Bertie Russell receives funding from the ESRC and Mistra Urban Futures University of Sheffield provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation UK View all partners Such policies would involve massive state investment in the development of renewable energy infrastructure retrofitting buildings to improve energy efficiency and efficient and high-speed public transport Reflecting the understanding that climate change demands deep systemic changes to the economy the US version includes the introduction of a jobs guarantee: a public-sector job would be available to any US citizen that wants one proposals call for public investment banks to invest 5% of GDP each year to “radically reduce Europe’s carbon emissions constructing resilient and zero-emissions infrastructure” Addressing the climate emergency demands huge amounts of investment, but it also requires drastic changes to the forms of ownership and governance that underpin the contemporary capitalist economy. We need to move towards models of economic democracy where everything from investment decisions to wages are decided democratically by workers and citizens Confronting an abstract concept such as the “global economy” can seem like a daunting challenge But shifting our perspective to the level of our towns and cities innovative models of economic democracy are already empowering people to deliver real solutions to the climate emergency With 100% of its electricity coming from renewable sources (and more to spare), the German town of Wolfhagen is particularly demonstrative of what can be achieved when municipalities adopt innovative approaches to the ownership and governance of key infrastructure. Significant lessons can be drawn from Wolfhagen’s hybrid model of ownership which can – and must – be applied to sectors beyond energy production Triggered by the Fukushima disaster – and coupled with long-established social movements against fossil fuels – in 2011 the centre-right German government announced it was pursuing a national policy of Energiewende: energy transition a town in central Germany with a population of around 14,000 Driven partly by lack of financial resources and partly by a vision of a co-produced and co-owned energy system Wolfhagen decided to pursue an innovative form of “cooperative participation” that would put energy into the joint ownership of the municipality and a new citizen-led cooperative - BEG Wolfhagen the director of the public company Martin Rühl explained: Through the cooperative participation we want to make the citizens not only co-owners and co-earners but through the form of a direct participation in the Stadtwerke also co-decision-makers citizens and electricity customers will be at the table from the very beginning Formed in 2012 by citizens who had been campaigning in favour of the wind farm development the cooperative now owns 25% of the energy company With more than 800 members and wealth of more than €3.9 million the cooperative does more than just let citizens own a share in the towns energy company – it also lets them control it The cooperative has two of the nine seats on the board of the energy company providing citizens with voting rights on all issues concerning electricity production and supply in the region ranging from the setting of energy prices through to reinvestment in new capacity The cooperative itself also has an energy-saving fund which receives its funds directly from the profitable energy company Governed by an Energy Advisory Board - comprised of nine cooperative members alongside one each from the local energy agency and the municipality - the fund is designed to support strategies and initiatives aimed at increasing energy efficiency among its members this means citizen-led solutions to decarbonisation have now been provided with a regular and democratically controlled source of funding What the experience of Wolfhagen shows is that the rapid decarbonisation of our energy supply is wholly compatible with new models of economic democracy Strong and effective action to address the climate crisis can be met through processes of collective empowerment without resorting to ecological authoritarianism Hybrid models of ownership not only have the potential to provide capital beyond that which can be provided by the state but to do so in a way that is committed to the common interest This flies in the face of the logic of private companies that are committed to the bottom line of delivering shareholder profits While national government funding is unquestionably needed it does not have to be an absolute barrier to towns and cities taking action Local governments shouldn’t use national government as an excuse for their own inaction If we’re really going to address the climate emergency we’re going to need to drastically expand the number and diversity of spaces for meaningful democratic engagement This doesn’t just mean engaging people in government decisions but creating and funding spaces where citizens (along with government actors and social business intiatives) can collaborate in delivering radical alternatives across our economy the urgency and scale of transition required to meaningfully address our climate emergency demands that national governments pursue many of the ambitious plans for investment envisioned by supporters of a Green New Deal But Wolfhagen demonstrates that innovative approaches to the ownership and governance of utilities can not only unlock further cooperative capital investment but also create new forms of democratic engagement in their governance It’s precisely the creation of these democratic spaces that can enable citizens to move beyond individualistic efforts to “reduce their carbon footprint” and instead place them at the core of innovation in delivering a just transition to a sustainable and democratic economy Click here to subscribe to our climate action newsletter. Climate change is inevitable. Our response to it isn’t. The latest article in our new economics series looks at what happened when a German utilities contract expired and one man thought his neighbours could take over • Listen to Aditya Chakrabortty talking about game-changing economic models on The Alternatives podcast Martin Rühl never imagined this fight would define the rest of his life Not for a moment did he reckon it would become so epic in length He just thought his speck of a town should run its own electricity supply A modest proposal, but in the Germany of 2003 it was highly unusual was pushing through more privatisations of public assets than any other leader in German history This was in a Europe that had learned from Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan to stop worrying and start loving the private sector German politicians don’t privatise because they believe it will lead to better services They mainly want the eurosOn Rühl’s side were evidence What he lacked was his multinational opponent’s money and firepower The mismatch produced a battle that lasted years that set off ripples around Germany and whose lessons should be pondered by anyone who wonders whether Britain could improve how it runs its electricity and gas a somnolent town whose biggest previous claim to fame was that one of the Brothers Grimm had stayed in one of its half-timbered buildings Fifteen years ago, Wolfhagen was like thousands of other German towns and cities in leasing its electrical grid for its 14,000 residents to one of the world’s largest energy companies, E.ON. But two things made this place different. First, it still had a Stadtwerke, or municipally owned electricity supplier. Second, it had Rühl, who’d only recently become the Stadtwerke’s boss. Read moreRühl spotted that E.ON’s 20-year licence was approaching its expiry Rather than just sign again on the dotted line he thought Wolfhagen ought to reclaim the grid for itself – and pressed the case repeatedly upon the local council for months For all the legal and financial advice he’d garnered Rühl was not at all sure he’d persuade the politicians “Lots of people were saying something totally different.” Yet ShowHas you or your community come up with answers to doing things differently? If so we'd like to hear from you.  Share your stories via this form and we'll be in touch.  You can share your experiences anonymously We’ll include some of your stories in our reporting Thank you for your feedback.Perhaps it was his passion that enthused councillors Now this small-town hick had to tell one of the giants of the energy world that the council no longer needed their services “Well … ” He remembers a scrap of English understatement: “They were not amused.” The Germans have a name for what Rühl was about to do: Rekommunalisierung One of those satisfyingly ungainly bits of Deutsch it denotes a town or city reclaiming ownership of its public utilities The term was partly spread by Wolfhagen’s epic fight for control over its power supply No matter how bad our privatised utilities get any politician who suggests taking them back into public ownership may as well count the hairs on their palms Rail franchises can collapse in a single afternoon. Energy giants (including E.ON) face accusations of overcharging the public Water companies can deny the taxman his dues and the public their investment while shovelling billions into the pockets of shareholders Britons have paid through the nose for someone else – often based thousands of miles offshore – to rip them off is to face the molten wrath of the rightwing press the trade lobbyists and the Conservative party To resist the ideological extreme that the private sector must always run our public services is to be denounced as an extremist ideologue Rühl faced his own denunciations from E.ON They said we were uneconomical … either the town would have to subsidise energy or residents would have to pay more.” All “bullshit” Yet the fight brought sleepless nights and days besieged by worry that he wasn’t up to the job He realised he was attacking E.ON’s business model ‘If [Wolfhagen] want their grid back then maybe everyone does.’ I was part of the breaking of the dam So they had to give it their all.” And the amount they wanted to be compensated for the grid was far higher than the town’s starting bid ‘Kai Mellinghoff is the third generation of his family to run the town’s cinema.’ Photograph: Lukas Schulze/Getty ImagesApproached for comment on these and other issues E.ON said: “Wolfhagen was one of the first cases of remunicipalisation in Germany technical and legal questions were not clarified That’s why both sides negotiated for so long.” The multinational went back and forth with Rühl for three years E.ON’s payoff was cobbled together by loans for local banks A two-hour train ride from Wolfhagen lies Frankfurt where I met the closest thing Germany has to a professor of privatisation studies Tim Engartner can list the family silver flogged by his country – the airline Lufthansa “Selling public assets gives them a huge windfall to spend on roads or social projects.” This lack of dogmatism has two major consequences it gives half a chance to any Martin Rühl who can show that public control will yield even more euros for those essential works when a privatisation leads to worse services or higher prices politicians can be pressured into reversing it Read moreSuch cases don’t get much of a showing in the British press. The pundits and policy wonks who equate public ownership with Red Robbo, Bakelite phones and stale British Rail sandwiches never mention that across Europe there have been 567 instances of public services being taken into public ownership since the year 2000 Everything from care homes for the elderly to bus companies is now run by continental towns and cities It’s where the Japanese and South Koreans fly in just to take lessons Visit the Stadtwerke today and Rühl’s successor which has not only paid off the bank loans but funds the town’s kindergartens Generally cheaper electricity than most competitors The number of staff has almost doubled and this still-small enterprise has won national prizes for its innovation on reducing energy use After the film, there might be a speaker on climate change or electric cars, and the audience would be invited on to Mellinghoff’s terrace. He shows me its postcard view of the timber rooftops of his town and the woods beyond. Out here, the townspeople would clutch glasses of wine and discuss the film, the environment and what part they could play in preserving it. Read moreRühl wanted the now-public Stadtwerke to go 100% renewable by 2015; these evenings were his way of spreading the idea and giant wind turbines on the mountain that overlooks Wolfhagen The prospect split the town in two: opponents of the wind farm produced mock-up posters of turbines looming out of a napalmed forest and leering down at locals The Ancient Greeks would have known what to call Mellinghoff’s terrace the debate turned the Stadtwerke from a company under new management to an asset in which everyone had a stake That bond got closer after Wolfhagen had adopted the renewables pledge To raise the millions needed to build the wind farm the town sold a quarter of the energy firm’s shares to locals in a citizens’ co-op The co-op has seats on the board of the company giving residents a direct say over how their utility is managed would Rühl recommend Britons do the same with their utilities He ponders all the failures of British privatisation – with a special (Every German I meet uses the same regretful tone about British trains as if discussing a child with behavioural problems.) Then he says something that sounds uncannily resonant to anyone in Brexit Britain “Germans say we can’t make decisions because everything is decided in Brussels or by big companies If you can improve your standard of living and make your own choices Iris Degenhardt-Meister walks me up the mountain to see the wind turbines up close she laughs while rehearsing the charged town debates of a decade ago As for the turbines: “We love them!” She can identify each one I ask a question that would be absurd in privatised Britain: does she feel they belong to her “Yes!” A pause to consider the size of the co-op’s stake Aditya Chakrabortty is a Guardian columnist. He will chair a Guardian Live event at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston on Monday 12 March. For details visit theguardian.com/guardianlive This week’s instalment of The Alternatives forms part of the Guardian’s Upside series, a project focusing on possible solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems. Send us your ideas for further coverage to theupside@theguardian.com We’d like to hear what your community is doing to resolve problems like Wolfhagen did. Share your stories via our form and we will be in touch Embed on your websiteClose×Copy the code below to embed the WBUR audio player on your site<iframe width="100%" height="124" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://player.wbur.org/hereandnow/2020/02/03/carbon-free-wolfhagen-climate-change"></iframe> promising to double its supply of renewable energy in the next 10 years One model for that energy transition can be found in the town of Wolfhagen, Germany, which already gets 100% of its electricity from renewable energy sources Here & Now's Tonya Mosley speaks with Manfred Schaub member of the city parliament in Wolfhagen Medievalists.net Read some stories of daily life from a fourteenth-century chronicler in Germany the town of Limburg an der Lahn has a history going back to the ninth century A notary named Tilman von Wolfhagen wrote a chronicle from this town and often noted the local events Moreover at this time the town and folk of Limburg stood in very great honour and prosperity in population and in wealth; for all the lanes and corners were full of folk and goods; and the citizens were counted at more than two thousand folk well armed with breastplates and harness and all appurtenances; and those who took communion at Easter were counted more than eight thousand folk In this year men sang and piped this song: on the eve of St Peter ad Vincula (August 1st) And he was a young man of less than thirty years and of goodly length and had a long face with a lofty nose and smooth hair plaited in a long tail And the said Johann would have been Count of Dietz if he had lived; but it came into other hands and was a right Freiherr born of all his four ancestors And he was cast into prison in the castle of Dern and brought to Dietz; and Count Gerhart held a Court at Reckenforst; and the aforesaid Freiherr was beheaded and buried forthwith among the Franciscan Friars of Limburg Wherefore think before you strike; for Solomon says: Fremens ira nulli parcit which is being interpreted: “Grim anger leaves no man free there was on the Main a Franciscan Friar who was driven out from among the people He made the best songs and carols in the world wherein there lived not his like in Rhineland or in these parts all men sang it gladly after him; all masters and other minstrels followed his songs and words and squires wore short hair and crowns cut over the ears like lay-brethren; and so also did burghers in general and the common folk and peasants after the fashion of the rest In these days was a Franciscan Friar of Brabant He bare himself as though he were a Bishop Suffragan and had forged letters thereof; yet was he no bishop This man went far and wide throughout the bishoprics of Mainz and Trier and had consecrated and ordained more than three thousand acolytes who must needs now let themselves all be ordained afresh; and men called them all Jacobites after the name of this aforesaid rascal Jacob This same Jacob I esteem more wicked than Judas who betrayed and sold Christ the Son of God; for the treason of Judas was made a balm and a salvation for the seed of men; but this other treason was a ruin and destruction to Christendom; for he caused mere layfolk to sing and read masses whensoever men weened that they held up the Body of our Lord (Communion) so that men called upon and adored an idol Wherefore thou shalt know the man’s form and his face; for I have oftentimes seen him with a long face and a long sharp pointed nose; and his cheeks were somewhat ruddy and he writhed with his body and bowed up and down in great courtesy And he came to an evil end when he was caught in this matter; and that was no more than justice Moreover at this time a child was born in Niderbrechen in the bishopric of Trier that had lower limbs of a man and shapen in the upper parts somewhat like a toad when men asked the woman whether she bare a child she answered thereunto that she bare a toad; and such was her answer at every time This translation is from Life in the Middle Ages, selected and translated by G.G. Coulton. You can read this book at Archive.org Top Image: Limburg depicted in 1655 – from Topographia Hassiae – Wikimedia Commons We've created a Patreon for Medievalists.net as we want to transition to a more community-funded model We aim to be the leading content provider about all things medieval podcast and Youtube page offers news and resources about the Middle Ages We hope that are our audience wants to support us so that we can further develop our podcast and remove the advertising on our platforms This will also allow our fans to get more involved in what content we do produce Member Login Fotograf Stefan Tschersich hat einige Impressionen vom Hessenliga-Duell zwischen Eintracht Stadtallendorf und FSV Wolfhagen eingefangen Dieser Inhalt"+t(a)+"kann aufgrund Ihrer Datenschutz-Einstellungen nicht geladen werden Things progressed in 2008 when everyone decided that by 2015, all household electricity will be provided from local renewable resources. The town committed to building a wind farm and solar park the town decided to enlist the help of the citizens for a co-owned This form of cooperative participation would allow the community to take part in a citizen-led movement Director of the public company explained in 2011: Through the cooperative participation we want to make the citizens not only co-owners and co-earners but through the form of direct participation in the Stadtwerke also co-decision-makers The co-op was official back in 2012 by citizens that were in favor of the wind farm and now they own 25% of the energy company The more than 800 citizens who are members are part of a company with a net worth of €3.9 million and are also involved in the decision-making process Two of the co-op’s nine board members represent the citizens with voting rights on all issues These include electricity production and supply for the region The cooperative also has an energy-saving fund that receives funds directly from the profitable energy company The fund is designed to support citizen-led initiatives and strategies for increasing energy efficiency including innovative ways for achieving decarbonization this shows that the rapid decarbonization of our energy supply is wholly compatible with new models of economic democracy “Strong and effective action to address the climate crisis can be met through processes of collective empowerment without resorting to ecological authoritarianism.” Instead of focusing on the bottom line of profits, which privately-owned companies do, this hybrid model involves the common interest of the community. We are in the middle of the most important climate crisis in human history and certainly should not sit back and allow a select few who have money to make decisions for all It’s not about an uprising against power This will take some of the pressure off of the governments from having to do everything and it allows the common people to become more involved Putting their money into things to help the planet rather than “taxes,” that are a big mystery where that money goes it’s time “everyone” has a say in how we go about rectifying it Log in to leave a comment By Keir Milburn, Bertie Russell, originally published by P2P Foundation Download the PDF here This report introduces a new institutional framework for a transformative socialist politics: the Public-Common Partnership (PCP) Whilst the era of new public-private partnerships in the UK has apparently come to an end more than £199 billion of Public Private Partnership (PPP) payments from the public to the private sphere are due into the 2040s This accumulation of wealth for the few comes at the cost of deteriorating services for the many The debt itself serves to foreclose political alternatives by tying the hands of future authorities with ceaseless debt repayments and the further entrenchment of market logic The popularity of calls for the nationalisation of utilities or services – such as energy and housing – points to a widespread rejection of the marketisation of essential services Yet straightforward state ownership through nationalisation or municipalisation As well as questioning when and where centralised ownership is appropriate we need to think about the institutional forms of ownership and governance that are most appropriate to a radical project of social transformation and what institutional forms can help take us there Drawing on partial examples such as the co-owned energy company in Wolfhagen we provide an outline of what we call a Public-Common Partnership (PCP) PCPs offer an alternative institutional design that moves us beyond the overly simplistic binary of market/state they involve co-ownership between appropriate state authorities and a Commoners Association alongside co-combined governance with a third association of project specific relevant parties such as trade unions and relevant experts Rather than a mono-cultural institutional form applied indiscriminately PCPs should emerge as an overlapping patchwork of institutions that respond to the peculiarities of the asset concerned the scale at which the PCP will operate (whether it be city-region wide energy production in Greater Manchester or the commercial activity of a North London market) and the individuals and communities that will act together as commoners PCPs can help address challenges of political risk and economic cost enabling more innovative and “risky” initiatives However their real strength comes from setting in motion a self-expanding circuit of radical democratic self-governance The aim of this circuit is to bypass the need for private financing and sidestep the mechanisms through which finance capital exercises its discipline and structures the economy PCPs will function as a “training in democracy” and help foster a new common-sense understanding of how we relate to one another They are a method for “taking back control” of the infrastructures and resources that underpin our collective well-being – from food markets to water basins – while increasing our collective ability to fight for the wider structural changes in our society and economy that are so urgently needed – from a reduction in the working week to the implementation of a comprehensive Green New Deal This report is aimed at policy makers and social movement actors both of whom are essential to the implementation of PCPs Whilst a Left Labour government could dramatically increase the potential for the rollout of PCPs there is already scope for their implementation by progressive municipalities such as Preston and new city-regions such as the North of Tyne they will also need the mobilisation of social movements ranging from housing unions such as ACORN or environmental groups such as Frack Free Lancashire These movements can help define the problems to be addressed add pressure to change calculations of political cost and act as seeds in the formation of the Commons Associations that will drive the creation of PCPs Greater Manchester’s Low Carbon Hub was tasked with evaluating seven design options for the future Greater Manchester Energy Company Whereas a “white label” arrangement (effectively a branding and marketing exercise) had been rejected in early 2017 on the basis that the “risks far outweigh the potential benefits” Andy Burnham subsequently made the establishment of a Greater Manchester Energy Company one of the central pledges to his successful mayoral campaign A consultancy firm had been commissioned to reassess the white label model along with six other options against the desired social outcomes of carbon reduction reduction of energy costs and the alleviation of fuel poverty Whilst a handful of options performed highly against the social outcome indicators – in particular a full license or a public sector partnership – both were rejected for further consideration for two reasons: economic cost and political risk the Greater Manchester Combined Authority looks set to pursue an “Energy Innovation Company” one that forgoes many of the more ambitious approaches to ownership and governance needed to transform our economy Greater Manchester Energy Company and the demolition of Seven Sisters market are profoundly divergent case studies but when taken together they present an ideal opportunity for conceptualising PCPs the potential of PCPs to emerge as a core element of a transformative socialist project concerned not only with the immediate redistribution of wealth and power but the development of a self-expanding tendency towards collective self-government and the decommodification of daily life What is fundamentally novel about PCPs is not their particular institutional form but how they relate to one another as part of a wider circuit with the core emphasis of PCPs being the capitalization of collective self-governance – a process to both definancialise essential services and bring them under common democratic management – it’s necessary but always insufficient to focus on the individual cases The financialised model of public procurement and service provision is in crisis. Local government have suffered central government funding cuts of almost 50% since 2010 pushing the services they provide to breaking point, leaving the financialised model near collapse2 councils have been forced to privatise a whole slew of services from homelessness provision to social care and children’s services When the giant intermediary company Carillion collapsed in January 2018 the increased public scrutiny this brought on the sector eventually forced the Chancellor of the Exchequer Phillip Hammond to announce in October 2018 that no new Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contracts would be signed because “they were inflexible and overly complex.” When Interserve – another of the big four intermediary firms that dominate public contracts and PFI – went into administration in March 2019 the bankruptcy of the whole model seemed clear the Ministry of Defence revealed their fire and rescue services were being outsourced to Capita The project of privatisation continues despite its serial discrediting the miserable groans of a zombie-neoliberalism continuing to plague us Yet perhaps more profound than the huge privatisation of public wealth is their deep ideological effect acting as the “cutting edge” of a wider effort to impose privatisation and financialisation on the public sector PFIs were in effect the vanguard in a wider project of neoliberal transformation and they reveal much about the political reasoning that continues to prevail An assessment of PFIs can start from the National Audit Office 2018 report which defines PFIs and their successor PF2s forms of Public Private Partnerships (PPPs). In a PFI or PF2 deal, a private finance company – a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) – is set up and borrows to construct a new asset such as a school, hospital or road. The taxpayer then makes payments over the contract term (typically 25 to 30 years), which cover debt repayment, financing costs, maintenance and any other services provided4 Even taken on their own terms it seems unlikely that these “efficiencies” would outweigh the 40% and 70% increased costs of PFI schemes once we begin to dig into them these “efficiencies” seem even less attractive Users of services and infrastructure continue to struggle with shoddy facilities inflated operating costs and difficulties getting repairs done The claimed “efficiencies” only appear as efficiencies because the real costs – such as chronic underinvestment in infrastructure and so on – are not included in the quoted price pushed off the balance sheet and on to wider society Convention dictates that state investment – buildings schools and hospitals for instance¬ – count as liabilities on state balance sheets rather than assets Whereas PFI schemes appeared off balance sheet because private investors paid the upfront costs This proved attractive to policy makers as it reduced the political costs attached to growing government debt this reduced political cost came through offloading the increased lifetime costs of the projects onto future taxpayers (and future governments) through contracts paid off over 25-30 years Those costs are real; a high price has and will be paid through the constriction on policy choices for future governments and municipal authorities As Andrew Pendleton of the New Economics Foundation argues: The prohibitive costs of taking companies to court for breach of contract means the only course of action open to disgruntled users of PFI facilities is to threaten reputational damage by “going public.”The financialisation of the economy has produced immense concentrations of wealth for a tiny proportion of the population The social power this implies means that simply banning PPPs or otherwise seeking to merely reverse the financialisation the sector If we are to escape this financialised model we need institutions underpinned by different forms of political rationality in which the “bottom line” is not used as a way to foreclose alternatives and where the measure of “good outcomes” cannot necessarily be codified onto a balance sheet Rather than obscuring the real costs of operations and offloading them onto wider society at the expense of social outcomes we need a form of rationality in which the social outcomes are not just valued but are turned into common values through a process of democratic deliberation of what elements of life we truly hold dear Whilst we might include some of the cooperative and social enterprise sector as part of the commons the legal form of the “cooperative,” “community interest company” or otherwise is not synonymous with the commons Just as we can’t make sense of “capital” by simply looking at the corporate form of a limited liability company so we can’t make sense of the commons simply by looking at an individual institutional form such as a cooperative We need to look at how value is captured and circulated and how different institutional forms could contribute to different circuits Just as PFIs acted as the cutting edge of an effort to transform the very rationalities that underpinned what constitutes a “sensible” decision so we intend PCPs to function as the cutting edge of a wider project to socialise and commonise the way we process economic decisions The aim is to produce a self-expansive circuit of the commons one that will bypass the need for private financing sidestep the mechanisms through which finance capital exercises its discipline and structures the economy and help foster a new common-sense that changes how we relate to one another and the resources and infrastructure we rely upon The very design of PCPs must therefore be a democratic one that responsive and equitable institutional processes to facilitate us acting in common there are a handful of common ingredients that define PCPs as institutional mechanisms orientated towards the capitalisation of collective self-governance: Conventional understandings of democratic control see the state (whether that be local regional or national) as owning the infrastructure (such as a municipal energy company) controlling who sits on the board of directors and benefiting from any financial surplus produced by the enterprise the “place” of democratic activity remains located firmly in the institutions of the state primarily through representative politics at the local/national level in some cases coupled with processes such as the limited co-production of services or small-scope participatory budgets PCPs are models of joint ownership and governance in which the two principal parties are a state agent (such as a municipal council) and a Common Association (such as a mixed cooperative or community interest company) the Common Association sits on the board of directors of the joint enterprise alongside representatives of the local authorities and other organisations relevant to the operations of the PCP (which could variously include trade unions Whilst there are numerous examples that demonstrate mixed approaches to the directorate of public utilities – such as the governing council of Eau de Paris (the Parisian water company that was brought back into public control in 2010) SEMAPA(the Cochabamban water company that was democratised following the Bolivian “water wars” in 2000) or the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (the sixth largest community-owned energy company in the US) – there are relatively few cases in which a Common Association is a key feature The structure of the joint enterprise produces three democratic fora: The democratic structure and membership of the Common Association is highly contingent on the nature of the joint enterprise in the German town of Wolfhagen (one of the few examples of where a Common Association sits on the board of directors) a joint enterprise energy company was established between the local authority and 264 citizens that had constituted a new cooperative – BEG Wolfhagen Whilst membership of the cooperative was initially open to any citizen of Wolfhagen that purchased a membership share membership of the cooperative is now open to anyone who purchases their energy from the company (and thus In some cases such a membership structure would be relatively straightforward to replicate social care service or local market would demand more careful consideration of the most appropriate scale A core feature of all PCPs is the substantial democratic control of surplus value produced through the joint enterprise This feature is essential to the capitalisation of collective self-governance and the wider disarticulation of the state a portion of any surplus is retained by the joint enterprise to be reinvested towards its operational goals (such as delivering a zero-carbon energy supply for the city and is thus under the collective control of the board of directors (which variously will include worker representatives alongside the appropriate state authorities and the Common Association) a significant portion of surplus value would be transferred directly to the Common Association Wolfhagen’s energy partnership provides some limited inspiration for this where shareholders in the cooperative receive an annual dividend (which was around 4% in 2016) whilst the remaining funds flow into the cooperative’s energy saving fund Overseen by the cooperatives Energy Advisory Board (comprised of nine cooperative members along with one each from the local energy agency the fund is then redistributed to support strategies and initiatives for increasing energy efficiency among its members this fund has been used towards quite modest consumer oriented goals such as providing subsidies on the purchase of electric bikes and programmable radiator thermostats where joint capitalisation has been part of the process of establishing a joint enterprise (as discussed in the forthcoming point) any dividend should be capped at the total value of the initial stake provided by members of the Common Association (e.g those who invested a £250 membership share would receive a maximum lifetime return of £250 plus interest on that share) More significantly – and essential to the definition of a PCP – are the restrictions and guidelines as to how the Common Association utilises the surplus the principle usage of any surplus managed by the Common Association is to capitalise other PCPs without expectation of financial return Whether done independently or in collaboration with other PCPs this acts (in the first instance) as a wealth transfer to support the development of other PCPs the Common Association of a GM Energy Company could help finance an Haringey-based Commons Association (with its own membership and so on) in their purchase of the Seven Sisters market supporting the implementation of their current community plan and bringing that asset under the governance of a separate PCP In cases where assets are already owned by the state joint capitalisation assets may not be necessary; for example in the case of Seven Sisters market in which the land (owned by Transport for London) could be directly transferred into a PCP Rather than being a necessary condition for it there is an opportunity for joint capitalisation of a PCP with the state-agent providing direct contributions loans & underwriting of non-state contributions and the common association most-likely contributing through crowd-funding with inward capitalisation from other PCPs) the 264 citizens that established BEG Wolfhagen pursued a cooperative share offer (valued at €500 each which raised €1.47m of the €2.3m required to gain a 25% stake in the energy company Given the shortfall between in value between cooperative capital and the valuation of the 25% stake the city granted the cooperative the option to gradually capitalise its stake through a loan This further period of capitalisation took around 12 months with the cooperative fully covering its €2.3million share by the spring of 2013 BEG Wolfhagen had 814 members – representing almost 7% of Wolfhagen’s population – with a cooperative wealth of more than €3.9 million any new cooperative members are given a two-year period to pay for their initial share in €20 instalments helping to broaden access to the cooperative to lower income households PCPs begin to address two of the determining risks confronted by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority in establishing an energy company – political risk and cost especially when this comes inwards from other PCPs has the potential to address financial barriers (such as the establishment of the energy company infrastructure the collective purchasing of a market building initial subsidisation of a platform taxi cooperative the purchasing of land for a community land trust Whether there has been joint capitalisation or not joint enterprises also go some way to address issues of political risk Whereas state authorities are often averse to risk-taking for fear of losing political capital – and ultimately office – joint enterprises address this through reframing initiatives as collaborations and shared experiments to be developed The architecture of incentives within PCPs produces many potential tensions; the role of the joint governance structure is to ensure these tensions remain productive The most obvious point of tension is between the interests and needs of those within a particular Commons Association and those outside it Protected from the predatory discipline imposed by finance capital those doing the work of commoning might well decide to prioritise making their own lives better Perhaps they will decide to make the work involved more enjoyable or even work less and focus on creating favourable conditions for deliberative decision-making We should be clear – we see this as a feature of PCPs not a bug Breaking with the compulsion to place your own needs and desires beneath capital’s need for self-expansion is what wealth transformation means We must create the conditions from which commoners can decide what they value most what they really consider wealth to consist of Those involved are the ones who can best decide on their common values through which they wish to organise their commons and their lives At long last people will be able to really ask: what sort of lives do we want to live Too often the wealth of some depends on hidden costs borne by either other people or natural systems The governance structure of PCPs is designed to make this sort of privatised wealth building impossible by balancing the needs and desires generated from within a Commons Association with the wider responsibility to tend the social and planetary commons Yet attending to the latter is not something we can simply hope will happen like some form of weak corporate social responsibility the board members must be drawn from not only the Commons Association but also the appropriate scale of political administration (which will often but not exclusively be municipal or regional and from pools of experts and stakeholders (such as the environment agency or a rank-and-file union) appropriate to the operations of the specific PCP Once fake efficiencies via accounting tricks are blocked off by joint governance structures and financing can be found from outside the financial sector then the drive for efficiencies gets reframed as the reduction of total necessary work which can only be achieved through the introduction of new technology and the reorganisation of the work process this is what effective governance would now mean – the effective meeting of social outcomes in line with common values the elimination of the need for quick financial returns could allow more ambitious and risky projects to be capitalised Some guidance for such joint enterprises would have to come from outside the circuit of the commons; the planning that takes place within a PCP cannot ignore the planning taking place on a regional national and (where the planetary commons are concerned) a global level the structure of PCPs will allow those plans to be resolved with the local and tacit knowledge embedded in the circuit of the commons This seems like a surer path to socially useful technological progress than relying on the whims of venture capitalists Individual Commons Associations are also liable to want to capitalise projects along their own supply and value chains as this is the quickest way to disembed themselves from the circuits of capital this is to be encouraged as it facilitates the formation of circuits of commons in specific sectors; yet this tendency must be balanced against the strategic needs of the wider project of socialist transformation The ability to trigger the self-expansive dynamic of the commons will require the capitalisation of projects most likely to produce a surplus (with energy and transport infrastructure being obvious starting points) and thus allow the capitalisation of further PCPs this will require an ongoing negotiation between the various participants in the joint enterprise Beyond this strategic need to ensure that the circuit of the commons as a whole contains a self-expansive dynamic there is the problem of those representatives of capital who would seek to enclose the commons and disrupt the project of transformation PCPs are but one part in a wider eco-system of socialist transformation and there are several ways in which they could help limit the power of capital the expansion of the commons intrinsically involves the decommodification of life therefore shrinking both the market and public sector Reducing people’s reliance on capital for their basic social reproduction helps strengthen our hand in more direct antagonistic forms of struggle become eminently more winnable when many of our life-support systems – such as energy housing and transport – are commonly owned and governed resources As the commons circuit grows and encompasses more and more of the vital infrastructure upon which our lives depend then the ability of capital to exercise leverage through disruption becomes significantly undermined Such a radical democratisation of ownership and governance is thus intended to have quite a profound impact on the form and function of social movements The institutional design of PCPs means that rather than our relationship with infrastructure being primarily one of service-users or consumers we come to experience these services as commoners Just as neoliberal institutional reforms looked to embed a profit-maximising logic into the very stuff of being human so socialist institutional reforms should act as training-grounds for democracy promoting and embedding a new common-sense of how we live collectively with one another But we can go further than this and argue that participation in PCPs will also act as training in political analysis and strategic planning on a mass scale facilitating an ever-widening portion of the population to engage in discussion of political strategy We could say that these effects are the positive externalities that come from the operations of PCPs Just by existing they help establish the preconditions for a more radical democratisation and disarticulation of the state that were firmly committed to the financialisation of the public sector who have become convinced that the socialisation of the economy is the way to address the multiple crises of our time At first these will likely be drawn from those municipal authorities willing to act as partner institutions PCPs are an excellent mechanism through which to extend new municipalist practices in the UK taking us beyond a politics based simply on electing “progressive” politicians through the development of distributed forms of social power PCPs provide an opportunity to build on the excellent work done by the community wealth building movement most famously represented in the UK by Preston City Council and supported by organisations such as the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES) Strong moves in this direction are visible in Preston City Council’s interest in expanding the cooperative sector and their desire to establish a Lancashire-wide community bank aiming with the election of an amenable national government Just as the UK’s National Audit Office played a crucial role in the rollout of neoliberal institutional reform we see the case for establishing a National Office for Commoning tasked with rolling out PCP It should be driven by the following logic: create commons where the conditions for a commons exist but if not introduce democratic mechanisms to produce the conditions for commoning further down the line the commons can act as anchor institutions for the task of expanding democracy we could see the National Office for Commoning fulfilling the following functions: The second cadre to drive the socialisation of the economy will be drawn from active social movements motivated by specific common values Their role in the development of public commons partnerships is two-fold they can act as catalysts for the formation of the appropriate Commons Association (as was the case in Wolfhagen) providing the initial “life-blood” of any project a tenants union such as ACORN – which has active groups in cities across the UK – could provide a series of “critical masses” through which to build Commons Associations around collective housing The anti-fracking groups that have provided strong and necessary local opposition to fossil fuel extractavist industries in areas such as Lancashire and Yorkshire are obvious candidates for developing the kernels of energy Commons Associations The large and active membership bases of organisations such as the Ramblers Association and the British Mountaineering Council – both of which already have regional democratic structures – could provide the initial impetus for forming Commons Association connected to water-catchment areas an active citizenry using social-movement tactics have proven to be the primary way through which common values are created tested and enforced by raising the political costs of ignoring them The most basic way this can happen is through forcing transparency onto obscured political and business decision making (such was the case of the opposition to the Haringey Development Vehicle) yet social movements can easily raise the political risk of “business as usual” through exercising the various forms of leverage developed by social movements and labour unions over the last two hundred years The struggle over the Latin Village market acts as an early example of this function in which action to bring attention to the decision as well as crowd-funding and challenging those decisions in court has reopened public discussion of the development The bringing to bear of political pressure appears to be changing the calculation of the political costs involved with the decommodification and training in democracy this implies as the basis for a massive extension of social movements and active citizenry It is this amplificatory relationship that can set the conditions for further experimentation with socialist institutions This post has been reposted from common-wealth.co.uk you can find the original post here! The featured image used in this post was taken from the post itself Lecturer in Political Economy and Organisation at the University of Leicester By Helena Norberg-Hodge, Henry Coleman, Local Futures we need to condemn globalization loud and clear And we need a cohesive strategy that moves us sensibly and sanely in the opposite direction By Trey Sutton Let’s keep pushing businesses to behave better and to innovate in ways that are genuinely beneficial for us and the environment But we should not expect – and we certainly should not depend on – commercial salvation By Matt Orsagh The way we do business and the way we live our lives is ingrained in a growth at all costs mindset But that “cost” is the very systems that keep us alive Resilience is a program of Post Carbon Institute a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping the world transition away from fossil fuels and build sustainable Reposting Policy | Privacy Policy In June 1922 a group of anti-Semitic right-wingers appalled the German establishment by assassinating Walther Rathenau a neo-Nazi from Kassel with a history of violence against immigrants in the head outside his house in Wolfhagen Mr Ernst confessed in detail at the end of June On July 2nd he is said to have retracted his confession This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Ghosts of the past” Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents George Simion will face Nicusor Dan, a mainstream candidate, in a run-off There are five luxuries it can no longer feasibly afford Friedrich Merz’s career is one of unforced errors and puzzling missteps. But he is serious about Europe Both Donald Trump and Ukraine’s diplomats will consider it a success Registered in England and Wales. No. 236383 | Registered office: The Adelphi, 1-11 John Adam Street, London, WC2N 6HT | VAT Reg No: GB 340 436 876 Bonus: it has an eternal shelf life.Sweeten your food with honey and simultaneously do your bit for the environment Fried pecorino with honey and summer herbs Haloumi wrapped in kataifi with honey and lemon dressing Dutch death/thrash metallers DEVIOUS have entered Soundlodge Studios in Rhauderfehn the seven-track effort will include five new songs and two previously unreleased bonus cuts The bass tracks on the new EP are being laid down by Alwin Zuur (ASPHYX) following the departure of Daniël Centiago "Wolfhagen" will mark the recording debut of DEVIOUS' new singer was released in December 2009 via Deity Down Records For more information, visit www.devious.nl. This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. SaveLog in or Subscribe to save articleShareCopy link Share via...Gift this articleSubscribe to gift this article Gift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe Contemporary landscape artist Philip Wolfhagen bought the cover lot in Mossgreen Auctions’ sale of the Ruth and John Clemente Collection in Hobart on November 11 Portrait of the Walker Children by Benjamin ­Duterrau Gift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe. Follow the topics, people and companies that matter to you. Read MoreArtLatest In Arts & CultureFetching latest articles All articles from our website & appThe digital version of Today's PaperBreaking news alerts direct to your inboxInteractive Crosswords, Sudoku and TriviaAll articles from the other regional websites in your areaContinueWolfhagen, whose painting Transitory Light was unveiled as the prize winner at Colville Gallery earlier this month, said it was always exciting to take out an award.  “I don’t win prizes very often so I’m very chuffed and honoured to win the Lloyd Rees prize,” Wolfhagen said. “I didn’t meet (Lloyd Rees) to say hello but he did do lectures at the University of Tasmania when I was there in the 1980s.  ‘He was already in his 90s and he was an amazing man who I thought was wonderful, and this is a prize in his honour and memory so I’m very pleased to have this award.” Painted with oil and beeswax on linen, Transitory Light showcases a twilight scene of the view overlooking Norfolk Plains, just behind Wolfhagen’s Longford property. Wolfhagen created the 57x46cm piece partially from memory and partially from photograph. “It was a relatively small painting, it’s of late evening, sort of twilight, with foreground trees and scrub. ‘The Lloyd Rees Prize is supposed to be about light in the landscape so I chose the painting because I felt it represented something very particular about the skies in the autumn in the evening in Tasmania. “Particularly Northern Tasmania, because we have bigger horizons up here compared to the South where people are often blocked in by Mount Wellington.”  Having taken out the third major prize of his career, Wolfhagen has no intention of resting up, with plans to hold an exhibition of similarly-themed paintings at North Hobart’s Bett Gallery later on this year. He has also started work on a series of long horizontal pieces inspired by the topography and atmosphere of Ben Lomond. “I walk up there very regularly and I’ve always got a camera.  “There’s not one particular photo that I paint from because I’m always looking for different elements, and often when you’re in the landscape what you’re seeing in one view in one photograph isn’t very interesting in itself. “Painting is about synthesizing different ideas rather than just painting a photograph - if that was the case I wouldn’t bother, I’d just exhibit the photographs. “So it’s about bringing different things out that aren’t actually there, or things that I feel about the place rather than what other people see.”  JUDGE'S FAVOURITE: Philip Wolfhagen's piece Transitory Light. Picture: SuppliedIn other results, Tasmanians Richard Crossland and Jerzy Michalski won high commendations for their respective works Richmond Hills from Dulcot - Evening and Passage.  Hobart artist Barnaby Smith took out the watercolour award for a series of three paintings inspired by Mount Direction.  Philip Wolfhagen will present a solo exhibition at Bett Gallery from October 13 to October 30. Today's top stories curated by our news team. Also includes evening update. Grab a quick bite of today's latest news from around the region and the nation. Catch up on the news of the day and unwind with great reading for your evening. Get the editor's insights: what's happening & why it matters. Love footy? We've got all the action covered. The latest news, results & expert analysis. Every Saturday and Tuesday, explore destinations deals, tips & travel writing to transport you around the globe. Sharp. Close to the ground. Digging deep. Your weekday morning newsletter on national affairs, politics and more. Your essential national news digest: all the big issues on Wednesday and great reading every Saturday. Get real, Australia! Let the ACM network's editors and journalists bring you news and views from all over. Get news, reviews and expert insights every Thursday from CarExpert, ACM's exclusive motoring partner. Your digital replica of Today's Paper. Ready to read from 5am! Test your skills with interactive crosswords, sudoku & trivia. Fresh daily! Successful reaction to the first defeat of the season. The U21 of the Lilies achieved their first win in the Hessenliga. Daniel Petrowsky's team won the home game against FSV Wolfhagen 3-0. The goals were scored by Georgios Makridis (33rd), Mateo Zelic (90th) and Viktor Grbic (92nd). „It was a well-deserved victory. Overall, a very good performance that we can be satisfied with,“ said head coach Daniel Petrowsky following the encounter. From the start, the home side were secure and gave their opponents little room to develop. Thanks to their superiority in possession of the ball, the Junglilien created numerous chances, but the Wolfhagen defense initially held firm. Georgios Makridis put the Lilies ahead on 33 minutes when his free kick was deflected into the back of the net. Despite further good opportunities, it took until the 90th minute before Mateo Zelic was able to make it 2-0. In stoppage time, Viktor Grbic added a third to make it a final score of 3-0. In addition to head coach Petrowsky, captain Markus Ballmert is also satisfied with the performance: “It was a good step in our learning process to keep concentration high over 90 minutes, both in defense and in offense. I hope that this win gives us a positive feeling for the next game and that we can grow from it.“ Next Saturday the U21 will play against SC Waldgirmes. Kick-off is at 3:30pm. Line-Up: Rohde – Arania, Sauer (Basic, 90+1), Crößmann, Arnold, Grbic, Streller (Robotta, 90+1), Ballmert, El Idrissi (Zelic, 62), Baier (Held, 87), Makridis (Schlosser, 62) We Lilies – Together for Nature Conservation! This was the motto of the 6th Clean-Up Day organised by SV Darmstadt 98 and the Krombacher Brewery last Sunday (May 4). Because carelessly discarded garbage, waste, and litter pose a major environmental problem, around 90 Lilies fans gathered in front of the Merck Stadium at Böllenfalltor. Together, they set out to keep the Bölle and the surrounding region clean. A bitter afternoon and defeat for the SV Darmstadt 98 U21 team. The young Lilies lost 3-2 to SC 1960 Hanau on matchday 32 of the Lotto Hessenliga. Although the blue and whites demonstrated their ability to stage comebacks twice on Sunday (May 4), they were defeated shortly before the final whistle due to a late goal. You can read the match report here. A 4 -0 defeat. This decisive result was displayed on the scoreboard at the Merck Stadium after the final whistle. After four consecutive home wins, SV 98 finally suffered a decisive defeat to Hamburger SV on Saturday afternoon (May 3). The decisive factor in the defeat in a largely evenly matched game was two set pieces, which HSV used to score their first two goals. In our analysis, we look back at a match that could have taken a different direction, especially in the opening stages. No points for SV Darmstadt 98 at the Merck Stadium at Böllenfalltor. The Lilies appeared to be at least on par with the current 2. Bundesliga leaders for much of the match, but conceded goals far too easily. Ultimately, SV 98 suffered a decisive 4-0 defeat against Hamburger SV. We've compiled all the comments from the game for you. A courageous performance by the Lilies ended without a happy ending: SV 98 had to admit defeat to Hamburger SV 4-0 (1-0) – it was the first defeat after four home wins in a row. The Lilies host HSV. Florian Kohfeldt makes one change to his starting eleven for the clash with the Rothosen (May 3rd at 1pm). Philipp Förster replaces Luca Marseiler in the starting lineup. The Lilies host Hamburger SV on Saturday (May 3rd at 1pm) at the Merck Stadium at Böllenfalltor! Everything you need to know about Matchday 32 can be found in "Matchday Compact." The Lilies will host Hamburger SV at the Merck Stadium at Böllenfalltor next Saturday (May 3rd, 1pm) in the 32nd matchday of the second division. Florian Kohfeldt spoke about this match at the press conference on Friday (May 2nd). We’ve summarised the key points for you. Tobias Kempe spoke in a media briefing on Wednesday (April 30) about his final games with SV Darmstadt 98 and his departure. The Lilies' long-standing team also aims to defend their title at the RW Walldorf small-sided tournament on Labor Day (May 1). We report on these and other topics related to SV 98 in our weekly column "Lilien Across the Board." On Saturday (3 May/1pm) SV Darmstadt 98 will host the Hamburger SV team and asks you to observe the following information. This year is the 25th anniversary for the Tasmanian Residential Summer String Camp. (ABC Northern Tasmania: Rick Eaves) Link copiedShareShare articleTasmania's Residential Summer String Camp (RSSC) is celebrating 25 years of bringing the best and brightest in classical music together in a unique camp environment. Loading...The RSSC began with 21 campers in 1990. This year the camp has attracted 160 strings players to Camp Clayton, near Ulverstone in north west Tasmania, as well as 30 tutors and camp staff. Alongside the teachers – who are conductors, composers, and members of major orchestras – are child musical prodigies and a fascinating array of people from all walks of life. Two of the older campers taking on the challenge of a full week immersed in tutorials and rehearsals are Philip Wolfhagen, a renowned landscape artist, and Andrew Cangia, an international airline pilot. They have bonded by their mid-level expertise and the fact that they started playing violin because their children did. While these men and many other people at the camp are high-fliers in their careers, they agree that strings are a great leveller. "Flying an aeroplane is so easy," Mr Cangia said. "Margaret Hoban is my tutor and I tell her, 'Margaret, I'd rather go back and fly, it's so easy'." Mr Cangia and Mr Wolfhagen are about to join a rehearsal for the camp's second orchestra, led by well-known conductor Dr Kevin Cameron from Geelong Grammar. Wearing board shorts and bare feet, they quickly blend in with everybody else at the camp enjoying summer and music geekdom at the same time. "I think the thing about string playing is that the level of difficulty makes the rest of life seem much easier," Mr Wolfhagen said. I don't know of another music camp where whole families make music together and are actually really learning from each other. "It is so difficult, there's just so many things to think about. It's a delicious challenge." In another part of the camp the so-called first orchestra, the most advanced players, are producing a sweeping, symphonic sound. For the past 25 years, string players aged from six to 86 have practised, rehearsed, performed, and lived for a week with some of the nation's best and brightest in classical music. "One of the amazing things about this camp is that the tutors and others who help out here are some of the best conductors, composers, and musicians in the country," long-time camp volunteer Lynn Hayward said. "They give their time for free because they find it's a quite unique happening, so relaxed and so family orientated. We have a lot of families here." Coming to grips with bowing the bass at string camp. (ABC Northern Tasmania: Rick Eaves) The RSSC was begun by Burnie string players Lynne Price and Jenny Kimber, initially to overcome the isolation for string students on the north west coast. Launceston string teacher Margaret Hoban joined soon after and helped develop the camp to the point where it is now – almost unique in its appeal to local and interstate players alike. Violin teacher Cindy Watkin, who works with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, says the camp is unrivalled in classical music circles for its relaxed and family-orientated feel. "I don't know of another music camp where you see whole families making music together and actually really learning from each other," she said. "People like Jo St Leon, the viola teacher, and Stuart, who is principal bass in the [Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra], they have a duo and we play chamber music. "So people can see and hear professionals playing in the evenings as well." The RSSC orchestras are performing a free concert at Camp Clayton on Saturday January 24 in the camp's sports stadium. CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced AEST = Australian Eastern Standard Time which is 10 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) Picture by Rod ThompsonAustralian honey producers are a buzz over the sweet news that the New Zealand Manuka Honey Appellation Society's (MHAS) application to trademark the term "Manuka honey" has been rejected All articles from our website & appThe digital version of Today's PaperBreaking news alerts direct to your inboxInteractive Crosswords Sudoku and TriviaAll articles from the other regional websites in your areaContinueA ruling by New Zealand's Intellectual Property Office (IPO) determined that the term is "not sufficiently distinct" for any one group to claim ownership The Tasmanian Honey Company owner and founder Julian Wolfhagen has welcomed the news of the ruling as a "common sense outcome" for the manuka honey industry to hear the news of the ruling," Mr Wolfhagen said READ MORE: Hunting club marks 70 years both Australia and New Zealand should be working collaboratively to strengthen the brand." the Australian Manuka Honey Association (AMHA) have been battling the New Zealand MHAS in multiple jurisdictions over their attempts to trademark the term Mr Wolfhagen has noted the significance of the proceedings' withdrawal for them and thousands of other Australians working in the honey industry "The New Zealand MHAS have no exclusive claim to the term "Manuka honey" READ MORE: Union win for Tasmania's isolated teachers "It does not make any sense that the Australian and New Zealand producers are fighting over naming rights when we all have the capacity to work together I just hope this issue is finally put to bed." Australian Manuka Honey Association chairman Ben McKee said the group was delighted with the judgement "This decision is a sensible outcome that ensures Aussie beekeepers can fairly market their produce It also sees NZ following other precedents around the world that manuka honey is a descriptive term," he said "Our product has a long history of being recognised as manuka honey and it also offers the sought-after antimicrobial properties that consumers around the world value so highly there is research to show Australian honey has stronger antimicrobial benefits and a better taste than the NZ offering "The opportunities for Australian manuka honey are huge Hopefully we can now focus on promoting this wonderful medicinal honey to the world Our journalists work hard to provide local This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: The Examiner journalist and Launceston local covering health and court reporting in Northern Tasmania. Do you have a story? Contact me at Stephanie.Dalton@austcommunitymedia.com.au Today's top stories curated by our news team Grab a quick bite of today's latest news from around the region and the nation Catch up on the news of the day and unwind with great reading for your evening Get the editor's insights: what's happening & why it matters tips & travel writing to transport you around the globe Your weekday morning newsletter on national affairs Your essential national news digest: all the big issues on Wednesday and great reading every Saturday Let the ACM network's editors and journalists bring you news and views from all over reviews and expert insights every Thursday from CarExpert Your digital replica of Today's Paper Test your skills with interactive crosswords Frustrated residents of Perth say The Tasmanian Honey Company has been emitting tainted smoke from its premises for years and now the council and the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) are investigating the matter All articles from our website & appThe digital version of Today's PaperBreaking news alerts direct to your inboxInteractive Crosswords, Sudoku and TriviaAll articles from the other regional websites in your areaContinueThe Northern Midlands Council administration said it is aware of the complaints "The council is aware of the complaints and is currently investigating this matter with EPA," its statement said The council drew attention to the legislation around Environmental Management and Pollution Control (smoke) Regulations 2019 Section 7 A snippet from the The Environment Protection Authority's (EPA) fact sheet.Founder of The Tasmanian honey company Julian Wolfhagen said which is no different from what hundreds of other people use in the village "It's just hardwood we burn and some old bee frames that get broken up and have a bit of beeswax on them," he said Mr Wolfhagen said that the wood heater is only used for about three or four months of the year and doesn't burn all year round "The council has been out here many times and told us we are doing nothing wrong," he said Mr Wolfhagen said he is aware of the problem of smoke blowing into the neighbour's homes and has "tried to mitigate the situation by looking into alternative measures" but said "it is costly." Smoke billows from The Tasmanian Honey Company's processing plant Picture: Hugh BohaneSmoke them outNeighbour Nick Moore said he is affected by the smoke daily and we are sure it is a biohazard," he said and our houses opposite it sometimes get filled with smoke "Residents can't open their windows or doors because their houses fill up with a horrible smoke smell." After not getting a satisfactory resolution from contacting government departments Mr Moore felt they were all putting up a "smokescreen" and decided to contact The Examiner "We have real concerns that it could also be a fire hazard especially on hotter days because sparks could fly into neighbouring areas and cause a bush or house fire," Mr Moore said Picture by Phillip Biggs Health and safety issuesAnnette Clark moved into a new block of villas at the end of Little Mulgrave Street opposite the honey company on January 29 of this year and said she has since been experiencing health problems from the smoke and he asked me why I had this new cough and an occasional bleeding nose 'What had changed?' The only thing I could put it down to was the smoke," she said Ms Clark's doctor put her on a Ventolin puffer and said it was directly related to an environmental issue "When the smoke is nasty and flows from the northwest and I have to shut everything up and can't put the washing on the line "You can't even put your aircon on because the aircon sucks the outside air in and then blows it in your house," Ms Clark said Liz and Shane Farquhar also live opposite the honey company on Little Mulgrave Street "We've got ten grandchildren that cannot visit us because the smoke gives them asthma and they cannot swim in the pool because of bees landing in the pool Bees collected from the Farquhar's pool Picture: Hugh Bohane"With today's technology there has to be an alternative to a wood-fired burner," Mr Farquhar said "We don't want it [The Tasmanian Honey Company] to shut down; we are happy with the retail shop front of it continuing to operate "We just want the processing plant out the back to relocate elsewhere," said Ms Clark This sentiment was echoed by all of the residents we interviewed, who said they see the benefit of "having locally run businesses that bring in tourism dollars and jobs to the area, especially since the highway now bypasses Perth town." Journalist at The Examiner, covering breaking news, community news, crime and court. Got a story? I'd like to hear it: hugh.bohane@austcommunitymedia.com.au. Formerly a freelance correspondent and Griffith Uni graduate. Picture: Neil RichardsonLaunceston Church Grammar School has enjoyed one of its most successful sporting campaigns on record by taking out three SATIS premierships Sudoku and TriviaAll articles from the other regional websites in your areaContinueAfter taking out the boys' cricket title in Hobart early this year under Jade Selby's watchful eye the school broke a 53-year-old drought by defeating Southern heavyweight Hutchins 4-1 in the boys' hockey final The year was capped off by the girls' firsts soccer team winning their first flag since the competition began in 1999 "I think we've had one of the most successful years in sport history at the school," Grammar's director of sport Adrian Finch said "We've won three state premierships - I think from the North there's only been one other state premiership so all of the other independent schools' SATIS competitions have been dominated by the South "For a small school we're punching above our weight when we do win against the bigger schools from the South of the state but also our direct competitors from the North and North-West of the state." Adrian FinchHaving won five of the six Northern soccer competitions this season Grammar hosted both the boys' and girls' state grand finals for mixed results Heartbreak came for the boys' side who fell in a penalty shootout after finishing full time at 2-2 with Guilford Young College but the thrill of the girls' comeback victory all but made up for it Conceding the opener to Fahan in the first two minutes Grammar scored twice in the second half to seal a famous victory "We came that close to really stamping our dominance at that sport," Finch said "We're really placing an importance on sport at the school and there's really a resurgence of strength of sport at the school Three rules of Grammar: School dominates SATIS"But also the school's really investing a lot in sport programs and really giving kids as many opportunities as possible - we've got over 20 sports to choose from and there's a lot of resources goes into that athletics and cross country which highlights the depth and breadth of our talented athletes across both the junior and senior campuses." Grammar also competed in football finals this year after finishing top of the table in Northern junior boys' and girls' competitions Sign up to our Sport email here. Sudoku and TriviaAll articles from the other regional websites in your areaContinueBut the leader of the world's largest nation sat down with his wife Madam Peng Liyuan and read each individual letter before penning a considered response 21 pupils from the Launceston school have been invited to meet Mr Xi and Madam Peng when they visit Hobart today Mr Xi yesterday paid tribute to the pupils in an address to a joint sitting of Federal Parliament "In their letter they describe Tasmania's unique products and beautiful sceneries and they wrote the letter in Chinese," Mr Xi said "They mentioned in particular the Tahune Airwalk and the Cataract Gorge and "They also wrote in the letter if I go to the Gorge I could come across beautiful peacock feathers "Their words have filled me with curiosity," he said Mr Xi said he looked forward to meeting the children drafted letters convincing Mr Xi to visit the state "We didn't expect to get anything in return," Mrs Marson said "We didn't think we'd ever meet the president." The pupils will be presented with the original letter sent to them from Mr Xi and Madam Peng at Government House Pupils Lucy Chesterman and Theo Wolfhagen will then join the pair to plant a tree Mrs Marson said the pupils had been practising their Mandarin for the occasion if you do positive things you just never know what will come of it," Mrs Marson said “The Bastard Son and The Devil Himself,” directed by Colm McCarthy takes us to the familiar landscape of witches and magic spells but does not forget to add its own authentic tinge to it It’s a very dicey territory for any maker to enter The problem is that very strong precedents have already been set in the genre The makers also realize that and do not hesitate to mention it upfront They make a reference to the “Harry Potter” series in a particular scene it was the best way to tackle all the unjust analogies “The Bastard Son and The Devil Himself” holds its ground The world is somewhat familiar and might not look totally authentic let’s see what discoveries our protagonist makes in the course of his journey and what obstacles he has to overcome to accomplish the task he had set out for as in the non- magical people and the witches The witches were further subdivided into Fairborn and Blood witches They were both in a constant state of war with each other Marcus Edge was the leader of the blood witches who killed a lot of Fairborn witches in a fateful incident that was called the Wolfhagen Peace Massacre A Fairborn council of ten members had sworn to find and punish Marcus Edge the head of the council of Fairborn witches was the last surviving member of that council of ten That is why the Fairborn were even more paranoid was considered a threat from the day he was born She asked him specific questions to ascertain if he was showing any unique traits of the blood witches or his father As much as the Fairborn’s would have wanted to kill Nathan they weren’t allowed to do so as they were bound by a prophecy daughter of Soul O’Brien (executive administrator of the Fairborn council protection unit) used to bully Nathan almost every other day kidnapped Nathan and took him to an abandoned facility Jessica asked Niall to cut him with a knife so that she could prove that he was a blood witch Blood witches had the power to heal themselves very quickly Though Nathan’s grandmother healed him he lost his temper and went to teach Niall a lesson That was the only excuse the Fairborn council was looking for They came to take Nathan into their custody They sent him to a training camp with Ceelia to prepare him for his upcoming battle with his own father Annalise realized that she had fallen in love with Nathan She was kept in the dark about Nathan by her family When Nathan had left his Granny’s house she had told him that if he got into a perilous situation and if he wasn’t able to deal with it on his own His Granny had made a magic potion through which Mercury came into her body and talked to Nathan directly She imprinted a map on his hand and told him that it would guide Nathan to her whenever the time came That map led Nathan to a man named Gabriel He had a great sense of fashion and was very possessive of the handlooms he owned Mercury had given him the task of bringing Nathan to her Mercury was a sort of seer who had foreseen that the time would come when Nathan would try to contact her and the hunters from the Fairborn Council were after Nathan He knew that he couldn’t take Annalise with him Mercury was not the kind of witch who appreciated unannounced guests The Fairborn hunters had broken into his apartment and were firing shots at them They escaped from there and then took a ferry to reach a port in France The only problem was that Annalise was a Fairborn and Gabriel knew that he would have to hide that fact from the others He knew that the blood witches in Paris had a lot of enmity towards the Fairborns It reminded them of all the atrocities that had been committed against them but he realized that his home had been vandalized and a lot of items were missing His suspicion went on a history-sheeter named Ruby Gabriel told Annalise and Nathan that the key to the portal that led them to Mercury was also on the list of items stolen by Ruby and he wanted to find something else that was very precious to him and Gabriel made Nathan and Annalise meet his two friends Nicky and Hugo had no clue about the identity of the two strangers didn’t know that Nathan was the son of Marcus Edge The portal which led to Mercury was situated in that bar itself but he didn’t have what Gabriel wanted Gabriel suddenly realized that his stolen item could be with his ex-lover Soul and other Fairborn hunters took him into custody though Nathan and Annalise were able to escape Nathan and Annalise had just come to Paris and they didn’t know anybody who could help them they went to the same bar where Gabriel had taken them in the hope that Nicky and Hugo would be able to help them Hugo disguised himself as Gabriel’s lawyer and went to meet him at the police station and they were able to escape from the clutches of the Fairborn and Gabriel was able to retrieve his stolen stuff Annalise couldn’t believe that he could risk everybody’s life for a book and Nathan told everybody about his identity Hearing the fact that Nathan was Marcus Edge’s son He didn’t want to accompany Nathan and Annalise any longer Gabriel knew that it was a dangerous job and that their lives would constantly be under threat as long as Nathan stayed with them Nicky and Hugo assured Gabriel that they would take the duo to Mercury in his stead Annalise and Nathan got to know that Nicky and Hugo just wanted to kill them and they had no intention of taking them to Mercury He saw that the Blood Witches had surrounded Nathan and Annalise Gabriel was able to use his powers to make Nathan and Annalise escape from the bar But the problem was that the only portal that led to Mercury was inside that bar They knew that they couldn’t access it now So Gabriel decided that they would have to take the longer and more perilous route There were two ways: one which went through the Dupont region and the other which went through the Ozanne territory They were captured by the Ozanne clan and brought to the house who had their Giving Ceremony in a day’s time They wanted Nathan to stay for the ceremony and shower his blessings upon Odette and Max Nathan was made privy to a very different perspective For them Marcus Edge was their one true leader that the Fairborn witches had prepared and tortured them for ages They told him that Marcus’ mother had died in the genocide that they had orchastrated by the Fairborn It had transformed the blood witches into anarchists The blood witches were just trying to avenge the fallen and Gabriel were able to escape through a trapdoor though they had no trust in her whatsoever It was decided by the Fairborn that they would let Max finish his Giving Ceremony.  It was believed that causing the ceremony to stop brought a curse upon the person who was responsible for it the teenager who turned 17 was given the blood of their family Odette had to leave her home before completing her ceremony She used her power of shapeshifting and took the form of Max’s kin Jessica fed him her own blood and as a result who was on the ferry with Nathan and others She struggled for a bit and then succumbed Jessica told everybody that she didn’t have the intention to kill Max and everything was just a big accident.  Ceelia and Annalise left to find Soul without informing Nathan Soul woke in the ferry and got very agitated as they had left without telling him but Gabriel told him that it was important for him to reach Mercury’s place and get his blood from her Gabriel took Nathan to the place where the portal was situated They were supposed to jump from the terrace and enter the magic portal Nathan wanted to go to Wolfhagen and help his friends Gabriel was annoyed at the stupidity of Nathan Mercury had blood samples of almost every witch Nathan had his Giving Ceremony in a couple of days and he needed to consume the blood to get his powers But he chose to risk it all and stay back to help his friends We realize that Mercury had sort of adopted Gabriel a long time back The Fairborn were killing the blood witches They wanted their son to be in a safe place and they knew that with them he wouldn’t be safe Mercury only took those who were beneficial to her Mercury had used her magic to make Gabriel forget about his past He was given a book by a man when he had first come to stay at Mercury’s The names of his parents were already written on it Gabriel was told that sometimes he would dream of names but not remember who they were or why they were important The man told him to jot down the names in the book All the names of the people that were written in Gabriel’s book were somehow related to his life Mercury once again used her magic and made Gabriel forget about Nathan and all that had transpired in the last few days But Nathan had written his name in Gabriel’s book Gabriel saw that and was reminded of his duty as a friend He got Nathan’s blood with the help of another kid who was living in Mercury’s facility He told the little kid that he would come back for him Gabriel escaped Mercury’s facility and reached Wolfhagen to help Nathan The vessel in which he was carrying the blood broke while fighting the Fairborn and so did the hopes of getting Nathan his powers But something unusual happened that changed the course of things who gave him his blood and completed his Giving Ceremony Soul and Aoife were the two Fairborns who were sent by the council to kill Nathan’s mother Marcus Edge had spent his entire life hunting for the 10 members of the Fairborn council who had given orders to kill his wife Soul was scared that he would come to know about the ones who had actually carried it out and he wouldn’t be able to defend himself against the feared Marcus Edge which would enable him to take another witch’s powers The Fairborn council believed in the prophecy that Nathan would be the one who would kill his own father she had written a line: “His own blood will kill the wolf” Soul knew that if he could get the powers of the successor of the wolf itself then he would become as powerful as his nemesis he needed the blood of his kin and the blood of Nathan’s kin too Soul killed his own brother and then killed Nathan’s grandmother He then went to the training facility and took Nathan with him They were attacked by Marcus Edge on their way Soul injected a drug into Nathan that made him lose consciousness Soul aspired to become the holder of powers He knew that Nathan would also have the same powers but since he was not 17 and his Giving Ceremony hadn’t been conducted Soul made a mark on his chest and his fingers He took his blood and mixed it with his own Soul wanted to keep Nathan in the facility In the 6th episode of “The Bastard Son and the Devil Himself,” Soul drank his evil potion to make the Bottle Witch spell work Nathan got visions of the Wolfhagen massacre He saw that it was Soul and Aoife who had carried out the killing of his mother Ceelia told Annalise that she was the only one who could use her powers to save him Annalise was unsure as her powers were still not in her control completely He could hear the heartbeats of everybody around him He could take anybody’s powers by eating their hearts and he knew that he was ready to take on Marcus Edge who told him that she had a lot of Fairborns in Wolfhagen She asked Soul to come there so that they could join their forces and defeat Marcus Edge Soul also thought that it would be quite poetic to put an end to things at the place where they had all started What he didn’t know was the fact that it was Marcus’ masterplan and he had coerced Aoife to call Soul and his army of hunters to Wolfhagen.  as Jessica (who had shapeshifted to Soul) had told them over the phone to come there Jessica had used her powers and Annalise thought that it was actually her father Annalise thought that she would talk to her father and make him stop but little did she know that she was walking straight into the trap She knew that Soul would never call his daughter to the battlefield and risk her life She also knew that if there was any person who could stop Marcus Annalise had a power called “decimation.” She could destroy or smash anybody using her powers as no one in her bloodline had such lethal powers Nathan also came looking for Ceelia and Annalise came directly to Wolfhagen after he escaped from Mercury’s place and that is why they thought that Nathan would end up killing his father They didn’t know that Nathan was not going to do any such thing He had eaten their hearts and taken their powers but she couldn’t withstand his might She was taking her last breaths when Annalise and he had spent a lot of time with her in the training facility He knew that he had to face Soul as there was no other option left Marcus told him that Soul might have all the powers Soul had become something that he had always hated Marcus told Nathan that Soul was not infallible he killed a Fairborn hunter who was a part of a patrol party that was sent to kill him That man had one power: he knew how he was going to die Marcus told Nathan that he knew how he was going to die Marcus gave Nathan his blood and completed his Giving ceremony Nathan once again came face-to-face with Soul Soul was just about to kill him when his own daughter Annalise used her powers and smashed her own father into pieces They had thought that the word “wolf” was used to signify Marcus Edge But even Soul had the powers of a wolf and had somewhat transformed into one Season 1 of “The Bastard Son and The Devil Himself” leaves us on a cliffhanger Nathan looked at the heart of Soul that was lying on the ground then he would wield all the powers that Soul had Maybe he had realized that he had inherited the powers that his grandmother had naturally and the one’s which his father had obtained eventually.  She was ruthless and could go to any extent to fulfill her agenda but she didn’t know where it would lead her She entered it and found herself standing in front of Mercury She told Jessica that she was there to help It is quite possible that with Mercury’s help Jessica would once again pose a threat to Nathan and other blood witches in the second season Gabriel and Annalise had a lot to figure out they had realized the significance and the beauty of the bond that they shared with each other they would have each other’s back.  See More: ‘The Bastard Son And The Devil Himself’ Season 2: Expectations – Will Nathan Become A Heart Eater?