#cronyism
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Loving how all these socialists complain about how we have "free-market capitalism" despite the fact that the entire economy, the price of goods, services, and wages all teeter on the decisions of a handful of government employees.
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Private Sector Good, Public Sector Bad? (3)
This is the third part of a look at former public services and utilities in Britain that have been privatised or part-privatised in the name of neoliberal economics and the mistaken belief that private enterprise is ALWAYS more efficient than publicly run bodies.
The National Health Service
The Tory Party and successive Tory governments, including the Sunak administration, vehemently deny they are slowly privatising the NHS.
“Sunak pledges to cut waits with greater healthcare choice but denies NHS privatisation plan." (Health and Protection: 04/01/23)
Such denials are deliberately misleading. According to the World Health Organisation:
“Privatisation is where non-government bodies become increasingly involved in the financing or provision of health care services”.
The Tory Health Care Act of 2012 removed the "duty of government” to provide NHS services directly, opening up NHS care provision to the private sector. This trend has been further accelerated by the 2022 Heath and Care Act. The Guardian had this to say about the change in the law:
“The new bill will continue the dismantling of the NHS, this time by adopting more features from the US health system. For anyone who cares about the NHS, this should set off alarm bells.” (Guardian: 07/12/21)
What we need to remember when reviewing the provision of public services by private companies is that the first duty of a private company is to make profits for it’s shareholders. The profit driven motive of private enterprise may lead to more cost savings but often at the expense of quality of service
“There is only a small number of studies addressing the effect of privatisation on the quality of care offered by health-care providers, and yet within this small group of longitudinal studies, we find a fairly consistent picture. At the very least, health-care privatisation has almost never had a positive effect on the quality of care." (Lancet: "The effect of health-care privatisation on the quality of care”, March 2024
In 2019, (November 29th) the Guardian reported that private firms had received £15bn over a five-year period for NHS provision. By 2019/20 Health Care Commissioners were spending £10bn a year on services delivered by the private sector. (The Kings Fund: Is the NHS being privatised, 01/03/21)
Despite this massive increase in NHS private provision, we all know the health service is on its knees. Before 2010 multi-year funding of the largely publicly run NHS saw the NHS improve its service provision. 14 years of Tory government, two health care acts later, and we see a total reversal in those trends. By 2014 signs of stress were becoming apparent. David Cameron and George Osborne deliberately starved the NHS of money, NHS budgets rising on average only 1.4% between 2009-19 compared to the 3.7% yearly rises since the NHS was first established.
The NHS is slowly bleeding to death: emergency departments are overcrowded, extended waiting times in A&E are leading to over 200 unnecessary deaths per week, there are not enough hospital beds, staff are demoralised, and doctors strikes continue because the government refuses to pay public sector workers a fair wage. Waiting lists continue to grow, it is impossible to find a NHS dentist and sick people have to wait weeks for a simple GP appointment.
This systematic rundown of the NHS by successive Tory governments is not all bad news as privatisation has benefited the lucky few.
Staff agencies are doing very nicely thank you, the BBC reporting that:
“Companies providing freelance staff to the NHS to cover for big shortages of doctors and nurses have seen their income rise by tens of millions of pounds since 2019.” (24/03/23)
Total spending on agency staff in England was £3bn in 2021, one hospital reportedly paying £5200 to a free-lance doctor for a single shift. It would be nice to say that doctors are not complicit in the gradual privatisation of the NHS but that would be untrue.
“Hundred’s of England's NHS consultants have shares in private clinics.” (Guardian: 21/01/22)
Over a billion pounds has been generated by these set ups since 2015
But it is not only doctors who profit personally from privatisation. During the pandemic, top Tories were very quick to pass on lucrative contracts to their friends in business. These largely unscrutinised public contracts have drawn accusations of “cronyism” and "chumocracy". Others have been more blunt, the Financial Times (06/08/21) asking the question: “When does cronyism become corruption?"
The shortage of PPE during the pandemic led to contracts being awarded to companies without competition. Literally billions of pounds were given to private companies to supply gowns, gloves, and face masks.
“But the way these deals have been given to firms has led to concerns over a lack of detail about why particular suppliers were chosen. The government has also been accused of favouring firms with political connections to the Conservative Party with a "high-priority lane". (BBC News: 20/04/21)
This accusation turned out to be true.
"UK government’s ‘VIP lane' for PPE suppliers was unlawful. High Court rules.” (Financial Times 12/01/22)
Although Michael Gove claimed that “every single procurement decision" went through an eight-stage-process” the courts found that nearly fifty PPE deals were fast tracked by Conservative ministers, who awarded contracts worth £5bn to companies with political or Whitehall connections. Four Tory MP’s and three Tory peers were named as “referrers” Michael Gove, Penny Mordant and Esther McVey are said to have personally recommended firms.
Some MP’s have done a lot more than fast-tracking private health care provision. Many of them have actually invested in private health care companies while others are happy to accept financial donations from them.
Wes Streeting, Shadow Health Secretary and the poster boy for Keir Starmer’s Labour Party, is said to have accepted “£22,5000 in private donations from private health firms last year.” (VOX Political: 30/04/23) Other Labour notaries are also said to have financial connections to private health care companies. Keir Starmer has received £157,500, Yvette Cooper has received £295,205, and Dan Jarvis has received £137,500. (Labour Heartlands: Selling Out the NHS: The Shocking Links Between Labour MP’s and Private Healthcare Donations: 17/06/23)
On the Conservative side, The Mirror (21/01/23) reports that Penny Mordant accepted £10,000 from care home firm Renaissance Care, while ex-health minister Steve Brine made £200 an hour giving “strategic advice” to drug firm Signa, before resigning in 2021. Publicly available information tells that that at least 28 Tory MP’s and Peers have had ties to private health and medical groups. Even the former Health Secretary Sajid Javid had share options in a Californian tech company dealing in health sector software.
So, while the NHS slowly disintegrates for want of proper investment and strategic planning, individual MP's and private health care providers reap the rewards of privatisation. Should this in any way be doubt then listen to what former Conservative Prime Minister John Major had to say as long ago as June 2016:
“The NHS is about as safe from them (Tory Brexiteers) as a pet hamster would be with a hungry python.”
Unfortunately, and to its eternal shame, the same can now be said of Keir Starmer’s Labour Party.
#uk politics#MHS#privatisation#private health#keir starmer#wea streeting#penny mordant#Michael gove#unlawful#donations#cronyism#corruption#morality. deaths#sickmess. underprovision
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Good morning! I hope you slept well and feel rested? Currently sitting at my desk, in my study, attired only in my blue towelling robe, enjoying my first cuppa of the day. Happy Hump Day!
About midday yesterday, a weird feeling came over me. I know I’m not in control of everything. In fact, I’m not in control of anything but, yesterday, I felt as though I was ahead of the curve. Do you know that term? It’s a baseball expression. It means you can see what kind of pitch has just been thrown. In baseball, it happens in a split-second but, in that split-second, you know you’re going to hit the ball. It means that you feel on top of things and (sort of) in control.
Which reminds me of Maslow’s Hierarchy Of Needs. At the very bottom are our basic, physiological needs (air, water, food, shelter, sleep, clothing, reproduction.) Once those needs are met, you can move up to safety needs (personal security, employment, resources, health, property.) Once you feel ‘safe’, you can move up to love and belonging (family, friendship, connection, intimacy). And, when you feel loved, you can move up to esteem (respect, self-esteem, status, recognition, strength, freedom.)
Anyway, at about midday yesterday, I was one rung above ‘esteem’; I was on a higher plain and feeling pretty good about myself. I had beautifully engineered my Tuesday to be a day of nothing to do and nowhere to go. Aah, it felt sweet! I began to feel whimsical. I began posting silly things that amused me. I don’t really do that anymore. And I awakened the whimsy in myself and others. It’s fun being silly and carefree every now and then. Nothing to do and nowhere to go.
And, then … blam! Miss Last Minute wants to go to Watford to pick up some tiger’s eye. In an instant, my Tuesday peace and calm lay in pieces on the floor, and I was thrust out on to the ugly, violent and lawless roads of London but, as we drove up the M1, headed for Exit 5, I thought to myself, “This is how it should be. This is how it needs to be.” If my Tuesday had been chock-a-block with last minute activity, how could I be Mr. Reliable? Ying and yang. One person, super organised, calm and collected; the other person, frantically and admirably juggling 95 jobs. This is how it needs to be.
So, going back to Maslow, this is really a diagram you should stick on your wall. Before you make that move on that person you think is so hot, find out where they are on the hierarchy of needs. If they don’t even feel ‘safe’, there’s no point talking to them about intimacy! You’re on different plains!
And I never forget about my place on Maslow’s Hierarchy Of Needs. Yes, today we feel safe and loved but, in the blink of an eye, our lives can change and we’re kicked down a few notches. I protect my castle and I protect my people, and that’s the reason I’m able to be so happy and positive. I’m not happy and positive for no reason; I built these solid foundations and they allow me to be kind and generous (and tolerate narcissists!)
Have a wonderful and well-endowed Wednesday. I love you all. Yes, a crazy, bald man loves and cares about you.
#mixcloud#mi soul#dj#music#new blog#lockdown#coronavirus#books#weekend#democracy#brexit#cronyism#election#radio
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Gado - President JK [Kikwete], Corruption, Incompetence and Cronyismin Tanzania (2015)
Source: Peter Limb and Tejumola Olaniyan (eds.) - Taking African Cartoons Seriously Politics, Satire, and Culture (2018)
#political cartoon#satire#tanzania#africa#art#humanities#jakaya kiwete#president#corruption#incompetence#cronyism
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This week's newsletter from AthensLive is out:
* You’ll be taxed as a tax evader. It doesn’t matter if you are not
* Being “large” with the TV channels
* Something is terribly wrong with the Greek Police
Assuming that all half a million self-employed professionals in Greece are tax evaders, the government decided to tax them accordingly. Only it won’t work. This happened at a time when the Greeks had drastically cut consumption of essential goods due to economic hardship.
There is no money for welfare policies, but there is always money for the TV channels. The government would now pay all their debt to the insurance fund -some 6.8 million- on the basis they were affected by… the war in Ukraine.
A 16-year-old girl was found unconscious with serious head injuries after an anti-fascist concert when clashes with the police erupted. The coroner’s report severely doubted the Greek police’s version of events. Later in the week, neofascists attempted to set people on fire in the Metro. When the police finally intervened, they threw tear gas.
Read and share this week's updates on the events and developments in Greece here:
https://steadyhq.com/en/athenslivegr/posts/d8a70182-849d-44ba-a8b2-460eebc45e12
For anyone with a wish or need to follow and to gain an insight into recent events in Greece and to read and support independent and investigative journalism in English, the weekly newsletter from AthensLive should be a core element in the reading flow.
If you want the best overview of the events and developments in Greece right now, this is the place to go. Not the mainstream Greek news, but independent journalism with sharp analysis and links to interesting and important topics from a variety of sources.
Become a member and get the newsletter in your inbox every week here:
https://steadyhq.com/en/athenslivegr/newsletter/sign_up
#Greece#AthensLive#Newsletter#Self-employed#Tax#Tax evasion#Consumer prices#Austerity#TV#Media#Petsas list#Cronyism#Police#Right-wing#OPKE#KEERFA#Neo-nazism#Oppression
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After watching Bowers testify Tuesday I’m gobsmacked to hear him say he’d vote for TFG again in 2024 because of all the “good things” he did pre-COVID. Working class and marginalized Americans and Mother Earth would like a word! 🤦♀️
“If he is the nominee, if he was up against Biden, I’d vote for him again,” Bowers told The Associated Press. “Simply because what he did the first time, before COVID, was so good for the county. In my view it was great.”
More context, from Robert Hubbell’s newsletter yesterday.
“Bowers is apparently referring to Trump’s signature legislative achievement—reducing the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%. That tax cut resulted in a loss of revenue that propelled the budget deficit to near-record levels ($1 trillion) before the Covid stimulus packages. Setting aside the efforts of Bush and Obama to save the economy from collapse in the Great Recession of 2008, Trump owns the largest deficit of any US president.
Other Trump achievements include:
Legislation ending an Obama-era regulation that prevented coal-mining companies from dumping debris and waste into nearby streams;
Legislation ending financial disclosure requirements for energy firms;
Legislation repealing an Obama-era regulation requiring internet service providers to seek customers’ consent before sharing private data;
Legislation prohibiting the Department of Education from adopting the Common Core curriculum (which was created by agreement among the states, not the federal government);
Imposing protectionist tariffs on China that were paid for by US consumers; and
Pardoning Jared Kushner’s father (Charles Kushner), Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, Steve Bannon, Paul Manafort, George Papadopoulos, and Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
And let’s not forget the ban on travel from Muslim countries, separating children from parents at the border, and wasting billions of taxpayer dollars on a “wall to nowhere.”
Ah, yes, Rusty Bowers! Those were the “good old days” when government favored business over the people’s interest in privacy, the environment, education, and financial transparency, and when the president’s “cronies” received a “Get Out of Jail Free” card!”
https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/its-better-that-we-found-out-now?r=1g2iiu&utm_medium=ios
#rusty bowers#january 6 committee#cult of trump#2022 midterms#voter participation#voter turnout#vote in every election#american democracy#save democracy#brad raffensperger#protect future elections#cronyism#good old boys
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posting this here because i'm losing my absolute mind over a thread whose last post literally says "Profit isn't evil. People need money to live" and I'm like YES BESTIE, THAT'S EXACTLY FUCKING RIGHT!!!!
BUT THE PROBLEM IS THAT IT'S BEING SHARED BY ANTI-CAPITALIST BLOGS AND IT'S LIKE YOU ABSOLUTE FUCKING CLOWNS YOU DON'T EVEN UNDERSTAND THAT YOU ARE POSTING THINGS SUPPORTING THE THING YOU SAY YOU HATE.
SO
instead of putting this on a post that I know will lead to something fucking exhausting, I'm gonna put it here.
WHAT YOU HATE ISN'T CAPITALISM
CAPITALISM is the free exchange of money, goods, and services between individuals without your government or some other big entity getting in the way and DICTATING TO YOU what, when, where, and how you can USE, SELL, OR GIVE AWAY whatever you have! It's literally the indie artist you love Making Commissions. It's you supporting your favorite musician or band by buying their merch. It's the indie creators making fursuits or dnd dice or accessibility gadgets Big Corps don't care about. It's individuals earning and supporting each other with money. It's US putting our dollars with groups and people we support and withholding them from groups and people we don't.
IT'S EVERYTHING ELSE
IT'S CORPORATISM that all the big companies and conglomerates who are overfishing, overhunting, POLLUTING THE LAND AND WATER, buying up local family-owned farms and businesses, buying up homes to overcharge you on rent.
IT'S COMMERCIALISM that's GREED GONE WILD where Banks, Big Businesses (Think Walmart, Home Depot, and all the Conglomerates foisting stuff on us bc 'BUY OUR SHIT YOU DON'T NEED') engaging in the Exploitation of workers, customers, and OUR data. It's Google, Amazon, it's the cobalt mins engaging in Child Labor. It's Exploitation for the Dollar Sign.
IT'S CRONYISM where the GOVERNMENT decides who succeeds and who fails by either RESTRICTING YOU until you can't sustain your work, your business, your livelihood and have to SELL EVERYTHING OFF just to survive! This is EVERY Mom & Pop store closed by Covid while FUCKING WALMART WAS ALLOWED TO STAY OPEN. This is every small-time restaurant or brewery or farmer or convenience store SHUT DOWN DURING COVID while FUCKING MEGACORPS GOT TO KEEP THEIR DOORS OPEN WHILE WE WERE FORCED TO NOT WORK AND EARN MONEY TO PAY FOR OUR FOOD, RENT, MORGAGE, AND NECESSITIES! It's the Government BAILING OUT the BIG CORPORATIONS when they FAIL and leaving the rest of us to drown in the consequences of THEIR ACTIONS (Inflation, Over Regulation, GOV. SHUT DOWNS).
SO NO, YOU DON'T HATE CAPITALISM
YOU HATE THE ABUSE OF CAPITALISM
AND THE ABUSERS TWISTING IT TO ABUSE YOU AND EVERYONE AROUND YOU.
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In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, the Ministry of Public Health did too little to prevent the appearance of cronyism when purchasing vaccines, the Court of Audit concluded in a report. It also said that all things considered, the then-Healht Minister Hugo de Jonge did “reasonably well.”
The first Covid-19 diagnosis was made in the Netherlands at the end of February 2020. The Court of Audit investigated how the government purchased the first Covid-19 vaccines in 2020 and 2021. The Netherlands spent 1.8 billion euros on buying vaccines in those years. That excludes the costs of administering the vaccines.
A month after the first Covid-19 diagnosis, the government appointed Feike Sijbesma, former CEO of DSM, as a special envoy to companies that could help combat the coronavirus - test manufacturers and the pharmaceutical companies working on vaccines. Sijbesma’s brother had a high position at vaccine developer AstraZeneca at the time. “When Sijbesma took office, the Ministry did not discuss possible conflicts of interests with him,” the Court of Audit said.
continue reading
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This map depicts lands grants the federal government gave to railroads.
To encourage development of rail lines westward, the government offered railroad companies massive land grants and bonds. Railroads received millions of acres of public lands and sold that land to generate money for the construction of the railroads. The government's decisions to use public lands, including mineral rights, as an incentive to build railroads not only contributed to the development of the West, but it also constituted a massive transfer of public lands to private corporations, with repercussions for the history of the West that are still felt today. In the end, the federal government gave 134 million acres of land as incentives to the railroads. To further assist the railroad companies, the federal government offered the companies bonds. Essentially long-term low-interest loans from the government, the bonds provided railroads with capital for the construction of rail lines westward.
134 million acres is the land area of France.
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101 Things You Should Know About the UK Tory Government
Thing 12
Gillian Keegan, the fifth Minister of State for Education in four months, had to apologise for putting people's lives at risk in her former role as Conservative health minister.
“Tory health minister Gillian Keegan apologises for 'error of judgement' after she continued meeting with three bereaved fathers despite testing positive for Covid on lateral flow." (MailOnline: 09/02/22)
Keegan has also been involved in accusations of cronyism that has haunted the Tory Party. This was the headline from the Sun, (4th September 2022) commentating on her spouse.
“DEALS PROBE Minister’s husband under fire after £24m government contracts handed to his company"
theyworkforyou.com informs us that Gillian Keegan has voted AGAINST increased funding of public services; AGAINST scrapping university fees; AGAINST restoring the Education Maintenance Allowance; AGAINST maintenance grants and bursaries for nurses; AGAINST ending the public sector pay cap and AGAINST increasing the minimum wage.
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Good morning! I hope you slept well and feel rested? Currently sitting at my desk, in my study, attired only in my blue towelling robe, enjoying my first cuppa of the day (green tea!) Welcome to the weekend and welcome to September!
Wow! Here we are again: Friday! Where did that week go? No, seriously, where did that week go?
First of all, many thanks to everyone that got involved with Throwback Thursday on my page. Yesterday’s word was HOME. Again, another emotive word! It has both good and bad connotations for people. I could lay my hat in all sorts of places but it wouldn’t feel like home! I like my bed, my sofa, my armchairs, my remote, my fridge, my study. You know I’m a creature of habit and routines, so I need to things to stay the same. Am I a little OCD? Maybe I am?
Looking forward to the weekend. After the show, we are popping down to Hove to see Lady Wesker. She’s been a bit out of sorts. A Curry’s delivery van totally wrote off her car (while it was stationary) and Curry’s stingy insurance company only gave Mum £2k. What can you buy for that? Anyway, she’s sorted now, so hopefully we can go out in her new (second-hand) car? The last thing your mum needs is some big oaf in a big van destroying the key to her independence. We will not be shopping at Curry’s again! Heartless corporate bastards!
A quick word on the England squad. The word is pathetic (and that’s being polite!) Maguire, Phillips and Henderson? Really, mate? Where are Sterling, Watkins, Bowen and Ward-Prowse? Southgate must think it’s still 2020?
Naturally, I’m very grateful to receive a lot of promos via email. However, it takes a lot of time to work through them all. I wouldn’t mind this if most of them were decent and playable, but most of them are NOT! Even new music by established names! Maybe I’m fussy but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. Doubtless, loads of people will say, “Oh, there’s plenty of good, new music, Lindsay!” Well, it might be good enough for YOU but I’ve been collecting top quality music since the late sixties and most of this new stuff is not cutting it! I look at the charts to see the most popular tracks, check them out on iTunes and, more often than not, I am seriously underwhelmed!
Really hope you can join me tomorrow at 1.00 p.m. for ‘The A-Z Of Mi-Soul Music’: The final part of The Letter P. We will have one week of Q, then move on to the next letter. I have made contact with the executive producer of The Letter R (Pt. 1) and she has built a superb show! We’re going to Jamaica in mid-September for a wedding, so I’ll miss one radio show but I’ll be back in time for the start of The Letter R on September 23rd.
Absolutely buzzing! Friday: my favourite day of the week! No work ‘til Monday, The Mighty Josiah arrives, Chinese for dinner and my team are on telly! Very excited!
Have a fabulous and funky Friday! I love you all. You’re probably thinking, “You don’t even know me!” but, if people can hate for no reason, why can’t I love?
#mixcloud#mi soul#dj#music#new blog#lockdown#coronavirus#books#weekend#democracy#brexit#cronyism#election#radio
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#corruption#tory#politics#conservative party#uk#boris johnson#ukpol#coronavirus#contracts#cronyism#my little crony
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This week's newsletter from AthensLive is out:
Who's going to investigate the deadly train crash?
* Too little, too late
* What Conflict of Interest? The term does not even exist in Greece
* After many years, Greeks met again on the streets flooding with anger and grief.
- are the main headlines to be found inside this highly informative weekly must-read from and about Greece.
Protests kept strong this week as people demanded justice for the train victims. The police attacked the protesters with tear gas and flash grenades, while footage indicates their behavior is becoming increasingly uncontrollable.
The Railway Regulating Authority report unveiled severe deficiencies in the stationmaster’s training. It was also reported that the European Commission has “identified” the lack of a permanent and independent railway accident investigation body in Greece since 2019 in violation of EU law. Still, no action has been taken until now.
Plus, the new ‘Transportation Minister’ is no Transportation minister after all. The Ministry is effectively headless. Law professionals explain how this sets a serious constitutional issue. Why did the government decide to do that?
Finally, the attack against opposition party DiEM leader Yanis Varoufakis allegedly by a gang of thugs, raised questions. Why did the perpetrators erroneously accuse Varoufakis of having voted in favor of Memoranda? Why did the heavy police force nearby not take notice of the incident?
It cannot be recommended strongly enough to read and share this week's updates on the events and developments in Greece here:
https://steadyhq.com/en/athenslivegr/posts/e2ed5c4d-fa93-4ee6-b5e3-10f7c4d7fc48
For anyone with a wish or need to follow and to gain an insight into recent events in Greece and to read and support independent and investigative journalism in English, the weekly newsletter from AthensLive should be a core element in the reading flow.
If you want the best overview of the events and developments in Greece right now, this is the place to go. Not the mainstream Greek news, but independent journalism with sharp analysis and links to interesting and important topics from a variety of sources.
Become a member and get the newsletter in your inbox every week here:
http://bit.ly/2GkVuYt
#Greece#AthensLive#Newsletter#Train#Tempi#Railways#Protests#Police#Oppression#Mitsotakis#ND#Gerapetritis#GEK-TERNA#Cronyism#DiEM25#Varoufakis#Attack
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