when does hollywood undeads new album come out

Hollywood Undead is an American rap rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 2005. They released their debut album, Swan Songs, on September 2, 2008, and their live CD/DVD Desperate Measures, on November 10, 2009. Their second studio album, American Tragedy, was released April 5, 2011. All of the band members use pseudonyms and wear their own unique mask, most of which are based on the common hockey goaltender design. The band members currently consist of Charlie Scene, Danny, Funny Man, J-Dog, and Johnny 3 Tears. Their third studio album, titled Notes from the Underground, was released on January 8, 2013.[2] Their fourth studio album, Day of the Dead, was released on March 31, 2015.[3] Hollywood Undead's fifth record is titled Five (or V), and will be released on October 27th, 2017. The first single from the album, called "California Dreaming", was made available July 24th, 2017.

Hollywood Undead

The band originated on June 3, 2005, as The Kids[4] from a song titled "Hollywood" (Later released as "The Kids") that Jorel Decker (J-Dog), Aron Erlichman (Deuce), and Jeff Phillips (Shady Jeff) posted on the band's MySpace profile to positive reviews,[by whom?] leading them to form the group Hollywood Undead with their friends George "Johnny 3 Tears" Ragan, Jordon "Charlie Scene" Terrell, Dylan "Funny Man" Alvarez, and Matthew "Da Kurlzz" Busek. In an interview with Shave magazine, J-Dog explained that when forming the band "Whoever was in the room at the time and played an instrument was in the band."[5] Phillips later left the group because of conflict with Erlichman.[6][7]

The band only took one year working on their debut album, Swan Songs. The other two years were spent looking for a company that wouldn't try to censor the album. They first signed a record contract with MySpace Records in 2005 but they left the label after the label tried to censor their first album.[8] They then signed a contract with A&M/Octone Records and their first album, Swan Songs was released on September 2, 2008,[9] and reached No.22 on the Billboard 200 in its first week of release, selling 21,000 copies;[10] which was later on released in the United Kingdom on May 18, 2009, with two bonus tracks.[11] In April 2009, the band toured with American electronic musician Skrillex as "Sonny and the Blood Monkeys". On June 23, 2009, Hollywood Undead released Swan Songs B-Sides EP through iTunes.

The band released a CD/DVD set entitled Desperate Measures on November 10, 2009. The set includes a CD of previously unreleased six new songs, three of which are cover songs, as well a previously unreleased remix of "Everywhere I Go", and six live recordings of songs from Swan Songs, and a DVD of a full live performance by the band.[12][13] In December 2009, the band won Best Crunk/Rock Rap Artist at the Rock on Request Awards.[14] In its first week of release, Desperate Measures reached No. 29 on the Billboard 200. It also peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard's Rock Albums chart, No. 8 on the Alternative Albums chart, No. 5 on the Hard Rock albums chart, and No. 15 on the Digital Albums chart.[15]

In early 2010, the band announced that singer, Deuce, had left the band due to creative differences. Ragan and Busek later cited arguments over writing credits, and Deuce not wanting to tour, as reasons for the departure.[16] Decker and Terrell also stated that Deuce wanting to bring his own personal assistant for touring caused a rift between members.[17][18] The band asked long-time friend, and lead singer of Lorene Drive, Daniel Murillo, to fill in for Deuce's role.[19] Murillo had just advanced past the auditions for season 9 of American Idol, but decided to drop out to join the band.[20]

The band soon began writing material for their second studio album; American Tragedy,[21] in mid-2010, with hopes to release it by the end of the year.[22] The band has also confirmed that producer Don Gilmore, would return to produce the album. Recording concluded around mid-November and the band began mixing the album the day after Thanksgiving.[citation needed]

The band co-headlined the Nightmare After Christmas Tour with Avenged Sevenfold and Stone Sour to support the album. The first single, "Hear Me Now", released in December 2010.[23] Within its first couple days of release, the single made it to number 2 on the iTunes Rock Chart.[citation needed] On January 21, they released a new song, "Comin' in Hot" available for a free download, and announced that the official release date for the album would be March 8, 2011.[24] but as of February 22, 2011, it was announced that the album has been pushed back to April 5, 2011. On February 6, 2011, the band released another song titled "Been to Hell", for a free download.

American Tragedy turned out to be more successful than their first album Swan Songs, selling 66,915 in its debut week and peaking at No. 4 on the Billboard 200. It has also peaked at No. 2 on many other charts, while also reaching No. 1 on the Billboard's Top Hard Rock Albums chart. The album was also very successful in other countries, making No. 5 in Canada and No. 43 in the United Kingdom.[25] To continue promoting the album, the band headlined the Revolt Tour, along with 10 Years, Drive A, and New Medicine.[26] The tour took place between April 6 and May 27, 2011. After the tour, the band played several shows in Europe, Canada, and Australia. They will then headline the Endless Summer Tour with All That Remains and Hyro da Hero, which took place between July 18 and August 7, 2011.[27]

The band announced in August 2011 that they would be releasing the remix album titled American Tragedy Redux, that would contain both professional and fan remixes from winners of a remix contest. of songs. It was released on November 21, 2011. In the same month, the band set out on the "World War III" tour, with Asking Alexandria, We Came As Romans, Borgore, and D.R.U.G.S.[28][29] Following the tour, the band also joined Avenged Sevenfold again on the "Buried Alive" tour, with Black Veil Brides and Asking Alexandria, with dates running from November 11 to December 14.[30]

Work on a third studio album began in late November 2011, with the band will beginning to write and record demos while on the "Buried Alive" Tour, and heading to the studio to start recording after the conclusion of the tour. The band aimed to return the sound of their first album, Swan Songs, and that their record label had given them full creative control for the album.[31] He also stated that the band hoped to feature more collaborations on the album.[32]

Artistdirect named the band's upcoming album as one of the most anticipated albums of 2012, alongside other bands such as Linkin Park, Metallica, and Black Sabbath.[33] The band revealed that Griffin Boice and Danny Lohner would return to produce the album. They also revealed that they will be upgrading their masks again, like they did prior to the release of their prior album.[34]

During 2012, the band played a series of music festivals, including Epicenter 2012, Summerfest, Aftershock, Rock Fest, and others, joining bands such as Stone Temple Pilots, Escape the Fate, Deftones.[citation needed]

On October 19, they released the track "Dead Bite" from the album for a free download,[35] along with a lyric video to it and announcement for the upcoming album's first single. On October 29, the lead single "We Are" was released along with the album title, Notes from the Underground. On December 10, the band released their official music video for "We Are" on their Vevo account on YouTube.[36] The teaser of the video prior the release of the video credit's Slipknot's Shawn "Clown" Crahan as the director the music video.[37]

The album was released on January 13 and sold over 53,000 copies in its first week, charting at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and No. 1 on Canada's Top Albums chart, making it highest charting album by the band.

On April 12, 2014, Johnny 3 Tears posted a photo on his Instagram revealing plans for the band to release a new album in the summer.[38] On October 17, Hollywood Undead's Vevo channel leaked the audio video with a song from their new album titled "Day of the Dead," although it was removed shortly afterwards. The song was later made available on iTunes on October 21, 2014.[39] and officially premiered through Revolver Magazine. It was also revealed that the album will also be titled Day of the Dead.[40]

The second single, titled "Usual Suspects", was released on February 17, 2015. The next single, titled "Gravity," was released on February 24, 2015.[38] The album was released on March 31, 2015.[41]

On November 3, 2015, Johnny 3 Tears announced during an interview with Louder Noise, the band planned to release an EP of previously unreleased songs for free in the Holiday season.[42] However, this has yet to happen and the EP has not been mentioned since.

On July 19th, 2017 a song titled "California Dreaming" was leaked. The track was released officially on July 24th, as the lead single off their upcoming album Five (stylized as V). On August 25th, "Whatever It Takes" was uploaded to the band's official YouTube channel.

Current touring musicians

Former touring musicians


where is mike and molly supposed to take place

Mike & Molly is an American sitcom created by Mark Roberts which aired on CBS from September 20, 2010 to May 16, 2016, for a total of six seasons and 127 episodes.[1] The series stars Billy Gardell and Melissa McCarthy as the eponymous Mike and Molly, a couple who meet in a Chicago Overeaters Anonymous group and fall in love.

Mike & Molly

The 13-episode sixth season began airing on January 6, 2016. On January 12, 2016, CBS announced that it would cancel Mike & Molly after the sixth season concluded, electing not to renew its licensing agreement with Warner Bros. Television, which ended after the season.[2][3] The series finale aired May 16, 2016.

In December 2009, CBS placed a pilot order for Mike & Molly. Mark Roberts wrote the pilot, which was directed by James Burrows, with both Roberts and Burrows serving as executive producers alongside Chuck Lorre, Don Foster and the production companies Warner Bros. Television and Chuck Lorre Productions.[10]

On May 13, 2010, CBS placed a series order on Mike and Molly.[11] On May 15, 2011, Mike and Molly was renewed for a second season.[12] On March 14, 2012, CBS renewed Mike & Molly for a third season,[13] which premiered on September 24, 2012. CBS pulled the third season finale, titled "Windy City", from its show of May 20, 2013. The episode featured a tornado descending on Chicago, and would have been broadcast the same day as the 2013 Moore tornado.[14] The episode was rescheduled for May 30, 2013.

On March 27, 2013, CBS announced that Mike & Molly would return for a fourth season during the 2013–2014 television season.[15] On May 17, 2013, Mark Roberts stepped down from showrunner duties to focus on other projects. Al Higgins replaced him for Season 4.[16] The series received a 22-episode order from CBS for its 4th season.[17] The show's fourth season premiere took place on November 4, 2013 at 9:00 pm ET/8:00 pm CT, in the time slot vacated by 2 Broke Girls when it moved to 8:30 pm ET/7:30 pm CT, replacing the canceled sitcom, We Are Men.[18] Following the breakout feature film success of McCarthy (Identity Thief, The Heat), Lorre intended for the show to more prominently feature her in season 4.[19] In promos leading up to the season 4 premiere, CBS billed the series as "the new Mike & Molly." Though the cast and setting remains essentially the same, the "new" refers to Molly quitting her teaching job and pursuing a career as a writer.[20]

On March 13, 2014, CBS announced the fifth season renewal of Mike & Molly.[21] CBS did not place the show in a timeslot when it unveiled its initial 2014-15 schedule. The fifth season began airing December 8, 2014.

On March 12, 2015, CBS announced the sixth season renewal of Mike & Molly.[22]

Casting announcements began in February 2010, with Katy Mixon and Reno Wilson being the first actors cast in the series. Mixon portrays the role of Victoria, Molly's sister, while Wilson portrays Carl, Mike's partner.[23] Billy Gardell was the next actor cast in the series, as the titular Mike.[24] Swoosie Kurtz then joined the series as Molly's mother, Joyce.[25] Following Kurtz, Nyambi Nyambi boarded the series as Samuel, a regular waiter at Abe's Hot Beef, where Mike and Carl frequent.[26] Melissa McCarthy completed the cast when she signed on to play the role of the eponymous Molly.[27]

Mike & Molly has received moderately positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the show holds a rating of 77% with an average rating of 6/10, based on 22 reviews. The consensus reads: "Mike & Molly is a conventional sitcom that's able to mine some big laughs, thanks to the immensely appealing central performers".[46] It achieved a score of 62 out of 100 on the review aggregator site Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[47] Critic Randee Dawn gave the show a negative review, stating the cast is likable, but the jokes are old and bland.[48]

There was a controversy in 2010 around a Marie Claire blog post written by Maura Kelly, in which she refers to the actors on the show as overweight.[49] Show creator Mark Roberts spoke out regarding Kelly's blog post, calling the comments "very high school".[50][51][52][53] He also stated, "This wasn't about the show, this wasn't about the writing, this wasn't about the acting. This was about someone's hateful response to how these two human beings look."[50] Billy Gardell also addressed the matter when he appeared on the daily talk show The Talk on November 1, 2010.[54][55]

Marie Claire has stood behind the blog.[56] Kelly has since apologized for her comments, stating that she "sorely regret[s] that it upset people so much".[57][58]

In the season 3 episode "Molly's New Shoes", the Peggy character reacts to her fiance's plans to retire and move to Arizona with the line: "Arizona? Why should I go to Arizona? It's nothing but a furnace full of drunk Indians." This prompted calls by the Native American Journalists Association, among others, for an apology.[59]

The series airs in Canada on CTV, CTV Two,[61] City, and M3[62] from September 20, 2010. In the United Kingdom it airs on Comedy Central UK from October 4, 2010.[63] In Ireland | Comedy Central UK began showing it also on October 4, 2010.[63] February 9, 2011 was the premiere for Nine Network in Australia. New Zealand's TV2 started it from April 29, 2011. In South Africa M-Net started it from April 8, 2011.[64]

The off-network rights to Mike & Molly have been sold to FX, which began airing the series in 2014.[65]

In the United States, the first season of Mike and Molly was released on both DVD and Blu-ray.[66] All subsequent seasons have only received a DVD release. On October 11, 2016, the sixth and final season was released, as well as a complete series collection.[67] In Australia, the first four seasons have been released on DVD, and in the United Kingdom, only seasons one and two have been released.


which type of system update includes those issued to point of release of the software

In computing, a service pack or SP or a feature pack (FP) comprises a collection of updates, fixes, or enhancements to a software program delivered in the form of a single installable package. Companies often release a service pack when the number of individual patches to a given program reaches a certain (arbitrary) limit, or the software release has shown to be stabilized with a limited number of remaining issues based on users' feedback and bug tracking such as Bugzilla. In large software applications such as office suites, operating systems, database software, or network management, it is not uncommon to have a service pack issued within the first year or two of a product's release. Installing a service pack is easier and less error-prone than installing many individual patches, even more so when updating multiple computers over a network, where service packs are common.

Service pack

Service packs are usually numbered, and thus shortly referred to as SP1, SP2, SP3 etc.[1] They may also bring, besides bug fixes,[2] entirely new features, as is the case of SP2 of WindowsÂ XP (e.g. Windows Security Center), or SP3 and SP4 of the heavily database dependent Trainz 2009:World Builder edition.[3]

Service Packs for Microsoft Windows were cumulative through Windows XP. This means that the problems that are fixed in a service pack are also fixed in later service packs. For example, Windows XP SP3 contains all the fixes that are included in Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2).[4] Windows Vista SP2 was not cumulative, however, but incremental, requiring that SP1 be installed first.[5]

Office XP, Office 2003, Office 2007, Office 2010 and Office 2013 service packs have been cumulative.

Application service packs replace existing files with updated versions that typically fix bugs or close security holes. If, at a later time, additional components are added to the software using the original media, there is a risk of accidentally mixing older and updated components. Depending on the operating system and deployment methods, it may then be necessary to manually reinstall the service pack after each such change to the software. This was, for example, necessary for Windows NT service packs; however, from Windows 2000 onwards, Microsoft redirected setup programs to use updated service pack files instead of files from original installation media in order to prevent manual reinstalls.[6]

Service packs for versions of Microsoft Windows have been declining.


who plays taystee on orange is the new black

Danielle Brooks (born September 17, 1989) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Tasha "Taystee" Jefferson on the Netflix original series Orange Is the New Black, and for her Tony Award-nominated portrayal of Sofia in the 2015 Broadway production of The Color Purple.

Danielle Brooks

Brooks was born in Augusta, Georgia, and grew up in Greenville, South Carolina,[1] in a Christian family; her father was a deacon, and her mother, a minister.[2] She began acting at the age of six in a nativity play put on by her church.[3] For her final two years of high school, she attended South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts & Humanities, a selective arts high school.[2] She studied drama at the Juilliard School and graduated in 2011.[4]

After graduating from Juilliard, Brooks won roles in two theater productions: the Shakespeare Theatre Company's Servant of Two Masters, and Blacken the Bubble. She left both productions in 2013 to join the cast of the Netflix-produced television series Orange Is the New Black, a show about a women's prison based on Piper Kerman's memoir of the same name, as Tasha "Taystee" Jefferson.[4] Her character Taystee was originally intended to be featured in the show for only two episodes, but ended up being written into the rest of the first season and then into the seasons that followed.[4] Taystee's on-screen best friend Poussey is played by Samira Wiley, with whom Brooks has been friends since they met while studying together at Juilliard.[5] Brooks' performance in Orange Is the New Black has been praised by critics,[6] with one writer from The Daily Beast calling her "the breakout actress of the show and one of the most refreshing and exciting new talents of 2013."[2] Brooks was upgraded from a recurring cast member to a series regular for the show's second season.[7]

In September 2013, Brooks was cast in a Season 3 episode of the HBO series Girls, where she played the first black woman on the show.[7]

On May 27, 2015, the media[who?] announced that Brooks would make her Broadway debut in the upcoming fall 2015 revival of The Color Purple as Sofia. The musical opened on December 10 at the Bernard B. Jacobs, to critical acclaim. Brooks received praise for her performance[by whom?], and received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.


what sea is between new zealand and australia

The Tasman Sea (Māori: Te Tai-o-Rehua[1]) is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) across and about 2,800 kilometres (1,700 mi) from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman, who was the first recorded European to encounter New Zealand and Tasmania. The British explorer Captain James Cook later extensively navigated the Tasman Sea in the 1770s as part of his first voyage of exploration.[2]

Tasman Sea

The Tasman Sea is informally referred to in both Australian and New Zealand English as The Ditch; for example, crossing the Ditch means travelling to Australia from New Zealand, or vice versa. The diminutive term "The Ditch" used for the Tasman Sea is comparable to referring to the North Atlantic Ocean as "The Pond".

The south of the sea is passed over by depressions going from west to east. The northern limit of these westerly winds is near to 40Â°S. During the southern winter, from April to October, the northern branch of these winds from west changes it directions towards the north and goes up against trade winds. Hence, the sea receives frequent winds from southwest during this period. In the Australian summer from November to March the southern branch of trade winds goes up against west winds and therefore, winds come frequently in the sea.[3]

The sea circumscribes a water body of 2,250 kilometres (1,400 miles) wide and 2,300,000 kilometres (1,400,000 miles) in area.[4] The depth of the sea is 5,493 metres (18,022 feet).[5] The base of the sea is made up of globigerina ooze. A small zone of pteropod ooze is found to the south of New Caledonia and to the southern extent of 30Â°S, siliceous ooze can be found.[6]

The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Tasman Sea as follows:[7]

On the West. A line from Gabo Island (near Cape Howe, 37°30'S) to the Northeast point of East Sister Island (148°E) thence along the 148th meridian to Flinders Island; beyond this Island a line running to the Eastward of the Vansittart Shoals to [Cape] Barren Island, and from Cape Barren (the Easternmost point of [Cape] Barren Island) to Eddystone Point (41°S) in Tasmania, thence along the East coast to South East Cape, the Southern point of Tasmania.

On the North. The parallel of 30°S from the Australian coast Eastward as far as a line joining the East extremities of Elizabeth Reef and South East Rock (31°47′S 159°18′E / 31.783°S 159.300°E / -31.783; 159.300) then to the Southward along this line to the South East Rock [an outlier of Lord Howe Island].

On the Northeast. From the South East Rock to the North point of Three Kings Islands (34°10′S 172°10′E / 34.167°S 172.167°E / -34.167; 172.167) thence to North Cape in New Zealand.

On the East.

On the Southeast. A line running from South West Cape, Stewart Island, through The Snares (48°S, 166°30'E) to North West Cape, Auckland Island (50°30′S 166°10′E / 50.500°S 166.167°E / -50.500; 166.167), through this island to its Southern point.

On the South. A line joining the Southern point of Auckland Island (50°55′S 166°0′E / 50.917°S 166.000°E / -50.917; 166.000) to South East Cape, the Southern point of Tasmania.

The Tasman Sea's mid-ocean ridge developed between 85 and 55 million years ago as Australia and Zealandia broke apart during the breakup of supercontinent Gondwana. It lies roughly midway between the continental margins of Australia and Zealandia. Much of Zealandia is submerged, so the ridge runs much closer to the Australian coast than New Zealand's.[8]

The Tasman Sea features a number of mid-sea island groups, quite apart from coastal islands located near the Australian and New Zealand mainlands:

A deep-sea research ship, the Tangaroa explored the sea and found 500 species of fish and 1300 species of invertebrates. The tooth of Megalodon, an extinct shark was also found by some researchers.[16]

Moncrieff and Hood were the first to attempt a Trans-Tasman crossing by plane in 1928. The first successful flight over the sea was accomplished by Charles Kingsford Smith later that year. The first person to row solo across the sea was Colin Quincey in 1977. The next successful solo crossing was completed by his son, Shaun Quincey in 2010.[17]


which type of soil is formed by leaching process

Laterite soil, which develops in regions with high temperature and heavy rainfall, is an example of this process in action.

Leaching (pedology)

In pedology, leaching is the loss of mineral and organic solutes due to very heavy rainfall, high temperature and percolation. It is a mechanism of soil formation distinct from the soil forming process of eluviation, which is the loss of mineral and organic colloids. Leached and elluviated materials tend to be lost from topsoil and deposited in subsoil. A soil horizon accumulating leached and eluviated materials is referred to as a zone of illuviation.


who is known as the father of modern nigeria theatre

Oloye Hubert Adedeji Ogunde (10 July 1916 â€“ 4 April 1990) was a Nigerian actor, playwright, theatre manager, and musician who founded the African Music Research Party in 1945, the first contemporary professional theatrical company in Nigeria. He changed the name to Ogunde Theater Party in 1947 and in 1950 he again changed the name to Ogunde Theater Party. Finally, in 1960 he changed the name of his company to Ogunde Theater which remained until his death in 1990. He has been described as "the father of Nigerian theatre, or the father of contemporary Yoruba theatre".[1] In his career on stage, he wrote more than 50 plays,[2] most of which incorporate dramatic action, dance and music with a story reflecting the political and social realities of the period.[3] His first production was a church-financed play called The Garden of Eden that premiered at Glover Memorial Hall, Lagos, in 1944. Its success encouraged Ogunde to produce more plays and he soon left his job with the police force for a career in theatre. In the 1940s, he released some plays with political commentaries: The Tiger's Empire, Strike and Hunger and Bread and Bullet (1950). During the 1950s, he toured various Nigerian cities with his travelling troupe. In 1964, he released Yoruba Ronu, a play that generated controversy and earned him the wrath of Akintola, premier of the Western Region. His Ogunde Theater was banned in the Western Region of Nigeria for two years and the ban was only revoked by the new military government of Lt. Col. F. A. Fajuyi on 4th Feb. 1966. In the late 1970s, Ogunde was spurred by the success of Ija Ominira and Ajani Ogun, two pioneer Yoruba feature-length films, to co-produce his first celluloid film, Aiye, in 1979. He released three more (Jaiyesimi, Aropin N'tenia and Ayanmo) feature-length films influenced by Yoruba mysticism.

Hubert Ogunde

Ogunde starred in Mister Johnson,[1] the 1990 motion picture that also featured Pierce Brosnan. The movie was shot on location in Toro, near Bauchi, Nigeria.

Ogunde was born in Ososa, near Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, Nigeria,[4] to the family of Jeremiah Deinbo and Eunice Owotusan Ogunde. His father was a Baptist pastor and his maternal grandfather was an Ifa priest of no small repute. an African traditional religion. Ogunde briefly lived within the precincts of his grandfather's compound and was exposed to Ifá and Ogun and many traditional religious celebrations.[5] Both the Christian and traditional African religion influenced his upbringing. He had his education between 1925 and 1932, attending St John School, Ososa, (1925–28), St Peter's School, Faaji, Lagos, (1928–30) and Wasimi African School, (1931–32).[5] His first contact with performance art was as a young member of Egun Alarinjo during his elementary school days. After completing his education, he worked as a pupil-teacher at St. John's School and was also church choirmaster and organist. He later joined the Nigerian police force in March 1941 in Ibadan.[6] In 1943, the police force posted him to the Denton Police Station Ebute Metta where he joined an African initiated church a white garment church, the Church of the Lord (Aladura) at Ebute- Metta. In Lagos, he created an amateur drama group the African Music Research Party in 1945.[7]

Like many of his theatre contemporaries, such as A. B. David, P. A. Dawodu, Layeni and G. T. Onimole, his theatre career began under the patronage of the Church. In 1944, he co-produced his first folk opera with G. B. Kuyinu, The Garden of Eden and The Throne of God,[1] commissioned by the Lagos-based Church of the Lord (Aladura) founded by Josiah Ositelu. The performance was sanctioned to aid contributions to a Church building fund. The folk opera premiered at Glover Memorial Hall with the chairman of the ceremony, Azikiwe in attendance.[8] Ogunde's first play incorporated realism and dramatic action in the acting, dancing and singing of the performers separating it from the common Native Air Operas predominant in Yorubaland at the time[9] an innovation that contributed to making the play a success. At the request of the Alake of Abeokuta, Ogunde performed The Garden of Eden at the Ake Centenary Hall. Encouraged by the success of the play, Ogunde went on to write more operas. He wrote and co-directed three religious themed plays: Africa and God (1944), a folk opera infused with Yoruba cultural themes than were non-existent in The Garden of Eden, Israel in Egypt (1945) and Nebuchadnezzar's Reign and Belshazzar's Feast (1945). In 1946, he resigned his post with the police to become a professional dramatist.

Ogunde's African Music Research Party later known as Ogunde Theatre Party founded in 1945[10] is the first contemporary professional theatre company in Yoruba land. Previous performance groups were masked theatre troupes called Alarinjo who were dependent on the court or church for support and grew in popularity as a result of word of mouth.[10] Ogunde distinguished his group by using promotion methods such as advertisements and posters and changing the round stage used by alarinjo performers to one with a proscenium. In addition, he introduced dramatic action and realism into his plays depending on the audience for commercial support. By these acts Ogunde began the rise of modern professional theatre in Nigeria, a movement in which he remains the father figure.[11] After leaving his job as a police constable, Ogunde moved away from his earlier focus on religious themes and started writing plays that were nationalistic or anti-colonial in outlook, a trend in Lagos during the furious forties.[8] During this period, many of his early operas were co-directed by G. B. Kuyinu.

In early 1945, he produced Worse than Crime, a political play infused with Yoruba dance and ancient folk songs and like most of his early plays, it was premiered at Glover Memorial Hall, Lagos. Later in that year, he wrote The Black Forest and Journey to Heaven, two Yoruba operas that also improved on his use of traditional Yoruba folklore but with the latter having a strong Christian influence. In November 1945, he wrote a pro-labour play, Strike and Hunger motivated by the events of a general strike by labour unions led by Michael Imoudu. In 1946 he wrote and produced Tiger's Empire. Premiered on 4 March 1946, Tiger's Empire was produced by The African Music Research Party and featured Ogunde, Beatrice Oyede and Abike Taiwo. The advertisement for the play was the result of Ogunde's call for "paid actresses". It marked the first time in Yoruba theatre that women were billed to appear in a play as professional artists in their own right. Tiger's Empire was an attack on colonial rule. He followed Tiger's Empire with Darkness and Light, a play he vaguely remembers.[9] Later in 1946, he produced Devil's Money, an African story about a man who entered a contract with an evil spirit so as to get rich. The folk opera was successful with a set of twenty-four actors donning costumes. After the death of Herbert Macaulay, he wrote the opera Herbert Macaulay, to commemorate the life of the nationalist who died in 1946. He then released another political themed play, Towards Liberty in 1947. Before 1948, Ogunde plays were staged in Lagos and occasionally in Abeokuta, both his growing popularity in other Western Nigeria provinces made him think about traveling to other cities with his theatre troupe. In 1948, he went on a tour major Western Nigerian cities with his group, including stops at Abeokuta, Ibadan, Oyo, Ede and Ogbomosho.[12] When he took his tour to the north, he had two major encounters with the police due to the political context of Worse than Crime and Tiger's Empire. His first tour outside Nigeria was not well received by the Ghanaian audience largely because they did not understand the Yoruba language and Ogunde was ignorant about the tastes of the audience.

Ogunde wrote his first satire, Human Parasites, about the craze for Aso ebi, a social culture which encourage both men and women to buy the most expensive materials for social gatherings. “The custom has lent itself to much abuse in that the occasions for celebrating marriages and funerals occur so often that one may be asked by friends to buy ‘Aso Ebi’ more than ten times a year”. Human Parasites lampooned Lagos socialites but many of them were Ogunde's patrons.[13] Around the time, he wrote Human Parasites, he changed the name of his troupe to Ogunde Theatre Party from the previous name of African Music Research Party. Ogunde's earliest dramas were folk operas whereby the actors on stage sang their lines with limited dialogue.

In 1947, Ogunde and Adesuwa, his wife and co-star traveled to London to make contacts with the promotion of his shows in England. The talks were not fruitful but in London, they had the opportunity to take waltz and tap dance classes. In his later operas, he syncretized the waltz with the traditional Batakoto dance and tap dance with traditional Yoruba Epa dance.[14]

In 1950, Ogunde continued writing plays with political undertones, Bread and Bullet, first performed in 1950 is Ogunde's play about the coal miners strike in Enugu that resulted in the shooting of twenty-two people. In Northern Nigeria, the performance of the play was limited to certain areas due to allegations of seditious dialogue.[15] It was during this time, Ogunde introduced English language to the dialogue of his plays. In January 1950, he staged a reproduction of his 1945 play Black Forest, he re-arranged the play introducing English and Yoruba dialogue with African music played by both Western and African instruments. The re-produced Black Forest and Bread and Bullet changed his style of drama from Yoruba folk opera to improvisational theatre where dialogue is spoken.[16] Ogunde then released a string of plays with dialogue either spoken or sung. He released an Islamic morality tale My Darling Fatima in 1951 followed by three situational comedies: Portmanteau Woman (1952), 'Beggar's Love (1952) and Princess Jaja (1953). In 1955, his theatre went on a tour Northern Nigeria, including performances at the Colonial Hotel, Kano. During this time, Ogunde wrote less but went on grueling road tours to different parts of the country becoming a traveling theatre group. He also changed the name of the group from Ogunde Theatre Party to Ogunde Concert Party in 1950.

In 1964, he produced two important plays: Yoruba Ronu and Otitokoro which refer to the political events in the Western Nigeria and which led to the declaration of the state of emergency in 1963. He was the most prominent of the dramatist of the folk opera. He composed over 40 operas in Yoruba. His play Yoruba Ronu (Yoruba Think) was a satirical account of the strife that plagued Yorubas in the 1960s. The protagonist of the play, Oba Fiwajoye, was betrayed by the actions of his frenemy deputy, he was betrayed to his enemy, Yeye-Iloba leading to his imprisonment along with two of his political allies. The deputy then assumed the throne but ruling with a tyrannical fist before he was eventually killed by the people. The play was staged at an Egbe Omo Olofin meeting in the presence of NNDP leaders such as Akintola. During the performance, Akintola and a few others walked out, feeling it was a subtle attack on their role in the Western region crisis. It was banned in western Nigeria for two years (1964 to 1966) but was produced with great success in other parts of the country.

In the 1960s, The advent of Western Nigeria Television (WNTV) gave Ogunde an avenue to reach his audience without traveling. He produced his plays: Ayanmo and Mama Eko for the television audience.[12]

Ogunde was a representative of Nigeria to Expo 67 in Montreal, on his way back to Nigeria, he stopped at New York and performed at the Apollo Theater in Harlem.

In the late 1970s, Ola Balogun, directed two pioneering and successful Yoruba films, the first, Ajani Ogun co-produced with Ade Love and the second Ija Ominira, with Ade Love. Ogunde joined the trend, he invited Ola Balogun to direct Aiye, an adaptation of one of his stage plays. Ogunde chose the play partly because it attracted crowds during its run of performances.[3] Unlike the stage act, the film was shot in a way to allow a sequel. The film premiered in 1979 and within a year it made its money back.[3] Aiye explored Yoruba mysticism, the issue of witchcraft and traditional notions of light and darkness.[2] Ogunde sold some of his properties to finance the movie.[12] The next Ogunde play was Jaiyesinmi, a sequel to Aiye co-directed by Ogunde and Freddie Goode. His third film is Aropin N'Tenia, another adaptation of a stage play which had premiered in 1964, the film had less superstitious moments like the previous ones.[13] He provided the funds for all of his movies without the exception. His fourth film was Ayanmo originally adapted from a play that was dedicated to his late wife (Adeshewa). Ogunde established a film village at Ososa, his home town to serve as a film shooting studio for his films in 1982. His last two films, Aropin N'tenia and Ayanmo were shot at the Ogunde film village.

Ogunde released many music albums for his fans. His velvety baritone voice marked the songs in these albums which like his play demonstrated knowledge of Yoruba ethos.[13] The albums including but not limited to Ekun Oniwogbe (about conscience), Onimoto (about motor drivers) and then Adeshewa, (about the loss of his wife and co-star) who died in a tragic accident. The most popular of his albums is Yoruba Ronu, a soundtrack to the play with the same name.[13] He produced over 90 tracks of songs from the late 1950's to 1988. In fact, from the 1960's upwards he produced an album for each play!

In 1986, he was invited by the Nigerian government to form a national drama troupe.[14] During this time, he represented Nigeria in the Commonwealth Festival of Arts choosing a play called Destiny, which was a re-arranged Ayanmo that he had released earlier in 1970.[14] Destiny was a production with thirty dancers. In the play, Ogunde incorporated one of his favorite dance steps, Ijo-Eleja (dance of the fishermen), Asan Ubo-Ikpa from Ibibio culture and the kwag-hir from Tivland.

Ogunde established an estate at Ososa his hometown. The venue served as the rehearsal center for the National Troupe before he passed away in 1990.

Ogunde married more than ten wives (BBC Television program 'World About Us') and many children. The Ogunde Theater was a largely family run business with all the wives and children involved at one time or the other. Some of the children were actors and actresses, drummers, singers, ticket sellers etc. The same went for all his wives without exception The manageress of the Ogunde Theater who was also one of his wives; former Miss Clementina Oguntimirin later became known as Adeshewa Clementina Ogunde or Mama Eko (Lagos Mama), as she was popularly known by her fans in the 1960s, after taking the leading part in the popular play of that name. Ogunde became the leading producer of Yoruba celluloid movies, with J'ayesinmi (Let the world rest) and Aiye (Life!) blazing the trail.

Ogunde was ill during the shooting of Mr. Johnson. He died on 4 April 1990 at London's Cromwell Hospital following a brief illness.[17] A portrait of Ogunde hangs in the National Gallery of Modern Art, Lagos.[18] Another of his wives, Ibisomi Ogunde is also an actress.


how did pret a manger get its name

Jeffrey Hyman[5] founded the first Pret a Manger in London on 21 October 1983. The first Pret A Manger shop opened in Hampstead, London, in 1984.[6][7] The name Prêt à Manger (French pronunciation: [pʁɛt‿a mɑ̃ʒe], ready to eat) was based on prêt-à-porter, French for "ready-to-wear" clothing.

Pret a Manger

Pret a Manger /ˈprɛt ə ˈmɑːnʒeɪ/ is an international[2][3] sandwich shop chain based in the United Kingdom, commonly referred to simply as "Pret".[4] Founded in 1983, Pret currently has over 500 shops in nine countries.

This original Pret A Manger was located opposite Hampstead Underground station, had its own kitchen, and offered ready-to-eat freshly made natural food, filled baguettes, Croque-monsieur and other ready-to-go convenience foods.

Opening in June 1983, the company traded at 58 Hampstead High Street for eighteen months[8] at which time takings had dropped to below break-even point and the company went into liquidation. The name and visual branding was purchased from the company liquidator David Rubin by college friends Sinclair Beecham and Julian Metcalfe.[9]

Julian Metcalfe and Sinclair Beecham started a new operation, but using the Pret A Manger name purchased from the former companies liquidator.[10] They opened their first shop of the new Pret A Manger in July 1986, located at 75b Victoria Street in London. Beecham and Metcalfe had met while studying at University.[11]

The pair pioneered the chain's menu of handmade natural food, freshly prepared in shop kitchens, and they are still significant shareholders in the company.[12] The iconic logo was created by Adrian Kilby, founder of The Formation Creative Consultants Europe Ltd in the 1990s.

In 1995 Metcalfe and Beecham set up the Pret Foundation Trust with the aim to alleviate poverty in the UK.[13] The Trust receives donations from the sale of products and collection boxes in shops. The donations fund Pret's "Charity Run" vans which deliver unsold food to homeless shelters at the end of each day.[14]

The first shop outside of London was opened on Broad Street, New York in 2000.[13] In 2016 there were 74 Pret shops in the United States.[15]

In 2001, McDonald's bought a 33% non-controlling stake in the company,[16] which they sold in 2008 to private equity firm Bridgepoint Capital.[17][18]

The company opened its first shop in France in 2012,[13] and had a total of 19 shops in France in 2016.[15]

In 2016, its group sales were Â£776 million.[15]

On 19 March 2018 the company opened it first store in The Netherlands located in the central railway station of Utrecht.

On 29 May 2018, JAB Holding Company announced that it will acquire Pret A Manger from Bridgepoint, with the deal expected to complete during summer 2018.[19][20]

The company emphasises the use of natural ingredients and advertises that its sandwiches are made on the day of purchase in a kitchen at each location (with the stated exception of a few small outlets).  Food left unsold at the end of the day is collected by charities.  Sandwiches are packaged in paperboard rather than sealed plastic.[21] 67% of its trade is in London, where around three-quarters of its stores are located. Locations include:

In 1998, the company employed 1,400 people, of whom 19% were from the UK and 60% were from other European Union countries, mainly in Eastern Europe. Pret A Manger employs one in every 14 applicants. Applicants go on a one-day experience day at a shop and their success is determined by the other staff members, who vote the applicant in or not. Many managers and senior executives have come from within the company.[23]

The organisational structure of Pret A Manger is divided between its stores and the main offices.  The London head office is the hub for the UK stores, while the office in New York City is the hub for the American stores.[24]  Each store contains levels of positions that range from Team Member to the General Manager of the store.[25]  Above the in-store manager is the Operations Manager who is in charge of a group of roughly 10 stores, and above that are more senior management positions based out of the offices that are tasked with coordinating an entire region and maintaining communication with the companyâ€™s CEO in London.[24]  All the office employees are paired with a "buddy shop" where they work at least two days a year.[26]

While the uppermost levels of management are located in the offices, not all the office jobs are above the store jobs in the organizational structure. Orders do not strictly flow from the head offices in a top-down manner; instead, the channel of communication between the executives and the stores is open in both directions.[27]

Pret a Manger promotes an internal culture as described in a leaflet entitled "Pret Behaviours".  The Behaviours break down traits into three categories: passion, clear talking and team working – and identify specific behaviours as "Don’t want to see", "Want to see", and "Pret perfect!"[28]  The number of Behaviours Pret hopes an employee exhibits increases with one's rank within the company: Team Members should practise around six Behaviours, Managers ten, and the company’s executives all of them.[29]

Pret A Manger has been cited as being particularly vigorous in extracting affective labour from its employees.[30] Affective labour (or emotional labour)[31] is work which involves manipulating a person's emotional state.

Pret A Manger demands go beyond traditional requirements for fast-food workers (such as courtesy, efficiency, and reliability) to such tasks as having "presence", demonstrating a quirky sense of fun, and exhibiting behaviour consistent with being inwardly happy with oneself.[32] Pret A Manger uses mystery shoppers to ensure that employees deploy markers of a positive emotional state.[30][33] Employees who exhibit markers of latent sadness face consequences such as not having a bonus.[30][33] This has led to some criticism of the company for over-reaching[30][31][34] while drawing praise from right-wing commentators and other business owners for its business practices.[33][35]

In response to labour issues within the company, the Pret A Manger Staff Union was established in 2012 as an independent union with its principal demand being made around calls for a Living Wage.[36] Andrej Stopa, the founder of the union, was later sacked from his Pret branch.[37][38]

Pret a Manger does not consistently list all ingredients on packages.[citation needed]

In late 2015, a 17-year-old girl collapsed and needed emergency medical care after a “life-threatening” reaction to sesame, which was present in a Pret product despite an absence of suitable allergen labelling. The girl's mother, a doctor, contacted Pret a Manger and was told the allergen was not mentioned on the product, so she cautioned them that “other serious adverse incidents could easily occur”.[39]  A woman almost died following a reaction to a baguette in October 2015, despite the patient's family warning Pret A Manger the firm did not label products with allergy information.[40] The coroner said the labelling was inadequate.[41]

In July 2016, 15-year-old Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, died from an allergic reaction to sesame after eating a Pret sandwich, the packaging of which did not list sesame as an ingredient, but which nevertheless contained some.[42][43] Nadim Ednan-Laperouse, the girl's father, said, “When my mother called and told me that the baguette contained sesame, I was taken aback … I was completely horrified. It was their fault… I was stunned that a big food company like Pret could mislabel a sandwich and this could cause my daughter to die.” The lawyer for the family said a photograph, taken at the store eight days after the girl’s death, indicated no sticker warning concerning allergens was there.[44][39] Nine out of 21 allergic reactions that Pret a Manger recorded in the year before Natasha’s death included sesame, and six of those reportedly after having eaten an artisan baguette. Four patients went to hospital and one to a medical centre.

In 2017 Celia Marsh was a second victim who died from an allergic reaction to Pret a Manger products. A product, claimed by Pret to be dairy-free, contained traces of dairy. Pret a Manger blames a supplier.[45] The supplier, CoYo, disputed the allegation[46] and maintains Pret a Manger hampered its investigations by refusing to reveal the batch number of the affected batch.[47]


what irish political movement is named after a phrase meaning we ourselves

Sinn Féin (/ʃɪn ˈfeɪn/ shin-FAYN;[5] Irish pronunciation: [ʃɪnʲ ˈfʲeːnʲ]; English: "Ourselves" or "We Ourselves"[6]) is a left-wing[3] Irish republican political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Sinn Féin are also the only party that may be elected to the Oireachtas, Northern Ireland Executive & Westminster.

Sinn Féin

The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith. It took its current form in 1970 after a split within the party (with the other side becoming the Workers' Party of Ireland) and has historically been associated with the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA).[7] Mary Lou McDonald has been party president since February 2018.

Sinn Féin is the largest nationalist party in the Northern Ireland Assembly, and the joint-largest overall (alongside the Democratic Unionist Party); it had four ministerial posts in the most recent power-sharing Northern Ireland Executive. It holds seven of Northern Ireland's 18 seats—the second-largest bloc after the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP)—at Westminster, where it follows a policy of abstentionism, refusing to attend parliament or vote on bills. It is the third-largest party, and the largest party on the left, in the Oireachtas, the parliament of the Republic of Ireland.

The phrase "Sinn Féin" is Irish for "Ourselves" or "We Ourselves",[8][9] although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone" (from "Sinn Féin Amháin", an early 20th century slogan. See also Sinn Féin (slogan)).[10] The meaning of the name itself is an assertion of Irish national sovereignty and self-determination; i.e., the Irish people governing themselves, rather than being part of a political union with Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) under the Westminster Parliament.

Around the time of 1969–1970, owing to the split in the republican movement, there were two groups calling themselves Sinn Féin; one under Tomás Mac Giolla, the other under Ruairí Ó Brádaigh. The latter became known as Sinn Féin (Kevin Street) or Provisional Sinn Féin, and the former became known as Sinn Féin (Gardiner Place) or Official Sinn Féin. As the "Officials" dropped all mention of Sinn Féin from their name in 1982, instead calling itself the Workers' Party of Ireland, the Provisionals were now generally known as Sinn Féin. Supporters of Republican Sinn Féin, which came from a 1986 split, still use the term "Provisional Sinn Féin" to refer to the party led by Gerry Adams.

Sinn FÃ©in members have also been referred to as Shinners, a term intended as a pejorative.[11][12]

Sinn Féin was founded on 28 November 1905, when, at the first annual Convention of the National Council, Arthur Griffith outlined the Sinn Féin policy, "to establish in Ireland's capital a national legislature endowed with the moral authority of the Irish nation".[9][13] The party contested the 1908 North Leitrim by-election, where it secured 27% of the vote.[14] Thereafter, both support and membership fell. At the 1910 Ard Fheis (party conference) the attendance was poor, and there was difficulty finding members willing to take seats on the executive.[15]

In 1914, Sinn Féin members, including Griffith, joined the anti-Redmond Irish Volunteers, which was referred to by Redmondites and others as the "Sinn Féin Volunteers". Although Griffith himself did not take part in the Easter Rising of 1916, many Sinn Féin members, who were also members of both the Volunteers and the Irish Republican Brotherhood, did. Government and newspapers dubbed the Rising "the Sinn Féin Rising".[16] After the Rising, republicans came together under the banner of Sinn Féin, and at the 1917 Ard Fheis the party committed itself for the first time to the establishment of an Irish Republic. In the 1918 general election, Sinn Féin won 73 of Ireland's 105 seats, and in January 1919, its MPs assembled in Dublin and proclaimed themselves Dáil Éireann, the parliament of Ireland. The party supported the Irish Republican Army during the War of Independence, and members of the Dáil government negotiated the Anglo-Irish Treaty with the British government in 1921. In the Dáil debates that followed, the party divided on the Treaty. Anti-Treaty members led by Éamon de Valera walked out, and pro- and anti-Treaty members took opposite sides in the ensuing Civil War.[17]

Pro-Treaty Dáil deputies and other Treaty supporters formed a new party, Cumann na nGaedheal, on 27 April 1923 at a meeting in Dublin, where delegates agreed on a constitution and political programme.[18] Cumann na nGaedheal went on to govern the new Irish Free State for nine years. (It merged with two other organisations to form Fine Gael in 1933.)[19] Anti-Treaty Sinn Féin members continued to boycott the Dáil. At a special Ard Fheis in March 1926, de Valera proposed that elected members be allowed to take their seats in the Dáil if and when the controversial Oath of Allegiance was removed. When his motion was defeated, de Valera resigned from Sinn Féin; on 16 May 1926, he founded his own party, Fianna Fáil, which was dedicated to republicanising the Free State from within its political structures. He took most Sinn Féin TDs with him.[20] De Valera's resignation meant also the loss of financial support from America.[21] The rump Sinn Féin party could field no more than fifteen candidates,[22] and won only six seats in the June 1927 general election, a level of support not seen since before 1916.[23][24] Vice-President and de facto leader Mary MacSwiney announced that the party simply did not have the funds to contest the second election called that year, declaring "no true Irish citizen can vote for any of the other parties".[24] Fianna Fáil came to power at the 1932 general election (to begin what would be an unbroken 16-year spell in government) and went on to long dominate politics in the independent Irish state.

An attempt in the 1940s to access funds that had been put in the care of the High Court led to the Sinn Féin Funds case, which the party lost and in which the judge ruled that it was not the legal successor to the Sinn Féin of 1917.[25] At the United Kingdom 1955 general election, two Sinn Féin candidates were elected to Westminster, but the party's vote decreased at the following election in 1959, during the IRA's Border Campaign.[26] In 1962, supporters of Marxism–Leninism took control of the Sinn Féin leadership from traditional republicans, and started to take policy in a new direction. The same thing happened in the IRA, with the ascent of Cathal Goulding. These people were influenced by Communist Party of Ireland member Roy Johnston's "National Liberation Strategy" and the theories of C. Desmond Greaves of the Connolly Association (part of the Communist Party of Great Britain). The Garland Commission was set up in 1967, to investigate the possibility of ending abstentionism. Its report angered the already disaffected traditional republican element within the party, notably Seán Mac Stíofáin and Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, who viewed such a policy as treason against the Irish Republic.[27]

The Sinn Féin party split in two at the beginning of 1970. At the party's Ard Fheis on 11 January the proposal to end abstentionism and take seats, if elected, in the Dáil, the Parliament of Northern Ireland and the Parliament of the United Kingdom was put before the members.[28] A similar motion had been adopted at an IRA convention the previous month, leading to the formation of a Provisional Army Council by Mac Stíofáin and other members opposed to the leadership. When the motion was put to the Ard Fheis, it failed to achieve the necessary two-thirds majority. The Executive attempted to circumvent this by introducing a motion in support of IRA policy, at which point the dissenting delegates walked out of the meeting. These members reconvened at another place, appointed a Caretaker Executive and pledged allegiance to the Provisional Army Council. The Caretaker Executive declared itself opposed to the ending of abstentionism, the drift towards "extreme forms of socialism", the failure of the leadership to defend the nationalist people of Belfast during the 1969 Northern Ireland riots, and the expulsion of traditional republicans by the leadership during the 1960s.[29]

At its October 1970 Ard Fheis, delegates were informed that an IRA convention had been held and had regularised its structure, bringing to an end the 'provisional' period.[30] By then, however, the label "Provisional" or "Provo" was already being applied to them by the media.[31] The opposing, anti-abstentionist party became known as "Official Sinn Féin".[32] It changed its name in 1977 to "Sinn Féin – The Workers' Party",[33] and in 1982 to "The Workers' Party".[34]

Because the "Provisionals" were committed to military rather than political action, Sinn Féin's initial membership was largely confined, in Danny Morrison's words, to men "over military age or women". A Sinn Féin organiser of the time in Belfast described the party's role as "agitation and publicity".[35] New cumainn (branches) were established in Belfast, and a new newspaper, Republican News, was published.[36] Sinn Féin took off as a protest movement after the introduction of internment in August 1971, organising marches and pickets.[37] The party launched its platform, Éire Nua ("a New Ireland") at the 1971 Ard Fheis.[38] In general, however, the party lacked a distinct political philosophy. In the words of Brian Feeney, "Ó Brádaigh would use Sinn Féin ard fheiseanna (party conferences) to announce republican policy, which was, in effect, IRA policy, namely that Britain should leave the North or the 'war' would continue".[39] Sinn Féin was given a concrete presence in the community when the IRA declared a ceasefire in 1975. 'Incident centres' were set up to communicate potential confrontations to the British authorities. They were manned by Sinn Féin, which had been legalised the previous year by Merlyn Rees, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.[40]

Political status for prisoners became an issue after the ending of the truce. Rees released the last of the internees but introduced the Diplock courts, and ended 'Special Category Status' for all prisoners convicted after 1 March 1976. This led first to the blanket protest, and then to the dirty protest.[41] Around the same time, Gerry Adams began writing for Republican News, calling for Sinn Féin to become more involved politically.[42] Over the next few years, Adams and those aligned with him would extend their influence throughout the republican movement and slowly marginalise Ó Brádaigh, part of a general trend of power in both Sinn Féin and the IRA shifting north.[43] In particular, Ó'Brádaigh's part in the 1975 IRA ceasefire had damaged his reputation in the eyes of Ulster republicans.[44]

The prisoners' protest climaxed with the 1981 hunger strike, during which striker Bobby Sands was elected Member of Parliament for Fermanagh and South Tyrone as an Anti H-Block candidate. After his death on hunger strike, his seat was held, with an increased vote, by his election agent, Owen Carron. Two other Anti H-Block candidates were elected to Dáil Éireann in the general election in the Republic. These successes convinced republicans that they should contest every election.[45] Danny Morrison expressed the mood at the 1981 Ard Fheis when he said:

This was the origin of what became known as the Armalite and ballot box strategy. Éire Nua was dropped in 1982, and the following year Ó Brádaigh stepped down as leader, and was replaced by Adams.[47]

Under Adams' leadership electoral politics became increasingly important. In 1983 Alex Maskey was elected to Belfast City Council, the first Sinn Féin member to sit on that body.[48] Sinn Féin polled over 100,000 votes in the Westminster elections that year, and Adams won the West Belfast seat that had been held by the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP).[48] By 1985 it had fifty-nine seats on seventeen of the twenty-six Northern Ireland councils, including seven on Belfast City Council.[49]

The party began a reappraisal of the policy of abstention from the Dáil. At the 1983 Ard Fheis the constitution was amended to remove the ban on the discussion of abstentionism to allow Sinn Féin to run a candidate in the forthcoming European elections. However, in his address, Adams said, "We are an abstentionist party. It is not my intention to advocate change in this situation."[50] A motion to permit entry into the Dáil was allowed at the 1985 Ard Fheis, but without the active support of the leadership, and Adams did not speak. The motion failed narrowly.[51] By October of the following year an IRA Convention had indicated its support for elected Sinn Féin Teachtaí Dála (TDs) taking their seats. Thus, when the motion to end abstention was put to the Ard Fheis on 1 November 1986, it was clear that there would not be a split in the IRA as there had been in 1970.[52] The motion was passed with a two-thirds majority. Ó Brádaigh and about twenty other delegates walked out, and met in a Dublin hotel with hundreds of supporters to re-organise as Republican Sinn Féin.[53]

Tentative negotiations between Sinn Féin and the British government led to more substantive discussions with the SDLP in the 1990s. Multi-party negotiations began in 1994 in Northern Ireland, without Sinn Féin. The Provisional IRA declared a ceasefire in the autumn of 1994. Sinn Féin then joined the talks, but the Conservative government under John Major soon came to depend on unionist votes to remain in power. It suspended Sinn Féin from the talks, and began to insist that the IRA decommission all of their weapons before Sinn Féin be re-admitted to the talks; this led to the IRA calling off its ceasefire. The new Labour government of Tony Blair wasn't reliant on unionist votes and re-admitted Sinn Féin, leading to another, permanent, ceasefire.[54]

The talks led to the Good Friday Agreement of 10 April 1998 (officially known as the Belfast Agreement), which set up an inclusive devolved government in the North, and altered the Dublin government's constitutional claim to the whole island in Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution of Ireland. Republicans opposed to the direction taken by Sinn FÃ©in in the peace process formed the 32 County Sovereignty Movement in the late 1990s.[55]

The party expelled Denis Donaldson, a party official, in December 2005, with him stating publicly that he had been in the employ of the British government as an agent since the 1980s. Donaldson told reporters that the British security agencies who employed him were behind the collapse of the Assembly and set up Sinn FÃ©in to take the blame for it, a claim disputed by the British Government.[56] Donaldson was found fatally shot in his home in County Donegal on 4 April 2006, and a murder inquiry was launched.[57] In April 2009, the Real IRA released a statement taking responsibility for the killing.[58]

When Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) became the largest parties, by the terms of the Good Friday Agreement no deal could be made without the support of both parties. They nearly reached a deal in November 2004, but the DUP insisted on photographic and/or video evidence that decommissioning had been carried out, which was unacceptable to Sinn Féin.[59]

On 2 September 2006, Martin McGuinness publicly stated that Sinn Féin would refuse to participate in a shadow assembly at Stormont, asserting that his party would only take part in negotiations that were aimed at restoring a power-sharing government. This development followed a decision on the part of members of Sinn Féin to refrain from participating in debates since the Assembly's recall the previous May. The relevant parties to these talks were given a deadline of 24 November 2006 to decide upon whether or not they would ultimately form the executive.[60]

The 86-year Sinn Féin boycott of policing in Northern Ireland ended on 28 January 2007, when the Ard Fheis voted overwhelmingly to support the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).[61] Sinn Féin members began to sit on Policing Boards and join District Policing Partnerships.[62] There was opposition to this decision within Sinn Féin, and some members left, including elected representatives. The most well-known opponent was former IRA prisoner Gerry McGeough, who stood in the 2007 Assembly election against Sinn Féin in the constituency of Fermanagh and South Tyrone, as an Independent Republican.[63] Others who opposed this development left to found the Republican Network for Unity.

Immediately after the June 2017 UK general election, where the Conservatives won 49% of seats but not an overall majority, so that non-mainstream parties could have significant influence, Gerry Adams announced for Sinn FÃ©in that their elected MPs would continue the policy of not swearing allegiance to the Queen, as would be required for them to take their seats in the Westminster Parliament.[64]

In 2017 and 2018 there were allegations of bullying within the party, leading to a number of resignations and expulsions of elected members.[65]

At the Ard Fheis on 18 November 2017, Gerry Adams announced he would stand down as president of Sinn Féin in 2018, and would not stand for re-election as TD for Louth.

On 10 February 2018, Mary Lou McDonald was announced as the new president of Sinn Féin at a special Ard Fheis in Dublin.[66][67][68] Michelle O’Neill was also elected as Vice President of the party.[66]

Sinn Féin is the largest Irish republican political party, and was historically associated with the IRA, while also having been associated with the Provisional IRA in the party´s modern incarnation. The Irish government alleged that senior members of Sinn Féin have held posts on the IRA Army Council.[69] However, the SF leadership has denied these claims.[70] The US Government has made similar allegations.[71][72][73]

A republican document of the early 1980s stated: "Both Sinn Féin and the IRA play different but converging roles in the war of national liberation. The Irish Republican Army wages an armed campaign... Sinn Féin maintains the propaganda war and is the public and political voice of the movement".[74]

The British government stated in 2005 that "we had always said all the way through we believed that Sinn FÃ©in and the IRA were inextricably linked and that had obvious implications at leadership level".[75]

The Northern Bank robbery of £26.5 million in Belfast in December 2004 further delayed a political deal in Northern Ireland. The IRA were widely blamed for the robbery[76] although Sinn Féin denied this and stated that party officials had not known of the robbery nor sanctioned it.[77] Because of the timing of the robbery, it is considered that the plans for the robbery must have been laid whilst Sinn Féin was engaged in talks about a possible peace settlement. This undermined confidence among unionists about the sincerity of republicans towards reaching agreement. In the aftermath of the row over the robbery, a further controversy erupted when, on RTÉ's Questions and Answers programme, the chairman of Sinn Féin, Mitchel McLaughlin, insisted that the IRA's controversial killing of a mother of ten young children, Jean McConville, in the early 1970s though "wrong", was not a crime, as it had taken place in the context of the political conflict. Politicians from the Republic, along with the Irish media, strongly attacked McLaughlin's comments.[78][79]

On 10 February 2005, the government-appointed Independent Monitoring Commission reported that it firmly supported the PSNI and Garda Síochána assessments that the IRA was responsible for the Northern Bank robbery and that certain senior members of Sinn Féin were also senior members of the IRA and would have had knowledge of and given approval to the carrying out of the robbery.[80] Sinn Féin has argued that the IMC is not independent, and that the inclusion of former Alliance Party leader John Alderdice and a British security head was proof of this.[81] The IMC recommended further financial sanctions against Sinn Féin members of the Northern Ireland Assembly. The British government responded by saying it would ask MPs to vote to withdraw the parliamentary allowances of the four Sinn Féin MPs elected in 2001.[82]

Gerry Adams responded to the IMC report by challenging the Irish government to have him arrested for IRA membership—a crime in both jurisdictions—and for conspiracy.[83]

On 20 February 2005, Irish Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform Michael McDowell publicly accused three of the Sinn Féin leadership, Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness and Martin Ferris (TD for Kerry North) of being on the seven-man IRA Army Council; they later denied this.[84][85]

On 27 February 2005, a demonstration against the murder of Robert McCartney on 30 January 2005 was held in east Belfast. Alex Maskey, a former Sinn Féin Lord Mayor of Belfast, was told by relatives of McCartney to "hand over the 12" IRA members involved.[86] The McCartney family, although formerly Sinn Féin voters themselves, urged witnesses to the crime to contact the PSNI.[87][88] Three IRA men were expelled from the organisation, and a man was charged with McCartney's murder.[89][90]

Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern subsequently called Sinn Féin and the IRA "both sides of the same coin".[91] The official ostracism of Sinn Féin was shown in February 2005 when Dáil Éireann passed a motion condemning the party's alleged involvement in illegal activity. US President George W. Bush and Senator Edward Kennedy refused to meet Gerry Adams while meeting the family of Robert McCartney.[92]

On 10 March 2005, the House of Commons in London passed without significant opposition a motion, introduced by the British government, to withdraw the allowances of the four Sinn Féin MPs for one year, in response to the Northern Bank Robbery. This measure cost the party approximately £400,000. However, the debate prior to the vote mainly surrounded the more recent events connected with the murder of Robert McCartney. Conservatives and unionists put down amendments to have the Sinn Féin MPs evicted from their offices at the House of Commons but these were defeated.[93]

In March 2005, Mitchell Reiss, the United States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland, condemned the party's links to the IRA, saying "it is hard to understand how a European country in the year 2005 can have a private army associated with a political party".[94]

The October 2015 Assessment on Paramilitary Groups in Northern Ireland concluded that the Provisional IRA still existed "in a much reduced form", and that some IRA members believed its Army Council oversaw both the PIRA and Sinn FÃ©in, although it believed that the leadership "remains committed to the peace process and its aim of achieving a united Ireland by political means".[95]

Most of the party's policies are intended to be implemented on an "all-Ireland" basis which further emphasises their central aim of creating a united Ireland.

Sinn Féin is a democratic socialist and left-wing party.[96] In the European Parliament, the party aligns itself with the European United Left–Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) parliamentary group. The party pledges support for minority rights, migrants' rights, and eradicating poverty. Although it is not in favour of the extension of legalised abortion (British 1967 Act) to Northern Ireland, Sinn Féin state they are opposed to the attitudes in society which "pressurise women" to have abortions and "criminalise" women who make this decision. The party does state that in cases of incest, rape, sexual abuse, "fatal foetal abnormalities", or when a woman's life and health are at risk or in danger, the final decision must rest with the woman.[97][98] In the 2018 Irish abortion referendum, the party campaigned for a 'Yes' vote, but remained opposed to abortions up to 12 weeks.[99] Categorised as "populist socialist" in literature,[100] in 2014 leading party strategist and ideologue Eoin Ó Broin described Sinn Féin's entire political project as unashamedly populist.[101]

Sinn Féin has been considered to be Eurosceptic.[102][103] The party campaigned for a "No" vote in the Irish referendum on joining the European Economic Community in 1972.[104] Sinn Féin was on the same side of the debate as the DUP and most of the UUP in that they wanted to pull out when UK had its referendum in 1975.[105] The party was critical of the supposed need for an EU constitution as proposed in 2002,[106] and urged a "No" vote in the 2008 referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, although Mary Lou McDonald said that there was "no contradiction in being pro-Europe, but anti-treaty".[107] In its manifesto for the 2015 UK general election, Sinn Féin pledged that the party would campaign for the UK to stay within the European Union (EU), Martin McGuinness saying that an exit "would be absolutely economically disastrous". Gerry Adams said that, if there were to be a referendum on the question, there ought to be a separate and binding referendum for Northern Ireland.[108] Its policy of a "Europe of Equals", and its critical engagement after 2001, together with its engagement with the European Parliament, marks a change from the party's previous opposition to the EU. The party expresses, on one hand, "support for Europe-wide measures that promote and enhance human rights, equality and the all-Ireland agenda", and on the other a "principled opposition" to a European superstate.[109]

Sinn FÃ©in's main political goal is a united Ireland. Other key policies from their most recent election manifesto are listed below:

Sinn Féin supports the creation of a "Minister for Europe", the independence of the Basque Country from Spain and France,[116] and the Palestinians in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.[117]

Sinn Féin support a policy of "critical engagement with the EU", and have a "principled opposition" to a European superstate. It opposes an EU constitution because it would reduce the sovereignty of the member-states.[118][119] It also criticises the EU on grounds of neoliberalism. Sinn Féin MEP Matt Carthy says that the "European Union must become a cooperative union of nation states committed to working together on issues such as climate change, migration, trade, and using our common strengths to improve the lives of citizens. If it does not, EU disintegration becomes a real possibility."[120]

Sinn Féin is organised throughout Ireland, and membership is open to all Irish residents over the age of 16. The party is organised hierarchically into cumainn (branches), comhairle ceantair (district executives), and cúigí (regional executives). At national level, the Coiste Seasta (Standing Committee) oversees the day-to-day running of Sinn Féin. It is an eight-member body nominated by the Sinn Féin Ard Chomhairle (National Executive) and also includes the chairperson of each cúige. The Sinn Féin Ard Chomhairle meets at least once a month. It directs the overall implementation of Sinn Féin policy and activities of the party.[citation needed]

The Ard Chomhairle also oversees the operation of various departments of Sinn Féin, viz Administration, Finance, National Organiser, Campaigns, Sinn Féin Republican Youth, Women's Forum, Culture, Publicity and International Affairs. It is made up of the following: Officer Board and nine other members, all of whom are elected by delegates to the Ard Fheis, fifteen representing the five Cúige regions (three delegates each). The Ard Chomhairle can co-opt eight members for specific posts and additional members can be co-opted, if necessary, to ensure that at least thirty per cent of Ard Chomhairle members are women.[citation needed]

The Ardfheis (national delegate conference) is the ultimate policy-making body of the party, where delegates, directly elected by members of cumainn, can decide on and implement policy. It is held at least once a year, but a special Ard Fheis can be called by the Ard Chomhairle or the membership under special circumstances.[citation needed]

Note: As the second largest party, and largest nationalist party, Sinn FÃ©in will fill the deputy First Minister position when a new executive is formed. Other ministerial positions will not be allocated until then.

Sinn Féin returned to Northern Ireland elections at the 1982 Assembly elections, winning five seats with 64,191 votes (10.1%). The party narrowly missed winning additional seats in Belfast North and Fermanagh and South Tyrone. In the 1983 UK general election eight months later, Sinn Féin increased its support, breaking the six-figure vote barrier in Northern Ireland for the first time by polling 102,701 votes (13.4%).[122] Gerry Adams won the Belfast West constituency, and Danny Morrison fell only 78 votes short of victory in Mid Ulster.

The 1984 European elections proved to be a disappointment, with Sinn FÃ©in's candidate Danny Morrison polling 91,476 (13.3%) and falling well behind the SDLP candidate John Hume.

By the beginning of 1985, Sinn Féin had won its first representation on local councils, owing to three by-election wins in Omagh (Seamus Kerr, May 1983) and Belfast (Alex Maskey in June 1983 and Sean McKnight in March 1984). Three sitting councillors also defected to Sinn Féin in Dungannon, Fermanagh and Derry (the last defecting from the SDLP).[123][124][125] Sinn Féin succeeded in winning 59 seats in the 1985 local government elections, after it had predicted winning only 40 seats. However, the results continued to show a decline from the peak of 1983, as the party won 75,686 votes (11.8%).[125] The party failed to gain any seats in the 1986 by-elections caused by the resignation of unionist MPs in protest at the Anglo-Irish Agreement. While this was partly due to an electoral pact between unionist candidates, the SF vote fell in the four constituencies they contested.[126]

In the 1987 general election, Gerry Adams held his Belfast West seat, but the party failed to make breakthroughs elsewhere and overall polled 83,389 votes (11.4%).[127] The same year saw the party contest the DÃ¡il election in the Republic of Ireland; however, it failed to win any seats and polled less than 2%.

The 1989 local government elections saw a drop in support for Sinn Féin.[128] Defending 58 seats (the 59 won in 1985, plus two 1987 by-election gains in West Belfast, minus three councillors who had defected to Republican Sinn Féin in 1986), the party lost 15 seats. In the aftermath of the election, Mitchell McLaughlin admitted that recent IRA activity had affected the Sinn Féin vote.[129]

In the 1989 European election, Danny Morrison again failed to win a seat, polling at 48,914 votes (9%).

The nadir for SF in this period came in 1992, with Gerry Adams losing his Belfast West seat to the SDLP, and the SF vote falling in the other constituencies that they had contested relative to 1987.[130]

In the 1997 UK general election, Adams regained Belfast West. Martin McGuinness also won a seat in Mid Ulster. In the Irish general election the same year the party won its first seat since 1957, with Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin gaining a seat in the Cavan-Monaghan constituency. In the Irish local elections of 1999 the party increased its number of councillors from 7 to 23.

The party overtook its nationalist rival, the Social Democratic and Labour Party, as the largest nationalist party in the local elections and UK general election of 2001, winning four Westminster seats to the SDLP's three.[131] The party continues to subscribe, however, to an abstentionist policy towards the Westminster British parliament, on account of opposing that parliament's jurisdiction in Northern Ireland, as well as its oath to the Queen.[132][133]

Sinn FÃ©in increased its share of the nationalist vote in the 2003, 2007, and 2011 Assembly elections, with Martin McGuinness, former Minister for Education, taking the post of deputy First Minister in the Northern Ireland power-sharing Executive Committee. The party has three ministers in the Executive Committee.

In the 2010 General Election, the party retained its five seats,[134] and for the first time topped the poll at a Westminster Election in Northern Ireland, winning 25.5% of the vote.[135] All Sinn Féin MPs increased their share of the vote and with the exception of Fermanagh and South Tyrone, increased their majorities.[134] In Fermanagh and South Tyrone, Unionist parties agreed a joint candidate,[136] this resulted in the closest contest of the election, with Sinn Féin MP Michelle Gildernew holding her seat by 4 votes after 3 recounts and an election petition challenging the result.[137]

Sinn Féin lost some ground in the 2016 Assembly election, dropping one seat to finish with 28, ten behind the DUP.[138] In the snap election eight months later caused by the resignation of McGuinness as deputy First Minister, however, the party surged, winning 27.9% of the popular vote to 28.1% for the DUP, and 27 seats to the DUP's 28 in an Assembly reduced by 18 seats.[139][140] The withdrawal of the DUP party whip from Jim Wells in May 2018 meant that Sinn Féin became the joint-largest party in the Assembly alongside the DUP, with 27 seats each.[141]

The party had five TDs elected in the 2002 Irish general election, an increase of four from the previous election. At the general election in 2007 the party had expectations of substantial gains,[142][143] with poll predictions that they would gain five[144] to ten seats.[145] However, the party lost one of its seats to Fine Gael. Seán Crowe, who had topped the poll in Dublin South–West fell to fifth place, with his first preference vote reduced from 20.28% to 12.16%.[146]

On 26 November 2010, Pearse Doherty won a seat in the Donegal South–West by-election. It was the party's first by-election victory in the Republic of Ireland since 1925.[147] After negotiations with the left-wing Independent TDs Finian McGrath and Maureen O'Sullivan, a Technical Group was formed in the Dáil to give its members more speaking time.[148][149]

In the 2011 Irish general election the party made significant gains. All its sitting TDs were returned, with Seán Crowe regaining the seat he had lost in 2007 in Dublin South–West. In addition to winning long-targeted seats such as Dublin Central and Dublin North–West, the party gained unexpected seats in Cork East and Sligo–North Leitrim.[150] It ultimately won 14 seats, the best performance for the party's current incarnation. The party went on to win three seats in the Seanad election which followed their success at the general election.[151] In the 2016 election it made further gains, finishing with 23 seats and overtaking the Labour Party as the third-largest party in the Dáil.[152] It ran seven candidates in the Seanad election, all of whom were successful.[153]

Sinn Féin is represented on most county and city councils. It made large gains in the local elections of 2004, increasing its number of councillors from 21 to 54, and replacing the Progressive Democrats as the fourth-largest party in local government.[154] At the local elections of June 2009, the party's vote fell by 0.95% to 7.34%, with no change in the number of seats. Losses in Dublin and urban areas were balanced by gains in areas such as Limerick, Wicklow, Cork, Tipperary and Kilkenny and the border counties.[155] However, three of Sinn Féin's seven representatives on Dublin City Council resigned within six months of the June 2009 elections, one of them defecting to the Labour Party.[156]

In the 2004 European Parliament election, Bairbre de Brún won Sinn Féin's first seat in the European Parliament, at the expense of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP). She came in second behind Jim Allister, then of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).[157] In the 2009 election, de Brún was re-elected with 126,184 first preference votes, the only candidate to reach the quota on the first count. This was the first time since elections began in 1979 that the DUP failed to take the first seat, and was the first occasion Sinn Féin topped a poll in any Northern Ireland election.[158][159]

Sinn Féin made a breakthrough in the Dublin constituency in 2004. The party's candidate, Mary Lou McDonald, was elected on the sixth count as one of four MEPs for Dublin, effectively taking the seat of Patricia McKenna of the Green Party.[160] In the 2009 election, when Dublin's representation was reduced to three MEPs, she failed to hold her seat.[161] In the South constituency their candidate, Councillor Toiréasa Ferris, managed to nearly double the number of first preference votes,[161] lying third after the first count, but failed to get enough transfers to win a seat.

In the 2014 election, Martina Anderson topped the poll in Northern Ireland, as did Lynn Boylan in Dublin. Liadh Ní Riada was elected in the South constituency, and Matt Carthy in Midlands–North-West.[162]