Relations between the British government and ice cream maker Ben & Jerry's chilled Wednesday in a spat over the treatment of migrants.
The feud began Tuesday when the Vermont-based dessert brand directed a tweet at Britain's interior minister, Home Secretary Priti Patel, who has vowed to stop asylum seekers crossing the English Channel from France to England in small boats. Hundreds of people have made the dangerous crossing in the past weeks of calm summer weather.
The company tweeted: "Hey @PritiPatel we think the real crisis is our lack of humanity for people fleeing war, climate change and torture." It followed up with a series of tweets suggesting the government speak to refugee organizations and saying that "PEOPLE CANNOT BE ILLEGAL," in response to some politicians' talk of "illegal" immigrants.
The Home Office hit back, saying Patel was "working day and night to bring an end to these small boat crossings" and was unconcerned about "upsetting the social media team for a brand of overpriced junk food."
James Cleverly, a lawmaker from the governing Conservative Party, joined the criticism, tweeting: "Can I have a large scoop of statistically inaccurate virtue signalling with my grossly overpriced ice cream please."
Founded in Burlington, Vermont in 1978 by ex-hippies Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, Ben & Jerry's has long championed liberal causes. It has been owned since 2000 by Anglo-Dutch consumer goods conglomerate Unilever PLC.
Avid completes acquisition of Wolftech
Avid®, known for software solutions for professional media production, has completed the acquisition of Wolftech Broadcast Solutions, a leader in cloud-based multiplatform news planning, production and publishing solutions.
The acquisition enables Avid to combine its digital-first, end-to-end media solution with Wolftech’s expertise in story-centric workflow management. News organizations will be able to increase efficiency and accelerate story delivery through enhanced remote collaboration and multiplatform amplification.
Avid CEO Wellford Dillard stated, “Wolftech is unquestionably on the leading edge of where the industry is going, and this acquisition demonstrates Avid’s commitment to transform news, sports, and live production workflows. We are delighted to welcome Wolftech into the Avid family.”
Wolftech CEO Arne Berven added, “We were focused on finding a partner that could accelerate the adoption of our platform globally. We explored a number of possibilities, but when we talked to Avid, we knew it was the right match.”
The closing of the acquisition follows Avid’s announcement on October 7 that the company had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Wolftech.
With this acquisition, Avid deepens the integration between the two toolsets while continuing to embrace an open approach in partnering with a wide range of media production tools and newsroom systems. Existing Wolftech customers will benefit from Avid’s global scale for customer support and professional services.
Ian Axton, head of production operations for ITV News, said, “As a customer of both Avid and Wolftech we’re excited about the benefits this acquisition will bring to our users and our business. Wolftech has transformed... Read More