Latest news with #Longley
BBC News
28-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Derby sailor to race around the world with amateur crew
A woman from Derby will spend a year sailing around the world in a 70ft yacht crewed by mate Zoe Longley will be one of two professional sailors on board one of 10 yachts taking part in the biannual Clipper Round the World Yacht Race - dubbed the "world's toughest endurance challenge".The crews will make six ocean crossings and call into 14 ports across the globe, including Oban, Cape Town, Qingdao and said the race was set to be "intense" but the opportunity to sail around the world was a dream come true. She said: "I've wanted to sail around the world for a long time."I've heard it's a bit of a test but I'm very much up for it as I'm sure all the crew are."There's lots of pulling on ropes, lots of pulling on sails, lots of boat tilting trying not to fall off." Each crew, aside from the skipper and first mate, is made up of amateurs who will be steering their vessels 40,000 nautical miles when the event gets under way from Portsmouth on 31 Longley, 27, said: "They don't have to have had any previous experience before they sign up to do the Clipper Race but they would have all done at least four weeks of intense sailing to prepare for the race."And then as the race goes on the training continues, it never stops so by the end of the race the circumnavigators are pretty good - there's actually two mates this year that were circumnavigators the race before."Taking charge of an inexperienced crew means the event carries out a rigorous selection Rivers, deputy race director, said: "Our talented first mates have sailed all over the world and come from diverse maritime backgrounds."Their primary role throughout the race is to support the team skipper in all aspects of boat management, meaning this bunch are not only great sailors but also teachers, leaders and mentors for the race crew." Miss Longley has previous experience on transatlantic deliveries, conservation expeditions in Mexico and crewing scuba diving vessels in said: "Before this job I did lots of other stuff including some skippering myself, so I feel very much prepared for this new exciting adventure."It doesn't really feel like giving up a year of my life for a job, it feels quite the opposite."
CBC
25-04-2025
- Politics
- CBC
What happens to fringe parties if the election is a 2-horse race?
Social Sharing Cannabis has been legal in Canada since 2018 and yet the Marijuana Party — which was formed to champion legalization — is still running two candidates in this election. "The Marijuana Party has been effectively dead. I've kept it barely alive by doing the minimum necessary to keep it registered," Blair Longley, the party's leader, told CBC News. The party has shifted focus since 2018, raising concerns about how the government regulates pot. "It's just so rife with absurdities and psychotic BS … it's so screwed up," Longley said of the government's regulatory system. He said that his party has been able to stay registered thanks to people who share those concerns and are willing to take out party memberships. "[But] if it was only that issue, then I would have been out of this game a long time ago," he said. Longley said his main concern right now is electoral financing rules he believes are overly restrictive for smaller parties. He's filed legal challenges against the government over those laws with limited success and says he is currently trying to take the government to court again. "It not just disadvantages smaller parties in general, but [it's] particularly worse on the Marijuana Party," Longley said. Room for smaller parties in this campaign? The Marijuana Party is one of 10 small parties that are only running only a handful of candidates this election. Combined, there are 199 candidates for these small slates. With the election shaping up as a two-horse race between the Liberals and Conservatives, Richard Johnston, a professor emeritus with the University of British Columbia's political science department, says the smaller parties have become more sidelined than usual. "It leaves them even more kicked to the side of the road than in a more ordinary election," he said. But Chris MacKenzie — a political sociologist at the University of British Columbia and author of Pro-Family Politics and Fringe Parties in Canada — says small parties rarely focus on electoral success. Rather, they get involved to help draw attention to issues they don't feel are fully addressed by their larger counterparts. "What their registration as a political party gives them is a platform. It gives them a voice in [the] mainstream electoral political domain where they can go to all-candidates' meetings and they can emphasize the issue that is of particular concern to them," he said. That being said, MacKenzie agrees that there is probably less appetite for the electorate to cast a "boutique vote" in this election given the heightened sense of urgency around the main ballot questions, specifically U.S. relations and the cost of living. It's a rarity to see smaller parties have electoral success and they typically act as a protest vote for Canadians disaffected by the major parties. In 2021, small parties accounted 0.75 per cent of the total votes cast. MacKenzie anticipates they'll account for even less this time around. "There's a certain acute urgency, I think, at play in this election. And that doesn't play well for little minor parties," he said. WATCH | With the election days away, here's what the polls are signalling: With the election days away, here's what the polls are signalling 1 day ago Duration 4:23 As the federal election campaign heads into its final weekend, poll aggregators Eric Grenier and Philippe J. Fournier describe what they see in the latest poll numbers and some hotly contested ridings, where the Liberals appear to be losing ground. But Johnston said that sense of urgency might also play into the smaller parties' hands. "I suppose that the hope is that they can take advantage of the heightened attention of voters to the political scene to get their message out, at least to some people," he said. MacKenzie said smaller parties typically represent singular issues. That's evident by their names, such as the Animal Protection Party or the Christian Heritage Party. Other smaller parties appear to try to occupy areas of the political spectrum that might not necessarily be represented by the major parties. On the right, MacKenzie said the United Party of Canada is taking a more hardline stance than the People's Party of Canada on some issues. The Centrist Party and the Future Party have tried to place themselves between the Conservatives and Liberals. The Communist Party and the Marxist-Leninist Party find themselves on the far left. But even these parties can trend toward singular issues, MacKenzie said, pointing to the Future Party as an example. The Future Party officially launched last summer, billing itself as a centrist option for voters who have become disillusioned with the Liberals and Conservatives. But MacKenzie said it has largely focused on defence spending this campaign, pushing for Canada to boost its military budget to five per cent of GDP by 2030. MacKenzie also pointed to the United Party — which was formed by a former Conservative member who attempted to run for the leadership in 2022 — seeming mostly focused on restricting abortion rights and expanding gun rights. The future of the fringe Johnston argued that the heyday of fringe parties might be coming to an end. "It seems that they flourished more in the late 1980s and early 1990s. We actually talked about the [satirical] Rhinoceros [Party]. We talked about Christian Heritage — not a lot, but enough" he said. "[Now] there's been less room in the conversation for these fringe parties." But MacKenzie said even if they don't have electoral success, fringe parties serve a purpose as a "sentinel for democracy." "What they're saying is, 'Listen, you can sit down with your friends at a kitchen table and have issues that are of significance to you, and we can register a political party and we can go and try to get elected and get our message out.' That's how the democratic process is supposed to unfold," he said.
The Intercept
23-04-2025
- Politics
- The Intercept
Trump Administration Texted College Professors' Personal Phones to Ask If They're Jewish
Most professors at Barnard College received text messages on Monday notifying them that a federal agency was reviewing the college's employment practices, according to copies of the messages reviewed by The Intercept. The messages, sent to most Barnard professors' personal cellphones, asked them to complete a voluntary survey about their employment. 'Please select all that apply,' said the second question in the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or EEOC, survey. 'The federal government reaching out to our personal cellphones to identify who is Jewish is incredibly sinister.' The choices followed: 'I am Jewish'; 'I am Israeli'; 'I have shared Jewish/Israeli ancestry'; 'I practice Judaism'; and 'Other.' Other questions asked respondents whether they had been subjected to antisemitism, as well as whether they were subject to 'unwelcome discussions,' graffiti or signs depicting antisemitic messages or images, antisemitic or anti-Israeli protests, 'unwelcome comments, jokes or discussions,' or 'pressure to abandon, change or adopt a practice or religious belief.' 'The federal government reaching out to our personal cellphones to identify who is Jewish is incredibly sinister,' said Barnard associate professor Debbie Becher, who is Jewish and received the text. 'They are clearly targeting what most of the United States, I hope and I think, defines as freedom of speech, but only in the case of anti-Israeli speech.' EEOC Investigation In an email to professors on Wednesday after The Intercept first reported on the text, the general counsel at Barnard, a women's college affiliated with Columbia University, said the EEOC initiated an investigation against Barnard last summer into whether the school had discriminated against Jewish employees. The EEOC was 'legally entitled to obtain the contact information of Barnard's employees' to send out the option to 'voluntarily participate in their investigation,' Barnard vice president and general counsel Serena Longley wrote in the email obtained by The Intercept. Barnard complied with the request. Going forward, the school said it would provide advance notice of any future requirements to provide staff information in connection with an investigation or litigation unless they were subject to a court order prohibiting them from doing so. Longley told staff they were not required to participate in the EEOC survey. In a previous email on Monday evening, the general counsel at Barnard said the school had received multiple reports about the EEOC texts. 'Barnard was not given advance notice of this outreach,' Longley wrote. 'If you choose to respond, please know that both federal law and Barnard policy strictly prohibit any form of retaliation.' Neither the EEOC nor Barnard immediately responded to requests for comment. The text messages are the latest episode stoking tensions on campus at Columbia, a flashpoint in the protests against the war on Gaza and the ensuing crackdown carried out by school administrators and the federal government. Weaponizing EEOC The Trump administration has already weaponized the EEOC, once tasked with enforcing laws against discrimination, as part of Donald Trump's broad-based attacks on national programs to bolster 'DEI,' or diversity, equity, and inclusion. These initiatives have been villainized in Trump's rhetoric and attacked in executive orders that carried severe consequences for their targets. The EEOC is intended to be an independent agency. It currently lacks a quorum, meaning that it is operating largely at the whims of Trump appointee, Republican Acting Chair Andrea Lucas. Those attacks on DEI have leveraged the EEOC to retaliate against corporate law firms that have drawn Trump's ire. It was reported on Tuesday that a new federal task force at the Department of Veterans Affairs is asking employees to report 'anti-Christian bias' to the government. Professors who received the survey link told The Intercept they're concerned that the EEOC is now being used to attack faculty on college campuses that have been the site of yearslong protests against Israel's war on Gaza. At first, some people thought the text message was spam, said Becher, the Barnard professor. 'The email that we received seems to confirm for us that Barnard thinks it is the EEOC, and not something else,' Becher said. 'The government is weaponizing the EEOC in service of their own hatred and service of their own desire to destroy higher education,' Becher said. 'And in their desire to silence speech about — as they have been — their desire to silence any speech that might criticize Israel as part of that larger campaign as well.' No Assurances One professor, who asked for anonymity for fear of retaliation, said several students also received the message Another professor who is not currently employed at Barnard also received the text, the Barnard professor said. The Barnard professor said they were alarmed by news of the inquiry and that the government had access to their personal cellphone numbers and names. They said they were not aware of any professors at Columbia outside of Barnard receiving the EEOC text. The professor said they were concerned that the survey opened a new pathway for people to make anonymous complaints to the government about faculty supporting pro-Palestine students. Barnard launched an anonymous 'Ethics Reporting Hotline' last week. The Trump administration and Republicans in Congress have blamed DEI for myriad government problems from plane crashes to the killing of U.S. soldiers abroad. The administration has used its stated efforts to dismantle 'wokeness' and DEI to undo the legacy of the civil rights movement — part of its broader play to supporters in the Christian far-right. Trump has made eradicating anti-Christian bias — largely a myth — a cornerstone of his platform, critical to maintaining his relationship with his mass of right-wing evangelical supporters. The survey sent to Barnard professors noted that the questions were part of an EEOC inquiry into the school. It also noted that the fact that EEOC was reviewing Barnard's employment practices 'does not mean there has been a violation of the law.' Barnard has been complicit and worked with the administration on its false campaign against antisemitism for over a year, Becher said. 'This administration of white nationalists has never been interested in antisemitism, an administration that is full of hate,' Becher said. 'It's farcical to say that what this is actually doing is protecting us from antisemitism.' Barnard President Laura Ann Rosenbury has also resisted faculty requests that the administration confirm that they won't give out information to the government without a court order, Becher said. 'It's farcical to say that what this is actually doing is protecting us from antisemitism.' 'They are not responding to our requests even for information about whether they've met with them in the middle of this time when we know that they have been called to a congressional briefing,' she said. 'They're providing us with absolutely no assurances that they are protecting us and even just protecting information about us that is private.' It's important for the government to have the power to investigate entities for discriminatory practices, Becher said, but that's not what they're doing in this case. Most of the efforts to use civil rights to silence people at universities has come under Title VI provisions that protect against discrimination by national origin. 'This is using Title VII, which is anti-discrimination in employment,' Becher said. 'They are using Title VII procedures that a non-fascist, non-weaponized government we want to have access to. That is, the power to proactively investigate discriminatory employers. But they're using it to attack a targeted civil society institution.' This story has been updated to include more information about the EEOC survey text messages and background on the Trump administration's weaponization of the agency and attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
Perth Now
23-04-2025
- Sport
- Perth Now
Popular Perth beach to host Sail Grand Prix for first time
Luring the Sail Grand Prix championship west for the first time will give West Australians a once in 40-year chance to rekindle a nostalgic love affair with sailing off Fremantle, according to Americas Cup legend John Longley. The annual championship takes place in major cities across the world including New York and Saint-Tropez and for the next three years, Fremantle as well. 'We are absolutely delighted, I honestly don't think Perth and Fremantle will realise how huge this event is until they see it next year,' Mr Longley told PerthNow. Your local paper, whenever you want it. 'This is a major event and a huge number of eyeballs watch these events, it is going to be fantastic for Fremantle and for Perth. 'It is easily comparable with the Formula One, it will be like the America's Cup revisited.' Called the PerthSail Grand Prix, the new Australian leg will take place over two days with a minimum of three 15-minute races per day and a showdown between the three highest-scoring teams. It is expected SailGP will attract thousands of overseas tourists to WA next January. Spectators will be able to watch the event from a purpose-built grandstand. Australia II crew members John Longley and Skip Lissiman in Fremantle. Credit: Jackson Flindell / The West Australian The event will also return to WA in 2027 and 2028 as part of a three-year deal. SailGP is one of the world's most fast-paced and prestigious sailing events, featuring 50-foot catamarans raced by teams from 12 nations close to the shoreline and at speeds of more than 100km/h. Fremantle mayor Hannah Fitzhardinge heaped praise on Mr Longley, a veteran of five campaigns for the America's Cup including Australia II's breakthrough victory in 1983, and another local legend from the victorious 1983 crew Skip Lissiman, who through the Warren Jones Foundation had lobbied hard for Fremantle's inclusion. 'Fremantle is known around the world as a brilliant sailing destination and sailing is a sport that's close to our hearts,' she said. 'This is an exciting opportunity for the people of Perth to experience world-class, adrenalin-fuelled racing on water. The speeds at which these boats go is mind-blowing. 'We saw the huge crowds that flocked to Sydney Harbour for the SailGP race there earlier this year. If that's anything to go by, the atmosphere at Bathers Beach/Manjaree will be electric.' Mr Longley said the Warren Jones Foundation had always wanted to bring another prestigious event to Fremantle and carry on the port city's sailing legacy. 'SailGP has always been interested in Fremantle but Sydney has had an exclusive deal with them which ended in 2025,' he said. 'To bring a top event to Fremantle has always been our priority, the great advantage of this event is the boats sail right in close, people will almost feel like they can touch them.' Australian Sailing chief executive Ben Houston said WA deserved a chance to watch the Australian SailGP team — which he called the most successful team in the history of the competition — up close. 'It is a fitting reward for Perth. Western Australia has long been a hotbed of Australian sailing talent, with some of our greatest Australian sailors learning their craft on the Swan River and out in the Indian Ocean,' he said. 'We know that the Sydney SailGP event brings in approximately $20 million in economic impact per event, with thousands of visitors attending the two-day race weekend. 'The event broadcast will also see Fremantle beamed into households around the world, as happened with the Sydney event which attracted a dedicated global TV audience of 21.1 million.' Fremantle Sailing Club executive officer Craig Evans said the local sailing community was pumped. 'It's such exciting news. With a very active local sailing community everyone will be thrilled with the announcement,' Mr Evans said. 'SailGP will provide a great opportunity to showcase Fremantle and our pristine coastal waters to the world.'
Yahoo
08-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
RI family witnesses Space X explosion while on vacation
COVENTRY, R.I. (WPRI) — A Coventry family on vacation in the Bahamas got a close up look of the raining debris caused by the Space X Starship explosion Thursday. Jay Longley was eager to show his 6-year-old daughter the historic mission as the Starship spacecraft is expected to take humans to Mars and beyond. 'Starship is really going to take humans to the next level. Really start making us you know planetary explorers, so we're excited to see that,' Longley explained. However, the mission did not go according to plan. Space X said an 'energetic event' caused them to lose several of their engines and control of the rocket almost 10 minutes after liftoff. The Longley family witnessed what followed. 'It just went from a little tiny speck to a little tiny dot to this massive explosion, and we were like, well that's kind of odd,' Longley explained. 'We started seeing the sparkles around it, and then the fireball.' The dusk sky lit up like a meteor shower as debris fell. Space X teams began working with several agencies to put their contingency plan into place. 'It was landing in the ocean right besides us and past us too,' Longley said. 'Thankfully, it didn't come any closer.' Space X said debris would have fallen within a pre-planned zone. 'There are no toxic materials present in the debris and no significant impacts expected to occur to marine species or water quality,' the company wrote. Space X said it is investigating and will make improvements for future Starship flight tests. 'With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today's flight will help us improve Starship's reliability,' the company wrote. It's a lesson Longley hopes his daughter takes away from this whole experience. 'Persistence, no matter what,' Longley explained. 'Just because you fail once, just make sure you keep going. Keep going … You can change humanity, you can change the future.' The Longley family is now on the lookout for any Starship debris that may wash ashore. They are hoping to watch several other space missions while on vacation. Download the and apps to get breaking news and weather alerts. Watch or with the new . Follow us on social media: Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
