Amy Winehouse's influence on falling drug use is greater than any policy | William Sutcliffe

is the plight of known drug users, more than any other "war against drugs" that put young people off illicit drug

government figures released this week showed that illicit drug use among young people is at its lowest level since 1996. This news has been accompanied by a curious silence of those who are behind the "war against drugs". Why not proclaimed a great victory, announcing final justification against those liberals who say their efforts useless?

Is it, perhaps, that the officers and privates of the war have so little confidence in his own business, he can not even muster the will to understand a PR boost when you arrive? It seems that even those who are behind the attempts of several million pounds to curb global production and shipment of drugs know that their task, rather than touch that young people construct their nose and veins, is among Tribune policy. If drug use is declining among younger contemporaries, this can be due to a decline in demand, not supply.

Can any politician, government agency, or educational advisory say this is thy victory? Do any real political succeeded this announcement? For all the money and effort thrown at the problem, it seems that the most important factor is that the tastes and fashions change as each generation finds new ways to have fun or rebellious.

• When medication once may have seemed a bold shock to parents, now it seems that another obstacle on the path to health and prosperity. We started to teach our children the green cross code, and pass through the years, giving advice on how to stay safe at parties when offered banned substances. Young people who start taking drugs is unlikely that the feeling, thereby entering a hell exciting beyond the understanding of their parents.
• In the past, many educators they tried to teach young people that there was nothing "glamor" of drug use still retained an aura of rebellion and revolt always attractive. What seems to have changed over the last 10 years is that this message gradually began to seem plausible. Parents were more surprised by the drug, the drug has become more attractive to young people. Recently, when people who had drugs have become parents themselves, the shock value has decreased and with it a key element of its initial appeal.

For all the opprobrium

accumulated only in the British tabloids, persecution and exposure of celebrity drug can probably take some credit deglamorising drug, which should be a key factor in the thinning demand. Smoking drug Beatles and the Rolling Stones in the '60s has issued more heroic, regardless of the Happy Mondays were in the 80s, it was hard to enjoy the music without wanting to try, like Acid House in the 90th the name tells you that the drugs were seen as part of the fun. Nobody thinks dependencies Amy Winehouse, who died a year ago this week, was a contributing factor to their creativity and musical success. Stories of celebrities drugs today from Pete Doherty to Whitney Houston are always scary and sad. Finally, it seems, is really nothing glamorous about drugs. Our culture has changed.

drug awareness films showed once addicted to heroin in the skeleton drip shoot houses, and tried to convince young people that it was the inevitable outcome few puffs a gasket. This message was unlikely and ineffective. Now, however, the humiliating fall of famous addicts changing tastes of young people. If the war against drugs has a figurehead of influence, not George Bush or any drug czar Metropolitan Police. This is Amy Winehouse.

Drug Drug policy
young

Global co-op leader: Co-ops should be fastest growing business model by 2020

Dame Pauline ecological requirements for economic cooperation in the entrance of the IMF

world leader cooperative movement today unveiled an ambitious plan to make the cooperative business model faster growth at the end of the decade.

Project Launched for Co-operative Decade, Dame Pauline Green, President of the International Cooperative Alliance, the professional organization representing cooperatives around the world, said: "We want to reach a cooperative the summit of world trade model faster growth business in 2020. Our strategy is that the cooperative model to become the recognized leader in the economic, social and environmental, and therefore the model preferred by people. And the end of this form become the fastest growing company. "

Dame Pauline was speaking at the inauguration States Cooperative, a three-day event to showcase the cooperation of the community resurgent and confident increasingly global.

a mash-up of conferences, exhibitions and festivals Fringe organizers welcome United Cooperatives as one of the largest international gatherings of world history of cooperative organizations and is celebrated to mark the end of the United Nations International Year of Cooperatives.

More than 10,000 union members representing 45 countries met in 1500 under a cooperative leaden sky legendary Manchester heard how the global economy co-op offers the opportunity to build a global economy more ethical and resistant.

In a defiant speech, optimistic, Dame Pauline said it was a turning point in the history of the cooperative sector.

"This year has seen the global movement of international cooperation together in a way that was previously unimaginable. Now our challenge is to build on this work in a way that produces results. Now we are able to strengthen our business model in markets around the world. " In a study published today shows that cooperatives and mutuals top 300 companies have a turnover of nearly $ 2 billion, the global economy of the cooperative sector now has 1.4 million companies around the world and has a thousand million members.

Dame Pauline expressed frustration that the importance of the cooperative economy has not yet been recognized by the leaders of the global economy, a point that was brought back by the lack of a government minister in the opening ceremony this morning.

"Why there is still not an economist at the IMF co-op?" Required Dame Pauline added: "We deserve to be heard in global forums." Co-ops States is also throwing its doors open to the public with a full program of exhibitions, workshops and open houses that allow people to meet face to face with the cooperative global community.

• More than 100 cooperative enterprises from Canada to China met the world's largest exhibition in the world of cooperatives, while the British cooperative societies are represented in a wide range of areas of cooperation with the schools shops and health care financing, housing and pubs.
• "United Cooperative is a great celebration of cooperatives around the world," said Ed Mayo, Secretary General of Co-operatives UK, the UK trade association for co-operatives.

"We invite families, children and all those interested in the movement to come and participate effectively in the way of living together."

Simon Birch reports the
United Cooperatives

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Soyuz rocket launches on mission to space station

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No play before lunch in England-Windies Test

Rain washes

Skydiver Baumgartner lands safely on Earth after supersonic record

Supersonic parachute breaks three world records during the descent of the balloon 24 miles above the surface of the Earth

the edge of space above the deserts of New Mexico, Felix Baumgartner stopped a little. It was a small step away from the capsule, but down 24 miles to earth.

"Our guardian angel will take care of you," said mission control and jumped the man known as Felix Fear.

myocardial Ten minutes later, the Austrian landed on Earth after reaching speeds up to 725 mph, and break three world records, including becoming the first supersonic parachute break sound barrier at Mach 1.24.

"We love Felix", applauded the control room, as her mother, Ava Baumgartner, wept.

Baumgartner, who said records for ballooning upper living and parachute jump higher elevations, raised his arms in victory thanks wishes for his team.

wearing a survival suit designed keeping intact his body against pressures which vary greatly which marked his descent to Earth. Without it, their blood boiled and lungs may have exploded.

Baumgartner said later at a press conference. "When I was standing on the roof of the world, you become humble, do not think about breaking records," admitted everything I could think of was getting back into life, but he added: ". Sometimes you have to go up to see how small you are "

The other two cases were inhabited for balloon flight altitude jump higher and higher.

After two failed attempts last week, the mission was given the green light on Sunday morning, with the cooperation of the weather. Baumgartner crystal was taken Clear a giant ball, measuring 30 million cubic feet square and whose skin was a tenth of the thickness of a sandwich bag. At the bottom of the ball was a capsule in which Baumgartner sitting in his costume.

After reaching the desired height, Baumgartner went through a list of 40 elements with his mentor Joe Kittinger, the former owner of the altitude manned balloon higher.

There was some concern that heating of the visor did not work, causing the visor fog. "This is very serious, Joe," he said Kitttinger. "Sometimes it gets foggy when I breathe .... I do not feel the heat."

but decided to go there, overseen by a record 8 million people that jump was broadcast live on YouTube.

• more than two hours and a half-trip, during which the curvature of the earth became visible and gradually the sky turned black, compared with a decline was much faster.
three cameras to set their freefall Baumgartner recorded a little more than four minutes - which failed to break the existing record of long free fall - and after opening the parachute.

The success of the mission and demand, which raises the possibility that the astronauts might be able to survive a high-altitude disaster that struck the type of the space shuttle Columbia in 2003 Rescue done his job.

Baumgartner

top medical man in the thing was Dr. Jonathan Clark, whose wife Laurel Clark was killed in the Columbia accident. Clark is now devoted to improving the survival of astronauts in high altitude disaster.

Baumgartner has made a name for itself in acts of daring. The former paratrooper has jumped from buildings and mountains and once in a cave 600 meters deep. He had already made two free practice falls in the preparation of this attempt - a 71,000 feet in March this year and a second 97,000 feet in July. But it is not impossible that we identified his jump above the town of Roswell, a suitably chosen famous for its connections with UFO sightings.

had five different cases: the first man to ever break the sound barrier in free fall, falling largest increase altitude free flight the ball higher and inhabited the biggest drop Free platform diving and is considered the largest balloon ever flown that.

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Weather-beaten UK farmers lament a dismal year for food production

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already squeezed by the supermarket, all types of farmers had to withstand drought and floods this year too

"It was the worst year in living memory," says Jonathan Lukies, who farms 288 hectares (720 acres) of crops and orchards near Stansted, Essex. "It was horrible."

time this year has been a roller coaster for British farmers who now just wants to forget most of the time. With unprecedented drought affecting most of England in the spring, so serious that has resulted in a series of emergency meetings with the government, farmers desperately need above average rainfall to replenish the soil for sowing . Their prayers were answered by the rain -. But the worst possible way, with the beginning of the summer the wettest ever recorded, followed by a summer rain sunless short in many areas before the end of the growing season

This combination of extreme weather has been catastrophic for staple crops such as wheat and vegetables to grow first, then wash crops and prevent maturation.

"From Easter weekend, we had rain a year, in three months," says Lukies. "It was the murderer. Never seen anything like it, and my Father who is in his 60s said he has never seen anyone any more. "

His views were echoed by the agricultural community. Guy Gagen, consultant cultures in the National Farmers Union, said: "Speaking to farmers who have been in business for decades, I do not remember something as difficult as this year was bad years ago, although course, but. was terrible right through the growing season, from beginning to end.

"One of the problems was that it was so dark - ... There was very little sunlight to grow If you remember, a few days in June and November are effectively reduced productivity "

All

agriculture was affected. Farmers have seen yields of wheat fell by 14%, according to the National Farmers Union, the reduction of the wheat crop in the United Kingdom at levels not seen since the 1980s - before farmers many investments in technology, such as grain dryers. Growers have suffered, with half of the pea crop eliminated country. Producers of meat, poultry for breeding pigs, saw their costs skyrocket due to the poor grain harvest of the world's rising food prices. Fruits and salads also experienced a terrible year, with fresh products that are discarded or sold at unusually low prices during June and July, because people just were not buying food for the summer weather .

• consumer prices are rising sharply because of all these factors. This seems to mean a boon for farmers - at least foods that have been able to grow is now fetching better prices. But most farmers do not benefit.
• For many arable farmers, one reason is that hedge their risks of future returns by arranging to sell their grain at an agreed price before harvest, which gives them a guaranteed income they can generate. Lukies was typical, hiring about two-thirds of his crop in advance. But prices at the beginning of the season was low - around £ 150 per tonne. As the harvest, the price rose to ? 205. Lukies was not able to take advantage again in the third had not sold in advance, since most of their production was very poor, due to weather conditions. Thousands of farmers are likely to have been in a similar situation.
For farmers, as vegetable producers, price increases are offset by much lower yields of their crops. "People have invested money in the production of these crops, and saw yields collapse," says James Hallett, executive director of the Association of British producers.

As is increasingly the case in recent years, the fate of most British farmers will be dictated by the supermarkets. The "big four" have a huge market share that can determine margins for farmers. Even able to absorb a large part of the only source of income for farmers can rely on even in difficult years -. Agricultural subsidies

An average family of four in the United Kingdom was paid £ 426 per year on agricultural subsidies under the Common Agricultural Policy of the EU (CAP) in 2009, according to the Ministry of Environment, Food and Rural Rural Affairs (Defra), and the poor are the most affected, because it represents a higher proportion of their disposable income than the rich. This figure rises to more than 8 times per week in each store is likely to have increased since 2009, but new research has not been done. The money is supposed to help farmers in distress. But the dominance of supermarkets means that much of this money goes to the bottom line of big business.

This is because large retailers know many farmers receive subsidies - is public information - and you can calculate the cost of production for farmers, so that lowering the prices paid by farmers. For thousands of farmers, this means that the production of foods such as milk, poultry and pigs at a loss - what supermarkets pay is less than the cost incurred. Only subsidies to farmers to maintain these companies, so that nearly profitable enough to continue.
While subsidies paid by households in the UK are in fact increase the profits of supermarkets rather than farmers - large retailers can obtain higher margins for food purchased from farmers by a lower salary the cost of production, leaving taxpayers to foot the bill to keep farmers in business. This is one reason why consumers in Europe pay less for their purchases -. The 6.4% increase in consumption Weekly Store UK is double the EU average

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Joe Biden's alpha-male display leaves Paul Ryan overwhelmed in VP debate

No knockout blows, but a shot in the arm by Democrats as vice president called his opponent spiel

In the normal course of events, Vice-President of the debates, as both vice presidents themselves, especially not matter. And this may be the case of slaughter in Kentucky Thursday night. But if this is the case, it will not be for lack of trying on the part of Joe Biden, whose high energy performance - part bar room angry polemicist, part of condescension old uncle, comic mime part - often leaving Paul Ryan seemed dejected.

On more than one occasion, the Republican candidate visibly swallowed. It is disappointing, of course, that political discourse has been reduced to such manifestations of dominant alpha male, but there were times when the discussion could benefit from a David Attenborough voice whisper: "And the old man victorious after having bared his teeth aesthetically improved rods away, muttering: "With all due respect, this is a lot of nonsense ..." "

Undoubtedly, Biden not blow, while Ryan snuck in a few lines well rehearsed and did not lose his composure. But in the wake of the poor performance of Barack Obama in Denver last week, the resurgence of the country of spirits was almost inaudible Democrats. Your biggest concern was perhaps the vice-president famous gaffe prone swear by accident. ("It's a lot of things," he quipped in place in response to the indictment of Ryan that the Obama administration would abandon Israel. "Many things," he said when pressed which means "nonsense". They in this context apparently means "shit.")

• "Stop talking about how you care about people," he interrupted in a moment, after Ryan started in one of the stories of his personal values ??campaign holiness Mitt Romney. "Show me something. Show me a politician. Show me a policy where you take responsibility. "Bulldozer his way through the 90-minute debate - excellent moderated by Martha Raddatz ABC foreign correspondent - Biden did all the things that Obama supporters complained that the president did not even mention the 47% of observations Romney (twice) and hard to clarify the mathematical impossibilities budget plans Romney / Ryan.

Biden is an incorrigible ham. Split screen, while Ryan spoke, he could be seen smiling, laughing, shaking his head, raising his hands to heaven or bowing his head in disbelief exaggerated, highly variable sequence of gestures that everything was "can you believe this guy? "When the questioning turned to religious faith, Biden has adopted a completely different voice, hoarse and several lowest tones. lies with lush, Ryan called" my friend "on a dozen times., but everything seemed to work. has worked much better, no doubt, that Obama's decision to act as if the split screen was not there.

The cons-narrative that Fox News commentators were busy trying to build a few seconds of the final applause was Biden laughs, sighs infamous as Al Gore would be a liability in the coming days. Independent voters, according to this version of the conventional wisdom, are alienated by the slightest hint of conflict or intimidation. Maybe. The truth, however, is that the debate will probably not make much difference one way or another support the balance.

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