2024 B.C. Election: Salmon Arm-Shuswap candidates talk small business

Business News

As the Oct. 19 B.C. general election approaches, the Observer is giving Salmon Arm-Shuswap riding candidates an opportunity to share who they are and why they are running.

This week, candidates respond to the following: The past several years have brought numerous challenges for local small businesses. What measures might you pursue to bolster the vibrance and sustainability of small business communities in the Shuswap and throughout the province? 

Sylvia Lindgren – BC NDP 

I support helping small local businesses because they support my community. They are the foundations of our towns – large and small.

Small businesses are facing global challenges right here at home – a slower global economy, high interest rates, inflation, labour shortages. But we want our local businesses to not just succeed, but thrive.

When possible, small businesses are an excellent place to invest municipal and provincial dollars. The return on investment is most rewarding.

We, as consumers, contribute to their businesses and in turn they contribute to our community.

This is where the funding comes for little league uniforms. These are the people who contribute items for dry grad prizes, pet rescue fundraisers and the Trail Alliance silent auction. It’s important for all of us that they are successful.

We also know that money earned in local businesses stays in local communities. I support helping small local businesses because they support my community.

Greg McCune – Independent 

As a small business owner myself, I have experienced these challenges firsthand, and I have seen how much my fellow business people have suffered since COVID.

Once elected, I will do everything in my power to help local businesses. I will work to better fund organizations that support small businesses, such as Community Futures and Economic Development, so they can continue to do what they do best: support local business owners through their programs.

I will work hard to streamline regulations, reduce red tape and create a more supportive environment for business growth.My friend Ed Parent, owner of Critters Pet Store, wrote an article about this very topic and how small businesses benefit our community. Please see his article:  LETTER: Salmon Arm businesses contribute to thriving community

Sherry Roy – Independent

The Observer did not receive a reply from Roy before deadline. 

Jed Wiebe – BC Greens  

It’s time for a new economy that supports small businesses, is centred on people and communities and protects our ecosystems.

One important step to doing so is ensuring employees and customers have access to essential services like healthcare, education, public transit and affordable housing.

Yet the current government continues to subsidize polluting industries at the expense of small businesses. Fracking, for example, receives water licenses at a fraction of the cost paid by the rest of us and pays far less in carbon taxes. Meanwhile, LNG Canada gets publicly funded power lines, while individuals still pay to get service to their homes.

British Columbia, however, has unique opportunities. Our leadership in carbon pricing has fostered a booming cleantech industry, home to seven of the world’s top 100 cleantech companies.

By continuing to price pollution effectively and incentivize green businesses, we can sustain this momentum.

We also recognize the need for better work-life balance, caregiving support and leisure time. Our policies will reflect these changing priorities.

We will prioritize local contractors in public projects, expand the InBC Investment Fund for rural communities, and amend community grants to benefit BC businesses first.

These steps will create a fair, sustainable economy for all.

David Williams – BC Conservatives 

Small business is the backbone of a community.

In addition to providing local employment, they add to the ambience and uniqueness of a community; therefore, we need to ensure
their economic viability.

It starts with less government, reducing burdensome regulations, fair taxation that allows competition and, most of all, listening to owners and stakeholders as to what policies the government should review, amend or improve.

Useless and redundant regulations need to be removed, while larger corporations need to be held accountable if they engage in unfair or anti-competitive practices.

Addressing related costs also needs well thought out consideration, such as insurance, justice reform to address theft and vandalism, as well as a B.C.-first marketing approach.

For far too long we have been known for “Bring Cash,” and together we need to change that slogan to “Bring Consumers.”

Wall Street pulls away from highs under technology pressure – Stock Exchange

Technology

US stocks closed lower on Tuesday, failing to maintain their opening gains, Since the downfall of Big Tech has been overshadowed by the positive results for bankingWhich pushed the major indices away from their highest levels.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 0.76% to 5,815.26 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.75% to 42,740.42 points and the Nasdaq Technology Index lost 1.01% to 18,305.79 points. With the sub-index tracking semiconductor companies reaching its lowest level in September.
Concerns about the future of Europe’s most valuable technology and the potential increase in restrictions on chip sales in the United States This led to a decline in the “big technology” sector, which has boosted stocks in recent months.
Markets were impacted by ASML falling nearly 16%, after the Dutch tech giant cut its 2025 guidance. It sank 4.69% on news that US officials have discussed limiting sales of the company’s advanced chips and other American technology abroad.
“US stock markets are more inclined towards the leadership of large-cap companies, “Today saw capital gains withdrawn as earnings season accelerates.”said Dan Wantrupski of Janey Montgomery Scott.
Among the banks that presented their results this TuesdayBank of America rose 0.55% after numbers beat expectations, while Goldman Sachs fell 0.07% and Citigroup fell 5.11% despite strong results.

Scientists create artificial vision capable of seeing in dark and bright environments

Science and Health

It isn’t unusual for researchers to take something incredible in nature, such as a cat’s eye or vision system, and attempt to create that in the laboratory.VIEW GALLERY – 2 IMAGES Biologically inspired engineering happens all the time, and researchers from South Korea have become another example of it with a new artificial vision system inspired by Feline or cat eyes. For those that don’t know, cats have a very impressive vision system that enables them to see very well in well-lit environments and also in complete darkness. Cats are able to do this through an eye adaptation that changes their pupil slit to vertical during the day, which helps to reduce glare, while at night, their pupils widen.PopularPopular Now: Microsoft announces new version of world’s most popular OS despite its looming deathAdditionally, at night a cat’s eyes will develop a reflective layer called the tapetum lucidum, which boosts night vision performance and gives the eyes the reflective glow. The South Korean researchers penned a new study published in the journal Science Advances that details a new artificial vision system directly inspired by a cats vision system. The team created a slit-like aperture designed to filter unnecessary light and assist in focussing on key objects, while also creating a special reflective layer that is similar to the one found on a cats eye. The team says its artificial protective layer also boosts nighttime vision performance.”Robotic cameras often struggle to spot objects in busy or camouflaged backgrounds, especially when lighting conditions change. Our design solves this by letting robots blur out unnecessary details and focus on important objects,” explains Prof. SongSo, what’s the benefit of this? The team believes their creation will benefit devices that require visual input for object recognition, particularly autonomous robotics. However, it could also be applied to drones, security robots, self-driving vehicles, and other visual-centered devices.”From searchand-rescue operations to industrial monitoring, these cutting-edge robotic eyes stand ready to complement or even replace human efforts in a variety of critical scenarios,” emphasizes Prof. Song

Scientists create artificial vision capable of seeing in dark and bright environments

Science and Health

It isn’t unusual for researchers to take something incredible in nature, such as a cat’s eye or vision system, and attempt to create that in the laboratory.VIEW GALLERY – 2 IMAGES Biologically inspired engineering happens all the time, and researchers from South Korea have become another example of it with a new artificial vision system inspired by Feline or cat eyes. For those that don’t know, cats have a very impressive vision system that enables them to see very well in well-lit environments and also in complete darkness. Cats are able to do this through an eye adaptation that changes their pupil slit to vertical during the day, which helps to reduce glare, while at night, their pupils widen.PopularPopular Now: Microsoft announces new version of world’s most popular OS despite its looming deathAdditionally, at night a cat’s eyes will develop a reflective layer called the tapetum lucidum, which boosts night vision performance and gives the eyes the reflective glow. The South Korean researchers penned a new study published in the journal Science Advances that details a new artificial vision system directly inspired by a cats vision system. The team created a slit-like aperture designed to filter unnecessary light and assist in focussing on key objects, while also creating a special reflective layer that is similar to the one found on a cats eye. The team says its artificial protective layer also boosts nighttime vision performance.”Robotic cameras often struggle to spot objects in busy or camouflaged backgrounds, especially when lighting conditions change. Our design solves this by letting robots blur out unnecessary details and focus on important objects,” explains Prof. SongSo, what’s the benefit of this? The team believes their creation will benefit devices that require visual input for object recognition, particularly autonomous robotics. However, it could also be applied to drones, security robots, self-driving vehicles, and other visual-centered devices.”From searchand-rescue operations to industrial monitoring, these cutting-edge robotic eyes stand ready to complement or even replace human efforts in a variety of critical scenarios,” emphasizes Prof. Song

We’re not done with coal, says author of new book on TVA’s disastrous spill

Arts & Culture, Books

In the Kingston coal ash spill and nearly 15 years of lawsuits that followed, Jared Sullivan, a journalist from Franklin, Tennessee, saw a David and Goliath story that was quintessentially American. A more fitting comparison for the setting of his new book “Valley So Low,” however, might be ancient Egypt.Under the shadow of the coal plant’s twin 1,000-foot stacks, once considered a wonder of the postwar world, the waste that poured from behind a failed dike in 2008 unleashes many plagues on East Tennessee at once. It causes painful lesions, kills animals who writhe in its trap, blocks out the sun when the wind whips it up, and afflicts those who inhale it with illnesses that spell their death.The disaster, the largest industrial spill in U.S. history by volume, releasing 100 times more waste into the environment than the Exxon Valdez oil spill, cast doubt on the beneficence of the Tennessee Valley Authority. TVA, the nation’s largest public power utility, owns and operates the Kingston Fossil Plant, situated 40 miles west of Knoxville.Sullivan’s nonfiction novel captures with deep research the protracted lawsuits that called TVA and its cleanup contractor, Jacobs Solutions (rebranded after the cleanup from Jacobs Engineering), to account for the seemingly reckless exposure of the workers who removed the coal ash – a byproduct that is sludgy when wet, a breathable dust when dry, and contains toxins like arsenic, cadmium, mercury and silica.Because the spill occurred just three days before Christmas, it quickly faded from national attention. That likely owed to the rural Tennessee landscape it swallowed, too. Sullivan wanted to write the book so it could belong on a shelf with other environmental dramas like “A Civil Action” by Jonathan Harr.“I would hate if someone had written it who was not from Tennessee,” Sullivan told Knox News in an interview. “If the Kingston disaster had happened in New England or outside of New York, I think it would have been the biggest story probably in the world.”Book tells legal and personal narratives of historic coal ash spillMuch of the cinematic drama of “Valley So Low,” published Oct. 15 by Knopf, derives from TVA’s post-spill status as both hellish and heaven-sent.Since 1933, TVA had pulled the Tennessee Valley out of poverty as a New Deal public works project initially tasked with building a stunning system of hydroelectric dams. Sullivan writes of the utility not just as a federal agency with broad immunity from lawsuits, but as a company that is “almost a religion” in East Tennessee.By the time one billion gallons of coal ash sludge tore across 300 rural acres off Interstate 40, TVA had operated like a private Fortune 500 company for decades, receiving no tax dollars and generating 60% of its electricity by burning coal.Drama also follows the book’s protagonist, Jim Scott, a disheveled Knoxville attorney who sacrifices his health and relationships to obsessively seek justice for the workers. The book toggles between Scott’s descent into a righteous, sleep-deprived mania and the cleanup workers’ descent into dizzy spells, strokes and cancer following years of workdays spent caked with coal ash.The parallel narratives are both stories of unraveled lives which, like ruined ecosystems, can never really return to their pre-disaster state.The book enters a much different world for coal. TVA has retired seven coal plants since the spill, and only gets 14% of its electricity from the fossil fuel today. Even as TVA and other U.S. utilities retire their coal plants, including the Kingston plant by 2027, the waste from those plants will stick around.“We’re coming out of the era of burning coal, but coal is still going to be with us,” Sullivan said. “We’re not done with coal. It’s not done being our problem.”TVA hired Jacobs as its cleanup contractor months after the spill. In depositions and documents, Jacobs staff responded with sometimes alarming nonchalance to accusations that the company refused to provide workers with respiratory protection. Some workers claimed they were fired for asking for dust masks.Though TVA paid nearly $28 million in 2013 to settle damages to property values, a district judge in Knoxville ruled it immune from lawsuits related to the cleanup. Scott filed a lawsuit against Jacobs that same year on behalf of dozens of workers and their spouses.After a decade of delays, a jury found Jacobs liable for the workers’ health problems and the company reached a confidential settlement with the plaintiffs in 2023. Sullivan’s talent is clearest when the courtroom drama veers from made-for-TV to painfully slow. He does not write around the late nights Scott and his colleagues spend reading documents in the office, but makes them equally captivating.Kingston coal ash spill author: ‘I think they botched it’Raised in Tennessee, Sullivan knew little about TVA and figured the company got lucky when no one died in the immediate spill and the waste was deemed safe. He was a senior in high school and he moved on with his life, which took him to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and then to a variety of magazines.He was an editor and occasional writer for Men’s Journal in New York City when he attended the 10th anniversary ceremony honoring the cleanup workers. By then, hundreds had become ill and dozens had died. Sullivan published a 7,000-word story on the lawsuit for Men’s Journal in 2019, but knew he had enough material for a book.When discussing his vision for the book, Sullivan cites towering examples of literary nonfiction like “The Power Broker” by Robert Caro and “Hiroshima” by John Hersey.For Sullivan, who said he felt like a “hick from the sticks” in New York City, selling his book to a major publisher after he was laid off during the pandemic and moved home felt like “getting drafted by the Yankees.”Though he is from Tennessee, there are signs in the book Sullivan feels less affection for Knoxville than he does for his characters. At various points, he describes the city as both “famously ugly” and “famously puritanical.” He claims its defining architectural feature is the strip mall, and not, say, Victorian mansions.Perhaps part of Knoxville’s problem is that it is home to TVA headquarters. Sullivan said he respects TVA and doesn’t want readers to think he wants to burn one of the great examples of public works to the ground. “Valley So Low” is not a political book. But Sullivan is keeping his eye on the federal Frankenstein.“I think TVA needs serious, serious reform,” Sullivan said. “I think they botched it.”Sullivan will speak in a free public event at the East Tennessee History Center at 6 p.m. on Oct. 17. The panel discussion, presented by Union Ave Books and moderated by former Knoxville Mayor Victor Ashe, will feature lawyers involved in the Kingston spill cases.Daniel Dassow is a growth and development reporter focused on technology and energy. Phone 423-637-0878. Email [email protected] strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe. 

Israeli man arrested for plotting assassination of scientist at Iran’s orders

Science and Health

Vladimir Verhovski, 35, had agreed to kill an Israeli scientist and had obtained weapons to carry out the task. The police said that he was also hired to perform missions for Iranian intelligence including graffiti, distributing flyers and collecting information on Israeli officials
read moreThe Israeli police on Wednesday arrested a man from Petah Tikva in central Israel for allegedly plotting the assassination of a scientist at the orders of Iran for a prize of $100,000.Vladimir Verhovski, 35, had agreed to kill an Israeli scientist and had obtained weapons to carry out the task. The police said that he was also hired to perform missions for Iranian intelligence including graffiti, distributing flyers and collecting information on Israeli officials.AdvertisementIsrael’s Shin Bet said that Verhovski’s correspondence with his handlers in Iran was in English and that he communicated with them using a special phone.The case comes at a time when Iran and Israel are engaged in confrontation, keeping West Asia on edge.Meanwhile, earlier this week, the Shin Bet uncovered a covert Iranian network operating to hire Israeli citizens.Last month, another Israeli man was arrested for plotting the assassination of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Iran’s instructions.According to a joint statement from the Shin Bet and Israel Police, the suspect was covertly transported to Iran on two occasions and was paid to undertake assignments for Tehran.“In recent months, we’ve exposed several networks of Iranian intelligence operatives working to recruit Israeli citizens for various missions, including plans to harm individuals in Israel. We identified and monitored numerous fictitious Iranian profiles on social networks and gathered information about the entities behind their operation. Exposing this activity led to the arrest and interrogation of Israeli citizens who were tempted to carry out these missions,” a Shin Bet official had said at the time.

Israeli man arrested for plotting assassination of scientist at Iran’s orders

Science and Health

Vladimir Verhovski, 35, had agreed to kill an Israeli scientist and had obtained weapons to carry out the task. The police said that he was also hired to perform missions for Iranian intelligence including graffiti, distributing flyers and collecting information on Israeli officials
read moreThe Israeli police on Wednesday arrested a man from Petah Tikva in central Israel for allegedly plotting the assassination of a scientist at the orders of Iran for a prize of $100,000.Vladimir Verhovski, 35, had agreed to kill an Israeli scientist and had obtained weapons to carry out the task. The police said that he was also hired to perform missions for Iranian intelligence including graffiti, distributing flyers and collecting information on Israeli officials.AdvertisementIsrael’s Shin Bet said that Verhovski’s correspondence with his handlers in Iran was in English and that he communicated with them using a special phone.The case comes at a time when Iran and Israel are engaged in confrontation, keeping West Asia on edge.Meanwhile, earlier this week, the Shin Bet uncovered a covert Iranian network operating to hire Israeli citizens.Last month, another Israeli man was arrested for plotting the assassination of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Iran’s instructions.According to a joint statement from the Shin Bet and Israel Police, the suspect was covertly transported to Iran on two occasions and was paid to undertake assignments for Tehran.“In recent months, we’ve exposed several networks of Iranian intelligence operatives working to recruit Israeli citizens for various missions, including plans to harm individuals in Israel. We identified and monitored numerous fictitious Iranian profiles on social networks and gathered information about the entities behind their operation. Exposing this activity led to the arrest and interrogation of Israeli citizens who were tempted to carry out these missions,” a Shin Bet official had said at the time.

ASML cuts annual sales forecast, sends tech stocks tumbling world over

Technology

ASML’s stock plummeted by 16 per cent after the Dutch firm inadvertently published its results ahead of schedule. The early release revealed weaker-than-expected bookings, a lowered sales forecast, and hints that the demand recovery for non-AI chips is slower than anticipated
read moreSemiconductor stocks in the US and Asia took a hit after ASML, a major supplier of chip-making equipment, slashed its annual sales forecast, citing weak demand for non-AI chips.The unexpected announcement sent ripples across global markets, raising concerns about the broader health of the semiconductor industry.NVIDIA and chip giants slipNVIDIA, a leading player in AI chips, saw its shares drop by 4.5 per cent, wiping out around $158 billion from its market capitalisation. The decline came just a day after NVIDIA briefly surpassed Apple as the world’s most valuable company. With this latest slump, the gap between NVIDIA and Apple’s $3.56 trillion valuation has widened once again.AdvertisementOther major chipmakers also suffered losses, with shares of AMD, Intel, Arm, Broadcom, and Micron falling between 3.2 per cent and 5 per cent. The semiconductor sell-off dragged the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index down by nearly 5 per cent, putting additional pressure on the Nasdaq index.ASML’s forecast sparks industry concernsASML’s stock plummeted by 16 per cent after the Dutch firm inadvertently published its results ahead of schedule. The early release revealed weaker-than-expected bookings, a lowered sales forecast, and hints that the demand recovery for non-AI chips is slower than anticipated.The company noted that while AI-related chip demand remains strong, logic chipmakers are postponing orders, and memory chip manufacturers are planning only modest capacity expansions. Analysts see ASML’s forecast as a lagging indicator, reflecting challenges that have been building for months across semiconductor factories.Asian chipmakers, many of whom rely on ASML’s tools, also felt the impact. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) saw its shares dip by 2.3 per cent, while Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix both experienced declines of about 2.5 per cent and 2.2 per cent, respectively.Pandemic boom fadesThe semiconductor industry’s pandemic-fuelled boom has started to stabilise as supply chain disruptions ease, leaving chipmakers cautious about expanding capacity.Earlier this month, Samsung warned that its third-quarter profits would miss expectations, largely due to difficulties capitalising on the surge in AI chip demand.Meanwhile, TSMC, a key NVIDIA partner, is forecast to report a 40 per cent jump in third-quarter profits this week, underscoring the divergence within the sector.AdvertisementExport restrictions loomAdding to the industry’s challenges, Bloomberg reported that US officials are considering capping export licenses for AI chips to countries in the Persian Gulf. Washington is reportedly concerned that advanced American chips could be diverted through the region to China, circumventing direct export restrictions.As the AI revolution promises to drive future productivity and technological innovation, the US is eager to maintain its edge in the sector. Analysts say this latest push to limit AI chip exports reflects America’s efforts to safeguard its dominance in a rapidly evolving landscape.With non-AI chip demand lagging and geopolitical tensions affecting supply chains, the road ahead looks bumpy for semiconductor firms. The industry’s ability to balance AI growth with broader market challenges will be key in navigating these turbulent times.Advertisement

Han Kang’s Nobel win boosts book sales to over 1M

Arts & Culture, Books

More than a million copies of books by Han Kang, the first South Korean to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, have sold locally since the honor was announced, bookstores said Wednesday.

The short story writer and novelist is best known overseas for her Man Booker Prize-winning “The Vegetarian,” her first novel translated into English.

The 53-year-old, who also became the first Asian woman author to win the Nobel, was chosen “for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life,” the Swedish Academy said last week.

Han’s win has created a sensation in South Korea. After it was announced, the websites of major bookstores and publishing houses crashed, as tens of thousands rushed to order her books.

As of Wednesday morning, at least 1.06 million copies, including e-books, had been sold since last Thursday’s Nobel announcement, three major bookstores and online retailers – Kyobo, Aladin and YES24 – told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

“Han Kang’s books are experiencing unprecedented sales. This is a situation we have never seen before,” Kyobo spokesperson Kim Hyun-jung told AFP.

Online bookstore Aladin said Han’s victory had not only led to a staggering 1,200-fold increase in the sales of her books compared with the same period last year but dramatically boosted the sales of South Korean literature as a whole.

Since her win, “the overall sales of Korean literature increased by more than 12 times compared to the previous year,” it said in a statement.

Sales of two books Han recently mentioned she was reading – “Inventory of Losses” by Judith Schalansky and “Atlas de botanique elementaire” by Jean-Jacques Rousseau – had also surged, Aladin said.

Kyobo Book Centre said while it does not have exact figures, Han’s books had seen dramatically higher sales compared with other Nobel prize winners.

“We have been in the publishing industry for a while, but this whole situation feels very surreal even to some of us,” a Kyobo employee told AFP.

South Koreans have been overjoyed by the news, with Han’s alma mater, Seoul’s Yonsei University, displaying banners that read: “Congratulations to the proud Yonsei alumnus, Han Kang, on winning the Nobel Prize in Literature.”

In her hometown of Gwangju – where a massacre occurred in 1980 that later inspired Han’s acclaimed novel “Human Acts” – a congratulatory banner was hung on a building fired on by a military helicopter at the time.

Local reports said some printing houses had been operating at full capacity on the weekend to meet the demand for Han’s books.

“I’ve never been this busy since I joined the company in 2006,” an Aladin employee told AFP.

“But it’s all been very happy.”

Watch: Science Secretary grilled over latest cronyism row

Science and Health

Labour’s cronyism row has reared its head once again. It now transpires that Sir Keir Starmer’s government failed to disclose an official’s links with the Labour lot when trying to nab her a civil service job – omitting to add the rather significant detail on important transparency forms. As Mr S wrote in August, the appointment of Emily Middleton to the Department for Science and Technology raised ‘cash for jobs’ concerns after it emerged she was a party donor, with the former businesswoman’s consultancy firm having given a whopping £66,000 to the party in the past. With Starmer’s government already struggling with the freebie fiasco, this latest development is hardly likely to help matters…

As written in Politico, documents received under a Freedom of Information request reveal that the fast-track forms used to push Middleton into the civil service role in July made no mention of the businesswoman’s links to the Labour Party, the Labour Together group or the donation made to the, er, Science Secretary Peter Kyle’s office. In fact, Middleton even worked with the then-Labour frontbencher while on secondment from her tech firm Public Digital – the same business that donated the staggering sum to Kyle’s office. Good heavens. While there is not a suggestion that rules were broken, the fact the detail was not included on the forms has certainly raised eyebrows among those familiar with civil service hiring procedure.

Yet, oddly enough, the Science Secretary was rather reticent to delve into the matter in the Commons today. When quizzed by his Tory counterpart Andrew Griffiths, the Labour man – of a government said to be interested in ‘grown up‘ politics – instead opted to, er, avoid fully answering the question.

AG: Did the Secretary of State fully disclose to the Civil Service Commission the Labour links of one of the most senior civil servant appointments, or the £66,000 donation he received?

PK: Every donation that was made to this party in opposition has been declared in the appropriate way. I’m proud to be part of a party that raises standards in public life rather than votes to lower them. And, Mr Speaker, I’m also proud to be part of a party that comes into government and attracts talent to working for it, whereas when they see talent, they libel it.

AG: Well, Mr Speaker, thanks to Whitehall Watch, we have a copy of the form. It’s clear the Secretary of State failed to mention the conflict of interest as required by the ministerial code. In the words of the Prime Minister’s favourite pop star, some would say he’s ‘Guilty As Sin’. Will he refer himself to the adviser on standards, or will we have to wait for the Prime Minister to finish organising VIP motorcades and do it for him?

Shots fired…

Watch the clip here:

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