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Post by wookeywombat on Aug 24, 2022 17:11:09 GMT 1
According to the polling firm Ipsos UK, three-quarters of all voters, and two-thirds of people who voted Conservative in 2019, think the privileges committee inquiry into whether Boris Johnson misled MPs about Partygate is justified. This does not of course include the Daily and Sunday Mail, whose editors Dacre and Verity have for weeks disgracefully included article after article in their paper backing Johnson and demanding that the inquiry never takes place. This is bad news for the Mail newspapers which have been running news articles and opinion pieces clearly designed to kill the inquiry. The Mail group is still very supportive of Johnson and at the weekend it carried a news story based on a briefing circulating among MPs arguing, in effect, that it would be bad for parliament to penalise ministers who lie to MPs. There was also an opinion piece saying the inquiry was akin to a show trial from Stalin’s Russia – written by someone who had clearly forgotten what actually happened to the victims of Stalin’s show trials. Why should anyone believe the Mail who supported Oswald Moseley and whose owners are tax exiles?
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Post by northwestman on Aug 24, 2022 18:10:04 GMT 1
According to the polling firm Ipsos UK, three-quarters of all voters, and two-thirds of people who voted Conservative in 2019, think the privileges committee inquiry into whether Boris Johnson misled MPs about Partygate is justified. This does not of course include the Daily and Sunday Mail, whose editors Dacre and Verity have for weeks disgracefully included article after article in their paper backing Johnson and demanding that the inquiry never takes place. This is bad news for the Mail newspapers which have been running news articles and opinion pieces clearly designed to kill the inquiry. The Mail group is still very supportive of Johnson and at the weekend it carried a news story based on a briefing circulating among MPs arguing, in effect, that it would be bad for parliament to penalise ministers who lie to MPs. There was also an opinion piece saying the inquiry was akin to a show trial from Stalin’s Russia – written by someone who had clearly forgotten what actually happened to the victims of Stalin’s show trials. Why should anyone believe the Mail who supported Oswald Moseley and whose owners are tax exiles? I agree. But the Mail sells a million papers every day, and I'm not over confident of the political awareness of the general population, who are definitely open to manipulation.
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Post by wookeywombat on Aug 24, 2022 20:48:34 GMT 1
Why should anyone believe the Mail who supported Oswald Moseley and whose owners are tax exiles? I agree. But the Mail sells a million papers every day, and I'm not over confident of the political awareness of the general population, who are definitely open to manipulation. Somebody else on here was castigated for saying many were not politically aware but in more straight forward terms that Daily Mail readers would understand !!!
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Post by ssshrew on Aug 24, 2022 21:12:15 GMT 1
Those of my acquaintance who read the Mail are very set in their opinions and extremely reluctant to listen to other points of view. In fact, a couple of them are totally intolerant.
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Post by northwestman on Aug 25, 2022 18:20:24 GMT 1
www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/aug/25/tory-peer-faces-second-investigation-over-lobbying-allegationsA Conservative hereditary peer is under investigation for a second time by the House of Lords standards watchdog over allegations that he misused his parliamentary position to lobby for a firm that was paying him. The Earl of Shrewsbury claimed in correspondence that he was meeting a series of politicians and officials to promote a healthcare firm that employed him as a consultant. The leaked documents show that the peer boasted “very considerable” potential to open doors for the firm, SpectrumX, through what he called “my extremely high-level contacts”. He described one of his contacts as being “at the very top of the feed chain”. The Guardian can reveal that the earl also tabled nine questions in parliament that elicited information from the government about issues that appear to be connected to SpectrumX, which marketed products to combat coronavirus. After he had received answers from a minister, the peer forwarded them on to SpectrumX. The peer – whose full name is Charles Henry John Benedict Crofton Chetwynd Chetwynd-Talbot – was largely exonerated in May by an investigation into his involvement in SpectrumX by the House of Lords commissioners for standards. However, the Lords commissioners, after receiving new evidence, have now launched a second investigation into Shrewsbury and his work for SpectrumX. A Cheshire-based firm, SpectrumX marketed products including a hand sanitiser and a tunnel, or pod, in which people would walk through a mist of disinfectant that it said was capable of neutralising Covid-19 and other viruses. The firm paid the peer £3,000 a month between the summer of 2020 and January this year to be its consultant.
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Post by northwestman on Aug 27, 2022 13:13:44 GMT 1
There’s no Magic Money Tree, Theresa May famously told nurses desperate for a pay rise in 2017. But the ex-prime minister failed to mention that there is a Magic Money Stream – along which billions of pounds flow from privatised UK firms to the global elite.
Take England’s water companies, which have paid out £18.9bn in dividends since 2010, including £1.1bn in the past year, to shareholders across the globe.
Among those profiting off the firms – which this week left beaches across England strewn in sewage – are Bermuda-registered investment house Lazards, China and Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth funds, and Malaysian corporation YTL.
This money has to come from somewhere. When the water companies were privatised in the 1980s, the British government paid off all of their long-term debts – at a cost of more than £7bn. Since then, the companies have borrowed tens of billions of pounds against people’s future water bills in order to pipe cash to their owners, sometimes leaving the companies so indebted that they struggle to borrow to fund actual infrastructure.
As well as pumping sewage into England’s seas, these firms are pumping cash from the wages of English people and into the pockets of some of the world’s richest people and companies.
And it’s not just the water industry.
While Royal Mail workers plan to strike over a below-inflation pay offer, their bosses are preparing to pay out millions to a Czech billionaire who’s the biggest single importer of Russian gas into the European union.
The notoriously secretive Swiss bank UBS, the second biggest shareholder, will also get millions. Royal Mail’s boss got a £140,000 bonus in June as part of a £753,000 pay offer.
Open Democracy.
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Post by northwestman on Aug 29, 2022 13:35:52 GMT 1
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/aug/29/home-office-pays-aeolian-offshore-channel-crossingsThe Home Office is paying a private company £2m over six months to charter boats and crew to pick up people trying to cross the Channel, amid tension with the Royal Navy over its role in Priti Patel’s plans to deter asylum seekers. Contract disclosures published on a government portal show that Aeolian Offshore, which is based on the Isle of Wight and usually serves the offshore wind industry, has provided three boats. Details of the outsourcing plan were published as the number of people crossing the channel in small boats hit a new record, despite the government’s controversial plan to deter them by striking a deal with Rwanda to deport asylum seekers to the central African state.
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Post by northwestman on Aug 29, 2022 14:01:22 GMT 1
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-johnson-liar-rory-stewart-b1614957.htmlRory Stewart on Boris Johnson: “Johnson is … the most accomplished liar in public life – perhaps the best liar ever to serve as prime minister,” he said. “He has mastered the use of error, omission, exaggeration, diminution, equivocation and flat denial. He has perfected casuistry, circumlocution, false equivalence and false analogy. He is equally adept at the ironic jest, the fib and the grand lie; the weasel word and the half-truth; the hyperbolic lie, the obvious lie, and the bulls**t lie – which may inadvertently be true.” He's still at it, penning articles like this one: www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-11152885/BORIS-JOHNSON-Coming-months-tough-Im-convinced-Britains-bounceback-golden.html
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Post by cabanas2017 on Aug 29, 2022 14:32:08 GMT 1
That’s a good article by Boris on the surface, would NWM or any others like to pick through it…..
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Post by northwestman on Aug 29, 2022 18:40:13 GMT 1
That’s a good article by Boris on the surface, would NWM or any others like to pick through it….. 'As a result we had the fastest growth in the G7 last year'. Airbrushes out that we are likely to have the lowest growth in the G7 in 2023 apart from Russia. 'we have about 640,000 more people in payrolled employment than before the pandemic began'. Over the course of 2020, the self employed numbers dropped from about 5 million to 4.2 million. 'With every new wind farm we build offshore, with every new nuclear project we approve, we strengthen our strategic position'. And how many nuclear projects have been approved since 2010? Ed Davey in the Coalition wasn't exactly over enthusiastic. 'We are strengthening the economic sinews of the country with the biggest investment in rail – three new high speed lines – for a century'. Unbelievable amount of money thrown at HS2 whilst abandoning the link to Leeds. All for a 29 minute reduction in travelling time between London and Birmingham, with the new station in Birmingham necessitating a link to New Street which will effectively wipe out that 29 minutes. I could go on, but that's enough for starters.
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Post by northwestman on Aug 29, 2022 18:48:58 GMT 1
'New ideas are blooming not just in the golden triangle of Oxford, Cambridge and London but across the whole UK as we drive forward our levelling up agenda'. Err, perhaps not. www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-56443084Plans for an Oxford to Cambridge expressway have been scrapped as it was deemed to "not be cost-effective for the taxpayer", the government has said.
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Post by cabanas2017 on Aug 29, 2022 19:42:11 GMT 1
I would say that the reduction of self employed which was as you say 5 million beginning of 2020 dropping to 4.2 was mostly due to the introduction of IR35 and many of those self employed contractors moved to Paye employment or employment under an umbrella company.
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Post by northwestman on Aug 30, 2022 13:46:14 GMT 1
I would say that the reduction of self employed which was as you say 5 million beginning of 2020 dropping to 4.2 was mostly due to the introduction of IR35 and many of those self employed contractors moved to Paye employment or employment under an umbrella company. In which case Johnson needed to say 'we have about 640,000 more people in payrolled employment than before the pandemic began, some of which have transferred from being self employed to PAYE employment or employment under an umbrella company'. What he's actually said is pure obfuscation, as it suggests that we have 640,000 more in employment, whereas reality is that a significant percentage of that figure consists of self employed who have moved to being classified as employees. And the number of persons who are no longer self employed still exceeds the extra number that are now in payrolled employment.
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Post by northwestman on Aug 31, 2022 15:02:34 GMT 1
www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/sam-tarry-labour-mp-law-firm-carter-ruck-party-reselection-battle-ilford-south-b1021723.htmlLabour MP Sam Tarry has hired a top law firm to fight the party over his coming reselection battle, the Standard has learned. The Ilford South MP was “triggered” last month, meaning local party members can vote to keep him as their candidate at the next election or opt for someone else. But Mr Tarry, the partner of Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner, has said he has evidence of “rule-breaking, voter fraud... and the dangerous whipping up of community tensions to undermine the democratic reselection process” and submitted it to the party in July. He has instructed top solicitors Carter-Ruck, who have previously represented Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Corbyn and former Tory MP Charlie Elphicke, to demand a halt to process until the allegations have been properly investigated by the party. Where on earth has Tarry found the funding to employ this top firm of lawyers?
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Post by martinshrew on Aug 31, 2022 15:13:21 GMT 1
www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/sam-tarry-labour-mp-law-firm-carter-ruck-party-reselection-battle-ilford-south-b1021723.htmlLabour MP Sam Tarry has hired a top law firm to fight the party over his coming reselection battle, the Standard has learned. The Ilford South MP was “triggered” last month, meaning local party members can vote to keep him as their candidate at the next election or opt for someone else. But Mr Tarry, the partner of Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner, has said he has evidence of “rule-breaking, voter fraud... and the dangerous whipping up of community tensions to undermine the democratic reselection process” and submitted it to the party in July. He has instructed top solicitors Carter-Ruck, who have previously represented Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Corbyn and former Tory MP Charlie Elphicke, to demand a halt to process until the allegations have been properly investigated by the party. Where on earth has Tarry found the funding to employ this top firm of lawyers? Him and his Mrs and just poor northern working class like the rest of their constituents aren't they? At least that's the story they peddle. Yet more sleaze.
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kp
Midland League Division One
Posts: 495
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Post by kp on Aug 31, 2022 15:20:11 GMT 1
www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/sam-tarry-labour-mp-law-firm-carter-ruck-party-reselection-battle-ilford-south-b1021723.htmlLabour MP Sam Tarry has hired a top law firm to fight the party over his coming reselection battle, the Standard has learned. The Ilford South MP was “triggered” last month, meaning local party members can vote to keep him as their candidate at the next election or opt for someone else. But Mr Tarry, the partner of Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner, has said he has evidence of “rule-breaking, voter fraud... and the dangerous whipping up of community tensions to undermine the democratic reselection process” and submitted it to the party in July. He has instructed top solicitors Carter-Ruck, who have previously represented Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Corbyn and former Tory MP Charlie Elphicke, to demand a halt to process until the allegations have been properly investigated by the party. Where on earth has Tarry found the funding to employ this top firm of lawyers? Him and his Mrs and just poor northern working class like the rest of their constituents aren't they? At least that's the story they peddle. Yet more sleaze. Why would the constituents of Ilford South be poor northern working class? Why would you consider Tarry, born in Westminster, a northerner?
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Post by northwestman on Aug 31, 2022 15:44:13 GMT 1
If Tarry is taking legal action about the selection process at Ilford South, then this needs looking at again too: www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/oct/04/jas-athwal-labour-councillor-tells-of-darkest-time-in-suspension-rowA Labour council leader who was accused of sexual harassment and suspended before the last general election has revealed how he contemplated suicide during the ordeal. Jas Athwal, leader of Redbridge council in north-east London, was reinstated after rebutting the accusation against him. However, he said he had been forced to wait almost a year for his case to be heard. During that time, he was denied the chance to compete for a safe parliamentary seat and spent more than £150,000 fighting to clear his name. Athwal said he was the victim of a “politically motivated” process that saw him suspended just hours before the MP candidate selection for Ilford South, despite having responded in full to the allegation against him almost two months earlier. It a further 11 months to have his case heard by the party’s top disciplinary committee. He said his lowest ebb came in the run-up to the election. Athwal, seen as close to figures critical of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, was the main opponent to Sam Tarry, who ran Corbyn’s 2016 Labour party leadership campaign. Labour MP for Ilford North Wes Streeting thanked those who had raised objections to what he described as an "undemocratic stitch-up" in his neighbouring constituency. “I have never been in any doubt about the malicious nature of the complaint and I have been proud to stand by Jas throughout. He tweeted to say the "suspension of the local front runner just 15 hours before the vote is politically motivated and biased in order to stitch up the selection". “I remain shocked and sickened by the depths to which people were prepared to sink in order to manipulate a parliamentary selection and exclude our popular, local council leader from the process. It was a stitch-up. “This kind of grubby political corruption cannot go without serious consequence. Now that the Labour Party is under new management, there must be a thorough investigation into the handling of this case and lessons learned.” Supporters of Athwal have launched a petition for those wanting to back the calls for a “thorough investigation” into the handling of his disciplinary case by party officers and NEC members and for an new independent system. labourlist.org/2020/09/streeting-calls-on-starmer-to-launch-probe-into-council-leader-suspension/And now Tarry is complaining that he's being stitched up. You couldn't make it up. What a grubby world is politics. That said, Athwal is Leader of Redbridge Council and Wes Streeting was his Deputy from 2011-2015.
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Post by martinshrew on Aug 31, 2022 16:09:48 GMT 1
Him and his Mrs and just poor northern working class like the rest of their constituents aren't they? At least that's the story they peddle. Yet more sleaze. Why would the constituents of Ilford South be poor northern working class? Why would you consider Tarry, born in Westminster, a northerner? It's all they ever harp on about.
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Post by northwestman on Aug 31, 2022 16:26:26 GMT 1
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Post by martinshrew on Aug 31, 2022 16:31:04 GMT 1
It's been clear for some time, they can't rid themselves of the odious little barsteward and his clingers ons.
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Post by northwestman on Aug 31, 2022 16:50:23 GMT 1
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Post by martinshrew on Aug 31, 2022 16:56:30 GMT 1
It's a sad state of affairs. Despite those thinking I'm an massively right wing voting Tory, I'm genuinely not, I just hate the state of what the Labour party has become and don't align myself with it's far left ideology. I genuinely have no idea who to vote for this time round, neither Rishi or Liz inspire me. There was a chance for change, but that was passed up by a tiny amount of the voting population when good candidates were knocked out of the Tory party leadership race for these doughnuts. British politics is a mess.
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Post by northwestman on Aug 31, 2022 17:08:41 GMT 1
It's a sad state of affairs. Despite those thinking I'm an massively right wing voting Tory, I'm genuinely not, I just hate the state of what the Labour party has become and don't align myself with it's far left ideology. I genuinely have no idea who to vote for this time round, neither Rishi or Liz inspire me. There was a chance for change, but that was passed up by a tiny amount of the voting population when good candidates were knocked out of the Tory party leadership race for these doughnuts. British politics is a mess. Agree 100% The only thing going for me is that in Helen Morgan, the Lib Dem M.P for North Shropshire, we seem to have someone who makes a great effort to work on behalf of her constituents, sends weekly updates by e-mail, and literature through the post from time to time. That said, I'm no fan of the LibDems either, especially Ed Davey. But Ms Morgan is a very hard working individual who personally deserves some support.
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Post by northwestman on Sept 1, 2022 21:26:14 GMT 1
www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/sep/01/michelle-mone-hmrc-winding-up-petition-against-ppe-firmA company linked to the Conservative peer Michelle Mone that was awarded £203m worth of government PPE contracts during the pandemic has been issued with a winding up petition, apparently for unpaid taxes. PPE Medpro Ltd was awarded two contracts via the government’s “VIP lane” after Lady Mone approached Michael Gove in May 2020 with an offer to supply personal protective equipment. It is already under investigation by the National Crime Agency (NCA) for potential fraud.
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kp
Midland League Division One
Posts: 495
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Post by kp on Sept 2, 2022 8:40:06 GMT 1
I agree. But the Mail sells a million papers every day, and I'm not over confident of the political awareness of the general population, who are definitely open to manipulation. Somebody else on here was castigated for saying many were not politically aware but in more straight forward terms that Daily Mail readers would understand !!! That was me. Seemingly the facts back this up but I am being patronising or dismissive in some way. The majority of the voting population cannot even name their MP let alone what constituency they live in. They can, however, identify all the latest contestants of love island.
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kp
Midland League Division One
Posts: 495
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Post by kp on Sept 2, 2022 8:42:59 GMT 1
Why would the constituents of Ilford South be poor northern working class? Why would you consider Tarry, born in Westminster, a northerner? It's all they ever harp on about. Please provide evidence of Tarry harping on about his northern credentials or your comment can be dismissed. If you are talking about someone else, his current partner perhaps, then she is certianly northern.
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Post by northwestman on Sept 2, 2022 9:00:33 GMT 1
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Post by northwestman on Sept 2, 2022 10:20:38 GMT 1
Now we can see why Johnson is so keen to shut down the investigation where MPs on the privileges committee are examining whether he misled the House of Commons. Boris Johnson is likely to pitch for Prime Minister again after making some money, provided that he escapes Parliamentary censure over Partygate, a close ally has claimed. Lord Marland, a Conservative peer who led Mr Johnson’s London mayoral campaign and is a longstanding friend, said there was a “distinct possibility” that he would again aim for No 10. “The scenario could be that we lose the next election, we could be looking for a leader who can win elections - and of course Boris Johnson has that,” said Lord Marland, who served as the Prime Minister’s trade envoy and is a former Tory party treasurer. "As he said to me the other day, he wants to go and put hay in the loft, in other words to build up his bank balance so that he can afford to pay for the lifestyle that he has created. “I think once he's done that, if he is still a member of Parliament and hasn't been found to have behaved incorrectly by the standards committee - which is a possibility - I think he does have that opportunity." It comes as legal advice, commissioned by the Cabinet Office, is expected on Friday to call into question the legitimacy of the “partygate” inquiry into Mr Johnson. The advice, by Lord Pannick, QC, is said to show that investigating ministers for misleading the Commons “in good faith” would create a chilling effect and would “paralyse democracy.” Daily Telegraph. I blame the Committee, who should have stuck with the original rules laid down in Erskine May. By removing the word 'deliberately' (i.e. intentionally) from their investigation, they've given Johnson and his legal representative Lord Pannick the ammunition to attack the proceedings. Erskine May states that "the making of a deliberately misleading statement [is seen] as a contempt". But when the committee published its motion in June, it only referred to whether Mr Johnson had "misled the House", lowering the burden of proof. news.sky.com/story/pm-and-allies-launch-legal-fightback-against-witch-hunt-over-partygate-12687399erskinemay.parliament.uk/section/5022/members-deliberately-misleading-the-house/
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Post by northwestman on Sept 2, 2022 11:09:45 GMT 1
www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/sep/02/ex-commons-standards-chief-chris-bryant-hits-out-over-partygate-legal-advice-reportsThe former chair of the House of Commons standards committee has hit out at reports that the government has obtained legal advice that undermines the inquiry into claims Boris Johnson misled parliament over the Partygate scandal. “The question for the committee is simple: did the PM mislead the house? If he misled the house, which on prima facie he did so on several occasions, is that a contempt of parliament because he didn’t correct the record swiftly enough and he was culpable?” The PM’s supporters have said there would be a “chilling effect” on ministers if they could be found in contempt of court for “accidentally” saying something inaccurate in the Commons. Bryant argues that the process allows for ministers to correct the parliamentary record if they subsequently learned they had been inaccurate. He gave an example of how he challenged Johnson over a claim the PM made in the Commons that the oligarch Roman Abramovich had been sanctioned at a time when he had not. Johnson shortly afterwards corrected the record with a written statement.
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Post by martinshrew on Sept 2, 2022 13:11:07 GMT 1
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