title: Groundwater pollution

text: While the EPA has not found significant evidence of a widespread, systematic impact on drinking water by hydraulic fracturing, this may be due to insufficient systematic pre- and post- hydraulic fracturing data on drinking water quality, and the presence of other agents of contamination that preclude the link between tight oil and shale gas extraction and its impact.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: Despite the EPA's lack of profound widespread evidence, other researchers have made significant observations of rising groundwater contamination in close proximity to major shale oil/gas drilling sites located in Marcellus (British Columbia, Canada). Within one kilometer of these specific sites, a subset of shallow drinking water consistently showed higher concentration levels of methane, ethane, and propane concentrations than normal. An evaluation of higher Helium and other noble gas concentration along with the rise of hydrocarbon levels supports the distinction between hydraulic fracturing fugitive gas and naturally occurring "background" hydrocarbon content. This contamination is speculated to be the result of leaky, failing, or improperly installed gas well casings.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: Furthermore, it is theorized that contamination could also result from the capillary migration of deep residual hyper-saline water and hydraulic fracturing fluid, slowly flowing through faults and fractures until finally making contact with groundwater resources; however, many researchers argue that the permeability of rocks overlying shale formations are too low to allow this to ever happen sufficiently. To ultimately prove this theory, there would have to be traces of toxic trihalomethanes (THM) since they are often associated with the presence of stray gas contamination, and typically co-occur with high halogen concentrations in hyper-saline waters. Besides, highly saline waters are a common natural feature in deep groundwater systems.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: While conclusions regarding groundwater pollution as the result to hydraulic fracturing fluid flow is restricted in both space and time, researchers have hypothesized that the potential for systematic stray gas contamination depends mainly on the integrity of the shale oil/gas well structure, along with its relative geological location to local fracture systems that could potentially provide flow paths for fugitive gas migration.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: Though widespread, systematic contamination by hydraulic fracturing has been heavily disputed, one major source of contamination that has the most consensus among researchers of being the most problematic is site-specific accidental spillage of hydraulic fracturing fluid and produced water. So far, a significant majority of groundwater contamination events are derived from surface-level anthropogenic routes rather than the subsurface flow from underlying shale formations. While the damage can be obvious, and much more effort is being done to prevent these accidents from occurring so frequently, the lack of data from fracking oil spills continue to leave researchers in the dark. In many of these events, the data acquired from the leakage or spillage is often very vague, and thus would lead researchers to lacking conclusions.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: Researchers from the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) conducted a model study for a deep shale-gas formation in the North German Basin. They concluded that the probability is small that the rise of fracking fluids through the geological underground to the surface will impact shallow groundwater.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: Leachate from sanitary landfills can lead to groundwater pollution. Chemicals can reach into ground water through precipitation and runoff. New landfills are required to be lined with clay or another synthetic material, along with leachate to protect surrounding ground water. However, older landfills do not have these measures and are often close to surface waters and in permeable soils. Closed landfills can still pose a threat to ground water if they are not capped by an impermeable material before closure to prevent leaking of contaminants.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: Love Canal was one of the most widely known examples of groundwater pollution. In 1978, residents of the Love Canal neighborhood in upstate New York noticed high rates of cancer and an alarming number of birth defects. This was eventually traced to organic solvents and dioxins from an industrial landfill that the neighborhood had been built over and around, which had then infiltrated into the water supply and evaporated in basements to further contaminate the air. Eight hundred families were reimbursed for their homes and moved, after extensive legal battles and media coverage.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: Satellite data in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam have provided evidence that over-pumping of groundwater leads to land subsidence as well as consequential release of arsenic and possibly other heavy metals. Arsenic is found in clay strata due to their high surface area to volume ratio relative to sand-sized particles. Most pumped groundwater travels through sands and gravels with low arsenic concentration. However, during over-pumping, a high vertical gradient pulls water from less-permeable clays, thus promoting arsenic release into the water.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: Groundwater pollution can be caused by chemical spills from commercial or industrial operations, chemical spills occurring during transport (e.g. spillage of diesel fuels), illegal waste dumping, infiltration from urban runoff or mining operations, road salts, de-icing chemicals from airports and even atmospheric contaminants since groundwater is part of the hydrologic cycle.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: Herbicide use can contribute to groundwater contamination through arsenic infiltration. Herbicides contribute to arsenic desorption through mobilization and transportation of the contaminant. Chlorinated herbicides exhibit a lower impact on arsenic desorption than phosphate type herbicides. This can help to prevent arsenic contamination through choosing herbicides appropriate for different concentrations of arsenic present in certain soils.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: The burial of corpses and their subsequent degradation may also pose a risk of pollution to groundwater.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: The passage of water through the subsurface can provide a reliable natural barrier to contamination but it only works under favorable conditions.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: The stratigraphy of the area plays an important role in the transport of pollutants. An area can have layers of sandy soil, fractured bedrock, clay, or hardpan. Areas of karst topography on limestone bedrock are sometimes vulnerable to surface pollution from groundwater. Earthquake faults can also be entry routes for downward contaminant entry. Water table conditions are of great importance for drinking water supplies, agricultural irrigation, waste disposal (including nuclear waste), wildlife habitat, and other ecological issues.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: Many chemicals undergo reactive decay or chemical change, especially over long periods of time in groundwater reservoirs. A noteworthy class of such chemicals is the chlorinated hydrocarbons such as trichloroethylene (used in industrial metal degreasing and electronics manufacturing) and tetrachloroethylene used in the dry cleaning industry. Both of these chemicals, which are carcinogens themselves, undergo partial decomposition reactions, leading to new hazardous chemicals (including dichloroethylene and vinyl chloride).


title: Groundwater pollution

text: Although interrelated, surface water and groundwater have often been studied and managed as separate resources. Interactions between groundwater and surface water are complex. Surface water seeps through the soil and becomes groundwater. Conversely, groundwater can also feed surface water sources. For example, many rivers and lakes are fed by groundwater. This means that damage to groundwater aquifers e.g. by fracking or over abstraction, could therefore affect the rivers and lakes that rely on it. Saltwater intrusion into coastal aquifers is an example of such interactions.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: A spill or ongoing release of chemical or radionuclide contaminants into soil (located away from a surface water body) may not create point or non-point source pollution but can contaminate the aquifer below, creating a toxic plume. The movement of the plume, may be analyzed through a hydrological transport model or groundwater model.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: The precautionary principle, evolved from Principle 15 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, is important in protecting groundwater resources from pollution. The precautionary principle provides that “"where there are threats of irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation".”.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: One of the six basic principles of the European Union (EU) water policy is the application of the precautionary principle.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: Groundwater quality monitoring programs have been implemented regularly in many countries around the world. They are important components to understand the hydrogeological system, and for the development of conceptual models and aquifer vulnerability maps.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: Groundwater quality must be regularly monitored across the aquifer to determine trends. Effective groundwater monitoring should be driven by a specific objective, for example, a specific contaminant of concern. Contaminant levels can be compared to the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for drinking-water quality. It is not rare that limits of contaminants are reduced as more medical experience is gained.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: Sufficient investment should be given to continue monitoring over the long term. When a problem is found, action should be taken to correct it. Waterborne outbreaks in the United States decreased with the introduction of more stringent monitoring (and treatment) requirements in the early 90s.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: Scientists have developed methods by which hazard maps could be produced for geogenic toxic substances in groundwater. This provides an efficient way of determining which wells should be tested.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: The development of land-use zoning maps has been implemented by several water authorities at different scales around the world. There are two types of zoning maps: aquifer vulnerability maps and source protection maps.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: It refers to the intrinsic (or natural) vulnerability of a groundwater system to pollution. Intrinsically, some aquifers are more vulnerable to pollution than other aquifers. Shallow unconfined aquifers are more at risk of pollution because there are fewer layers to filter out contaminants.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: The unsaturated zone can play an important role in retarding (and in some cases eliminating) pathogens and so must be considered when assessing aquifer vulnerability. The biological activity is greatest in the top soil layers where the attenuation of pathogens is generally most effective.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: Preparation of the vulnerability maps typically involves overlaying several thematic maps of physical factors that have been selected to describe the aquifer vulnerability. The index-based parametric mapping method GOD developed by Foster and Hirata (1988) uses three generally available or readily estimated parameters, the degree of Groundwater hydraulic confinement, geological nature of the Overlying strata and Depth to groundwater. A further approach developed by EPA, a rating system named "DRASTIC," employs seven hydrogeological factors to develop an index of vulnerability: Depth to water table, net Recharge, Aquifer media, Soil media, Topography (slope), Impact on the vadose zone, and hydraulic Conductivity.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: There is a particular debate among hydrogeologists as to whether aquifer vulnerability should be established in a general (intrinsic) way for all contaminants, or specifically for each pollutant.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: It refers to the capture areas around an individual groundwater source, such as a water well or a spring, to especially protect them from pollution. Thus, potential sources of degradable pollutants, such as pathogens, can be located at distances which travel times along the flowpaths are long enough for the pollutant to be eliminated through filtration or adsorption.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: Analytical methods using equations to define groundwater flow and contaminant transport are the most widely used. The WHPA is a semi-analytical groundwater flow simulation program developed by the US EPA for delineating capture zones in a wellhead protection area.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: The simplest form of zoning employs fixed-distance methods where activities are excluded within a uniformly applied specified distance around abstraction points.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: As the health effects of most toxic chemicals arise after prolonged exposure, risk to health from chemicals is generally lower than that from pathogens. Thus, the quality of the source protection measures is an important component in controlling whether pathogens may be present in the final drinking-water.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: On-site sanitation systems can be designed in such a way that groundwater pollution from these sanitation systems is prevented from occurring. Detailed guidelines have been developed to estimate safe distances to protect groundwater sources from pollution from on-site sanitation. The following criteria have been proposed for safe siting (i.e. deciding on the location) of on-site sanitation systems:


title: Groundwater pollution

text: As a very general guideline it is recommended that the bottom of the pit should be at least 2 m above groundwater level, and a minimum horizontal distance of 30 m between a pit and a water source is normally recommended to limit exposure to microbial contamination.However, no general statement should be made regarding the minimum lateral separation distances required to prevent contamination of a well from a pit latrine. For example, even 50 m lateral separation distance might not be sufficient in a strongly karstified system with a downgradient supply well or spring, while 10 m lateral separation distance is completely sufficient if there is a well developed clay cover layer and the annular space of the groundwater well is well sealed.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: Institutional and legal issues are critical in determining the success or failure of groundwater protection policies and strategies. In the United States the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act protects groundwater by regulating the disposal of solid waste and hazardous waste, and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, also known as "Superfund," requires remediation of abandoned hazardous waste sites.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: Portable water purification devices or "point-of-use" (POU) water treatment systems and field water disinfection techniques can be used to remove some forms of groundwater pollution prior to drinking, namely any fecal pollution. Many commercial portable water purification systems or chemical additives are available which can remove pathogens, chlorine, bad taste, odors, and heavy metals like lead and mercury.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: Techniques include boiling, filtration, activated charcoal absorption, chemical disinfection, ultraviolet purification, ozone water disinfection, solar water disinfection, solar distillation, homemade water filters.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: Arsenic removal filters (ARF) are dedicated technologies typically installed to remove arsenic. Many of these technologies require a capital investment and long-term maintenance. Filters in Bangladesh are usually abandoned by the users due to their high cost and complicated maintenance, which is also quite expensive.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: Groundwater pollution is much more difficult to abate than surface pollution because groundwater can move great distances through unseen aquifers. Non-porous aquifers such as clays partially purify water of bacteria by simple filtration (adsorption and absorption), dilution, and, in some cases, chemical reactions and biological activity; however, in some cases, the pollutants merely transform to soil contaminants. Groundwater that moves through open fractures and caverns is not filtered and can be transported as easily as surface water. In fact, this can be aggravated by the human tendency to use natural sinkholes as dumps in areas of karst topography.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: Pollutants and contaminants can be removed from ground water by applying various techniques thereby making it safe for use. Ground water treatment (or remediation) techniques span biological, chemical, and physical treatment technologies. Most ground water treatment techniques utilize a combination of technologies. Some of the biological treatment techniques include bioaugmentation, bioventing, biosparging, bioslurping, and phytoremediation. Some chemical treatment techniques include ozone and oxygen gas injection, chemical precipitation, membrane separation, ion exchange, carbon absorption, aqueous chemical oxidation, and surfactant-enhanced recovery. Some chemical techniques may be implemented using nanomaterials. Physical treatment techniques include, but are not limited to, pump and treat, air sparging, and dual phase extraction.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: If treatment or remediation of the polluted groundwater is deemed to be too difficult or expensive, then abandoning the use of this aquifer's groundwater and finding an alternative source of water is the only other option.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: The peri-urban areas of Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, have ground conditions which are strongly karstified and for this reason – together with the increasing population density in these peri-urban areas – pollution of water wells from pit latrines is a major public health threat there.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: In Tanzania, many residents rely on groundwater sources, mainly from shallow on-site wells, for drinking and other domestic purposes. The cost of the official water supply has resulted in many households relying on private wells rather than Babati's urban water and sanitation facilities. The consumption of water from temporary water sources of unknown quality (mainly shallow wells) has resulted in large numbers of people suffering from water-borne diseases. In Tanzania, 23,900 children under the age of 5 are reported to die each year from dysentery and diarrhoea associated with drinking unsafe water.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: The Ganga River Basin (GRB) which is a sacred body of water for the Hindus is facing severe arsenic contamination. India covers 79% of the GRB, and thus numerous states have been affected. Affected states include Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Haryana, and West Bengal. The arsenic levels are up to 4730 µg/L in the groundwater, ~1000 µg/L in irrigation water, and up to 3947 µg/kg in food materials all of which all exceed the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization’s standard for irrigation water and the World Health Organization’s standards for drinking water. As a result, individuals who are exposed suffer from diseases that affect their dermal, neurological, reproductive and cognitive functioning, and can even result in cancer.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: In India the government has proceeded to promote sanitation development in order to combat the rise in ground water contamination in several regions of the country. The effort has proved to show results and has decreased the groundwater pollution and has decreased the chance of sickness for mothers and children who were mainly affected by this issue. This was something greatly needed as according to the study, over 117,000 children under five die every year due to consuming polluted water. The countries effort has seen success in the more economically developed sections of the country.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: The town of Hinkley, California (U.S.), had its groundwater contaminated with hexavalent chromium starting in 1952, resulting in a legal case against Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) and a multimillion-dollar settlement in 1996. The legal case was dramatized in the film "Erin Brockovich", released in 2000.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: Intensive pumping in San Joaquin county, California, has resulted in arsenic pollution. San Joaquin county has faced serious intensive pumping which has caused the ground below San Joaquin to sink and in turn damaged infrastructure. This intensive pumping into groundwater has allowed arsenic to move into groundwater aquifers which supply drinking water to at least a million residents and used in irrigation for crops in some of the richest farmland in the US. Aquifers are made up of sand and gravel that are separated by thin layers of clay which acts as a sponge that holds onto water and arsenic. When water is pumped intensively, the aquifer compresses and ground sinks which leads to the clay releasing arsenic. Study shows that aquifers contaminated as a result from over pumping, they can recover if withdrawals stop.


title: Groundwater pollution

text: In the year 2000, groundwater pollution occurred in the small town of Walkerton, Canada leading to seven deaths in what is known as the Walkerton "E. Coli" outbreak. The water supply which was drawn from groundwater became contaminated with the highly dangerous strain of "E. coli" bacteria. This contamination was due to farm runoff into an adjacent water well that was vulnerable to groundwater pollution.


title: Latha (actress)

text: Latha, also known as M.G.R. Latha or Latha Sethupathi, (born 7 June 1953) is an Indian actress, who played leading roles in South Indian films from 1973 to 1983. She is also known for her roles in various serials in Tamil language.


title: Latha (actress)

text: Her photogenic looks and dancing skills attracted attention from the Tamil film industry. She entered films when she was fifteen and was encouraged by her aunt, actress Kamala Kotnis. Her first film was "Ulagam Sutrum Valiban" (1973), whose star and producer was M. G. Ramachandran. She is from the Sethupathy clan, the Royal family of Ramnad, and her father was Shanmugha Rajeswara Sethupathi and her mother is Leelarani, originally from Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh, so Latha was fluent in Tamil and Telugu from an early age. The name Latha was given by MGR himself. Actor Rajkumar Sethupathy is her brother.


title: Latha (actress)

text: Latha became a very successful actress and has won several awards. She has acted in more than one hundred films, spanning Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam. Her first film was "Ulagam Sutrum Valiban" (1973), in which she starred alongside M. G. Ramachandran. It was shot exclusively in foreign locations such as Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Japan. The film's success skyrocketed her to the top of the industry and she was felicitated by the press for being the best and most glamorous amongst all the four actresses in the film. She remained M. G. Ramachandran's leading lady for several years in Tamil films. He recommended her to star with Akkineni Nageswara Rao for "Andala Ramudu" (1973), thus making her debut in Telugu films. She specialized in playing glamorous roles in Tamil and Telugu films. She played Zeenat Aman's role in two remakes of "Yaadon Ki Baaraat" (1973): the Telugu film "Annadammula Anubandham"(1975) and the Tamil film "Naalai Namathay" (1975). She played Jaya Bhaduri's role from "Zanjeer (1973 film)" in the Telugu remake "Nippulanti Manishi" (1974) and the Tamil remake "Sirithu Vazha Vendum" (1974). She won a Filmfare Award for her performance in "Vattathukkul Sadhuram". The Kalaimamani award was bestowed upon her by the State Government of Tamil Nadu for her achievements in the film industry. She has also received awards from the Government of Tamil Nadu as well as the Government of Andhra Pradesh for her acting ability. She was also briefly involved in politics, as her father, Shanmugha Rajeswara Sethupathi, the Raja of Ramnad, was once a politician. She played a vital role in Rajinikanth's movie "Shankar Salim Simon". This role made her one of the only 2 actresses, along with Lakshmi, to be paired with MGR and Rajinikanth in the 1970s Tamil movies.


title: Latha (actress)

text: After a hiatus of 14 years, she successfully reprised her career by acting in leading roles in many mega-serials in Tamil and Telugu. In 2002, the actress played vicious mothers-in-law in the Telugu television serials "Eenati Ramayanam", "Pavithrabandham" and "Matti Manishi". Most recently, she has gained much notoriety alongside Raadhika in the Tamil television serials "Chitthi", "Kasthuri", "Selvi" and most famously in "Arasi". Her role in "Arase" is very popular amongst the demographic of Tamils that religiously follow mega serials, namely housewives and children. Her role is best known for her catchphrases "Pada Pada Padannu Irukkiradhu" and "Idhu Rombo Too Much" and the humorous portrayal of the character. Currently she is acting in the serials "Roja" as Canada Kamakshi and "Sundari Neeyum Sundaran Naanum" as Vijayalakshmi.


title: Lisa Blunt Rochester

text: Lisa LaTrelle Blunt Rochester (née Blunt; born February 10, 1962) also known by her initials LBR, is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, she is the first woman and first African American to represent Delaware in Congress.


title: Lisa Blunt Rochester

text: Blunt Rochester was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on February 10, 1962. Her family moved to Wilmington, Delaware, in 1969. Her father, Ted Blunt, served on the Wilmington City Council, including as council president. Her mother, Alice LaTrelle, worked in retail.


title: Lisa Blunt Rochester

text: Blunt Rochester attended Padua Academy, began college at Villanova University, and later transferred to the University of Delaware in her sophomore year. She left college to live in Europe, and later received her bachelor's degree in international relations from Fairleigh Dickinson University and her master's degree in urban affairs and public policy from the University of Delaware.


title: Lisa Blunt Rochester

text: Blunt Rochester worked for Tom Carper as an intern in 1989, when he served as Delaware's U.S. Representative. After the internship, she continued to work for Carper as a constituent relations caseworker, and worked on his transition team when he was elected governor of Delaware. Carper appointed her deputy secretary of the Department of Health and Social Services in 1993 and Secretary of the Department of Labor in 1998. Governor Ruth Ann Minner named Blunt Rochester the state personnel director in 2001.


title: Lisa Blunt Rochester

text: In 2004, Blunt Rochester left government service and became the CEO of the Metropolitan Wilmington Urban League.


title: Lisa Blunt Rochester

text: Blunt Rochester ran for the United States House of Representatives in in the 2016 election. She won the Democratic Party nomination on September 13 and the general election against Republican Hans Reigle on November 8. When she was sworn into office on January 3, 2017, she became the first woman and the first African-American to represent Delaware in Congress. During her swearing-in, she carried a scarf imprinted with her great-great-great-grandfather's Reconstruction Era voter registration card. He had been a slave.


title: Lisa Blunt Rochester

text: On December 18, 2019, Blunt Rochester voted for both articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump.


title: Lisa Blunt Rochester

text: During the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol, Blunt Rochester was ushered into a secure room with fellow members of Congress. Despite House rules on mask mandates, multiple Republican members, including Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, abstained from wearing a mask. A clip went viral of Blunt Rochester offering masks to her Republican colleagues, in which they seemingly mocked and refused her offer. In the following days, multiple members tested positive for COVID-19.


title: Lisa Blunt Rochester

text: Blunt Rochester played an active role in the 2020 presidential election. After Joe Biden became the presumptive Democratic nominee in March 2020, his campaign named her one of its co-chairs. At the end of April, Blunt Rochester was named a member of the vetting committee for Biden's vice presidential candidate selection.


title: Lisa Blunt Rochester

text: Blunt Rochester was married to her first husband, basketball player Alex Bradley, from 1982 to 2003. They met at Villanova and lived in Europe while he played basketball professionally. They have two children together. She met her second husband, Charles, later in 2003. They married in 2006. Charles died in 2014. He ruptured his Achilles tendon which caused blood clots to go to his heart and lungs.


title: Lisa Blunt Rochester

text: While living abroad in China with her then-husband, Blunt Rochester co-authored the book "Thrive: 34 Women, 18 Countries, One Goal".


title: La Notte

text: La Notte (; ) is a 1961 drama film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni and starring Marcello Mastroianni, Jeanne Moreau and Monica Vitti (with Umberto Eco appearing in a cameo). Filmed on location in Milan, the film is the relationship between a disillusioned novelist and his frustrated wife as it follows a single day and night where they confront their alienation from each other and the empty Milan circles they travel. The film continues Antonioni's tradition of abandoning traditional storytelling in favor of visual composition.


title: La Notte

text: Grossing 470 million lire and receiving acclaim for its exploration of modernist themes of isolation, "La Notte" received the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival (first time for Italian film), as well as the David di Donatello Award for Best Director in 1961. "La Notte" is considered the central film of a trilogy beginning with "L'Avventura" (1960) and ending with "L'Eclisse" (1962). It was one of Stanley Kubrick's 10 favorite films and received 4 votes from critics and 6 votes from directors in the 2012 "Sight & Sound" greatest films poll.


title: La Notte

text: Giovanni Pontano (Marcello Mastroianni), a distinguished writer and his beautiful wife Lidia (Jeanne Moreau), visit their dying friend Tommaso Garani (Bernhard Wicki) in a hospital in Milan. Giovanni's new book, "La stagione" ("The Season"), has just been published and Tommaso praises his friend's work. They drink champagne but Tommaso is unable to hide his severe pain. Shaken by the sight of her dying friend, Lidia leaves saying she'll visit tomorrow. Giovanni stays behind and as he leaves his friend's room, a sick and uninhibited young woman attempts to seduce him, and he goes into her room and reciprocates even though it is clear the woman is not in her right mind, until they are interrupted by the nurses.


title: La Notte

text: Outside the hospital, Giovanni sees his wife crying but does not comfort her. As they drive off, he tells her about his "unpleasant" encounter with the sick woman and is surprised when Lidia is not fooled and dismisses the incident as his responsibility. They drive to a party celebrating Giovanni's new book, which has been well received. Giovanni signs books, while his wife looks on from a distance. After a while Lidia leaves. She wanders the streets of Milan, ending up in the neighborhood where she and Giovanni lived as newlyweds. She comes across a brutal street fight which she tries to stop and later she watches rockets being set off in a field.


title: La Notte

text: Back at the apartment, Giovanni finally hears from Lidia and he picks her up from the old neighborhood, which seems to have little sentimental value for him. She bathes, but he makes no move on her. Later they decide to go to a nightclub, where they watch a mesmerizing and seductive performance by a female dancer and engage in small talk. "I no longer have inspirations, only recollections", Giovanni tells his wife. Lidia suggests they leave the club and attend a swanky party thrown by a millionaire businessman. "One must do something", she says.


title: La Notte

text: At the party, Giovanni socializes with the guests and appears to be in his element, while Lidia walks around in a state of boredom. They spend some time with the host, Mr. Gherardini (Vincenzo Corbella), who seems disappointed by his wealth and exchange insincere flattery. Giovanni wanders off and meets Valentina Gherardini (Monica Vitti), the host's lively, charming daughter. As they flirt, she teaches him a game she just invented, sliding a compact across the floor to try to land on certain of the floor's large checkerboard squares, and soon others gather to watch their competition. Later they see each other alone and Giovanni makes a pass at her, kissing her while Lidia looks on from the floor above.


title: La Notte

text: Later Mr. Gherardini meets privately with Giovanni and offers him an executive position with his company, to write the firm's history. Giovanni is reluctant to accept and leaves the offer open. With Lidia's family's wealth and his earnings from publishing, he doesn't need the money. Lidia calls the hospital and learns that Tommaso died ten minutes earlier. Overwhelmed with grief, she watches from a window as the guests enjoy themselves. Later she sits at a table opposite an empty chair. Giovanni walks over and does not sit down and Lidia does not tell him about Tommaso's death. Giovanni sees Valentina and follows after her, leaving Lidia alone.


title: La Notte

text: Lidia walks to the band and appears to enjoy the music. A man named Roberto (Giorgio Negro), who had been following her, approaches, asks her to dance and she accepts. A sudden shower sends the guests running for cover and some jump in the pool like children. As Lidia is about to jump in from the diving board, Roberto stops her, takes her to his car and they drive off. She enjoys Roberto's company and their conversation but as he's about to kiss her, Lidia turns away from him, saying "I'm sorry, I can't."


title: La Notte

text: Back at the party, Giovanni searches through the crowd and finds Valentina alone, watching the rain. She tells him she's smart enough not to break up a marriage and instructs him to spend the rest of the evening with his wife. Giovanni reveals that he's going through a "crisis" common among writers but in his case it is affecting his whole life. They return to the guests, just as Lidia and Roberto return from their drive. Giovanni seems slightly annoyed by Lidia's behavior. Valentina invites Lidia to dry off in her room, where Lidia confronts her directly about her husband. As the women chat, Giovanni overhears his wife tell Valentina that she feels like dying and putting an end to the agony of her life. Noticing Giovanni, she tells him she is not a bit jealous of his playing around with Valentina. They say goodbye to Valentina and leave the party at morning's first light, with the jazz band playing for the few couples still listening.


title: La Notte

text: As Giovanni and Lidia walk away across Gherardini's private golf course, they talk about the job offer that Giovanni says he'll turn down. Lidia finally tells him about Tommaso's death and recounts how Tommaso used to support her, have faith in her and urge her to study, believing she was intelligent, and offer his affections to her, but she eventually chose Giovanni because she loved him. She tells him, "I feel like dying because I no longer love you". Giovanni recognizes the failure of their marriage but tells her, "Let's try to hold onto something we're sure of. I love you. I'm sure I'm still in love with you". Lidia takes out a love letter Giovanni wrote to her just before they were married and reads it aloud. Giovanni asks who wrote it and she replies, "You did". Giovanni embraces and kisses her but she resists, saying she no longer loves him and nor does he love her. Giovanni continues to initiate sex in a bunker on the golf course, beneath a grey morning sky.


title: La Notte

text: When "La Notte" was first released in Italy in 1960 the Committee for the Theatrical Review of the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities rated it as VM16: not suitable for children under 16. In addition, the committee imposed the following scenes be deleted: 1) the scene at the hospital with Mastroianni and the young lady must end at the moment when the two start to kiss each other; 2) the scene in the dressing room in which it is possible to see the naked breasts of Moreau; 3) the word “whore,” said by one of the two ladies walking in the park, must be removed; 4) the final scene in which Mastroianni and Moreau hug each other and start rolling down the grass, the scene can resume when the panning shot shows the landscape without displaying the two actors. Document N° 33395 signed on 2 November 1960 by Minister .


title: La Notte

text: In his review in "The New York Times", Bosley Crowther wrote: "As in "L'Avventura", it is not the situation so much as it is the intimations of personal feelings, doubts and moods that are the substance of the film." Crowther praises Antonioni's ability to develop his drama "with a skill that is excitingly fertile, subtle and awesomely intuitive."


title: La Notte

text: On the review aggregator web site "Rotten Tomatoes", the film holds an 86% positive rating among film critics based on 28 reviews. Stanley Kubrick listed "La Notte" as one of his top 10 favorite films.


title: Sarah Vaughan (writer)

text: Sarah Hall (born 1972), best known under the pseudonym Sarah Vaughan, is a British writer and journalist. Until 2008, she worked for "The Guardian" as a senior reporter, health correspondent, and political correspondent.


title: Sarah Vaughan (writer)

text: She published her first book in 2014. As a novelist, Hall is known for a number of psychological thrillers which often deal with themes such as power and privilege, and the pressures placed on women. Many of her novels have been translated and were successful internationally. Her third novel, "Anatomy of a Scandal", has been adapted for television. (2022).


title: Sarah Vaughan (writer)

text: Vaughan was born Sarah Hall in 1972, and was brought up in Devon. She read English at Brasenose College, Oxford. After graduating, she started work as a journalist. She worked for "The Guardian" for eleven years as a senior reporter, health correspondent and political correspondent. In 2008, she left "The Guardian" and continued as a freelance reporter.


title: Sarah Vaughan (writer)

text: Using the pseudonym Sarah Vaughan, she published her first novel "The art of baking blind" in 2014, following a commitment she made on her 40th birthday to write a novel, and find a publisher for it, within a year. The book is about the participants in a baking competition, and was translated into six languages. It was followed two years later by "The farm at the edge of the world" (2016), which was especially successful in France.


title: Sarah Vaughan (writer)

text: She became known to a wider audience with her third novel "Anatomy of a Scandal" (2018), a political thriller about a junior government minister accused of rape. She has said that she used her experiences as a political reporter, and as an Oxford student, to explore themes such as power, privilege, and consent. "Anatomy of a Scandal" received positive reviews, and was in the Sunday Times bestseller list for ten weeks. It was translated into 22 languages and was listed as one of the best novels of the 2010s by Richard and Judy's Book Club. In 2020, Netflix commissioned a mini-series based on the novel, which premiered in April 2022.


title: Sarah Vaughan (writer)

text: Vaughan's next book, "Little Disasters (2020)", has been described as "a novel about motherhood and madness" and deals with child abuse, postnatal anxiety and maternal OCD. Although it did not have the same level of success as "Anatomy of a Scandal", Vaughan was praised for the way she handled the topic of female mental health. The production company Rough Cut TV has taken an option on the book's film rights.


title: Sarah Vaughan (writer)

text: Her fifth novel, "Reputation", was published in March 2022. It deals with the threats routinely received by women in public life, and social media bullying of young women and girls. The novel received mainly positive reviews, especially for providing an intelligent focus on the harassment of women. It has been optioned for television.


title: Umbrella Movement

text: The Umbrella Movement () was a political movement that emerged during the Hong Kong democracy protests of 2014. Its name arose from the use of umbrellas as a tool for passive resistance to the Hong Kong Police's use of pepper spray to disperse the crowd during a 79-day occupation of the city demanding more transparent elections, which was sparked by the decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPCSC) of 31 August 2014 that prescribed a selective pre-screening of candidates for the 2017 election of Hong Kong's chief executive.


title: Umbrella Movement

text: The movement consisted of individuals numbering in the tens of thousands who participated in the protests that began on 26 September 2014, although Scholarism, the Hong Kong Federation of Students, Occupy Central with Love and Peace (OCLP) are groups principally driving the demands for the rescission of the NPCSC decision. Since the start of the 2014 protests, movement activists have complained of harassment from political opponents "alarmingly similar to the way mainland Chinese activists and their families have long been targeted" and have been prosecuted and jailed for their participation in acts of protest.


title: Umbrella Movement

text: The name 'Umbrella Revolution' was coined by Adam Cotton on Twitter on 26 September 2014, in reference to the umbrellas used for defense against police pepper spray, and quickly gained widespread acceptance after appearing in an article in "The Independent" on 28 September reporting the use of teargas against protestors that day. The name was later rejected by some prominent members and supporters of the Occupy Central campaign, fearing that the movement would be mistaken as espousing violent overthrow of government. They emphasised that the movement was not a colour revolution but rather a demand for free and fair elections, and proposed the name 'Umbrella Movement' as an alternative.


title: Umbrella Movement

text: Since there was no explicit leadership or formal organisation for the movement, both names have been used by participants from time to time. Those promoting more than merely peaceful protest, such as members of Civic Passion, prefer not to use the name "Umbrella Movement".


title: Umbrella Movement

text: Almost all students in universities of Hong Kong were in echo of 2014 Hong Kong class boycott campaign, and fully supported the "Umbrella Movement". Many secondary schools established political reform concern groups, for supporting student protests and "Umbrella Movement". In addition, after the Lion Rock was suspended a giant banner "I want real universal suffrage", in Hong Kong universities such as University of Hong Kong, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Open University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Baptist University, Lingnan University, City University of Hong Kong, and Hong Kong secondary schools such as King's College, Queen's College, Immaculate Heart of Mary College, St. Paul's College, small copies of Lion Rock banners were hung.


title: Umbrella Movement

text: On 23 October at the peak of Lion Rock, mountaineering enthusiasts "Spiderman" and his companions hung a giant banner "I need real universal suffrage", which made a sensation in Hong Kong; but on the next day it was dismantled by the government. Since then the public launched the campaign of "demolish one, hang ten", on each of Hong Kong mountains and islands, including Tai Mo Shan, Devil's Peak, Tai Tung Shan, Castle Peak, the Peak, Kowloon Peak, Tung Ping Chau and so on, banners "I need real universal suffrage" were hung, while on the Lion Rock many times during and after the occupation, banners "I need real universal suffrage" were hung again. In addition, between 30 September and 2 October, various areas in Hong Kong were in echo of the occupation, including nearby the MTR Sheung Shui station (30 September) (where HK URBEX produced a short film to support the movement), Sham Shui Po, Kwai Shing East, Tai Wai, Tuen Mun, Chai Wan, Kwun Tong and other places.


title: Umbrella Movement

text: New campus of University of Macau, which is located on Zhuhai was hung with banner "Macau also need real universal suffrage" ["sic"], similar that of Hong Kong Umbrella Revolution, for echoing the street protests in the occupied territories of Hong Kong.


title: Umbrella Movement

text: Rallies in support of the protests occurred in over 64 cities worldwide by October 2014, principally in front of Hong Kong trade missions or Chinese consulates. A demonstration in front of the Chinese embassy in London attracted 3000 participants. Petitions in Australia and to the White House urging support for the protests have collected more than 500 and 183,000 signatures respectively. In Taiwan's capital city Taipei, locals organised a solidarity protest, where participants were reported to have scuffled with Taiwanese police after crowding a Hong Kong trade office. On 1 October, a gathering in Taipei's Liberty Square drew over 10,000 people in support of the protests. At the East Asian Cup qualifying match against Hong Kong on 16 November, Taiwanese football fans waved yellow umbrellas in a show of support. While the Chinese national anthem played, spectators sang "Boundless Oceans, Vast Skies". In Singapore, hundreds of people participated in a candlelight vigil at Hong Lim Park on 1 October to show support to the Occupy Central protesters. In Australia, during the 2014 G20 Brisbane summit, Hong Kong student Alvin Cheng and Nardo Wai started a 4-hour rally in support for the Umbrella Revolution on the lawn near the South Bank Parkland Suncorp Piazza outside the G20 summit venue. Numerous oversea students from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China participated in the rally. Nardo participated in a hunger strike, and unfurled a banner with "Support HK Umbrella Revolution" outside the hotel in which Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping was scheduled to stay, but were banned from the G20 security zones, doubted by media Australia losing its democracy.


title: Umbrella Movement

text: Some of the major historical events in "Umbrella Movement" are closely related to the occupied territories, including but not limited to the following events:


title: Umbrella Movement

text: The movement is composed of many fractious groups, but has no leadership or formal organisation overall, although Scholarism, the Hong Kong Federation of Students (HKFS), Occupy Central with Love and Peace (OCLP) are among the most prominent groups, whose agendas differ and may even oppose each other. Although the term "Occupy Central" was often used interchangeably in the press to describe the protests and the movement, OCLP declared themselves as supporters rather than the organisers of the protest, stated that the ongoing protest "[was] the Umbrella Movement, not 'Occupy Central'". Colours and members of the following groups have been regularly seen on site during the occupation:


title: Umbrella Movement

text: OCLP, the originators of the campaign, as well as the student groups – HKFS and Scholarism – adopted and adhered to the principle of non-violent civil disobedience and the willingness to assume the consequential legal responsibility. The protesters' politeness, tidiness and "staunch adherence to nonviolence" was widely commented on. Protesters have written signs to apologise for the inconvenience caused and to denounce isolated incidents of vandalism.


title: Umbrella Movement

text: The civil disobedience actions opened up debate within and outside Hong Kong as to its effect on the rule of law.


title: Umbrella Movement

text: Important philosophical and tactical differences between the students and OCLP have been noted. While the 3-day OCLP civil disobedience was due to start on 1 October to send a message without causing major disruption, students wanted immediate occupation and staged a sit-in on 26 September. OCLP's hand was effectively forced by the turn of events, and their proclamation of the start of the civil disobedience campaign met with widespread criticism that the action was not "Occupy Central". OCLP's goal from the outset was passive resistance campaign of a defined duration, after which they would surrender to the police; their plan was not to resist removal or clearance, but there was radical sentiment of students and others to resist and escalate. The scale of the protests exceeded the expectations of most people, including the groups involved, and after police manifestly failed to contain and control the gathering crowds even through use of tear gas on 28 September, demonstrators did not heed the advice of the HKFS and others to de-escalate to avoid the possibility of use of heavier weapons.


title: Umbrella Movement

text: After the Mong Kok occupiers and occupation site were attacked by anti-occupation protesters, OCLP leader, University of Hong Kong professor Benny Tai, as well as Lester Shum of the HKFS and Agnes Chow of Scholarism, urged immediate retreat from Mong Kok to regroup at Admiralty to avoid violence and bloodshed, but their calls were not heeded. As another example of tactical divisions, not-so-passive occupiers re-seized the Mong Kok encampment after it was initially cleared by police. The divisions within the movement appear to have been most marked at the Mong Kok occupation site, where a left–right split followed the central divide on Nathan Road. Student groups and liberal NGOs mostly occupy the western carriageway, while groups with a more radical agenda urging more direct and confrontational protest actions sited themselves on the eastern side of the road. Civic Passion, which denigrates moderates and has even denounced student leaders as "useless", saw its influence in the movement increase as time went by as ordinary suffragists drifted back to their daily lives.


title: Umbrella Movement

text: "The Straits Times" noted that, after 33 days of occupation, the two sides seemed to be entrenched in the impasse and hawks gaining the upper hand while moderates leaving. Tai and fellow OCLP leader Chinese University of Hong Kong professor Chan Kin-man left due to exhaustion from attempting to exert a moderating influence on the more radical members of HKFS and hardline groups; third parties that acted as mediators were sidelined. Civic Party legislator Ronny Tong said: "Any suggestion that they leave [is] not a matter of rational discussion any more".


title: Umbrella Movement

text: Members of radical group Civic Passion broke into a side-entrance to the Legislative Council Complex in the early hours of 19 November, breaking glass panels with concrete tiles and metal barricades. Legislator Fernando Cheung and other suffragists tried to stop the radical activists, but were pushed aside. The break-in was criticised by all the three activist groups of the protests, and legislators from both the pan-democracy and pro-Beijing camps, although the criticism from the student groups was less than categorical. The team organising legal assistance declined to help those arrested in the attempted break-in because the violence was not compatible with the principles of the movement. Tactical divergences have caused disagreement between some more "front line" activists and organizational core (大台/大會) when the latter came under criticism for preventing excursions or escalations of the former. After a failed attempt to block off access to government headquarters overnight on 30 November 2014, OCLP leader Benny Tai urged a full withdrawal to avoid any further physical harm by "out of control" police commanded by "a government that is beyond reason". On the day the OCLP trio surrendered to the police, Scholarism leader Joshua Wong and two others had entered a hunger strike.


title: Umbrella Movement

text: According to a survey of 1562 people between 20 and 26 October at the occupied sites by two young academics published on "Ming Pao", over three-quarters of the respondents were aged between 18 and 39 years of age; 37 percent of respondents were aged 24 years or below. Only 26 percent are students, while 58 percent are self-employed or white collar workers. 56 percent were educated to university or post-graduate level. In terms of motivation, 87 percent of respondents demand "real universal suffrage", 68 percent felt that their grievances were being ignored by the government, and 51 percent were angry at the police handling of the protests overall. 15 percent of respondents had never participated in any protests or social movements prior to the September protests.


title: Umbrella Movement

text: Notwithstanding, the movement is considered very much a student movement, a defining moment where an entire generation of youths have experienced political awakening similar to the Californian Summer of Love in 1967. Hong Kong youth are seen to have broken out of a cramped or cosy domestic environment into a community built around a cause, and held together with a sense of danger. Journals and documentaries have commented on the sexual politics, and remarked at the changing sexual stereotypes the movement has brought to the city, noting that females appear to be emerging from the undercurrent that women are expected to adhere to their domestic roles, and taking more leadership roles in society. Many of the city's once-spoilt youngsters have learned self-discipline and to live within a community, and playing a role that may include janitorial tasks.


title: Umbrella Movement

text: The three street camps across Hong Kong have their own distinctive character. Umbrella Square (Admiralty site), was largely dominated by students, seen to be loftier and more idealistic, and its ambiance was likened to Woodstock. Mong Kok, being a typically more working-class neighbourhood, occupation was regarded as being more earthy and more volatile. Causeway Bay, the smallest encampment with only about a dozen tents towards the end of the occupation, had a reputation for earnestness.


title: Umbrella Movement

text: The economy in the occupied territories is mostly maintained by people's spontaneous donation, in the form of Utopia through or not through supplies station to share to the local residents. In addition, there are conspiracy theories pointed out Jimmy Lai is the main source of income in the occupied territories.


title: Umbrella Movement

text: The people living in the occupied territories initially mainly resided on the road, lying on the ground to sleep. After 10 October 2014, by the appeal of Hong Kong Federation of Students and Scholarism, people mainly resided inside their spontaneous tents. Then, some tents were reinforced by plastic plate or board to cope with the rainwater penetration. Later, people finished up the tabernacles, making the tent groups to form small communities, such as Nathan Village, Harcourt village and so on.


title: Umbrella Movement

text: "Time" magazine described the organised chaos of the protest sites as "classical political anarchism: a self-organizing community that has no leader." Teams of volunteers working in shifts dealt with garbage collection and recycling, security and medical care. Well-stocked supply stations dispensed water and other basic necessities such as toilet paper, saline solution, instant coffee and cereal bars free of charge. The medical team in Admiralty consisted of more than 200 volunteers across four stations. Wooden steps were built to allow people to cross over the central divide of the eight-lane carriageway in Admiralty. A study area was created, complete with desk lamps and Wi-Fi; mobile phone charging stations were powered by electricity generators and wind turbines.


title: Umbrella Movement

text: Security as an issue was anticipated by OCLP, and a team of 50 marshals was put in place to secure the sites, although this was not universally welcomed. The head of the team is a professional life-guard and unionist. However, the fragmented leadership of the movement means that is complicated by some groups, which challenge the leadership of OCLP, also refuse to submit to the marshals' authority, for example, their removal of some barricades was challenged.


title: Umbrella Movement

text: Some protesters have used the online forum HKGolden to communicate plans, and occasionally to dox anti-Occupy figures, in addition to inventing memes and parody songs. The operation to block Lung Wo Road on 14 October 2014 was planned on the forum. On 18 October, the police arrested a HKGolden user for urging others to join the Occupy protests in Mong Kok, charge at police cordons, and paralyse the railways. He was charged with "access to computer with criminal or dishonest intent", the first such arrest since the protests began. As of 9 November fourteen protesters have since been arrested for "access to computer with criminal or dishonest intent".


title: Umbrella Movement

text: The protesters have been targeted with malware, according to a security consultancy, which believed that Chinese intelligence was responsible. Protesters used peer-to-peer messaging, such as WhatsApp and FireChat due to fears of the police disrupting mobile services. Mesh networks such as FireChat and Serval Mesh have the potential to circumvent government oversight even if the Internet is being shut down. Since FireChat messages are not encrypted, protesters also used Telegram.


title: Umbrella Movement

text: Art works and installations have appeared at protest sites, attracting interest from the world's media. These include the walls of the circular staircase leading up to the pedestrian skybridge near the entrance of Hong Kong's Central Government Office covered with multi-coloured post-it notes bearing messages of good cheer or defiance, named the "Lennon Wall" after the Lennon Wall in Prague, Czech Republic. John Lennon's song "Imagine" is often quoted on pro-democracy posters and banners, and became one of the anthems of the occupation. In addition to the use of traditional protests songs, banners, logos for the movement, installations and sculptures of all sizes have been created, including 'Umbrella Man', an iconic 3-metre statue created out of wood blocks, with an arm outstretched holding an umbrella. The umbrella and the yellow ribbon have inspired a large number of memes. The 28-metre banner hung on Lion Rock also inspired numerous memes, and a 3D scale model. An image of Xi Jinping holding an umbrella that won a top photojournalism award in China inspired another bout of meme-creation, and has appeared on banners and cardboard cut-outs. There are efforts to preserve the art, but the city's government-funded museums are uncooperative.


title: Umbrella Movement

text: Fearing re-occupation of the Mong Kok occupation site, in excess of 4,000 police were deployed to the area. Large crowds, ostensibly heeding a call from Chief Executive C. Y. Leung to return to the shops affected by the occupation, have appeared nightly in and around Sai Yeung Choi Street South (close to the former occupied site); hundreds of armed riot police charged demonstrators with shields, pepper spraying and wrestling a string of them to the ground. Protesters intent on "shopping" remained until dawn. Nightly shopping tours continued in Mong Kok, tying up some 2500 police officers, ostensibly at the behest of C. Y. Leung to help restore the economy of the once-occupied areas. The minibus company that took out the Mong Kok injunction (a restraining order from the court to stop protesters occupying roads in the district) was in turn accused of having illegally occupied Tung Choi Street for years.


title: Umbrella Movement

text: On Christmas Eve, 250 protesters marched from Southorn Playground to Civic Square. Around 7:00 pm, 500 "shopping" (referred to as "gau wu" by participants) protesters with yellow banners and umbrellas, gathered in Shantung Street, then Argyle Street and Nathan Road. Ten men and two women aged between 13 and 76 were arrested. In Causeway Bay, people hung a yellow banner on the Times Square clock tower. The banner was removed by the police. No arrests were made as the protesters were on private property. A group of students hung a banner on Lennon Wall. About 30 people had been arrested.


title: Umbrella Movement

text: The rule of law is a pillar of Hong Kong society and a core value of Hong Kong. In an ongoing discussion since the beginning of the movement, there have been polarised definitions of "rule of law" as applied to the civil disobedience movement. The local government and Chinese state officials and media have repeatedly emphasised the aspect pertaining to obedience and respect of laws and pronounced on the illegality of the movement's occupation and protests, while pan democrats see the concept as being about the law as check and balance against absolute power of government. Even in a policy speech one month after the end of the occupation, the Chief Executive once again stated that the Umbrella movement has jeopardised the rule of law and risked plunging the territory into a state of anarchy. The tendency of the government preface with such mentions was noted in the speech of the outgoing chairman of the local Bar association, Paul Shieh, who spoke of his concern over "an increasing tendency on the part of the executive in Hong Kong, in its public statements, to emphasise the 'obey the law' aspect of the Rule of Law" in a way that mirrors practice on the mainland. Secretary of Justice Rimsky Yuen blamed the movement for "large-scale as well as sporadic unlawful activities that [bring] about blatant challenges to the rule of law". However, the Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma said people involved in the Occupation Movement have "demonstrated the respect that most people have for the rule of law and emphasised once again the pivotal position it occupies in our community". Ma reiterated that "It is no part of the courts' function to solve political questions, but only to determine legal questions even though the reason for bringing legal proceedings may be a political one."


title: Umbrella Movement

text: Before, during, and after the occupation, activists of the movement have been intimidated with threats, been victims of hacking, been put under surveillance and subjected to invasions of privacy and other forms of harassment that the "Christian Science Monitor" quotes analysts saying are "alarmingly similar to the way mainland Chinese activists and their families have long been targeted". All of the OCLP trio have been targeted: Chan having banners denouncing him appear near his home, attempted hacking of his email, family members tailed, men staking out his house around the clock, receiving hate mail, death threats and even letters containing razor blades; Tai having his email account hacked, receiving hate mail and nuisance telephone calls; Chu giving up using his mobile phone due to persistent crank or threatening calls, his son being followed and filmed when making school runs, the photographs being posted up subsequently near his home and church; Wong having had his telephone numbers (and that of his mother) and his purported address made public.


title: Umbrella Movement

text: Some of the intimidation is from official sources. Activists have been arrested and had their residences searched, police have demonstrated elevated levels of violent suppression and brutality. The heavy-handed policing, including the use of tear gas on peaceful protesters, was widely credited with inspiring tens of thousands of citizens to join the protests in Admiralty. However, police spokesmen maintained that officers exercised "maximum tolerance" and blamed the violence on protesters, although this has been contradicted by the media.


title: Umbrella Movement

text: Groups of anti-Occupy Central activists including triad members and locals attacked suffragists on 3 October, tearing down their tents and barricades in Mong Kok and Causeway Bay. A student suffered head injuries. Journalists were also attacked. Police were criticised for reacting too lightly and too late when protesters were under attack. The Foreign Correspondents' Club accused the police of appearing to arrest alleged attackers but releasing them shortly after. Albert Ho of Democratic Party said communists in mainland China "use triads or pro-government mobs to try to attack you so the government will not have to assume responsibility."


title: Umbrella Movement

text: During a police operation to clear protesters on 15 October, Civic Party member Ken Tsang was assaulted in an act graphically filmed and broadcast on local television. He was carried off with his hands tied behind his back by seven police officers; then officers took turns to punch, kick and stamp on him for about four minutes. Journalists complained that they too had been assaulted. Numerous other instances of excessive violence by police have been reported, namely the first attempted clearance of Mong Kok occupation, the Lung Wo Road clearance operation, and during the "gau wu" protests in Mong Kok.


title: Umbrella Movement

text: Some individuals have also seen their freedom to travel curtailed by Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China authorities, and had their Home Return Permits revoked. The HKFS delegation led by Alex Chow was prevented from travelling to China on 15 November 2014. Airline officials informed them that mainland authorities had revoked their Home Return Permits, effectively banning them from boarding the flight to speak to government officials in Beijing. At least 30 other individuals have been similarly denied entry to the mainland. A junior member of Cathay Pacific flight crew out of Hong Kong airport was also prevented from entering Shanghai, and no reason was given. Media speculated from her Facebook account that the reason may have been her support for the movement and her attendance at the occupation site. Media sources suggest that some 500 movement activists' names are on the PRC blacklist for inbound travel. Scholarism member Tiffany Chin (錢詩文) was detained by public security bureau officers as she landed in Kunming on a family visit on 18 February 2015; her baggage and those of her mother were searched, and officials pored over her notebooks. Chin was put under house arrest in a room in an airport hotel watched over by two officials and was forbidden from approaching windows. Chin said the officials told her that she was denied entry for endangering national security. She was permitted to return to Hong Kong the next day and her Home Return Permit was returned to her.


title: Umbrella Movement

text: In December 2014, Police applied for Care and Protection Orders (CPO) against two young suffragists. Typically, CPOs are only used in severe cases of juvenile delinquency, and could lead to the minor being sent to a children's home and removed from parental custody. Police arrested one 14-year-old male for contempt of court during the clearance of Mong Kok and applied for a CPO. The CPO was cancelled four weeks later when the Department of Justice decided that they would not prosecute.


title: Umbrella Movement

text: In a second case, a 14-year-old female who drew a chalk flower onto the Lennon Wall on 23 December 2014 was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage, detained by police for 17 hours, and then held against her will in a children's home for 20 days, but was never charged with any crime. A magistrate decided in favour of a CPO pursuant to a police application, deeming it "safer." The incident created uproar as she was taken away from her hearing-impaired father, and was unable to go to school.


title: Umbrella Movement

text: On 19 January, another magistrate rescinded the protection order for the girl–now commonly known as "Chalk Girl" ()–however overall handling of the situation by police and government officials raised broad concerns. There is no official explanation as to why proper procedures were not followed or as to why, in accordance with regulations, social workers were never consulted before applying for the order. The controversy gained international attention, and The Guardian produced a short documentary film about her story, titled "The Infamous Chalk Girl" which was released in 2017. Use of the device against minors involved in the Umbrella Movement was seen as "white terror" to deter young people from protesting.


title: Umbrella Movement

text: On 18 June 2015, the Legislative Council rejected the government's electoral reform proposal by 28 votes to 8.


title: Umbrella Movement

text: The movement spawned new groupings such as Hong Kong Indigenous and Youngspiration seeking political change. The first wave of novitiates, about 50 in number, many of whom were born in the new millennium having political aspirations and disillusioned with the political establishment and affected by the Umbrella Movement, contested the 2015 district council elections. Pitted against seasoned politicians, and electioneering support often only from friends and family, they were popularly known as "Umbrella Soldiers". Nine of these new politicians succeeded in getting elected; veteran pro-establishment legislators Christopher Chung and Elizabeth Quat were both ousted from their District Council seats by the newcomers.


title: Umbrella Movement

text: Wong and two other prominent Hong Kong pro-democracy student leaders, Nathan Law and Alex Chow, were sentenced to six to eight months' imprisonment on 17 August 2017 for occupying Civic Square at the Central Government Complex at Tamar site. The sentence was expected to impair their political careers, as they faced barring from running for public office for five years. Just days earlier, 13 fellow Umbrella Movement activists had been convicted of unlawful assembly in relation to the events in 2014, receiving sentences of 8 to 13 months' imprisonment. On the Sunday following their sentencing, 20 August, a large demonstration of umbrella-carrying Hongkongers, the most massive since the 2014 occupation, took place.


title: Umbrella Movement

text: On 1 October 2017, National Day of the People's Republic of China, a demonstration under the rubric "Anti Authoritarian Rule" again called for release of jailed activists, as well as demanding resignation of the Chief Executive Carrie Lam and Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen. A prominent slogan read, "Without democracy, how can we have the rule of law?" The organisers, Demosisto, the League of Social Democrats and the Civil Human Rights Front, estimated 40,000 people participated.


title: Umbrella Movement

text: On 24 October 2017, Joshua Wong and Nathan Law were granted bail pending appeal by the Court of Final Appeal.


title: Umbrella Movement

text: On 9 April 2019, nine of the initiators, including Benny Tai, Rev Chu Yiu-ming and Chan Kin-man, were found guilty in a Hong Kong court for inciting public nuisance or inciting others to incite.


title: Umbrella Movement

text: On 28 July 2020, the governing council of the University of Hong Kong decided to dismiss associate professor Benny Tai.


title: Umbrella Movement

text: On 5 October 2017, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) Chair US Senator Marco Rubio and co-chair US Representative Chris Smith announced their controversial intention to nominate Joshua Wong, Nathan Law, Alex Chow and the entire Umbrella Movement for the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize, for "their peaceful efforts to bring political reform and protect the autonomy and freedoms guaranteed Hong Kong in the Sino-British Joint Declaration".


The United Kingdom government austerity programme is a fiscal policy that was adopted for a period in the early 21st century following the Great Recession. The term was used by the Coalition and Conservative governments in office from 2010 to 2019, and again during the 2021–present United Kingdom cost of living crisis.


title: United Kingdom government austerity programme

text: The Conservative-led government claimed that austerity served as a deficit reduction programme consisting of sustained reductions in public spending and tax rises, intended to reduce the government budget deficit and the role of the welfare state in the United Kingdom. Some commentators accepted this claim, but many scholars have observed that in fact its primary, largely unstated aim, like most austerity policies, was to restore the rate of profit.


text: Successive Conservative governments claimed that the National Health Service and education have been "ringfenced" and protected from direct spending cuts, but between 2010 and 2019 more than £30 billion in spending reductions have been made to welfare payments, housing subsidies and social services.


text: The effects of United Kingdom austerity policies have proved controversial and the policies have received criticism from a variety of politicians and economists. Anti-austerity movements have been formed among citizens more generally.


text: A UK government budget surplus in 2001-2 was followed by many years of budget deficit, and after the financial crisis of 2007–2008, a period of economic recession began in the country. The first austerity measures were introduced in late 2008. In 2009, the term "age of austerity", which had previously been used to describe the years immediately following World War II, was popularised by Conservative Party leader David Cameron. In his keynote speech to the Conservative Party forum in Cheltenham on 26 April 2009, he declared that "the age of irresponsibility is giving way to the age of austerity", and committed to end years of what he characterised as excessive government spending. Conservative Party leaders also promoted the idea of budget cuts bringing about the Big Society, a political ideology involving reduced government, with grass-roots organisations, charities and private companies delivering public services more efficiently.


text: The austerity programme was initiated in 2010 by the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government. In his June 2010 budget speech, the Chancellor George Osborne identified two goals. The first was that the structural current budget deficit would be eliminated to "achieve [a] cyclically-adjusted current balance by the end of the rolling, five-year forecast period". The second was that national debt as a percentage of GDP would be falling. The government intended to achieve both of its goals through substantial reductions in public expenditure. This was to be achieved by a combination of public spending reductions and tax increases amounting to £110 billion. The end of the forecast period was 2015–16.


text: Between 2010 and 2013, the Coalition government said that it had reduced public spending by £14.3 billion compared with 2009–10. Growth remained low during this period, while unemployment rose. In a speech in 2013, David Cameron indicated that his government had no intention of increasing public spending once the structural deficit had been eliminated and proposed that the public spending reduction be made permanent. In 2014, the Treasury extended the proposed austerity period until at least 2018. By 2015, the deficit, as a percentage of GDP, had been reduced to half of what it was in 2010, and the sale of government assets (mostly the shares of banks nationalised in the 2000s) had resulted in government debt as a proportion of GDP falling. By 2016, the Chancellor was aiming to deliver a budget surplus by 2020, but following the result of the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, he expressed the opinion that this goal was no longer achievable.


text: Osborne's successor as Chancellor, Philip Hammond, retained the aim of a balanced budget but abandoned plans to eliminate the deficit by 2020. In Hammond's first Autumn statement in 2016, there was no mention of austerity, and some commentators concluded that the austerity programme had ended. However, in February 2017, Hammond proposed departmental budget reductions of up to 6% for the year 2019–20, and Hammond's 2017 budget continued government policies of freezing working-age benefits. Following the 2017 snap general election, Hammond confirmed in a speech at Mansion House that the austerity programme would be continued and Michael Fallon, the Secretary of State for Defence, commented: "we all understand that austerity is never over until we've cleared the deficit". Government spending reductions planned for the period 2017–2020 are consistent with some departments, such as the Department for Work and Pensions and the Ministry of Justice, experiencing funding reductions of approximately 40% in real terms over the decade 2010–2020. During 2017 an overall budget surplus on day-to-day spending was achieved for the first time since 2001. This fulfilled one of the fiscal targets set by George Osborne in 2010, which he had hoped to achieve in 2015.


text: In 2018 the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) predicted that in 2018–19 public sector debt would fall as a share of national income for the first time since 2001–02, while tax revenues would exceed public spending. Hammond's 2018 Spring Statement suggested that austerity measures could be reduced in the Autumn Budget of that year. However, according to the Resolution Foundation and the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), the OBR's forecasts for borrowing and debt were based on the assumption that the government continued with the planned spending reductions that were announced after the 2015 general election. By 2018 only 25% of the proposed reductions in welfare spending had been implemented. The Resolution Foundation calculated that the proposed reduction in spending on working-age benefits amounted to £2.5 billion in 2018–19 and £2.7 billion in 2019–20, with the households most affected being the poorest 20%. The IFS calculated that the OBR's figures would require spending on public services per person in real terms to be 2% lower in 2022–23 than in 2019–20.


text: The deficit in the first quarter of the 2018–19 financial year was lower than at any time since 2007 and by August 2018 it had reached the lowest level since 2002–3. Hammond's aim at this time was to eliminate the deficit entirely by the mid-2020s. At the Conservative Party conference in October 2018 Prime Minister Theresa May indicated her intention to end the austerity programme following Brexit in 2019 and opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn said that austerity could not be ended without significant increases in public spending. The IFS calculated that funding an end to austerity would require an additional £19 billion per year raised through higher government borrowing or tax increases. Hammond's preference was to reduce the national debt with more years of austerity but in the October 2018 budget he agreed to defer the target date for eliminating the deficit, abandoning plans to achieve a surplus in 2022–23 to allow an increase in health spending and tax cuts. The Resolution Foundation described the step as a "significant easing of austerity". Hammond said that the "era of austerity is finally coming to an end" but that there would be no "real terms" increase in public spending apart from on the NHS.


text: The end of austerity was declared by Hammond's successor Sajid Javid in September 2019, though the Institute for Fiscal Studies expressed doubts that the planned spending in the Conservative manifesto for the 2019 election would constitute a true end to austerity, with spending per capita still 9% lower than 2010 levels. The spending plans were dramatically altered in early 2020, with the following two years characterised by vast spending brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The UK sufferred its deepest recession in 300 years. Government spending jumped from 39.1% of GDP to 51.9%, widening the deficit to a level not seen even during the 2008 financial crisis, and reversing austerity era efforts to balance national finances. The government abandoned efforts to lower the national debt across the lifetime of the 2019 parliament, as had been planned, instead adopting Keynesian policies during the pandemic.


text: Beginning during the latter part of the premiership of Boris Johnson, high inflation, high taxation, and the removal of temporary COVID-era support measures culminated in a cost of living crisis. While the government did not return to the use of "austerity" terminology until 2022, policies during late 2021 were referred to as a second era of austerity by some commentators. The cuts to Universal Credit in September 2021 described by some as austerity policies. UK in a Changing Europe described the period as "round two", viewing the 2022 spring statement of Rishi Sunak as a turning point similar to the October 2010 statement then delivered by George Osborne, at the initiation of austerity. This view was shared by "The Guardian", which described the period from Spring 2022 onward as "another era", and "The Telegraph", which termed it "another ill-judged bout". Johnson announced his resignation that July, amid a Conservative rebellion sparked in part over the cost of living crisis.


text: Shortly after the beginning of the premiership of Liz Truss in September 2022, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Simon Clarke announced a "New age of austerity", saying that the country had a "very large welfare state" and that the government would "trim the fat". The scope or detail of these planned cuts were never announced, though by some estimates Truss' tax changes added 32 billion pounds to an existing 6 billion pound deficit, that would have either required significant borrowing or cuts to fill. Facing backlash, chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng denied that there would be new austerity measures the following day, after the government was forced into a U-turn on taxation. The Truss ministry was ultimately unable to enact any of its planned reforms, as Kwarteng was sacked on October 15th and Truss announced her own resignation on the 20th.


text: The austerity programme included reductions in welfare spending, the cancellation of school building programs, reductions in local government funding, and an increase in VAT. Spending on the police, courts and prisons was also reduced. A number of quangos were abolished, merged or reduced as a result of the 2010 UK quango reforms.


text: The Local Government in England is one of the main contributors to the funding of the arts, spending more than £1 billion annually. However, due to austerity policies and challenges to sustainability in recent years, council spending on arts and culture development has suffered a reduction of 16.6%. A report by the Arts Council England revealed that arts and culture have suffered a £236 million (20%) decline since 2010 and a further report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies highlighted that spending per person has reduced by 23%.


text: Public libraries are funded by local governments to provide free services that enrich culture, information and education. The emergence of austerity and subsequent cuts to local government funding has caused library services to suffer – including the closure of almost 800 public libraries since the launch of austerity in 2010.


text: Currently, library services are governed by the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964, which outlines the duty of local authorities to provide a 'comprehensive and efficient library service for all'. Part of this duty involves an understanding of priorities and financial constraints of local councils, which has specifically been subject to the impact of austerity over recent years. According to the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA), there were 3,583 library branches in England, Wales and Scotland that collectively employed 15,300 people alongside 51,000 volunteers in 2019. Prior to this, there were 35 library closures since 2018 and a huge 773 closures since 2010. Library closures have also been reflected in the use of public libraries. CIPFA noted that library visitors across the UK have substantially declined from 335 million annual visitors in 2005 to 215 million in 2019/20.


text: With regards to local government spending on libraries, CIPFA released data to show that spending fell from £1 billion in 2009/10 to £774.8 million in 2018/19 with a further 2.6% decline in 2019/20 to £725 million. These budget cuts have only furthered as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, accompanied by an increased demand for digital and remote library services. The pandemic has seen an increase of 600% for digital borrowing and an increase of 400% for e-lending. As a result of this, the future of public libraries is uncertain. It may be that following the pandemic, their services could undergo dramatic changes within local communities that are more accommodating to their reduced funding as a result of austerity.


text: National museums in the United Kingdom are typically run and funded by the government. However, there are some museums which have separate agreements with local authorities meaning they receive financial support through government programmes. The extent of this funding has been greatly reduced since the beginning of austerity. For example, between 2007 and 2017, museums suffered a 13% reduction in funding, resulting in the closure of at least 64 museums between 2010 and 2019 and visitor numbers halving from 8,000 to 4,000 between 2010 and 2015.


text: Whilst museums are free of charge in order to broaden the demographic of visitors and provide universal access, many museums have had to result to privatisation in order to accommodate budget cuts. 2013 saw the outsourcing of security at the British Museum, followed by the Imperial War Museum in 2014 and the National Gallery in 2015.


text: The budget cuts stemming from austerity have also been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. A report conducted by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) highlighted that £5.2 billion has been promised by the government to councils, despite the extra spending of £4.4 billion due to the pandemic and an overall budget pressure of £7.2 billion for 2020/21. This £2 billion budget gap will likely result in greater cuts to services provided by museums.


text: Between 1998 and 2012 the number of children living in "relative poverty" in the UK had fallen by approximately 800,000 to a total of around 3.5 million. Following the introduction of the Welfare Reform Act 2012 the number of children in "relative poverty" increased, with the total by 2019 around 600,000 higher than it had been in 2012. During those seven years the number of children obtaining food from the food banks of The Trussell Trust more than tripled.


text: A number of independent reports have considered the demographic effects of the austerity programme. In 2011, activist collective Feminist Fightback described its gendered impact and in 2012 the Fawcett Society published a report which was critical of the Treasury for not assessing the impact of austerity on women's equality. A 2015 report by the Resolution Foundation identified age-related disparities in the effects of austerity changes. The report projected that during the 2010s transfers to local authorities would fall by 64% and that spending on working-age welfare would fall by 71%, while between 1997 and 2020 spending on older people and health would rise from 33.8% to 43.4% of total government spending. In the same year a group of political scientists at the University of Nottingham found that the impact of austerity on in-work benefits and housing policy had been harmful to working families with children, while wealthy pensioners and older homeowners had benefited. In 2016 research from the Women's Budget Group and the Runnymede Trust indicated that women, people of colour and in particular women of colour had been affected most by austerity, and that they would continue to be affected disproportionately until 2020. This was due to the fact that black and Asian women were more likely to be employed in the public sector, be in low-paid jobs and insecure work, and experience higher levels of unemployment than other groups.


text: Research published in 2017 by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation identified an increase in child poverty and pensioner poverty compared to the previous year, following significant overall decreases during the previous 20 years. Reductions in benefit support and a shortage of affordable housing were considered to be contributing factors.


text: Researchers have linked budget cuts and sanctions against benefit claimants to increasing use of food banks. In a twelve-month period from 2014 to 2015, over one million people in the United Kingdom had used a food bank, representing a "19% year-on-year increase in food bank use". The use of food banks almost doubled between 2013 and 2017. A study published in the "British Medical Journal" in 2015 found that each one percentage point increase in the rate of Jobseeker's Allowance claimants sanctioned was associated with a 0.09 percentage point rise in food bank use. Research by The Trussell Trust found that the use of food banks increased more in areas where Universal Credit was introduced.


text: However, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development found that the number of people answering yes to the question "Have there been times in the past 12 months when you did not have enough money to buy food that you or your family needed?" decreased from 9.8% in 2007 to 8.1% in 2012, leading some to say that the rise was due to both more awareness of food banks, and the government allowing Jobcentres to refer people to food banks when they were hungry, in contrast to previous governments.


text: When the coalition government came to power in 2010, capital investment in new affordable homes was cut by 60%, while government-imposed caps on local authority borrowing continued to restrict their ability to raise money to build new homes. Writing in "Inside Housing", former housing minister John Healey observed that rate of starting social rented schemes had declined from 40,000 in 2009/10 to less than 1,000 in 2015/16. When the government eventually released its "Affordable Homes Programme" for 2011-2015 and accompanying funding guidelines it established a new type of affordable housing- "affordable rent" that can be up to 80% of the market rent and hence at levels that can be significantly higher than social rents, and affordable rents are around 30% higher than social rents on average among housing association properties. The provision of affordable rent is meant to compensate for the drastically reduced central government subsidy for new social housing (an average of £20,000 per home in 2012 versus £60,000 per home under the previous National Affordable Housing Programme 2008-2011), allowing housing associations and local authorities to raise more revenue from rent payments to be used for long-term capital investments.


text: By 2018, a large majority of newly built social housing in England was created for affordable rent instead of the often much lower social rent, while the proportion of new-build social housing using affordable rent has been much less significant in Wales and Scotland where most new-build social housing continues to be built for social rent levels, while in Northern Ireland the affordable rent product has not been used. Meanwhile, in London more than 10,000 existing properties that were previously let at social rent levels have been changed to affordable rent. Though housing benefit tenants, exempt as they are from LHA rates, are not directly effected by the move towards "affordable" as opposed to social rents, a large number of in-work tenants who many not qualify for any housing benefit will be directly effected by the higher rents. The number of people sleeping rough on any one night across England had more than doubled between 2010 and 2016 to an estimated 4,134, according to a government street count.


text: The benefit cap, introduced via the Welfare Reform Act 2012, set a maximum level for the amount of state welfare benefits that could be paid to an individual household in any one year. The measure came into effect in 2013 with the figure initially set at £26,000 per year, close to the average income of a family in the UK at that time. The anticipated reduction in government expenditure as a result of the measure was £225 million by April 2015. The benefit cap initially affected approximately 12,000 households, mainly in high-rent areas of the UK such as London, but in 2016/17 the limit was reduced to £20,000 per annum (£23,000 in London) extending its effects to around 116,000 households across the UK.


text: A Local Housing Allowance (LHA) policy restricting Housing Benefit for private sector tenants to cover a maximum number of rooms had been in place since 2008 and was initially set at the 50th percentile of rents in an area (essentially it covered the median rent), while in 2011 the calculation was changed to the equivalent of the 30th percentile of rents (the cheapest third of housing in an area) and the following year instead of updating the LHA rates the government announced that instead rates would increase by a maximum equivalent to the rise of the Consumer Price Index. In 2015 the government announced a complete four year freeze on LHA rates (with some of the areas experiencing higher rents having their LHA lifted by 3% with Targeted Affordability Funding). Additionally, non-disabled persons under 35 saw their LHA payment restricted to the shared accommodation rate (instead of the one-bedroom rate that had previously been available)


text: The under-occupancy penalty, introduced in 2013 and commonly known as the "bedroom tax", affected an estimated 660,000 working age social housing tenants in the UK, reducing weekly incomes by £12–£22. Almost two thirds of the people affected by the penalty were disabled. The measure reduced the expenditure of the Department for Work and Pensions by approximately £500 million per year. In 2015, George Osborne announced that tenants in social housing would have their housing benefit limited to LHA rates (used for private-sector tenants) from 2019, though Theresa May announced in 2017 that this policy had been scrapped.


text: From April 2016 the LHA rates used to calculate maximum housing benefit levels for private sector tenants were frozen for four years. Research by the housing charity Shelter indicated that the proportion of such tenants likely to experience a shortfall in housing benefit was 80%, amounting to 300,000 families. The degree of shortfall depends on dwelling, location and individual circumstances, but Shelter expected that by 2020 the shortfall could in some cases reach hundreds of pounds a month.


text: In April 2017, housing benefit payments were ended for new claims made by people aged 18–21. Research by Heriot-Watt University found that the policy would reduce annual government expenditure by £3.3 million.


text: During the period of austerity, the rate of homelessness rapidly increased. For example, during 2016 the rate of homelessness increased by 16%. By 2018 the number of families living in bed and breakfast accommodation was almost 50,000, and there were many more "hidden homeless" people living on the floors and sofas of friends and acquaintances. An article in The BMJ regarded this as a "neon sign that something is fundamentally wrong" with how society is being run, noting that "homeless women die on average at 43 and homeless men at 47, compared with 77 for the rest of us". The Office for National Statistics estimated that 597 homeless people died in England and Wales in 2017, an increase of 24% since 2012.


text: Research was published in 2018 by Shelter analysing government data. It indicated that all forms of homelessness had increased since 2010 and that the number of households living in temporary accommodation had risen to more than 79,000. By 2017 over 33,000 families living in temporary accommodation were working, a proposition that had increased from 44% in 2013 to 55% in 2017. Shelter attributed this to a combination of higher rents, the freeze on housing benefits and the shortage of social housing.


text: The Local Government Association has identified a decrease in UK Government funding of almost 60 per cent for local authorities in England and Wales between 2010 and 2020. The reduction in central government funding for county councils in England combined with an increasing demand for social care services has caused reductions in expenditure on other services such as public libraries, refuse collection, road maintenance and Sure Start, along with increases to council tax rates and the introduction of additional charges for county council services. Local authority subsidies to bus services were reduced by almost half between 2010 and 2018.


text: Research by the Local Government Chronicle has indicated that between 2010 and 2018 there were more than 220,000 redundancies of local authority employees and nearly £4 billion was spent on redundancy payments, excluding outsourcing contracts. Rob Whiteman of CIPFA commented that "this scale of job losses reflects the intense financial pressure on councils as they now have no option other than to provide the bare minimum statutory provisions". Analysis by the Local Government Association in 2018 identified a decrease in the Revenue Support Grant for local authorities in England from £9,927 million in 2015–16 to £2,284 million for 2019–20, leaving 168 authorities with no grant for 2019–20. UK government plans in 2018 proposed the phasing out of grants to local authorities in England, instead funding English local government through a combination of local business rates and council tax.