Latest news with #Winston Churchill
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
On This Day, July 26: Truman orders desegregation of military
July 26 (UPI) -- On this date in history: In 1775, Congress establishes the U.S. postal system. In 1847, Liberia became a republic and Africa's first sovereign, Black-ruled democratic nation. In 1908, the FBI was born as the Bureau of Investigation, or BOI, when a group of newly hired investigators reported to the Justice Department. The special unit officially became the FBI in 1935. In 1931, swarms of grasshoppers decimated millions of acres of crops throughout the southwestern United States. In 1941, Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur was named commander of U.S. forces in the Philippines. In 1945, voters ousted Winston Churchill as prime minister of Britain after five years in the position. His Conservative Party would be voted back into power in 1951, and he would regain his position. In 1948, President Harry S. Truman ordered desegregation of the U.S. military. In 1956, Egypt created a crisis by nationalizing the British- and French-owned Suez Canal. In 1984, serial killer Ed Gein, the inspiration for the movie Psycho, dies of cancer. In 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act, prohibiting discrimination against the disabled in employment, public accommodations, in telecommunications, and on public or private buses or trains. In 1992, under pressure, Iraq agreed to allow U.N. inspectors to look for documentation on weapons of mass destruction. In 2005, the Discovery lifted off from Cape Canaveral in the first shuttle launch since the 2003 Columbia tragedy. In 2010, the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, said the site decided to post more than 75,000 secret U.S. Afghan war documents on the Internet to give a more complete picture of the conflict. The White House said the deed had "a potential to be very harmful." In 2018, Facebook had the worst single day of trading in history, losing some $110 billion. In 2023, soldiers in Niger said they removed President Mohamed Bazoum from office in a coup of the democratically elected government. Brigade Gen. Abdourahamane Tchiani put himself in charge of the military junta. In 2024, Canadian diva Celine Dion delivered a stirring rendition of Edith Piaf's French anthem, "Hymn to Love," at the Eiffel Tower, providing a show-stopping finale to the Opening Ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. It was her first public singing appearance since 2020 due to her battle with a rare neurological disease.
The Guardian
22-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Cables reveal UK view on Howard's personality, Australia's part in Kyoto ‘awkward squad' and an aborted cricket match
Plus ça change. At the turn of the millennium, Australia was in the throes of 'one of its periodic bouts of angst over its place in the Asia-Pacific and the wider world'. It was doubting the reliability of its ally the US, wrestling with the issue of Indigenous reconciliation, and attracting criticism for its under commitment to addressing the climate crisis. And it was trying to organise a game of cricket against the English. Just released papers from Britain's National Archives shed light on intergovernmental correspondence between the governments of Australia and the UK before a prime ministerial visit to London in 2000 to mark Australia Week, and the centenary of the Australian constitution. Correspondence between the governments of the conservative prime minister John Howard and the UK Labour leader Tony Blair reveal a suite of problems still being grappled with in Australia a quarter of a century later. 'Personality notes' written for Blair describe Howard as a leader who had 'started well' as prime minister, particularly on gun control after the Port Arthur massacre, but who 'appeared to lose his way' during his first term. Importantly for the UK, it saw Howard as an 'instinctive monarchist … well-disposed towards Britain'. The sketch says Howard was a 'strong family man', significantly influenced by his wife, Janette, that he was a 'fanatical follower' of cricket, and a 'great admirer' of Sir Winston Churchill and Mahatma Gandhi. In a scene-setting cable dated June 2000 prepared for Blair, the UK high commissioner noted: 'Australia is going through one of its periodic bouts of angst over its place in the Asia-Pacific and the wider world'. It said Australia took 'enormous national pride' in its intervention in Timor-Leste the year before (despite significant damage to its relationship with Indonesia), saying that the Australian-led peacekeeping mission 'raised Australia's stock in Asia'. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email However, 'critics argue that it simply hardened a view widely held in Asia that Australia is ambivalent, even antagonist, towards Asia'. Timor-Leste, the cable noted, had also strained Canberra's relations with Washington DC. 'The [US's] perceived reluctance to assist Australia is seen as an indication that the US could not be relied on automatically in circumstances that are of little interest to it. 'More broadly, some are doubting that the US will retain interest in the alliance unless Australia increases its commitment, in terms of defence spending. 'The litmus test is Taiwan: having to choose between the US and China is the nightmare scenario on Australia's strategic and diplomatic horizon. Few doubt Australia would choose the US but the calculations are becoming less clearcut.' In 2025, the US defense secretary has insisted Australia lift defence spending to 3.5% of its GDP, while Trump administration officials have demanded assurances from Australia it would support the US in any conflict over Taiwan. On climate, Blair was briefed that although Australia had signed the Kyoto protocol to cut emissions, it had not ratified the treaty. The British government suspected Howard would not raise the matter during the two leaders' meeting. 'If Howard doesn't mention it, you should raise climate change,' Blair's brief states. 'The Australians are in the awkward squad on Kyoto (alongside eg the Russians and the US): you should tell Howard how important we think the issues are, and encourage Australia to do more.' In the quarter-century since, Australian governments have been consistently criticised internationally for failing to adequately address the climate crisis. A federal court judge last week found previous Australian governments had 'paid scant, if any, regard to the best available science' in setting emissions reductions targets. Other files reveal concern within Blair's government about an Indigenous delegation that visited the UK in late 1999. Leading the delegation was Patrick Dodson, a Yawuru elder and later senator, often referred to as the 'father of reconciliation'. During the same trip, he met Queen Elizabeth II as part of a larger effort to foster reconciliation. However, a memo written by Blair's foreign affairs adviser, John Sawers, reflects angst within the prime minister's office about a proposed meeting with the delegation, referring to an apparent intervention by the then Australian high commissioner, Philip Flood. 'The Australians are pretty wound up about the idea of you seeing the Aborigines at all,' Sawers wrote to Blair. 'Their high commissioner rang me to press you not to see them: they were troublemakers – it would be like [the then Australian prime minister] John Howard seeing people from Northern Ireland who were trying to stir up problems for the UK.' The memo suggested: 'Can't we plead diary problems?' The word 'yes' is written in answer to this, in handwriting that resembles Blair's. A quarter-century later, Dodson was a key advocate for an Indigenous voice to parliament, put to Australians in a referendum in 2023. The voice proposal was ultimately defeated. Also within the National Archives files is a prescient document from the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to the UK High Commission in Canberra. It reflects on a visit from a 'rising star in the Australian Labor party and a useful contact for the FCO'. The 'rising star' had reflected on Australia's place in its region (and was summarised by an FCO official): 'There were two main problems to Australia being part of Asia: a large slice of the region did not accept them, probably because of a common experience of European occupation – and Australia were too white; and Australians saw themselves as Australians rather than Asian, or indeed Europeans or Americans.' The visitor's name was Kevin Rudd, the man who in 2007 would replace Howard as the next prime minister of Australia. As the 2000 Australia Week visit from prime minister Howard approached, a flurry of correspondence between the two governments sought to put the finishing touches to the trip. The files contain flight details, hotel bookings, and to-the-minute travel arrangements. There are discussions of trumpet fanfares and processional routes. One idea ultimately discarded was a cricket match proposed by Howard, to be played between Australian and English XIs at a ground near Chequers, the British prime ministerial country house. 'The teams could, perhaps, consist of one or two current Test players, a recently retired great cricketer or two, with the balance being young players of promise.' Blair's private secretary, Philip Barton, wrote in a memo to the UK prime minister: 'I suspect the last thing you will want to do is go to a cricket match on the Saturday. But if we just say no, this would no doubt come out and you would look unsporting.' Barton proposed getting former Tory prime minister John Major, an avowed cricket fan, to raise an XI on Blair's behalf, 'but it may not be enough to stop the prime minister having to go to at least the start of the match'. A third option was to 'turn it into a charity match'. The match did not go ahead.
Times
18-07-2025
- Business
- Times
Barclays boss: At last we're getting the framework to drive growth
'Give us the tools, and we will finish the job.' Winston Churchill famously made this request to the United States during the Second World War. UK financial firms have had a similar ask of the government for some time. Industry must do its part to drive economic growth and productivity but we need to have the right framework in place. We may now be getting there. The chancellor's Mansion House speech marked an inflection point. It signalled a bold shift in tone and ambition to reduce unnecessary restrictions in the UK's regulatory framework. Growth requires proportionate, informed risk-taking, but suffered in an environment that discouraged risk. That switch may now have been flicked. These reforms are a start, not an end. But we can now move forward. Barclays has long called for broader retail participation in UK capital markets. The Advice Guidance Boundary Review and retail investment campaign are positive steps for personal wealth-building and UK business alike. Growth depends on individuals having the confidence and means to borrow and invest in their futures. The consumer duty and Financial Ombudsman Service are important but regulation must not constrain responsible access to credit or stifle investment with overly cautious interpretation. With shifting global capital flows and intensifying regulatory divergence, the financial policy committee's review of bank capital must ensure the sector is competitive and able to invest and lend on an equal footing with global peers. As we take on more risk, we must not compromise on stability. The UK financial system is globally respected for its resilience. The ring-fencing regime, designed to protect retail deposits from investment banking volatility, should be preserved, not diluted. Growth must also reach national infrastructure, especially housing and energy, which are a drag on the economy. The ratio of earnings to house prices constrains lending. Raising the loan-to-value caps on mortgages is positive, but supply must now match demand, with speedy implementation of planning reform. Certainty in energy policy is critical to crowd in capital; as a net energy importer the UK is exposed to energy price shocks, driving inflation and slowing growth. Diversification will be key, alongside investment in energy storage. Regulatory reform alone will not be enough to move the dial. A lack of skills is also hampering innovation and business growth. Barclays' data shows that over 80 per cent of financial services and technology firms struggle to hire skilled labour, holding back their ability to scale. We must align behind bold and targeted investments in training and upskilling. There is still work to do. In business we often talk about getting the barnacles off the boat so we can move faster. With the right regulatory frameworks for growth increasingly in place, it is now up to industry to respond with action. CS Venkatakrishnan is chief executive officer of Barclays
Forbes
17-07-2025
- Health
- Forbes
Psychological Safety: Take A Risk With No Penalty Or Punishment
. As mentioned previously in this column, we are most effective when we talk so other people will listen and when we listen so other people will talk. And not necessarily in that order. Call it whatever you wish, but people get along better and produce superior results in an atmosphere of psychological safety. Dr. Amy Edmondson is a renowned expert in that very subject. She's a leadership professor at Harvard Business School and the author of seven excellent books and many dozens of case studies and academic articles. Her pioneering work on psychological safety has helped spawn an impressive body of academic research in management, healthcare, and education. You want to learn more about psychological safety? Amy Edmondson is a prime resource. One of her early research papers had the provocative title of 'Learning from Mistakes is Easier Said Than Done.' It focused on error rates of hospital medical teams. Dr. Amy Edmondson 'The better teams had higher error rates, not lower rates, than other teams,' Edmondson says. 'This seemed counterintuitive. Then we identified the underlying cause. The better teams didn't make more mistakes than others, they were simply more willing to report them. They felt a sense of psychological safety that enabled them to talk about and learn from their errors. That's why they were the better teams.' Edmondson quotes Winston Churchill as saying, 'Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.' She talks about 'failing well'—which requires a willingness to tolerate failure when we're exploring new territory. She's not referring to errors that could be catastrophic or reputationally harmful. It's about smart risk taking, she says. It's about preventing preventable failures. For example, don't mix up the sugar and the salt when you're baking. So called 'best practices,' Edmondson says, are the result of pioneers being willing to fail well. One common misconception about psychological safety, she says, is that it's just about being 'nice' or having people feel comfortable all the time. 'Learning can be uncomfortable,' she says. 'Honest feedback can be uncomfortable. Acknowledging and talking about mistakes can be uncomfortable. Psychological safety is not about always getting your way. It's about feeling free to speak up candidly, even if your ideas are not always accepted by others.' Edmondson says that in today's world 'we are only one high quality conversation away from success or failure. If we don't have those conversations, we're at risk. If we do have them, we're much better off.' What is her advice to first-time team leaders who are determined to help their people thrive in the workplace? 'Show up as a learner,' she says. 'Show up curious. Show up passionate about the opportunities the team has, but equally passionate about inviting other voices in the discussion. That mindset and behavior will enable others to being their best thinking to the table.' Psychological safety: it's the confidence that you can take a risk without being penalized or punished.
