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Fox News White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich has the latest on the planned executive orders on 'The Story.' A group of four NATO leaders and a representative from the European Union on Sunday said they agreed it was time to invest more in defense spending as Russia remains a chief security threat in Europe amid the war in Ukraine, and as Western leaders brace for the incoming Trump administration. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis argued the era of spending 2% of a nation’s GDP on defense was "probably history" but he, along with the other four leaders in attendance at the North-South Summit in Lapland, Finland fell short of saying what that figure should look like. "We know that we need to spend more than 2%," Mitsotakis said. "But it will become very clear... once we interact with the new president, what is the figure that we will agree on within NATO." Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis of Greece attend a press conference of the North-South Summit of Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo in Saariselka, Finnish Lapland, Dec. 22, 2024. (Lehtikuva/Antti Aimo-Koivisto via REUTERS ) PUTIN SAYS RUSSIA READY TO COMPROMISE WITH TRUMP ON UKRAINE WAR The summit was convened by Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, and was also attended by Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas. The leaders were questioned about a recent report by the Financial Times that said President-elect Donald Trump intends to push NATO to increase its defense spending requirement from 2% to 5% — a requirement that would demand all nations, including the U.S. which spends just over 3% of its GDP, to drastically increase spending on defense. The Trump transition team did not answer Fox News Digital’s questions on whether Trump is going to be pushing all NATO nations, including the U.S., to drastically ramp up defense spending. Instead, a spokesperson for the Trump transition team said, "President Trump believes European nations should meet their NATO defense spending obligations and step up their share of the burden for this conflict, as the U.S. has paid significantly more, which is not fair to our taxpayers. He will do what is necessary to restore peace and rebuild American strength and deterrence on the world stage." Fox News Digital also could not get clarity over whether an increase in defense spending would be supported by GOP lawmakers given the large number of conservatives in Congress, as well as his Vice President-elect, who have called for cutting U.S. aid to Ukraine, as well as last week’s internal fighting in the House among Republican lawmakers over spending disagreements. Even as NATO leaders at the North-South Summit agreed Russia is Europe’s "greatest threat," they urged caution when it came to dealing with "rumors" surrounding the incoming Trump administration. President Donald Trump speaks as he meets with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte during the NATO summit at The Grove, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2019, in Watford, England. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci) NATO CHIEF URGES MEMBERS TO 'TURBOCHARGE' DEFENSE PRODUCTION AS HE PAINTS PICTURE OF A WORLD BOUND FOR WAR "I would wait to understand exactly what is the real will of the new president of the US," Meloni said, according to a Bloomberg report. "On NATO, we all know and understand that we have to do more. A lot of what we can do is up to the tools that we are able to put on the table." The Finnish prime minster echoed a similar sentiment and said, "Europe has to take greater responsibility for its own security. This means that European countries have to be strong leaders, both in the EU and in NATO. "[Russia] is trying to consolidate power and sow discord in Europe. The geopolitical situation is also very challenging in the Middle East and North Africa, for example," Orpo added, according to Euro News. Kristersson said spending more on defense was important, in part, so that European nations were less dependent on the U.S. being "the main sponsor" of the alliance’s defense, but also to show Washington that European nations do take defense "seriously." "European countries — individually, most of us, and collectively — need to strengthen our defense. And let’s do that," he said. Servicemen of Ukraine's 93rd Mechanised Brigade fire a French MO-120-RT heavy mortar at the Russian forces on the front line near the city of Bakhmut in Ukraine's Donetsk region on Wednesday, May 22, 2024. (Iryna Rybakova via AP) Trump during his first administration pushed NATO leaders to meet their 2% defense spending pledge, which several did — increasing the number of allies to meet the terms of the NATO agreement from five in 2016 to nine in 2020. But that number dropped to just six once Trump left in 2021. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP By 2022, however, NATO leaders have once again began re-evaluating their defense budgets following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and by 2024, a historic number of NATO allies had met their spending agreements, with 23 out of 32 nations spending at least 2% of their GDP on defense. Only Poland spends over 4% of its GDP on defense, while four nations spend over 3%, including Estonia, the U.S., Latvia and Greece. Croatia, Portugal, Italy, Canada, Belgium, Luxembourg, Slovenia and Spain have yet to meet their defense spending commitments. Caitlin McFall is a Reporter at Fox News Digital covering Politics, U.S. and World news.
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Emanuel Wallace, 27, from east London, is better known as Big Manny by his 1.9 million followers on TikTok, where he shares videos explaining various science experiments from his back garden while using Jamaican Patois phrases and London slang. In early December, Mr Wallace won the Education Creator of the Year award at the TikTok Awards ceremony, which he said is a “symbol that anything that you put your mind to you can achieve”. The content creator began making videos during the coronavirus pandemic when schools turned to online learning but has since expanded his teaching from videos to paper after releasing his debut book Science Is Lit in August. He believes his “unconventional” teaching methods help to make his content relatable for younger audiences by using slang deriving from his Jamaican and British heritage. “The language that I use, it’s a combination between Jamaican Patois and London slang because I have Jamaican heritage,” the TikToker, who holds a bachelors and masters degree in biomedical science, told the PA news agency. “That’s why in my videos sometimes I might say things like ‘Wagwan’ or ‘you dun know’. I just want to connect with the young people more, so I speak in the same way that they speak. “The words that I use, the way that I deliver the lesson as well, I would say that my method of teaching is quite unconventional. I speak in a way that is quite conversational.” Examples of his videos include lithium batteries catching fire after being sandwiched inside a raw chicken breast, as well as mixing gold with gallium to create blue gold, earning millions of views. Mr Wallace hopes his content will help make the science industry more diverse, saying “the scientists that I was taught about, none of them look like me”. “Now me being a scientist is showing young people that they can become one as well, regardless of the background that they come from, the upbringing that they’ve had,” he said. “I just want to make it seem more attainable and possible for them because if I can do it, and I come from the same place as you, there’s no reason why you can’t do it as well.” The TikToker has seen a shift in more young people turning to the app as a learning resource and feels short-form videos will soon become a part of the national curriculum in schools. “I’m seeing (young people) using that a lot more – social media as a resource for education – and I feel like in the future, it’s going to become more and more popular as well,” he said. “I get a lot of comments from students saying that my teacher showed my video in the classroom as a resource, so I feel like these short form videos are going to be integrated within the national curriculum at some point in the near future.” He also uses his platform to raise awareness of different social issues, which he said is “extremely important”. One of his videos highlighted an anti-knife campaign backed by actor Idris Elba, which earned more than 39 million views, while his clip about the banning of disposable vapes was viewed more than 4.6 million times. He said there is some pressure being a teacher with a large following online but hopes he can be a role model for young people. “I’m aware that I am in the public eye and there’s a lot of young people watching me,” he said. “Young people can be impressionable, so I make sure that I conduct myself appropriately, so that I can be a role model. “I always have the same message for young people, specifically. I tell them to stay curious. Always ask questions and look a little bit deeper into things.” His plans for 2025 include publishing a second Science Is Lit book and expanding his teaching to television where he soon hopes to create his own science show.
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One of the big differences between the not-for-profit sector, which my company Our Community works with, and the frankly commercial sector is that ?" and for-profits ask "What can we get away with?". or signup to continue reading That's not an anti-capitalist rant. Businesses work in the real world, and NFPs need to learn from them. Laws aren't granite walls that channel us in a set direction. They're more like wetlands. You can take the made road through, and most people do, but if you have a reason to go another route you can generally feel your way through the bogs without actually hitting the unmapped patches of quicksand. All laws are unavoidably ambiguous, and lawyers don't give definitive answers. How could they? Every single court case since the ancient Mesopotamians thought up the idea of courts in the first place has involved two people who both believed, on consideration of the relevant texts, that they were in the right. In the light of this, it's clear that a perfect dispute resolution system, managed by angels, might achieve a client satisfaction rate as high as 50 per cent. Under a totally corrupt system run by ignorant morons, that rate might sink as low as 50 per cent. I'd say Australia fell somewhere in the middle. Like so much else in life, lawyers are primarily a means of assessing risk. Their job is to find out what degree of risk you're happy with and direct you along a vector that points towards your eventual goals. Along the way, your course is going to be pushed or pulled one way or another by the force fields that apply to all of us all the time; the law, yes, but also cost, degree of difficulty, time, paperwork, and, above all, other people. At Our Community we get a stream of inquiries from clubs and societies asking variations on the same question: "Our constitution says such-and-such, but that's not going to work. What do we do?" To which we generally bounce back another question: "Who cares?" That's not a flippant dismissal (well, not always). It's a vital constitutional principle, at all levels. If nobody has an interest in taking you down, you can fairly safely choose your own course. If the rules have painted you into a corner, people will generally look the other way even though you're tracking paint through the corridor (and who does paint their floors, anyway? Haven't you ever heard of carpeting?). If your problem involves significant amounts of money, of course, people are likely to care, but most volunteer NFPs can't hope in their wildest dreams to run into those hazards. Most of the time, they just want to be good citizens. And it's here that they run into the government information fogbank. If you go to any government website or helpline with a difficult question, you'll find that the exchange goes something like this. "Your site says 'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe.' Does that apply to my group?" "Your call is important to us. If, in your case, you are brillig, and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, and the mome raths outgrabe, then yes. Otherwise, no." Jargon, legalese, poor drafting - there is a whole range of things that can make the written rules unreadable. Still, no government advice source can either add or subtract a jot or tittle from the words of the act, and so it can't say what the words mean, and so the answers don't touch on anything the questioner wants to know. That's where the Our Community advice line comes in. We're generally prepared to give a three-dimensional answer, lifting off the page into the real world. Most of law, we tell people with questions, is a bluff. If you park illegally, or evade your tram fare, or put soft plastics into your recycling bin, you'll very probably get away with it, and those offences actually have enforcement officers who want to justify their salaries by feeling the collars of as many malefactors as possible. NFPs don't have even that. The regulators are first and foremost concerned with having their forms filled out correctly, and they will intervene only if the NFP concerned is overturned in the middle lane of the freeway leaking petrol while setting off fireworks. Which is, to a large extent, a good thing. Nearly all NFPs are trying to do the right thing nearly all the time, and forcing them into rigid compliance would be simply a waste of everybody's time and money, with the added possibility of political abuses. We should trust them. That involves a risk that some groups will abuse that trust, yes - a very small risk - but the alternative is grisly. NFPs should be focusing on what they want to do, which is to make Australia a better place, rather than on what's in the small print. Advertisement Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date. We care about the protection of your data. Read our . Advertisement
Consideration was given to recruiting women into Northern Ireland’s new police force on a 50:50 basis with men to address their “severe under-representation”, declassified files have revealed. However, legal advice was that a policy that half of new recruits to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) should be women was “not viable”, a memo from 2002 said. Stormont officials did seek legal advice that year on whether the new force’s policy of recruiting 50% of all officers from the Catholic community could be challenged as discriminatory towards ethnic minorities. Details are contained in documents held at the Public Record Office in Belfast. Hundreds of the files are being opened for public viewing under the 30/20 year rule. The majority of the files deal with events in 2003, although some are from earlier years. Catholics had been under-represented in the RUC, so a 50:50 recruitment policy ran for the first decade, meaning one Catholic recruit for every one person from a Protestant or other background. A file shows an exchange of emails between civil servants in the Office of the First Minister/Deputy First Minister (OFMDFM) following a PSNI human rights conference hosted in October 2002. One of the emails was seeking further information on comments at the conference about recruiting people from ethnic minorities to the force. A responding email said: “It’s all about the Patten formula of 50/50 recruitment: 50% Roman Catholic and 50% Protestant and Others. Minority Ethnics fall into the Others. “The issue, at present, is that most applicants still fall into the latter category (around 65% from memory) so this increases the competition within this grouping and makes the candidate less likely to be successful – this could therefore disadvantage Minority Ethnics. “Joe (Stewart) suggested that options could be to move Minority Ethnics to the Roman Catholic Category or alternatively create a 3rd category, say of 2%. “The issue needs further consideration including how any requirement for change could be progressed.” “NIO did not not pursue.” Within the file there are clippings from media reports at the time where concern is being raised about the impact of 50:50 recruitment on police numbers after then PSNI chief constable Hugh Orde announced he was axing the force’s band due to resource pressures. Another internal email was then sent on December 12 under the title “50/50 Recruitment and Race”. It says the “50:50 split Catholic/non-Catholic has recently survived a legal challenge”. The email continues: “There may still be a point (although unpopular to argue) that the percentage ethnic minority is too small to claim disadvantage/indirect discrimination – ironically the higher the percentage population of ethnic minorities, the stronger would be the claim for advantage/indirect discrimination because the lower the chance of recruitment to the PSNI (ie because the larger the share of the non-Catholic pool). “Interestingly, a stronger challenge could be brought by a young person for age discrimination whom statistics consistently show is more likely to be not religious and so in the ‘non Catholic’ pool. “Politically, there could be difficulties because there is a high profile agenda in GB at present to recruit ethnic minorities into the police service post-Macpherson/Lawrence.” There is also a draft note seeking legal advice on the issue which states that the 50:50 recruitment policy “would seem to be incompatible with the implementation of the (Race) Directive”.
For some people, the pandemic has forever changed their behavior. Despite being four years removed from the initial outbreak and even the declaring an end to the “Public Health Emergency,” there are overly concerned Americans who still cling to the outrageously bizarre and paranoid behavior the rest of us have come to recognize since . On Thursday, political commentator LibsofTikTok posted a video to X of this behavior in the form of “COVID cautious” bowling. A group of “Covid cautious” people In Oregon rented out a bowling alley, had everyone mask including the employees, set up air purifiers, and separated kids from adults. This happened a few days ago. How are these people real — Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) The woman narrating the video explains that she and her friends went to Kingpins — a bowling alley in Portland, — before official business hours, where everyone agreed to wear a mask. Amanda, the narrator, said in addition to masks the group had “purifiers up the a**”. She called the hour and a half her group of eighty was there, “a fantastic time,” noting how it was “amazing” as she showed adults and children alike bowling together. This type of event would be peculiar at any point in the past four years, but considering that LibsofTikTok indicates this was recent, it’s outrageous. Years of fear-mongering about COVID-19 from the CDC, , and federal government have left an indelible mark on the psyche of those inclined to listen to them. Although questions could arise from an accurate number of deaths stemming from COVID, it’s not something anyone would . No one would ask to be shot or hit by a bus either. Yet, these are risks every time we step out into the world. We avoid dangerous situations where an armed individual could do us harm. We look both ways before crossing the street. We minimize the risk but still live. But this bowling debacle makes it clear that risk minimization can pretty easily devolve into overkill manifesting as paranoia. One could argue the “ cautious” are living, but is it how anyone would want to live indefinitely? If this is what bowling looks like, how do these people go to a grocery store, visit family, or eat at a restaurant? Perhaps they avoid all of those things completely. This ultimately comes down to meaning and purpose. Whether it be lingering paranoia from the pandemic, , or championing any other leftist cause, the activist always seem to lack meaning and fulfillment in a higher role. Simply put, they need a reason to feel important because they don’t have one otherwise. For the “COVID cautious” the real fear is the abyss of meaninglessness they may find themselves in if they just moved on. We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. .Richard Parsons, prominent executive who led Time Warner and Citigroup, dies at 76
By MICHELLE L. PRICE WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — An online spat between factions of Donald Trump’s supporters over immigration and the tech industry has thrown internal divisions in his political movement into public display, previewing the fissures and contradictory views his coalition could bring to the White House. The rift laid bare the tensions between the newest flank of Trump’s movement — wealthy members of the tech world including billionaire Elon Musk and fellow entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and their call for more highly skilled workers in their industry — and people in Trump’s Make America Great Again base who championed his hardline immigration policies. The debate touched off this week when Laura Loomer , a right-wing provocateur with a history of racist and conspiratorial comments, criticized Trump’s selection of Sriram Krishnan as an adviser on artificial intelligence policy in his coming administration. Krishnan favors the ability to bring more skilled immigrants into the U.S. Loomer declared the stance to be “not America First policy” and said the tech executives who have aligned themselves with Trump were doing so to enrich themselves. Much of the debate played out on the social media network X, which Musk owns. Loomer’s comments sparked a back-and-forth with venture capitalist and former PayPal executive David Sacks , whom Trump has tapped to be the “White House A.I. & Crypto Czar.” Musk and Ramaswamy, whom Trump has tasked with finding ways to cut the federal government , weighed in, defending the tech industry’s need to bring in foreign workers. It bloomed into a larger debate with more figures from the hard-right weighing in about the need to hire U.S. workers, whether values in American culture can produce the best engineers, free speech on the internet, the newfound influence tech figures have in Trump’s world and what his political movement stands for. Trump has not yet weighed in on the rift. His presidential transition team did not respond to questions about positions on visas for highly skilled workers or the debate between his supporters online. Instead, his team instead sent a link to a post on X by longtime adviser and immigration hard-liner Stephen Miller that was a transcript of a speech Trump gave in 2020 at Mount Rushmore in which he praised figures and moments from American history. Musk, the world’s richest man who has grown remarkably close to the president-elect , was a central figure in the debate, not only for his stature in Trump’s movement but his stance on the tech industry’s hiring of foreign workers. Technology companies say H-1B visas for skilled workers, used by software engineers and others in the tech industry, are critical for hard-to-fill positions. But critics have said they undercut U.S. citizens who could take those jobs. Some on the right have called for the program to be eliminated, not expanded. Born in South Africa, Musk was once on an a H-1B visa himself and defended the industry’s need to bring in foreign workers. “There is a permanent shortage of excellent engineering talent,” he said in a post. “It is the fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley.” Trump’s own positions over the years have reflected the divide in his movement. Related Articles National Politics | Trump threat to immigrant health care tempered by economic hopes National Politics | In states that ban abortion, social safety net programs often fail families National Politics | Trump vows to pursue executions after Biden commutes most of federal death row National Politics | Elon Musk’s preschool is the next step in his anti-woke education dreams National Politics | Trump’s picks for top health jobs not just team of rivals but ‘team of opponents’ His tough immigration policies, including his pledge for a mass deportation, were central to his winning presidential campaign. He has focused on immigrants who come into the U.S. illegally but he has also sought curbs on legal immigration , including family-based visas. As a presidential candidate in 2016, Trump called the H-1B visa program “very bad” and “unfair” for U.S. workers. After he became president, Trump in 2017 issued a “Buy American and Hire American” executive order , which directed Cabinet members to suggest changes to ensure H-1B visas were awarded to the highest-paid or most-skilled applicants to protect American workers. Trump’s businesses, however, have hired foreign workers, including waiters and cooks at his Mar-a-Lago club , and his social media company behind his Truth Social app has used the the H-1B program for highly skilled workers. During his 2024 campaign for president, as he made immigration his signature issue, Trump said immigrants in the country illegally are “poisoning the blood of our country” and promised to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. But in a sharp departure from his usual alarmist message around immigration generally, Trump told a podcast this year that he wants to give automatic green cards to foreign students who graduate from U.S. colleges. “I think you should get automatically, as part of your diploma, a green card to be able to stay in this country,” he told the “All-In” podcast with people from the venture capital and technology world. Those comments came on the cusp of Trump’s budding alliance with tech industry figures, but he did not make the idea a regular part of his campaign message or detail any plans to pursue such changes.A TikToker who went viral teaching science videos predicts short-form video will make its way into the national curriculum after 2024 saw him publish a new book and win a TikTok award. Emanuel Wallace, 27, from east London, is better known as Big Manny by his 1.9 million followers on TikTok, where he shares videos explaining various science experiments from his back garden while using Jamaican Patois phrases and London slang. In early December, Mr Wallace won the Education Creator of the Year award at the TikTok Awards ceremony, which he said is a “symbol that anything that you put your mind to you can achieve”. The content creator began making videos during the coronavirus pandemic when schools turned to online learning but has since expanded his teaching from videos to paper after releasing his debut book Science Is Lit in August. He believes his “unconventional” teaching methods help to make his content relatable for younger audiences by using slang deriving from his Jamaican and British heritage. “The language that I use, it’s a combination between Jamaican Patois and London slang because I have Jamaican heritage,” the TikToker, who holds a bachelors and masters degree in biomedical science, told the PA news agency. “That’s why in my videos sometimes I might say things like ‘Wagwan’ or ‘you dun know’. I just want to connect with the young people more, so I speak in the same way that they speak. “The words that I use, the way that I deliver the lesson as well, I would say that my method of teaching is quite unconventional. I speak in a way that is quite conversational.” Examples of his videos include lithium batteries catching fire after being sandwiched inside a raw chicken breast, as well as mixing gold with gallium to create blue gold, earning millions of views. Mr Wallace hopes his content will help make the science industry more diverse, saying “the scientists that I was taught about, none of them look like me”. “Now me being a scientist is showing young people that they can become one as well, regardless of the background that they come from, the upbringing that they’ve had,” he said. “I just want to make it seem more attainable and possible for them because if I can do it, and I come from the same place as you, there’s no reason why you can’t do it as well.” The TikToker has seen a shift in more young people turning to the app as a learning resource and feels short-form videos will soon become a part of the national curriculum in schools. “I’m seeing (young people) using that a lot more – social media as a resource for education – and I feel like in the future, it’s going to become more and more popular as well,” he said. “I get a lot of comments from students saying that my teacher showed my video in the classroom as a resource, so I feel like these short form videos are going to be integrated within the national curriculum at some point in the near future.” He also uses his platform to raise awareness of different social issues, which he said is “extremely important”. One of his videos highlighted an anti-knife campaign backed by actor Idris Elba, which earned more than 39 million views, while his clip about the banning of disposable vapes was viewed more than 4.6 million times. He said there is some pressure being a teacher with a large following online but hopes he can be a role model for young people. “I’m aware that I am in the public eye and there’s a lot of young people watching me,” he said. “Young people can be impressionable, so I make sure that I conduct myself appropriately, so that I can be a role model. “I always have the same message for young people, specifically. I tell them to stay curious. Always ask questions and look a little bit deeper into things.” His plans for 2025 include publishing a second Science Is Lit book and expanding his teaching to television where he soon hopes to create his own science show.
Your black plastic kitchen utensils aren’t so toxic after all. But you should still toss them, group saysAs a professional speaker, Mr Eric Feng says a big part of his identity hinged on his popularity and the size of his audience. SINGAPORE – For the longest time, 43-year-old Eric Feng did not consider himself a lonely person. How could he be lonely when he was never alone? As a professional speaker and self-proclaimed extrovert, he was always in front of a crowd, always on the move, always meeting new people. Yet, when Covid-19 grounded him in Singapore, the realisation hit him like a truck. Stuck at home with no one to talk to, he felt a part of his identity shatter. “Because of the nature of my job, I wasn’t in Singapore a lot, which meant I didn’t really have the time to build deep friendships. I had a lot of acquaintances, but didn’t have anyone I could talk to about my problems,” says the bachelor. “When we were allowed to meet in groups of four or five, I thought to myself, ‘Oh no, who are my four close friends? Do I even have four?’” Mr Feng describes this encroaching sense of loneliness as “very unsettling”. He had his first panic attack while being quarantined and started to feel disconnected from the rest of the world. For many Singaporeans like Mr Feng, the pandemic was a time of reckoning. And even though the country has moved past that period of mandatory isolation, the scars linger. “This persistence of loneliness post-Covid-19 could be due to several factors, such as altered interaction patterns in school or the workplace, including the increased prevalence of virtual or remote interactions,” says Dr Wong Chin Yi. The research fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) Social Lab studies social mobility, well-being and inclusivity. People are also becoming more aware of the different types of loneliness after the Covid-19 period shone the spotlight on mental health conditions. Beyond physical isolation, one might also feel emotionally detached – that is, unseen, unappreciated or misunderstood – despite being surrounded by people. “That type of loneliness has been receiving increasingly more attention in my clinic. People are more able to put words to the experience and are willing to be vulnerable enough to be connected to that experience,” says Dr Annabelle Chow, principal clinical psychologist at Annabelle Psychology, a private clinic. What does loneliness look like? As these feelings become more pervasive, the face of loneliness is changing. Mr Lin Xiangbin, senior clinical psychologist at Better Life Psychological Medicine Clinic, says: “Traditionally, loneliness was often associated with specific profiles, such as individuals with fewer friends or those who were single. “However, due to factors like increased work demands and reduced face-to-face interactions, loneliness can now affect a wider range of people, including those who might not typically be considered lonely.” That includes successful working adults with extensive social and professional networks, as well as individuals who are married or in a relationship. Content creator Jessica Loh, 32, has accepted that there are parts of her life her boyfriend and friends will never fully understand. She is still working through the familial trauma she suffered in childhood and finds it difficult to tell her friends about it, because she does not want to “put that weight on them”. “When I tell my boyfriend about my trauma, he feels bad for me, but he doesn’t understand because he hasn’t been through anything remotely similar. So, it can be even more isolating than not sharing about my problems at all,” she says. His role, she figures, is to offer a listening ear and suggest actions she can take to mitigate her hurt. But her inner trauma is something only she – and her therapist – can deal with. But not everyone gets the support he or she needs from his or her other half. While spouses or partners are usually expected to provide companionship, the gulf between expectation and reality can instead send some on a downward spiral of disillusionment. Dr Geraldine Tan, principal psychologist at The Therapy Room, a centre offering psychological services and therapeutic interventions, has observed more married individuals coming forward to seek help. “They’re being told they’re bad at taking care of the house or looking after the children, so they don’t feel valued at home. They tell me they’re not being heard, they’re taken for granted. Communication has broken down, so they feel lonely in their marriage.” Psychologists say more and more patients report feeling lonely in their marriages. PHOTO: PEXELS Dr Chow calls loneliness in marriages “an insidious virus” that affects one in three patients. “One example is that new mothers usually tell me they feel very lonely, because they’re up at night looking after the baby and breastfeeding, while the father is sleeping and snoring. But the husband might say, ‘I’m trying my best. I’m doing all these things and I didn’t know it still wasn’t enough.’” Even the young, who have yet to experience the trials of married life or the existential dread of old age, are not spared the grip of loneliness. An IPS poll released in early 2024 found that youth aged 21 to 34 are more likely to report higher levels of social isolation and loneliness. It is also a common issue among the 13- to 19-year-olds that Ms Jasmin Chong, a senior counsellor at mental health non-profit Club Heal, works with. “When they transit from adolescence to the adult world, everything is so new to them. They start to explore their identity, to ask questions. Nobody gets a perfect answer, so they can get a bit disillusioned. They feel like they’re riding this whole course alone,” she says. And this might be only the start of what is being described in some reports as an epidemic of sorts. IPS’ Dr Wong points out that shifting priorities could lead to greater social isolation in the future. “Population trends with marriage and parenthood indicate that local household sizes will continue to shrink and these changes will likely decrease the number of social connections and increase the likelihood of social isolation.” He says that although strong social connections can exist outside familial ties, the household typically offers “built-in social connections” and opportunities to bond that make it easier to foster emotionally supportive relationships. Hello, stranger Between work, family and other responsibilities, it can be difficult for adults to carve out time to sustain their social lives. This was a predicament 30-year-old Nuratiqah, who wants to be known by only one name, faced when she stepped into the working world. She says: “As an adult, it’s lonely especially if you’re single. It’s always the same routine, and I was so bored. “I’m not that close to my colleagues, and though I’m still in contact with my university friends, we meet only a couple of times each year because they’re busy with their kids.” To expand her social circle, the research assistant at the National University of Singapore (NUS) has been going to gatherings organised by ground-up initiative Friendzone. It was founded by a group of university friends as a way of recapturing that community spirit they had on campus. Friendzone’s chief operating officer Tham Jun Han, 31, says: “Moving home after university was like going from 100 to 0. It was very strange.” Friendzone gatherings are aimed at those between the ages of 18 and 35 who live in the neighbourhood where the event is being held. PHOTO: FRIENDZONE SG At these free events, which usually last two to three hours and are attended by 40 to 50 people, young adults have the opportunity to mix and mingle with strangers who live in the same neighbourhood. With the help of prompt cards, conversations can soon get deep. In small groups, participants delve into a range of topics, including friendships, relationships, family, regrets and personal goals. Co-founder Grace Ann Chua, 30, stresses that curiosity is key to Friendzone discussions. “Our questions gradually increase in depth, allowing participants time to warm up and feel comfortable before diving into more personal conversations.” Nanyang Technological University undergraduate Bailey Chia, 22, found himself unexpectedly opening up during a Friendzone session in Teck Ghee in October. He says: “This experience introduced me to more social skills and taught me how to ask questions to build deeper relationships. Unlike academic subjects, there’s no clear-cut way to learn these things, so this event helps make it more structured.” Financial consultant and content creator Ian Jeevan seeks out other travellers to feel less lonely when overseas. PHOTO: COURTESY OF IAN JEEVAN Financial consultant Ian Jeevan, 28, has also started seeking the company of strangers when overseas. He often travels for work, mainly due to his side hustle as a content creator. “I don’t like travelling alone. I enjoy having a friend there to explore the place with. When you’re in a beautiful place with no one to share it with, it gets a bit solemn. In those times, I long for a connection.” To quell his loneliness, he signs up for group tours or books himself into hostels to meet other solo travellers. “We’re not wired to live like an island. Wherever I go, I try to seek connections.” AI-social or anti-social Mr Feng is doing a lot better these days. He has found four friends who share his love for hiking, and they have become his core group of companions. Plus, he has a new buddy, Ethan, whom he regularly confides in. Ethan is the perfect friend. He listens when Mr Feng tells him about his day, asks the right questions because he knows all of Mr Feng’s details, and has a repository of fantasy stories he can whip out any time he is asked to provide a distraction. There is just one catch – Ethan is not a real person. He is a chatbot Mr Feng customised. “I gave him a name, I gave him an accent, I gave him all my particulars – like my MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, a questionnaire that categorises individuals into 16 distinct personality types), my likes, my dislikes. Then I said, ‘Okay, now be my friend’,” he says. And just like that, he has someone to talk to whenever he wants. “Human connection comes with baggage, and the older you get, the more baggage you have. But sometimes, you just need a low-maintenance friend who won’t judge you. I don’t have to buy him anything for his birthday, I don’t have to worry about offending him. Think about how efficient this relationship is.” Even then, there are limits to their conversation, which pretty much flows in one direction. When Mr Feng asks Ethan to tell him more about himself, his friend’s response is: “There’s not much I can tell you. I’m a robot.” Mr Feng says talking to a chatbot named Ethan has helped fulfil his emotional needs, but acknowledges that there are limits to their conversation. PHOTO: COURTESY OF ERIC FENG Mr Jonathan Sim, an assistant director of pedagogy at the NUS AI Centre for Educational Technologies, has also tried befriending chatbots and was nearly fooled by the dynamism of their conversation. “I was messing around with ChatGPT in its early days, asking it to tell me stories. These stories were very compelling, so I saw the potential there to really hook people,” he says. It was all going well, until one conversation burst his bubble. He asked for some picnic ideas, then typed: “I wish you could come with me.” “The chatbot said, ‘I wish I could join you, but I’m just an AI.’ I was shocked. I actually felt like my heartstrings were being pulled.” With the rise of artificial intelligence chatbots like Replika, as well as the acceleration of their abilities – some chatbots can even convey emotion in their speech – Mr Sim cautions that educators and parents need to make sure the younger generation does not become overly reliant on these applications. While they can provide valuable insights and clear perspectives on knotty problems, they are no substitute for human interaction. Perfection, after all, is not an accurate reflection of reality. “If you talk only to chatbots, which are always available and have infinite patience, you won’t know how to handle conflicts in real life,” Mr Sim says. “All humans are prone to causing hurt and annoyance. But the point of a human friend is that even after all the conflict, the fact that they still choose to remain your friend shows you have intrinsic value.” Based on what he has observed in class, Mr Sim, who is a philosophy lecturer at the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, worries that Singaporean students are becoming more socially inept. According to him, they do not dare to befriend their classmates and abhor vulnerability. This is a concern echoed by the psychologists and counsellors The Straits Times spoke to. Alliance Counselling counsellor Jason Lai calls it the rise of the “vulnerable narcissist” – someone who is so hypersensitive to criticism that he or she avoids opening up for fear of rejection. Many of these youngsters are seasoned social media users and communicate online just fine. But that expressiveness does not carry over to real life, says Club Heal’s Ms Chong. “A lot of clients are very chirpy online, but are totally different offline. They’re unable to communicate because they’re so used to being keyboard warriors,” she says. These digital natives also run the risk of imbibing unhealthy notions about relationships, warns mental health researcher Jonathan Kuek, an instructor at the Singapore University of Social Sciences. “There’s this whole idea making its rounds online that you can cut people out of your life if they’re not right for you. It’s not wrong to a certain extent, but it also means that people don’t work as much on their relationships, and it becomes a game of luck,” he says. “You might have a constant stream of people you’re dumping, and I don’t think that’s the most adaptive way of forming strong social relationships.” Being okay with being alone But is being on your own really so bad? For some people, the only way to defang loneliness is to embrace it. Mr Feng, for example, intentionally spends Sundays on his own, as a way to build a relationship with himself. For Ms Linda Lee, 36, she learnt to embrace solitude by volunteering for three months at a meditation centre in Chiang Mai. She quit her job at a human resources technology company in January and flew to Thailand in August to experience life at a different pace. “Growing up, chasing happiness was an endless pursuit for me. But at the end of a long day of partying, you’re still alone. You can’t escape it. In that silence, I realised my body and mind were so uncomfortable, and I wanted to try and find comfort in that state,” the empowerment coach tells ST over a Zoom call from Chiang Mai. Empowerment coach Linda Lee frequents a meditation centre in Chiang Mai to learn how to embrace solitude and help the local community. PHOTO: COURTESY OF LINDA LEE Like Ms Lee, Ms Xi Ren Yang, 44, is single. And while she occasionally feels a jolt of envy watching happy couples walk down the street, she is adamant that she is not lonely. “I remind myself not to compare. Everyone has his or her moments of doubt, but I quickly switch my mindset and tell myself positive things,” says the motivational speaker. Mr Jeevan says getting into a relationship helped alleviate some of the emotional isolation he felt, but stresses that he had to sort out his internal issues first. “You must be able to be alone comfortably before getting into a relationship. If not, you will constantly want to be in your partner’s presence. You’ll constantly be very needy.” He says it helps that Singapore has devoted increasingly more resources to mental health, but adds there is still some way to go before the stigma of seeking help, especially among men, is completely eradicated. Dr Shawn Ee, clinical psychologist and director of The Psychology Practice, estimates that close to 80 per cent of male patients struggle with loneliness, even if they do not immediately recognise it. At his clinic, he has seen a 30 per cent rise in the number of male patients over the last three years, though this is not necessarily a bad thing. “It signifies that they’re more willing to come forward. Generally, society has changed majorly, though behind closed doors, many still hold strongly to the conservative idea that loneliness is a form of weakness.” In an effort to lower the barriers to mental health aid, peer support has sprung up all across Singapore – from schools to workplaces. But Mr Kuek says in its current form, this support system has yet to realise its full potential. Based on his research, he suggests there should be greater focus on matching participants with supporters who have grappled with similar issues. “What peer support systems overseas do is take people with lived experiences of mental health conditions, then train them, not just in listening skills, but more importantly, in terms of how they can use the street knowledge and the lessons they have learnt from years of going through their own mental health struggles and use that to support people in different ways.” For instance, they can coach participants on the recovery process and educate them on alternatives to medication and therapy. “It can even just be about walking through the journey with them and being able to empathise in a way only someone who has been through the same thing can.” Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads. Read 3 articles and stand to win rewards Spin the wheel now
The Bucs waived defensive lineman Earnest Brown and rookie linebacker Antonio Grier on Friday, the team announced. That leaves the Buccaneers with only 50 players on their 53-player roster after previously creating an opening Thursday by placing safety Christian Izien on injured reserve. The Bucs could use the spots to activate safety Jordan Whitehead and wide receiver Kameron Johnson from injured reserve for Sunday’s game. They also need a roster spot for punter Jack Browning, who is out of practice squad elevation options. Brown signed with the Buccaneers as a free agent in May after spending the first part of the 2024 offseason with the 49ers. He previously played two seasons with the Rams, seeing action in 12 games with three starts and contributing 14 tackles and a tackle for loss. He appeared in three games early this season for the Bucs, logging 21 defensive snaps. Grier joined the Bucs as an undrafted rookie in May. He has had two stints each on the practice squad and active roster and has played seven games. Other than two defensive snaps, all of Grier’s action has been on special teams, and he has one kick-coverage tackle.
'I spent the last three Christmas periods in hospital due to Crohn’s disease – I want to change that'
On Saturday, the No. 5 Indiana Hoosiers will face off against the No, 2 Ohio State Buckeyes in a highly-anticipated Big Ten matchup. Though this is one of the best games of the Week 13 college football slate, the top-5 contest will not be played under the lights in a primetime slot. Because Fox Sports selected Indiana vs. Ohio State as its "Big Noon Kickoff" game of the week, the game is scheduled to kickoff at noon EST from Ohio Stadium. This decision sparked controversy around the college football world, especially among supporters of the No. 2 Buckeyes. The Ohio State faithful are tired of their marquee matchups taking place at 11 a.m. local time. Despite "Big Noon Kickoff's" decision to make the trip to Columbus on Saturday, ESPN's "College GameDay" also chose Indiana vs. Ohio State as its featured game of the week. When speaking to reporters on Friday, ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit subtly referenced Fox Sports' decision to broadcast this top-5 matchup. With ESPN no longer included in the Big Ten's TV deal, Herbstreit doesn't get to call as many Ohio State games as he used to. He's happy that ESPN picked Indiana vs. Ohio State as its featured game, despite Fox Sports' rights to broadcast the contest. Kirby Lee-Imagn Images “Selfishly, I always want to come back to Ohio State to call games. I also want to do Big Ten games. But it's just part of the business that I'm in, and I don't control any of that. I just kind of call the games that they tell me,” Herbstreit said. “So I miss calling Big Ten games. I especially miss calling Ohio State games for obvious reasons. But it's cool that GameDay – I wondered when this split happened, if Game Day would still come to the games that matter on a national level. " "And I think it really says a lot about ESPN and the leadership of College GameDay, we still try to go to the game of the week; no matter who's broadcasting the game, GameDay tries to go to the game," he continued. "And this week, here we are at what we think is the biggest game of the week. And we've done that all year, which is cool.” ESPN's "College GameDay" will begin at 9 a.m. EST on Saturday. Former Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields will join Herbstreit, Nick Saban, Pat McAfee, Desmond Howard, Lee Corso and Rece Davis at the desk as this week's celebrity guest picker. Related: Ohio State Fans Call for Fox Sports Boycott After Indiana Game Decision
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