A POTENTIAL 20million replacement school for rundown Doon Academy is still on the table despite a funding knock back.

East Ayrshire Council leader Douglas Reid has been in touch with Scottish Cabinet Secretary Derek Mackay to make the case for the new Dalmellington high school.

The campus proposal would also see the construction of a new primary school for the town.

SNP Councillor Reid said he has written and spoken to the finance minister and received a positive response.

He said: The council have put quite a bit of money towards a new school. We are hoping the Scottish Government will assist with funding as well.

It is hoped another wave of potential Holyrood funding would include cash for the new secondary.

Council officials now plan to submit a second bid since the first one was rejected.

Councillor Reid continued: Fingers crossed for Doon Academy. This would ensure a secondary provision in the Doon Valley.

There are hopes for a definitive answer in the new year, he added.

He described the secondary plans as the final piece of the jigsaw for the area considering Patnas new school and the construction of Bellsbank Primary getting underway.

Highlighting the importance of the high school, he stressed it shouldnt miss out on facilities just because it is small.

Doon Valley Councillor Drew Wilson said it would be one of the largest investments in the area.

The independent politician said: It will be a new modern facility that can only boost the attainment of our young people for the future.

A paper presented to cabinet councillors recently said the Doon Academy building continues to deteriorate.

It saidthe initial bid for Scottish Government funding (for the school) has been unsuccessful.

It is understood refurbishment is not a feasible option because of asbestos.

The secondarys main building has been rated as amber by the council which means it needs work.

The race is now on to get the cash secured and the new school plan back on track.

The councils property management plan report said: progress to finalise a schemewill be required within 2020 with a further bid for funding to be submitted at the next stage of the New Learning Estate Investment Programme.

The new school could cost between 15 million to 20 million.

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A 20m replacement school for Doon Academy still on the table - Cumnock Chronicle

41 percent of national parliaments, like the UK, use a bicameral system, meaning that Parliament contains two separate chambers. It is another democratic innovation, started in England, developed over time within the UK and then exported worldwide. However, according to many, it is an aspect of British democracy that has barely progressed from the century it was set up to.

With its 776 members, it is the largest second chamber in the world France and Italy have 348 and 321 respectively and apart from Iran and Vatican City, the UK is the only state that allows clerics to play a part in lawmaking.

During a recent event attended by Express.co.uk, Lord Peter Hain, a former Labour Cabinet minister, called for the House of House of Lords to be scrapped and replaced with an elected US-style senate.

Explaining the radical reform, the peer said: The number of the people in the House of Lords is ridiculous.

It should be at least smaller than the House of Commons.

I believe in an elected House of Lords, or at least 80 percent elected 20 appointed.

I think the quality of debate in the Lords is far higher than the Commons, but I think that the second chamber should represent the country.

Lord Hain added: For example you could, at the same time you cast your vote for the general election, also elect a proportion of peers or senators from Wales or Yorkshire.

When asked whether it would make sense to use the European constituencies after Brexit, the peer said: Thats actually where the working model is.

To use the European constituencies. You would get a number around about 300.

JUST IN:How Conservative Party manifesto barely mentioned Irish border issue

When asked whether he would stand, if an election was tomorrow, Lord Hain responded positively.

Lord Hains comments came at an event organised by the London Grill Club last week..

Lord Hain is not the only peer who backs a reformed House of Lords.

Lord Salisbury, the former leader of the House of Lords, is currently advocating the Act of Union Bill the first attempt to devise a coherent plan for what should happen after many powers return from the European Union.

The blueprint proposes a federal structure for the continuation of the Union, establishing the principle of self-determination among all four parts, as well as radical reforms in Westminster.

One of the most fundamental reforms, the group says, concerns the upper house, the House of Lords.

The bill offers two alternatives, either reforming the House or abolishing it altogether.

Talking exclusively with Express.co.uk, Lord Salisbury explained: I have always thought the House of Lords needed reform.

In fact, its a bit of a family failing.

My great-great-grandfather wanted to reform the House of Lords in the 1860s.

I think that there are also sorts of ways you can reform the House. You get three people in the room, and there are at least four different solutions proposed.

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See the article here:
Lord Hain calls for the House of Lords to be SCRAPPED and replaced with US style senate - Express

Canadian Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault makes his way to his first cabinet meeting on Thursday November 21, 2019 on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press

Peter Menzies is a senior fellow with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and a former CRTC vice-chair of telecommunications. While he also advises tech companies, the opinions here are his own.

The first priority for Canadas freshly installed ministers responsible for the overhaul of broadcasting and telecommunications legislation will likely be to do no harm.

And in the short term, that might mean doing nothing at all.

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Veteran Navdeep Bains returns to cabinet as Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry (ISI) along with rookie Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault. Early next year, they will receive the recommendations of the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Legislation Review (BTLR) panel established in 2018. In a less volatile political environment, the next step would be to create new legislation recognizing that much has changed since the current acts were put in place, and a country of spectrum scarcity has been replaced by a world of global access on infinite platforms.

But we have a minority government. That means framing sensible new legislation involving broadcasting will be a delicate matter because when a cultural discussion happens in Canada, language politics become involved, which means the issue of Quebecs cultural autonomy comes up. Keeping in mind Quebec has never really conceded its jurisdiction over communications matters, that means it will be extremely difficult to frame any new legislation that could not be used by the Bloc Qubcois and others to inflame francophone sensibilities.

Given that francophone creative work is already funded at about $1.50 per capita compared with 75 cents per capita for anglophone work along with the rise of sentiment favouring Western independence, it seems risky to poke that hornets nest of linguistic anxieties, existential angst and transfer payments/pipelines resentments. When it comes to broadcasting and cultural funding, the matter is quite simple: Quebec will be angry if it doesnt get more, and the West, already in an explosive state, will be even angrier if it does.

Mr. Guilbeault will be very aware that one of his predecessors and colleagues, Montreal MP and now Economic Development and Languages Minister Melanie Joly, was undone as Heritage Minister when her 2017 deal with Netflix failed to carve out a specific piece of the Netflix pie for francophone production in Quebec. (Despite the fact it took Netflix less than two years to invest the $500-million it promised to invest in five, that sentiment remains.)

Her replacement and now Government House Leader Pablo Rodriguez adamantly maintained that carriers of online video should be drawn into the broadcasting system an argument rejected by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) for two decades prior to its embrace of the same in its 2018 report, knowingly titled Harnessing Change.

That regulators and legislators would frame the internet as little more than the new cable betrays a very poor understanding of what is now the countrys most vital communications tool. The Federal Court, upheld by the Supreme Court in 2012, has already ruled that internet service providers are not broadcasting distribution units (BDUs), and yet this notion reminiscent of when automobiles were called horseless carriages persists.

New communications legislation, if it is to be progressive and capable of building a 21st-century foundation for economic success, must make it clear that the affordability and availability of the online world is vital to the productivity of all industries not just the 2.8 per cent of gross domestic product generated by the creative/entertainment sector. To do that, a new act must clearly dictate non-interference in the flow of legal content and sever the financial dependency between cultural financing and BDU revenue by funding creators directly. Principles of net neutrality must be embedded to remove the possibility the CRTC will one day, as it suggests, be measuring the percentage of online videos posted on news sites to ensure a sufficient percentage are Canadian.

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Mr. Bains has shown some sensible instincts in this regard and the government has spoken virtuously of net neutrality in the past, but all the policy talk through the election campaign was about preserving the 20th-century status quo. And that has the potential to take us all back to when the current Telecommunications Act was enacted: 1993. Its hard to imagine anyone wants to go there.

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Excerpt from:
Ministers must tread lightly with telecom industry - The Globe and Mail

Whos this weeks hero, Johnny?It probably wont happen often that my hero of the week will be someone who has just been sacked but such was the affection this man was held in, it feels like the right time to both mark his departure and appreciate his contribution to the fine north London cultural institute that is Tottenham Hotspur over the past five and a half years.

Hes an Argentinian from the splendidly named town of Murphy and prior to joining Southampton was probably most well-known to an English audience as the player who was nearest to Michael Owens penalty-winning dive in the 1998 World Cup game.

A brooding, long-haired defender he looked every bit the sexy Gaucho or possibly the bass player in Sepultura. He has managed just three clubs in his 10-year career in the dug out, Espanyol, Saints and Spurs. In that time he earned his reputation as a progressive, empathetic manager who can put together a team to play in a very specific, often thrilling, committed, high-pressing way, without spending the GDP of Belgium to do so. His departure this week left many heartbroken and feeling that they had lost a friend, somehow.

Thatll be Mauricio Roberto Pochettino Trossero, then.

What have they done to deserve this then?There seems to be a common feeling amongst Spurs supporters that his period in charge has been the finest, most entertaining football since the glory days of Bill Nicholson. That it was done on a relatively tight budget at a time of financial incontinence by all their competitors, whilst having a new stadium built and all the upheaval of having to play at Wembley has only added to the feeling that this was an absolutely remarkable period in the clubs history.

However, there is something more unusual about his tenure, something very much out of whack with the ruthless end of modern top flight football and that is the fact that he attracted so much love and affection as a person. It was how he went about being Spurs manager as much as the football his sides played that gained loyalty from fans and players too. He was a shining beacon of decency in the long dark night of the soul that is the Premier League.

And while he took Spurs into the Champions League places each season and to last seasons final in a run of games that were some of the most emotionally remarkable sporting moments any of us have witnessed, the jibe that he hadnt won a trophy continued to be hurled at him. Football has too many observers who see the game as merely part of an acquisitive lifestyle to define worth or success.

Even now there are those who are puzzled as to why a manager can be hailed as a huge success without winning a trophy. This is a philosophical divide. Football remains hugely popular because were addicted to the journey and not the destination. Those who see only arriving as having true value, will never understand that it is the experience of the travelling where the soul of the game lies. Success is to be entertaining, to be transformative, to make your fans feel good. His replacement will perhaps win a League Cup but will likely never be held in the same regard or warmth. After all Juande Ramos won a cup but in no way is regarded as more successful than Mauricio. Thats because real success is measured in the heart and soul, not in the pocket or trophy cabinet.

His years at the club illustrated perfectly that football is not all about winning titles or trophies, it is about much more deep, more profound things such as community, understanding, empathy, love and passion. Who would trade the love in their heart for a pot of silver? No-one. And those that would are surely cold to the warmth that football brings to the people.

With his squirralish pouchy cheeks, thick hair and self-effacing charming grin, it is impossible not to like our man. He feels genuine and open. If you look at a few clips of his press conferences, we see a man who is very expressive, especially with his eyes and eyebrows. He can go from blank to twinkle, to a shrugging grin and an open-eyed delight all within the space of one answer. And as with many likeable people who have a natural charm, you find yourself wanting to look at him, just to see him going through this rainbow of emotions and expressions.

You cant fake being likable because being liked isnt something that is within your own gift. As this general election has so well proven already, no amount of PR, spin or fine words can make a narcissistic lying scumbag likeable. You can say anything you like but when people know youre a shameless, moral-free liar, it all bounces off.

The tweet from Harry Kane seemed very heartfelt and reflected just how deep affection for him is.

And this picture of the message he left for his former team was typically touching

Media reaction?This was surely every football journos wet dream. Not only the loss of a big name manager at a top club, but to be replaced by Him. So the amount of trees felled to cover the story was mighty and a lot of phone battery energy has been expended over the past few days. As I write this section on Thursday lunchtime, Google News produces over 70 stories published in the last five hours when you do a search for Pochettino.

The Athletic especially was absolutely stuffed with articles about Spurs, Poch, his replacement and even what it all had to do with Eddie Howe. After reading three pieces, unless you were a huge fan of Spurs with an unlimited appetite, it was all just too much. After a while, it felt like one of those encore jams when everyone gets to play a solo, including the drummer and everyone gets bored. Its obviously a big issue but really, ever more isnt ever better, its just more.

Tottenham appoint Mourinho after Pochettino sulked his way to the sack had three contributors, while What is it really like to play for Jose Mourinho? had five in the byline. Perhaps this was in order to drum the pieces up as quickly as possible. Certainly no shortage of resources were thrown at it. So much so that after little more than 30 hours, it felt like every drop of juice had already been wrung out of the story. Isnt that the modern way?

Michael Cox wrote a typically unique, excellent and thoroughly forensic piece Why Mourinhos arrival should excite Alli and Kane, but Winks future is a worry and was probably the only piece you needed to read about the actual football implications.

Anyone grumpy about it?It is not an exaggeration to say that many Spurs supporters are not just grumpy but absolutely heartbroken at his departure. He had become a surrogate family member to many. While there is acknowledgement that perhaps he was losing his mojo a little and that maybe the dressing room wasnt responding as positively to him as it once did, he had become part of so many peoples lives that the thought of him not being there was too much for many.

The appointment of his replacement only compounded the terrible shock for some. To say it felt like going from glory to heartache wouldnt be too strong. It all seemed to end so quickly.

Philippe Auclair called it an act of vandalism and that feels right on the money.

What the people sayPlenty had plenty to say about our man. When someone is genuinely liked, loved even, that feeling of having lost something, of the light in your life being a little dimmed is understandable. We start as ever with a 4_4_haiku.

The Poch love is very high and there were plenty prepared to publicly confess their affection for the man.

Proof as if needed that football is about so much more than winning trophies.

He always comes across as a genuinely nice guy who is humble and affable and seems somewhat immune to the corrosive effects that the omnipotent football industry can have on some people. Theres very few people who dont like him which is a big achievement in this day and age.

Clearly a very competent manager, its shame Levy didnt realise this and back him properly. They could have built something really astonishing between them had he been backed like his peers. At a club with proper ambition, watch the silverware role in.

Aw man, its still too raw! I havent ever felt such a connection with a manager, which by extension made me more connected with the team than ever.

The black trousers, black shirt & black tie combo is his legacy. The suavest man to step foot inside a technical area. Not a bad coach either.

Oozes class, doesnt he? As a Chelsea fan he actually reminds me of 2005/06 Mourinho intelligent, tactically astute, affable. Wouldnt be out of place at any top club. Which is why its strange to see Spurs move for the stale, bitter and outdated 2019 Jose.

Hes good, but hes no Nigel Adkins

He always seemed like a Gentleman wanting impart his wisdom and philosophy as well as his football onto a new generation. Outside of the top three, he will be welcome at any club. That says more than anything else.

It breaks my heart to think hes not part of our football club any more. The last 5 years have been amazing. Love him to bits.

Just ask Rickie Lambert about what a great manager he was for #saintsfc. Other than the indiscretion of signing Dani Osvaldo, he is pretty much fondly remembered by myself.

Im a Man City fan in Australia so we get the 25 minute highlights and Id always watch his teams as you knew youd get a good game of football.

Im definitely picturing him as the smooth and silent killer in a spaghetti western. But thats probably racist. You cant say anything these days, Jeff.

An intelligent, articulate and a superb manager. Deserved a chance to try and right things. And the fact that he didnt get to say goodbye to the players and fans shows why there is little grace left in the game. He made the new spurs and the new Spurs made him.

I know its a cliche, but he made me proud to be a Tottenham fan for the first time in years. Im gutted hes gone, but accept that sadly it was probably the right choice I dont think he was going to turn it around, and Id rather he leave a legend than overstay his welcome.

Affable but steely, he shook a rotting club to the core with no bluster and a great deal of charm. He transformed the careers of many players, and the beliefs of many fans. We dared again because of him, and we so very nearly did. Spursy meant something else because of him.

He made me feel something for my football club that Ive not felt for a long, long time. The highs felt so much higher with him. He will be missed.

Great manager, Im sad to see him go. Gave the fans a team to be proud of. Levy needs his head checked in sacking him.

What does the future hold?His stock is incredibly high. Just staying at one club for over five years is such a rare quality in itself and speaks to his passion for development of a whole squad and not just trying to buy some success off the shelf. That being said, hell likely want to work with someone with looser purse strings than Daniel Levy in future. He could probably do with a bit of a break, but if Manchester United dont manage to sustain a good run of form, it is hard not to imagine Ed Woodward getting moist around the gills at the thought of throwing a lot of money at him. Whether Mo will want that job over and above any other is open to debate, but he will surely have his pick of suitors. Theres talk of Bayern, but given how that club is structured, would it really be a good fit? The other big names are also in the hat, as well as, remarkably, Arsenal. This is really just the start for him.

He has a legacy at Spurs which will be looked back upon fondly by a lot of people for a great many years. The joy he has brought to that club is quite remarkable and be in no doubt, it will go down in the history books as a very important period. They had employed Tim Sherwood before he arrived, but now, given their elevated position, there is not a chance they would make such a choice again.

Hell certainly never have to buy a drink in north London for the rest of his life. Im sure many wish him every success in the future and Im sure we will continue to see much of him over the coming couple of decades.

John Nicholson

Excerpt from:
This is just the start for Mauricio Pochettino, our Hero of the Week... - Football365.com

At the same time that Rudy Giuliani and his now-indicted pals were pushing for President Donald Trump to remove Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch from her post in Ukraine, Trump administration officials were eyeing potential contenders to take over her job.

One of the people in the mix, according to three sources familiar with the discussions, was Pete Sessions, a former congressman who called for Yovanovitchs firing. He is also a longtime ally of the former New York Mayor, and is believed to have been the beneficiary of approximately $3 million in independent expenditures from a PAC funded in part by Giulianis indicted cronies, according to a federal indictment.

Yovanovitch is set to testify to the congressional impeachment inquiry on Nov. 15. The circumstances of her removal from Kyiv are of keen interest to investigators, and she has said the whisper campaign against her left her blindsided. Witnesses in the inquiry have said they believed the people who successfully pushed for her ouster wanted to replace her with someone more pliableand maybe even more friendly to their business interests.

Conversations about Sessionsand another possible pick for the job, Raul Mas Canosa, a South Florida businessman with deep ties to the Cuban expat communitycirculated inside and outside the administration from late 2018 through the early months of 2019, according to the sources. Lev Parnas, a Giuliani associate arrested last month for alleged campaign finance violations, was part of discussions about Mas Canosa with associates in Kyiv, according to multiple people familiar with the conversations. One former State Department official said U.S. diplomats in Kyiv learned Mas Canosa was in contention after a rumor about him circulated in Ukrainian political circles.

A spokesperson for Sessions told The Daily Beast he was not offered the ambassadorship or vetted for it. Mas Canosa confirmed that he was approached about taking the position.

Trump recalled Yovanovitch on April 29 after Giuliani and his allies launched a vociferous campaign against her. Yovanovitch has said she believed the people calling for her ouster wanted to replace her with a new ambassador who would help advance their business interests. Her recall generated rancor from congressional Democrats, who suspected something strange was going on. But instead of replacing her with a political ally, the Trump administration dispatched veteran diplomat Bill Taylor to the embassy there as charg daffaires.

Taylor told Congress he also sensed something was afoot, and came to believe the Trump administration was withholding military aid to pressure the country to investigate former Vice President Joe Bidens son. Democrats are investigating the scheme as part of their impeachment inquiry into Trump. Taylor testified publicly before the inquiry on Nov. 13. Yovanovitch is scheduled to testify on Nov. 15.

Sessions and Giuliani have been allies for more than 15 years, and Sessions has called the former New York mayor a friend. The New York mayor held a $1,000-per-person fundraiser for the Texas Republican in 2002, per New York magazine. And he cut a TV ad for Sessions in the final weeks of his hard-fought 2004 campaign. When theres so much at stake for our country, we need people in Congress with the character to lead, Giuliani said in the ad, according to a story from The Hills archives. Sessions, in turn, endorsed Giulianis unsuccessful 2008 Republican presidential bid and urged social conservatives to back him despite his support of abortion rights.

Ten years later, Sessions wrote a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in May 2018 citing concrete evidence from close companions that Yovanovitch had spoken privately and repeatedly about her disdain for the current Administration in a way that might call for the expulsion of her from office.

In an October indictment, federal prosecutors charged Parnas and his business partner, Igor Fruman, with campaign finance violations. Prosecutors allege that the two men acted as straw donors for a foreign government official and gave money to a political action committee that has given up to $3 million to re-elect Congressman-1, widely reported to be Sessions.A Sessions spokesman, however, believes that the committee never used that money to help reelect the Texas Republican. We have found no evidence it was spent, a Sessions spokesman told The Daily Beast.

The indictment alleges that Parnas and Fruman sought Congressman-1s assistance in causing the US. Government to remove or recall the then-U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine. The two allegedly sought Yovanovitchs removal at the request of one or more Ukrainian government officials.

Since-deleted Facebook posts show Sessions met with Parnas and Fruman on Capitol Hill on May 9, 2018. He sent the letter calling for the State Department to fire Yovanovitch on the same day.

Since the Ukraine scandal broke, a federal grand jury in New York has subpoenaed Sessions for documents related to his interactions with Giuliani, Parnas, and Fruman, including the effort to have Yovanovitch recalled.

Mas Canosa confirmed to The Daily Beast that he had been approached earlier this year to serve as ambassador to Ukraine but declined to say by whom. He said he has never met Giuliani, Parnas, or Fruman.

I really didnt feel I was a good fit, he said. While I certainly was probably not a top choice, if I had been asked to serve I would have done so out of love of country, period, end of story.

Mas Canosa indicated he had concerns about Yovanovitch.

She was not serving the president well, from what I was told, he said of Yovanovitch.

Mas Canosa, a former Wall Street investment adviser who now runs a firm called Gladius Consulting, would have been an unorthodox pick to replace Yovanovitch. Hes never served as a diplomat, and most of his commentary has focused on Latin American and Cuban politics. His late brother, Jorge Mas Canosa, was a towering figure in Floridas Cuban exile community and anti-Castro politics who founded the Cuban American National Foundation. There appears to be scant public evidence that Mas Canosa has any Ukraine connections.

The campaign to install him didnt get traction, according to one Trump administration official. It was nixed early, the official said.

Despite that, conversations about Mas Canosa spread on Russian-language social media. On May 12, one obscure commentator who goes by the handle @prokhozhij on the Telegram messaging platform wrote that The new US ambassador to Ukraine may be an American businessman of Cuban origin, Raul Mas Canosa.

A little over a week later, the news had spread to more mainstream political commentators, including Taras Berezovets, a television host in Kyiv, Ukraine. On his Telegram channel, he posted that Mas Canosa, who often appears as a commentator on Trumps favorite Fox news channel, was in line to be the next ambassador.

Berezovets told The Daily Beast he first learned about Raul Mas Canosa from my friends in Washington in May.

Mas Canosas nephew Jorge Mas Santos contributed to Giulianis 2008 presidential campaign. And after Trumps election, Mas Canosa told the Spanish-language publication Diario Las Americas that Giuliani deserved a spot in Trumps Cabinet.

During her appearance before the House impeachment inquiry, the Trump National Security Councils former top Russia staffer, Fiona Hill, testified that she was told that these gentlemen, Mr. Parnas, Mr. Fruman, and Mr. [Harry] Sargeant had all been in business with Mr. Giuliani, and that the impression that a number of Ukrainian officials and others had had was that they were interested in seeking business deals in Ukraine. Hill didnt detail what those interests might be. But she said she believed that the reason Yovanovitch had been the target of smear campaign seemed to be business dealings of individuals who wanted to improve their investment positions inside of Ukraine itself.

with additional reporting by Anna Nemtsova

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Exclusive: Rudy Ally Pete Sessions Was Eyed for Top Slot in Ukraine - The Daily Beast

Whether or not Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shuffles her to a new cabinet post on Wednesday, Chrystia Freeland's imprint on Canada's foreign policy will remain visible for some time to come, analysts suggest.

That will be especially true in how Canada pushes forward with its top priority: getting the new North American trade deal ratified and reinforcing the crucial economic bond with its key ally, the United States.

But her decision to position Canada as a leader on a crisis in Canada's greater neighbourhood, the meltdown of Venezuela, may be Freeland's most influential move as the country's top diplomat.

Freeland was appointed foreign-affairs minister in January 2017 with one very important marching order: deal with the newly elected U.S. President Donald Trump and keep the North American Free Trade Agreement, and Canada's economy, from being trashed.

Freeland largely accomplished that, even though NAFTA's replacement has yet to be ratified. But behind the headline-grabbing fight to save a trade deal that was crucial to Canada's economic survival, a debate simmered within Canada's foreign ministry over how to address the very real economic and political implosion that was underway in another nearby country: Venezuela.

According to Ben Rowswell, Canada's then-ambassador to Venezuela, the internal division at Global Affairs Canada boiled down to this: should the problem be left to its Latin American neighbours, or should Canada step up to help?

Three years later, Canada is a key member of the Lima Group, a bloc of about a dozen countries in the Americas, minus the United States, that has made a concerted, if not successful, effort to promote democracy in Venezuela and stanch its epic flow of refugees.

"One of the reasons why Canada is at the centre of regional and international discussions of Venezuela is very much due to the personal initiative of Minister Freeland," said Rowswell, the president of the Canadian International Council.

"There was a real internal debate inside Global Affairs Canada that was resolved when Minister Freeland made this a signature issue of Canadian foreign policy in the Trudeau years."

Which raises the question: how indispensable does that make Freeland?

Though she represents a downtown Toronto riding, Freeland is fond of her Alberta roots she was born in Peace River and that connection could be of some use to a governing party with no seats there or in Saskatchewan.

Having faced unpredictable negotiating partners abroad, Freeland might appeal to Trudeau as a domestic intergovernmental-affairs minister, or in some other capacity where contending with fractious premiers would be a big part of the job.

As a journalist, she reported on finance and particularly economic inequality, one of the Liberal government's policy preoccupations.

"If a new minister is appointed, there will be quite a lot of relationships to be built that she's already established through the very significant support she's shown to the people of Venezuela over the last few years," said Rowswell.

"She's a household name in Venezuela because of her leadership of the Lima Group."

As effective as she was, especially in dealing with the Trump administration on NAFTA, no minister in any portfolio is indispensable, said Colin Robertson, a retired diplomat with extensive experience in Washington and across the United States.

"I think she's done a superb job as foreign minister. But I don't think she has to have that job," said Robertson, vice-president of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute.

Freeland's approach to widening Canada's approach to relations with the U.S. beyond the White House and the Capitol will be her greatest policy legacy, and one that any successor will have to carry forward, he said.

With NAFTA under threat, and Trump so unpredictable, Freeland presided over a charm offensive that targeted key Congressional leaders, as well as state governors and business leaders in key states that had strong economic ties with its partner to the north. Canada's then-ambassador David MacNaugton quarterbacked the effort on the ground and it also involved the outreach of about a dozen cabinet ministers.

Transport Minister Marc Garneau and Environment Minister Catherine McKenna were among them, and both have the bona fides to take over where Freeland left off, Robertson argues.

Garneau chaired the cabinet committee on Canada-U.S. relations and was the Liberal foreign-affairs critic in opposition prior to the party's 2015 ascent to power. McKenna has travelled widely as the international face of Canada's climate-change policy a bruising fight that has made her a lightning rod for online trolls and real-world haters.

Even if she's shuffled, Freeland would still have an influence on foreign policy during confidential cabinet discussions because she has a proven track record, and Trudeau is known to allow such cross-pollination, Robertson said.

"Freeland is always going to speak out. You don't lose anything. She will still be in cabinet. She still has all that experience."

But in an uncertain world, and with a minority government facing an uncertain lifespan, some argue it would be inadvisable to remove Freeland now.

Bessma Momani, a senior fellow the Centre for International Governance Innovation in Waterloo, Ont., said there isn't a deep pool of options from which Trudeau could draw a replacement.

"It's not an easy file," she said.

"These are important bilateral personal relationships that are built. In a minority parliament, this might not last very long. You don't want to put someone in there for two years, at most, where they don't really get a chance to grasp the characters and personalities."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 17, 2019.

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Wherever she ends up, Chrystia Freeland will leave her mark on foreign affairs - National Observer

Boris Johnson visited West Monkton Primary School in Taunton yesterdaySTEFAN ROUSSEAU/PA

The Conservative benches will be far more pro-Brexit whatever the result of the general election next month as Boris Johnson recasts the party in his own image.

As the deadline passes for candidates to register in the general election, Nigel Farage and his Brexit Party will have a role to play in shaping the Tory benches.

Mr Farage had agreed to pull 317 Brexit Party candidates from Tory-held seats to avoid splitting the Leave vote. Senior Conservatives demanded, however, that he stand down candidates in Labour-held marginals where the Tories have a chance of winning. They claim that Mr Farage will be responsible if there is a hung parliament and Brexit does not happen.

Analysis by The Times of the 51 seats won by the

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HP rejects takeover offer from Xerox - 660 NEWS

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by The Associated Press

Posted Nov 17, 2019 12:41 pm MST

HP Inc. says its board has rejected a roughly $33.5 billion takeover offer from Xerox.

The Palo Alto, California-based company said Sunday that the cash and stock deal undervalues its business and its board cited concerns about outsized debt levels should the companies combine.

HP, which makes computers and printers, said it recognizes the potential benefits of consolidation and remains open to exploring other options to combine with Xerox Holdings Corp.

Both companies have faced difficulties as the demand for printed documents and ink have waned.

The Associated Press

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HP rejects takeover offer from Xerox - CityNews Calgary

An untimely leak to RNZ brought some clarity to the governments plans for its media assets yet left many questions unanswered. Duncan Greive analyses the latest revelations.

RNZs flagship Morning Report programme today led its prime 7.10am slot with a bombshell about Radio New Zealand itself. Political editor Jane Patterson had the scoop on a story which has been building for much of the year, and become the default conversation topic for those working in journalism and communications: what did the government plan to do with its media assets?

Speculation had centred around a mega-merger of multiple entities, but Pattersons report quoted an advisory group as having collectively recommended the government agree to disestablish TVNZ and RNZ and to establish a new public media entity. It still needs to make it through the Cabinet process, but the direction of travel is now visible. Mori TV is said not to be part of the plan.

Its the latest in a string of huge media stories to drop over the past month, many of them connected to MediaWorks. The radio, television and outdoor advertising giant had been publicly advocating for TVNZ1 to be made non-commercial so as to fix what it perceived as a structural inequity in the advertising market. After the government resisted its increasingly loud pleas, MediaWorks announced that Three was for sale in October, with the prospect of it being shut down should a suitable buyer not emerge. This was followed by the resignation of Newshubs head of news, Hal Crawford, with the longtime head of NZ on Air not long after.

All this occurred against a backdrop of a newish broadcasting minister in Kris Faafoi engaging with public and private media about the industrys travails. The expectation of substantial and far-sighted change had built hugely before Pattersons story broke and the scope of what she described certainly met and probably exceeded the desired scale.

Yet as much as the story revealed, the gaps yawn. There are a number of critical questions which need answering. And while the process has been signalled as one which will take years, some signal that the direction of travel is now critical so as to allow both TVNZ and RNZ to calm affected staff and convey confidence to clients and audiences.

The Spinoff has spoken to several well-placed sources in public and private media today on background to inform these questions.

No. The description of a new public media entity is not a case of doing a Telecom/Spark, said one source privy to the proposal. Its better understood as describing a merged organisation which will ultimately house both the government-owned entities. Its critical that whatever the proposal suggests, it doesnt push pause on two organisations in motion and going through major digital transitions.

Additionally, for TVNZ this news has the potential to destabilise some commercial revenue at the worst possible time just a week after its advertiser showcase. CEO Kevin Kenrick moved quickly to reassure advertisers, emailing them this morning to hose down the report, saying: No decisions have been made or announced despite what you may read [TVNZ remains committed to] cost effective opportunities for your business to engage with these audiences.

2. What happens to NZ on Air?

The resignation of longtime chief Jane Wrightson to become retirement commissioner represents an opportunity to fold a reset of public media funder NZ on Air into this larger piece of work. Demands on the organisation have changed massively during her 12-year term, with digital going from a non-factor to the dominant delivery vehicle for younger audiences in that time.

Wrightson negotiated the political and private sectors adroitly in her role and helped transition the organisation to its current platform agnostic model. Yet were the proposal to go ahead, it contains a clear existential threat to NZ on Air: currently well over half its funding goes toward RNZ or shows which air on various TVNZ platforms. If Three transforms or folds, as is a distinct possibility, that percentage will inevitably further increase.

The case for direct commissioning by this new entity will be strong,and with it, inevitable questions about the function of NZ on Air with a smaller pool of platforms and a vastly diminished budget. Without a parallel increase in NZ on Air funding, the new entity has the potential to take more public money and oxygen from a starving private sector.

3. How will the commercial and non-commercial be balanced?

Perhaps the most critical issue is the balance of demands of the commercial and non-commercial, and which feels in the ascendant. An entity of this nature is by no means without precedent RTE in Ireland is probably the best example, while SBS in Australia also runs on a mix of public and advertiser funds. Yet RTE is beset by a financial crisis, and SBS is far less prominent in Australia than this combined entity would be. Theres also the optics one branch of government (the Commerce Commission) has twice refused private sector media mergers which aimed to solve just this kind of generational challenge. Vodafone/Sky and NZME/Stuff have each suffered markedly since those decisions. All would surely find the prospect of competing for audience and commercial partners with a massive and revved up government entity deeply chilling.

Similarly, the Coalition for Better Public Media, which has advocated for change for many years, greeted the news with very cautious optimism, saying hybrid public/commercial funding models can work but only where a) the level of public funding exceeds the level of commercial funding and b) where core services like news and current affairs are completely insulated from commercial priorities.

4. Will existing audiences embrace the new, or be furious at the change?

The likelihood is that the impact on audiences will be minimal. Shows like Q+A might become co-platformed, and there could well be more sharing of hosts and other talent across networks, particularly around major news events. Sources suggest that TVNZ and RNZ are already talking more regularly and constructively than they have in years.

The biggest challenge for both, and for public media in general, is about forging a digital path, innovating and building on reputational strengths online.

A core part of that is in building younger audiences. Both RNZ and TVNZ feel like brands which will be difficult to port down to new audiences, even with more resources and on new platforms. Is there room for a third brand, that approximates what the likes of Triple J and 1Xtra have done in Australia and the UK respectively within the music space? A skunkworks made up of youth and digitally-focused people from both organisations might be better able to succeed, or at least out-perform the likes of TVNZ U and The Wireless two highly-touted youth brands which are no longer with us.

5. Will it prove durable through different governments?

In many ways, this is the most critical question of all. National have a history of shutting down Labours media initiatives (see: the charter, TVNZ 7). Melissa Lee, Nationals broadcasting spokesperson, had yet to consult with caucus when I spoke to her, but expressed grave concern at the prospect of a giant publicly-funded media entity which dwarfs all the others. Lee acknowledged the challenges of the sector, and the importance of local media, saying we are a small country inundated with content coming from around the world. But she expressed concern at the continued reverence for the core forms (radio and linear television), saying that younger people have abandoned them and she had too: no linear, no timeshifting everything is OnDemand.

Lee says she has not yet seen the proposal, and while The Spinoff understands that Faafoi has approached National to try and build consensus on the issue, no formal meeting has yet taken place.

Which is to say that todays leak has provided signals but nothing resembling clarity. It may have accelerated the governments release timetable, yet will also have provided opponents time to lobby against the move. It remains something that TVNZ, in particular, will find hard to digest, and that private sector media will be rightly very wary of. The medias year of chaos rolls on, without a conclusion in sight.

Love The Spinoff? The best way to support us is to join The Spinoff Members. For just $2 a week you can help us hire more journalists and receive a FREE copy of our first book.

The Bulletin is The Spinoffs acclaimed daily digest of New Zealands most important stories, delivered directly to your inbox each morning.

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Five key questions about the new super-broadcaster to replace TVNZ and RNZ - The Spinoff

NEW YORK Nov 19, 2019 (Thomson StreetEvents) -- Edited Transcript of Inspired Entertainment Inc earnings conference call or presentation Tuesday, November 12, 2019 at 2:00:00pm GMT

* A. Lorne Weil

Inspired Entertainment, Inc. - Executive Chairman of the Board

* Brooks H. Pierce

Inspired Entertainment, Inc. - President & COO

Inspired Entertainment, Inc. - Executive VP & Chief Strategy Officer

* Stewart F. B. Baker

Inspired Entertainment, Inc. - CFO & Executive VP

* Chad C. Beynon

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Inspired Entertainment Third Quarter 2019 Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note that today's event is being recorded. I'll begin today's conference call by referring you to the company's safe harbor statement that appears in the third quarter 2019 earnings press release, which is available in the Investors section of the company's website at http://www.inseinc.com. This safe harbor statement also applies to today's conference call as the company's management will be making certain statements that could be considered forward-looking under securities laws and rules of the CEC (sic) [SEC]. These statements are based on management's current expectations or beliefs and are subject to risks, uncertainties and changes in circumstances.

In addition, please note that the company will discuss both GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation is included in the earnings press release.

With that completed, I would now like to turn the conference call over to Lorne Weil, the company's Executive Chairman. Mr. Weil, please go ahead.

A. Lorne Weil, Inspired Entertainment, Inc. - Executive Chairman of the Board [2]

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining our third quarter earnings conference call. Here with me today are Brooks Pierce, Stewart Baker and Dan Silvers, all of whom you're by now quite familiar with. In the press release this morning, we referred to a three-pronged strategy that we had been in the process of implementing for quite some time: mitigating the impact of the changes in the U.K. regulations that came from the Triennial Review to between $10 million and $11 million a year or possibly less; generation of new business in our worldwide VLT, Virtual Sports and Interactive businesses with a goal to fully offset the impact of the Triennial; and at the same time, as these things are going on, we are integrating the Novomatic U.K. acquisition that we've talked quite a bit about, including realizing the synergies that we had projected at the time, but as we talk more this morning, we're increasingly confident in.

In my remarks, I'd like to touch on each of these, and then hand it off to Brooks to talk in more detail about the business development initiatives and the integration efforts that are underway. Lastly, Stewart will cover the financials and any refinancing-related matters at the end of our prepared remarks before we open it up to questions.

Our third quarter results were, obviously, negatively impacted by the reduction in the maximum stake to GBP 2 in the U.K. LBO market, which was implemented on April 1. As we report that a number of times, it was originally intended to be implemented in October of this year and was accelerated back to April, which created a range of logistical issues, again, that we have discussed a number of times and we won't bother to go into in any more detail today. But as we've discussed previously, we think it will take until we're in the first quarter of 2020 for the full mitigation plan to be executed. As expected, we've borne the full impact of the revenue reduction in the second and third quarters, while having only partially mitigated the impact through cost-focused operational initiatives. Part of the reason that we've only mitigated part of the impact is, as I've mentioned a moment ago, because the change in the regulation itself came 6 months quicker than we had been planning. And some of the things that we can do to very significantly mitigate the impact can't take place until shop closures and other activities have run their course.

I think right now, most importantly, we're seeing a very steady improvement in the sequential year-over-year trend in the gross win per day. Immediately after the implementation of the Triennial on April 1, this measure of revenue performance was down 44%. By May, the decline had improved to 40%. Throughout the third quarter, it was, on average, 37%. It improved again to 25% in the month of October. And so far, in November month-to-date, it's about 20%. So as you can see, there's been a tremendous improvement on the revenue side. And as we'll get to in a moment, we are in the process of implementing concomitant changes on the cost side.

Along the way, we've seen the closures of, so far, of approximately 850 shops. And the aftermath supports our previously outlined thesis that a substantial portion of the revenue lost to the shop closures would be recovered through our remaining estate, and that the shops closed would, on average, be at the lower end of the cashbox distribution.

I should also mention here that at least as of the present time, there have been very limited shop closures on the part of the major operators in the U.K. who are not our customers. Most of the shop closures have been our customers. So as and when we begin to see some closures on the part of operators who are not our customers, logic would say that we will capture at least some parts of that recirculated revenue, and we would expect that to be one of the drivers of continued improvement in the revenue per terminal per day that I mentioned a moment ago.

Whereas our revenues are driven by a direct linear relationship to the cash going into the machines, obviously, many -- actually most of our costs are unrelated to revenues, but in fact, driven simply by the physical numbers of machines. We pointed this out before, cost such as field maintenance, transportation logistics, spare parts, et cetera.

So as the overall industry goes through this period of restructuring and soft consolidation, our cost mitigation efforts are going to be driven by a smaller, more profitable estate, as well as being able to either redeploy the terminals that we have removed in the field into other geographies in the world or cannibalize them for service spares, which is the significant component of our ongoing operating cost.

For some time, we've been forecasting that the fully mitigated adjusted EBITDA impact of the Triennial would be between $10 million and $11 million a year. Based upon what we're seeing so far in the fourth quarter, combined with comprehensive updated modeling, we're confident we will reach this level by the first quarter of 2020. Indeed, given both recent positive sequential revenue trends and a deeper analysis of costs, we think there is a decent opportunity that we can do even better than that.

We've been saying some time that we expect that by the end of the year or early next year, our overall adjusted EBITDA run rate would be back to where it was going as we went into the Triennial, a number around, let's say, $12.5 million to $13.5 million of EBITDA per quarter. So in other words, in that time frame, our other business initiatives, which Brooks will talk about in considerably more detail in a moment such as the launch of our gaming machine business in North America, new machines in Greece, new Virtual Sports contracts and new Virtual Sports products, and very importantly, additional Interactive customers, which we have been adding at a very accelerating rate, altogether will be generating, I would say, at least $2.5 million a quarter. Enough to offset the impact of the Triennial, and again, take us back to a more normalized level of EBITDA, which, as I said a moment ago, is, shall we say, between $12.5 million and $13 million of EBITDA per quarter.

Finally, and right now, I guess in a way, most importantly, we completed the acquisition of Novomatic U.K. Gaming Technology Group. These businesses are experiencing very positive trends, both in terms of the standalone revenue and profitability, but also the integration in the synergy work that we have been doing. The trends have actually been stronger than what we anticipated when we agreed to acquire these businesses. Our thesis on the business, going through its conversion from what was at one time an entirely analog business to what is now more than 60% through the process of conversion to digital, is proving correct. And it's very clear that the pub's cashbox is increasing almost in lockstep with the trend from analog to digital. This, in turn, again, as we have discussed before, has a very positive impact on the EBITDA margins of the business, and we're seeing this happen in parallel.

There are quite a few other positives we're seeing in the NTG business that Brooks will discuss in more detail.

Based on this evidence, we expect that the 2020 adjusted EBITDA coming from the Novomatic businesses will growing nicely over what it was in 2019. On top of this, the work we're doing now seems to suggest that the synergy potential could be greater than what we originally expected, making us incrementally more comfortable with the existing synergy guidance and working towards a higher number. I have said this before, but I should mention that the management team that is dealing with this has had a very considerable experience in the past at integrating acquisitions like this. And so we're pretty confident that the estimates and projections that we're making are going to be comfortably achieved.

Quantitatively, as we've mentioned before, NTG's 2018 adjusted EBITDA added to our original estimate of synergies would yield approximately $35 million of incremental adjusted EBITDA, with only modest growth in revenue and our margins in 2019 and 2020, and quite possibly, a greater-than-expected synergies. We could reasonably expect to reach an adjusted EBITDA run rate in these businesses somewhat higher than the $35 million that we have been talking about.

I should mention here that the Novomatic businesses are somewhat more seasonal than the legacy Inspired businesses, with about half -- more than half of the EBITDA coming in the second and the third quarters because of the importance of the summer holiday season.

So to summarize then, as we look ahead and think about where we'll be, let's say, when we're exiting the first quarter of 2020, so about 2 quarters from now, less than 2 quarters from now, we would expect to have mitigated Triennial impact to around $2.5 million a quarter; to have comfortably added adjusted EBITDA from a range of initiatives in North America, Greece, Virtual Sports, Interactive and so forth; and finally, to have largely integrated NTG, realizing both its stand-alone profitability and the attendant synergies that we're seeing that it has with our legacy Inspired business.

So with that, I'd like now to hand it over to Brooks to further discuss our new business developments, and in particular, our most recent initiatives in North America.

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Brooks H. Pierce, Inspired Entertainment, Inc. - President & COO [3]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks, Lorne. And I'd like to add just a little bit of color to some of the points you touched on, in particular, the benefits and the integration plans for the NTG acquisition, as well as the pace of the business developments that we have been working on in the North American market.

The teams have been working hard, as Lorne mentioned, on the integration plans, and we see a number of opportunities both in cost savings and also in revenue growth and synergies. In terms of the acquired businesses, I think it's important to emphasize the addition of the design studios and capabilities of Astra, Bell-Fruit and Innov8. We strongly believe that the combination of these 3 groups with our existing Inspired content development team will position us well to execute on our omnichannel strategy across multiple geographies. Both Bell-Fruit and Astra, for example, are producing content for the U.K. pub sector that is growing that business significantly and is a leader in the space by a large margin. This content is driving the digitization of the pub sector, as Lorne mentioned, from analog, and the shift to digital has historically increased the cashbox for our customer, and thereby, our revenue, and importantly, our margins. So we believe that this content, combined with the leading

Prismatic cabinet, is the key to success in that segment of the business.

We also expect to leverage this new content plus the 6 key Novomatic titles we acquired, including Book of Ra, in the transaction within our U.K. LBO business, both to drive increased cashbox there as well as to reduce our reliance on third-party content to increase both our margins and our revenue.

Moving on to some other areas. As we've discussed on previous calls, our Inspired content is leading the way in performance in Greece, and we're excited to be placing our Valor cabinets. In fact, just this week, the first Valor cabinets were installed in Greece. We use Greece as a proof point from what we thought it would take to succeed in Illinois because the markets are similar in that they are distributed with a large number of locations and a relatively small number of machines per location. We created bespoke content for the Illinois market after doing extensive study and analysis, and are encouraged by the results we are seeing thus far, albeit on only relatively small sample set.

So we expect to be in trials with a number of operators this quarter, and we'll report on the conversion of these to both sales and to follow-on sales in the upcoming quarters with the addition of the 6th machine in Illinois.

The combination and addition of all this content creation will drive not only our Server Based Gaming business, but again, as Lorne mentioned, it will likely also serve as a catalyst for our interactive RGS business as we develop content for the multiple territories that we serve. We're seeing significant growth in that space and expect that to continue beyond the U.K. where we're expanding in Sweden, Spain, Italy, and, importantly, North America.

So our growth strategy in North America really is across the entire business. We talked about the Virtual Sports business, the launch of our games in Illinois. In fact, on Virtual Sports side, we are looking forward to, actually next week, the launch of a new game with the Pennsylvania Lottery of Derby Cash that I think I've mentioned on previous calls. It has different mechanics with a larger payout structures, multipliers, et cetera, et cetera. So we're looking forward to launching that product and getting the results on the Virtual Sports side.

Also on the online side of our Virtual Sports business, which is showing nice growth throughout, we'll be going live with customers in New Jersey coming up shortly like bet365, the worldwide leader in Virtual Sports who will have 17 streams of Virtual Sports launching in New Jersey shortly.

So our pipeline of Virtual Sports offerings in the North American market has picked up, and we're looking forward to rolling out some of the new products we've developed that we've talked about in the past. Our Virtual Basketball product that we've launched in the U.K. and is doing some amazing business, and then some of the new content that we've mentioned before, our NFL Alumni Virtual Football game and also, our hockey game with NHL Legend, Jaromir Jgr. So with that, I'll pass it to Stewart for the financials.

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Stewart F. B. Baker, Inspired Entertainment, Inc. - CFO & Executive VP [4]

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Thank you, Brooks. Good morning, all. So overall, in U.S. dollar terms, revenue compared to the same quarter last year was down around 25% and adjusted EBITDA around 47%. As has been the case in recent quarters, there was a drag from FX rates where we saw some very low sterling rates in the quarter. So in pound rates, these growth rates are improved by around 4%. And these negative variances were caused by 3 main factors. Firstly, as expected, these were impacted by the change in the maximum stakes in the U.K. B2 market. As Lorne mentioned, we saw some pickup during the quarter, but more importantly, it's the trading in October and November to date, that gives real encouragement.

Despite the store closures at the very end of the quarter, our revenue for October was in line with September, and we expect November to be higher. On top of this, the store closures allow us to unlock more of the cost benefits and these are progressing well. Secondly, we had high comparables in hardware and software license sales in the prior year quarter. If you remember, on the last quarterly call, Lorne talked about the fact that given the majority of our revenue is recurring, the nonrecurring piece appeared lumpier than we would like and can cause some large swings quarter-to-quarter. And that's certainly the case here. And incidentally, this is another benefit the acquisition brings in diluting this.

There were also headwinds in the recurring business, including in Italy VLT, where tax increases and other regulation caused a decrease year-over-year of $1.1 million. In Virtual Sports, we were impacted by reduction in license amortization, as we talked about many times before, a contract rephasing and the lack of an international soccer tournament this summer. However, we are confident that Virtual Sports will get back into growth mode in Q4.

So there are quite a few reasons the year-on-year position is challenging to look at. And for that reason, I do think it's worth commenting briefly on the quarter-to-quarter growth, Q2 to Q3. So in taking out the impact of the currency fluctuations, and looking in pound terms, adjusted EBITDA increased from GBP 6.9 million to GBP 7.1 million. This growth is even more pronounced when considering that we had an Italian license sale in Q2 and in Q3 of approximately $250,000. The virtual seasonality impact of about GBP 300,000, and saving and cost, such as exhibitions, in Q3 that we didn't have in Q2 of about GBP 300,000.

In terms of cash flow, for the first 9 months of the year, if we look at free cash flow, which we define as cash provided by operating activities, less net cash used in investing activities, then we see an increase of $7.6 million from a $1.7 million outflow last year compared to an inflow of $5.9 million this year, despite the reductions in adjusted EBITDA. Free cash flow in the quarter was negative $4 million. And whilst having a full quarter impact on cash flows from the Triennial was a factor, as was a Greek VLT CapEx spend, actually the biggest factor was the amount of transaction fees and restructuring costs in the quarter.

In terms of the balance sheet, and specifically the new debt, we now have GBP 140 million of borrowings at LIBOR plus 7 2 5 and EUR 90 million at LIBOR plus 6 7 5 with a 0 floor. This means the average blended coupon rate is around 7.7%. This is down from about 10.9% previously and about 17%, 15 months or so ago. And on top of this term loan, we have a GBP 20 million revolving credit facility.

So finally, briefly on the acquisition. To reiterate what Lorne and Brooks have both said, we're pleased with the state of the business which is firmly back into growth mode, with very positive incomes in both the pub sector, but also the leisure sector. In talking of the leisure sector, as Lorne touched on, this is a seasonal business with a number of venues closing during the fall and winter months. As such, approximately 70% to 80% of adjusted EBITDA of the acquired business has historically come from the second and third quarters.

So hopefully that gives a bit of an overview of the quarter trading and the current debt position. So with that, I'll hand back to Lorne for any additional comments before we open up for Q&A.

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A. Lorne Weil, Inspired Entertainment, Inc. - Executive Chairman of the Board [5]

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Thanks, Stewart. That was an excellent review. I don't have any further comments. So operator, you can open the program to Q&A, please.

================================================================================

Questions and Answers

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Operator [1]

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(Operator Instructions) Your first question is from David Bain with Roth Capital.

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David Brian Bain, Roth Capital Partners, LLC, Research Division - MD & Senior Research Analyst [2]

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Great. I just have 3 questions if I could. The first on Illinois. Can we get a sense or a little bit more granularity of performance data to date? I mean, generally, are we in line with the market geography you shipped to? Are you making an interim adjustments to units? Any thoughts on the initial base performance in general? And then trying to get a sense as to the potential rollout in the market as you look to next year.

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Brooks H. Pierce, Inspired Entertainment, Inc. - President & COO [3]

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Sure. So in Illinois, as I mentioned in my remarks, it's obviously a very small sample size. We have 17 machines installed at the moment, which, again, is pretty small to measure. But we are happy with the numbers that we've seen thus far. We'll be rolling out additional trials throughout this quarter. But as I'm sure you know, the impact of the addition of the 6th machine, they are now talking about that could be possibly in the first quarter next year. So what we're getting is either somebody will put one of our games on trial as a replacement or I think they issued something like 160 new licenses last quarter. So some of that will come this quarter and will install there. So probably early days to say, but I can tell you that both the early performance numbers and certainly the feedback that we've gotten from customers and players has been very positive.

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David Brian Bain, Roth Capital Partners, LLC, Research Division - MD & Senior Research Analyst [4]

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Okay. And then on the U.K., it just looks like the Prime Minister may be sympathetic to calls for stricter regulation for online, potentially like the GBP 2 limit on online slots and in credit cards, et cetera. If that ends as a -- like a 2021 event, can you give us an idea of any benefits or potential negatives for Inspired?

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Brooks H. Pierce, Inspired Entertainment, Inc. - President & COO [5]

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Well, I think we've talked about a number of times that our Interactive business is -- although it's probably the fastest-growing segment, it's also the smallest segment. So we would be impacted far less than many others. And certainly nothing in the magnitude whatsoever in relation to Triennial. Stewart's here and probably is a better expert on U.K. politics, although that might be a bit of an oxymoron with everything that's going on in the U.K. But right now, this is just a ministerial group that is pushing this, so it still will take time to play out. And I'm sure the gaming industry and the remote gaming industry, particularly, probably having learned from some of the mistakes that may have been made on the Triennial, I'm sure will be very aggressive in promoting their responsible gaming activities and obviously we'll support them in that regard. But should not -- if this were to occur by 2021, I wouldn't consider it a huge issue for us.

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David Brian Bain, Roth Capital Partners, LLC, Research Division - MD & Senior Research Analyst [6]

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Okay. Okay. And just last one would be on the NTG acquisition. It's part of the uplift that you all kind of spoke to in 3Q, in particular. Was there a benefit from the Triennial? And to kind of sum up the performance of NTG, because you did give a lot of data points, but can we just quantify the trailing 12 since 3Q? I mean, with synergy, is it closer to 37 or around there?

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Stewart F. B. Baker, Inspired Entertainment, Inc. - CFO & Executive VP [7]

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So I mean, in terms of trailing 12 months EBITDA from the acquired business, that's in the GBP 19 million range in sterling.

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Brooks H. Pierce, Inspired Entertainment, Inc. - President & COO [8]

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(inaudible)

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Stewart F. B. Baker, Inspired Entertainment, Inc. - CFO & Executive VP [9]

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Yes. Pre any synergies. Yes, absolutely. Sorry.

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Brooks H. Pierce, Inspired Entertainment, Inc. - President & COO [10]

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And David, let me just add one thing about your comment. I think that's one of the big questions that people are asking us is, has the impact of the Triennial and the LBO shifted game play to the pub market? Kind of hard to quantify because it's not carded play over there as you know. But the reality is, one of the rationales behind this acquisition of NTG is, frankly, whether a player goes from an LBO to a pub sector, we expect to be the leader of both of those segments. So we hope to capture that revenue. But certainly, the pub cashbox performance both in terms of the digital stuff that I talked about before, the content. But, frankly, we believe there is some crossover play.

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Edited Transcript of HDRAU earnings conference call or presentation 12-Nov-19 2:00pm GMT - Yahoo Finance