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Sunday, January 31, 2016

Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG update

ANGLO Irish Bank bosses discussed the disguising the loan of €750m in smaller amounts

A TRIAL HEARS

    

ANGLO IRISH BANK MANAGEMENT DISCUSSED DISGUISING SHORT-TERMS LOANS OF €750M FROM IRISH LIFE AND PERMANENT (ILP) AND KEEPING THEM “TIGHT AS A DUCK’S BACKSIDE”

A TRIAL OF FORMER BANKING EXECUTIVES HAS HEARD.

The four men (pictured above right), including former ILP CEO Denis Casey and former Anglo Head of Finance Willie McAteer, are accused of conspiring to mislead investors by using interbank loans to make Anglo appear €7.2bn more valuable than it was.
Mr McAteer (65), of Greenrath, Tipperary Town, Co Tipperary, and Mr Casey (56), from Raheny, Dublin, are on trial alongside Peter Fitzpatrick (63), from Malahide, Dublin, who had been IL&P’s former director of finance, and John Bowe (52), from Glasnevin in Dublin, who had been Anglo’s head of capital markets.
They have all pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to conspiring together and with others to mislead investors through financial transactions to make the bank appear €7.2bn more valuable that it was between March 1 and September 30, 2008 in Dublin.
On day eight of the trial, the jury heard recordings of telephone calls made between staff at Anglo and ILP in 2008.
The interbank loans allegedly involved money being transferred by Anglo to ILP and then being put back on deposit with Anglo by their life insurance division, Irish Life Assurance. This would make it look as if Anglo had received large corporate deposits by the time it had to report its year-end figures on September 30, 2008.
The jury heard Mr Bowe told a conference call with Anglo executives in March 2008, when a similar type of transaction was being discussed in relation to the bank’s half-year figures, that the only issue they had to think about was from a regulatory point of view. He said: “And the regulator is more or less saying, ‘Look, I’m not looking’.”
In another call on March 27, Matt Cullen, a former director of treasury at Anglo, and his counterpart in ILP, David Gantly, discussed the details of the March transactions. Mr Bowe was also on this call.
Mr Gantly told Mr Cullen: “You put the stuff into us and we put it straight back through our other boys. You just need an overnight transaction through month-end, correct”.
The court heard “the other boys” referred to Irish Life Assurance.
Mr Gantly said he was purposely not using names because, he said “the walls have ears in this climate”. He later suggested it would be better to break the €750m figure into smaller transactions because “it might look better to disguise it somewhat, you know?”.
Mr Cullen, who is still giving evidence in the trial, told the court if details of the transaction got out it would affect confidence in the market so the idea was to “keep it tight inside in their own bank”.
Mr Gantly added later on the same call: “I can vouch for my own people, I know because of them, you have to be tight as a duck’s a*** here”.
In a phone call in September 2008, Mr Bowe told Mr Cullen the bank’s expectations for the year end accounts, that month, were very negative.
He said the bank’s figure for customer deposits was “about four billion less” than it needed to be.
The trial before Judge Martin Nolan and a jury will continue next week.

Raising Ireland’s would derail investment here, A study finds

A 15% CORPORATE TAX RATE COULD REDUCE FOREIGN FIRMS INVESTING HERE BY 22%, AN ESRI STUDY SUGGESTS

    

AN INCREASE IN IRELAND’S CORPORATE TAX RECEIPTS LAST YEAR HAS BEEN LINKED TO A MOVE BY APPLE TO SHIFT SOME OF ITS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS HERE IN WAKE OF GLOBAL MOVES TO CLAMP DOWN ON MULTINATIONAL TAX AVOIDANCE UNDER THE OECD’S BASE EROSION AND PROFIT SHIFTING INITIATIVE.

Even a modest rise in Ireland’s 12.5% corporation tax rate could seriously undermine the flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) here, a study by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) has revealed.
As a policy experiment, the ESRI simulated how FDI flows into Ireland would have changed under alternative tax rates between 2004 and 2012.
If the rate had been 15% over the period, the number of new foreign firms locating here would have been 22% lower, the study estimated.
A rate of 22.5%, which still undercuts rates in Germany and France, would have reduced the number of multinationals locating here by 50%.
  • Further scrutiny on the Irish corporate tax regime.
  • EU accused of targeting US firms in fiscal deals crackdown.
The study was conducted on behalf of the Government’s influential Tax Strategy Group, an inter-departmental group that prepares policy options for the Cabinet ahead of the budget each year.
The group’s papers from Budget 2016 were published on Friday by the Department of Finance. A 12-page paper on corporate tax issues said the State’s headline rate was “akin to a brand” for Ireland Inc and essential to securing mobile investment in an increasingly competitive environment.
It noted that while corporation tax, the fourth-largest tax heading, netted the exchequer €4.6 billion in 2014, the lion’s share was paid by a relatively small cohort of foreign-owned companies.
A surge in corporate tax receipts last year has been linked to a move by Appleto shift some of its Intellectual Property (IP) rights here in wake of global moves to clamp down on multinational tax avoidance under the OECD’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (Beps) initiative.
The paper said the OECD’s conclusions, which essentially seek to tax corporate profits in the jurisdictions in which they arise, presented a “significant opportunity” for Ireland.
While there is evidence of “spill-over benefits” to domestic firms, foreign-dominated sectors had lower output and employment multipliers relative to domestically dominated sectors, the paper said, underscoring the importance of the indigenous sector for employment growth. Multinationals have a lower employment footprint , accounting for just 8% of the Irish workforce.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan’s plans for the rainy day fund are undermined by the Labour Party.

  

IS IT FOR A REAL RAINY DAY? OR JUST FOR A ONCE ONLY PLOP DROP I ASK?

JUST HOURS AFTER FINE GAEL’S PROPOSALS TO SET ASIDE €2.5BN FROM THE RESOURCES AVAILABLE TO THE NEXT GOVERNMENT WERE REVEALED RECENTLY, NOW SENIOR LABOUR FIGURES CLAIMED MR NOONAN’S FIGURES “DON’T ADD UP”.

Labour sources said Mr Noonan will not be in a position to set aside such a significant sum over the next five years, pointing out that Fine Gael’s proposal to axe USC alone will cost €4bn.
“Fine Gael and Noonan have got their maths wrong; their plan simply can’t be delivered,” said a senior Labour strategist.
And speaking ahead of the Labour conference in Mullingar, Public Expenditure Minister Brendan Howlin said available resources over the coming five years should be used to speed up the delivery of capital projects.
While insisting the next government must be “prudent”, Mr Howlin said his party was not in favour of creating a formal ‘rainy day fund’.
“The notion that you could build up in five years something like the pension reserve fund – that can’t be done,” he said, adding the country is facing a lot of “pent up demand”.
Mr Noonan’s plans to put a quarter of the available cash into a “Contingency and Stability Fund” was described as a “positive development” by Fiscal Advisory Council chairman Professor John McHale.
However, Fianna Fáil finance spokesman Michael McGrath questioned if the Fine Gael minister’s sums added up.
Mr Noonan says there is up to €10bn available for extra spending in the next five years, including abolishing the USC and 10,000 extra public sector workers.
But Prof McHale warned that the resources available between 2017 and 2021 may be less than previously estimated. Due to demographic pressure and existing benefits commitments, it could be as low as €3.2bn, he said.
Mr McGrath said Mr Noonan “does not seem to understand” the concept of a proper rainy day fund, which he says is “put beyond the reach of government unless specific conditions are met”.
Meanwhile, Mr Howlin says too many people are “crying wolf” about the dangers of another economic downturn as he unveiled Labour’s plans to abolish the Universal Social Charge.
The party is promising a worker earning €50,000 will be €2,043 better off per year under their tax package, while somebody on €120,000 will benefit to the tune of €2 per annum.
And it was revealed last night the party also plans to reduce Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI) for low-paid workers.This goes directly against a Fine Gael plan to bring down the entry point at which workers pay PRSI from the current €18,000 per annum down to €13,000.
Fine Gael intends to have more people pay the insurance but will promise to deliver extra dental and paternity benefits in return.
Mr Howlin said Labour would also look at returning benefits if the economic situation allows but most people “see PRSI as a tax”.
Asked whether the country’s tax base is strong enough to withstand such tax cuts, the minister said: “Because the crash was caused last time by everybody taking their eye off the ball and nobody crying wolf, there is now a whole chorus of wolf criers on the basis that if they keep crying one of them will be right.”
Up to 600 Labour Party delegates are due to attend the annual conference in Mullingar today to see Tánaiste Joan Burton deliver her pre-election pitch.
Under its tax plan, the party will abolish the USC for all workers up to €72,000.
A ‘clawback’ mechanism will kick in for workers earning between €100,000 and €120,000 to reduce their benefit.
Communications Minister Alex White said the USC had been the “single biggest whack” working people took during the recession. He confirmed the party was planning to use 75pc of available resources over the next five years to increase expenditure on public services and 25pc to cut taxes.
Mr Howlin said after a “very difficult period” people were now coming up to Labour politicians and telling them they “did a great job” in government.

Policing boss Josephine Feehily hears of morale and facility issues for Gardaí

    

LACK OF RESOURCES, POOR MORALE, EQUIPMENT PROBLEMS AND, IN SOME CASES, DIRE ACCOMMODATION ARE ISSUES GARDAÍ HAVE PRESSED HOME TO THE NEW POLICE OVERSIGHT BOSS.

Policing Authority chairperson Josephine Feehily said Gardaí she had met wanted to know what the new oversight body was going to do about it.
She said the authority’s primary job was to build an effective police organisation and improve public confidence in it.
However, she said the authority also wanted accountability to be seen “other than through a lens of blame” and was eager to be a “shop window” for good policing that was going on.

SPEAKING THE DAY AFTER THE FIRST BOARD MEETING OF THE AUTHORITY, MS FEEHILY SAID:

  • The critical findings of the force made by the Garda Inspectorate were “fairly stark”.
  • The authority would later this year take a stance on whether the force was being adequately resourced.
  • Garda commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan was “very impressive” and “knows her brief”.
  • The initial stronger powers for the authority — including making the commissioner “accountable” to it — had changed as a result of “concerns about constitutionality”.
The former Revenue Commissioner chief said she had spent some time in a number of Garda stations.
“They told me they didn’t have enough resources. They asked me what would the authority do about that. They did certainly indicate poor morale. They talked a lot about equipment, but that was before the recent spending.
“Some of the accommodation I saw was dire – there’s work in progress on that as well which I think is very important,” she said.
Ms Feehily said the authority was immediately working on three areas: working with gardaí on devising a strategy statement; taking over the appointment of senior officers; and devising a code of ethics.
Regarding some concerns over the authority’s powers, she said they had “significant powers”.
She said that in the week of the third anniversary of the murder of Det Garda Adrian Donohoe it was worth reminding ourselves “the risks they take every day for us”.

The west is very awake as Mayo software company CBE creates "40 mainly new R&D jobs"

   

LOCAL FIRM CBE FROM NEARBY CLAREMORRIS IS TO CREATE 40 NEW JOBS IN AN EXPANSION FUELLED BY INNOVATION.

Claremorris-headquartered retail tech firm CBE Software is to create 40 new jobs in an R&D-led expansion that will see the company’s workforce expand to 150 people by the end of 2017.
CBE, which was founded in 1980, CBE designs and sells point of sale (POS) solutions for the retail and hospitality sectors and is the largest indigenous retail IT player in Ireland.
CBE has grown into a serious export player with installations in Canada, Australia, The Isle of Man, and Algeria and following significant market research are preparing to enter the US market.
CBE’s client list includes; James Hall Group (UK), Sewell Retail (UK), Musgrave, SuperValu, Centra, BWG, Spar, Mace, Costcutter, Gala, Spar UK, Louis Fitzgerald Group, Aramark, Elior, Compass, IBM and Bewleys.
‘Innovation through continuous research and development has been the cornerstone of our business’
“Innovation through continuous research and development has been the cornerstone of our business and it is through this that we have increased our market share in Ireland and significantly grown in our export markets year-on-year,” explained CEO Gerard Concannon.
“The CBE solutions enable our clients to manage their business more effectively and streamline their operations. Our latest software solutions have been hugely successful, primarily in the UK, since launched last year. We have also recently formed a strategic partnership with NCR to supply self-checkout solutions to the independent retail sector in Ireland and the UK.”
Through its current expansion and development plan CBE will employ 150 people by the end of 2017.
These roles will be within software development, customer support, sales and service with the majority of the positions to be filled by graduates. The company has developed very strong working relationships with the Institutes of Technology in Galway, Sligo & Letterkenny, DCU, University of Ulster, and with NUI Galway.

R&D A KEY TO EXPORT SUCCESS

“Enterprise Ireland is committed to working with companies like CBE who utilise research and development to help them innovate and internationalise their products for global market expansion,” said Enterprise Ireland chief executive Julie Sinnamon.
“Their growth and success to date in competing in overseas markets clearly demonstrates the calibre of their software solutions and technology with the rebound effect of creating more jobs at home and importantly, in the local region.”
The investment was welcomed by Taoiseach Enda Kenny who said CBE remained loyal to its roots and has brought employment and business to Mayo and the west of Ireland.
“Gerard Concannon and the CBE team deserve enormous credit for what they have created here in Claremorris. Their export-led expansion into markets like the UK ensures that CBE will continue to grow and with plans afoot to enter the US market the future is incredibly bright for CBE which is a great boost to the local and national economy,” Kenny said.

New evidence of a 4.5-Billion-year old impact that formed our Moon

    

LEAD RESEARCHERS ON THIS STUDY FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: PAUL WARREN, EDWARD YOUNG AND ISSAKU KOHL. YOUNG IS HOLDING A MOON FRAGMENT USED IN THEIR STUDY. 

A recent study published in Science by Edward Young, a geologist from UCLA, found evidence for a violent collision 4.5 billion years ago that formed our moon . Evidence from lunar rocks in comparison with rocks found here on Earth suggests a giant impact was the source of the moon we know today. This further supports the common theory that the moon was formed by a major planetary collision between Earth and Theia.
The samples used in this study were collected as part of the Apollo 12, 15, and 17 missions to the moon in addition to a lunar meteorite. The study found that rocks from the Earth and Moon both have identical oxygen isotopes. Oxygen isotopic ratios are a useful way to determine origin of certain types of rocks since oxygen isotopes are differentially preferred in many chemical reactions leading to slight variations in isotopic ratios. The fact that both the Earth and Moon have identical isotopic ratios of oxygen lead to a belief that both are from a similar source and from well-mixed material. This supports a giant impact on Earth that would have formed the Moon given the mixing required to have identical isotopic ratios.
Often time’s moons will have different oxygen isotopic ratios given differing origin and size, and internal temperature compared to larger planets. To obtain the required oxygen isotope signature there is evidence that early Earth and Theia 4.5 billion years ago contained significant amounts of water with the oxygen-17 isotope. This water may have been in the form of hydrated minerals or ice. Oxygen on Earth is 99.9% oxygen-16, which is the stable form of oxygen with eight protons and eight neutrons per atom. However, there are very trace amounts of heavier oxygen isotopes such as oxygen-17 that includes one extra neutron as well as oxygen-18 with two extra neutrons.
The figure below is an example of how oxygen isotope ratios are used to determine global temperatures over hundreds of millions of years. Oxygen isotopes differentially evaporate from our oceans and fall as precipitation depending on regional and global temperature. As you can imagine oxygen-18 is slightly harder to evaporate, as it’s heavier and slightly easier to condense into precipitation, as it’s heavier. During warm periods the heat overpowers this difficulty in evaporating oxygen-18 and therefore we see more oxygen-18 in precipitation over glaciers during warmer times. When it is colder there is a larger barrier to evaporating oxygen-18 and thus we see lower oxygen-18 amounts during cold periods. This, in a very generalized sense, is how we determine past temperature variations from glaciers in Antarctica and around the world.
Phanerozoic climate fluctuations as indicated by changes in oxygen isotopic ratios (Credit: Science.com)
Given the required mixing the high-speed impact between Earth and another body had to have been a head-on collision. Previous estimates believed that the Moon was formed from a glancing blow at a high angle, swiping the side of the Earth rather than a full on impact. If Theia had merely glanced the Earth then you would expect that the Moon and Earth would have different isotopic signatures.
Indications are that Theia impacted Earth 100 million years following the birth of Earth, approximately 4.5 billion years ago . At this point the Earth would still be largely molten with a veneer or thin crust and a tremendous amount of volcanic activity. During the collision Theia was incorporated and mixed into parts of the Earth and moon. It is unclear the size of Theia during the impact, the current range of theories puts the planet between the size of Mars and the size of Earth.
The research for this study was funded by NASA , as well as the Deep Carbon Observatory and a European Research Council grant. This study was possible using state-of-the-art technology in mass spectrometry to determine very precise and extremely small measurements of oxygen isotopes.  

Saturday, January 30, 2016

Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG update

Irish Labour party promises to slash taxes by a third if returned to power?

    

THE IRISH LABOUR HAS PROMISED TO REDUCE TAXES FOR WORKERS ON €25,000 BY AS MUCH AS A THIRD AS PART OF A €3BN TAX REFORM PACKAGE IF IT IS RETURNED TO POWER.

Workers on up to €50,000 would also see their taxes reduced by up to 15% under the promised reforms.
Public Expenditure Minister Brendan Howlin unveiled the tax-cut promise yesterday evening in Mullingar, ahead of Labour’s conference here today.
The plan would put more than €1,000 a year back into the pocket of a worker on €25,000. However, a high earner on €120,000 or more would not see any reductions in their tax obligations.
As part of the pre-election promise, Labour says USC would be abolished on incomes up to €72,000. Workers would also pay less PRSI once their income amounts to less than €704 a week.
Any gains under the changes for higher earners would be clawed back by adjusting their tax.
Announcing the changes, Mr Howlin said the USC was the “most draconian of the charges” introduced during the recession. However, Labour still wanted to keep a broad tax base and would limit reductions.
For more election news, analysis and general banter join us HERE
Under the proposals, a worker on €25,000 would see joint reductions in USC and PRSI result in a €1,132 saving annually, or €22 per week.
A worker on €50,000 would see €2,043 saved a year or €39 per week . Someone on a salary of €72,000 makes a saving of €3,302 or €63 per week.
Labour stressed that higher earners would see gains clawed back.
Someone on €120,000 might see USC reductions of €3,302 but these would be cancelled out by income tax-related increases.
Mr Howlin also responded to calls for the next government to have a “rainy day” fund, saying that Labour had financial plans, though this was an unallocated amount, if Ireland faced future economic challenges.
The minister would not be drawn though on what exactly these funds were, or how much.
The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council yesterday warned that the projections for increased spending by the next government were incorrect, and were several billion euro short of what was being promised by parties wanting to be in government.
With just days to go before the expected announcement of the election, Labour TDs and delegates will today discuss jobs and healthcare, among other issues, before party leader Joan Burton gives the main address at the conference tonight.

Minister Lynch rows back on inquiry into a contentious HSE sexual abuse case

CIRCUMSTANCE INVOLVES WOMAN ALLEGEDLY ABUSED IN a SOUTHEAST CARE HOME

  

KATHLEEN LYNCH: “THE SETTING UP OF A COMMISSION OF INQUIRY WOULD REQUIRE A GOVERNMENT DECISION AND A VOTE BY THE OIREACHTAS.”

Minister of State Kathleen Lynch has pulled back from apparently conceding that a commission of inquiry should take place into how the HSE handled allegations of serious sexual abuse at a foster home in the southeast.
In a statement last night she said serious consideration must be given before any decision was made about establishing a commission of inquiry to look at all aspects of what happened.
The Minister with responsibility for social care said a definitive judgment on this should not be made in advance of seeing a report by barrister Conor Dignam who she formally appointed on December 7th to undertake a review of two reports already completed on the matter.
“The setting up of a commission of inquiry would require a Government decision and a vote by the Oireachtas,” said Ms Lynch.
The Minister pointed out that, on first hearing of this matter in April 2014, her immediate concern was to ensure that no person was currently at risk. She received that assurance and was informed that no new admissions had been made to this private foster home since 1995, with the last resident being removed in 2009.
“The critical question of why this young vulnerable person was left in the foster home until 2009, even though the most serious concerns had been raised about her, remains the central issue.
“It is important to note that the Devine and Resilience Ireland reports, once published, may answer some of the questions that currently remain unanswered.
“The ongoing Garda investigation since 2010 has prevented publication of these two reports. It has not, however, prevented the HSE from implementing the recommendations in the Conal Devine report including a national foster care audit, which is welcome.”
In relation to the controversy about the issuing of an apology to this vulnerable person, Ms Lynch said the confusion and lack of clarity was very regrettable, and that it was important now to clearly establish the facts of what had occurred.
An in-depth investigation?
Earlier yesterday, in a radio interview, Ms Lynch said an independent inquiry into the issue might be required. She said that when she received correspondence from the Public Accounts Committee she had commissioned a “desktop review” by Mr Dignam.
Ms Lynch told RTÉ’s News at One that, after this review, Mr Dignam had suggested a more in-depth investigation take place. “I have never ruled out an independent inquiry and I do believe that’s where we are heading,” she said.
The controversy centres on how an 11-year-old girl with disabilities was placed in a foster home, despite the facility being subject to serious sex abuse allegations.
During the week the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) accused the HSE of lying to it in correspondence last December when it said a meeting had been arranged at which the alleged victim of over a decade of abuse in the foster home was to receive an apology.
HSE director general Tony O’Brien yesterday promised to give a comprehensive answer to PAC on Tuesday. Mr O’Brien said he had asked the HSE’s social care division to look very carefully at the accusations so it could “get to the bottom of it” and give a comprehensive answer to the committee.

Minister Donohoe refuses to rule out Fine Gael relying on Lowry to support a new Government

HIGH COURT FOUND TIPPERARY TD ENGAGED ‘A LITANY OF FALSIFICATION AND DECEPTION’

   

THE MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT ALAN KELLY SAID HE RARELY SAW THE TIPPERARY TD MICHAEL LOWRY IN EITHER THE DÁIL OR THEIR SHARED CONSTITUENCY.

Minister for Transport Paschal Donohoe has again declined to rule out the possibility of relying on Independent TD Michael Lowry for support to form a coalition government.
Speaking on Thursday, following a High Court ruling that dismissed the former minister’s appeal against a decision by the Moriarty Tribunal to only award him one-third of his legal costs, Mr Donohoe said the Government’s position was that it did not want to have to do a deal with any independents after the general election.
Reports last week suggested that initial talks had been held by Fine Gael with a number of Independents , including the TD from Tipperary, about the possibility of supporting the next government.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny has repeatedly declined to rule out the possibility of a post-election agreement with Mr Lowry.
On Wednesday, the High Court found that Mr Lowry engaged in “a litany of falsification and deception” – including the falsification of a solicitor’s files – in his failure to co-operate with the tribunal.
On Thursday Eoghan Murphy, The Fine Gael TD for Dublin South East, said he is not contemplating requesting the support of Independents. Mr Murphy said he agreed with Taoiseach’s belief that returning the Fine-Gael and LabourCoalition was the best option for the country.
Earlier in the week, Fine Gael Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagansaid his party should not deal with any Independents, while Labour Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly launched an attack on Mr Lowry, saying he rarely saw the TD in either the Dáil or their shared constituency.
Mr Kelly said he did not believe it would be necessary to do any business with Independent TDs after the general election. “My ambition is to see this Government re-elected and I believe it will be re-elected,” he said.
Asked what his objection to Mr Lowry was, Mr Kelly said: “I don’t pay much attention to Deputy Lowry. I note I rarely ever see him in the constituency and I rarely ever see him in the Dáil, so I don’t pay much attention to him whatsoever.”
Tánaiste Joan Burton of Labour said earlier in the week that she believed Mr Lowry’s involvement in supporting the next government was “not appropriate”.

Our attitudes to ageing are impacting on our health "So says new findings"

NEGATIVITY LINKED TO POORER COGNITION.

    

HOW PEOPLE FEEL ABOUT AGEING APPEARS TO HAVE A DIRECT IMPACT ON THEIR HEALTH, A NEW IRISH RESEARCH HAS SHOWN.

According to the findings, those with a negative attitude to ageing have poorer mental and physical health.
The research was based on the latest data from the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) in Trinity College Dublin. TILDA is an ongoing study of people over the age of 50 in Ireland.
The study found that over a two-year period, those with a positive attitude to ageing had better cognitive abilities. However, those with a negative attitude had worse cognitive abilities and a slower walking speed.
These results stood even when others factors were taken into account, such as health changes which took place during the two years, medication, mood and other changes in life circumstances.
The study also found that a negative attitude towards ageing affected the interaction of different health conditions. The researchers pointed out that frail older adults have an increased risk of many health problems, including cognitive issues.
However, they found that among participants in this study, frail adults with a negative attitude had worse cognition compared to non-frail participants, but frail participants with a positive attitude had the same cognitive abilities as their non-frail peers.
“The way we think about, talk about and write about ageing may have direct effects on health. Everyone will grow older and if negative attitudes towards ageing are carried throughout life, they can have a detrimental, measurable effect on mental, physical and cognitive health,” commented lead researcher, Dr Deirdre Robertson.

How our plastic planet waste is the scourge of the whole World

SCIENTISTS WARN THAT THE ABILITY TO PLASTER THE PLANET IN PLASTIC IS ALARMING

    

HUMANS HAVE MADE ENOUGH PLASTIC SINCE THE SECOND WORLD WAR TO COAT THE EARTH ENTIRELY IN CLING FILM, AN INTERNATIONAL STUDY HAS REVEALED.

This ability to plaster the planet in plastic is alarming, say scientists – for it confirms that human activities are now having a pernicious impact on our world.
The research, published in the journal Anthropocene, shows that no part of the planet is free of the scourge of plastic waste.
Everywhere is polluted with the remains of water containers, supermarket bags, polystyrene lumps, compact discs, cigarette filter tips, nylons and other plastics. Some are in the form of microscopic grains, others in lumps. The impact is often highly damaging.
“The results came as a real surprise,” said the study’s lead author, Professor Jan Zalasiewicz, of Leicester University.
“We were aware that humans have been making increasing amounts of different kinds of plastic – from Bakelite to polyethylene bags to PVC – over the last 70 years, but we had no idea how far it had travelled round the planet. It turns out not just to have floated across the oceans, but has sunk to the deepest parts of the sea floor. This is not a sign that our planet is in a healthy condition either.”
Marker for a new epoch?
The crucial point about the study’s findings is that the appearance of plastic should now be considered as a marker for a new epoch.
Zalasiewicz is the chairman of a group of geologists assessing whether or not humanity’s activities have tipped the planet into a new geological epoch, called the Anthropocene, which ended the Holocene that began around 12,000 years ago.

HUMANS CAUSING CATASTROPHIC ECOSYSTEM SHIFTS: STUDY.

THE HOT TOPIC OF CLIMATE CHANGE.

WORLD’S OCEANS CLOGGED BY MILLIONS OF TONNES OF PLASTIC TRASH.

Most members of Zalasiewicz’s committee believe the Anthropocene has begun and this month published a paper in Science in which they argued that several postwar human activities show our species is altering geology.
In particular, radioactive isotopes released by atom bombs left a powerful signal in the ground that will tell future civilisations that something strange was going on.
In addition, increasing carbon dioxide in the oceans, the massive manufacture of concrete and the widespread use of aluminium were also highlighted as factors that indicate the birth of the Anthropocene. Lesser environmental impacts, including the rising use of plastics, were also mentioned in passing.
But Zalasiewicz argues that the humble plastic bag and plastic drink container play a far greater role in changing the planet than has been realised.
“Just consider the fish in the sea,” he said. “A vast proportion of them now have plastic in them. They think it is food and eat it, just as seabirds feed plastic to their chicks. Then some of it is released as excrement and ends up sinking on to the seabed. The planet is slowly being covered in plastic.”
In total, more than 300 million tonnes of plastic is manufactured every year, states the paper, The Geological Cycle of Plastics and Their Use as a Stratigraphic Indicator of the Anthropocene.
“In 1950, we virtually made none at all. It is an incredible rise,” added Zalasiewicz. “That annual total of 300 million tonnes is close to the weight of the entire human population of the planet. And the figure for plastic manufacture is only going to grow. The total amount of plastic produced since the Second World War is around 5 billion tonnes and is very likely to reach 30 billion by the end of the century. The impact will be colossal.”
As the paper makes clear, plastic is already on the ocean floor, remote islands, buried underground in landfill sites and in the food chain.
Even the polar regions, generally considered still to be pristine zones, are becoming affected. In 2014, researchers found “significant” amounts of plastic granules frozen in the Arctic Sea, having been swept there from the Pacific Ocean.
In some cases, wildlife adapts to the spread of plastic. For example, on islands such as Diego Garcia, hermit crabs have taken to using plastic bottles as homes. However, most of the impact on wildlife is harmful.
Creatures ranging from seabirds to turtles become entangled in plastic and drown or choke to death. “The trouble is that plastic is very slow to degrade, so we are going to be stuck with this problem for a long time,” said Zalasiewicz.