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The best of Power Play 2023

Published Tue, 11 Feb 2025 09:00:30 GMT

Listen on Spotify Apple Music Google Play EN_Google_Podcasts_Badge Created with Sketch. Acast Amazon Music As we enter a mammoth election year on either side of the Atlantic, Power Play looks back on the highlights from our interviews in 2023 to set the scene for the big geopolitical stories of 2024. In this week’s bumper New Year edition, host Anne McElvoy takes a tour t...

Why Britain’s doctors are striking and stressed — by the numbers

Published Tue, 11 Feb 2025 09:00:30 GMT

Junior doctors working for England’s National Health Service kicked off a six-day strike over pay on Wednesday — the longest the NHS has ever faced. But it’s the latest sign of despair in a demoralized NHS, floored by towering workloads, understaffing and a lack of investment.It follows a series of strikes involving health care workers in Britain, who since 2022 have been demanding pay hikes to keep at pace with inflation. It is also the expression of a wider feeling of dissatisfaction among staff, who feel overworked and undervalued, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. By all measures, U.K. health care is struggling. There are fewer doctors per capita than any other country in Europe for which data is available. Health care providers and think tanks have repeatedly sounded the alarm over staff shortages, the impact on patient care and the workforce.In addition, decades of underinvestment in infrastructure left the NHS ill equipped to face emergencies and re...

Europe’s war against tobacco has a new target: Nicotine

Published Tue, 11 Feb 2025 09:00:30 GMT

Europe is building up a head of steam to wage the next war on Big Tobacco. And this time, it’s not over deadly cigarettes but a product that contains no tobacco at all — the seemingly innocuous nicotine pouch.Still somewhat of an anomaly outside of Sweden, nicotine pouches are little bags of nicotine, flavoring and plant-based fibers that are placed under the lip to release a hit. Their popularity is growing: Analysis indicates that the market for nicotine pouches doubled between 2020 and 2021 in Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Slovakia and the United Kingdom. While Sweden’s snus — a more well-known product — contains tobacco and is banned across the rest of the EU, nicotine pouches have until now escaped the beady regulatory eyes of Brussels bureaucrats because they don’t contain tobacco. That means there are no EU-level rules on the levels of nicotine allowed in pouches or what kind of labeling is allowed.But long-expected revisions of the bloc’s laws on tobacco product...

‘Society of the Snow’ a stunning tale of survival

Published Tue, 11 Feb 2025 09:00:30 GMT

In 2007, Spanish filmmaker J.A. Bayona made an stunning feature debut with the intensely stylish and spooky ghost story “The Orphanage.” Between then and now, Bayona has done some great work, most notably “The Impossible” (2012), a real-life disaster movie starring an Academy Award-nominated Naomi Watts. Now he has turned his attention to the story of the mostly 20-something members of a Uruguayan rugby team who survive a plane crash in the Andes, but are stranded on a stormy glacier with nothing to eat for 72 days except their dead fellow passengers, who are mostly friends and relatives.Bayona came across the 2009 book “La sociedad de la nieve” by Pablo Vierci while making “The Impossible.” The author is a childhood friend of some of the survivors. No doubt using his reputation as leverage, Bayona got Netflix to bankroll this first-rate production. The result goes to the heart of cinema. “Society of the Snow,” which was shot in Andalusia, Spain among other locations, is the story o...

Lucas: Despite migrant $$ drain, Dems back Biden

Published Tue, 11 Feb 2025 09:00:30 GMT

The trouble begins when politics overrules policy, especially bad policy.That is the case with the immigration disaster that threatens to tear the Democrat Party — and the country — apart.While big city Democratic mayors and governors are politically in lock step in their re-election support of President Joe Biden, they are at the same time hemorrhaging state taxpayers’ money taking care of migrants that Biden waved, and is waving, into the country. By the millions.But because Democratic politics trumps Democratic policy — even progressive policy — they are loathe to criticize the president for opening the borders even as they go around pleading with him for money to deal with the migrants who are destabilizing their cities. How bizarre.The latest is the example of big city mayors, all Democrats, begging Biden for federal dollars to deal with the uninvited “guests” from around the world who have swamped their cities.Most recently three of those progressive mayors — Eric Adams of New...

Jessica Chastain hits curveballs of “Memory’

Published Tue, 11 Feb 2025 09:00:30 GMT

Saul (Peter Sarsgaard) and Sylvia (Jessica Chastain) meet again at a high school reunion. They have a complicated history. Saul lives in Brooklyn and is dealing with the onset of Alzheimer’s. Sylvia, a recovering alcoholic, agrees to be among his caretakers. What follows is a trip to the unexpected.“Memory” began with Chastain’s pursuit of Mexican director Michel Franco, known for dark portraits of dysfunctional families. “Michel wanted to work in New York and he’s so open to collaboration,” Chastain, 46, said in a Zoom press conference with her co-star. “He asked who I wanted to work with and Peter was my first choice.”“Michel really wants to get into a city,” Sarsgaard, 52, discovered. “A lot of my process was just taking him around the city. I’ve lived here for 30 years.”“I love movies that take place in New York and New York is really a character in this,” Chastain noted. “Michel, like his characters, wants to explore the unexpected. Like an apartment over a tire shop where some...

Local music stars shine in January shows

Published Tue, 11 Feb 2025 09:00:30 GMT

January is when a lot of touring acts stay home. Bad if you want to see Beyonce or Taylor in Boston. Great if you want to see all the locals sticking around and playing shows. The first month of the year is filled with returns, reunions, and all around amazing shows.Sarah Blacker, Jan. 5, Club PassimBlacker is back with a set of new songs including the tender, defiant, genius ballad “Walk On.” The singer-songwriter-guitarist-all-around-wonder celebrates the release of EP “Horizon Line,” three (mostly) recorded-live, very-stripped-down, and honest tunesBim Skala Bim, Jan. 6, the Crystal Ballroom, SomervillePut on your Docs and get ready to skank! The other ska band formed in Boston in 1983 celebrates with a well-deserved 40 year reunion show. The third wave ska kings bring the NB Rude Boys and Riki Rocksteady along for the party.O Positive: With A Little Help From My Friends Benefit Concert, Jan. 19, ParadiseAnother reunion from a 1983 Boston–born band, this one arrives with hopes of...

Editorial: Elderly poor in Mass. need funding, help too

Published Tue, 11 Feb 2025 09:00:30 GMT

A report on the robust number of Massachusetts residents leaving the state revealed some jarring insights into who precisely is heading for the hills.Massachusetts was a top 10 state for outbound residents, according to United Van Lines’ 47th annual National Movers Study, State House News reported. The study found Americans “are moving eastbound and southbound – and relocating to less expensive areas with comparable amenities to larger metropolitans.”No surprise there. We’re among the top outbound states (along with New Jersey, Illinois, North Dakota, New York, Michigan, California, and Kansas).Among those making an exit from Massachusetts, 28.4% moved because of their job, 19.2% for family considerations, 18% for retirement, 16% for lifestyle, and less than 3% each for health or cost reasons, according to the study.We know the Bay State is tough on the wallet, thanks to sky-high housing prices. Since more businesses are letting employees work from home, cash...

Dear Abby: Daughters snub dad, but accept his $$

Published Tue, 11 Feb 2025 09:00:30 GMT

Dear Abby: I am the father of four, two boys and two girls, ranging in age from late teens to mid-20s. I was extremely close with all of them until my divorce seven years ago. Most would say they were closer to me than to their mom.My boys still talk to me, and we have a great relationship, but my two girls stopped talking to me. To this day, I send each of them a check for $150 on their birthdays and on Christmas. The girls sure do cash their checks, but they never send a text or email a thank you.My feelings border on deep hurt and anger. Should I send one last check explaining how they have hurt me and tell them goodbye, or continue sending checks, hoping they’ll contact me in the future? It isn’t easy for me to afford $150 eight times a year. — Deeply Hurt Dad in ArizonaDear Deeply Hurt: You have been generous with all of your children in spite of the fact it creates financial stress. Your ex may have turned the girls against you by telling them you had left TH...

Three suspects sought in felony hit-and-run

Published Tue, 11 Feb 2025 09:00:30 GMT

CARLSBAD, Calif. -- Authorities on Wednesday are searching in Carlsbad for three men suspected of felony hit-and-run.Around 8:23 p.m., Carlsbad police posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, about a law enforcement helicopter looking for the three suspects in the area of El Camino Real and Carlsbad Village Drive. Truck driver killed in North County crash on New Year’s Day The first suspect is described as a man wearing a black hoodie and green baseball hat. Suspect two is described as a man wearing a black hoodie with white writing, white shoes and blue jeans. Suspect three is described as a man wearing a black hoodie, white shoes and black pants.If anyone has seen the three suspects, they are asked to call 911.Check back for updates on this developing story.