Page 6 - The Phoenix Newspaper - December 2022
CELEBRATING 10 YEARS OF POSITIVE NEWS
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Business & Finance FUTURE TECH EXPERT SAYS MUSK HAS BIGGER ISSUES TO TACKLE AT TWITTER THAN CHARGING VERIFIED ACCOUNT OWNERS
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‘Ackee And Roti’: A Book Review On Finding Solutions To A Inter-Ethnic Conflict
ward-wInnIng journalist, editor and publisher Dr Christopher Johnson writes his monthly column in The Phoenix aiming to inform, educate and entertain.
by Dr. Christopher A. Johnson
B
l Elon Musk
technology expert at Birmingham City University has said that Elon Musk’s proposals to charge verified Twitter accounts a monthly subscription fee will only generate a relatively minor amount of income for the social media giant. The academic and industry professional said: “Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter has been typified by chaos, including most recently the firing of a number of senior executives – amongst them the head of legal policy, trust and safety.
As the dust begins to settle, it appears that Musk will increase the cost of Twitter’s existing subscription service, Blue, to $20 per month - including for verified ‘blue tick’ account owners. “With around 360,000 users currently subscribing, that will bring in just under $77 million per year, assuming 100% take up of the new cost. Given the company’s $5 billion annual revenue, that’s a mere drop in the ocean. “The big question for Musk and his new team is whether Twitter is a sufficiently compelling platform to attract a large number of
Lime Solicitors Expands Into West Midlands
The clinical negligence team of Lime Solicitors is expanding its geographical reach into the West Midlands with the transfer of legal director James Anderson to Birmingham. Previously based in the East Midlands, James will now take the lead in developing the law firm’s clinical negligence offering in the west of the region. James – who joined the team as a paralegal in 2013 before qualifying as a solicitor in 2017 and working his way up to legal director – specialises in birth injury, missed diagnosis of cancer, orthopaedic injuries and negligently-performed surgery claims. He said: “I am truly thrilled to have moved to the Birmingham hub and to be helping expand our offering in the
city and wider West Midlands region. “I became a clinical negligence lawyer because I am passionate about helping people. Giving my clients a voice and fighting to get the answers they deserve is extremely rewarding. While the first duty of a healthcare system is to do no harm, sometimes things go wrong and care falls below an acceptable standard, which can result in injuries or health complications. “Clinical negligence claims play a critical role in safeguarding patients against negligent treatment, ensuring healthcare professionals learn from their mistakes to prevent something similar happening in the future.” Lime Solicitors’ clinical negligence team started in 2010 with
paying users. For example, whilst Netflix offers content or LinkedIn offers a premium service, what does Twitter offer? It’s hard to see how subscriptions will represent anything other than a small source of revenue. “There are bigger issues for Musk. As with other social media channels, advertising represents the bulk of Twitter’s income. New ownership and potential radical changes to the social media giants’ model may also present a risk to that. “Musk’s objective to make the platform ‘more open’ is likepartners Robert Rose, Neil Clayton and Nikki Fahey. It was based solely in Leicester until Neil relocated to London to develop the wider team in the capital. In 2021, the London team welcomed several new experts when they transferred from Hudgell Solicitors. Since then, the team has grown to more than 40 people. Head of clinical negligence Robert Rose said: “Since joining us almost a decade ago, James has flourished into an excellent clinical negligence solicitor who has worked tirelessly to get answers for his clients and secure compensation to enable them to move forward with their lives. “As part of this expansion, we will continue to provide excellent client services UK-wide, with further support in a different region of the midlands. This is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team, and shows positive, organic growth,
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ly to lead to an increase in hate speech. That could drive advertisers away, damaging chances for Musk to achieve his broad aims for the platform. “Elon Musk is a maverick who has succeeded in many different technology-based enterprises to date. Taking on Twitter is a different game though, and with no experience in running a social media platform, he may struggle to position the platform into a profitable model that has eluded it for so long.”
as well as our dedication to investing in the development of our people.”
y their very nature, autobiographies are aimed at characterising the intrinsic and extrinsic lives of human beings overall. Young ethnic authors use prose to maximise opportunities to share life experiences. Some are sobering whilst others can be controversially sublime. These etches of literariness are embedded in Narinder Kaur Purewal’s ‘Ackee and Roti’. It offers rare insights into a 1980s-born and single, IndianPunjabi woman of Sikh faith, who traversed myriad cultures to find eventual solace or peace within. Her belief in the Divine, support from her children, parents and other relatives, plus values, are embodiments of this rich literary exposition. Penned in revealing circumstances, this biography, sombre at times and with a thrilling episodic but highly readable, 25-chapter, 360-odd pages tome, illustrates much of Britain’s ongoing tussle with inter-ethnocentricity. The author’s life story evokes and invokes innocence versus guilt, love versus resentment, prejudice versus tolerance and uncertainty versus certainty. She takes readers on an impressive journey; ranging from her Indian-Punjabi and Sikh upbringing, peer pressure, education, ambitions and friendships including an intimate relationship with a British-Jamaican born male with whom she has two children, Jeevan and Shanae. Her inter-ethnic relationship was possibly, both the ‘litmus test’ and the ‘Achilles heel’, as she, her partner and children, battled for years, unwarranted hostility from Indian/South Asian and other ‘traditional’
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communities especially elders who were expected to be understanding, having ‘pearls of wisdom’ and with ‘righteous’ proclivities. In spite of the cultural and social ruptures that her relationship ensued, Purewal managed over time, to rally support from her parents, extended family members such as ethnic relatives, and loyal friends. She was determined to convince everyone of her decision to pursue relationship choices that accorded her sense of belief and values; these were considered also, as integral to the teachings of Sikhi. For example, when her son, Jeevan said, “Mum, I don’t have a religion, but I do believe in God,”, she intoned, “I tell him to look within himself and believe that he will find God right there”. Noteworthy, ‘Ackee and Roti’ is a personal account of a young woman’s struggles with the quest for cultural, faith and other social identity acceptance, bordering on ‘abandonment and acceptance’. Yet this autobiography can be perceived as a narrative that attempts to find practical solutions to perceived, complex inter-cultural, ethnic, interfaith and cross-social issues in contemporary British society. Purewal has dedicated her novel-type memoirs to her family including her young children and considers her action as her ‘Seva’ (selfless service) to humanity. As she continues to deal with life’s vicissitudes, she questions, ‘Can I accept the society that doesn’t accept me?’ In trying to find an appropriate answer to her own question, she conceded innately, that “If we work together as one, we can create our own ‘Kingdom of People’. Perhaps, her ‘panth’, is the consolable truth to justness and justice, personified! ‘Ackee and Roti’ can be obtained from https://amzn.eu/d/19urIVs.