As the superrich gathered in Davos last week, business leaders polled by ‘Fast Company’ say capitalism exacerbates the wealth gap at its own peril.

Capitalism is at an existential crossroads, and figuring out how to make it work better for people who are not top earners will require focused cooperation from world business leaders and policymakers, according to a new survey from Fast Company.

The global survey of professionals ranging from early-career managers to C-suite executives found that favorability toward capitalism in 2024 is decidedly mixed, with 36% saying they had a positive reaction to the word and 35% saying their reaction was negative. Another 29% said they felt neutral.

Attitudes were slightly more positive when it came to "stakeholder capitalism," defined in the survey as a system in which "companies seek to serve the interests of employees, customers, suppliers, and local communities," as opposed to just maximizing shareholder profits.

Forty-one percent viewed stakeholder capitalism favorably compared to 15% who viewed it negatively. Respondents were even more favorable when asked if they thought stakeholder capitalism has the potential to make capitalism better, with a full 72% saying they thought it could.

The finding is notable given recent critiques of stakeholder capitalism from investors who believe it unfairly penalizes certain industries, not to mention vocal critics such as Vivek Ramaswamy, who has made attacks on "woke capitalism" one of the cornerstones of his presidential campaign.

Stakeholder capitalism has conversely been championed by high-profile financial CEOs, such as Larry Fink of BlackRock and Brian Moynihan of Bank of America.

Fast Company's Future of Capitalism survey was conducted in December 2023 and January 2024 and included responses from more than 25 countries, with about 60% coming from the United States.

Some Davos-bound executives said they were not surprised by the lukewarm response that capitalism received in the survey.

“The growing skepticism toward traditional capitalism resonates deeply with me as a woman of color and tech founder with Danish-African roots living and working in Silicon Valley," Soulaima Gourani, cofounder and CEO of the software firm Happioh, told Fast Company. "There is a broader crisis within capitalism, particularly evident in the tech sector where ethical and morale considerations often clash with relentless innovation."

Nigel Vaz, CEO of digital consultancy Publicis Sapient, added that a more holistic view of capitalism can also be good for companies' bottom line. “Today, companies are becoming increasingly focused on how they create value for customers, and customers are also asking how companies are contributing to society," Vaz says. "For business leaders, making the connection between these two ideas is key to creating a shared ‘why’ for the organization, which can be one of the most powerful contributors to growth, profit, and impact.”

Respondents were also asked to rank stakeholders (customers, employees, shareholders, community, suppliers, and government) in order of importance. While 21% said community should be the top priority for business, only 9% said it was the top priority in their own business, a detail economist Byron Auguste, cofounder and CEO of Opportunity@Work, said was "striking." "Stakeholder capitalism that truly delivers requires business models that transform more of the community into valued employees and priority customers," he says.

Greed is not good

The survey also revealed a variety of opinions about the future viability of capitalism itself. Asked what they believed was capitalism's biggest threat, respondents provided write-in answers that were as disparate as they were visceral, with people citing a range of perceived threats like far-left politics, DEI, the media, artificial intelligence, government, and greed. Others said that capitalism itself was the problem.

However, one common theme among the assortment of answers was income inequality, with at least 13% of respondents mentioning it or related issues as a potential threat to capitalism.

Gourani said concerns about the wealth gap have been reflected in other polls, and justifiably so. She points to data from the 2022 World Inequality Report, which found that more than half of the world's income is captured by the top 10% of earners.

"There's a clear call for reshaping economic frameworks to foster fairness and opportunity across diverse backgrounds," Gourani says. "To quote Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, 'We have to rewrite the rules of the economy to make it fairer.'"

CNBC

The Naira, on Tuesday, continued its downward spiral, dropping to N1,365 per dollar at the parallel section of the market.

The figure represents a N35 or 2.63 percent depreciation compared to the N1,330 it traded on January 16, 2024.

Currency traders, also known as Bureau De Change (BDC) operators, put the buying price of the dollar at N1,355 and the selling price at N1,365 — leaving a profit margin of N10.

A BDC operator in Lagos, who identified as Aliyu, said demand for the greenback has continued to increase.

“Demand is increasing for the dollar as we have been recording more purchases,” he said.

At the official section of the foreign exchange market (FX), the local currency gained by 5.05 percent to N878.61 on Tuesday — from N925.3 on Monday.

FMDQ Exchange, a platform that oversees official FX trading in Nigeria, said the naira recorded a high of N1,336.05 and a low of N701.

Meanwhile, the association of Bureau de Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), on Tuesday,  said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) granted its members permission to post exchange rates online.

In a briefing on January 22, 2024, Aminu Gwadabe, ABCON’s president, said the association has been in discussions with relevant agencies to allow BDC operators to import dollars to bolster liquidity in the sector.

The Cable

Federation Account Allocation Committee says it shared a total sum of N1.13 trillion of earnings in December 2023 with the Federal Government, States, and Local Government Councils.

This is N50bn more than the N1.08trn shared to each state in November.

The FAAC in a communique after its January 2024 meeting, chaired by the Accountant General of the Federation, Oluwatoyin Madein, said the N1.13trn total distributable revenue comprised distributable statutory revenue of N363.188 billion, distributable Value Added Tax revenue of N458.622 billion, Electronic Money Transfer Levy revenue of N17.855 billion and Exchange Difference revenue of N287.743 billion.

Madein, who was quoted in a statement by the Director of Press and Public Relations, Bawa Mokwa on Tuesday, also said A total sum of N57.92 billion (13% of mineral revenue) was shared to the benefiting States as derivation revenue.

According to the communique, total revenue of N1,674.230 billion was available in December 2023.

Recall that the federation account began to enjoy more revenue following the removal of subsidies and unification of the country’s exchange rate by the current administration.

The statement read, “The N1.13trn total distributable revenue comprised distributable statutory revenue of N363.188 billion, distributable Value Added Tax revenue of N458.622 billion, Electronic Money Transfer Levy revenue of N17.855 billion and Exchange Difference revenue of N287.743 billion.

“Total deductions for cost of collection was N62.254 billion; total transfers, interventions, and refunds was N484.568 billion.

“Gross statutory revenue of N875.382 billion was received for December 2023. This was lower than the N882.560 billion received in the month of November 2023 by N 7.178 billion.”

The statement added that the gross revenue available from the Value Added Tax in December 2023 was N492.506 billion which was N132.1bn higher than the N360.455 billion available in November 2023.

The communique stated that from the N1,127.408 billion total distributable revenue, the Federal Government received a total of N383.872 billion, the State Governments received N396.693 billion and the Local Government Councils received N288.928 billion.

It added, “N57.915 billion (13% of mineral revenue) was shared to the benefiting States as derivation revenue.

“From the N363.188 billion distributable statutory revenue, the Federal Government received N173.729 billion, the State Governments received N88.118 billion and the Local Government Councils received N67.935 billion. N33.406 billion (13% of mineral revenue) was shared with the benefiting States as derivation revenue.

“The Federal Government received N68.793 billion, the State Governments received N229.311 billion and the Local Government Councils received N160.518 billion from the N458.622 billion distributable Value Added Tax revenue.

“The N17.855 billion Electronic Money Transfer Levy was shared as follows: the Federal Government received N2.678 billion, the State Governments received N8.928 billion and the Local Government Councils received N6.249 billion.

“The Federal Government received N138.672 billion from the N 287.743 billion Exchange Difference revenue. The State Governments received N70.336 billion, and the Local Government Councils received N54.226 billion. N24.509 billion (13% of mineral revenue) was shared to the benefiting States as derivation revenue.”

However, FAAC stated, “In the month of December 2023, Companies Income Tax, Excise Duty, Petroleum Profit Tax, Value Added Tax, and Electronic Money Transfer Levy increased significantly, while Oil and Gas Royalties decreased substantially. Import Duty and CET Levies decreased marginally.

“The balance in the ECA was $473,754.57, the statement concluded.

Punch

Plateau State Governor, Caleb Mutfwang, has declared a 24-hour curfew on the Mangu Local Government Area of the state with immediate effect.

The development was confirmed in a statement issued on Tuesday by the governor’s Director of Press and Public Affairs, Gyang Bere.

He said the decision followed the deteriorating security situation in the area.

The statement read in part, “Governor Mutfwang took the decision after consultations with the relevant security agencies.

“He stated that only persons on essential duties are allowed to move within the local government area until further notice.

“He urged all citizens, especially residents of Mangu Local Government Area, to comply with the directive and assist the security personnel by providing reliable information to restore peace and order in the area.

“He lamented that some people are still determined to create an atmosphere of insecurity in the state, despite the government’s efforts to end the activities of terrorist elements.

“He expressed his sympathy to the families of the victims and the injured and assured them that the government would not relent in ensuring lasting peace in the state.

“He promised that the curfew would be reviewed as soon as the security situation improves.”

Special Adviser to the Governor on Security and Homeland Safety, Gakji Shipi, in an interview with journalists, blamed the unrest leading to the imposition of the curfew on a misunderstanding between two individuals in the council area.

“The current situation in Mangu is a result of two people that escalated. The crisis is not political or has anything to do with the farmers-herders crisis. It was just two human beings that had an altercation and by coincidence, one of them happens to be a herder and the other person is a native.

“The native was crossing with his motorcycle and the Fulani was grazing his cattle and crossing the road and that obstructed traffic and there was an altercation between them. When that happened, the Fulani people came in support of their own and the natives also came in support of their own and the thing just got out of hands and that led to the imposition of curfew in Mangu,” he said.

It was learnt that during the unrest, several houses including churches and mosques were burnt down.

A former lawmaker representing Mangu South, Bala Fwangji, confirmed the arson while lamenting the situation.

Fwangji said, “What happened today in Mangu is not good at all. We just woke up to hear that some people are burning houses in Mangu and attacking anyone in sight. I cannot tell you how many houses were burnt, or the number of people attacked or killed, but these things happened today. But we thank God the security agents have been deployed and the situation is calm now.”

Secretary-General of Plateau Initiative for Development and Advancement of the Natives, Nanle Gujor, however, confirmed that four persons were killed during the unrest.

He said, “I returned to Jos from Abuja and given what happened in Mangu today, we are not happy. We are still assessing the situation, but I was told that four persons were killed. I will let you know the details of the situation when we are done.”

Punch

21 Israeli troops are killed in the deadliest attack on the military since the Gaza offensive began

Palestinian militants carried out the deadliest single attack on Israeli forces in Gaza since the Hamas raid that triggered the war, killing 21 soldiers, the military said Tuesday, a significant setback that could add to mounting calls for a cease-fire.

Hours later, the military announced that ground forces had encircled the southern city of Khan Younis, Gaza’s second largest, and thick, black smoke could be seen rising over the city as thousands of Palestinians fled south. Witnesses said Israeli tanks and troops had also moved into Muwasi, a nearby coastal area that the military had previously declared a safe zone for Palestinians.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mourned the Israeli soldiers, who died when the blast from a rocket-propelled grenade triggered explosives they were laying to blow up buildings. But he vowed to press ahead until “absolute victory,” including crushing Hamas and freeing more than 100 Israeli hostages still held by the militants.

Israelis are increasingly questioning whether it’s possible to achieve those war aims.

In the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, outraged Israelis set aside long simmering political differences and rallied behind the war. More than 100 days later, divisions are re-emerging, and anger is growing over Netanyahu’s conduct of the war. Families of the hostages have called for Israel to reach a deal with Hamas, saying time is running out to bring their relatives home alive.

A senior Egyptian official said Israel has proposed a two-month cease-fire in which the hostages would be freed in exchange for the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel and top Hamas leaders in Gaza would be allowed to relocate to other countries.

The official, who was not authorized to brief media and spoke on condition of anonymity, said Hamas rejected the proposal and insists no more hostages will be released until Israel ends its offensive and withdraws from Gaza. Israel’s government declined to comment on the talks.

Egypt and Qatar — which have brokered past agreements between Israel and Hamas — were developing a multistage proposal to try to bridge the gaps, the official said.

‘ONE OF THE HARDEST DAYS’ FOR ISRAEL

Israeli reservists were preparing explosives Monday to demolish two buildings outside central Gaza’s Maghazi refugee camp, near the Israeli border, when a militant fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a tank nearby. The blast triggered the explosives, collapsing both two-story buildings onto the soldiers.

Israeli media said the troops were working to create an informal buffer zone, about a kilometer wide (0.6 miles) along the border to prevent militants from attacking Israeli communities near Gaza. Military spokesman Daniel Hagari said the mission was to clear buildings to “create the conditions” that would allow the residents of the south to return to their homes.

The United States has said it would oppose any attempt by Israel to shrink Gaza’s territory.

Throughout the war, Israeli troops have used controlled detonations to destroy structures that the military says hide Hamas tunnels or have been used by militants as firing positions — one reason for the massive destruction wreaked by the ground offensive. Blasts have destroyed entire city blocks, apartment complexes, government buildings and universities, fueling Palestinians’ fears that the territory will left unlivable.

At least 217 soldiers have been killed since the ground offensive began in late October, including three killed in a separate event Monday, according to the military.

Netanyahu acknowledged on social media that it was “one of the hardest days” of the war but vowed to keep up the offensive.

“We are in the middle of a war that is more than justified. In this war, we are making big achievements, like the encircling of Khan Younis, and there are also very heavy losses,” he later said in a video statement.

Israel launched its offensive after Hamas crossed the border Oct. 7, killing over 1,200 people and abducting some 250 others. More than 100 were released in November during a weeklong cease-fire.

The offensive has caused widespread death and destruction, killing at least 25,490 people — the majority women and children — and wounding another 63,354, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Its count does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. An estimated 85% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes in a humanitarian crisis that has left one-quarter of the population facing starvation.

TROOPS IN THE “SAFE ZONE”

With fighting raging in neighboring Khan Younis city, witnesses said that in the past few days Israeli troops and tanks had entered parts of Muwasi. Previously, the military had told Palestinians to take refuge in the tiny rural area on the Mediterranean coast, saying it would be spared military operations.

On Monday, troops stormed Al-Khair Hospital inside the zone and struck the nearby Al-Aqsa University where displaced people were sheltering, according to health officials.

The advance sent families who had fled to the area from fighting elsewhere fleeing once more, said one witness, Aseel al-Muqayed. One main street “had been very crowded with displaced people, you could hardly find a place without a tent. Now the area is almost empty,” she said, adding that she had seen tanks now stationed nearby.

The 21-year-old al-Muqayed has already been displaced multiple times since her family evacuated from northern Gaza. They moved repeatedly, fleeing bombardment — her younger brother and a cousin were killed in a strike that hit one of their refuges — and eventually ended up in Khan Younis. She came to Muwasi several days ago, learning there was electricity there to charge her mother’s phone, and now was afraid to move.

“For two nights, we have not been able to sleep as the sounds of tanks, gunfire and explosions are very close,” she said.

Inside Khan Younis, heavy fighting raged around the two main hospitals. Shelling hit the fourth floor of Al-Amal Hospital, where a shell hit the fourth floor, killing one person and wounding 10 others, according to Raed al-Nems, a spokesperson for the Palestine Red Crescent rescue service which runs the facility.

Shelling on Monday also hit a U.N. school in the city sheltering displaced people, killing at least six people, according to the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA.

Israel’s offensive has focused for weeks on Khan Younis and several urban refugee camps in central Gaza, after the military claimed to have largely defeated Hamas in the north.

Israel believes Hamas commanders may be hiding in tunnels beneath Khan Younis, the hometown of the group’s top leader in Gaza, Yehya Sinwar, whose location is unknown.

PRESSURE FOR A CEASE-FIRE

The growing death toll and dire humanitarian situation have led to increasing international pressure on Israel to scale back the offensive and agree to a path for the creation of a Palestinian state after the war. The United States, which has provided crucial military aid for the offensive, has joined those calls.

But Netanyahu, whose popularity has plummeted since Oct. 7 and whose governing coalition is beholden to far-right parties, has rebuffed both demands.

Instead, he has said Israel will need to expand operations and eventually take over the Gaza side of the border with Egypt — an area where some 1 million Palestinians are packed into overflowing U.N.-run shelters and sprawling tent camps.

That drew an angry protest from Egypt’s government, which rejected Israeli allegations that Hamas smuggles in weapons across the heavily guarded frontier.

Diaa Rashwan, head of Egypt’s State Information Service, said Monday that any Israeli move to occupy the border area would “lead to a serious threat” to relations between the two countries, which signed a landmark peace treaty over four decades ago. Egypt is also deeply concerned about any potential influx of Palestinian refugees into its Sinai Peninsula.

AP

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian cities kill 18, Zelenskiy says

Russian missiles hit Ukraine's two largest cities, killing 18 people, injuring more than 130 and damaging homes and infrastructure, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said as Moscow's war approaches its third year.

The eastern city of Kharkiv suffered three waves of attacks. There were strikes on Kyiv and in central Ukraine and the southern region of Kherson, subject to constant shelling.

Zelenskiy, in his nightly video address, said Russia had launched nearly 40 missiles of different types in "another combined strike to try to circumvent our air defence system".

More than 200 sites were hit, including 139 dwellings, with many deaths in "an ordinary high-rise apartment building. Ordinary people lived there," he said.

Kharkiv's mayor and the governor of Kharkiv region said eight people had been killed in the city, which has been subjected to repeated attacks in 23 months of war.

Ukraine's Emergency Services posted online a video of teams sifting through a shattered apartment building. Police said search operations were suspended before midnight as there was a danger of debris falling on rescue squads.

Kharkiv regional Governor Oleh Synehubov said more than 100 high-rise blocks had been damaged in the first two attacks. He said there were three hits in the evening on an apartment block and other infrastructure, injuring seven.

Ukraine's General Staff said the country's armed forces had destroyed 22 of 44 missiles of various types. Nearly 20 had been shot down over Kyiv, the city's military administration said.

The strikes coincided with Defence Minister Rustem Umerov telling the latest international ministerial meeting on Kyiv's defence needs that Russia was stepping up missile attacks.

Over the past two months, he said, Russian forces had used more than 600 missiles and more than 1,000 drones.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said after the meeting that Berlin would send six "Sea King" helicopters to Ukraine later this year, the first delivery of its kind.

WOUNDED IN KYIV

In Kyiv, emergency services said 22 people, including four children, had been wounded across at least three districts. At one site, rescuers tended to dazed and groaning victims as workers swept away debris and broken glass.

"There was a very loud bang, and my mother was already running outside, shouting that we need to leave. We all went to the corridor," said Daniel Boliukh, 21.

"Then, we went on the balcony to have a look, and saw all these buildings were on fire."

Emergency services said apartment buildings, medical and educational institutions were damaged in Kyiv. Some of the damage occurred next to the United Nations office, resident coordinator Denise Brown said in a statement.

The Kremlin, asked to comment on the strikes on Kyiv and Kharkiv, said the Russian military does not target civilians.

Kherson regional Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said Russian aircraft had pounded his region throughout the day. Officials said two people had died. One person was killed in the southeastern city of Pavlohrad, the regional governor said.

The attacks damaged a gas pipeline in Kharkiv and thousands were left without power after infrastructure was hit.

Russia has carried out regular air strikes on cities and civilian infrastructure far behind the front lines since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Its troops, meanwhile, are attacking along the sprawling eastern front and seeking to seize the initiative, Ukraine's military says.

Russian forces have increasingly employed a mix of air- and land-based missiles that are more difficult to shoot down.

Moscow accused Kyiv on Sunday of shelling the Russian-occupied eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, killing 27 people. Ukrainian forces said Russia bore responsibility for the attack.

The Russian defence ministry said on Tuesday it had struck enterprises producing missiles, explosives and ammunition.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russian strikes on Kiev and Kharkov not retaliation for Donetsk – Kremlin

Russian missile strikes on Kiev and Kharkov on Tuesday morning were not retaliation for the recent Ukrainian attack on a busy market in Donetsk, which killed over two dozen civilians, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said. 

His statement came after the Russian Defense Ministry reported carrying out a large series of high-precision missile strikes on military targets in Ukraine, particularly sites producing rockets and other munitions. 

Ukrainian media reported on Tuesday, however, that residential buildings in Kharkov and Kiev had sustained damage and that several dozen people had been injured in the attacks. The Ukrainian military also claimed to have shot down 21 out of 41 missiles fired by Russia. However, it was unclear where those projectiles landed and if they could have been the cause of the damage sustained in residential areas in the two Ukrainian cities.

Kremlin spokesman Peskov stated that the Russian attack was not a response to Kiev’s assault on Donetsk, stressing that it was only part of Moscow’s ongoing operation. He also insisted that Russian forces “do not target social infrastructure, residential areas or civilians, unlike the Kiev regime.” 

”This is what fundamentally distinguishes our military from the military of the Kiev regime,” Peskov emphasized. 

Tuesday’s missile strikes follow the shelling of the Russian city of Donetsk on Sunday. The attack, which targeted a busy local market and shops, left 27 civilians dead and several dozen others seriously injured, including children. Moscow condemned the attack as “barbaric” and a “heinous act of terrorism,” also suggesting it was carried out with Western support.  

”The Kiev regime continues to show its savage face, they strike at civilian infrastructure, at people, at the civilian population,” Peskov said following the incident, adding that Moscow will do everything possible to prevent any repeat in future.  

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also condemned Sunday’s attack on Donetsk but refused to assign blame, instead calling for a general cessation of any hostilities toward civilians and civilian infrastructure.

Reuters/RT

Vincent Deary, psychologist, fatigue specialist and author, has been telling me what an “anxious creature” he is. He barely slept last night. The hotel room was unfamiliar and noisy. Worse, the prospect of an interview and of meeting someone new made his arrhythmic heart race.

It’s racing now as we sit together in a London hotel. We’re here to discuss his new book, How We Break: Navigating the Wear and Tear of Living, an exploration of our varying responses to the corrosive pressures of daily life, especially work, and an assertion of the vital necessity of rest, recovery and the lost art of convalescence. The book is the second in a trilogy by Deary, a professor of psychology at Northumbria University and a clinical fatigue specialist at the Cresta Fatigue Clinic, a role from which he has just retired. The NHS clinic, which is closing later this year, is unique in the UK for taking a multi-disciplinary approach to disabling fatigue. Deary goes on to share something else with me: he dreads the intimacy of dinner parties and hates surprises, before adding that his partner of 10 years recently threw a surprise party for his 60th birthday – and he loved it. Proof, it seems, that people can change.

Well yes and no. Deary believes we can make changes, if circumstances allow, and we can adapt, but we can’t fundamentally change the self we were born with. First, there’s our genetic makeup. Then, he says, there’s our constitution, which is encoded with memories of previous generations and sometimes by intergenerational trauma; the body remembers, it keeps score. Deary offers himself up as a good example of this, and there are three other case histories in the book, including that of his late mother.

When he hit 40, long since amicably divorced, Deary left his job as an NHS therapist, sold up in London, moved back to Scotland, and corralled material for the first book. Five years later, he became a single parent when his 16-year-old daughter came to live with him. The finished book cowered in a drawer, Deary lacking the confidence to seek publication. How to Live, the first book in the trilogy, was finally published when he was 50. Now he was an author, too, an acclaimed one. Lots of changes there then.

But who he is, fundamentally, has not changed, he says. “I still have social anxiety.” What he has managed to change is his relationship with this anxiety: “I recognise that it is part of me, that it’s going to show up, so I now literally bring it along with me as a companion. And that’s OK. It might mean I am hyper and talk a lot, but that can be quite useful.”

For Deary, arriving at this place of self-acceptance and self-love has been a project, it’s been work and that’s also OK, because we each have to work on the self we are born with in order to survive, or thrive. Some, like Deary, won’t be a good fit for their environment, which means “some of us are harder work for ourselves than others”. We “tremble” as we encounter the turbulence of life, including the changes we have to navigate but, again, some of us tremble more than others. In turn, holding steady in the face of change, what’s known as the allostatic load, becomes too much, “There’s no wriggle room and we break,” as Deary himself did while writing his new book.

As part of his work on himself, Deary has traced the reach and roots of his anxiety, as he does for his patients in the fatigue clinic. Early on, he “meets” an effeminate child growing up in a working-class culture on the west coast of Scotland and sees what “a misfit” he was. He ran with the “rejects and the freaks”.

“I was visibly different from my peers,” he tells me, “very gentle, soft-spoken. I was little and timorous by nature. That’s not necessarily great in a working-class comprehensive in the 70s in Scotland. There was bullying. I was called either snobby or poofy. I was neither.” He had a big nose and was called Concorde. “My body remembers the early threats; I am still easily frightened.”

So was his mother. Gentle and open-minded, she had a punitive upbringing and, like her son, had an “anxious constitution”. Deary was an “unexpected pregnancy,” he writes, his mother already dealing with a large family and the wear and tear of poverty and a difficult marriage. “I was born alarmed,” he writes. But home was good. “I had quite an exceptional mother,” he says, “and an exceptional home life. We were enculturated into art, literature, theatre very early on and so that marked us out as different. I did not come from a typical west coast Scottish family.”

He shares his story in the book, not “to say I had a really difficult time, but because I wanted people to find resonance – I wanted them to see that when you don’t fit in, you’re given back to yourself as work because you need to learn to manage that not fitting. You need to learn to manage the difficult feelings coming out of that and you need to learn to manage yourself.”

Key to that self-management is not only understanding and self-love, but rest. Deary has a mantra: work needs rest and rest takes work. We need to take time out to rest in order to heal from extreme exhaustion, chronic illness, or unexpected life events, what Deary terms “biographical disruption”. We also need to take a rest from work and free ourselves from an “audit culture” that pushes us, sometimes to breaking point. But first, we need to learn how to rest. “It’s a skill,” he says, one that nowadays has to be acquired.

“One of the things I noticed in the fatigue clinic is that tired people can often do the things they need to do, but a lot of them really struggle with switching off. We often associate our worth and our value in terms of productivity and output. Both within academia and the NHS there are whole mini-industries dedicated to evaluating your productivity and your output, often telling you that you could do better and, actually, could you do better with less, please. It’s very easy to buy into that narrative that your work equals your productivity. So, for people who are exhausted and can’t be productive, it’s very easy to go, I don’t deserve to rest, I am worthless, I have done nothing to earn this.

“But we need to allow ourselves to rest, to nap, to enjoy, to deliberately switch on to joy and nourishment and the stuff that actually fills the tank. I wrote this book to understand myself, but also because, in the last few years, I saw friends, family, colleagues, society, to an extent, just become overwhelmed, or exhausted, or hopeless or joyless. Ordinary people going through ordinary suffering. Some of them crossed the clinical line into physical or mental health systems, but most of them were just struggling to get on with life. Often the first casualty of stress is joy. Deliberately leaning into that joy and finding out the stuff that restores you is really key to recovery.”

Some GPs have started handing out joy as a “social prescription”. But how do we identify what brings us joy? “The clue is in our everyday language: ‘That really lifted my spirits,’ or ‘I got a lot out of that.’ It’s the stuff that cheers us up or energises us.” A meal with loved ones is often high up on the list. Deary’s academic research looks at the challenges faced by head and neck cancer survivors. “It’s not the food they miss,” he says, “it’s the sharing. They were mourning the connection. It’s what we call commensality: that social magic which comes when you’re sharing food. Our research with food and head and neck cancer and other conditions highlighted that pleasure is a necessity; being deprived of it is literally depressing and demoralising.”

One day, halfway through writing How We Break, Deary discovered this for himself. He woke up “in a state of exhaustion. I had no real ability to get out of bed. When I finally took myself for a walk, I was wiped out the next day. I was in a state of hopeless exhaustion. My mood went down as well. I was completely disengaged from life. It was a very difficult time.”

To recover he did “what I help people in the fatigue clinic do, which is, gradually get back into things at my own pace and do a combination of physical and emotional rehab. Incremental engagement with life. I think that is what true convalescence is. It’s not just rest and it’s not just activity, it’s that mixture of both: it’s acknowledging that there is a deep need for rest and recovery. It’s like Thomas Mann’s Magic Mountain where they are all sitting about in the sanatorium: there’s the beauty, there’s the connection, there’s the food. There’s the joy” – even in an interview. “A joyful encounter!” was Deary’s verdict, glad that he came, proud of himself and proof that a little self-love goes a long way to ease the wear and tear of life.

The Guardian, UK

Northern Senators Forum (NSF) has condemned the relocation of some departments in the Central Bank of Nigeria and the headquarters of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) from Abuja to Lagos State.

The senators called on the federal government to consider reversal of the relocated departments or ready to face legal actions.

Suleiman Kawu, spokesperson of NSF, made the call in a statement on Monday.

The CBN in an internal memo last week announced plans to transfer some of its departments to Lagos on the ground that its headquarters in Abuja is congested with staff.

Similarly, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo also announced the relocation of the FAAN headquarters from Abuja to Lagos.

Kawu, a member of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), representing Kano South in the upper chamber, explained that northerners are not satisfied with the relocation of the two federal government agencies to Lagos.

He said the northern senators have started engaging with their colleagues from other geopolitical zones in order to ensure that the relocated departments in the two federal agencies are reversed to Abuja.

The senator urged the aggrieved northerners to exercise patience with the inconveniences they might have faced due to the relocation of the agencies to Lagos.

“First and foremost, let us assure our constituents that we have taken their concerns seriously and are actively engaging with our colleagues in order to address these matters effectively. We firmly believe in the power of open dialogue and collaboration to bring about positive change for our nation.

“We urge our constituents to remain patient as we diligently explore avenues for dialogues, engage in peaceful negotiations, and deploy legal measures where necessary.

“Rest assured, our actions align with the constitutional framework and the laws of the land, as we endeavour to uphold justice and fairness,” he said.

Kawu said the forum’s members will discuss with the federal government, leadership of the Senate and other relevant stakeholders to ensure that the offices are returned to Abuja.

“It is our belief that through effective communication, mutual respect, and a shared vision, we can forge a path that leads to positive change. We will engage the executive branch of the government and the leadership of the Senate and the relevant stakeholders to actively listen to the concerns of Nigerians and provide updates on our progress.

“We encourage everyone to participate in these channels of communication, ensuring that their voices are heard and their perspectives valued.

“In conclusion, we, as representatives of the people, are fully committed to resolving the pressing issues at hand. We ask for your continued support, trust, and patience as we work towards delivering positive outcomes for our constituents and upholding the values enshrined in our Constitution.”

This is the third time that a Northern group will be condemning relocation of the two federal government agencies since it was made public.

The Northern Elders Forum and Arewa Consultative Forum had earlier condemned the relocation of the offices, claiming that the decision was to further underdevelop the northern part of the country. 

PT

The 16 members of the Plateau house of assembly sacked by the court of appeal have resolved to resume legislative duties on Tuesday (today).

In November 2023, the legislators who were elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), were sacked by the appeal court over a lack of party structure.

The election of Caleb Mutfwang, governor of the state, was also nullified by the court for the same reason.

However, Mutfwang’s sack was reversed by the supreme court on January 12. The apex court had ruled that the appeal court erred in its judgment.

Speaking to journalists on Monday, the sacked legislators claimed that they were only on recess and ready to resume.

Ishaku Maren, spokesperson of the group, said the sacked legislators were duly elected in their various constituencies.

Maren, who was the majority leader of the assembly before the appeal court judgment, said the court’s ruling was a miscarriage of justice.

“It was even in the words of the supreme court that the appeal court judgment was a miscarriage of justice,” Maren said.

“I want to also state that even in law, it says that if there is an injury, there will certainly be a remedy.

“Our constituents are willing and ready to accompany us to the assembly tomorrow because they voted for us, and they are not ready to compromise that.”

The Cable

The Canadian government has announced a two-year cap on study permits to limit its number of international students.

Marc Miller, the minister of immigration, on Monday, disclosed what he described as principal measures to improve programme integrity and maintain a sustainable level of presence among international students coming into the North American country.

He said the Canadian government will cap the number of student visas to be granted over the next two years.

Miller said Canada will approve 364,000 undergraduate study permits in 2024, a reduction of 35 percent from 2023.

He said each province and territory will be allotted a portion of this total, with permits to be distributed by population.

“It is the latest in a series of measures to improve programme integrity and set international students up for success to maintain a sustainable level of temporary presence in Canada as well,” he said.

“We will continue to work closely with those provinces to put these measures in place as they will be responsible for determining how the cap is distributed between its designated learning institutions that they have jurisdiction over.”

In addition to the cap, Miller said Canada will also now require international students applying for a study permit to provide an attestation letter from a province or territory.

The immigration minister also announced changes to the post-graduation work permit programme.

He said international students who begin a programme that is part of a curriculum licensing arrangement will no longer be eligible for a post-graduation work permit starting from September.

The Cable