Another excellent piece by John Burn-Murdoch:
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Yeah, I 'd tend to this conclusion, rather than immigration being the cause of this.
I think you’re looking at the wrong timeline… this is a graph for 5yo boys. so if you think about the peaks and valleys of the US graph (as an example) the beginning of the drop is in 2015… so those boys would be born in 2010. go back to 2005, there were 1.2million landed immigrants that year in the US. Here’s the list of where the came from.
are they coming from regions with tall societies, or short? Europe, or Asia or Central America…
Right, so less than 0.5% annual landing of the population is driving a readily observable downward trend? Seems unlikely.
this is NOT about the entire population. it’s the average height of 5yo boys, the number of them is irrelevant. Birthrates amongst demographics, who is having kids and who is not?
FINDINGS ABOUT CHILDREN FROM THE 2020 CENSUS
This report — released by the Annie E. Casey Foundation — compares 2020 census results to historical child population data. It explores how the U.S. child population is decreasing in size, increasing in diversity and changing substantially at the state and city levels.
Among the changes highlighted in the publication:
- The nation’s child population count fell from 74.2 million in 2010 to 73.1 million in 2020. During this same time-frame, 27 states plus Puerto Rico saw their total child count fall.
- Children of color are taking up an increasingly larger share of the total child population. These children grew from representing just 26% of all kids in 1980 to 53% in 2020.
- The total headcount for children of color grew in 46 states plus the District of Columbia, and this statistic grew fastest in three states — Texas, Florida and Washington.
Not sure where to put this and not sure of the full context here but the messaging and optics seem all over the place here. Beyond that, scores seem to be being settled somehow. Is there a simple explanation as to what is happening here?
Yes: people are fuckwits.
Wait, so food bank users are now even more common?
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Southgate’s agent made nearly £500,000 commission on charity donations
Gareth Southgate agent Terry Byrne earned almost £500,000 in commission on money that England players donated to charity before the contract was terminated by the FA.
The 57-year-old’s company is understood to have received annual commission of between 7.5 and 10 per cent on the match fees England stars gave to charity over a 12-year period, in addition to being paid millions by the players for negotiating the squad’s commercial contracts.
As Mail Sport revealed last month, Byrne is suing the FA after they withdrew from a long-term contract with his company 1966 Entertainment to manage the players’ commercial deals five years ago.
Senior FA staff involved at the time claim they did not realise that Byrne’s companies were able to claim commission on the charity donations until informed by Mail Sport.
A private arbitration hearing between the FA and Byrne begins tomorrow [Tuesday], but following a five-year stand-off the case appears destined for court
The long-running dispute is particularly uncomfortable for the FA as Byrne has been Southgate’s agent since 2016 and has negotiated three new contracts on the England manager’s behalf worth almost £20m, earning large commissions in the process.
Byrne is understood to be claiming around £3m in lost earnings after the FA terminated the commercial deal that had 12 years left to run. Several offers from the FA of up to £500,000 to settle the dispute have been rejected.
In a complex deal negotiated on the players’ behalf by former England captain David Beckham, Byrne’s companies had contracts to manage the national side’s commercial and charitable activities between 2006 and 2030.
1966 Entertainment looked after the commercial element, and in a separate arrangement inspired by Gary Neville, the England Footballers Foundation was set up after the players agreed to donate their match fees to charity.
The Foundation raised over £5m for charity between 2006 and 2018, with the Bobby Moore Fund, Help for Heroes and Well Child among the beneficiaries
Under the terms of the deal, 1966 Entertainment received 10 per cent of the players’ commercial deals, an arrangement which was bringing in up to £400,000 a year when Beckham and the rest of the so-called Golden Generation were at their peak.
The players’ earning power was at its height before the 2010 World Cup when their combined commercial deals totalled around £4million, but their value dropped significantly after England flopped in the tournament in South Africa and several sponsors including Nationwide walked away from the national side.
In addition to taking a percentage of the England squad’s commercial earnings, Mail Sport has learned that under the terms of the contract, 1966 Entertainment also received commission on the players’ donations to charity, which came from the £2000 match fees they were paid by the FA.
Between 2006 and 2010, the commission was around 7.5 per cent and subsequently increased to 10 per cent so was worth almost £500,000 before the deal was stopped by the FA.
A source involved at the time told Mail Sport that the money was used to fund one permanent member of staff at the Foundation, as well as retaining the services of an accountant.
The Foundation succeeded in raising huge sums for charity with the players personally involved in choosing a range of good causes to support, with a particular focus on children, cancer and the armed forces.
In addition to arranging over 400 personal appearances from England players at fundraising events over a 12-year period, the Foundation also held charity dinners organised by another of Byrne’s companies, Lions and Roses Events. One dinner attended by England players at the Grove Hotel in Hertfordshire before they departed for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil raised over £350,000.
England players have continued to donate their match fees to charity since Byrne was dropped by the FA in 2018. The England squad’s Euro 2021 match fees were donated to the NHS and a decision on which charity will receive match fees from last year’s World Cup is due to be taken by the players shortly.
The FA first gave notice to 1966 Entertainment before the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Mail Sport has been told that Byrne initially indicated he would accept a severance package of around £750,000 to exit the deal, but is now pushing for the full £3m value of the 12-year contract.
The FA have already spent around £500,000 in legal fees and other costs related to the five-year battle. Mail Sport revealed last month that Byrne has significant debt to Southgate and other former England stars Joe Cole and Glenn Hoddle after he used their money to fund a disastrous £25m property deal without their knowledge.
Southgate has not commented on being owed money by Byrne since Mail Sport’s revelations, but is considering ending their seven-year professional relationship.
Byrne and the FA declined to comment.
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Non breaking because this shit has been going on forever. Still shocking though….
WTF?
Is this real?
Hi Dane, did you try googling it? 
Obviously
Sometimes, usually oftentimes, life is messy and ugly. The beauty of the journey is maybe only realised toward the twilight of the journey.
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Scum of the Earth…
Pudsey Bear fraudsters jailed for pocketing £500,000 in charity supermarket collections
Story by Kim Pilling • 18h
Agang of charity fraudsters who exploited public goodwill to collect at least £500,000 in supermarket bucket collections across the UK have been jailed.
Lead scammer David Levi, 47, and his bogus collectors used Children In Need, Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity, The Children’s Society, The Christie Charitable Fund and Mind as fronts for their criminality.
Levi contacted charities asking for permission to collect for them and to use their logo materials.
Stalls and tables would be set up in supermarkets but the fraudsters would also use their own fake ID badges, banners and even a Pudsey Bear costume.
Less than 10% of the £500,000 traced through the gang’s bank accounts was paid to the charities, Preston Crown Court was told.
Judge Andrew Jefferies KC said he could only guess the actual amount pocketed by the gang and that some deposits of cash with the charities took place when police started to make inquiries
Sentencing Levi and his co-defendants, the judge said: “This was a massive breach of trust. You all exploited the public goodwill and, in some case, private grief.
“It was a duel deceit to the public detriment and in undermining public confidence.
“The British public is always relied upon to give generously to charitable causes and they do so even when they may not have much themselves.”
He said that one charity said in its victim personal statement that trust in monies given to charities had been “tainted” and another said the lack of trust meant “seriously young children and their families are negatively impacted”.
Many of the shops used by Levi and his gang were persuaded to allow the collections under false pretences, the court was told.
The fraudsters would claim they had permission from head office or a manager. They would sometimes threaten to report an employee or go the national press if permission was not granted.
When people donate to a charity they rightly expect that their money will go to supporting good causes and not to lining the pockets of greedy conmen like David Levi and his gang
Detective Chief Inspector Mark Riley
Lancashire Police opened an investigation in May 2017 after a referral to Action Fraud by Children In Need.
In June, officers raided Levi’s home address and businesses premises in Lytham, Lancashire, and recovered multiple phones, tablets and charity items.
Detectives then built the case using financial, telephone and cell-site evidence as well as surveillance of some of the collections themselves.
On Thursday, Levi, of Fairhaven Road, was jailed for five years after admitting fraud and money laundering.
He will also be subject to a five-year serious crime prevention order following his release on licence
William Ormand, 64, of London Road, Blackpool, a collector who at times played a leading role, was jailed for three years and four months after being convicted of fraud and money laundering.
Roy Ferguson, 63, of Park Road, Blackpool, largely a collector, was imprisoned for two years and five months for fraud and money laundering.
Howard Collins, 73, of Laburnum Street, Blackpool, who collected and also organised collectors, received a 28-month jail term for fraud and money laundering.
Members of the public gave their money generously and in good faith, perhaps reassured by seeing the logos of national charities. Sadly, the majority of the donations were pocketed by the defendants
Hayley Cooper, Crown Prosecution Service
Fellow bogus collectors Martin Ebanks, 60, of Oakley Drive, Oldham, and Stephen Chesterman, 63, of Eversley Road, Benfleet, both admitted fraud and were jailed for 18 months and 22 months respectively.
Kaysha Beck, 31, of St David’s Road South, Lytham, who provided office support for the fraudsters, was jailed for 18 months after she too admitted fraud and money laundering.
Following sentencing, Detective Chief Inspector Mark Riley said: “When people donate to a charity they rightly expect that their money will go to supporting good causes and not to lining the pockets of greedy conmen like David Levi and his gang.
“They have exploited peoples’ goodwill and honesty to the tune of thousands of pounds, and I’m pleased that we have been able to bring them to justice.”
Hayley Cooper, specialist prosecutor from the Crown Prosecution Service CPS, said: “The actions of David Levi and the criminal group deprived life-saving charities of significant amounts of money
“Members of the public gave their money generously and in good faith, perhaps reassured by seeing the logos of national charities. Sadly, the majority of the donations were pocketed by the defendants.
These criminals shamefully abused the good name of some of Britain’s most well-known charities and their jail sentences send a strong warning
Charity Commission for England and Wales
“Whenever money is collected for charity there must be absolute transparency and in bucket collections, every penny donated must go those charities.
“At the CPS, we have specialist teams to prosecute cases of serious fraud such as this and we work closely with investigators to bring perpetrators to justice.”
The Charity Commission for England and Wales said: “These criminals shamefully abused the good name of some of Britain’s most well-known charities and their jail sentences send a strong warning.
“Most charity fundraising is legitimate and scams of this scale are rare. But as opportunistic scammers can try to take advantage of the trust we have in charities, if you think something doesn’t seem right either report it to the charity or check if it is listed on one of three charity registers in the UK.”
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This story feels a bit strange/weird/troubling to me for a few reasons:
- The concept of what is AI - does it constitute a “life” and therefore free to learn?
- Once we all have our AI “help”, what rights do the AI “helpers” have?
- Can someone own another’s AI “help” once they have passed or are unable to keep a hold of it?
I foresee a greyness that governments will look to avoid addressing until the horse has bolted, fled across country and sired a herd!
Fixed for reality
Before that, most people will be living in a paradise as every job you can think of will be performed by machines, Humans will be coasting in paradise as they slide to the other side…
More seriously and of more immediate concern is that companies will look to drive R&D in almost all areas into the realm of AI, there by making huge swathes of the academia industry academic and the AI efficiency innovations will(could) similarly make most front line workers equally redundant. As usual the rich will ride the wave, the middle classes will dwindle into nothing and the poor will swell further.
This feels a bit tin foil hat granted but the dearth of checks in place at the advent of each innovation, such as robotics for manufacture, electronic transactions and even chatbots, had made swathes of people redundant, poorer and without any viable alternative options for work to boot. Innovations, such as AI, are not new in terms of their disruptiveness, as exampled above, but surely we can see some of this is potentially coming down the line and we can try to get in front of it to mitigate the worst outcomes.
Surely these sentences are a bit short - the sums are large and the fraud is sustained with huge consequences for public trust in charities. I’m not normally one to cry for longer sentences but surely a decade long custodial sentence is needed for the ringleaders?
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