Harley-Davidson: Trump's tariffs pose grave threat to famous American name

Harley-Davidson is not having a great year. In January, the legendary bike company, struggling to reverse a four-year slide in sales, had to close its Kansas City factory. Now Donald Trump – who seems as if he’d like to be a Harley man – has added to its woes.
This week’s announcement of steel tariffs on US imports could add $30m to the company’s costs, according to Wedbush Securities, an investment firm. Worse still, European leaders are threatening retaliation, and several symbols of Americana – including Kentucky whiskey, Levi’s and Harley-Davidson motorcycles – are on their list.

Source: Theguardian

 

'I'm quite happy to be a stopgap': life in a boomerang household

A report this week found that young adults who return to the family home can have a negative impact on their parents’ quality of life. The London School of Economics study found that about a quarter of young adults in the UK now live with their parents – the highest number since records began in 1996 – as a consequence of spiralling housing costs and poor job security. We talked to three families affected by the “boomerang” generation about life in household with young adults.
Heather and Philip Cutler, of Crediton, Devon

When the Cutlers’ children finally left home for university, Jim first, then his sister Jessica, they had two child-free years. Then their children returned, one by one, and they look likely to remain at home for the foreseeable future.

“I felt very bereft when they went,” says Heather, an artist. “It felt very strange. It felt like there was a big hole. You have to think of a whole new role for yourself and I didn’t have one.

“At the same time it was good for me and Philip. Our relationship went back to how it had been pre-children. They take so much of your thinking time and energy, and you often don’t have time to talk to each other about anything other than them.

Source: Theguardian

John Boyega: ‘I’m very direct. I can’t lie’

John Boyega is talking about the day his world changed – and he knew everything would be OK. It’s not when he got the lead role in his first film, Attack The Block, aged 18, nor when he was whisked off by JJ Abrams to Hollywood for a mighty role in Star Wars. Not even when he earned his spurs as a serious film actor in last year’s Detroit, a shocking exposé of racism in the US police.

No, he realised everything was going to be just fine back in secondary school when he learned to use his hands. “I smacked a few people in the face. That was a glorious day. I was 14 or 15. I was on the 148 bus and I got to the bus stop and a guy that had been at our school was there with two of his friends. He wanted a new phone, so he thought he was going to get one off me. Anyway, to cut a long story short, he approached me with one of his friends and I made both their left eyes water. And I didn’t even punch. I slapped – hard. It was significant I slapped because that’s something a parent would do to their child.”

Source: Theguardian

'A national disgrace': fury over £100m aid deal between UK and Saudi Arabia

The controversial aid deal between the UK and Saudi Arabia announced on Friday has been branded a “national disgrace”.

Amid further outcry over Britain’s relationship with the Gulf state, government ministers have signed a £100m aid agreement with Riyadh to coincide with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to London this week.

The government described the deal as a “new long-term partnership” to improve livelihoods and boost economic development in some of the world’s poorest countries.

But the accord has been greeted with fury by opposition MPs and the aid sector, with grave concerns expressed about Saudi Arabia’s role in the Yemen conflict.

Kate Osamor, the shadow international development secretary, said the agreement “made a mockery” of Britain’s reputation as a global leader in delivering humanitarian aid.

Source: Theguardian

Thanks but no tanks: Trump's military parade will not include heavy vehicles

Donald Trump looks set to get the military parade he wants in Washington, on Veterans Day in November.

But a Pentagon planning memo issued on Thursday and released on Friday said the parade being planned for 11 November will “include wheeled vehicles only, no tanks consideration must be given to minimize damage to local infrastructure”.

In other words, heavy tanks could tear up the streets of DC and will thus not be allowed to rumble past the president on his reviewing stand.

The event will “include a heavy air component at the end of the parade”, the memo said, meaning lots of airplane flyovers. Older aircraft will be included as available.

Source: Theguardian

Civil rights pioneer Viola Desmond is first Canadian woman on currency

A black woman who refused to leave the whites-only section of a Canadian movie theatre in 1946 – nearly a decade before Rosa Parks’s act of defiance – has been honoured on the country’s newest $10 bill.

Civil rights pioneer Viola Desmond was selected from the more than 26,000 submissions that rolled in after the Bank of Canada announced plans to put a Canadian woman on the country’s circulating currency for the first time.

Born in 1914, Desmond rose to prominence as an entrepreneur, selling her own line of hair and skin products at a time when few local beauty schools accepted black students.

Source: Theguardian