing part of the increase in securities class action filings is the number of filings made after the announcement of a merger or acquisition – in 2018 there were 182 “deal” cases, the second largest number since 2009.

Though filings for 2019 are down slightly from record levels in 2017 and 2018, from a D&O insurance perspective the potential damage has already been done.  Even assuming 45% of those cases filed in 2017 and 2018 get dismissed in one way or another (the average dismissal rate), it means that the 449 cases filed in these years in “inventory” will likely proceed, and cost money to litigate and ultimately settle.  And factoring in an average settlement of $30 million dollars (excluding defense costs), see Recent Trends in Securities Class Action Litigation: 2018 Full-Year Review, available here, these cases could ultimately cost $13.5 billion dollars to settle.  This estimated monetary number, amazing but true, would not include the recent trend of large shareholder derivative settlements that we have seen in the last two years.  Since not all cases settle immediately, the number of cases in inventory is likely much higher than the 449 cases estimate we gave above. So $13.5 billion in potential settlement value is likely “low” as well at the end of the day.

Two more facts to entertain here regarding the impact of securities litigation claims on corporate America, and their D&O insurers:

1) SEC enforcement activity is on the rise.  When the SEC chooses to investigate a company regarding an alleged securities fraud suit, there is no doubt that investigation costs both time, and money. Depending upon the nature and seriousness of the allegations being made (e.g. a “Worldcom” like case), the SEC investigation might ultimately cause the securities litigation suit to settle at a much higher number. There are plenty of examples for this proposition;

2) Cyber Risk can magnify, and in fact cause, securities litigation.  We have seen this story play out before since 2013.  Without identifying company names, cybersecurity breaches can cause loss of extreme amounts of data, a plethora of bad press, and generate privacy litigation and regulatory proceedings.  And cybersecurity breaches can cause stock and market capitalization losses.  Market capitalization losses generate securities class action lawsuits.  Enough said.

  Cyber Risk is increasing exponentially

We almost don’t need to reiterate this fact.  It is evident every day of the week when the most recent hack or breach gets announced across the relevant high-activity blogs.

  So, what is new about cyber risk?  Two things that really matter to directors and officers:

1) Cybersecurity Litigation is now sticking: Though early cyber and privacy related litigation was flashy and new, it did not result in head-spinning monetary settlements.  That is not true today and settlements since the Anthem Healthcare breach have been on the rise.  Why is this important?  Well merely that these settlements are evidencing to the plaintiff bar that cybersecurity breach litigation can be profitable, if not lucrative, for the right case.  This will cause competition among the plaintiffs’ class action firms. And more litigation and more firms get in the game; and

2) Cyber regulators are more on the hunt than ever before.  No doubt this was an expected occurrence in the cybersecurity ecosystem.  It had to happen based upon the sheer volume of new laws and regulations that are being put on the books every month.  We even expected the EU GDPR, which went into effect in May 2018, to be problematic based upon its sheer breath and the prior fines of US companies where privacy was at issue.  But today, the world has changed again, with record fines being recently assessed against British Airways and Marriot in the amount of $230 million and $123 million, respectively.  These are very large amounts, and potentially will be added into the mix of damages sought in against the companies and its board of directors.

  D&O Premiums have increased, but only recently

So, we see some factors stacking up here that should have indicated steadily increasing premiums over the last few years to account for the breath of the new securities lawsuits (including the pre-existing glut of merger-related lawsuits and derivative actions) and expanded risk of the directors and officers to cybersecurity incidents and breaches.

But believe it or not, real increases of greater than 5 % have only occurred in the last four or five quarters.  In the 4 years prior, not insubstantial rate decreases were the norm.  Or increases were “close to zero” when it came to pricing coverage for excess D&O insurance layers.

  Why we need a healthy D&O market for both coverage, and to pay claims

Stepping back, the natural reaction to these facts might be “too bad for the carriers.”  But that really is not the whole story.  There are good arguments for some insureds that rate increases should be supported.  Why?  D&O insurance serves an important purpose to both the healthiest of companies (to help them recruit directors), and to companies that are not so healthy since it serves to backstop claims for advancement and indemnification.  This is especially true when insolvency or bankruptcy might be a real issue for a company.  Getting the right primary D&O carrier who will pay your claim is critical.  But getting the right level of excess D&O coverage is also critical for the larger company, and sometimes you can only build that tower with a “name-brand” carrier which might cost you a little more in premium.  You tend to pay for what you get in D&O coverage, and paying a little bit more can help do the trick.

  But rate increases also don’t mean a blank check should be given to your carrier either.  In times like today, where rate increases are sought, it might be time to ask what your primary or excess carrier can do for you.  Do you need a coverage enhancement?  Do you need a $15 million primary policy instead of a $10 million primary?  Do you need a $15 million layer at the top of your $100 million tower, but you can only get a $10 million layer?  Maybe rate will help you accomplish your coverage goals.

  Today’s D&O market is a fast and ever-changing one.  So is the world for that matter, where political tensions seem to simmer constantly below the boiling point, both domestically and internationally.  Ultimately, we are NOT saying to roll over and play dead when your carriers want a premium increase for all the reasons we mention above. But we are saying your response might rather be, “how can we both help each other in these challenging times.”

The post Why Corporate America Needs a Strong D&O Insurance Market appeared first on The D&O Diary.

Why Corporate America Needs a Strong D&O Insurance Market published first on http://simonconsultancypage.tumblr.com/

[lawfultruth]

Why Corporate America Needs a Strong D&O Insurance Market

Paul Ferrillo

In the following guest post, Paul Ferrillo takes a look at the current state of the D&O insurance market and provides his views on the importance of a healthy D&O market for corporate America. Paul is a shareholder in the Greenberg Traurig law firm’s Cybersecurity, Privacy, and Crisis Management Practice. I would like to thank Paul for his willingness to allow me to publish his article on this site. I welcome guest post submissions from responsible authors on topics of interest to this blog’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is Paul’s article.

  ****************************

  It does not take a psychic to understand the title of this article.  But maybe it takes one more phrase to make the title complete: “because of the increase in securities litigation, the increase in enforcement activity by the SEC, Cybersecurity issues (and their regulatory issues) and the general uncertainties of the political environment in the United States.”

What do all these things have in common?  They can cause Claims.  What do Claims cost?  Money, and lots of it, to defend and settle them.  And where does this money come from generally?  The D&O carriers.

Not so complicated, right?  Yet it is, as many of the above-mentioned elements can arguably double and triple the cost of Claims, meaning there is potentially a double and tripling of costs and expenses.  But what you say?  Aren’t the carriers making a fortune on premiums today because of these various factors?  Well, maybe, maybe not.  It depends upon who you ask and for what period you are asking about.  The bottom line is that both corporations and D&O insurers need each other to remain healthy and strong. In uncertain economic times, corporations depend upon D&O carriers to be especially strong, since the corporations and directors may call upon the carriers to pay their claims.  Market forces and heavy competition have not allowed this “balance” to happen for many years prior to the recent past.  We explain why below, and why that fact is a potential problem.

  Securities Litigation Claims are at record highs and have long tails

We won’t spend much time on this one.  D&O claims have increased over the last few years.  Securities litigation claims were at record highs in 2017 and 2018, with 403 new federal class actions being filed in 2018 (slightly down from 412 new cases in 2017).  See “Securities Class Action Filings, 2018: a year in review,” available here.  A continuing part of the increase in securities class action filings is the number of filings made after the announcement of a merger or acquisition – in 2018 there were 182 “deal” cases, the second largest number since 2009.

Though filings for 2019 are down slightly from record levels in 2017 and 2018, from a D&O insurance perspective the potential damage has already been done.  Even assuming 45% of those cases filed in 2017 and 2018 get dismissed in one way or another (the average dismissal rate), it means that the 449 cases filed in these years in “inventory” will likely proceed, and cost money to litigate and ultimately settle.  And factoring in an average settlement of $30 million dollars (excluding defense costs), see Recent Trends in Securities Class Action Litigation: 2018 Full-Year Review, available here, these cases could ultimately cost $13.5 billion dollars to settle.  This estimated monetary number, amazing but true, would not include the recent trend of large shareholder derivative settlements that we have seen in the last two years.  Since not all cases settle immediately, the number of cases in inventory is likely much higher than the 449 cases estimate we gave above. So $13.5 billion in potential settlement value is likely “low” as well at the end of the day.

Two more facts to entertain here regarding the impact of securities litigation claims on corporate America, and their D&O insurers:

1) SEC enforcement activity is on the rise.  When the SEC chooses to investigate a company regarding an alleged securities fraud suit, there is no doubt that investigation costs both time, and money. Depending upon the nature and seriousness of the allegations being made (e.g. a “Worldcom” like case), the SEC investigation might ultimately cause the securities litigation suit to settle at a much higher number. There are plenty of examples for this proposition;

2) Cyber Risk can magnify, and in fact cause, securities litigation.  We have seen this story play out before since 2013.  Without identifying company names, cybersecurity breaches can cause loss of extreme amounts of data, a plethora of bad press, and generate privacy litigation and regulatory proceedings.  And cybersecurity breaches can cause stock and market capitalization losses.  Market capitalization losses generate securities class action lawsuits.  Enough said.

  Cyber Risk is increasing exponentially

We almost don’t need to reiterate this fact.  It is evident every day of the week when the most recent hack or breach gets announced across the relevant high-activity blogs.

  So, what is new about cyber risk?  Two things that really matter to directors and officers:

1) Cybersecurity Litigation is now sticking: Though early cyber and privacy related litigation was flashy and new, it did not result in head-spinning monetary settlements.  That is not true today and settlements since the Anthem Healthcare breach have been on the rise.  Why is this important?  Well merely that these settlements are evidencing to the plaintiff bar that cybersecurity breach litigation can be profitable, if not lucrative, for the right case.  This will cause competition among the plaintiffs’ class action firms. And more litigation and more firms get in the game; and

2) Cyber regulators are more on the hunt than ever before.  No doubt this was an expected occurrence in the cybersecurity ecosystem.  It had to happen based upon the sheer volume of new laws and regulations that are being put on the books every month.  We even expected the EU GDPR, which went into effect in May 2018, to be problematic based upon its sheer breath and the prior fines of US companies where privacy was at issue.  But today, the world has changed again, with record fines being recently assessed against British Airways and Marriot in the amount of $230 million and $123 million, respectively.  These are very large amounts, and potentially will be added into the mix of damages sought in against the companies and its board of directors.

  D&O Premiums have increased, but only recently

So, we see some factors stacking up here that should have indicated steadily increasing premiums over the last few years to account for the breath of the new securities lawsuits (including the pre-existing glut of merger-related lawsuits and derivative actions) and expanded risk of the directors and officers to cybersecurity incidents and breaches.

But believe it or not, real increases of greater than 5 % have only occurred in the last four or five quarters.  In the 4 years prior, not insubstantial rate decreases were the norm.  Or increases were “close to zero” when it came to pricing coverage for excess D&O insurance layers.

  Why we need a healthy D&O market for both coverage, and to pay claims

Stepping back, the natural reaction to these facts might be “too bad for the carriers.”  But that really is not the whole story.  There are good arguments for some insureds that rate increases should be supported.  Why?  D&O insurance serves an important purpose to both the healthiest of companies (to help them recruit directors), and to companies that are not so healthy since it serves to backstop claims for advancement and indemnification.  This is especially true when insolvency or bankruptcy might be a real issue for a company.  Getting the right primary D&O carrier who will pay your claim is critical.  But getting the right level of excess D&O coverage is also critical for the larger company, and sometimes you can only build that tower with a “name-brand” carrier which might cost you a little more in premium.  You tend to pay for what you get in D&O coverage, and paying a little bit more can help do the trick.

  But rate increases also don’t mean a blank check should be given to your carrier either.  In times like today, where rate increases are sought, it might be time to ask what your primary or excess carrier can do for you.  Do you need a coverage enhancement?  Do you need a $15 million primary policy instead of a $10 million primary?  Do you need a $15 million layer at the top of your $100 million tower, but you can only get a $10 million layer?  Maybe rate will help you accomplish your coverage goals.

  Today’s D&O market is a fast and ever-changing one.  So is the world for that matter, where political tensions seem to simmer constantly below the boiling point, both domestically and internationally.  Ultimately, we are NOT saying to roll over and play dead when your carriers want a premium increase for all the reasons we mention above. But we are saying your response might rather be, “how can we both help each other in these challenging times.”

The post Why Corporate America Needs a Strong D&O Insurance Market appeared first on The D&O Diary.

Why Corporate America Needs a Strong D&O Insurance Market syndicated from https://ronenkurzfeldweb.wordpress.com/

[golicit]

Why Corporate America Needs a Strong D&O Insurance Market

Paul Ferrillo

In the following guest post, Paul Ferrillo takes a look at the current state of the D&O insurance market and provides his views on the importance of a healthy D&O market for corporate America. Paul is a shareholder in the Greenberg Traurig law firm’s Cybersecurity, Privacy, and Crisis Management Practice. I would like to thank Paul for his willingness to allow me to publish his article on this site. I welcome guest post submissions from responsible authors on topics of interest to this blog’s readers. Please contact me directly if you would like to submit a guest post. Here is Paul’s article.

  ****************************

  It does not take a psychic to understand the title of this article.  But maybe it takes one more phrase to make the title complete: “because of the increase in securities litigation, the increase in enforcement activity by the SEC, Cybersecurity issues (and their regulatory issues) and the general uncertainties of the political environment in the United States.”

What do all these things have in common?  They can cause Claims.  What do Claims cost?  Money, and lots of it, to defend and settle them.  And where does this money come from generally?  The D&O carriers.

Not so complicated, right?  Yet it is, as many of the above-mentioned elements can arguably double and triple the cost of Claims, meaning there is potentially a double and tripling of costs and expenses.  But what you say?  Aren’t the carriers making a fortune on premiums today because of these various factors?  Well, maybe, maybe not.  It depends upon who you ask and for what period you are asking about.  The bottom line is that both corporations and D&O insurers need each other to remain healthy and strong. In uncertain economic times, corporations depend upon D&O carriers to be especially strong, since the corporations and directors may call upon the carriers to pay their claims.  Market forces and heavy competition have not allowed this “balance” to happen for many years prior to the recent past.  We explain why below, and why that fact is a potential problem.

  Securities Litigation Claims are at record highs and have long tails

We won’t spend much time on this one.  D&O claims have increased over the last few years.  Securities litigation claims were at record highs in 2017 and 2018, with 403 new federal class actions being filed in 2018 (slightly down from 412 new cases in 2017).  See “Securities Class Action Filings, 2018: a year in review,” available here.  A continuing part of the increase in securities class action filings is the number of filings made after the announcement of a merger or acquisition – in 2018 there were 182 “deal” cases, the second largest number since 2009.

Though filings for 2019 are down slightly from record levels in 2017 and 2018, from a D&O insurance perspective the potential damage has already been done.  Even assuming 45% of those cases filed in 2017 and 2018 get dismissed in one way or another (the average dismissal rate), it means that the 449 cases filed in these years in “inventory” will likely proceed, and cost money to litigate and ultimately settle.  And factoring in an average settlement of $30 million dollars (excluding defense costs), see Recent Trends in Securities Class Action Litigation: 2018 Full-Year Review, available here, these cases could ultimately cost $13.5 billion dollars to settle.  This estimated monetary number, amazing but true, would not include the recent trend of large shareholder derivative settlements that we have seen in the last two years.  Since not all cases settle immediately, the number of cases in inventory is likely much higher than the 449 cases estimate we gave above. So $13.5 billion in potential settlement value is likely “low” as well at the end of the day.

Two more facts to entertain here regarding the impact of securities litigation claims on corporate America, and their D&O insurers:

1) SEC enforcement activity is on the rise.  When the SEC chooses to investigate a company regarding an alleged securities fraud suit, there is no doubt that investigation costs both time, and money. Depending upon the nature and seriousness of the allegations being made (e.g. a “Worldcom” like case), the SEC investigation might ultimately cause the securities litigation suit to settle at a much higher number. There are plenty of examples for this proposition;

2) Cyber Risk can magnify, and in fact cause, securities litigation.  We have seen this story play out before since 2013.  Without identifying company names, cybersecurity breaches can cause loss of extreme amounts of data, a plethora of bad press, and generate privacy litigation and regulatory proceedings.  And cybersecurity breaches can cause stock and market capitalization losses.  Market capitalization losses generate securities class action lawsuits.  Enough said.

  Cyber Risk is increasing exponentially

We almost don’t need to reiterate this fact.  It is evident every day of the week when the most recent hack or breach gets announced across the relevant high-activity blogs.

  So, what is new about cyber risk?  Two things that really matter to directors and officers:

1) Cybersecurity Litigation is now sticking: Though early cyber and privacy related litigation was flashy and new, it did not result in head-spinning monetary settlements.  That is not true today and settlements since the Anthem Healthcare breach have been on the rise.  Why is this important?  Well merely that these settlements are evidencing to the plaintiff bar that cybersecurity breach litigation can be profitable, if not lucrative, for the right case.  This will cause competition among the plaintiffs’ class action firms. And more litigation and more firms get in the game; and

2) Cyber regulators are more on the hunt than ever before.  No doubt this was an expected occurrence in the cybersecurity ecosystem.  It had to happen based upon the sheer volume of new laws and regulations that are being put on the books every month.  We even expected the EU GDPR, which went into effect in May 2018, to be problematic based upon its sheer breath and the prior fines of US companies where privacy was at issue.  But today, the world has changed again, with record fines being recently assessed against British Airways and Marriot in the amount of $230 million and $123 million, respectively.  These are very large amounts, and potentially will be added into the mix of damages sought in against the companies and its board of directors.

  D&O Premiums have increased, but only recently

So, we see some factors stacking up here that should have indicated steadily increasing premiums over the last few years to account for the breath of the new securities lawsuits (including the pre-existing glut of merger-related lawsuits and derivative actions) and expanded risk of the directors and officers to cybersecurity incidents and breaches.

But believe it or not, real increases of greater than 5 % have only occurred in the last four or five quarters.  In the 4 years prior, not insubstantial rate decreases were the norm.  Or increases were “close to zero” when it came to pricing coverage for excess D&O insurance layers.

  Why we need a healthy D&O market for both coverage, and to pay claims

Stepping back, the natural reaction to these facts might be “too bad for the carriers.”  But that really is not the whole story.  There are good arguments for some insureds that rate increases should be supported.  Why?  D&O insurance serves an important purpose to both the healthiest of companies (to help them recruit directors), and to companies that are not so healthy since it serves to backstop claims for advancement and indemnification.  This is especially true when insolvency or bankruptcy might be a real issue for a company.  Getting the right primary D&O carrier who will pay your claim is critical.  But getting the right level of excess D&O coverage is also critical for the larger company, and sometimes you can only build that tower with a “name-brand” carrier which might cost you a little more in premium.  You tend to pay for what you get in D&O coverage, and paying a little bit more can help do the trick.

  But rate increases also don’t mean a blank check should be given to your carrier either.  In times like today, where rate increases are sought, it might be time to ask what your primary or excess carrier can do for you.  Do you need a coverage enhancement?  Do you need a $15 million primary policy instead of a $10 million primary?  Do you need a $15 million layer at the top of your $100 million tower, but you can only get a $10 million layer?  Maybe rate will help you accomplish your coverage goals.

  Today’s D&O market is a fast and ever-changing one.  So is the world for that matter, where political tensions seem to simmer constantly below the boiling point, both domestically and internationally.  Ultimately, we are NOT saying to roll over and play dead when your carriers want a premium increase for all the reasons we mention above. But we are saying your response might rather be, “how can we both help each other in these challenging times.”

The post Why Corporate America Needs a Strong D&O Insurance Market appeared first on The D&O Diary.

Why Corporate America Needs a Strong D&O Insurance Market published first on