Tom Morrison

A referendum on the Brexit deal is key, not growing other parties.

By Tom Morrison | Mon 9th October 2017 - 10:15 am

You know, I never understood why you gun control people don’t all join the NRA. They’ve got two million members. You bring three million to the next meeting, call a vote. All those in favour of tossing guns… bam! Move on.

It is one of the most memorable lines in every political anorak’s favourite TV show, The West Wing. Although steeped in high fantasy, the strategy from Congressman Skinner does present some food for thought – if you want to defeat your enemy, why not do it from within? It’ll be less bloody, it may even mean a quicker and more efficient way to smash your political nemesis into irrelevance.

These sentiments, in some part, were echoed by my friend and former leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg in the Observer. In his comment piece he states that anti-Brexit Labour-inclined voters, and their Conservative counterparts, should join their respective parties to change the direction of each organisation and, in turn, the future of the country.

These voters, argues Nick, should then lobby their MPs, leaders and change the debate at conferences to make sure that Britain’s spiral into a Brexit self-harm is stopped.

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Iain Porter

In defence of tax credits: We must be the clear anti-poverty party

By Iain Porter | Mon 9th October 2017 - 8:45 am

I was horrified at the proposal, contained in George Kendall’s recent article that we cut tax credits to fund lifelong learning accounts. (I assume George was also referring to Universal Credit, the successor to tax credits, and I speak of them here interchangeably.)

Like George, I’ve canvassed on council estates. I, however, recount emotional conversations with families for whom tax credits are the saviour that stands between them and impoverishment.

I remember the anguish in a mother’s voice, juggling her hospital job with caring for her two young sons, as she talked of how the Tory’s tax credit cuts could push her over the edge. How would she pay the heating bill? Would she have to take on more debt to buy her son’s new school shoes?

With us leading the battle against Osborne’s tax credit cuts at the time, it was a vote for us on the doorstep that day, and a voter I was proud we were fighting for.

Poverty during childhood causes long-term damage seen in poorer educational, health and employment outcomes. Families cannot invest properly in their children’s futures if they live in constant fear of eviction or are forced to use food banks.

But families with children are particularly badly hit by Universal Credit cuts, like the Tory’s broader welfare cuts since 2015. A useful ‘poverty calculator‘ by The Children’s Society demonstrates just how much benefit levels have fallen short of the poverty line.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies projects that around a million more children will be in poverty by the end of this decade, with almost half this increase attributable to direct tax and benefit changes since 2015. That’s a 25% increase in child poverty, a large part of which is down to Universal Credit cuts. Failing to reverse these cuts, or cutting them further, would be disastrous for a party whose leader has just staked our claim to be the party to tackle inequality.

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Caron Lindsay

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #491

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 8th October 2017 - 9:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 491st weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere … Featuring the five most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (1-7 October, 2017), together with a hand-picked seven you might otherwise have missed.

Don’t forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging.

As ever, let’s start with the most popular post, and work our way down:

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The Voice

Lib Link: Nick Clegg – You can stop Brexit by joining the Labour party – or even the Tories

By The Voice | Sun 8th October 2017 - 4:27 pm


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Writing in the Observer, Nick Clegg argues that the pro-Brexit agenda is being pushed by a moneyed elite, at the disadvantage of “the little people” they pretend to support. He goes on to say:

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Tom Arms

Observations of an ex pat: Think, Mr Trump

By Tom Arms | Sun 8th October 2017 - 12:39 pm

Please, please, Mr. Trump, think twice before opening your mouth next week. Think again before opening your twitter account and a fourth time before turning away  from the teleprompter to extemporaneously voice your thoughts.

Carefully consider all the options that Rex Tillerson says he has prepared for you. And think about what General Mattis told Congress about the wisdom of scrapping the Iran nuclear deal.

At stake is so much more than the appeasement of your political base and the fulfilment of a shoot-from-the-hip-vote-catching campaign promise.

Your decision will have repercussions on relations in the wider Middle East, with North Korea, Europe and America’s standing in just about every corner of the world.

Let’s start with the pressing problem of North Korea.  You want—everyone wants — a deal which de-nuclearizes  North Korea. But agreements involve at least two sides and requires both to stick to the deal and be known as the sort of government which keeps its promises.

Agreed, North Korea has a bad record in that department. But China doesn’t; and as you have repeatedly said: With China on your side, North Korea could be forced into keeping its part of the bargain.

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Paul Walter

Reminders of the unspeakable inhumanity of slavery

By Paul Walter | Sun 8th October 2017 - 10:47 am



Bermuda (UK) image number 431 graphic depiction of how slaves were kept below decks

This is the eighth of my posts based on a recent tour of the eastern half of the USA. I visited a number of sites relevant to African American history. To mark Black History Month, I am relating some of the things I saw, in the order I saw them.

I visited two sites which reminded me of the unspeakable inhumanity of slavery.
The Charles H Wright Museum of African American history is superb. From the very origins of humanity from one common mother, revealed via mitochondrial DNA, “And still we rise” tells the story of African Americans in great detail with very attractive displays.

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The Voice

Willie Rennie to hold talks with SNP over support for Brexit deal referendum

By The Voice | Sun 8th October 2017 - 9:23 am

The quest to build a case for an “exit from Brexit” referendum continues. In his speech to the Bournemouth Conference, Willie Rennie said he would be trying to work with the SNP to build support for the Scottish Liberal Democrats’ campaign for an “exit from Brexit” referendum.

He wrote to the First Minister and she has agreed that this merits discussion.

Willie will now meet the Scottish Government Minister Mike Russell for talks on this issue. He welcomed this invitation:

This is a welcome step forward from the Scottish Government and shows that there is support from across the political spectrum for a clear approach to Brexit that gives the British people a final say.

Both Nicola Sturgeon and Mike Russell have shown support for our campaign to give the public the final say but this can only be achieved if parties are willing to work together to protect the UK’s relationship with the EU. I know that there are colleagues across all UK parties who support this position and I urge them to join this movement and build the momentum further.

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Paul Walter

The music that united the world

By Paul Walter | Sat 7th October 2017 - 10:47 am



This is the seventh of my posts based on a recent tour of the eastern half of the USA. I visited a number of sites relevant to African American history. To mark Black History Month, I am relating some of the things I saw, in the order I saw them.

When I started planning my US trip, I had two items high on my bucket list which I wanted to tick. One was the Rosa Parks museum (of which more later in this series) and the other was the Motown museum in Detroit. I was extremely excited to visit the home of Tamla Motown. I made a major 3000 mile detour in my trip just to do it! And I was not disappointed. I have still not completely calmed down from my excitement three weeks after visiting it!

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Mark Valladares

Want to fly the Liberal Democrat banner in 2022 (or maybe sooner)?

By Mark Valladares | Fri 6th October 2017 - 2:45 pm

It is easy to forget sometimes that a majority of Liberal Democrat members have joined since the 2015 General Election. Even in my rural corner of England that is Mid Suffolk, membership numbers have increased by more than 150%. What that means is a huge infusion of new blood, potentially willing to hold aloft the Party banner in elections, if only they could find out how. Perhaps I can help…

It may surprise some readers to hear that the process of selecting Parliamentary candidates is already underway in some constituencies. In some cases, they might represent potential target seats for 2022, …

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Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Tagged | 6 Comments
Bernard Aris

Reflexions on the “how to exit Brexit” debate at the Autumn Conference

By Bernard Aris | Fri 6th October 2017 - 12:25 pm

As always, I quite enjoyed attending the LibDem Autumn Conference and its fringe meetings. The only suggestion about fringe meetings I would like to make (as a member of D66, 27.000 members; we’ve always had one member one vote at our halfyearly conferences) is: if it is about the three issues Social Liberals care most about: Europe, Education and the Environment, having some fringe meetings in the plenary sessions hall (or a secondary big hall, like at the back of Bournemouths BIC, where the Prospect interview with Clegg was moved to) so that every interested member gets a change of …

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Posted in Europe Referendum and Op-eds | Tagged and | 14 Comments
Paul Walter

The underground road to precious freedom for black slaves

By Paul Walter | Fri 6th October 2017 - 10:47 am

This is the sixth of my posts based on a recent tour of the eastern half of the USA. I visited a number of sites relevant to African American history. To mark Black History Month, I am relating some of the things I saw, in the order I saw them.

I had low expectations for Detroit. You hear stories about bankruptcy and violence. In fact, I found Detroit to be a wonderful city. It is beautifully spaced out. Rather than having all its prominent buildings in the centre of the city, they are spread out across the urban area. The heritage of the wealth of the automative industry has bestowed some wonderful buildings to Detroit.

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Caron Lindsay

No, Nick, you need to join the Rebel Alliance to stop Brexit, not the Imperial Stormtroopers

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 6th October 2017 - 7:51 am

Nick Clegg is probably the country’s most knowledgable person on international trade, the EU and our relationship with it. Read his brilliant Brexit Challenge papers to see how true that is.

We should listen to whatever he says on Brexit because he is most often right.

However, for the former leader of a political party, he has shown a monumental amount of naivety in suggesting that people need to join Labour or the Conservatives to stop Brexit. He could not be more wrong.

You can maybe see where he gets the idea from. When he was leader of the Liberal Democrats, and, specifically, Deputy Prime Minister, the party was forever telling him in forms of motions passed by its Conference and various firestorms on the internet, that he was wrong. We sent him some pretty strong and unambiguous messages on things like the Bedroom Tax, secret courts and reforms to the social security system that disadvantaged people. Sure, we should take credit for what we stopped the Tories unleashing on the country, but we also did some stuff that we shouldn’t.

Yes, we sent him plenty messages. Sometimes he acted on what we told him, sometimes he didn’t, and sometimes he had to put a lot of effort into persuading the party to back his position.

Let’s compare and contrast with the Tories and Labour. They aren’t great about letting their members actually influence their policies. You didn’t actually see many actual votes on the issues of the day at their conferences. You didn’t see any at the Conservatives. They don’t do that sort of thing. They were shocked by the internal democracy in the Liberal Democrats and thought it very strange. Ordinary Labour members don’t get much of a chance to influence policy either. Even if they wanted to, remember that their Conference didn’t even get to discuss Brexit because they might disagree.

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Steven Duckworth

Why Fiscal Credibility Is Still Important

By Steven Duckworth | Thu 5th October 2017 - 4:43 pm

Piles of money. Photo credit: czbalazs - http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1236662Of the many phrases that pepper the UK’s political discourse, the oft used ‘Magic Money Tree’ has to be the most grating. Its employment is a rhetorical device used to shut down any talk of government  spending by hawks who believe any movement away from a narrow focus on  cuts as a weapon for reducing the deficit  is not only ill-advised, but belongs to the realm of fairy tales. More sophisticated commentators know that macroeconomics is more complex than that and government spending can …

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Our New Disability Policy

By Kirsten Johnson | Thu 5th October 2017 - 2:30 pm

Have you heard about the Disabled Children’s Partnership? It was launched over the summer by a large group of charities, including Mencap, Contact and The Children’s Trust. The network now links more than fifty organisations who support children with a range of conditions, from the Fragile X Society and the Down’s Syndrome Association to Young Lives with Cancer CLIC Sargent and the Myotonic Dystrophy Support Group.

So how do the Disabled Children’s Partnership priorities tally with our new party disability policy? (Did you know …

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Steve Spear

The Right to Buy – A Solution to Funding Care of Older People?

By Steve Spear | Thu 5th October 2017 - 12:43 pm

What do people who need to enter residential care fear most? Losing the home they have worked for the best part of their lives? Separation from their spouse they have shared a bed with for decades? Going to a place where they know they are going to die?

At a time when a person is at their most vulnerable we force them away from their families and potentially destroy their treasured legacy for their children and grandchildren. So let’s be clear, caring for the elderly and keeping them safe as they become …

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Paul Walter

Riot? Rebellion? or Revolution?

By Paul Walter | Thu 5th October 2017 - 10:47 am



Embed from Getty Images
…

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Time To Get Ready For World Mental Health Day

By Kirsten Johnson | Thu 5th October 2017 - 7:43 am

What is your workplace doing on World Mental Health Day? It’s coming up on Tuesday, October 10th, and the theme is Workplace Mental Health.

Ask your boss, line manager and co-workers if anything is planned. If not, do something! There’s still time to organise an event to raise awareness on Tuesday that we all have mental health. De-stigmatising that conversation in the workplace is paramount.

The charity Mind has some excellent tips for improving Workplace Mental Health here. Maybe one of these can be something your office does together …

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Caron Lindsay

The human element and the political reality – Vince on Theresa May’s speech

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 4th October 2017 - 9:50 pm

Embed from Getty Images

Well, that speech probably contained everyone’s worst nightmares.

In April this year, just after the election was called, I was one of those recording a podcast made by the excellent Engender Scotland. I ended up having the mother of all coughing fits. Of course, there were half a dozen other wonderful women to hold the fort while I left the room until the spasms subsided.

So I really felt for poor Theresa May today. She was up there on her own at the keynote occasion of the year and the germs took control. I don’t mean Boris and the rest of the Cabinet.

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David Cooper

Homeowners as Currency Counterfeiters: a Parable

By David Cooper | Wed 4th October 2017 - 12:23 pm

In the UK, gains on domestic property values are virtually untaxed. This put renters at a huge disadvantage. But far worse is the damage this does to our competitiveness. Failing to tax gains in property value means that our economy in effect hosts a currency counterfeiting operation with a £50bn turnover. This can be illustrated with a very short story.

Once upon a time a newly crowned king wished to prove his military prowess, and decided to raise a navy to conquer lands overseas. His councillors protested that the royal coffers were empty, but he hit on a brilliant idea. He would licence his councillors to print banknotes, in exchange for them providing sailors and ships. The councillors readily agreed. He ordered royal printing presses to be built, and handed them over to the councillors each with a licence to print money. The councillors set their presses in motion and provided the necessary sailors and ships. The king went to war and returned victorious.

Fortunately the king had wisely limited the speed of the printing presses so the currency would not collapse. Merchants and labourers still worked and traded, but were poorer because the newly printed banknotes meant their money were worth less than before. But the same banknotes made the printing press owners richer.

As time went by a market developed for the printing presses. Some of the king’s councillors had a great fondness for expensive claret, or lost money at cards, so had to sell their presses to repay debts. Successful merchants found the purchase of a printing press was an excellent and safe investment. Unfortunately skilled labourers found they could earn more abroad and started to emigrate. After the king had ruled for many years, there were few skilled shipwrights left in the kingdom and the navy fell into disrepair. Sensing their chance, the neighbouring kingdoms sent an invasion fleet, sank the king’s ships and the kingdom fell.

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Paul Walter

Violet Temple Lewis – an educational trailblazer for African American women

By Paul Walter | Wed 4th October 2017 - 10:47 am

The Lewis College of Business, Detroit, Michigan

This is the fourth of my posts based on a recent tour of the eastern half of the USA. I visited a number of sites relevant to African American history. To mark Black History Month, I am relating some of the things I saw, in the order I saw them.

As I was wondering through the streets near my hotel in Detroit, I came across one of the many historic plaques which one sees right across America. The plaque was next to this house (above) in John R Street, Detroit. It records that this building became, in 1941, the office of the Lewis College of Business. It said:

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Simeon North

A lifelong “learning account”. Liberal, radical, just the way the party needs to go.

By Simeon North | Wed 4th October 2017 - 8:52 am

From free school meals in 1906 and 2014 to the Pupil Premium, Liberals have a proud and positive history in terms of reforming education in the UK. Despite this, Vince Cable’s idea of a “learning account” might be the most radical yet. The policy seems to be in its infancy at the moment with Vince Cable asking to “develop” the policy with the party. It would see all young people given a learning account, that they could use at any point in life for education purposes. As Mr Cable argued this is “fundamentally a liberal idea” and it is astonishing how little attention it has received.

The possible positives from this scheme seem remarkable; it would encourage social mobility as those from lower income households could make most use of the money. There are also deeper impacts in culture and sport, the power of education to inspire should not be forgotten. Giving people the freedom to choose exactly what to do with their education throughout adult life will give people an opportunity to pursue talents and careers they would previously only dreamed of.

There are of course some complaints. This of course would be an expensive policy and Vince Cable’s reply of taxing wealth certainly needs to be expanded upon. Yet here Vince Cable’s economic clout comes to the fold. In a recent speech to the Resolution Foundation on inequality he outlined how taxes can be improved. Specifically stopping loopholes in capital gains and inheritance tax as well as raising proposing tax on property value rather than council tax among other suggestions. Therefore, such a scheme would not be as hard to implement. 

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Joe Otten

Labour closes ranks around the South Yorkshire Police Commissioner

By Joe Otten | Tue 3rd October 2017 - 12:37 pm

Earlier this year, the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner, Dr Alan Billings off Thought for the Day, lost a legal action in the high court over his decision to dismiss Chief Constable David Crompton following a press release in which Billings alleged that Crompton sought to defend the actions of police counsel at the Hillsborough Inquest.

The high court described Billings decision as “irrational, perverse, unreasonable, misconceived and wholly disproportionate”. The case in my view hinged on whether the conduct of police counsel at the inquest was defensible or not. If it was indefensible – as the Hillsborough families claim …

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Paul Walter

The governor who stood in the doorway to stop black students entering university – and the landmark speech which followed

By Paul Walter | Tue 3rd October 2017 - 10:47 am


Embed from Getty Images

This is the third of my posts based on a recent tour of the eastern half of the USA. I visited a number of sites relevant to African American history. To mark Black History Month, I am relating some of the things I saw, in the order I saw them.

On the first day of my tour, I made a bee-line for the John F Kennedy Presidential library and museum. It’s on the outskirts of Boston and quite magnificant. In the comprehensive display of JFK history, one of the events given prominence concerned two African American students trying to enrol in a previously all-white Alabaman university in June 1963.

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Stephen Tall

LibDemVoice Fantasy Football League: manager of the month for September

By Stephen Tall | Mon 2nd October 2017 - 4:55 pm

Our second update from the LDV Fantasy Football League. Congratulations to Vee P, our Manager of the Month for September, and overall leader.

Their City Wanderers scored an impressive 306 points, a little way ahead of Stephen Kelly’s Roger Squadron (298) and Celyn Ashworth’s Politic Thistle (294).

Here’s the current top 10 table:

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John King

Fighting Brexit: The virtues of patience

By John King | Mon 2nd October 2017 - 12:15 pm

Few presentations have challenged my thinking more than Roger Liddle’s talk at the meeting of the Social Democrat Group, reported earlier on LDV. Delivered with an almost Churchillian eloquence, it set out why a long term perspective may pay off in the end.

The clever thing about the two year transition period requested by Theresa May, he points out, is that it renders the exit itself painless. By means of this “Brexit now, pay later” ploy, the huge cost is kicked well into the future and the electorate robbed of an immediate reason to protest. But the good news, Liddle believes, is that rejoining the EU should be a feasible proposition when the country finally wakes up.

But we must stop Brexit now! That was the reaction of subsequent speakers. And indeed, I myself have emphasised the urgency for a second vote. We have nothing to lose, have we? Yes we have, says Liddle, because if we lost two referendums in a row, our long term prospects would be even worse.

And there is a high risk of such a defeat because referendums are inherently treacherous.

Furthermore we are severely outgunned. Much has been made of encouraging signs that the tide is turning, but the significant statistic about Brexit is that despite being unmitigated twaddle and a piece of criminal insanity, almost half the population still believe in it. That is, in large measure, testament to the success of the Brextremist propaganda machine – our rightwing press.

They were emboldened by their win last time, and are now cruising smugly along, so we are apt to forget their power. But the minute they sniff a referendum brewing you can bet they will go into overdrive.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 56 Comments
Paul Walter

Prominent US statue of Philip Randolph – #2 in a journey through African American history

By Paul Walter | Mon 2nd October 2017 - 10:47 am



This is the second of my posts based on a recent tour of the eastern half of the USA. I visited a number of sites relevant to African American history. To mark Black History Month, I am relating some of the things I saw, in the order I saw them.

Back Bay metro station in Boston, Massachusetts, is a very prominent and large underground railway station, serving a particular busy and affluent part of the city.

As I moved through it, I couldn’t help noticing that the passenger transit area is dominated by a very large statue of a man (photo above). There were several panels explaining the statue, with much praise for its subject, A. Philip Randolph.

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Darren Martin

The Fourth Industrial Revolution- The need for a full social and economic strategy to thrive in an age of accelerations.

By Darren Martin | Mon 2nd October 2017 - 8:46 am

At the Labour conference the Shadow Business Secretary, Rebecca Long-Bailey, announced a review into the effects of automation and disruption on our future economy.

What made this interesting is that in her speech she mentioned the “Fourth Industrial Revolution” which is the title of a book written by Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum.

In his book Schwab argues that the Fourth Industrial Revolution we are entering is fundamentally different from previous ones because it is characterised by a range of new technologies that are fusing the physical, digital and biological worlds and impacting all disciplines, economies and industries simultaneously. Driven by the exponential increase in computing power, we are on the cusp of a period of great promise but also great peril.

I’m going to avoid speculating on how the future could look due to this dizzying rate of advancement. You may believe that automation will lead to mass unemployment or you may be of the opinion that the economy will diversify enough as it has done during previous eras of change. But it would be difficult to argue against a need to better formulate government policy to ensure we are able to deal with the challenges.

In his book ‘Thank You for Being Late- An Optimists Guide to Thriving in an Age of Accelerations’, Thomas Friedman quotes Eric “Astro” Teller, CEO of Google’s X research and development lab:

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Caron Lindsay

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #490

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 1st October 2017 - 9:17 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 490th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere … Featuring the five most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (23rd-30th October, 2017), together with a hand-picked seven you might otherwise have missed.

Don’t forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging.

As ever, let’s start with the most popular post, and work our way down:

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Posted in Best of the blogs | 1 Comment
Caron Lindsay

Vince: Boris should call in the Spanish Ambassador over Catalonia

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 1st October 2017 - 8:01 pm

It’s been really upsetting to see the scenes from Catalonia. Ok, so the referendum on independence has been ruled illegal by the constitutional courts, but there are ways of dealing with that in a peaceful manner.

No good can come of the Police’s inflammatory action.

Of course, this all has some resonance to me as a Scot. We, of course, had our own referendum on independence in 2014 after the SNP won a mandate to hold one.

Mike Moore, as Secretary of State for Scotland, acted like a grown up and negotiated with Nicola Sturgeon to produce the Edinburgh Agreement. That was really important because it gave the poll legitimacy. If the SNP had had their way, they’d have set up their own Commission to regulate it. Mike insisted that the Electoral Commission, reporting to the Scottish Parliament, should oversee it. Together, in accordance with both parties’ policies, they agreed that 16 and 17 year olds would be able to vote – something that worked incredibly well.

The outcome was a legal and fair poll which commanded confidence.  Don’t get me wrong, the referendum was one of the most horrible experiences of my life, but it was at least run properly.

Vince Cable has tonight called for Boris Johnson to call in the Spanish Ambassador over the incident;

Police in a democracy should never drag people violently out of polling stations, whatever the arguments for or against holding a referendum. The police response looks to have been brutal and completely disproportionate.

The Foreign Secretary should break off from conspiring against the prime minister and call in the Spanish ambassador to tell him that this is completely unacceptable.

Actually, he could have added in that the EU needs to speak out on this. The internal affairs of Spain are one thing, but when people are being dragged out of polling stations, that does seem to be incompatible with everything the EU stands for.

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 18 Comments
Caron Lindsay

Vince: Lib Dems demand an exit from Brexit referendum

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 1st October 2017 - 3:56 pm

Here’s Vince addressing the considerable crowds at the #stopBrexitManchester march. This is what he had to say.

We are in Manchester because the Conservative Party are here and we want them to hear our voices – to tell Theresa May and Boris Johnson that we are not ‘citizens of nowhere’, but people who are proud to be British, and proud to be European.

We must tell the government what is at stake here.

Take the great research institutions in

…

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