Podcast appearances and mentions of James Young

Ben and Donnie open the second hour breaking down the most intriguing quarterback competitions from around the NFL as we enter the heat of the summer! The guys are then joined by special guest James Young to preview Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday night.

Ben and Donnie spend the second hour breaking down the biggest headlines from the weekend that was in the MLB. The guys are then joined by special guest James Young to talk the NBA Finals as well as some offseason drama and potential superstars on the move.

This is the first episode in a series of 5 focused on #Performance and hosted by Rich Buchanan, a former Performance Director at Swansea City FC in the Premier League and Human Performance Consultant for DC United in the MLS. On today's episode of the Sports Pundit Performance Podcast, Rich sits down with James Young, someone who has walked both sides of the line, from advising elite sports organizations at Deloitte, to living the daily pressures inside a football club like Sunderland AFC.Now shaping strategy for rights holders around the world at Genius Sports, James isn't just a leader in the performance technology space, he's someone who understands the nuance of bridging performance insight with business strategy. This conversation isn't just about tech, it's about why sports organizations sometimes get it wrong. And what the best do differently to get it right. So, whether you're a performance professional, an exec, or someone who's simply trying to understand how the future of sport is being shaped behind the scenes. This one's for you.#AdThis series is kindly supported by  award-winning sports technology and innovation company, Genius Sports.  Discover the new operating system for sport brought to you by the world leader in AI and sports data by visiting geniussports.com/perform/

Ben and Donnie open the second hour talking some buy or sell topics ahead of the NBA Finals! The guys are then joined by special guest James Young to talk every angle of the upcoming title series between the Pacers and Thunder.

Ben and Donnie are joined by special guests James Young and Mark Zinno throughout the second hour to talk the coaching change for the New York Knicks as well as the NL and AL Pennant odds market in the MLB.

Ben and Donnie open the second hour talking the biggest headlines from the MLB this past weekend. The guys are then joined by special guest James Young to recap the Eastern Conference Finals and break down the upcoming NBA Finals!

Ben and Donnie are joined by special guests Keith Stewart and James Young to talk the PGA Tour latest as well as some in-depth analysis on the NBA Playoffs!

Good Sunday morning to you,I am just on a train home from Glasgow, where I have been gigging these past two nights. I've had a great time, as I always seem to do when I go north of the wall.But Glasgow on a Saturday night is something else. My hotel was right next to the station and so I was right in the thick of it. If I ever get to make a cacatopian, end-of-days, post-apocalyptic thriller, I'll just stroll through Glasgow city centre on a Friday or Saturday night with a camera to get all the B roll. It was like walking through a Hieronymus Bosch painting only with a Scottish accent. Little seems to have changed since I wrote that infamous chapter about Glasgow in Life After the State all those years ago. The only difference is that now it's more multi-ethnic. So many people are so off their heads. I lost count of the number of randoms wandering about just howling at the stars. The long days - it was still light at 10 o'clock - make the insanity all the more visible. Part of me finds it funny, but another part of me finds it so very sad that so many people let themselves get into this condition. It prompted me to revisit said chapter, and I offer it today as your Sunday thought piece.Just a couple of little notes, before we begin. This caught my eye on Friday. Our favourite uranium tech company, Lightbridge Fuels (NASDAQ:LTBR), has taken off again with Donald Trump's statement that he is going to quadruple US nuclear capacity. The stock was up 45% in a day. We first looked at it in October at $3. It hit $15 on Friday. It's one to sell on the spikes and buy on the dips, as this incredible chart shows.(In other news I have now listened twice to the Comstock Lode AGM, and I'll report back on that shortly too). ICYMI here is my mid-week commentary, which attracted a lot of attentionRight - Glasgow.(NB I haven't included references here. Needless to say, they are all there in the book. And sorry I don't have access to the audio of me reading this from my laptop, but, if you like, you can get the audiobook at Audible, Apple Books and all good audiobookshops. The book itself available at Amazon, Apple Books et al).How the Most Entrepreneurial City in Europe Became Its SickestThe cause of waves of unemployment is not capitalism, but governments …Friedrich Hayek, economist and philosopherIn the 18th and 19th centuries, the city of Glasgow in Scotland became enormously, stupendously rich. It happened quite organically, without planning. An entrepreneurial people reacted to their circumstances and, over time, turned Glasgow into an industrial and economic centre of such might that, by the turn of the 20th century, Glasgow was producing half the tonnage of Britain's ships and a quarter of all locomotives in the world. (Not unlike China's industrial dominance today). It was regarded as the best-governed city in Europe and popular histories compared it to the great imperial cities of Venice and Rome. It became known as the ‘Second City of the British Empire'.Barely 100 years later, it is the heroin capital of the UK, the murder capital of the UK and its East End, once home to Europe's largest steelworks, has been dubbed ‘the benefits capital of the UK'. Glasgow is Britain's fattest city: its men have Britain's lowest life expectancy – on a par with Palestine and Albania – and its unemployment rate is 50% higher than the rest of the UK.How did Glasgow manage all that?The growth in Glasgow's economic fortunes began in the latter part of the 17th century and the early 18th century. First, the city's location in the west of Scotland at the mouth of the river Clyde meant that it lay in the path of the trade winds and at least 100 nautical miles closer to America's east coast than other British ports – 200 miles closer than London. In the days before fossil fuels (which only found widespread use in shipping in the second half of the 19th century) the journey to Virginia was some two weeks shorter than the same journey from London or many of the other ports in Britain and Europe. Even modern sailors describe how easy the port of Glasgow is to navigate. Second, when England was at war with France – as it was repeatedly between 1688 and 1815 – ships travelling to Glasgow were less vulnerable than those travelling to ports further south. Glasgow's merchants took advantage and, by the early 18th century, the city had begun to assert itself as a trading hub. Manufactured goods were carried from Britain and Europe to North America and the Caribbean, where they were traded for increasingly popular commodities such as tobacco, cotton and sugar.Through the 18th century, the Glasgow merchants' business networks spread, and they took steps to further accelerate trade. New ships were introduced, bigger than those of rival ports, with fore and aft sails that enabled them to sail closer to the wind and reduce journey times. Trading posts were built to ensure that cargo was gathered and stored for collection, so that ships wouldn't swing idly at anchor. By the 1760s Glasgow had a 50% share of the tobacco trade – as much as the rest of Britain's ports combined. While the English merchants simply sold American tobacco in Europe at a profit, the Glaswegians actually extended credit to American farmers against future production (a bit like a crop future today, where a crop to be grown at a later date is sold now). The Virginia farmers could then use this credit to buy European goods, which the Glaswegians were only too happy to supply. This brought about the rise of financial institutions such as the Glasgow Ship Bank and the Glasgow Thistle Bank, which would later become part of the now-bailed-out, taxpayer-owned Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).Their practices paid rewards. Glasgow's merchants earned a great deal of money. They built glamorous homes and large churches and, it seems, took on aristocratic airs – hence they became known as the ‘Tobacco Lords'. Numbering among them were Buchanan, Dunlop, Ingram, Wilson, Oswald, Cochrane and Glassford, all of whom had streets in the Merchant City district of Glasgow named after them (other streets, such as Virginia Street and Jamaica Street, refer to their trade destinations). In 1771, over 47 million pounds of tobacco were imported.However, the credit the Glaswegians extended to American tobacco farmers would backfire. The debts incurred by the tobacco farmers – which included future presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson (who almost lost his farm as a result) – grew, and were among the grievances when the American War of Independence came in 1775. That war destroyed the tobacco trade for the Glaswegians. Much of the money that was owed to them was never repaid. Many of their plantations were lost. But the Glaswegians were entrepreneurial and they adapted. They moved on to other businesses, particularly cotton.By the 19th century, all sorts of local industry had emerged around the goods traded in the city. It was producing and exporting textiles, chemicals, engineered goods and steel. River engineering projects to dredge and deepen the Clyde (with a view to forming a deep- water port) had begun in 1768 and they would enable shipbuilding to become a major industry on the upper reaches of the river, pioneered by industrialists such as Robert Napier and John Elder. The final stretch of the Monkland Canal, linking the Forth and Clyde Canal at Port Dundas, was opened in 1795, facilitating access to the iron-ore and coal mines of Lanarkshire.The move to fossil-fuelled shipping in the latter 19th century destroyed the advantages that the trade winds had given Glasgow. But it didn't matter. Again, the people adapted. By the turn of the 20th century the Second City of the British Empire had become a world centre of industry and heavy engineering. It has been estimated that, between 1870 and 1914, it produced as much as one-fifth of the world's ships, and half of Britain's tonnage. Among the 25,000 ships it produced were some of the greatest ever built: the Cutty Sark, the Queen Mary, HMS Hood, the Lusitania, the Glenlee tall ship and even the iconic Mississippi paddle steamer, the Delta Queen. It had also become a centre for locomotive manufacture and, shortly after the turn of the 20th century, could boast the largest concentration of locomotive building works in Europe.It was not just Glasgow's industry and wealth that was so gargantuan. The city's contribution to mankind – made possible by the innovation and progress that comes with booming economies – would also have an international impact. Many great inventors either hailed from Glasgow or moved there to study or work. There's James Watt, for example, whose improvements to the steam engine were fundamental to the Industrial Revolution. One of Watt's employees, William Murdoch, has been dubbed ‘the Scot who lit the world' – he invented gas lighting, a new kind of steam cannon and waterproof paint. Charles MacIntosh gave us the raincoat. James Young, the chemist dubbed as ‘the father of the oil industry', gave us paraffin. William Thomson, known as Lord Kelvin, developed the science of thermodynamics, formulating the Kelvin scale of absolute temperature; he also managed the laying of the first transatlantic telegraph cable.The turning point in the economic fortunes of Glasgow – indeed, of industrial Britain – was WWI. Both have been in decline ever since. By the end of the war, the British were drained, both emotionally and in terms of capital and manpower; the workers, the entrepreneurs, the ideas men, too many of them were dead or incapacitated. There was insufficient money and no appetite to invest. The post-war recession, and later the Great Depression, did little to help. The trend of the city was now one of inexorable economic decline.If Glasgow was the home of shipping and industry in 19th-century Britain, it became the home of socialism in the 20th century. Known by some as the ‘Red Clydeside' movement, the socialist tide in Scotland actually pre-dated the First World War. In 1906 came the city's first Labour Member of Parliament (MP), George Barnes – prior to that its seven MPs were all Conservatives or Liberal Unionists. In the spring of 1911, 11,000 workers at the Singer sewing-machine factory (run by an American corporation in Clydebank) went on strike to support 12 women who were protesting about new work practices. Singer sacked 400 workers, but the movement was growing – as was labour unrest. In the four years between 1910 and 1914 Clydebank workers spent four times as many days on strike than in the whole of the previous decade. The Scottish Trades Union Congress and its affiliations saw membership rise from 129,000 in 1909 to 230,000 in 1914.20The rise in discontent had much to do with Glasgow's housing. Conditions were bad, there was overcrowding, bad sanitation, housing was close to dirty, noxious and deafening industry. Unions grew quite organically to protect the interests of their members.Then came WWI, and inflation, as Britain all but abandoned gold. In 1915 many landlords responded by attempting to increase rent, but with their young men on the Western front, those left behind didn't have the means to pay these higher costs. If they couldn't, eviction soon followed. In Govan, an area of Glasgow where shipbuilding was the main occupation, women – now in the majority with so many men gone – organized opposition to the rent increases. There are photographs showing women blocking the entrance to tenements; officers who did get inside to evict tenants are said to have had their trousers pulled down.The landlords were attacked for being unpatriotic. Placards read: ‘While our men are fighting on the front line,the landlord is attacking us at home.' The strikes spread to other cities throughout the UK, and on 27 November 1915 the government introduced legislation to restrict rents to the pre-war level. The strikers were placated. They had won. The government was happy; it had dealt with the problem. The landlords lost out.In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution of 1917, more frequent strikes crippled the city. In 1919 the ‘Bloody Friday' uprising prompted the prime minister, David Lloyd George, to deploy 10,000 troops and tanks onto the city's streets. By the 1930s Glasgow had become the main base of the Independent Labour Party, so when Labour finally came to power alone after WWII, its influence was strong. Glasgow has always remained a socialist stronghold. Labour dominates the city council, and the city has not had a Conservative MP for 30 years.By the late 1950s, Glasgow was losing out to the more competitive industries of Japan, Germany and elsewhere. There was a lack of investment. Union demands for workers, enforced by government legislation, made costs uneconomic and entrepreneurial activity arduous. With lack of investment came lack of innovation.Rapid de-industrialization followed, and by the 1960s and 70s most employment lay not in manufacturing, but in the service industries.Which brings us to today. On the plus side, Glasgow is still ranked as one of Europe's top 20 financial centres and is home to some leading Scottish businesses. But there is considerable downside.Recent studies have suggested that nearly 30% of Glasgow's working age population is unemployed. That's 50% higher than that of the rest of Scotland or the UK. Eighteen per cent of 16- to 19-year-olds are neither in school nor employed. More than one in five working-age Glaswegians have no sort of education that might qualify them for a job.In the city centre, the Merchant City, 50% of children are growing up in homes where nobody works. In the poorer neighbourhoods, such as Ruchill, Possilpark, or Dalmarnock, about 65% of children live in homes where nobody works – more than three times the national average. Figures from the Department of Work and Pensions show that 85% of working age adults from the district of Bridgeton claim some kind of welfare payment.Across the city, almost a third of the population regularly receives sickness or incapacity benefit, the highest rate of all UK cities. A 2008 World Health Organization report noted that in Glasgow's Calton, Bridgeton and Queenslie neighbourhoods, the average life expectancy for males is only 54. In contrast, residents of Glasgow's more affluent West End live to be 80 and virtually none of them are on the dole.Glasgow has the highest crime rate in Scotland. A recent report by the Centre for Social Justice noted that there are 170 teenage gangs in Glasgow. That's the same number as in London, which has over six times the population of Glasgow.It also has the dubious record of being Britain's murder capital. In fact, Glasgow had the highest homicide rate in Western Europe until it was overtaken in 2012 by Amsterdam, with more violent crime per head of population than even New York. What's more, its suicide rate is the highest in the UK.Then there are the drug and alcohol problems. The residents of the poorer neighbourhoods are an astounding six times more likely to die of a drugs overdose than the national average. Drug-related mortality has increased by 95% since 1997. There are 20,000 registered drug users – that's just registered – and the situation is not going to get any better: children who grow up in households where family members use drugs are seven times more likely to end up using drugs themselves than children who live in drug-free families.Glasgow has the highest incidence of liver diseases from alcohol abuse in all of Scotland. In the East End district of Dennistoun, these illnesses kill more people than heart attacks and lung cancer combined. Men and women are more likely to die of alcohol-related deaths in Glasgow than anywhere else in the UK. Time and time again Glasgow is proud winner of the title ‘Fattest City in Britain'. Around 40% of the population are obese – 5% morbidly so – and it also boasts the most smokers per capita.I have taken these statistics from an array of different sources. It might be in some cases that they're overstated. I know that I've accentuated both the 18th- and 19th-century positives, as well as the 20th- and 21st-century negatives to make my point. Of course, there are lots of healthy, happy people in Glasgow – I've done many gigs there and I loved it. Despite the stories you hear about intimidating Glasgow audiences, the ones I encountered were as good as any I've ever performed in front of. But none of this changes the broad-brush strokes: Glasgow was a once mighty city that now has grave social problems. It is a city that is not fulfilling its potential in the way that it once did. All in all, it's quite a transformation. How has it happened?Every few years a report comes out that highlights Glasgow's various problems. Comments are then sought from across the political spectrum. Usually, those asked to comment agree that the city has grave, ‘long-standing and deep-rooted social problems' (the words of Stephen Purcell, former leader of Glasgow City Council); they agree that something needs to be done, though they don't always agree on what that something is.There's the view from the right: Bill Aitken of the Scottish Conservatives, quoted in The Sunday Times in 2008, said, ‘We simply don't have the jobs for people who are not academically inclined. Another factor is that some people are simply disinclined to work. We have got to find something for these people to do, to give them a reason to get up in the morning and give them some self-respect.' There's the supposedly apolitical view of anti-poverty groups: Peter Kelly, director of the Glasgow-based Poverty Alliance, responded, ‘We need real, intensive support for people if we are going to tackle poverty. It's not about a lack of aspiration, often people who are unemployed or on low incomes are stymied by a lack of money and support from local and central government.' And there's the view from the left. In the same article, Patricia Ferguson, the Labour Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Maryhill, also declared a belief in government regeneration of the area. ‘It's about better housing, more jobs, better education and these things take years to make an impact. I believe that the huge regeneration in the area is fostering a lot more community involvement and cohesion. My real hope is that these figures will take a knock in the next five or ten years.' At the time of writing in 2013, five years later, the figures have worsened.All three points of view agree on one thing: the government must do something.In 2008 the £435 million Fairer Scotland Fund – established to tackle poverty – was unveiled, aiming to allocate cash to the country's most deprived communities. Its targets included increasing average income among lower wage-earners and narrowing the poverty gap between Scotland's best- and worst-performing regions by 2017. So far, it hasn't met those targets.In 2008 a report entitled ‘Power for The Public' examined the provision of health, education and justice in Scotland. It said the budgets for these three areas had grown by 55%, 87% and 44% respectively over the last decade, but added that this had produced ‘mixed results'. ‘Mixed results' means it didn't work. More money was spent and the figures got worse.After the Centre for Social Justice report on Glasgow in 2008, Iain Duncan Smith (who set up this think tank, and is now the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions) said, ‘Policy must deal with the pathways to breakdown – high levels of family breakdown, high levels of failed education, debt and unemployment.'So what are ‘pathways to breakdown'? If you were to look at a chart of Glasgow's prosperity relative to the rest of the world, its peak would have come somewhere around 1910. With the onset of WWI in 1914 its decline accelerated, and since then the falls have been relentless and inexorable. It's not just Glasgow that would have this chart pattern, but the whole of industrial Britain. What changed the trend? Yes, empires rise and fall, but was British decline all a consequence of WWI? Or was there something else?A seismic shift came with that war – a change which is very rarely spoken or written about. Actually, the change was gradual and it pre-dated 1914. It was a change that was sweeping through the West: that of government or state involvement in our lives. In the UK it began with the reforms of the Liberal government of 1906–14, championed by David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill, known as the ‘terrible twins' by contemporaries. The Pensions Act of 1908, the People's Budget of 1909–10 (to ‘wage implacable warfare against poverty', declared Lloyd George) and the National Insurance Act of 1911 saw the Liberal government moving away from its tradition of laissez-faire systems – from classical liberalism and Gladstonian principles of self-help and self-reliance – towards larger, more active government by which taxes were collected from the wealthy and the proceeds redistributed. Afraid of losing votes to the emerging Labour party and the increasingly popular ideology of socialism, modern liberals betrayed their classical principles. In his War Memoirs, Lloyd George said ‘the partisan warfare that raged around these topics was so fierce that by 1913, this country was brought to the verge of civil war'. But these were small steps. The Pensions Act, for example, meant that men aged 70 and above could claim between two and five shillings per week from the government. But average male life- expectancy then was 47. Today it's 77. Using the same ratio, and, yes, I'm manipulating statistics here, that's akin to only awarding pensions to people above the age 117 today. Back then it was workable.To go back to my analogy of the prologue, this period was when the ‘train' was set in motion across the West. In 1914 it went up a gear. Here are the opening paragraphs of historian A. J. P. Taylor's most celebrated book, English History 1914–1945, published in 1965.I quote this long passage in full, because it is so telling.Until August 1914 a sensible, law-abiding Englishman could pass through life and hardly notice the existence of the state, beyond the post office and the policeman. He could live where he liked and as he liked. He had no official number or identity card. He could travel abroad or leave his country forever without a passport or any sort of official permission. He could exchange his money for any other currency without restriction or limit. He could buy goods from any country in the world on the same terms as he bought goods at home. For that matter, a foreigner could spend his life in this country without permit and without informing the police. Unlike the countries of the European continent, the state did not require its citizens to perform military service. An Englishman could enlist, if he chose, in the regular army, the navy, or the territorials. He could also ignore, if he chose, the demands of national defence. Substantial householders were occasionally called on for jury service. Otherwise, only those helped the state, who wished to do so. The Englishman paid taxes on a modest scale: nearly £200 million in 1913–14, or rather less than 8% of the national income.The state intervened to prevent the citizen from eating adulterated food or contracting certain infectious diseases. It imposed safety rules in factories, and prevented women, and adult males in some industries,from working excessive hours.The state saw to it that children received education up to the age of 13. Since 1 January 1909, it provided a meagre pension for the needy over the age of 70. Since 1911, it helped to insure certain classes of workers against sickness and unemployment. This tendency towards more state action was increasing. Expenditure on the social services had roughly doubled since the Liberals took office in 1905. Still, broadly speaking, the state acted only to help those who could not help themselves. It left the adult citizen alone.All this was changed by the impact of the Great War. The mass of the people became, for the first time, active citizens. Their lives were shaped by orders from above; they were required to serve the state instead of pursuing exclusively their own affairs. Five million men entered the armed forces, many of them (though a minority) under compulsion. The Englishman's food was limited, and its quality changed, by government order. His freedom of movement was restricted; his conditions of work prescribed. Some industries were reduced or closed, others artificially fostered. The publication of news was fettered. Street lights were dimmed. The sacred freedom of drinking was tampered with: licensed hours were cut down, and the beer watered by order. The very time on the clocks was changed. From 1916 onwards, every Englishman got up an hour earlier in summer than he would otherwise have done, thanks to an act of parliament. The state established a hold over its citizens which, though relaxed in peacetime, was never to be removed and which the Second World war was again to increase. The history of the English state and of the English people merged for the first time.Since the beginning of WWI , the role that the state has played in our lives has not stopped growing. This has been especially so in the case of Glasgow. The state has spent more and more, provided more and more services, more subsidy, more education, more health care, more infrastructure, more accommodation, more benefits, more regulations, more laws, more protection. The more it has provided, the worse Glasgow has fared. Is this correlation a coincidence? I don't think so.The story of the rise and fall of Glasgow is a distilled version of the story of the rise and fall of industrial Britain – indeed the entire industrial West. In the next chapter I'm going to show you a simple mistake that goes on being made; a dynamic by which the state, whose very aim was to help Glasgow, has actually been its ‘pathway to breakdown' . . .Life After the State is available at Amazon, Apple Books and all good bookshops, with the audiobook at Audible, Apple Books and all good audiobookshops. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theflyingfrisby.com/subscribe

Good Sunday morning to you,I am just on a train home from Glasgow, where I have been gigging these past two nights. I've had a great time, as I always seem to do when I go north of the wall.But Glasgow on a Saturday night is something else. My hotel was right next to the station and so I was right in the thick of it. If I ever get to make a cacatopian, end-of-days, post-apocalyptic thriller, I'll just stroll through Glasgow city centre on a Friday or Saturday night with a camera to get all the B roll. It was like walking through a Hieronymus Bosch painting only with a Scottish accent. Little seems to have changed since I wrote that infamous chapter about Glasgow in Life After the State all those years ago. The only difference is that now it's more multi-ethnic. So many people are so off their heads. I lost count of the number of randoms wandering about just howling at the stars. The long days - it was still light at 10 o'clock - make the insanity all the more visible. Part of me finds it funny, but another part of me finds it so very sad that so many people let themselves get into this condition. It prompted me to revisit said chapter, and I offer it today as your Sunday thought piece.Just a couple of little notes, before we begin. This caught my eye on Friday. Our favourite uranium tech company, Lightbridge Fuels (NASDAQ:LTBR), has taken off again with Donald Trump's statement that he is going to quadruple US nuclear capacity. The stock was up 45% in a day. We first looked at it in October at $3. It hit $15 on Friday. It's one to sell on the spikes and buy on the dips, as this incredible chart shows.(In other news I have now listened twice to the Comstock Lode AGM, and I'll report back on that shortly too). ICYMI here is my mid-week commentary, which attracted a lot of attentionRight - Glasgow.(NB I haven't included references here. Needless to say, they are all there in the book. And sorry I don't have access to the audio of me reading this from my laptop, but, if you like, you can get the audiobook at Audible, Apple Books and all good audiobookshops. The book itself available at Amazon, Apple Books et al).How the Most Entrepreneurial City in Europe Became Its SickestThe cause of waves of unemployment is not capitalism, but governments …Friedrich Hayek, economist and philosopherIn the 18th and 19th centuries, the city of Glasgow in Scotland became enormously, stupendously rich. It happened quite organically, without planning. An entrepreneurial people reacted to their circumstances and, over time, turned Glasgow into an industrial and economic centre of such might that, by the turn of the 20th century, Glasgow was producing half the tonnage of Britain's ships and a quarter of all locomotives in the world. (Not unlike China's industrial dominance today). It was regarded as the best-governed city in Europe and popular histories compared it to the great imperial cities of Venice and Rome. It became known as the ‘Second City of the British Empire'.Barely 100 years later, it is the heroin capital of the UK, the murder capital of the UK and its East End, once home to Europe's largest steelworks, has been dubbed ‘the benefits capital of the UK'. Glasgow is Britain's fattest city: its men have Britain's lowest life expectancy – on a par with Palestine and Albania – and its unemployment rate is 50% higher than the rest of the UK.How did Glasgow manage all that?The growth in Glasgow's economic fortunes began in the latter part of the 17th century and the early 18th century. First, the city's location in the west of Scotland at the mouth of the river Clyde meant that it lay in the path of the trade winds and at least 100 nautical miles closer to America's east coast than other British ports – 200 miles closer than London. In the days before fossil fuels (which only found widespread use in shipping in the second half of the 19th century) the journey to Virginia was some two weeks shorter than the same journey from London or many of the other ports in Britain and Europe. Even modern sailors describe how easy the port of Glasgow is to navigate. Second, when England was at war with France – as it was repeatedly between 1688 and 1815 – ships travelling to Glasgow were less vulnerable than those travelling to ports further south. Glasgow's merchants took advantage and, by the early 18th century, the city had begun to assert itself as a trading hub. Manufactured goods were carried from Britain and Europe to North America and the Caribbean, where they were traded for increasingly popular commodities such as tobacco, cotton and sugar.Through the 18th century, the Glasgow merchants' business networks spread, and they took steps to further accelerate trade. New ships were introduced, bigger than those of rival ports, with fore and aft sails that enabled them to sail closer to the wind and reduce journey times. Trading posts were built to ensure that cargo was gathered and stored for collection, so that ships wouldn't swing idly at anchor. By the 1760s Glasgow had a 50% share of the tobacco trade – as much as the rest of Britain's ports combined. While the English merchants simply sold American tobacco in Europe at a profit, the Glaswegians actually extended credit to American farmers against future production (a bit like a crop future today, where a crop to be grown at a later date is sold now). The Virginia farmers could then use this credit to buy European goods, which the Glaswegians were only too happy to supply. This brought about the rise of financial institutions such as the Glasgow Ship Bank and the Glasgow Thistle Bank, which would later become part of the now-bailed-out, taxpayer-owned Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).Their practices paid rewards. Glasgow's merchants earned a great deal of money. They built glamorous homes and large churches and, it seems, took on aristocratic airs – hence they became known as the ‘Tobacco Lords'. Numbering among them were Buchanan, Dunlop, Ingram, Wilson, Oswald, Cochrane and Glassford, all of whom had streets in the Merchant City district of Glasgow named after them (other streets, such as Virginia Street and Jamaica Street, refer to their trade destinations). In 1771, over 47 million pounds of tobacco were imported.However, the credit the Glaswegians extended to American tobacco farmers would backfire. The debts incurred by the tobacco farmers – which included future presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson (who almost lost his farm as a result) – grew, and were among the grievances when the American War of Independence came in 1775. That war destroyed the tobacco trade for the Glaswegians. Much of the money that was owed to them was never repaid. Many of their plantations were lost. But the Glaswegians were entrepreneurial and they adapted. They moved on to other businesses, particularly cotton.By the 19th century, all sorts of local industry had emerged around the goods traded in the city. It was producing and exporting textiles, chemicals, engineered goods and steel. River engineering projects to dredge and deepen the Clyde (with a view to forming a deep- water port) had begun in 1768 and they would enable shipbuilding to become a major industry on the upper reaches of the river, pioneered by industrialists such as Robert Napier and John Elder. The final stretch of the Monkland Canal, linking the Forth and Clyde Canal at Port Dundas, was opened in 1795, facilitating access to the iron-ore and coal mines of Lanarkshire.The move to fossil-fuelled shipping in the latter 19th century destroyed the advantages that the trade winds had given Glasgow. But it didn't matter. Again, the people adapted. By the turn of the 20th century the Second City of the British Empire had become a world centre of industry and heavy engineering. It has been estimated that, between 1870 and 1914, it produced as much as one-fifth of the world's ships, and half of Britain's tonnage. Among the 25,000 ships it produced were some of the greatest ever built: the Cutty Sark, the Queen Mary, HMS Hood, the Lusitania, the Glenlee tall ship and even the iconic Mississippi paddle steamer, the Delta Queen. It had also become a centre for locomotive manufacture and, shortly after the turn of the 20th century, could boast the largest concentration of locomotive building works in Europe.It was not just Glasgow's industry and wealth that was so gargantuan. The city's contribution to mankind – made possible by the innovation and progress that comes with booming economies – would also have an international impact. Many great inventors either hailed from Glasgow or moved there to study or work. There's James Watt, for example, whose improvements to the steam engine were fundamental to the Industrial Revolution. One of Watt's employees, William Murdoch, has been dubbed ‘the Scot who lit the world' – he invented gas lighting, a new kind of steam cannon and waterproof paint. Charles MacIntosh gave us the raincoat. James Young, the chemist dubbed as ‘the father of the oil industry', gave us paraffin. William Thomson, known as Lord Kelvin, developed the science of thermodynamics, formulating the Kelvin scale of absolute temperature; he also managed the laying of the first transatlantic telegraph cable.The turning point in the economic fortunes of Glasgow – indeed, of industrial Britain – was WWI. Both have been in decline ever since. By the end of the war, the British were drained, both emotionally and in terms of capital and manpower; the workers, the entrepreneurs, the ideas men, too many of them were dead or incapacitated. There was insufficient money and no appetite to invest. The post-war recession, and later the Great Depression, did little to help. The trend of the city was now one of inexorable economic decline.If Glasgow was the home of shipping and industry in 19th-century Britain, it became the home of socialism in the 20th century. Known by some as the ‘Red Clydeside' movement, the socialist tide in Scotland actually pre-dated the First World War. In 1906 came the city's first Labour Member of Parliament (MP), George Barnes – prior to that its seven MPs were all Conservatives or Liberal Unionists. In the spring of 1911, 11,000 workers at the Singer sewing-machine factory (run by an American corporation in Clydebank) went on strike to support 12 women who were protesting about new work practices. Singer sacked 400 workers, but the movement was growing – as was labour unrest. In the four years between 1910 and 1914 Clydebank workers spent four times as many days on strike than in the whole of the previous decade. The Scottish Trades Union Congress and its affiliations saw membership rise from 129,000 in 1909 to 230,000 in 1914.20The rise in discontent had much to do with Glasgow's housing. Conditions were bad, there was overcrowding, bad sanitation, housing was close to dirty, noxious and deafening industry. Unions grew quite organically to protect the interests of their members.Then came WWI, and inflation, as Britain all but abandoned gold. In 1915 many landlords responded by attempting to increase rent, but with their young men on the Western front, those left behind didn't have the means to pay these higher costs. If they couldn't, eviction soon followed. In Govan, an area of Glasgow where shipbuilding was the main occupation, women – now in the majority with so many men gone – organized opposition to the rent increases. There are photographs showing women blocking the entrance to tenements; officers who did get inside to evict tenants are said to have had their trousers pulled down.The landlords were attacked for being unpatriotic. Placards read: ‘While our men are fighting on the front line,the landlord is attacking us at home.' The strikes spread to other cities throughout the UK, and on 27 November 1915 the government introduced legislation to restrict rents to the pre-war level. The strikers were placated. They had won. The government was happy; it had dealt with the problem. The landlords lost out.In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution of 1917, more frequent strikes crippled the city. In 1919 the ‘Bloody Friday' uprising prompted the prime minister, David Lloyd George, to deploy 10,000 troops and tanks onto the city's streets. By the 1930s Glasgow had become the main base of the Independent Labour Party, so when Labour finally came to power alone after WWII, its influence was strong. Glasgow has always remained a socialist stronghold. Labour dominates the city council, and the city has not had a Conservative MP for 30 years.By the late 1950s, Glasgow was losing out to the more competitive industries of Japan, Germany and elsewhere. There was a lack of investment. Union demands for workers, enforced by government legislation, made costs uneconomic and entrepreneurial activity arduous. With lack of investment came lack of innovation.Rapid de-industrialization followed, and by the 1960s and 70s most employment lay not in manufacturing, but in the service industries.Which brings us to today. On the plus side, Glasgow is still ranked as one of Europe's top 20 financial centres and is home to some leading Scottish businesses. But there is considerable downside.Recent studies have suggested that nearly 30% of Glasgow's working age population is unemployed. That's 50% higher than that of the rest of Scotland or the UK. Eighteen per cent of 16- to 19-year-olds are neither in school nor employed. More than one in five working-age Glaswegians have no sort of education that might qualify them for a job.In the city centre, the Merchant City, 50% of children are growing up in homes where nobody works. In the poorer neighbourhoods, such as Ruchill, Possilpark, or Dalmarnock, about 65% of children live in homes where nobody works – more than three times the national average. Figures from the Department of Work and Pensions show that 85% of working age adults from the district of Bridgeton claim some kind of welfare payment.Across the city, almost a third of the population regularly receives sickness or incapacity benefit, the highest rate of all UK cities. A 2008 World Health Organization report noted that in Glasgow's Calton, Bridgeton and Queenslie neighbourhoods, the average life expectancy for males is only 54. In contrast, residents of Glasgow's more affluent West End live to be 80 and virtually none of them are on the dole.Glasgow has the highest crime rate in Scotland. A recent report by the Centre for Social Justice noted that there are 170 teenage gangs in Glasgow. That's the same number as in London, which has over six times the population of Glasgow.It also has the dubious record of being Britain's murder capital. In fact, Glasgow had the highest homicide rate in Western Europe until it was overtaken in 2012 by Amsterdam, with more violent crime per head of population than even New York. What's more, its suicide rate is the highest in the UK.Then there are the drug and alcohol problems. The residents of the poorer neighbourhoods are an astounding six times more likely to die of a drugs overdose than the national average. Drug-related mortality has increased by 95% since 1997. There are 20,000 registered drug users – that's just registered – and the situation is not going to get any better: children who grow up in households where family members use drugs are seven times more likely to end up using drugs themselves than children who live in drug-free families.Glasgow has the highest incidence of liver diseases from alcohol abuse in all of Scotland. In the East End district of Dennistoun, these illnesses kill more people than heart attacks and lung cancer combined. Men and women are more likely to die of alcohol-related deaths in Glasgow than anywhere else in the UK. Time and time again Glasgow is proud winner of the title ‘Fattest City in Britain'. Around 40% of the population are obese – 5% morbidly so – and it also boasts the most smokers per capita.I have taken these statistics from an array of different sources. It might be in some cases that they're overstated. I know that I've accentuated both the 18th- and 19th-century positives, as well as the 20th- and 21st-century negatives to make my point. Of course, there are lots of healthy, happy people in Glasgow – I've done many gigs there and I loved it. Despite the stories you hear about intimidating Glasgow audiences, the ones I encountered were as good as any I've ever performed in front of. But none of this changes the broad-brush strokes: Glasgow was a once mighty city that now has grave social problems. It is a city that is not fulfilling its potential in the way that it once did. All in all, it's quite a transformation. How has it happened?Every few years a report comes out that highlights Glasgow's various problems. Comments are then sought from across the political spectrum. Usually, those asked to comment agree that the city has grave, ‘long-standing and deep-rooted social problems' (the words of Stephen Purcell, former leader of Glasgow City Council); they agree that something needs to be done, though they don't always agree on what that something is.There's the view from the right: Bill Aitken of the Scottish Conservatives, quoted in The Sunday Times in 2008, said, ‘We simply don't have the jobs for people who are not academically inclined. Another factor is that some people are simply disinclined to work. We have got to find something for these people to do, to give them a reason to get up in the morning and give them some self-respect.' There's the supposedly apolitical view of anti-poverty groups: Peter Kelly, director of the Glasgow-based Poverty Alliance, responded, ‘We need real, intensive support for people if we are going to tackle poverty. It's not about a lack of aspiration, often people who are unemployed or on low incomes are stymied by a lack of money and support from local and central government.' And there's the view from the left. In the same article, Patricia Ferguson, the Labour Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Maryhill, also declared a belief in government regeneration of the area. ‘It's about better housing, more jobs, better education and these things take years to make an impact. I believe that the huge regeneration in the area is fostering a lot more community involvement and cohesion. My real hope is that these figures will take a knock in the next five or ten years.' At the time of writing in 2013, five years later, the figures have worsened.All three points of view agree on one thing: the government must do something.In 2008 the £435 million Fairer Scotland Fund – established to tackle poverty – was unveiled, aiming to allocate cash to the country's most deprived communities. Its targets included increasing average income among lower wage-earners and narrowing the poverty gap between Scotland's best- and worst-performing regions by 2017. So far, it hasn't met those targets.In 2008 a report entitled ‘Power for The Public' examined the provision of health, education and justice in Scotland. It said the budgets for these three areas had grown by 55%, 87% and 44% respectively over the last decade, but added that this had produced ‘mixed results'. ‘Mixed results' means it didn't work. More money was spent and the figures got worse.After the Centre for Social Justice report on Glasgow in 2008, Iain Duncan Smith (who set up this think tank, and is now the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions) said, ‘Policy must deal with the pathways to breakdown – high levels of family breakdown, high levels of failed education, debt and unemployment.'So what are ‘pathways to breakdown'? If you were to look at a chart of Glasgow's prosperity relative to the rest of the world, its peak would have come somewhere around 1910. With the onset of WWI in 1914 its decline accelerated, and since then the falls have been relentless and inexorable. It's not just Glasgow that would have this chart pattern, but the whole of industrial Britain. What changed the trend? Yes, empires rise and fall, but was British decline all a consequence of WWI? Or was there something else?A seismic shift came with that war – a change which is very rarely spoken or written about. Actually, the change was gradual and it pre-dated 1914. It was a change that was sweeping through the West: that of government or state involvement in our lives. In the UK it began with the reforms of the Liberal government of 1906–14, championed by David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill, known as the ‘terrible twins' by contemporaries. The Pensions Act of 1908, the People's Budget of 1909–10 (to ‘wage implacable warfare against poverty', declared Lloyd George) and the National Insurance Act of 1911 saw the Liberal government moving away from its tradition of laissez-faire systems – from classical liberalism and Gladstonian principles of self-help and self-reliance – towards larger, more active government by which taxes were collected from the wealthy and the proceeds redistributed. Afraid of losing votes to the emerging Labour party and the increasingly popular ideology of socialism, modern liberals betrayed their classical principles. In his War Memoirs, Lloyd George said ‘the partisan warfare that raged around these topics was so fierce that by 1913, this country was brought to the verge of civil war'. But these were small steps. The Pensions Act, for example, meant that men aged 70 and above could claim between two and five shillings per week from the government. But average male life- expectancy then was 47. Today it's 77. Using the same ratio, and, yes, I'm manipulating statistics here, that's akin to only awarding pensions to people above the age 117 today. Back then it was workable.To go back to my analogy of the prologue, this period was when the ‘train' was set in motion across the West. In 1914 it went up a gear. Here are the opening paragraphs of historian A. J. P. Taylor's most celebrated book, English History 1914–1945, published in 1965.I quote this long passage in full, because it is so telling.Until August 1914 a sensible, law-abiding Englishman could pass through life and hardly notice the existence of the state, beyond the post office and the policeman. He could live where he liked and as he liked. He had no official number or identity card. He could travel abroad or leave his country forever without a passport or any sort of official permission. He could exchange his money for any other currency without restriction or limit. He could buy goods from any country in the world on the same terms as he bought goods at home. For that matter, a foreigner could spend his life in this country without permit and without informing the police. Unlike the countries of the European continent, the state did not require its citizens to perform military service. An Englishman could enlist, if he chose, in the regular army, the navy, or the territorials. He could also ignore, if he chose, the demands of national defence. Substantial householders were occasionally called on for jury service. Otherwise, only those helped the state, who wished to do so. The Englishman paid taxes on a modest scale: nearly £200 million in 1913–14, or rather less than 8% of the national income.The state intervened to prevent the citizen from eating adulterated food or contracting certain infectious diseases. It imposed safety rules in factories, and prevented women, and adult males in some industries,from working excessive hours.The state saw to it that children received education up to the age of 13. Since 1 January 1909, it provided a meagre pension for the needy over the age of 70. Since 1911, it helped to insure certain classes of workers against sickness and unemployment. This tendency towards more state action was increasing. Expenditure on the social services had roughly doubled since the Liberals took office in 1905. Still, broadly speaking, the state acted only to help those who could not help themselves. It left the adult citizen alone.All this was changed by the impact of the Great War. The mass of the people became, for the first time, active citizens. Their lives were shaped by orders from above; they were required to serve the state instead of pursuing exclusively their own affairs. Five million men entered the armed forces, many of them (though a minority) under compulsion. The Englishman's food was limited, and its quality changed, by government order. His freedom of movement was restricted; his conditions of work prescribed. Some industries were reduced or closed, others artificially fostered. The publication of news was fettered. Street lights were dimmed. The sacred freedom of drinking was tampered with: licensed hours were cut down, and the beer watered by order. The very time on the clocks was changed. From 1916 onwards, every Englishman got up an hour earlier in summer than he would otherwise have done, thanks to an act of parliament. The state established a hold over its citizens which, though relaxed in peacetime, was never to be removed and which the Second World war was again to increase. The history of the English state and of the English people merged for the first time.Since the beginning of WWI , the role that the state has played in our lives has not stopped growing. This has been especially so in the case of Glasgow. The state has spent more and more, provided more and more services, more subsidy, more education, more health care, more infrastructure, more accommodation, more benefits, more regulations, more laws, more protection. The more it has provided, the worse Glasgow has fared. Is this correlation a coincidence? I don't think so.The story of the rise and fall of Glasgow is a distilled version of the story of the rise and fall of industrial Britain – indeed the entire industrial West. In the next chapter I'm going to show you a simple mistake that goes on being made; a dynamic by which the state, whose very aim was to help Glasgow, has actually been its ‘pathway to breakdown' . . .Life After the State is available at Amazon, Apple Books and all good bookshops, with the audiobook at Audible, Apple Books and all good audiobookshops. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theflyingfrisby.com/subscribe

Ben and Donnie are joined by special guest James Young in hour two to break down the latest from the NBA Playoffs! The guys also spend some time talking the latest MLB and NFL headlines from over the weekend!

Ben and Donnie spend the second hour of the show breaking down the weekend slate in the MLB as well as talking some WNBA preseason futures with special guest James Young!

Ben and Donnie are joined by special guests James Young and Myles Ehrlich throughout the second hour as they talk the NBA Playoffs as well as the upcoming WNBA regular season!

Ben and Donnie spend the final hour of the show running through Monday night's slate of MLB action as well as talking the NBA Playoffs with special guest James Young!

Ben and Donnie spend the second hour of the show with special guests James Young and Chris Meaney as they join to talk the NBA and Stanley Cup Playoffs!

Donnie and Joe spend the final hour of the show with special guests Keith Stewart and James Young previewing the Truist Championship and talking Wednesday night's action in the NBA Playoffs!

In episode 122 of Mission: Impact, Carol Hamilton and James Young discuss the role of community, social innovation, and problem-solving in nonprofit leadership. They explore  how organizations can foster meaningful collaboration,  move beyond traditional silos, and embrace an interdisciplinary approach to tackling complex challenges.  the importance of balancing expertise with curiosity,  strengthening both bonding and bridging social capital, and designing intentional community experiences that drive impact.  Together, they reflect on how associations and nonprofits can evolve to meet the shifting needs of their members and society at large.   Episode highlights: [00:09:45] Social Innovation as a Driving Force [00:012:00] Navigating Uncertainty While Staying Grounded in Mission [00:13:22] Learning Communities and Interdisciplinary Problem-Solving [00:16:48] The Role of Expertise and Curiosity in Leadership [00:19:08] The Messiness of Community and Building Trust [00:21:20] Conditions for Successful Communities [00:23:03] The Importance of Bridging Capital in Building Inclusive Networks [00:26:24] Lessons from the Past: Can We Rebuild Community Engagement? [00:33:10] Rethinking Association and Nonprofit Models [00:37:45] Designing Organizations for Connection and Problem-Solving [00:41:28] Invitation to Nonprofit Leaders: Permission to Forgive Ourselves   Guest Bio: James Young is founder and chief learning officer of the Product Community and writes a weekly newsletter called The Innovative Association. Jim is a leading thinker in the worlds of associations, learning communities, and product development. Prior to starting the product community, he served as senior vice president for education and chief learning officer at the American College of Chest Physicians and chief learning officer at the Society of College and University Planning. He earned a PhD at George Mason University, a masters at the University of Michigan, and a bachelors at Michigan State University. Important Links and Resources: James Young Product Community Byers Young Group Bowling Alone The Upswing Join or Die   Be in Touch: ✉️ Subscribe to Carol's newsletter at Grace Social Sector Consulting

Donnie and Joe kick off the second hour of the show talking the Sherrone Moore suspension and its impact on Michigan's upcoming season! The guys then talk the latest NBA news as well as the current state of the NBA Playoffs with special guest James Young!

Where’s the smart money moving next? Hosted by Michelle Martin, this episode unpacks the latest trends in Singapore’s global real estate investments with James Young of Cushman & Wakefield. Despite a decade-long average of USD 25.3 billion in overseas deals, 2024 saw a sharp dip to USD 11.3 billion. Why are investors shifting from London to Manchester and Sheffield—and what’s fueling fresh interest in Germany? From office and industrial to student housing, discover how Singaporean investors are rethinking risk and yield in a changing landscape.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Donnie and Joe spend the final hour previewing Friday night's slate of MLB action! The guys are then joined by special guest James Young to break down the latest from the NBA Playoffs!

Ben and Donnie open the second hour of the show talking the biggest buy or sell topics from around the NFL following the draft! The guys are then joined by special guest James Young to round up the latest from the NBA Playoffs!

DAMION1White House blasts Amazon over tariff cost report: ‘Hostile and political act'The White House on Tuesday slammed Amazon for reportedly planning to display the cost of President Donald Trump's tariffs next to the total price of products on its site.“This is hostile and political act by Amazon,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters. “Why didn't Amazon do this when the Biden administration hiked inflation to the highest level in 40 years?” Leavitt asked.The Trump administration's aggressive swipe came in response to a report that Amazon will soon show consumers how much of an item's cost comes from tariffs. The amount added as a result of tariffs will be displayed right next to each product's total listed price, a person familiar with the plan told the news outlet.WHO DO YOU BLAME?CEO Andrew Jassy.He's the “boss.”Maybe he feels emasculated?Lowest overall batting average (.308)only 6% influence compared to his boss, Jeff Bezos (67%)Not paid like traditional CEOs (relying instead on his $275M in unvested equity) and the $38M that vested last year; so when he's hanging out withHis buddies like Target CEO Brian Cornell ($20M) eBay CEO Jamie Iannone ($22M) have the total summary compensation bragging rights. Not to mention the sad, unmanly CEO Pay Ratio which is listed as 43:1 for Jassy and 753:1 for the DEI-hating Cornell Jeffrey Preston Bezos (67%)I mean he's the actual boss, right?Executive Chair, founder, former CEO, superstar.Hangs out with people like Katy Perry, has a newspaper, sends penis rockets to nowhere, has pretend funds named after himself like the Bezos Earth Fund and the Bezos Day One FundBoard member and former Pepsi CEO Indra NooyiOr maybe this is a DEI problem? Amazon's Audit Committee is tasked with stuff like operational risks, and legal and regulatory matters. Indra chairs this committeeIndra is also involved with very woke-y/DEI-y:stuff like science (Trustee of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center)Stuff like math (Member of the Dean's Advisory Council at MIT's School of Engineering)Stuff like art (Trustee of the National Gallery of Art)And stuff like giving a shit about people, stakeholder-y capitalism stuff (Director of Partnership for Public Service, whose mission is to inspire a new generation of civil servants and to transform the way government works)Former President Joe BidenAmazon later clarified that the plan to show tariff surcharges was “never approved” and is “not going to happen.” Trump personally called Bezos on Tuesday morning to express his displeasure about the initial report that spurred the heated response from the White House.Trump world's Laura Loomer takes aim at a 'woke' Lockheed Martin and its $2 trillion F-35 programLaura Loomer, the far-right activist who has a direct line to President Donald Trump, criticized Lockheed Martin's F-35 program over the weekend, decrying the US defense giant as "woke" and lashing out against the expensive stealth aircraft.In a lengthy post on X, Loomer suggested Lockheed Martin is delivering F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters that "are simply not ready for combat.""The F-35 program, one of the most expensive weapons programs in history, is plagued by delays, defects, & downright incompetence," she wrote Saturday. She said the US Air Force is accepting jets that lack "functional" radar systems, without offering evidence.She also claimed that Lockheed is "increasingly obsessed with pushing a woke agenda." Like many other US defense contractors, Lockheed scrapped its diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in January after Trump returned to the White House.The $2 trillion F-35 program is an appealing target for activists and officials seeking to slash government spending, and it has a well-documented list of problems. The Pentagon's top weapons tester said earlier this year that the program had problems delivering functional software and had fallen behind schedule to test upgraded mission systems.WHO DO YOU BLAME?The 2025 Proxy Statement that mentions “diversity” five times!Of course all five of those instances were in the anti-woke/anti-DEI shareholder proposal introduced by the Bahnsen Family Trust.Not sure how this even made the proxy after Lockheed's anti-DEI move in January: “As we publicly stated following the issuance of President Trump's January 2025 Executive Order on DEI, we will not have goals or incentives based on demographic representation or Affirmative Action Plans. We are actively reviewing our workforce-related policies to ensure they are, and remain, compliant and aligned with the Executive Order and all related applicable legal precedent.”The three-headed white guy leadership group (53% influence)CEO/Chair James Taiclet (25%): $24M in payLead Independent Director and Nominating Committee chair Thomas J. Falk (13%)“Independent” since 2010David Burritt (15%)Longest-tenured director (2008-)Busy beaver: two committees (Audit and Pay); CEO of US. SteelSince this is a woke/DEI issue: the black guy:Nevermind, there are no black people on this boardA woman? It would have to be Debra Reed-Klages (17%)While she has no leadership roles she does sit on the board of Caterpillar, which also removed its DEI policies. What, what?Investors. They should have been holding Lockheed accountable, right?According to MSCI data, average support since 2015 is 95%; no director has even received less than 92% since 2017Say on Pay support is routinely over 90%Starbucks union rejects company's recent offer of at least 2% annual pay raiseStarbucks union delegates involved in contract bargaining voted to reject the coffee chain's latest proposal that guaranteed annual raises of at least 2%, Workers United said. Out of the 490 baristas representing the company's more than 550 unionized U.S. stores, 81% rejected the proposal, which did not offer any changes to economic benefits such as healthcare or any immediate pay hike.WHO DO YOU BLAME?The union, for being greedy.The company pays its baristas about $19 an hour on average currently. That's $39,520 before taxes. A 2% raise would result in an increase of $790.40!InvestorsAverage director support of 96% over past 2 yearsEven 86% support for new CEO Brian Niccol's $96M, including $5M in funny munny cashAnd a devilishly perverse CEO pay ratio of 6,666 to 1.Not to mention Use of Starbucks aircraft for travel between city of primary residence and Starbucks headquarters AND up to $250,000 in personal non-commuting travel per yearWhich brings us to the CEO, Brian Niccol, a guy so wonderful that they scrapped the independent chair nonsense and gave him both titles: CEO and ChairLead Independent Director and Nominating Committee chair Jørgen Vig KnudstorpAveraged over 10% votes against over the past 3 AGMs: which is essentially an investor revolutionHis favorite drink–the Caramel Macchiato–is 250 calories with 33g of sugar: the American Heart Association recommends that women consume no more than 25 grams per dayMATT1Novavax appoints Charles Newton to board of directorsChuck Newton has a background from BofA Merrill, Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, and Lehman as an investment banker, and is now CFO at a pharma company. He got his education in business administration and “arts”.Who do we blame for the appointment of Chucky?John Jacobs, CEO and highest influence on the board at 23%New board chair and nom committee chair Margaret McGlynn, who will inherit retiring director James Young's 16% influence to become the most influential person on the board?Too much science?Actual knowledge of pharmaceutical science - Young's retirement means there are only 2 actual scientists left on the board of the 9 members - 6 have finance backgrounds, and 1 is a lawyer.DEI - while Novavax's SEC disclosure says that the 9 person board has 1 male with 2 or more races and 2 women, they actually didn't feel white ENOUGH so they added Charles Newton to have a 100% white board (because black people don't even get malaria, COVID, or flu)They actually claim to have 10 board members when they really have 9Investors - who actually hate this board and can't possibly like it more now?Classified board, last year the new board chair (promotion!) got 52% votes for, the PhD got 58% for, and the guy from the family foundation got 53% for - and yes, exactly 35% of the shares are owned by State Street, Vanguard, BlackRock, and Shah CapitalSam Altman says OpenAI will fix ChatGPT's ‘annoying' new personality as users complain the bot is sucking up to them“ChatGPT's new personality is so positive it's verging on sycophantic—and it's putting people off.”Who do we blame for AI being a big fat suckup?Sam Altman, for being a big fat Trump suckupSam Altman, for having an insipid tech bro personality desperately seeking the fame and attention of the earthSam Altman, for firing his non-suckup board membersSam Altman, for putting himself on the board and surrounding himself with board suckups

Ben and Donnie spend the second hour of the show breaking down the upcoming NFL Draft! James Young also joins the show to talk the updated series odds across the opening round of the NBA Playoffs!

Ben and Donnie kick off the final hour of the show by previewing Friday night's best bets from around the MLB. The guys are then joined by special guest James Young to break down the first round series from around the NBA!

Ben and Donnie spend the second hour previewing Wednesday's slate of action around the MLB! They are also joined by special guest James Young to recap the NBA Play-In Tournament as well as analyze some first round matchups in the playoffs!

Tim Vickery and James Young discuss why South America is requesting a 64 team format for the 2030 World Cup?

Ben and Donnie are joined by special guest James Young to break everything down as the end of the NBA regular season including awards, playoff seeding, and much more!

James Young from Melbourne’s iconic Cherry Bar dropped in to spill the tea on the night Lady Gaga partied so hard, she left on her hands and knees—literally crawling up ACDC Lane. From booking clashes with a Mildura blues duo to five-hour Gaga dance marathons, this story has it all. She rocked the bar solo, requested Judas Priest, and proved why she’s the real Queen of Pop and rock. The night became legendary… and we reckon her post-Marvel Stadium plans might just include another Cherry Bar cameo

Ben and Donnie are joined by special guest James Young in the final hour to recap the national championship as well as break down Tuesday night's slate in the NBA. The guys close out the show previewing Tuesday's packed slate of action around the MLB as well!

Ben and Donnie spend the second hour recapping the action from the MLB and NBA over the weekend. The guys are also joined by special guests Jon Rothstein and James Young to break down the Final Four and Monday night's national championship game!

Ben and Donnie spend the final hour of the show previewing Friday's action in the NBA and MLB! They are then joined by special guest James Young to preview the Final Four and reveal some props he is looking ot back in the action!

Donnie and Mark are joined by special guests Keith Stewart and James Young to preview this weekend's Valero Texas Open, talk some MLB best bets, and chat about the home stretch of the NBA regular season!

Ben and Joe spend the second hour of the show with special guest James Young to talk the men's and women's NCAA Tournament as well as the opening week across the MLB!   

On this month's episode, host Nicole Flattery is joined by Paula Dias Garcia and James Young to read from and discuss their stories featured in the Winter 2024-25 issue of The Stinging Fly Issue 51 Volume Two.Paula's story, ‘The Woods' can be found on page 193, and James' story, ‘Long Term Parking', can be found on page 154.Paula Dias Garcia is a queer writer and designer from Brasília, with an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Limerick. Their works have been published in The Stinging Fly, Analog SF&F, Channel, The Ogham Stone, Silver Apples and Riverbed Review. Currently, they're the artistic director for Sans. PRESS.James Young is a writer from Northern Ireland. His short stories have appeared in a wide range of publications and been shortlisted for the Sean O'Faolain, Wasafiri, Fish, and Bath prizes. He is the co-editor of Short Fiction literary journal and runs the Hastings Writers Workshop, a creative writing centre. He is also a translator, and his translation of The Love of Singular Men by the Brazilian author Victor Heringer was a finalist for the 2024 National Book Critics Circle Awards John Leonard Prize and the ALTA First Translation Prize, won the 2024 Jabuti Prize for the best Brazilian novel published abroad, and was runner-up for the Society of Authors/Translators Association First Translation Prize.Nicole Flattery is a writer and critic. Her story collection Show Them A Good Time, was published by The Stinging Fly and Bloomsbury in 2019. Her first novel, Nothing Special, was published by Bloomsbury in 2023.The Stinging Fly Podcast invites writers from the latest issue of The Stinging Fly to read and discuss their work. Previous episodes of the podcast can be found here. The podcast's theme music is ‘Sale of Lakes', by Divan. All of the Stinging Fly archive is available to subscribers.

Donnie and Joe spend the final hour breaking down Tuesday's exciting NBA slate! James Young then joins the show to talk every region heading into the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament!  

Ira On Sports - Coach James Young 031725 by Ira On Sports

Ben and Donnie are joined by special guest James Young in the final hour to break down the bracket even further ahead of the NCAA Tournament! The guys then close out the show previewing Monday night's slate of action across the NBA.  

Ben and Donnie spend the second hour of the show talking some NFL buy or sell topics amidst the frenzy of free agency. The guys are also joined by special guest James Young to talk all things on the hardwood in the NBA and college basketball!  

Ben and Donnie spend the final hour with special guests Keith Stewart and James Young to preview the Players Championship on the PGA Tour as well as some best bets on the hardwood between the NBA and college basketball!  

Ben and Donnie spend some time in the second hour talking the latest around March Madness and conference tournament drama around the country! James Young then joins the show to talk the NBA and a bit of college hoops as well.  

Ben and Donnie spend the second hour of the show breaking down some upcoming mid-major conference tournaments from around the country in college basketball! James Young then joins the show to talk the latest in college hoops and the NBA.  

Have you ever wondered if the roller coaster your'e on is safe? That is the theme of this week's episode, and you'd be surprised how often the answer is no!.First, Anna shares some information about theme park accidents and the various injuries that can occur any day, and Benton tells the tale of the tragic death of Deborah Stone. Then, Anna relays the tragic tale of the Battersea Park Funfair disaster. Finally, the two discuss a Youtube Disasterthon video, profiling the death of James Young.

Ben and Donnie kick off the second hour talking the latest updates and headlines ahead of the NFL Draft. The guys are then joined by special guest James Young to break down some team outlooks across the NBA and college basketball!  

Ben and Donnie spend the final hour talking the latest around the NBA as they return from the All-Star Break, including an appearance from special guest James Young!  

FULL SHOW | James Young stops by to talk all things Bon Scott; Lions' Legend Jonathan Brown gives us an insight into skin fold tests; and we ask "How Good" Tomorrow we're joined by Dylan Buckley and Glenn Robbins Catch Mick in the Morning LIVE from 6-9am weekdays on 105.1 Triple M. To watch your favourite new Breakfast Radio crew in action, head to YouTube. And you a laugh-fuelled feed, follow @molloy and @triplemmelb on Instagram. Remember to like and share!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nick Kostos opens up the second hour with his break down of the BetMGM Championship markets for next season. Nick explains why he likes the Houston Texans heading into next season. Nick and PJ discuss if we are underrating UConn heading into the tournament. Plus, SportsGrid's James Young joins the show to break down all things College Football. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

SportsGrid Analyst James Young joins the show to talk UConn's chances of making a run in March, Duke's flaws, and his thoughts on St. Johns hot run heading into the tournament. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Carnage for Spurs as loss piles upon loss. Who can Tim and Dotun turn to for comfort? And a day that goes down in infamy as James Young is outed as having forgotten his shirt-name! The horror of it.

Ben and Joe open the second hour talking some Super Bowl LIX special bets. Donnie then sits down with Saints kicker Blake Grupe, while James Young also joins the show to talk the NBA trades and their overall impact.  

Joining me in this episode is historian Trent Hone, continuing to share stories and insight of Admiral Nimitz in the Pacific and the unique challenges he faced in trying to effectively coordinate assets and work with other commanders. In this episode, Trent brings up the Battle of Leyte Gulf and the Battle off Samar, both of which have dedicated episodes coming up with Dr. Regina Akers from the Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC), US Army veteran, historian, and author Dr. James Young, and retired US Navy LCDR Parks Stephenson. There is also an episode on Kamikaze attacks with Guy Nasuti, US Navy veteran and historian with the NHHC.LinksMastering the Art of Command: Admiral Chester W. Nimitz and Victory in the Pacific by Trent Hone (Amazon)Learning War: The Evolution of Fighting Doctrine in the US Navy, 1898 - 1945 by Trent Hone (Amazon)Major Fleet-Versus-Fleet Operation in the Pacific War, 1941 - 1945 by Milan Vego (Amazon)The Allure of Battle: A History of How Wars Have Been Won and Lost by Cathal Nolan (Amazon)The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors: The Extraordinary World War II Story of the US Navy's Finest Hour by James D. Hornfischer (Amazon)Nimitz at War: Command Leadership from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay by Craig L. Symonds (Amazon)Mother of Tanks website (http://www.motheroftanks.com/podcast/) Bonus Content (https://www.patreon.com/c/motheroftanks)

Dotun is joined by Tim Vickery and James Young