Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) has officially reached peak cash burn. Its negative free cash flow of $3.3 billion in 2019 was about $250 million more than the previous year, but management is expecting to burn just $2.5 billion this year.

That's despite the fact that several high-profile competitors are entering the market in 2020, and the price of licensing and producing new television series and films has seemingly never been higher.

There are several factors that will lead to the considerable improvement in cash flow this year, and investors should expect those trends to continue for the foreseeable future. That provides a clear path to neutral cash flow for the streaming video leader. Here's how it'll get there.

Image source: Netflix.

The more cash coming in, the easier it is to improve cash flow, so everything starts with growing revenue.

Netflix grew revenue 27.6% last year, but investors should expect a considerable slowdown in 2020 since 2019 was helped by price increases around the world. Average revenue per subscriber increased 17% in the U.S. and Canada in the back half of the year. Netflix had a similar price increase across Latin America, but foreign exchange headwinds knocked the increase down to around 9%. It's very unlikely Netflix will increase prices again in 2020 in most markets, given the competitive pressure and price sensitivity subscribers exhibited last spring.

Additionally, Netflix probably won't grow its subscriber base as quickly as last year. Netflix's first-quarter outlook calls for just seven million net additions compared to 9.6 million in the first quarter of 2019. While management expects a more even distribution of net additions in the first half of the year, it's still unlikely the company will grow subscribers at the same rate as last year, especially considering the fact it's building on a larger base.

That said, analysts still expect Netflix to produce revenue growth in excess of 20% this year. That'll come from continued subscriber growth, another quarter before it laps its previous price increase, and self-selection from subscribers to higher-priced tiers.

Netflix has consistently expanded its operating margin three percentage points every year for the past three years. 2020 will be no different, with management planning to hit a 16% operating margin for the full year.

One area of operating leverage is in Netflix's marketing budget. The company greatly expanded its marketing budget in 2018, increasing spend around 50% that year. The focus of that increase was mostly around marketing specific original titles and "for your consideration" campaigns to win prestigious awards. And while Netflix certainly expanded its original content slate in 2019 and made an even bigger push at the Emmys and Oscars, its marketing budget increased just 12% for the full year.

The bulk of Netflix's increased marketing spend is international, where the company is seeing improved efficiency as it has become a more established brand over the last four years. Continued investment in international marketing could produce even better returns for the company and result in the operating leverage necessary in order to meet its 16% operating margin target.

Of course, the biggest cost for Netflix is its massive content library. The company amortized $9.2 billion of content expenses in 2019, which is the amount that goes into its income statement. But its cash flow statement saw about $14.6 billion in content spending as it continues to ramp up investments in originals and pre-commits to certain licensed content.

The content amortization increased about 22% last year, slightly faster than the 21% growth in 2018. CFO Spence Neumann told investors to expect another increase of around 20% for 2020.

But the growth in cash spend will be slightly slower. "The relationship between our cash spent and our amortization, that ratio was about 1.6, meaning 1.6 times the cash investment relative to our amortization," Neumann explained during Netflix's fourth-quarter earnings call. "You should see that ratio continue to come down a little bit."

If Netflix grows its amortized content expense 21% and decreases the ratio to 1.52, it'll spend about $17 billion in cash on its content in 2020. That's just 16% growth on by far the biggest line item in its cash flow statement. Combined with the streaming video company's revenue growth of about 20% and operating leverage of three percentage points, investors should see a marked improvement in free cash flow over the next four quarters.

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How Netflix Will Improve Free Cash Flow by $800 Million in 2020 - Motley Fool

Its been almost 50 years Since Michael Schenker made his recording debut at age 16 on the Scorpions debut album, 1972s Lonesome Crow. From the start it was obvious he was at a playing level that was well beyond many of his contemporaries.

This little detail was noticed by UK rockers UFO, who poached Schenker from the Scorpions in 1974 after witnessing his chops first-hand. Their first album together, Phenomenon, was a game-changer for UFO in terms of their commercial appeal.

Schenker had everything - the guitar-hero image, the chops and the iconic Gibson Flying V. Fame didnt sit well with him, however, and he developed a reputation for unreliability and unpredictability. He left UFO in 1978 ahead of the release of 1979s Strangers in the Night, an oft-cited contender for the title of greatest live album of all time.

After a brief return to the Scorpions for Lovedrive in 1978, Schenker filled guitar hot seats with Aerosmith, Ozzy Osbourne and Ian Hunter. He calls this period - the era leading up to forming The Michael Schenker Group with vocalist Gary Barden - his first phase.

The ensuing second phase saw Schenker endure a roller-coaster of highs and lows. The highs included his time with McAuley Schenker Group and a brief return to UFO; the lows involved personal problems that saw him endure a costly divorce, and a period where he seemed to have cut himself adrift from the world of rock.

Schenkers current third phase kicked in when he realized he was no longer suffering from stage fright in 2008 - and he began to actively relish performing.

Schenker is eloquent and animated when he describes the travails of a life where success came before he was ready, and where he feels the lessons life has taught him have ultimately brought him the happiness he feels today.

His latest release, Revelation - under the banner Michael Schenker Fest - is a hard-rocking and celebratory confirmation from Schenker that hes the happiest and hungriest hes ever been.

Revelation has come out relatively quickly after the last release [2018s Resurrection]. Are you feeling prolific?

"Im used to doing one album a year from my UFO days. Im 64. Im not gonna sit around not doing anything. I always play and discover. I go treasure hunting - I enjoy my journey, and when I find a piece of gold, I put it on a cassette recorder.

"I keep collecting pieces. I never get any kind of writers block. We had a lot of space in the schedule and time is ticking quickly; Im not going to wait forever, you know? It was just the right time for me."

Given that Michael Schenker Fest involves four singers, how do you decide which vocalist will get which song?

"I let the universe do the work. I send the same pieces out to everyone at the same time and see who comes back first. I work on a first come, first served basis, so whoever responds first gets the song.

"Doogie [White] usually comes to me quickly and picks a few. Robin [McAuley] came back immediately and picked one. Graham Bonnet picked two and insisted on writing his own lyrics and melodies. Im very happy he did, because he did such a great job.

"I had four songs where I wanted everybody singing. I love Gary Bardens low voice, so I always try to keep some aside for him, as he is so bluesy and full-sounding. The funny thing is that everybody picked fast songs, so the whole album is really up-tempo. You cant control everything, so you let it go and develop itself and see what transpires."

Behind the Smile takes an unexpected turn, with that almost folk-like intro before the main song kicks in.

"Its a great song. I think maybe Doogie picked it because it was an almost Scottish intro. I can see him in a kilt singing that one. I love the keyboards; it lifts the song and makes everything move around. Its very catchy as well."

Theres a very upbeat feel to the album. Do you feel positive these days? I know youve had some tough times over the years.

All of a sudden, by the time of Strangers in the Night, people are saying Michael Schenker is God. Im thinking, 'What!?'

"At this point, I can see very clearly what happened to me. Everything had to be the way it went. The first part of my life, unconsciously, I was just playing around. I didnt compete with anybody, I didnt want to be famous: I just wanted to have fun.

"All of a sudden, by the time of Strangers in the Night, people are saying Michael Schenker is God. Im thinking, 'What!?' I helped the Scorpions with the Lovedrive album, then I looked at myself and I thought, 'Ive experienced what it is to be successful and famous, so I have a choice now. Do I want to stay there and keep chasing the same thing everybody is chasing, or do I want to see this as one chapter, and focus on a new chapter?'

"That next phase - where I started to play the black-and-white Flying V - Ozzy, Aerosmith, Ian Hunter - anyone whod asked me to join them would have been very unhappy with me. They would have had to put up with my experiments."

You had great success with MSG then, so you must have had some focus on what you were looking for.

"All I wanted to do was find an unknown singer - which I found in Gary [Barden] - an easygoing guy with a great bluesy voice. I have two tattoos; one says Born to overcome and the other says Born to be free. They symbolize my middle years.

"I intuitively knew I did what I had to do in those years. I was bubbling with creativity. I made too many albums, almost, but I got everything out of my system the fame and status.

"I think I made my musical contribution in the 70s, which everyone then used in the 80s. People would ring me up in the early 80s, saying, 'Michael, theyre all playing your guitar style.'

"I said, 'dont worry about it. I have other things to do.' I think my assignment was to jump-start things in the 70s. I jump-started the Scorpions and UFO - they should be happy about it - then I carried on with my own style.

I believe if you stay true to yourself, everything will come to you. If Id not had those difficult periods when I was trusting myself and my vision, I wouldnt be as happy as I am now

"I always had terrible stage fright, but in 2008 something inside me said, 'Michael, go on stage,' and I realized I wanted to be on stage. Everything changed, 180 degrees. I became a different person, but thats because of those middle years, when things werent always great for me.

"I always stayed true to myself. Maybe I could have joined Ozzy or something, but then who knows where I might be now. Maybe not even alive, you know? I believe if you stay true to yourself, everything will come to you. I never sold out, and I built a really big foundation for my present phase. If Id not had those difficult periods when I was trusting myself and my vision, I wouldnt be as happy as I am now."

Your solos are often very memorable. Do you consciously work out what youre going to play?

"In Search of the Peace of Mind is the first song Id ever written. It was credited to all the Scorpions, but I wrote the music and Klaus [Meine] wrote the lyrics. That first solo I recorded was just perfect, unbelievable. It came out of nowhere. It will be forever just right.

"I wrote all the music for the songs in the Scorpions, although they credited themselves for it incidentally. They were nearly seven years older than me, so I guess they took advantage. It didnt matter to me at the time as I was an artist, and I enjoyed the reward of the music.

"I did have a period, when I was interested in harmony guitar solos, where I did write the parts, as you need to have that more planned out, but for the last 20 years or so Ive wanted to play more bluesy and rocky - since [2011s] Temple of Rock.

"Everything is improvised now. I dont write any solos these days. I dont play ballads or slow songs, so there isnt really a space for writing a solo. It is interesting what you say, as when I listen back to my solos, I think it does sound like I composed them."

The break on Only You Can Rock Me is the perfect example of what a solo should do.

"The funny thing is that its entirely improvised. Im sure when I first played it, it didnt sound the way it came out, but it sounds so structured and so well thought out. It isnt, though. I just improvised it in the studio.

"That solo is me without making any efforts - every nuance of it is Michael. Every note needs to have a meaning. Many people can play many notes, but it doesnt have any meaning."

Given your association with the Flying V, did Gibson ever offer to make you a signature model?

"[Laughs uproariously] Rudolf [Schenker, Scorpions guitarist and Michaels brother] took care of that! Hes been working so hard at distorting my image, so people dont know anymore which one is Michael and which one is Rudolf.

"Sometimes Rudolf would come up to me and proudly report whod tapped him on the shoulder and said, 'Hey, Michael, how are you doing?' Slash and Joe Perry, for example.

"[Laughs] While I wasnt looking, he managed for years to distort the hell out of the image of the Schenker brothers. People dont have a clue anymore who is who. Because Im younger and I was successful earlier and had the first hit in 1976, I was playing in America when I was 19 and Rudolph was 33 before he got to America for the first time.

People are so confused because I was six-and-a-half years younger. The Scorpions became so successful that people forget what the band was like at the start. Its incredible how he managed to distort the whole thing. Rudolf made a deal with Gibson for black-and-white guitars.

"He asked me if I minded if he played a black-and-white Flying V. I asked myself why he wants to be me, but I just said, 'Go ahead.' Then he pushed it so far in trying to make the black-and-white image his. He doesnt know who he is. Then he had the cheek to make a deal with Gibson for a signature Flying V.

"Im playing a Dean and hes got the Gibson, and then people probably think hes also the guy who used to play with UFO. It is remarkable. Hes a very strange guy, one of a kind. [Laughs]"

Perhaps as the older brother, he was expecting things might come to him first?

"Well, that is true. As the younger brother, I probably ended up wearing his underpants and school uniform, and riding his bike. He was the oldest and I got the hand-me-downs. I didnt look for fame and success, but I became successful.

"I didnt look to become an icon, but I became one, it became me. Rudolf focused on those things, but he couldnt get it. Its a strange message - that existence of two brothers who made such a weird success in their own way. The puzzle is not completed yet between us.

I jumpstarted the Scorpions. They should be happy instead of acting like Im some little shit

"I know there is a reason for this peculiar journey through life between Rudolf and me. I hope I will understand it if I can get another 10 years on the planet. Im not bitter about the stupid games he played. He was probably very frustrated that everything he wanted was coming to his much younger brother without even trying for it.

"I believe I was born to make him successful. Rudolf doesnt have much talent as a guitarist. Without direction, he is lost. He copied everything I did. [Laughs] I needed to pave the path for him.

"Im not saying that competitively, but with an open heart. I jumpstarted the Scorpions. They should be happy instead of acting like Im some little shit. [Laughs]"

What initially drew you to the Flying V?

"It is meaningless in a way, but when I was 14 when we had an hour in woodwork class, I decided to build a guitar and it was a triangle shape. So, the shape came to me; I didnt look for it. I was never interested in the instrument itself, more what I could do with it.

"Then when I heard Leslie West and Johnny Winter and Jeff Beck, Id wonder what they played, you know? I identified with the ones who played how I wanted to play, but I started going my own way. There was no point in copying someone else."

What was the situation when you were giving guitar lessons some years ago? People regarded it as a sign that life was going badly for you, given the heights your career had reached prior to that.

"It was more therapeutic, a part of my middle years. I did so many self-improvement programs and stuff like that. I was thirsty for it. I ended up in the country I was most intimidated by - America - to do most of my work, which seems really weird in a way.

"Americans used to intimidate me, but that was where I did all my self-improvement work. I had such a thirst to learn and know who I was. Because of that, I understood who I was. I wanted to learn to be social. I used it to invite people into my privacy.

"It wasnt so much guitar lessons, more about how they can become something individual or unique. Id show them how I wrote songs - practical things. Sometimes I just talked. It wasnt how to become famous, more about the whole Michael philosophy."

Whats the one thing that kept you going through everything?

"I think theres something inside of me that is untouchable; a connection to the creator of creations. Im connected to the essence of myself. I can feel that essence and that connection.

"I used to say I may be shaky on the outside, but I have the strength of pure gold in the center of my being that is always with me. That is where all the intuition comes from. I dont have a high IQ or anything. Im working with something I dont consciously understand.

"We dont know a lot about our lives, but that belief in the inner-self - self-acceptance - it is very important. You need something to hold on to, then you need to trust yourself, and accept yourself. Everything that needs to happen will happen, and all will come to pass."

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Michael Schenker: "Rudolf doesnt have much talent as a guitarist - I needed to pave the path for him. Im saying that with an open heart" -...

The only British writers who stood up for Jews before the days of Hitler, George Orwell reckoned, were Charles Dickens and Charles Reade (he forgot George Eliot, whose Daniel Deronda is a sympathetic proto-Zionist). Hilaire Belloc, a virulent Jew-baiter, considered Jews beyond civilisation because civilisation was based on Christianity and Jews were Christ-killers (OK so we killed him, but only for three days, runs the Jewish joke). Benjamin Disraeli, the One Nation Tory who led the Conservatives to a majority in the 1874 general election, was castigated and abused as a Shylock till the day he died (and afterwards, too). Caricatures of ugly, money-grubbing Jews marked 19th-century fiction; even William Thackeray, that most likeable of Victorian novelists, disparaged a Rothschild banker as a greasy-faced compound of donkey and pig.

The taint of British anti-Semitism haunts the work of Alexander Baron, the mostunderrated Anglo-Jewish writer of the mid-20th century. Barons incandescent 1952 London novel,With Hope, Farewell(Five Leaves Publications, 9.99), unfolds amid the flag-waving jamborees of British fascist activists in the Jewish East End over the years 1928-48. Mark Strong, a Jewish RAF pilot, is sickened to see Jews maligned once more as traitorous anti-Britons (always the word Jew sprang up like barbed wire between himself and the world).

Assimilation had promised an escape fromthe derision and sorrows inflicted by anti-Semitism; now Strong is not so sure. John Betjeman compared the novel favourably to Alan PatonsCry, the Beloved Country, which put forward the case of the coloured people of South Africa.

Baron, who was born in 1917 in Maidenhead (his mother was evacuated there from London during Zeppelin raids), madehis name first as a war novelist. In 1939, having worked on the socialist newspaperTribune, he enlisted in the army as a corporal. His service in southern Italy and Normandy with the Pioneer Corps left him physically and emotionally wounded, but provided him with raw material for the magnificent war trilogy that launched his literary career.

From the City, From the Plough(Imperial War Museum Classics, 8.99), Barons debut novel, was reprinted within a month of its publication in 1948. It tells of an infantry battalion stationed on the south coast of England as it prepares for the D-Day landings. In pages of taut prose, Baron captures the barrack-room chat of ordinary soldiers and the boredom of their training. For VS Pritchett, it was the only war book that has conveyed any sense of reality to me; Baron was among the first to bring the life of the Nissen hut into literature.

The sequel,Theres No Home(Sort of Books, 7.99), published in 1950, drew on the authors time as a sapper in the Sicilian city of Catania in August 1943. The descriptions of tattered Catanian children and old women begging for food showed a sympathy for the humble and unnoticed of the world. CP Snow applauded the novel: I am now confident in placing Mr Baron among our genuine hopes. It was followed in 1953 byThe Human Kind(Black Spring Press, 9.99), where interlinked autobiographical stories span each year of the 1939-45 conflict. (The novel was filmed in the early 1960s as The Victors by the blacklisted Hollywood writer-director Carl Foreman.) Barons war novels were bestselling Pan paperback titles in their day.

Educated at Hackney Downs grammar school and raised in Stoke Newington, Baron was at heart a London novelist. His first great London novel, 1951sRosie Hogarth(Five Leaves Publications, 9.99), went deep into the psychology of war and its neurotic aftermath. Jack Agass, a demobbed soldier, returns to Islington, where he grew up, only to learn that his childhood friend Rosie is rumoured to have turned to prostitution. Like a knight-errant in a medieval mystery, he searches for some meaning behind his loved ones transformation. Influenced by Henry Greens 1946 novel of wartime homecoming, Back (which also features a woman called Rose), Rosie Hogarth portrays Agasss all-consuming mania as he enquires after Rosie in the streets round Chapel Market. Typically for Baron, the defeats and disenchantments felt by British soldiers who struggled to return to their former lives are chronicled against a determinedly humdrum London background of boarding-houses and bus routes.

Throughout the 1970s, Baron contributed to the BBCsPlay for Todayand adapted Kipling, Thackeray and George Eliot, among other Victorian writers, for television. All this while he continued to live in Stoke Newington. His cult novel of 1963,The Lowlife(Black Spring Press, 9.99), concerns the antics of Harryboy Boas (two syllables, please), one of the last of theJewish gamblers and street philosophers, or luftmenschen, who inhabited the oldJewish East End. When not frequentingthe Walthamstow dog track, Harryboy dreams in his Stoke Newington bachelor flat of a better life.

The novel, with its quick Yiddisher wit, is what Harryboy would have wished: a winner. Harry H Corbett of Steptoe and Son fame was due to play Harryboy in a film of the book, but it was never made. Years later, in 2000, Hanif Kureishi expressed an interest in writing the screenplay. The Lowlife combines themes of racial discrimination and outsider alienation with the cockney menace of Harold Pinter. (Jon Savage cites it in Englands Dreaming as a literary antecedent of punk.)

Strikingly, The Lowlife was one of the first British novels to incorporate Caribbean immigrants as characters. Ingrams Terrace (a fictionalised version of Foulden Road, where Baron grew up), home to Harryboy, is mythologised in the novel as a proper little United Nations. Marc Bolan and the future Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren lived in Stoke Newington Jewish boys exposed to Jamaican ska and rock-steady music in the local Afro-Caribbean clubs.

***

Barons father was a teenager when, in 1908, he moved to England from Poland. A master-furrier, he assimilated gratefully into the English rituals of roast beef and empire. The trappings of Jewish Orthodoxy Old Testament beards and sidelocks made the East End unfit as a habitation for upwardly mobile British Jewry. Barons superb 1969 historical novelKing Dido(Five Leaves Publications, 9.99) unfolds in a Victorian-era slum world of meth-bloated derelicts and Romany-Jewish chancers. Dido Peach, a solitary, threatened man, presides over this world like a prototype Kray gangster. In 1972, with his wife Delores Salzedo, Baron moved out of Hackney to the upscale suburbia of Golders Green. He had fulfilled his fathers dream of social self-improvement.

Baron remained fascinated by European Jewish culture and its near-extinctionunder Hitler. Bergen-Belsen, with its piles of decomposing corpses, liberated by British troops in April 1945, lent a moral clarity to the war in which Baron had fought as a D-Day corporal: Germany had departed from the community of civilised human beings. Without Hitler, Baron knew, Israel could not have been born the way it was in 1948. On 4 June 1967 he joined Harold Pinter, Al Alvarez, Frederic Raphael and other Anglo-Jewish writers in signing aletter in support of Israel in the Sunday Times: The Arab states which surround Israel have declared their intention of destroying Israel. Egypts President Nasser, seeming to goad Israel to war, had moved his troops into Sinai on the Israeli border, and Israel retaliated.

Like most British Jews at that dangerous hour, Baron believed that his people stood on the brink of a second catastrophe within a quarter-century (Today, Israel is mobilised to prevent itself becoming another Auschwitz). Assimilated Jewry had argued that Jew-hatred would evaporate with the inevitable progress of mankind, but Hitlers biological anti-Semitism had proved them wrong. Over the Six Day War, Israel defeated three Arab armies, tripled the size of the territory under its control and occupied the Gaza Strip. Israel was now no longer the Promised Land of peace and honey that Baron had once taken it to be. His subsequent views on Israel are not recorded. However, in the rush to establish a Jewish state after Hitlers Final Solution, safeguarding Arab nationalism in the Holy Land had not been a pressing concern.

Barons 14th novel (and the last published during his lifetime),Franco is Dying(1979), was met with critical indifference. He died 20 years later in December 1999, at the age of 82. Now largely forgotten as a writer, he is ripe for reappraisal.

Ian Thomsons books include Primo Levi: The Elements of a Life (Vintage)

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The voice of the Jewish East End - New Statesman

It might seem like a perfect existence but, according to a human performance researcher, you probably don't want all of your dreams to come true.

"People actually feel better when they are striving; when they are in the process of achieving a goal," explains Deakin University's Dr Adam Fraser, who has studied what makes people perform well for more than a decade. "Once they get there, they don't feel as good."

Dr Fraser says he has reached the "counter-intuitive" conclusion that people receive the biggest boosts to their self-esteem and self-worth in times of struggle.Credit:Stocksy

In his new book, Strive, (out Wednesday) Dr Fraser says he has reached the "counter-intuitive" conclusion that people receive the biggest boosts to their self-esteem and self-worth in times of struggle; they feel better about themselves when things are tough than when they are easy.

It's why trust fund kids aren't constantly grinning from ear to ear, he says, or our "participation trophy culture" hasn't led to a generation of extremely happy children.

So, if we can't have all of them, which dreams do we want to come true? Just the simple dreams, like saving for a house deposit? Or do we feel better about reaching our "pie in the sky" dreams?

Dr Fraser says the question isn't the right one to ask; if we want to feel good, the "completion" of a task shouldn't be our focus.

"Obviously, we want to achieve the things we set out for ourselves," he says. "However, the trap we fall into is seeing goals or achievement as binary. We either achieved it or we didn't."

People receive the biggest boosts to self-esteem in times of struggle, feeling better about themselves when things are tough ... than easy.

Instead, Dr Fraser says it is more helpful in the long run to look at the growth and evolution that occurs in striving to achieve the goal, adding that it is an observed phenomenon that the completion of a task rarely leads to the expected feeling of contentment.

In his years of corporate speaking and mentoring, it is something he has seen in athletes after they achieve their goal of the gold, but also in everyday people who finish their careers.

"People work a job they don't like expecting that when they retire they will be happy and get to start living their life, but what we actually see is people who retire can feel very flat, because they stop evolving."

Ultimately, our society has a problem with pursuing happiness, Dr Fraser says. While happiness is still a desirable outcome, we should be viewing it as a by-product of achievement and self-improvement, rather than an achievement of itself.

We think that if we don't feel happy, something must be wrong. But, actually, humans thrive on discomfort.

"We think that if we don't feel happy, something must be wrong. But, actually, humans thrive on discomfort. We can't be happy all the time, and it can be better for us to not be."

So, how do we strive? In his book, Dr Fraser outlines foreground behaviours to view struggle as development (thought processes, whereby a person accepts a struggle as hard but ultimately worthwhile), and well as background behaviours (a more general pursuit of values such as focus, gratitude) that will assist in the change of mindset.

"The background behaviours are probably easiest to achieve, because it's really hard to make people see that something which is uncomfortable is worth it, but you do need both," he says.

"Rather than seeing the strive as the crappy bit we have to put up with on our way to a goal, learn to embrace and be present with the strive. Fall in love with the work."

Dr Fraser is also a fan of encouraging those around you to strive, rather than be complacent. But, is this idea that we must love working at our limits not a recipe for disaster? How can someone be sure that they are helping a friend, or employee, to strive, rather than pushing them into an unhealthy struggle?

"It's about communication," he says. "Often if someone is given a new task or a larger amount of work to do their response is to say something is impossible or freak out. But, as their manager you need to provide the guidance and support. Just because something doesn't seem easy doesn't mean it won't make you feel good."

Strive (Wiley, $29.95) is out on Wednesday.

Mary Ward is Deputy Lifestyle Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

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Why you probably don't want all of your dreams to come true - The Sydney Morning Herald

As we transition into a new decade, enriching oneself no longer just means the enhancement of a single element in ones life. This is exactly the reason why HSBC Jade has initiated The Enrich List: an assortment of 50 exclusive and extraordinary experiences around the world to help their customers broaden their minds and perspectives in the long run.

Besides luxury concierge services and banking services, The Enrich List was created as a source of inspiration for customers to achieve self-enrichment.

Fashioned in partnership with a team of experts, The Enrich List is built on four fundamental pillars: Curated Adventure, Ultimate Wellbeing, Game Changers and A Purposeful Life. Each of these themes relate to the broader idea of enrichment: from self-development and exploration to taking on challenges and giving back.

I think what the clients really want is to create a certain experience for themselves as well as their loved ones states Alice Fok, the Head of Customer Proposition and Marketing at HSBC. [We want to help our clients] not only to grow their wealth but also their wellbeing as well as self-improvement, she added.

The idea of the Enrich List was formed out of a survey that was conducted by HSBC in eight major markets where HSBC Jade is being offered. Survey results concluded that a whopping 77 percent of participants think that it is very important to grow their personal wellbeing, more so than their wealth. Indeed, the growth of material wealth is important to enjoy the luxuries we have, but a deeper, personal level of growth stems from the enrichment of oneself.

Curated Adventure

The first pillar, Curated Adventure, refers to exclusive, tailored travel activities with unique adventures. Transformative voyages of discovery have been specially selected to give customers the most out of their journey. These include the Dinner da Vinci, where participants can indulge in a feast their eyes on Leonardo da Vincis The Last Supper in Milans Basilica di Santa Maria delle Grazie, before tucking into a private supper of their own in the presence of the masterpiece.

Ultimate Wellbeing

According to celebrity and wellness coach Denise Keller, enriching oneself is the ultimate state of being. For the Enrich List, Ultimate Wellbeing experiences symbolise an investment into mental and physical wealth. Although monetary wealth is important, these experiences highlight the old adage, health is wealth, and takes the wellbeing movement to the next level.

Keller also mentioned, more and more people are discovering that spiritual wellness is the new luxury, the new wealth. Spiritual wellness not only allows you to seek meaning and purpose in human existence, but it also allows you to appreciate your life experiences for what they are. When you find meaning in your life experiences, you will be able to develop harmony with your inner self and the outside world, which ultimately grants you balance.

Ultimate Wellness experiences include options like a fitness-focused retreat in Equinox Hotel, New York, a rejuvenating thalassotherapy treatment at luxury Sardinian resort, and even a cathartic crying therapy session in Japan.

A Purposeful Life

The meaning of a purposeful life differs individually, but for The Enrich List, leading a purposeful life is to search for a higher purpose with a desire to leave behind a respectful legacy.

They have teamed up with Dearborn, a modern-American supper club helmed by Chef Christopher Kong, as one of their experiences in Singapore. Here, find thoughtful cuisine with a focus on minimal waste, regional produce and sustainable seafood. Chef Chris honed his skills at numerous award-winning for the last 15 years before creating Dearborn, his very own private dining space. He shared, I hope to leave diners with more knowledge and awareness about the ingredients available in the region and the awesome things that farmers here are doing. Hopefully it sparks an interest to find out more about how our everyday food choices affect everything.

Leaving behind a legacy is something that resonates with Edmond Wong, third-generation family member running heritage brand Kim Choo Kueh Chang. He expressed that maintaining his grandmothers legacy goes beyond protecting her recipes. What we have today, as part of our business model, is to ensure that our heritage brand goes beyond producing heritage food items. We have now a Singapore Visitor Centre to manage, and are very honoured to be given the opportunity to service our community by being precinct [Katong and Joo Chiat] caretakers.

Tian Wee, best known as the owner of Gryphon Tea, shares the same sentiments. In 2016, he founded Ujong Gourmet, a sister brand under Gryphon Tea, as part of efforts to drive a renewed interest in the classic Southeast Asian coconut jam.

Purposeful Life experiences under The Enrich List include privately-guided, safari experiences with a focus on sustainability and conservation, mission trips to survey temples in Cambodia and journeys to Japan to preserve cultural heritage damaged by the 2011 earthquake.

Game Changers

Experiences in the Game Changers category are made for those who are looking to move out of their comfort zone both personally and professionally, as well as engage in self-discovery. They serve as a way for customers to get involved in experiences different to what they would usually be accustomed to, and also to inspire them to create something out of it.

We spoke to Simon Wong, co-founder of social enterprise Singapore Sidecar Vespa Tours. As a Vespa enthusiast, what started out as a charity project involving Vespas led to a business involving local heritage discovery. Referencing to the latest developments with AR and VR technology, he added, the Vespa experience is about to be enhanced through the use of tech to further enrich the guest experience

Pushing oneself to new limits is a detail that Valerie Boffy, co-founder of WOAM (Women on A Mission) resonates with as well. On this topic, she expressed, Each teammate pushes her limits, discovers new strength within whether these strengths are physical or mental. We bond around the challenge we learn together, we support each other during these expeditions hence growing, enriching ourselves and making the challenge multi-dimensional.

Partake in Game Changer experiences under The Enrich List, which comprises of a Sangha Retreat in the historic garden city of Suzhou, China with a bespoke Quantum Leadership course, an exploration of Art and even a course by Special Forces and Intelligence services among others.

Find out more about HSBC Jades Enrich Listhere.

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Zeni Pepper, owner of Pure Bliss Yoga in Fort Lee, has enjoyed practicing yoga and meditation sinceshe was 15 years old. But she came to appreciate its benefits even more during her corporate law career, when yoga "helped me stay centered, sharp and calm," she says. She became a yoga teacher to find balance in her work and family life.

"Every aspect of teaching yoga, from the philosophical teachingsto the practical science and physical practice of yoga[to]... the fact that Iwas truly reaching and helping peopleresonated with me," she says. "It was my life calling."Pepper says that most of her instruction is to private clients.

Zeni Pepper(Photo: courtesy of Monty Knowles)

The home advantage:A lot of people are too busy to drive to a different town and find parking. Going to their homes makes consistent yoga practicing easier, and it's a more personal relationship. I can tailor my lesson to your needs.

Before a session:I ask about how youpractice, if you've done yoga before, what youwant to get from it andhow often youwant to practice.

Tools of the trade: For the first session, I bring props so I can demonstrate poses to the client, including a yoga mat, blocks, straps, my own music and speaker, and essential oils.

Typical session:We do warm-up movements and basic yoga poses to assess where clients are and what they need to work on; typically, this is for an hour.

Memorable experience:[It's rewarding] toseepeople age gracefully without losing much of their mobility, finding more balance and flexibility. I had an 80-year-old who did a tree pose standing on two blocks.

Bottom line:Yoga is not just a physical practice it affects the body, the mind, and the spirit.It is a wonderful tool for self-improvement.

pure-bliss-yoga.com; (201) 482-4271

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House Calls: The in-home yoga teacher - NorthJersey.com

Rafael Nadal, winner of 19 Grand Slam tournaments, with 84 ATP titles, double Olympic gold-individual, in the Beijing Video games '08, and doubles in these of Rio'16- and five-time Davis Cup winner, Its, indisputably, considered one of the most necessary figures in the historical past of tennis.

In an interview with the EFE Company in Kuwait, throughout the inauguration on Wednesday of the 'Rafa Nadal Academy' In that nation of the Center East -the first outdoors Spain-, the Mallorcan star explains what goals they pursue and what values they intend to unfold with this second nice venture, after the Academy that he based virtually 4 years in the past in his native Manacor.

Inaugurates new Academy, now in Kuwait. Whats the primary goal, what are the values they intend to convey, other than serving to individuals play tennis extra and higher?

For me, however for the entire academy typically, clearly, having the ability to transfer our mannequin, our model and our means of working to completely different components of the world is a good alternative and an incredible satisfaction. That is the first academy that we open outdoors of whats Manacor, in Mallorca. Sure its true that weve got different 'Rafa Nadal Tennis Heart' in Mexico and in Greece; however this time its the alternative to be a part of a really robust group from right here, from Kuwait, reminiscent of Tandeem; Theyre critical and hardworking individuals. And that provide us confidence to give you the option to develop the product in the means that excites and motivates us. It is a area of the world that has the potential for us to assist them increase the culture of tennis; We imagine that from the academy we might help not solely the younger skills right here in Kuwait, however all through the Center East. We have already got a number of coaches from the Manacor academy whove been right here for three months, serving to native coaches to perceive the mannequin and the means we work. And clearly, all the kids of the Kuwait Federation are already centralized right here, in the academy. Some had the risk of coming to know the considered one of Mallorca. Its a course of that takes plenty of work, however that excites and excites us.

Does this venture have continuity? Will extra academies open in different nations?

Effectively, the world is huge. Why not? Were not closed to any risk. And there are completely different choices. However, like every little thing else on this world, each possibility that seems might be valued and we are going to attempt to do issues handy, related to individuals who provide us confidence.

Is it possible that in a couple of years there might be a champion or a champion of Kuwaiti tennis; or from the surrounding nations, right here in the Center East?

All the things is possible. In the finish, the extra individuals begin enjoying tennis on this area, the extra choices there might be for an necessary expertise to emerge from the skilled discipline worldwide. We are going to attempt to do every little thing in the very best means, working with ardour and enthusiasm; and with the needed assets in order that kids have the potentialities of rising at the tennis degree, but in addition at the human degree. We all the time attempt to work from a primary precept, which is respect, the spirit of self-improvement and take a look at to convey to kids, to younger individuals, that the final aim, in fact, is success; however that not every little thing is legitimate to obtain it. It is vital that they develop with robust values that may serve them in the sports activities discipline, however that, for those that dont get to stay from sports activities, that theyve ample coaching that may be highly effective sufficient to serve them for the future, in life skilled or private they resolve to have.

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While I was a foreign correspondent living in Istanbul, I amassed a library of about 500 books. Then I became an immigrant and left the Middle East to resettle in Canada. I arrived with just six paperbacks that I split between our suitcases and backpack. I still mourn all the ones I had to give up.

I always tried to make sure that books were near at hand wherever I lived. I learned to read for pleasure at an early age by watching my father as well as my grandfather, who was an author. I amassed an eclectic mix of tomes over the years. There were the Stephen King novels I picked out for my birthdays (I would ask whoever was getting me a gift what their budget was and then would take them book shopping for the amount). There was sci-fi by Arthur C Clarke, Douglas Adams Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and Watchmen. Countless books unravelling the modern Middle Easts conflicts and investigating the provenance of extremism.

Part of me is worried Ill have to give up all my books again. Another is self-conscious, thinking through which ones I want my son to have as he grows up

Works of popular success by Elif Shafak and Margaret Atwood mingled easily with the classics, JRR Tolkien, Aristotles Nicomachean Ethics and the poetry of Abu Nuwas. Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking sat next to treatises on theology and the latest self-improvement fad books that were bought in the new year haze. A new year, a new you. But the new you was always overrated. Id rather have clung to the vestiges of my past selves.

I hadnt read about half of the books in my library. Books transcended their usefulness in my mind as material objects that had, excuse the pun, a shelf life. Like a well-kept journal, they reminded me of who I was, of what I had gone through and that I had always come out on the other side. Certain books became associated in my mind with major events in my life. I remember the Jon Ronson book I was reading when my brother called to tell me that my father had died, and the first time I tried my hand at writing after reading Kings memoir, On Writing.

I never understood why anybody would give up books after reading them. Even when I was done with them, their presence and scent comforted me in a somewhat mundane sense, like a candle burning in the dark or a simmering stew whose aroma wafts across the house.

When the time came to leave for Canada, I did not have an immediate job in mind. Suddenly, I had to contemplate what to do with my books. We were a family travelling together with a baby on the way and two rescue cats who had been with me for years. I couldnt afford to ship a dozen boxes full of books all the way to Montreal.

So we put them up for sale. Strangers and friends came, feeling their way along the spines of the hardcovers on my bookshelves, picking out those that struck their fancy. I helped them choose ones out of my favourites that I knew they would love. If they were bookworms, they got some for free. My heart broke with each book that left. Selling them almost felt profane, so I ended up giving away a few dozen towards the end.

I left with half a dozen books to read. Among them were Alice Walkers The Color Purple, Helen Macdonalds H is for Hawk, and Storm of Steel, a book by Ernst Junger, a German officer stationed on the Western Front during World War I, The Return by Hisham Matar, and a couple of Arabic books that were gifted to me by friends.

I havent read any of the ones I saved. It feels too much like turning the page on a life I still cling to. When you leave home, whatever home is, you are primed for the big changes and sacrifices the neighbourhood, the old job, the friends and family.

But it is often the little things you give up that leave you wallowing in nostalgia, questioning your decision to uproot an earlier life. The smell of the old coffee place. The way the light shines through your old window. The keepsake that broke or somehow lost its way as you were packing up your life. The dog-eared copies of your old books.

I am rebuilding my library now, but it feels a little less frivolous in its range. Part of me is worried Ill have to give up all my books again. Another is self-conscious, thinking through which ones I want my son to have as he grows up. If he ends up liking reading, I hope he never has to give up his favourite books. Or perhaps I hope hes less attached to ephemera. It makes it easier when you move around to not be dragged down by so much baggage.

Kareem Shaheen is a former Middle East correspondent based in Canada

Updated: February 5, 2020 05:55 PM

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The prison system in England and Wales is in crisis. Self-harm in prisons is at a record high, with worrying spikes in violence over the past 12 months. The National Probation Service is struggling to provide adequate rehabilitation and community supervision services to offenders post-release, with staff shortages meaning that most staff are failing to meet their weekly caseload targets. The government has now made it a priority to create thousands more prison spaces. But unless substantial resources are also invested both in prison safety and the services available to offenders post-release, these measures will do little more than place thousands of offenders into a dangerous and violent environment, with little prospect of rehabilitation or reform.

On 30 January, the Ministry of Justice released new safety in custody statistics covering deaths, self-harm and assaults in the prison system. The number of individuals self-harming in prison in the 12 months to September 2019 is now at 12,740 the highest recorded figure. In that period, there were 61,461 self-harm incidents (a rate of 742 per 1000 prisoners), up 16% from the previous 12 months, and also a new record high. In female establishments, these figures are particularly shocking: a rate of 3007 incidents per 1000 prisoners represents an increase of 18% in the last 12 months. Most concerning of all, in youth estate 15- to 18-year olds in Young Offender Institutions and all 15- to 17-year olds in Youth Prisons there was a 93% increase in self-harm incidents in the 12 months to September 2019 (from 551 to 1,062 incidents). Incidents requiring hospital attendance increased from 2.5% in the previous 12 months to 4.8% in the 12 months to September 2019.

As worrying as these 12-month figures are, there is more cause for concern when these figures are viewed in a longer-term context. The four graphs below illustrate this point.

Figure 1:Deaths in prison custodyper 1000 prisoners over last ten years.

Figure 2: Self-harm incidentsin prison custody per 1000 prisoners over the last ten years.

Figure 3:Self-harm incidents in youth prisons per 1000 prisoners over last five years.

Figure 4: Assault incidents per 1000 prisoners over last ten years.

Figure 1 displays the 10-year trajectory of the rate of deaths per 1000 prisoners from 2009 to 2019. In 2009, this number was roughly 2.0, and by 2019 it had risen to around 3.6. With self-harm in adult prisons, Figure 2 illustrates an almost linear increase from 300 incidents per 1000 prisoners in 2009 to 742 per 1000 prisoners in 2019. A similar story presents itself in Figure 3 with youth self-harm rates over 6 years. Assaults that had decreased by 2% to 33,222 in the 12 months to September 2019, are shown in Figure 4 to have risen from a rate of around 190 per 1000 prisoners in 2009 to 400 per 1000 prisoners in 2019.

The information outlined here poses serious, urgent challenges for government. Last August the Prime Minister promised to create thousands more prison places in a system currently operating at 98% of capacity, supported by Justice Secretary Robert Buckland QCs insistence that more and better prison places means less reoffending. This directly contradicts the Ministry of Justices (MOJ) own research (backed by previous Justice Secretary David Gauke), which suggested that sentencing offenders to short-term custody with supervision on release was associated with higher proven reoffending than if they had instead received community orders and/or suspended sentence orders.

The most recent MOJ statistics show that the proven reoffending rate for adults released from custodial sentences of less than 12 months was 62.7%. Far from reducing reoffending, the majority of people imprisoned for less than 12 months will offend again within a year. The recommendation for sentences less than 6 months to be abolished was promptly ignored by the Prime Minister, setting the tone for an agenda on crime and prisons policy that has side-lined rehabilitation and re-integration.

But the problems run much deeper than the prisons system. The probation service is also failing to provide adequate services to offenders once leaving prison, meaning many remain locked in the cycle of re-offending. A recent inspection report from HM Inspectorate of Probation found that adoption of accredited offending behaviour programmes these are programmes judged by a panel of independent experts to satisfy principles of effective rehabilitation had substantially decreased. Alongside this, caseworkers were found to be lacking in support from HM Prison and Probation Service to understand individual characteristics of offenders and incorporate these insights into their programmes. This, in turn, has repercussions on which programmes end up being authorised in the first instance, and on the extent to which those programmes are seen as accessible by the offenders that they are targeting. The report also confirmed the worrying anecdotal evidence increasingly coming to light concerning staff well-being in the National Probation Service (NPS). Over 60% of staff have caseloads exceeding the recommended maximum, while new recruits are being allocated complex cases without the skills or experience to manage them partly explaining the significant problem of staff retention in the NPS.

In January two new statutory instruments were brought before Parliament, proposing significant changes in the management of serious violent and sexual offenders. Specifically, the proposed legislation will require offenders to serve at least two-thirds of their sentence in prison (as opposed to half-way release), before they are subject to strict licence conditions upon release. While the authorities are still to release further accompanying details, it appears doubtful that these punitive measures will align with additional investment in community supervision, rehabilitation and re-integration programmes.

A combination of extreme workloads and reduced capacity has abetted the mismanagement of offenders in the criminal justice system and created a climate of distress where the conditions for increased deaths, self-harm, and assaults in prisons are rife. This inherently damages the chances of offenders embarking upon a journey of self-improvement once entering the criminal justice system, thereby increasing the likelihood of further reoffending upon release.

Simply creating more prison spaces is unlikely to address these issues, unless this is accompanied by substantial resource investment in programmes focused on the rehabilitation and re-integration of offenders both while in prison and post-release. It is only by first understanding what methods of offender management work with which offenders, why they work, in what contexts, under what conditions, and what outcomes they produce that we can begin to deal with the spiralling problem of safety and well-being amongst people in the criminal justice system.

Ardi Janjeva is a Research Analyst in organised crime and policing at RUSI.

BANNER IMAGE: Courtesy of Rodw/Wikimedia Commons

The views expressed in this Commentary are the author's, and do not represent those of RUSI or any other institution.

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England and Wales' Prison System is in Crisis - RUSI Analysis

LETTERS: She was always sought out for her views on the nations pulse, past memories and the way forward. Fittingly so. Toh Puan Uma Sambanthan still measures up as one of the most revered and loved woman in Malaysia - not only by the people but by every Prime Minister in the last six decades.

The 90 year-old Toh Puan was one of the torchbearers when history was made in 1957. On the 31 st of August, 1957, a young Uma had stood with the founding fathers of Malaya - the first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun V.T. Sambanthan and Tun Tan Cheng Lok when independence was declared.

Since then, for the last 63 years, she had been in the present with the same intensity and passion for the country. When she voices on the realities of each phase and era, her stand is contemporary, relevant and ominous. She expresses them with unabashed honesty and yet with her trademark grace.

Toh Puan is a natural story teller. She talks about a Malaya that we would love to be part of - A Malaya where racial harmony came naturally. She has a distinctively precise memory of the nations history from British rule, the Japanese Occupation, Merdeka and major events like the separation of Singapore and the formation of Malaysia.

And while in conversation she can checkmate any one of us with detailed facts. For instance, she corrects documented history: Merdeka did not happen at the stroke of midnight, as it has been reported, but a little later. This was because Tunku was delayed by ardent supporters, who wanted to bestow him with a title.

Her understanding about the Merdeka event, has a depth of multi dimensional levels. When the Union Jack was lowered and our Flag was raised, I thought how ironic it was that our independence ceremony was held in the Dataran Merdeka, next to Selangor Club where only the British were allowed.

Throughout the event, I was very thrilled that we were finally free to think for ourselves and free to lead our own country with a system that didnt oppress people. Till today, when the National Anthem is played, I get the nostalgia of being liberated from the colonial regime.

Her personalized reflections are fresh and evergreen. A few hours before the Merdeka event on the 31st of August 1957 (there were different events over two days), we were driven in our black Mercedes with the number plate AB57 to the Merdeka Stadium. In one occasion I was wearing an off-white silk sari with a red border, an engagement gift from my husband.

Uma was born in Beruas, Perak. Her father O.M. Subramaniam was a senior officer with the Public Works Department and her mother, Jayalakshmi Swaminathan Sastrigal was a home-maker. Both were very supportive of Umas education. In 1941, Uma went to the Anglo- Chinese School in Sungai Siput, Perak, where she won the Best Indian Student of the Year scholarship for 1942. However, her education was interrupted by the Japanese Occupation from 1942 to 1945.

After the Japanese Occupation, she graduated with a First Class B.Sc. degree in Chemistry from the Madras University and was awarded the Indian cultural scholarship to study for a Masters degree in the Presidency College, Chennai.

On returning home to Muar, she taught Science in the Princess Alexandra School in Singapore while waiting to continue a post graduate research degree in Germany. She was applying for a scholarship for which a reference was needed. Mr. Sambanthan was Minister of Labour in Kuala Lumpur.

His family and my parents were close friends. My father suggested that I could ask him for the reference. That is how I met my husband in February 1956, during the Chinese New year season.

He did not give me the reference. Instead, he sent a proposal for marriage. We were married in May, three months later at our home in Muar.

As someone who had been literally married to my Chemistry laboratory, I now had to learn to work with people. Our home was open to MIC members, and people from my husbands constituency, all the time.

The women had to be mobilized to play their role in n

ation building. My husband emphasised that I should do voluntary work with multi-communal womens groups. He gave me great support and guidance in my activities. I improved my Malay language skills. In my work, I tried to bridge the gap between the races and urban and racial divides.

From the last quarter of 1956 till the 70s, she worked with the National Association of Womens Institute generally organising proper nutrition and healthcare for kampung babies, reviving local recipes, and on income generation in general. Uma was also the chairman and director of the National Land Finance Co-operative Society (NLFC) which was set up by her husband in 1960 to prevent the fragmentation of estates in the early `60s.

Uma speaks fondly of Tunku as a leader who truly believed that Malaysia belongs to each and every Malaysian irrespective of race or religion.

On the 10th Anniversary of Merdeka (31st August 1967), that is, midnight of 30th August, the Merdeka celebration was re-enacted. Dataran Merdeka was filled with people of all races in colourful clothes-like a beautiful garden, she recounts.

The programme went on till late past 2am and when it was over, we saw Tunku to his car and left for our home near the Lake Gardens. Early the next morning, we went to the Tunkus residence to give our felicitations for the occasion. We were met by his wife, Puan Sharifah Rodziah, affectionately called Ma Ungku, smiling her welcome. The Tunku came down after his morning prayer. After wishing him, my husband asked him whether he had got any rest after such a late night.

The Tunku replied: How to rest Sambanthan? I saw all those wonderful people gathered there, and came back and prayed for them. The love for the nation and her people was etched deep in Tun Sambanthan also.

At that time the biggest part of the budget was towards education. My husband was dedicated to teaching English to the estate children. Together, we set up multi-racial preschools to ensure national harmony was instilled at a very young age, she said. As Minister of National Unity, he set up pre school education for children of all races.

Sambanthan had four portfolios during his tenure in government Health, Labour, Works, Posts and Telecommunications and the Ministry of National Unity. He was always invested in education. Prior to his entry in politics, Tun Sambanthan was interested in teaching English to estate children.

In his pre-political life, he was instrumental in setting up the Mahatma Gandhi Kalasalai, a Tamil school in his home town of Sungai Siput. In all his portfolios, he stressed training to improve qualifications. He would even take pictures to illustrate the problems to ministry officers.

An example of this was to improve toilets in the third class womens maternity wards which had slippery cement steps. There were also no telephones in rural areas, how could emergencies be communicated? These are illustrations of basic needs which he felt had to be addressed.

Toh Puan Uma has also been interested in education, she organised the infrastructure for the first government girls school in Jalan Ampang and the first government primary school in Selayang Baru, using the facilities available from the government.

In memory of Sambanthans service and dedication, Jalan Tun Sambanthan and Monorail Station Tun Sambanthan, were named after him by the government. Wisma Tun Sambanthan has also been named after him by the National Land Finance Co-operative Society Bhd, which he founded as a vehicle to empower the plantation worker to fight fragmentation of estates.

Her daughter Kunjari Sambanthan remarks that the principal feature common to both parents was their commitment to self-improvement.

My consistent image throughout my life was of them reading books, magazines, not novels but relating to specific subjects whether science, astronomy, philosophy, the works of great thinkers, spiritual texts from Hinduism to Sufi thoughts etc. My father had given me many books ranging in topics from the Mahabharata and the Thai and Cambodian versions of t

he Ramayana, to works of poetry by Rabindranath Tagore, the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, and others.

The first book she received from her mother was the biography of Florence Nightingale. My image of Toh Puan will always be of her with stacks and stacks of books on almost every topic. The last time I saw her in the house, she was reading the Bengali version of the Gospel of Paramahamsa Ramakrishna.

Toh Puan Uma Sambanthan marked the end of an era. She leaves behind an idea that gives the rest of us women, a sense of pride that we knew her.

VASANTHI RAMACHANDRAN

Kuala Lumpur

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The woman who carries a nation's history - New Straits Times