text:
[Assembled partygoers at Tranby Croft, 11 September 1890. The Royal Baccarat Scandal. Pictured are Capt. Berkeley Levett and Edward, Prince of Wales and others] BERKELEY JOHN TALBOT LEVETT, (11 November 1863 – 1 November 1941) was a Major in the Scots Guards and later a Gentleman Usher for the Royal family. He was a witness in the Royal Baccarat Scandal of 1890 in which the future King Edward VII was drawn into a gambling dispute which painted him in an unflattering light.

Life and career

The son of Colonel Theophilus John Levett of Wychnor Park, Member of Parliament for Lichfield,[1] and member of an ancient family, Levett enjoyed playing cards and saw himself as a dashing figure in society circles. He was commissioned a lieutenant in the Scots Guards on 16 December 1885,[2] an appointment to one of the most prestigious regiments, which further allowed him to advance his contacts in the establishment.

On 8 September 1890, the Scots Guards officer was in the company of royalty and fellow socialites at Tranby Croft in Yorkshire when the incident which set off the Royal Baccarat Scandal occurred.[3] At the time, Levett was a soldier and bon vivant said to be the best-dressed man in London. One society publication referred to him as the “noted soldier and dandy.”[4] The subsequent events led to a slander trial at which Levett was one of the defendants. Although the defendants won the case, public mood was against them. [Sibell Bass Levett, daughter of brewery heir Hamar Alfred Bass, wife of Major Berkeley Levett, 1905] During the parties feting the German Emperor Wilheim II during his July 1891 London visit, _The New York Times_ noted, “the Pall Mall Gazette this afternoon, in referring to the garden party (for the Emperor), gives great prominence to the fact that Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Wilson, Mr. and Mrs. E. Lycett Greene, and Lieut. Berkeley Levett, all of whom were prominent in the Tranby Croft baccarat scandal, were among the guests at the garden party.”[5]

Berkeley Levett served as Aide-de-camp in India to William Mansfield, 1st Viscount Sandhurst who was Governor of Bombay from 1895 to 1900, during which he was promoted to captain on 15 November 1897.[6] Back in England, Levett married on 2 June 1900 Sibell Lucia Bass of the Bass brewery family, daughter of Hamar Alfred Bass, Member of Parliament.[7] In September 1902 he retired from the army.[8] Having sold his share of the family's Staffordshire estates, he and his wife lived in Lancaster Gate, London; Cottington, Sidmouth, Devon; and Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, France, often turning up at society events before World War I.[9][10]

Berkeley Levett kept up his royal connections while serving as one of the Gentlemen Ushers for the Royal Household from 1 April 1919 to 1 December 1931. Later Levett was promoted to the rank of Major. He and his wife had two sons, one of whom was killed in World War I.

Baccarat scandal

Levett was drawn into the scandal after a night in which Sir William Gordon-Cumming, 4th Baronet, a fellow officer from the Scots Guards, was accused of cheating at Baccarat, a card game. Levett testified later that he had witnessed the cheating. Although Gordon-Cumming maintained that he had not cheated and the others had been mistaken, he had when confronted signed a statement pledging never to play cards again in return for an agreement that no-one present would speak again of what had happened. The assembled players feared the worst if the scandal leaked. For four months afterwards, Sir William split his time between his Scottish estates, his Scots Guards regiment, his wealthy American fiancée and his Paris club, hoping that the others would hold to their pledge.

The secret pact did not hold. An anonymous letter from Paris informed Sir William that gossips on the Continent were chattering about the events of that evening – and about Gordon-Cumming's alleged cheating. Enraged, Sir William brought suit against those present, including Berkeley Levett, charging slander. When the suit came to court in June 1891, it was a stylish affair: only those observers sporting a note from the Lord Chief Justice were admitted. The cream of society turned out dressed as though for Royal Ascot.[11]

Levett testified under oath, and although the jury ultimately ruled for him and the rest of the defendants, the damage was done. Sir William was drummed out of his regiment and forced to resign from his clubs. The future King, who was required to testify and thus reveal his penchant for card-playing, was outraged. “Thank God”, said the future King, “the army and society are now well rid of such a damned blackguard.”[12]

The royal reputation had been called into question.[13] Newspapers and public opinion sided squarely with Sir William. Word in the street largely blamed the future King.[14] In circles like Berkeley Levett's, consensus was the King was to blame, but for a different reason: the contentious card game had transpired at the estate of a newly rich shipping millionaire.

The jury took 10 minutes to find all the defendants not guilty and award them their legal costs. It was not a popular decision. The crowd hissed and booed the jurors, and tried to attack the defendants as they left the courtroom.

[1] A History of the Meynell Hounds and Country, 1780-1901, Vol. II, J. L. Randall, Sampson Low, Marston and Company Ltd., London, 1901

[2] Hart′s Army list, 1902

[3] Gordon-Cumming v. Wilson and Others: Speeches for the Plaintiff Delivered by Sir Edward Clarke, M.P., Solicitor General, Stevens & Hayes, London, 1891

[4] The First of the Autumn Weddings, The Bystander: An Illustrated Weekly, Wednesday, 2 Aug. 1903

[5] A Great Day in London; The Emperor Partakes of the City's Hospitality, 10 July 1891, The New York Times

[6]

[7] Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal: The Isabel of Essex Volume, Marquis of Ruvigny, reprinted by Genealogical Publishing Company, 1994

[8]

[9] Drexel Entertains Society in London, The New York Times, 9 July 1912

[10] American Dollars Save London Season, The New York Times, 9 May 1914

[11] Sir William's Counters, The New York Times, 3 June 1891

[12] The Prince and the Parvenus, J. A. Maxtone Graham, Sports Illustrated, 28 April 1969

[13] For the Prince's Sake, The New York Times, 8 June 1891

[14] Wales and the Scandal, The New York Times, 5 June 1891

title: Berkeley Levett

question: What does the text say about Berkeley John Talbot Levett?

answer: Berkeley John Talbot Levett was a Major in the Scots Guards. He was a witness in the Royal Baccarat Scandal of 1890. He was the son of Colonel Theophilus John Levett and was a commissioned lieutenant on December 16, 1885.

question: What does the text say about the Baccarat scandal?

answer: Levett was drawn into the scandal after a night in which Sir William Gordon-Cumming was caught cheating in Baccarat. Levett testified later that he had witnessed the cheating. Sir William ends up pledging to never play cards again in return that this is to be kept secret. The pact did not hold.

question: What does the text say about Levett's royal reputation?

question: What does the text say about royalty?


split: train

text:
[Provisional IRA mural]By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org
An alleged police error, which has prompted the release from custody of a former Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) volunteer accused of killing British soldiers, has revealed a secret agreement between the PIRA and the British government. British authorities have long suspected John Downey of involvement in a 1982 bomb explosion in London’s Hyde Park, which killed four British soldiers and injured scores of bystanders. But Downey was released from custody yesterday, after a judge was shown a letter that the suspect had been provided by the British government, assuring him that he was not wanted for outstanding crimes related to PIRA operations. The letter was given to Downey in 2007 by Britain’s Northern Ireland Office; it stated that the former PIRA volunteer would be able to travel outside Northern Ireland “without fear of arrest”. British authorities said that the letter had been sent “in error” and that it should have been withdrawn prior to Downey’s recent detention. But the case has exposed what appears to be a “discreet agreement” between the British government and republican paramilitaries. The agreement is undoubtedly connected to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. The multi-party accord permitted —among other things— power-sharing between Northern Ireland’s loyalist and republican political parties, in exchange for the decommissioning of weaponry held by paramilitary groups on both sides. But it also stipulated that all prisoners held for crimes related to sectarian violence in Northern Ireland were to be freed. By 2000, most of these prisoners had been released, based on the British government’s belief that paramilitary groups on both sides were unlikely to refrain from violence while many of their members remained in prison. However, there was nothing in the Good Friday Agreement to cover the cases of those “on the run”, namely paramilitaries —most of them republican— who were at large and wanted by the British state for crimes connected with paramilitary activity. The general belief has always been that London has agreed to ‘turn a blind eye’ to these cases, so as not to provoke paramilitary organizations. But the Downey case shows that these “on the runs” were given actual letters of absolution, probably as a result of a secret agreement between the British government and the PIRA. The letters must have been approved directly from Whitehall starting in the late 1990s, after it became clear that the British Houses of Parliament would not approve such a measure. Many now expect that the revelation of the secret letters will negatively affect the already fragile peace process in Northern Ireland, as unionist groups will accuse the British government of bending over backwards to facilitate republican requirements.

question: What were the terms of the agreement between the British and Irish paramilitaries in the Good Friday agreement?

answer: It permitted power-sharing between Northern Ireland's loyalist and Republican parties. The paramilitaries had to disarm and prisoners held for crimes related to sectarian crimes were freed.

question: What was the unspoken agreement between the British government and the PIRA?

answer: It appears that the PIRA members could travel around Britain without fear of arrest.

question: What was the event that revealed the apparent discreet agreement?

answer: It was the arrest and subsequent release of Downey.

question: How would the Downey case affect the peace agreements?

answer: The Downey case revealed that the British government had given Irish Republican paramilitary personnel a written agreement not to arrest them while they were on the run. The letter became public when Downey was arrested. This is likely to affect the peace process because Irish unionists will see this as proof that the British government was bending over backward to facilitate republican requirements.

question: What was Downey's crime?

answer: He was suspected of involvement in a 1982 bomb explosion in London’s Hyde Park, which killed four British soldiers and injured scores of bystanders.


text:
1.  I was alone on the day that it had arrived. What it was I cannot fully explain. When the thing found its way to my doorstep everything was ordinary. The weather was frigid; as it tends to be around January in Maine, and the snow fall was light. Around 9 in the morning I get a knock on the door that would soon throw my life into a plague of unforeseen repercussions. If I just had the hindsight that I do now I would have rushed to the porch to greet the dreaded deliverer of the thing if only to see their face. The unfulfilled wish to simply see the person responsible for my torment, if it even was a person, keeps me in a state of constant agitation that surely can’t be healthy.
* 	But what do I know about being healthy? I haven’t slept in nine months with a warm bottle being my only recompense. Its cries still ring in my mind. The thing was there, on my very own doorstep, just wailing. I feel as if it knows the agitation it brings, yet continues on despite my pleading. Night after night it whines and night after night I offer the abomination no respite for its pains. The gnashing cries have since become so deeply ingrained into my psyche that I remember not a day that I didn’t hear them every time silence was afforded me.
* 	The picture is one I will never be able to alleviate from my mind. The thing, lying there, disgustingly trying to crawl into my home, while always being repelled by the closed door. The blood dripping from its mouth, forming a puddle on the ground in which it lied. Just the idea of the situation feeds my own tragic sensibilities. There was no reason for me to let the monster into my home, but even still I feel like there was no reason for me to leave it to freeze on my doorstep. The way its skin flakes and peals to reveal a slippery, wet exterior leads me to believe it would have succumbed to the cold within minutes if I hadn’t of brought it in. The memory of that morning is perfectly vivid in its terror. I can still feel the oozing, pink flesh against my bare arms. I can still smell the rotten stench of an open wound.
* 	I know it isn’t a real human being and I know leaving it to die would have been the end of so many of my torturous devices, but I still hold in my being a moral obligation to care for it. This is surely insanity on my part? I was never quite capable of distinguishing one reality from another as it were to begin with. I even struggled with the question regarding the tangibility of the thing. Was it a leftover premonition from days that have long past or was it truly a living being? Its wheezing breath, appearing out of its ghastly mouth and fading into the air, led me to snatch the creature up and into my home. What happened from there is something that will haunt me even after my mortal flesh has turned to a puddle of goo under the ground.
* 	The first days that it was under my unqualified supervision I tried to feed it naturally. It refused both the synthetic milk and the natural milk from a human breast. How was it supposed to attain any sustenance? The question bounced back and forth throughout my mind, never alleviating my frantic state. It wasn’t until days after semi-formally adopting the thing did I learn, to my abject horror, that it preferred one form of bodily fluid over another. I had tried in vain to feed it something white, pure even. Instead it preferred to take nutrition from other ghastly sources: the veins of other beings. This new revelation is what assured me for the last time that the tiny, squealing, beast I had allowed into my home may carry a disfigured human form, but it is not at all a human itself. It is just masquerading in a suit of pain and frailty.
* 	Feeding it soon became my largest grievance. There was no way I could continue on letting it drain me of my own precious juices. After one of our sessions I would always descend into a state of fear and panic. Everything would become achingly cold to the touch, while my body shivered in constant pained seizures. After quietly enduring this for a period of months, I dreamed up a deliriously ghastly idea that I dare not repeat in all its gory depravity. When left with either myself wasting away or my wretched companion not getting the sustenance it so required, I was left with only one thing I could do.
*  I set out, late into the night, and stalked the shadows of the woods for my victim. I carried on my person only one small knife and an empty plastic bottle. The sensation of inflicting death is something that made me feel hollow, almost as if my very being had been emptied of all warmth and lightness. I vomited profusely a cascade of yellow and red once I had done it. Not only had my mind been emptied at this moment, but my body had quickly followed suit. Once I had collapsed into the snow the sobbing started. It was slow at first. I didn’t know who I shed so many tears for. Were they for myself? Were they for the lifeless corpse bleeding out next to me? Asking questions became an exercise in futility. The exact reason that I did it still evades me to this day.

title: The Abomination of West York County Pt. 1

question: Describe how color functions in the story.

answer: Color in the story is a metaphor for innocence and purity. The color white is related to human milk, which the narrator gives to the being to try to feed it. The colors red and yellow represent sinfulness, after the narrator commits murder for the thing. The narrator seeks something "whiter than milk".

question: What is the "abomination" the narrator discovers?

answer: It is not clear what the being is. It is never fully described. It has the traits of an infant, and requires feeding. However there is also something demonic or vampiric about the creature. This is underscored by the frequent references to blood. However the author never gives us a description, leaving the nature of the thing abstract.

question: What genre is the story?

answer: The story is an example of the horror genre. It is set in Maine, reminiscent of the novels of Stephen King. It also resembles the style of H. P. Lovecraft: an abomination is described, but the nature of that abomination is never fully revealed to us. The sense of horror comes from the fact that we never fully understand what the narrator is facing.


text:
October 31, 2017

President Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, was indicted Monday over an assortment of alleged financial crimes, provoking a flurry of speculation about how the commander in chief might respond. "In the hours after the indictment,"_The Associated Press_ reports, "the president angrily told one confidant that Manafort had been a campaign 'part-timer' who had only helped steer the convention and got too much credit for Trump's ability to hold onto the nomination."

Still, the charges against Manafort — which include conspiracy against the United States — are serious. Additionally, there is excitement among Trump's critics that Manafort could potentially "flip" and out other Trump associates in order to cut a better deal for himself. Trump, on the other hand, could potentially fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller — or pardon his old campaign chairman.

On Tuesday, when asked point blank if he would pardon Manafort, Trump didn't answer. Instead, he abruptly ended the conversation. Watch below.

  Trump when asked whether he'll pardon Paul Manafort: "Thank you." pic.twitter.com/N1hZaGjc6K

  — Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) October 31, 2017

2:02 a.m.

Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is on President-elect Joe Biden's list of potential candidates to serve as his transportation secretary, people familiar with the matter told _The Associated Press_.

There are several people under consideration, the sources cautioned, and an announcement is not imminent.

Emanuel, who also served as former President Barack Obama's first chief of staff, was mayor of Chicago for eight years, turning around the city's transportation system, adding more than 100 miles of bike lanes, and overseeing $11 billion in airfield, terminal, and infrastructure investments at Chicago's airports, _AP_ reports. Michelle Harris, a Chicago alderman, told _AP_ Emanuel is "the perfect candidate for the job" because he "understands government at all levels" and "can start running Day One."

One of Emanuel's most vocal critics is Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who blasted him for the way he handled the 2014 officer-involved shooting of Laquan McDonald. McDonald, a Black teenager, was shot 16 times by a white police officer, and last week, Ocasio-Cortez accused Emanuel of participating in a coverup. _Catherine Garcia_

1:04 a.m.

President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris got their first look Monday at the top-secret President's Daily Brief since winning the 2020 election. President Trump had delayed Biden's access to the PDB, the intelligence community's daily classified summary of secrets and world events, as he contested his loss. Biden was given access to the document in Wilmington, Delaware, while Harris viewed it in a secure room at the Commerce Department.

The PDB is tailored to every president's preferences, and Biden has now seen the top-secret briefings prepared for Presidents Trump, Barack Obama, and George W. Bush. Trump is believed to favor short texts and ample graphics, and he reportedly doesn't always read his print briefing, _The Associated Press_ notes. Obama liked a 10- to 15-page document waiting for him at the breakfast table, before switching to a secured iPad. However it's delivered, the PDB isn't light reading or enjoyable.

"Michelle called it 'The Death, Destruction, and Horrible Things Book,'" Obama wrote in _A Promised Land_, his new memoir. "On a given day, I might read about terrorist cells in Somalia or unrest in Iraq or the fact that the Chinese or Russians were developing new weapons systems," and "nearly always, there was mention of potential terrorist plots, no matter how vague, thinly sourced, or unactionable."

Biden will also be briefed on any CIA covert actions in the works, former acting CIA Director Mike Morell explained recently. "It's important for the president-elect to get this briefing ... because on Inauguration Day, these covert actions will become the new president's." _Peter Weber_

1:00 a.m.

When Jeff Gerson learned how many people provided care to him while he was hospitalized with the coronavirus, the Manhattan resident knew he had to thank each and every one of them.

Gerson was admitted to NYU Langone Tisch Hospital in mid-March, when the hospital was inundated with coronavirus patients — 170 were on ventilators, and soon, so was Gerson. He was taken off the ventilator in April and able to go home in May, and after going through his hospital and insurance records, he discovered just how many people were involved in saving his life: 116 doctors, nurses, therapists, and other health care workers.

"I just wanted to thank everybody," Gerson told the _New York Daily News_. Over the next five months, he worked on getting contact information for everyone, and on Nov. 10, sent a three-page letter expressing his gratitude and encouraging them to "continue being the heroes you are." Dr. Luis Angel told the _Daily News_ it was "incredible" to hear from Gerson, and he appreciated that his former patient thanked each person who had a role in his recovery. Gerson's survival, Angel said, is "a credit to everyone. Everyone did the best for him." _Catherine Garcia_

12:12 a.m.

President-elect Joe Biden has seen a 6 percentage point jump in his favorability rating since the Nov. 3 election, with 55 percent of U.S. adults viewing him favorably, Gallup reported Monday. President Trump, whose Gallup favorability rating peaked at 49 percent in April, lost 3 points since Election Day, now clocking in at 42 percent. This is Biden's highest Gallup rating since February 2019, before he entered the presidential race. His jump in favorability was fueled by a 6-point bump among Republicans, to 12 percent, and a 7-point jump among independents, to 55 percent.

  Biden's Favorability Rises to 55%, Trump's Dips to 42%, per @Gallup : https://t.co/xkyxen3TAs pic.twitter.com/0CyaXOnidW

  — John McCormick (@McCormickJohn) November 30, 2020

Trump's post-election slump was also powered by a 6-point drop among Republicans, to 89 percent. Biden's jump in popularity is pretty normal for presidents-elect. "Since 2000, the winning presidential candidate's favorability ratings have increased slightly after the election," Gallup explained. "Additionally, since 2000, the winner's postelection favorability reached the majority level in every election except 2016, when Trump was the most personally unpopular presidential candidate in Gallup polling history."

Trump's 2020 dip is less normal; Republican candidates Mitt Romney and John McCain saw their favorability ratings jump 4 points and 14 points, respectively, after losing to President Barack Obama. Hillary Clinton's rating was unchanged after the 2016 election.

Gallup also found that Americans view the Democratic Party and Republican Party with roughly the same level of favor — 45 percent like Democrats, 43 percent approve of the GOP — though among independents, 41 percent view Democrats favorably and 33 percent see Republicans in a positive light.

Gallup conducted its survey Nov. 5-19 among a random sample of 1,018 adults from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and the margin of sampling error is ± 4 percentage points. _Peter Weber_

November 30, 2020

Since Election Day, President Trump's political operation has raised more than $150 million, with much of the money coming from small-time donors who tend to get fired up when they believe Trump is under attack, people with knowledge of the matter told _The Washington Post_.

In the wake of the election, the Trump campaign has sent roughly 500 pitches to donors, the _Post_ reports, with the messages including demands to end voter fraud and a plea from Vice President Mike Pence to join the "Election Defense Task Force." The Trump campaign's website states that the Official Election Defense Fund is soliciting the money, but this account doesn't exist, the _Post_ says, and the fundraising requests are actually coming from the Trump Make America Great Again Committee, a joint fundraising committee benefiting the Trump campaign and Republican National Committee.

As of Nov. 18, a third entity is also receiving money from the joint fundraising committee: Save America, Trump's new leadership PAC. In the fine print of the most recent fundraising letters, it says 75 percent of every contribution will go to Save America, with the remaining 25 percent going to help with the RNC's operating expenses. Trump set up Save America in early November, and will be able to tap into its funds when he is out of office, the _Post_ reports. There aren't many limitations as to how leadership PAC money can be spent, and Trump could use it for events at his properties or to pay for travel and personal expenses, the _Post_ says.

The Trump machine is raising more money now than ever before — the Trump Make America Great Again Committee's previous best month was September, when it brought in $81 million — and that's too much for some GOP donors, like Dan Eberhart. "Trump is making hay while the sun is shining," Eberhart told the _Post_. "He's taking advantage of all the free media coverage to pay off his campaign debt and fill his coffers for whatever comes next. I would rather give to Romney 2012 than Trump 2020 at this point." _Catherine Garcia_

November 30, 2020

Canada unveiled a $77 billion economic relief package on Monday, with Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland saying it is the country's largest "since the Second World War."

The package provides help to industries hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, like travel and tourism, and assistance to long-term care homes, BBC News reports. Lower- and middle-income families will also receive stimulus checks for each child under age 6.

Freeland said Canada will have its largest budget shortfall in decades, but the package is necessary. "As we have learned from previous recessions, the risk of providing too little support now outweighs that of providing too much," she said. "We will not repeat the mistakes of the years following the Great Recession of 2008." Freeland also said that once the "virus is under control and our economy is ready for new growth, we will employ an ambitious stimulus package" to be spent over the next three years.

Canada is now experiencing its second wave of coronavirus infections, with the number of active cases more than doubling in November. At least 12,000 Canadians have died of the virus. _Catherine Garcia_

November 30, 2020

Dr. Scott Atlas, a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force known for going against public health experts and pushing for herd immunity, submitted his resignation letter to President Trump on Monday, Fox News reports.

During his tenure, Atlas, a neuroradiologist with no infectious disease background, called lockdowns "extremely harmful" and called on schools to reopen and for colleges to let students play sports. In October, he promoted misinformation about the coronavirus on Twitter, sharing false claims about the effectiveness of masks; Twitter removed his tweet, saying it was in violation of its policy against misleading COVID-19 statements.

Fox News obtained Atlas' resignation letter, dated Dec. 1, in which he states that he "worked hard with a singular focus — to save lives and help Americans through this pandemic." Atlas added that he "always relied on the latest science and evidence, without any political consideration or influence." Atlas was a special government employee on a 130-day detail, which was set to expire this week. _Catherine Garcia_

question: Why was Manafort indicted?

answer: He was indicted over an array of alleged financial crimes, and for conspiracy against the United States.

question: What does Manafort's indictment mean for President Trump?

answer: It could potentially mean some sort of legal trouble for Trump.

question: Why is Emanuel one of Biden's potential candidates for his transportation secretary?

answer: He has related experience that includes being mayor of Chicago for 8 years, turning around the city's transportation system, adding more than 100 miles of bike lanes, and experience with Chicago's airports. This makes him a perfect candidate.

question: If Emanuel did participate in a coverup of the shooting of Laquan McDonald by police, what would that say about his ethics?

answer: McDonald was 16 years old when he was killed by police, so to cover up a possible murder of a minor would show bad ethics.

question: How does Gerson feel about those who helped him when he had coronavirus?

answer: He feels thankful and filled with gratitude.

question: Describe Trump's post-election slump.

answer: The post-election slump happened after the 2020 Presidential election. He lost 3 points and dropped to 42% for favorability. This was powered by a 6 point drop among Republicans, to 89%.

question: Why was Trump concerned with voter fraud around November 30, 2020?

answer: The article doesn't say, but it can be assumed it's because he lost the election.

question: What fear did Canada's recession in 2020 create?

answer: It created financial fear.


text:
According to Amnesty International, the centers that host migrants arriving in Italy, known as "hotspots," are like concentration camps. This is what you learn from Amnesty International's new report, which accuses Italy of nothing less than "torturing" migrants. The report features a sequence of testimonies, never proven, that describe methods worthy of a South American military junta.

The report validates Salman Rushdie's accusation against Amnesty International: "Morally bankrupt." The _Wall Street Journal_ added two more charges against the famous Western non-governmental organization (NGO): "Anti-American fervor and intellectual confusion".

In the new Amnesty International report, a "witness," under the name of only "Adam," speaks of "a kind of clamp with three ends" by which Italian policemen allegedly grabbed his testicles. Evidence? Medical reports attesting to this violence? The version of the Italian police? Not in the wonderful world of Amnesty International, where a Western democracy can be safely accused of "torture" with flimsy, sub-standard, unverifiable "evidence" -- the same as Amnesty's many spurious charges against Israel. The Italian police and Interior Ministry denied all the charges, calling them ridiculous.

Already in February 2016, Antonio Marchesi, president of the Italian section of Amnesty, said: "Those in Italy who have committed acts of torture can sleep soundly." A month ago, Amnesty issued a similar report on the immigration centers in Australia, another democracy denounced as a "torturer" by this now badly-degraded NGO that won the now badly-degraded Nobel Peace Prize in 1977.

The world owes a debt of gratitude to Amnesty -- it fought hard to free political prisoners held by Communist regimes during the Cold War, and those held by South Africa's Apartheid regime. But those days are gone. Now Amnesty keeps betraying its symbol: the light of its small candle trapped in barbed wire.

In 2005, Irene Khan, then secretary general of Amnesty, described the American detention center in Guantanamo Bay as "the Gulag of our time." She compared the Soviet forced-labor camps, where three million people died of hunger, cold and executions, to a US military base where no prisoner has died, and which has prevented countless innocent civilians from being blown up.

It seems that Amnesty International abandoned the battle of human rights in favor of a grotesque anti-Western bias. This shift is why the British weekly, _The Economist_, accused Amnesty International of "reserving more pages to human rights abuses in Britain and the United States than in Belarus and Saudi Arabia." This is the same muddled moral equivalence that probably led Amnesty International to use the same language for Italian "hotspots" as for the Saydnaya prison in Syria, run by the regime of Bashar al Assad.

If Guantanamo is the new Gulag, why not demand the arrest of its commander-in-chief? This is precisely what Amnesty did two years ago, when it asked Canada to arrest George W. Bush. "Canada is obliged to arrest and prosecute Bush for his responsibility for crimes under international law including torture", said Susan Lee, Amnesty International's Americas programme director. Amnesty's also charged Obama of "war crimes". The Western "war on terror"? According to Amnesty, "it is sowing fear". US drone strikes? A "war crime."

The NGO has also accused Israel of "war crimes." Alan Dershowitz summarizes Amnesty International's definition of Israel's "war crimes": "Whatever Israel does to defend its citizens." A report by NGO Monitor detailed "Amnesty's repeated examples of "lawfare"; systematic flaws in the reporting of human rights abuses; limited understanding of armed conflict leading to erroneous claims and incorrect analysis; and violation of the universality of human rights, including a consistent institutionalized bias against Israel through double-standards". There are even Amnesty's officials who called the Jewish State "a scum state."

In the name of "protecting human rights," Amnesty International has even excused Islamic extremism. The secretary general of Amnesty, Claudio Cordone, said that "defensive jihad" is not "antithetical" to the struggle for human rights. He said this in response to a petition on Amnesty's relationship with CAGE (formerly CagePrisoners), the NGO founded by Islamic extremist Moazzam Begg that campaigns for the release of acclaimed jihadists.

One prominent leader of Amnesty, Karima Bennoune, author of the book _Your Fatwa Does Not Apply Here_, wrote:

  "During my years at Amnesty I shared the concerns about torture in Algeria, but I could not understand the organization's paltry response to the violence of fundamentalist groups."

She is not the first Amnesty official who has flung criticism at her own organization. Amnesty suspended one of its senior officers, Gita Sahgal, for having expressed some concerns. "To be appearing on platforms with Britain's most famous supporter of the Taliban, whom we treat as a human rights defender is a gross error of judgment," she wrote.

There was a time when Amnesty International defended the victims of ideological repression, such as the wife of Soviet writer Boris Pasternak, Olga Ivinskaya, who spent years under arrest and persecuted for her husband's refusal to bow down to the Kremlin. Now, the _Times of London_ has documented links between Amnesty International officials and Islamists.

Today, Amnesty evidently considers freedom of expression something to use with "responsibility," as Amnesty claimed during the Mohammed cartoons crisis. Is freedom of speech the right to say whatever you like, about any topic, whenever you want? Not according to Amnesty International, the watchdog group that today would apparently have lectured the great Soviet dissidents to write with "responsibility."

Amnesty International sponsored a rally in Brussels, where Islamist speakers celebrated the 9/11 attacks, denied the Holocaust, and demonized gays and Jews. Before that, Amnesty refused to punish an official, Kristyan Benedict, Amnesty's UK campaign manager, who tweeted: "Israeli regimes [sic] response to our Gaza report: Amnesty is 'a propaganda tool for Hamas & other terror groups' (#JSIL?)." The hashtag "#JSIL" is used on Twitter to compare Israel with the Islamic State terrorist organization by replacing "Islamic" with "Jewish" in the group's common alias, ISIL. Amnesty also sponsored a speaking tour of Bassem Tamimi, a Palestinian militant who promotes anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.

Given Amnesty International's embarrassing record, it is at least doubtful that the Italian police and authorities are "torturing" migrants whom they have so generously been rescuing at sea for more than two years.

Some in the Western "human rights establishment" have crossed the red line that separates the defense of human rights, even for terrorists, from complicity and collusion with repressive totalitarian ideas.

  _Giulio Meotti, Cultural Editor for_ Il Foglio, _is an Italian journalist and author._

_© 2020 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved._ The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

question: According to Amnesty International, what are the centers hosting new migrants in Italy like?

answer: Concentration camps.

question: Why is this?

answer: Italy allegedly tortures people in these places.

question: How is this claim debunked?

answer: No testimonies have ever been recorded or substantiated in with any credulity.

question: What similar charges has the organization levied?

answer: There are many spurious charges against Israel.

question: Write a ~6 sentence summary.

answer: Amnesty International, a human rights organization, has come under fire over the years for irresponsibly levying spurious and possibly unfounded charges of human rights infractions against several countries,including Israel and former US President George W Bush. The latest country to face their charges is Italy, accused of holding migrants in settlements likened to "concentration camps" according to their reports. However, there is no documentation, and there are no recordings, to substantiate this claim, according to several globally-respected attorneys. In fact, according to some critics of the organization, they have "even excused Islamic extremism" due to their connections with CAGE, an organization that campaigns for the release of acclaimed jihadists. Once, they even sponsored a rally in Brussels where Islamic speakers feted the September 11th attacks, downplayed the Holocaust, and demonized the lgbtq+ community along with Jewish people. Amnesty International has left a lot of room for heavy critiquing and lost credibility on a global level over the years, so it's not out of line to doubt their latest claims about Italy.


text:
ASUS today announced the roll out of the much awaited Android Marshmallow 6.0 upgrade for its smartphone range. The Zenfone’s being the most top level lineup that brought success to the company are the first series of devices to receive Android 6.0 Marshmallow update. Not all the Zenfones will start receiving updates in March, but 9 major Zenfone series smartphones will get this update over the air (OTA). Last year in June, Asus delighted its ZENFONE CUSTOMERS WITH ANDROID LOLLIPOP UPDATE for major  devices, and this year from ZENFONE LASER to Recently Launched ZENFONE ZOOM all are receiving this Android M update.

ZENFONE DEVICES RECIVING ANDROID MARSHMALLOW 6.0

THE FOLLOWING ASUS SMARTPHONE MODELS WILL RECEIVE THE ANDROID M (6.0) UPGRADE IN MARCH OF 2016 –

-   ZenFone 2 (ZE550ML, ZE551ML)
-   ZenFone 2 Deluxe (ZE551ML)
-   ZenFone 2 Laser ( ZE500KL, ZE550KL, ZE601KL)
-   ZenFone Selfie (ZD551KL)
-   ZenFone Max (ZC550KL)
-   ZenFone Zoom (ZX551ML)

Rest of the devices not mentioned in the list will start receiving the Android 6.0 marshmallow update starting April 2016 onwards. So its not a very long wait for those who does not own the top tier Zenfone devices listed above.

In the recent launch event in January 2016, at ZENFONE ZOOM LAUNCH EVENT ASUS ANNOUNCED THEY HAVE SOLD OVER 3 MILLION ZENFONE DEVICES, and this will bring nothing but a great performance and features of Android M update to all these smartphone users.

WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN THE ANDROID M UPDATE IS INSTALLED ON AN ASUS SMARTPHONE:

Google Messenger, Calendar, and Gmail apps will automatically be included with the Android M update. These apps will replace three ZenUI apps— ASUS Messenger, ASUS Mail and ASUS Calendar—as the default apps in the Android M version of ZenUI if you restore to factory settings after the update.

_NOTE FROM ASUS FOR THE NATIVE APPS BY COMPANY:_ If you restore to factory settings after the update, ASUS Messenger, ASUS Mail and ASUS Calendar can be downloaded from Google Play.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

SOURCE: Asus India PR | COPY OF PRESS RELEASE RECEIVED

question: What did ASUS announce?

answer: The roll-out of the Android Marshmallow 6.0 update for its smartphone range, starting with the Zenfone series.

question: When is the scheduled update set to arrive?

answer: March.

question: Would all Zenfones receive the update?

answer: No, only 9 major Zenfone series smartphones will get the update over the air (OTA) in March, followed by the rest.

question: How many Zenfone devices has ASUS sold?

answer: Over 3 million devices.

question: Write a ~3 sentence summary.

answer: ASUS announces the roll-out of the Android Marshmallow 6.0 (Android M) update for its smartphone range, starting with the popular Zenfone series. Nine major Zenfone series smartphones will receive the much-awaited Android M upgrade over the air (OTA) starting March, and the rest will follow the following month. Android M brings great performance improvements and Google apps (Gmail, Calendar, Messenger) will automatically be included, replacing the ASUS versions.


text:
       It wasn’t the way he moved his wrists. No, that was always elegantly
trashy and it turned me on. It also wasn’t the way he would never take off
his long, black socks; he was afraid that his feet smelled. I found all of his
irritating habits to be endearing after I have my coffee. It couldn’t have
 been the way he danced in his dog-bitten-hole-in-front-of-his-dick-pouch
underwear in the morning to Bowie, singing into my blue toothbrush.

	    Maybe it was the way he would make love to me. Pushing
himself against me and pounding away like a jackhammer, rolling
over and falling asleep. I would run my aching hands between his
soft chest hair and wonder what stars taste like in my mouth. I loved all of it.

	    I remember the hours lost underneath the sheets, sunlight
dancing between our pirouetted fingers. The texture of his redone
tattoos against my exploring hands. Our tiny nightstand we stole
 from a dumpster at 3am. He sanded it down with utmost precision
and detail and I wildly sprayed it black and the drawer red (now the
red will have flecked off). Or the smell of coffee I had every morning
to wake up to. So strong.

	I know what it is. The moment that shattered us. That scattered
our lengthy dreams and quiet hopes. I came home and shook off the
 rain from my black umbrella. I shucked off my shoes and ran to get
out of my dripping clothes. I noticed it. No, it wasn’t his cock in someone
else’s body. It wasn’t even another lover. It was just his green, matted,
wet towel lying on top of our bed.

title: It was.

question: Why does the narrator leave her boyfriend?

answer: He is far too messy.

question: What does the narrator love about her ex-boyfriend?

answer: How sexy she found him.

question: What does the story set us up for?

answer: We expect her boyfriend to have cheated on her.

question: What is the punchline of the story?

answer: We see a dirty towel on the bed is the reason she fell out of love with him. [This is ironic]

question: Write a ~3 sentence summary.

answer: The story is about a relationship. The speaker, a woman, tells us all the beautiful things she loved about her boyfriend. Then she tells us the even that made her want to leave him.


text:
A painter, that’s what they called him. An artist, a natural. Amazing, they called him. But now what will they call him, a tragedy? A mistake, a fatality, a casualty? Alone I stood, the room silent. The only noise I could hear coming from the breath I was taking, and my heart racing, at what seemed like thousands, millions of beats per minute. Memories flashed through my head, him and I, at five years old, running around and causing mischief. Ten years old, raising hell at school. Fifteen years old, ditching school. Twenty years old, going to a different place of the world. The painting was fresh and some of the colors were still drying. It was almost an exact replica of the scene that confronted me as I entered the room. Hanging, in the air, neck at an odd angle and body limp, a body hung by a rope with only a noose to support it. The wall behind it was stained, and the worst thing of it all was the colors used. The world around was a combination of dark blues, greens, and grays, while the corpse was painted vivid colors that caught the eye. The bright colors would’ve communicated happiness in any other painting, while the outside world was a dull and dark gray, a sadness, a pain to exist in. Paint was splattered everywhere, there was broken glass and assorted other small things strewn about. The rafters creaked occasionally, supporting the body swinging from a noose.
	Two months in the past, the painter stood. The woman he loved with all his heart, the child they had made, walked to a car waiting. He watched, heart breaking, as they got in the car and drove away, giving no second glance. The painter stayed there for a long time. He turned around, walked back inside the house, and then stood inside the door. The house was big and beautiful, but now it was empty. After two minutes, his heart sank. After one, a tear fell. Something rose inside him. He strode over to a table, with a pristine set of flowers inside a vase. He took the vase, rose it above his head, and smashed it on the ground. This did not help. He screamed, a violent, guttural war cry, and laid about him. Before he knew, everything in his house was smashed, and he still felt the rage, the burning hole where his heart and soul was. He fell to his knees, screaming. This scream was a more desperate, pained scream. The pain of someone being tortured.
	One month in the past, the painter stood. The judge left the courtroom, and he was officially unmarried. The painters’ love rose, and left with the painters’ offspring. The painter left, as the world seemed to become gray. The colors he loved and cherished, gone. The scenes he would be amazed with and try to recreate, a disgusting gray. The painter drove home, feeling nothing, seeing nothing, enjoying nothing. He arrived in his house, which he had still not cleaned up, and sat on his couch, careful not to sit on a torn place. He took out his cell phone, and dialed up someone.
	Two weeks in the past, the painter stood. He waited patiently, almost unable to contain his enthusiasm. A car, which appeared to just be multiple pieces of multiple cars, pulled into the driveway. Out of it stepped a man, with dirty, stained clothes. He carried a duffle bag, and walked as fast as he dared into the house. They sat on the couch, and out of the duffle bag came a leather belt. The painter fixed it to his arm, and tightened it. Then came a needle. Pull, push. The painter slumped over, almost unable to move. He drifted away, away from the life that he now despised.
	Fifteen minutes ago, the painter finished. He was out of money, out of hope, and out of will to live. He stepped back, comparing the two pictures. The noose hung in both, and the painter would’ve had a hard time knowing which one was real, if one already had his body hanging and the other did not. He placed his wooden stool, the stool he painted on for his entire life, coated in splotches of paint, and stood up. He put the noose around his neck, and leaned back so the stool fell. Within a minute, whatever life remained in his heartbroken body had fled, and all that was left was a body. He thought of himself as a husk of his former being, after the divorce, but now, he really was a husk, a piece of meat.
	Two minutes ago, I walked into this scene. I stood for a few minutes, staring. I couldn’t move, couldn’t think, all I could do is stand and look. Look, stand, and memorize. Suddenly, the front door of the house opened. Into the room ran a small child. He stole a single glance at me, but when he saw the hanging body, he stared for a moment.
	“Daddy!” The child screamed, and ran to the body. The click-clack of heels on hardwood approached the room from outside, while the child screamed and cried at the feet of his father’s corpse, hanging from the rafter. The woman entered the room, and recognized me, before looking to the corpse of her ex-husband, who was now ex-living. They called him a painter, I called him a friend. The child called him father, the woman used to call him husband. Society will call him a tragedy, but now he is just a corpse.

title: The Painter (Please give feedback)

question: What does the story say about the painter's style?

question: What does the story say about the relationship between the narrator and the painter?

answer: It appears that the narrator and the painter were close friends. They were running around causing mischief as young as five years old. From that age up until their 20s, they had many shared experiences and unforgettable memories. They even went to another country when they were twenty years old.

question: What does the story say about the painter's motivation to kill himself?

answer: The painter's life was turned upside down when his wife divorced him and took their daughter with her. Alone and in anguish, the painter turned to drugs so he can forget and become numb to the heartache. He becomes addicted but runs out of money for drugs. Not being able to shoot up (with drugs) seems like the last straw. The painter decides to end his life by hanging himself from the rafters of his studio.

question: What message was the painter trying to express in his final painting?

answer: The painter was probably trying to express that the world around him was dark and dull. It was full of sadness and pain, and existing in this world is torture. Juxtaposed with this depressing scene is the colorful corpse, which might be a message to his loved ones not to feel sad about his passing. The colorfully painted corpse could also carry a sarcastic message that meant the opposite - he was really sad and suffering.


text:
The LAGOS METROPOLITAN AREA TRANSPORT AUTHORITY (abbreviated LAMATA) is the Lagos State Government agency created to coordinate transport planning, policies, and public transport infrastructure implementation in the Lagos Metropolitan Area, Nigeria.[1] The organisation oversees wide range of transport planning and implementation of transport strategies and plans in Lagos, as well as the Lagos Rail Mass Transit and the Lagos Bus Rapid Transit System.[2] It is based in Ikeja.

The bill setting up the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA) was signed into law on 13 January 2002 by the then Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu (1999 – 2007). The law empowered LAMATA with the responsibility of reforming the transport system in Lagos.[3]

Background

The United Nations defined Lagos as the only mega city yet to have an organized public transportation. The population is highly mobile and largely reliant upon public transport however the lack of formally organized public transport has led to gross inefficiencies in its provision and a low level of service to those forced to use it. Public transport in Lagos has been widely described as chaotic, inefficient, expensive, low quality and dangerous both in terms of road traffic accidents and personal safety.

Transformation of the Informal Sector

[New Ikeja Terminal constructed by LAMATA]The performance of the Bus services has been influenced by the inability of the government authority to effectively franchise all the Bus Routes in Lagos. It is obvious that each bus routes has a peculiar operational characteristics considering the social, economic and environmental variables that will guide their operations. As a result, the continuous franchising of all the Bus Routes in Lagos is expedient. To expedite the process of Bus franchising and effective route coordination, LAMATA has produced Lagos State Strategic Transport Master Plan (LSSTMP) and Bus Route Network (BRN) document to guide in the phased franchising of all the bus routes. The LSSTMP identified fourteen BRT routes while the Bus Route Network Study identified 485 individual bus routes, consisting of mass transit, standard and feeders’ routes. The process geared towards the franchising of these routes is ongoing.

The concept adopted for the franchise system currently running in Lagos under LAMATA regulated bus scheme is the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model. In this model, the service routes are franchised to a Private Operator whereby Government provides the infrastructure i.e. bus depot/garage, terminals, shelters and TSM measures, construction and rehabilitation of roads. The private sector procures the buses, is responsible for operation and maintenance of the buses, recruitment of personnel and revenue collection among others. The contract option that is currently being used for the current contract i.e. Ikorodu – TBS and the bus franchise scheme on Maryland – IyanaIpaja – Ikotun – Igando bus services, is the net cost management contract. The Contract option allows LAMATA to specify the routes, design service specifications, set standard of operations and fares whilst the operator recruit, train crew and manage operations. The operator also enters into a franchise agreement with the State Government to maintain the buses, adhere to the set standards and paid the agreed franchise fees to the government. LAMATA’s adoption of the net cost management contract was guided by the objective of the Lagos State Government, level of private sector confidence in LAMATA schemes that are publicly driven, and government investment policy and programs etc.

As part of the activities towards the transformation of the informal sector in Lagos Metropolitan Area, LAMATA has commenced with the franchising of bus routes for the BRT and Bus Franchise Scheme, amongst them is the BRT scheme along Ikorodu – TBS and the Bus Franchise Scheme along Ikotun/Igando-IyanaIpaja –Maryland Corridor. BRT System

The introduction of the BRT system to the Lagos Metropolitan roads owes its present state to decades of concerted efforts and initiatives in Bus planning and restructuring, adaptation and Government intervention. The BRT Scheme demonstrated a unique public transport progression which started from bus operations of unfettered market to one with planned approach with restricted players and the transition to government contracting model.

The need for a bus reform in Lagos became obvious in the face of alarming rate of disorganized services and lack of structure in the Public Transport sector thus creating need for total restructuring of the sector. Consequently, the 1st Phase of Lagos BRT Scheme was launched on March 17th 2008 on Ikorodu Road from Mile 12 – TBS .The Operations was franchised to the 1st BRT Cooperatives, an arm of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, Lagos Chapter. The system commenced operations with 220 buses that runs from 6.00 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily and moved more than 200,000 passengers daily. The system in the first 4 years of operation had moved more than 220 million passengers.

The Scheme gained acceptance from all commuting public and Lagosians. The system paid the initial loan for the first 100 buses within 18 months against the 36 month’s period that was agreed with the funding bank. Over 2000 direct and indirect jobs were also created. However, after successful bus loan repayment and operations success, the operation began to dwindle as a result of operations and management challenges. After a prolonged state of the Union inability to meet up with the set operations standard, the franchise was terminated in September 2015. Owing to the successful deployment of the 1st Phase from Mile 12 – TBS, an extension to Ikorodu Roundabout from Mile 12 was approved and completed. The BRT lane was hence extended to Ikorodu roundabout from Mile 12 and a new operator, Primero Transport Services Limited (PTSL), a private sector operator was brought on board in November 2015 to anchor the BRT operations from Ikorodu roundabout to TBS. PTSL has injected 434 buses to service the operations from Ikorodu to TBS and has conveyed over 33 million passengers from November 2015 to date.

From inception till date, the BRT scheme has conveyed over 380 million passengers, reduced the waiting time of passengers to about 10 minutes and has consequently reduced the volume of emission on the BRT corridor.

The system is however being gradually upgraded to the BRT Classic System with the introduction of Electronic Ticketing and Intelligent Transport System. The BRT currently has 45 bus shelters, 5 terminals and 2 bus depots which house a maintenance bay, a fuel dump, an automatic washing bay, administrative offices and other appurtenances for the smooth operation of the system. The operation is guided by a set of regulations approved by the Lagos State House of Assembly and signed into law in 2007. The regulations restrict all other road users from using the BRT lane.

Finally, the BRT scheme has created the opportunities for bus reform and regulations of the scheme.

[LAMATA HEADQUARTERS:KM 15 IKORODU ROAD, KETU-OJOTA CLOVERLEAF INTERCHANGE, LAGOS]

Lagos rail mass transit

The Lagos Rail Mass Transit (LRMT) network is a major component of the Strategic Transport Master Plan (STMP) which has been developed to guide as a compass for the development of public transport infrastructures in the State. The STMP is a 30-year plan put together under series of intensive researches, studies and analyses of future transportation demands and needs of Lagos State as Nigeria’s commercial and economic hub and one of the world’s fastest growing mega cities.

[Interpretation of the LAMATA Brand identity]

Component of LURN

The Lagos Urban Rail Network (LURN) is a network of urban rail-based systems covering seven major corridors of high commuter traffic demand within and beyond the metropolitan Lagos extending to border areas with States like Ogun and Oyo.

The Urban Rail Network consists of seven railway lines planned along priority and high commuter demand corridors within the Lagos metropolis and farther. The seven lines link the major population and activity centers in the state, as well as taking advantage, where possible, of existing transport corridors. The network is fully integrated with planned and existing water transport and BRT routes.

[LAMATA receives the Infrastructure of the year award 2017]

The Cable Car Initiative

Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) can only directly serve part of the metropolitan area and in the short/medium term the MRT network will be relatively undeveloped. Hence, the development of MRT will need to be supported by complementary quality public transport networks, integrated with MRT. The Lagos Cable Car Project is designed to deliver such a system.

The most promising corridor for cable car development to complement the Strategic Transport Master Plan (STMP) is the corridor linking Apapa with Lagos Island, Obalende/Ikoyi and Victoria Island, which is not directly served by the STMP mass transit networks. Here the cable car project would provide transport connections with the RMRT and BRT lines. The project will attract private sector funding thus increasing the level of investment available for improving transportation in Lagos.

Partners

-   World Bank
-   French Development Agency
-   Lagos State Government

[1]

[2]

[3]

question: What does LAMATA look after?

answer: LAMATA looks after a wide range of transport planning and implementation of transport strategies and plans in the city.

question: Who brought the law into force?

answer: The law was brought into force by the then Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

question: Summarize the Cable Car Initiative.

answer: The Mass Rapid Transport (MRT) can serve only a part of the city, hence it will have to be supported by a complementary quality public transport system. The most promising corridor for the cable car initiative is the link between Apapa with Lagos Island, Obalende/Ikoyi, and Victoria Island.

question: How many corridors will the LURN cover?

answer: The LURN will cover seven major corridors.

question: Write a ~5 sentence summary.

answer:
The LAMATA was set up in 2002 to coordinate transport planning, policies, and public transport infrastructure implementation in the Lagos metropolitan area.

As a part of transforming the informal sector in Lagos, LAMATA has started franchising bus routes for the BRT and Bus Franchise Scheme. The BRT system is gradually being upgraded with technology.

The Strategic Transport Master Plan (STMP) is a 30-year plan for the development of transportation in Lagos, keeping in mind future demands.

The Lagos Urban Rail Network will consist of seven major corridors that will link the majority of the population.


text: He woke. It was a breathless waking, the kind where you slam your own bed as if rushing to the ground. He had hardly blinked away the heaviness in his eyes when he noticed. Something was wrong, different, unsettling, his room seemed, brighter. It wasn’t a comforting light, it seemed to vibrate from everything, as if all objects had a new glean. He took the whole feeling as a shuddering, a resonating chill lasting only moments. Curling his fingers over the edge of his bed he swung himself across the lip of the sheets. His feet touched the ground and the tactile sensation of the carpet caused him to shift uncomfortably. For the first time he was conscious of the fibers, the rough spun cotton flowing underfoot. He thought he might be able to count them all, every strand, and find them all to his liking. He found this unnerving. Straining his eyes the room came into focus, his vision was acute and the details washed over him in waves. The colors were deeper and patterns more noticeable. This made him realize everything about his immediate surroundings, the four corners of his room, arched ceiling, tissue box, miss matched curtains, everything, appeared flawless. Nothing had moved, nothing had changed, it was simply right. It was in its place. It was at home. All except the door. It was the same. The familiar had a new temptation, a magnetism, an undeniable pull. The door was already cracked, pale light slipping in from around the frame. The dark ruff cut wood, bronzed hinges and dented knob stood in flushed contrast to the perfection surrounding it. He rose, pushed off the bed, and stepping towards the doorway, reached out, clutched the handle, gave a sharp pull, strode out, and fell.

title: I've never really wrote before, just looking for advice, wrote this today, let me know what you think!

question: How is the narrator feeling?

answer: Upon waking, he feels unsettled, unnerved.

question: What seems "wrong" when the narrator wakes up?

answer: His room seemed brighter; his senses heightened.

question: Does the story contain conflict? Is it resolved?

answer: no

question: Are there other important characters in the story?

answer: no

question: Write a ~3 sentence summary.

answer: Upon waking, the narrator feels unsettled, unnerved. His room seemed brighter; his senses heightened. He walks to the door and falls.


text:
We stood at the gate, Alysha and I. I had an odd feeling in my stomach. Perhaps it was the eerie gargoyles decorating the windows, or the thick iron bars that made up the fence. Alysha, beside me, was shaking with excitement. I was also shaking, but from fear. I shivered. There was a ringing in my ears, but through that I could hear someone speaking. My eyes focused and I saw the ticket clerk. "Will you be going in or not? I don't have time for you to stand there not doing anything," he said indignantly. Before I could shake my head, Alysha nodded excitedly and gave him the money. He took it and stamped our hands. The stamp, I saw, was a clown. "Have a nice time, ladies," the clerk said, smiling creepily. There was something odd about him... His eyes looked empty of emotion. They looked *black.* Before I could dwell any longer on his eyes, Alysha grabbed my hand and dragged me into the maze. "Alysha, I really don't want to do this," I started saying, a slight tremble in my voice. She turned around, grabbing my other hand as well. "Aw, Lexie, are you scared? Don't worry, I'll protect you. Especially since we have a little alone time now," she purred, biting her bottom lip and winking. I inhaled sharply. *So that's why she wanted me to come. Not that I mind.* I had let her pull me farther into the maze, until we reached a dead end. "Oh no, Lexie, we're lost and I'm cold... Hold me," she growled playfully, pulling me closer. I nuzzled her cheek but did nothing else. "Alysha, I don't want to do anything here... I feel like we're being watched," I said in a low voice. She giggled, not realizing my fear. She stepped back, her back pushing into the hedge. "You're so paranoid, hun. Chill out and let's take advantage of this," she moaned quietly, pulling my face down to hers. Just as our lips had touched she had suddenly jumped, every muscle tightening. I pulled back to see a needle in her neck. "W-What? Alysha are you alright? Talk to me!" I had yelled, trying to pull her away from the hedge. But she wouldn't budge. In fact, she had begun being pulled back INTO the hedge. Her head bobbed down, her chin resting on her chest. I wrapped my arms around her, trying to pull her back. "No! Alysha, fight it, please," I cried, tugging on her arms. "I need you to fi-" I was cut off by a pair of arms wrapping around me, pulling me back into the opposite hedge. "No! Alysha!" I screamed as she was completely engulfed by the hedge. I looked back over my shoulder, to try and see who was grabbing me... But nobody was there. All I could see was what I thought were... *Branches?* I was being kidnapped by the HEDGE? I closed my eyes, giving up the fight. There was no way I'd win. As I felt my entire body be swallowed, I blacked out.

I am writing this in my cell. My captors have faked my death, same with all of the other prisoners. We have become a part of a... Machine. Some of us are assigned gate duty, like the cold man I saw before it all happened. Most of us, though, are assigned collection duty. We are in charge of doing the same thing others did to us. Kidnapping people. It's been 238 days. I haven't seen Alysha. Why they put a needle in her and not me, I will not know. I have been forgotten. I'm just a slave now.

title: Maze.

question: Does the story tell an effective narrative?

answer: Though the hook in the story is the mysterious maze, and we have a strong beginning due to the relationship between Alysha and Lexie, the story fails to make the most of itself. The end of the story feels as though it is setting something up because of the mysterious prison Lexie ends up in, but doesn't take the narrative further than this.

question: How is the relationship between Lexie and Alysha set up?

answer: Alysha is clearly an adventurous and excitable individual whereas Lexie is afraid consistently throughout the story. When Alysha kisses her, it's the only time Lexie relaxes for a moment. Alysha also seems to be supportive and good for Lexie.

question: What is the maze a cover for?


text:
The 1997 SAN JOSE STATE SPARTANS FOOTBALL TEAM represented San Jose State University during the 1997 NCAA Division I-A football season as a member of the Western Athletic Conference. The team was led by head coach Dave Baldwin, in his first year as head coach at San Jose State. They played home games at Spartan Stadium in San Jose, California. The Spartans finished the 1997 season with a record of four wins and seven losses (4–7, 4–4 WAC).

Schedule

[1] [2]

Team players in the NFL

No San Jose State Spartans were selected in the 1998 NFL Draft.[3]

Notes

[1]

[2]

[3]

title: 1997 San Jose State Spartans football team

question: How is San Jose State Spartans football team related to San Jose State University?

answer: San Jose State Spartans football team represented San Jose State University during the 1997 NCAA Division I-A football season.

question: Who was head coach of San Jose State Spartans football team during the 1997 NCAA Division I-A football season?

answer: Dave Baldwin was head coach of The Spartans during the 1997 NCAA Division I-A football season.

question: How many The Spartan players were selected in the 1998 NFL Draft?

answer: No San Jose State Spartans were selected in the 1998 NFL Draft.

question: Where do The Spartans play home games?

answer: The Spartans play home games at Spartan Stadium in San Jose, California.

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: 1997 San Jose State Spartans football team represented San Jose State University during the 1997 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Spartans finished the 1997 season with a record of four wins and seven losses.


text:
The CANADIAN DANCE CHART was first known to be published on November 13, 1976 by _RPM_ magazine under the name _Top 30 Disco Playlist_.[1] The song which held the number-one spot on this first chart was “Keep It Comin' Love / I'm Your Boogie Man” by KC and the Sunshine Band. No chart was published from January 1980 until September 3, 1988.[2] The final archived chart was under the name _Top 30 Dance_ and was published on October 16, 2000, three weeks before the magazine ceased publication. The song which held the number-one spot on the final archived chart was “Here Comes the Sunshine” by Love Inc.

[1]

[2]

title: Canadian dance chart

question: Identify the coincidence in the article.

answer: The first chart published on November 13, 1976, featured the number-one song “Keep It Comin' Love / I'm Your Boogie Man” by KC and the Sunshine Band. The final chart published on October 16, 2000, featured the number-one song “Here Comes the Sunshine” by Love Inc. Both number-one songs have the word "Sunshine" either in the song's title or the name of the artist.


text:
[Sir Winston Churchill]

SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL'S PLACE IN THE PANTHEON OF BRITISH HISTORY IS ASSURED. OR IS IT?

The essayist Christopher Hitchens once wrote that Churchill "was not a figure in history so much as a figure of history". And it cannot be denied that Churchill stands alongside Shakespeare, Newton and Queen Victoria as a towering presence in the British story.

Today, exactly 70 years after Britain declared war against Germany, the debate still continues as to whether he was truly great. Churchill's vast reputation rests not only on his well-documented and long life but also on his own voluminous, self-penned, memoirs.

The latest in a long line of Churchill biographers includes historian Sir Max Hastings, whose new book - Finest Years: Churchill as Warlord 1940-45 - presents a positive version of the Churchill story. But another work - Churchill: The Greatest Briton Unmasked - by the Cambridge academic Dr Nigel Knight, lays out a more critical view.

The controversy surrounding Churchill and his legacy is widespread. But here are just a few areas of contention.

PROS

• Churchill's rhetorical powers set him apart from all other politicians. Often imitated, never bettered, his delivery and phraseology sparked the adjective "Churchillian" And who could deny the potency of lines like "we shall fight them on the beaches", "blood, sweat and tears" and "their finest hour"?

• During his "wilderness years" in the late 1930s, Churchill was one of the first to warn against Britain's appeasement of Hitler, arguing that defence spending should be increased to combat the Nazi threat.

• Churchill's belief in democracy - nurtured in his beloved House of Commons - led to the Anglo-American "special relationship", forged in the Second World War and remaining a important alliance even today.

• A man of exceptional personal courage, Churchill was also able to make difficult political decisions. This was shown in his order to attack and destroy the French fleet, not then an enemy, at Oran in July 1940 in order to prevent it from falling into German hands.

CONS

• In 1915, as First Lord of the Admiralty, Churchill was a prime mover behind the Gallipoli campaign, a disastrous attempt to land troops on the shores of the Dardanelles strait prior to capturing Istanbul and forcing route through the Black Sea to Russia. In nine months of fighting the Allies sustained 140,000 casualties and the ensuing defeat damaged Churchill's political career.

• Churchill's Budget of 1925 has become infamous for returning Britain to the gold standard, at a fixed rate of $4.80 to the pound. The aim was to restore Britain's position at the centre of the world's financial system. Many now argue that this high exchange rate made British industry uncompetitive and prolonged the slump.

• The spring of 1940 saw Churchill, once more First Lord, back the disastrous invasion of Norway. Intended to prevent the country from being occupied by Nazi Germany, the operation's failure saw a German invasion and led to the downfall of prime minister Neville Chamberlain, Churchill's predecessor in Downing Street.

• At the Yalta conference in 1945, Churchill acquiesced to Stalin's demand for control over eastern Europe in return for a guarantee that Greece would not fall into the Soviet sphere of influence. This, critics say, effectively sealed the fate of countries including Poland, Hungary and Romania, which only regained their independence in the late 80s and early 90s

SO, WHERE DO YOU STAND ON THE CHURCHILL DEBATE. WAS HE THE NATIONAL SAVIOUR OR A DANGEROUS LIABILITY?

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In the General Election of 1951 the total vote for Labour Party candidates exceeded that for Conservatives by nearly quarter of a million - 13,948,385 to 13,724,418. Yet, due to the first past the post system, Conservatives gained the most seats and formed the next government - obviously contrary to the wishes of the majority of the voting public. As far as I am aware, Churchill showed no misgivings about gaining power in this way (through a democratic minority vote) and no inclination to reform the voting system. A great democrat?
MARK BOWDEN, PLYMOUTH

How very comfortable for the analysts. They sit back in their safe studies with the benefit of knowing what the future outcomes were for decisions that Churchill made. There are no perfect leaders in this world. I don't hear anyone saying that we should have instead had a leader such as... No. I think the reality is that we couldn't have asked for a better leader at a time like that. Surely that is the real point. It is difficult to imagine anyone else having done a better job.
NIGEL, NORWICH

Churchill will always be judged by the Second World War and although we were not the winners, we were certainly the heroes with Churchill as our leader. Under any other less worthy man, our fate would have been that of the other European nations and Churchill's belief that we would prevail resulted in the downfall of both the German empire but the eventual collapse of communism forty-five years later. We all need heroes and he is ours.
TIM HALE, SHERBORNE

A truly great man, a giant among others of his day. Yes, his Dardanelles campaign was flawed, however let us remember that many other flawed attacks took place in those four years. Was his any worse? Were 140,000 casualties any worse than the Somme or Ypres?

It is not to much to say that without his leadership in 1940 we would now be speaking German, if indeed any of our great nation had survived.
IAN EARL, BOURNEMOUTH, DORSET

On a lighter note, he wasn't quite the linguist he thought he was. When addressing the French National Assembly he tried to compare his life to that of French history. He said "Quand je regarde mon derriere je vois qu' il est divise en deux partier", which translates as "When I look at my behind I see it is divided into two parts". Had de Gaulle falling off his chair.
LES LECKIE, CHEADLE, CHESHIRE

Churchill ruthlessly exploited India and had the audacity of calling Hindus as a foul race deserving extinction despite thousands of Indians dying for England in both the world wars. His ruthless antics united Indians in breaking away from Britain, who till then, were quite divided over whether to seek limited autonomy or independence.

He regarded any non-Western civilization as sub-human. Also his contribution in defeating Nazis is overrated. WWII was mainly won by the US and Russia. De Gaulle was not like Churchill but still ended up on winning side. In such a situation Britain would have ended up on winning side even under Chamberlain.
DEV, LONDON

Dardanelles? Good idea but didn't it fail as the delay between naval bombardment and landing of troops too great? First time it had been tried but a lesson later learned for the D-Day. Temporarily accepting peace terms - of course Hitler would have allowed us to gain strength to free Europe later on?? Terror bombing? The only way we could attack Germany and something each side did to the best of its abilities? Before you say Dresden - Dresden was an important rail junction that the Red Army specifically asked us to bomb to hinder the flow of reinforcements to the eastern front. Don't you just love revisionist historians?
NEIL BURKE, ESSEX

What an incredibly lame article. This is sub-GCSE history stuff, perhaps OK for primary school history part of the BBC website, but not for serious debate on the Today website.

All great people of history succeed and fail. But the impact of great peoples' successes outweigh those of their failures, and Churchill is no different. Find me a great figure for whom this is not true. Even Jesus, on the cross, doubts God, crying out, "why have you forsaken me?". But his status as "great" is hardly in doubt.
GW, LONDON

As a statesman and leader with a keen eye for strategic opportunity, even though not all his plans and ideas were successful, he at least understood that the key to Britain's ability to exert political and diplomatic leverage on the global stage, and military power when required, was derived from Britain's maritime power. This crucial strategic insight is far too often lost on today's collection of party first politicians, short-term thinkers and self-serving senior bureaucrats.
SPIKE, LONDON

Of course Churchill had to concede to Stalin over Eastern Europe - Roosevelt refused to back him up, so he had no alternative. By the time the Americans realised that Stalin wasn't everybody's favourite "Uncle Joe", it was too late. The fate of Poland was Churchill's bitterest regret.
JOHN ROGERS, BRISTOL, ENGLAND

Churchill was unquestionably a national saviour, without whom we would perhaps even now be part of the Nazi empire. He was one of the few politicians who had troubled to read Mein Kampf and understood Hitler's true intentions. He tirelessly warned of the need to stand up to Hitler.

By force of personality he cajoled firstly the King and Parliament, and then the people as a whole, to do just that at enormous cost. The world is a better place for being rid of Hitler and Churchill, whatever his faults, was the leader who led while others succumbed.
BILL, GLASGOW, SCOTLAND

We often hear of Saddam using poison gas on the Kurds and Iranians, but the first one to advocate the use of poison gas in Iraq was Winston Churchill, who said: "I am strongly in favour of using poisoned gas against uncivilised tribes."
BENG TANG, BRACKNELL, UK

Ask Australians what they think of Churchill and you will find much criticism. Turkey in the first war, Singapore in the second. Churchill considered the colonies and their soldiers his term) were expendable.

It took a really great war time leader (who incidentally died in office before the end of WW2) Australia's PM, John Curtin to stand up to the bully Churchill and demand Australian troops return to defend Australia from the Japanese and even then Churchill tried to turn the troop ships around!
STAN, LONDON

I was almost 10 years of age when we declared war on Germany and living at the south coast seaside town of Seaford next to Newhaven, Sussex. I remember vividly being bundled off the beach when we spotted literally dozens of boats on the horizon. Fortunately not invading Germans but our troops being evacuated from northern France when the French capitulated.

I was evacuated to South Devon near the River Exe where, some 4 years later, we saw parts of the Mulberry harbour pontoons moored. We had no idea what they were for until they disappeared when we received news of the allies landing in France. The main thread of this period was that we were all (including my very Socialist parents) behind our charismatic, intelligent, fearless leader, Mr Winston Churchill.

Without his leadership and his friendship with the USA's leaders we would almost certainly have become part of the German Empire. Of course he made mistakes during his very long political life but they were far outweighed by !the good he did.
GERALD SANDLES, MALAGA, SPAIN

France didn't fight anyone in WWII and they ended up on the winning side. Did this make De Gaulle a better politician than Churchill?
TIM BUTLER, OXFORD UK

He was the right man in the right place at the right time. He said what people wanted and needed to hear. The right leader in wartime.
RHONA BARNETT

Through out history great men have made decisions that in hindsight are deemed mistakes. Even today, in spite of research and analysis, policies lead to the brink of disaster; our current situation is a prime example.

His skill as an orator and at times his curmudgeonly demeanour united democratic peoples. No one is perfect. How many of us are able to withstand the stress that he willingly shouldered?

He knew that while thousands of lives were being lost daily his was also at risk if his stand against the Axis Powers failed. Churchill was a man of history within history, this can be seen by his determination to allow Greece to remain free. Greece being seen as the birthplace of democracy. With this in mind he gave the world a last bastion if Stalin's ambitions took on a more active role.

Democracy had been brought to the brink of destruction, and like all good commanders, knew that a line had to be drawn from which to make a stand. Twice in its history Germany's political policy had devastated Europe and none of the Allies wanted to allow this to occur again. So it was deemed better to squeeze Germany between them, giving no room to a further recurrence.

While Eastern Europe languished under a similar totalitarian regime to that which had been defeated neither side relished another war on a scale unprecedented in human history. Flawed and perhaps misguided Churchill may have been in some areas, it is because of the likes of Churchill that we can have this discussion at all.
RAY, VLISSINGEN, HOLLAND

Churchill's high reputation rests almost exclusively on his wartime leadership. He was lucky to be the right man at the right time. The rest of his career was a failure. The Gallipoli campaign was a disaster. He moved between political parties, trusted by neither. He didn't understand economics and he overestimated the power of words, on which he was frequently drunk!
ERIC EVANS

Depending where you stand and which part of history you focus on Churchill was either a great leader or a failed politician! Pre WWII he was a poor chancellor and an uncritical friend of imperial control over India. Post WWII he held on to power to long and then passed power to Eden who was or, by then, was not up to the job! However his leadership of the country in WWII was generally superb.

Alliances were made and decisions taken that ensured the UK survived and then was able to contribute to an Allied victory. Eastern Europe was in the Soviet sphere of influence the second Russian tanks drove through it. That Greece did not go the same way might be seen as a plus in the Churchill story from a historical perspective. Churchill was a flawed hero! But what hero does not have flaws?
DAVID JAMES, OXFORD

Max Hastings is right. Churchill made mistakes as did all war leaders but without his wonderful rhetoric in our darkest hour, we would surely have gone under.
PAMELA LOTT, SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND

Whereas Churchill was a great war leader it was his pre-war policies that put Chamberlain in the situation he was in and is now condemned for. It is long-forgotten that many of the policies he blamed Chamberlain for were in fact his own. A bad politician but the right man at the right time. Obviously the opinion of the British public who voted him out of power after the war.
NICK BOARDMAN, YORK UK

By far the greatest Britain. Enigmatic, stoical and passionate about his country. Pity we don't have anyone similar today.
CHRIS , PERTHSHIRE

Thank goodness for Nigel Knight!
STEPHEN, AVRANCHES, FRANCE

Churchill was not perfect and he made some mistakes, but many of these so-called 'mistakes' (like at the Yalta conference) were done for the benefit of Britain, at a cost to other nations, but that was his job. To argue he was not the greatest ever Englishman is just flawed, he ensured we are what we are now, although if he saw the make-up of Britain now he would be very saddened.
DAVID, ST ALBANS

Like most of the other great figures in History, Winston Churchill's supposed 'greatness' owes much more to myth, to propaganda and to the people's need for 'Heroes' than it does to any of his accomplishments during life. The British nation's fascination, obsession with and glorification of the Second World War is the main reason for Churchill's popularity. After all, many people's understanding and attitude towards world affairs, politics, the EU and 20th century history virtually begins and ends with that conflict.

The Germans are still viewed as 'Nazis.' The French are still perceived as 'collaborators.' We have no strong feelings towards the Spanish because they were Neutral during that conflict. And because of that fact, they would remain under the rule of the 'not quite' fascist dictator, Generalisimo Franco until his death in 1975. And likewise, we still long to view ourselves as "The Plucky Little British Underdogs" who defeated Hitler and 'Saved the World.'

To this end, Churchill has become a symbol of our defiance, our resilience and our National 'Stiff Upper Lip.' So rather than not knowing the truth about Churchill, the fact is that we simply don't WANT to know.

Like the Americans' refusal to face up to the truth about Washington, Lincoln and their respective wars because it would shatter their noble delusions, facing up to realities of Churchill's life and career would destroy our 'National Pride.'

It's no accident that the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during our last 'Great War;' our last 'Great Victory' and our last independent action as a true 'World Power' before we became America's lapdog is now perceived as being the 'The Greatest Britain.' In fact, any man or woman who'd led the country during that conflict would now enjoy Churchill's place in history. And just as we've done with Churchill himself, we would shout that person's accomplishments from the rooftops, whilst ignoring, downplaying, and making excuses for his failures and his crimes.

"We shall wipe them out, every single one of one them, men, women and children, there shall not be a single Japanese left on the face of the Earth." Winston Churchill.
JAMES USCROFT, STOKE ON TRENT

Despite Churchill's often mistaken belief in his own strategic ability, he - unlike Hitler - generally deferred to military advice, albeit after some furious rows.

Field Marshal Lord Alanbrooke, as Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee, often bore the brunt of this and was fiercely critical of Churchill in his diaries. Yet Alanbrooke, whose contemporaneous judgement is surely the pinnacle of informed opinion, wrote this of Churchill in his diary entry for 10th September 1944: "Without him England was lost for a certainty, with him England has been on the verge of disaster time and again".
NICK POPE, LONDON

Churchill's standing in the history of the UK should never be diminished. He alone had the political courage 70 years ago to stand up to the threats to these islands. His rhetoric lifted the spirits of every man woman and child in this country during the bleakest period of history.

His dealings at Yalta may have temporarily sealed the fate of Eastern Europe but they probably saved thousands of lives. These countries are free today and the Soviet Union is no more - for almost 20 years. This is history which the hand of Churchill helped fashion. The Dardanelles and Narvik campaigns were disasters but it meant that enemy troops were tied up defending those positions and lessons were learned.

A lesson not learned, however, was the attempts to maintain the global position of the UK during the great depression and after the WW2. The high exchange rate in 1925 and the mismanagement of the Marshal aid by the Labour government of 1945 were examples of bad advice taken. But they did not endanger the country. The 70 years since the outbreak of war has seen this country have many ups and downs but the most important element, its people, are in the main content and still dynamic and above all things - free. These are Churchill's legacy.
BOB ALLEN, IPSWICH

National saviour yes, and in many ways saviour of the free world. Churchill in his younger days was also a liberal and a promoter of social reform, but he was also human, suffering depression as his reference to the 'black dog' illustrates. Was he a great man? undoubtably, did he have failings? yes, but this makes him all the more impressive for being human, for being one of us.
BRIAN MATHEW, YATTON

All great men make mistakes. Its there ability to work through these to reach a solution. In Churchill we had a man who new that he would be called upon one day. If he had not been there who would? and what would the world be like now. Its the old "what if" question.
ROY SUTTON, SOLIHULL, UK

Not only was Churchill a hero of his day but many of his speeches are just as relevant today. Churchill warned against the dangers of 'Islamisation' back in the 1890s. He predicted problems with multi-culturalism long before Powell.

He also predicted that the next time fascism reared its ugly head it would be called 'anti fascism'. In short, today he would also be a hero for speaking the truth, but he would probably find himself on the receiving end of today's 'hate speech' laws!
MARTIN SCOTCHMORE, HUDDERSFIELD, UK

Churchill made some very difficult decisions. He was fully aware Coventry was going to be bombed thanks to the allies breaking the Enigma Code but couldn't warn them as it would give away the fact that the allies had access to their intelligence.

What I feel is Churchill's lowest hour is giving Poland to the Russians at Yalta when he was promising them throughout the war we were fighting for their liberation. How can we as a nation declare war on a common enemy because they invade a Country only to then give that Country to another invader - Russia?
SEAN EVANS, LINCOLNSHIRE, ENGLAND

I'm no patriot but Churchill is one of the few icons of 'Britishness' that make me swell. What people need to remember though is that he was human. There's no such thing as a saint, least of all when one considers their heroes. Only that last 'con' really stands up here but he had one hand tied behind his back negotiating that one.

The bombing of Germany towards the end of the war raises further questions, and his prime ministership during peace time wasn't up to much - the Boer war and imperialism are concerns. But he was interesting, clever and brave. He was like the Brian Clough of politics and I'm all for that.
JAMES, TWICKENHAM

Churchill's disparaging comments about Clement Attlee (who was chosen by a poll of academics as the best UK Prime Minister of the 20th century) only serves to enforce his imperfect political judgement. That said, he WAS the man of the moment during the dark period of British history from 1940 - 1945. He was NOT, however, the man Britain needed to win the subsequent peace.
SHAUN CROWTHER, BARNOLDSWICK, UK

No-one who lived through the 2nd World War can seriously think of Churchill as a 'dangerous liability'. He warned of the dangers of Germany throughout the decade of the 30s when many argued for appeasement. He had that indefinable quality of leadership and his oratory supported the country's morale. How simple to criticise 70 years later with perfect hindsight!
DR DAPHNE PEARSON, REDBROOK, UK

Churchill certainly did make some big mistakes - though name me a politician who hasn't. However, he did more or less carry Britain forward single-handedly for the first few years of the war, when there was little real hope of success, or even of survival. That is far more important than the things he got wrong.
PETER, NEWBURY, UK

That Churchill made some decisions that seem unwise with hindsight shows only that nobody can predict the actions of others reliably. Churchill's great gift was to inspire a nation with a belief in its victory and in the justice of its cause.
CHRIS COMER, FRIEDRICHSHAFEN, GERMANY

Of course he is great - he must be to have so many pubs named after him.
HENRY, OXFORD

Cometh the hour cometh the man. Churchill's defiant manner , great oratory and single mindedness undoubtedly held the country together during the bleak summer of 1940 when Britain stood alone against the all conquering German army and this is when he won his deserved reputation but as the war progressed he could well have prolonged the war or even have lost it by his continual intervention in military strategy and his appointment of commanders who were personal favourites but unfit for the post appointed to them.

Like many other aspects of life it is the 'team effort' rather than just a good captain. Thankfully we had the best military commander of either side in Field Marshal B L Montgomery who actually delivered the victories over the German Army. He is not given his full credit for doing this!
ALAN COOPER, NEWPORT , SOUTH WALES

At last! Nigel Knight articulated a thesis I've had since doing a history degree in the 1980s. Churchill was probably the worst possible option as PM. Everything he did was a disaster veering between vaccilation and impetuous death or glory adventures which all too often resulted in death for those involved and ironically still brought him glory from Norway to Arnhem.

By not accepting peace terms (temporarily) after Dunkirk (Hitler never had any intention of invading and knew it was impossible) he subjected us to two years of the Blitz and the 'Battle' of the Atlantic when we could do nothing to hit back except sacrifice bomber crews flying what were effectively suicide missions in redundant aircraft.

This, according to Max Hastings, was his masterstroke to bring the US into the war to save poor little Britain. Following Pearl Harbour Churchill immediately declared war on Japan - leading to the worst disaster in British military history at Singapore - but the U.S. did not reciprocate... Hitler declared war on them!

Terror bombing (dropping 18 times the amount of bombs on defenceless German civilians as were dropped on us) was a war crime and we are in denial over this in a way we criticise Holocaust-deniers for being.
DAVE BULL, LONDON

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The BBC may edit your comments and not all emails will be published. Your comments may be published on any BBC media worldwide.

question: Why would the Brits be speaking German if it were not for Churchill?

answer: Because they would have lost the Second World War and Hitler would have invaded the British Isles.

question: What did Churchill understand was key to Britain's success in international relations in uncertain times?

answer: Maritime power

question: What was Churchill's greatest personal asset?

answer: He was a great orator. These powers set him apart from other politicians.

question: How did Churchill's 1925 budget negatively affect the economy of the UK?

answer: He returned the currency to the gold standard at a fixed rate of $4.80 to the pound. The pound was thus over-valued and British exports became uncompetitive.

question: At Yalta what price did Eastern Europe pay for Greece's freedom?

answer: The Eastern European countries were handed to Stalin to control and it took decades for many of them to regain their independence.

question: How did Churchill influence Britain's relationship with the US?

answer: His strong belief in democracy ensured that he forged an important relationship with the US that lasted beyond his leadership.